The Bishop’s candlesticks part-II
Scene-4 [when the curtain rises, it is past two O’ clock in the night. The moonlight comes through the window and falls on Jean Val, as he lies asleep on a bed. He isdreaming, in his dream, he sees Bishop Bioenvenu at his bedside, holding a candlestick.]
Bien- are you sleeping well, jean Val Jan?
Jean- yes, thanks you. For the first time in my life I have eaten a hearty meal. And for the first time in nineteen years, I sleep in peace. But I can’t sleep for long. The bed in this inn is too soft for me. {Something makes a noise}
Jean- [started in bed] what was that? [The noise comes again; Bioenvenu looks round]
Bien- it was only the cat. [Jean calms down, reassured.]
Jean- but I have to be always vigilant. The police! There’s no knowing when I will find them at my heels again. They think I am dangerous robber.
Bien- what did you job?
Jean: - bread. It is a small piece of bread. It was a miserable night- nineteen years ago. My widowed sister and – both had been out of work for several days together. There was nothing to eat in the house, and my poor sister’s seven starving children cried for bread. I could not bear the misery of their cries. I went to the baker borrow a loaf of bread. I knocked at the door and called out –again and again, begging. But in spite of all my pleas, the baker wouldn’t come out. In desperation, I broke the glass of the shop window and took a piece of bread. This was the robbery for which I was thrown in jail for nineteen years. [A distant clock chimes a quarter hour. Jean sits up, wide awake. The dream bishop disappears.]
[To himself] the innkeeper! Where’s he? Was I dreaming? Yes, I was! So the innkeeper doesn’t know why I was thrown in jail- for nineteen years! Now I am a dangerous robber. And when I approach people and ask for food or water, they run away. Or they drive me away. If I want anything to eat tomorrow, I must …..Steal.
[He carefully and deliberately moves to the left door as the curtain comes down.]
Scene- 5 [it is morning, and breakfast time. Maggie enters, walks to the cupboard, and opens it. She looks puzzled.]
Maggie- [talking to herself] where’s the basket of silver? I did place it back here last night, did not i? I keep forgetting things. Let me see. Ah! I remember. Battie was checking with me. She asked me if I had put it back, and I said I had. Has she taken it out then? [She calls out]
Battie! Battie [Battie appears at the left door, answering.]
Battie: - yes, Maggie?
Maggie- have you taken the silver out for breakfast?
Battie- no, I have not.
Maggie- then where has it disappeared!
Maggie- it can’t disappear like that. Perhaps my brother has taken it out for some reason. [She calls out]. Brother! Brother!
[Bienvenu enters through the front door, answering.]
Bien- yes, Battie, what is it?
Battie- where is our basket of plates?
Bien: - the basket? Just wait a moment.
[He goes out and returns immediately, basket in hand.]
Bien- here’s ou basket. [He offers the basket to Bettie.]
Battie- but it’s empty! Where is the silver?
Bien- oh! The silver! I don’t know where the silver is. I found the basket in the garden. [He puts the basket down on the floor. Maggie picks it up]
Maggie-: in the garden? Then I know where the silver is. [She goes in through the left door.]
Battie- where’s she going! The silver isn’t in the house.
Maggie-[re-entering] and your guest isn’t in the house either. [She places the basket back in the cupboard.]
Bien: - my guest? Jean Val Jean? He’s our guest. Isn’t he in his room?
Maggie- no, he isn’t and the guest room window’s wide open. And I clearly remember that I shut it and bolted it for the night.
Bien- jean Val Jean must have opened the window because the room grew too hot.
Maggie- and it was still too hot in spite of the open window, and so he jumped out and…
Bien: - are you saying Jean Val Jean left the house last night? Didn’t he sleep here? He lay down on the bed as soon as he reached it. A minute later, he was snoring. He didn’t even change into fresh clothes.
Maggie- that means he had no intention of going to sleep. His snores were for you.
Bien- what do you mean by that/ [he smiles in amusement.]
Battie- thieves don’t steal basketfuls of silver and go to sleep on them, do they? Maggie, let’s go to the police and complain.
Bien- now, my dear sister! It’s a lovely morning. Let’s not spoil everything by brining the police in here. Shall we change the subject and talk about something else?
Battie- how can we talk about anything else when our silver is missing?
Bien: - our silver? Why do you say it’s our silver?
Battie- we thought it was ours. If it isn’t, then whose is it?
Bien- you are asking the wrong question.
Battie: - the wrong question? What’s the right question?
Bien- the right question is who needs the silver.
Maggie- how can we tell between right and wrong questions?
Bien- it’s very simple. If we ask the wrong question, its answer well leads to anger, fighting and misery. But if we ask the right question, its answer will lead to kindness, compassion, happiness.
Battie- but what’s wrong with our question, `whose is it’?
Bien- let’s see what’s wrong. Whose silver is it, Maggie?
Maggie- it’s ours.
Bien- it’s ours and someone has taken it way. So we go to the police and complain. The police catch Jean Val Jean and beat him up, and the judge sends him back to jail for another nineteen years. What a miserable business!
Maggie-but what can we do? We have to report thefts to the police, don’t we?
Bien- you think there was a theft because you think the silver is yours. Now forget that thought. Forget the idea that the silver is yours. Can you do that?
Maggie- I am not sure. It’s been ours or so long! How can we suddenly forget it?
Bien- so you’re going to send a poor man to jail again, is you?
Battie-oh no! That will be terrible. I have an idea. Let’s play a game. Let’s pretend the silver belongs to nobody.
Bien: - yes. Let is parented. The silver belongs to nobody. Anyone who needs it is free to take it. Now who needed it?
Bien- we need the plates now at breakfast.
Bien: - do we? We don’t need silver plates. There is no rule that says we should eat off silver plates. Clay plates or wooden plates will do just as well. But Jean Val Jean needs the silver. Silver will fetch him money. And he needs money, poor man, after nineteen years in jail.
Maggie- but he had no business to take the silver away from your house without telling you. So I think I ought to go to the police and tell them to catch him and bring him before you. E ought to ask your forgiveness. Shall I go?
[She turns her face towards the front door on the right we hear the noise of the gate opening.]
Bien- [looking out through the window] just waits a moment. It looks as if the police have read your thoughts. Here they are already, at our gate, and with your man.
Inspector- good morning, my lord, we are very sorry to disturb your morning. We have arrested a ramp, and he says he was your guest last night. I shall be very grateful if you could identify him.
Bien- please brings him in.
Inspector- [turning and calling out] you may bring the man in.
Battie- [looking out] it’s him! Jean Val Jean! Poor man! He’s in handcuffs!
Maggie- he looks terrible! I don’t know how badly they have beaten him up.
Battie- I hear they treat their prisoners very harshly. And here I was all morning, thinking hard thoughts about the man. Now my mind is in such a state that I can’t look at his face. Come, Maggie, let’s go in.
[The two women go in through the left door as two policemen bring Jean Val Jean in, in handcuffs, through the right door,]
Bien- you! Jean Val Jean! But why did you let these people arrest you? Didn’t you tell them who gave you silver? And why didn’t you take your candlesticks?
Jean- [puzzled] my candlesticks?
Bien: - yes. The two silver candlesticks I gave you. Why did you leave them behind?
Second policeman- [to the third] was this man telling the truth, then?
Third policeman- [to the second] a thief tells the truth! How extraordinary!
Inspector- my lord bishop…
Jean- [in utter surprise] the bishop! And I called him innkeeper!
Inspector- be quiet, man [turning to the bishop] was this man telling he truth, my lord? He told us you had given him the silver plates and spoon. But we didn’t believe him.
Bien- I can’t blame you. Silver spoons don’t go with poor men’s rags. I should have found him some decent clothes to wear. I will see what I can do about it today.
Inspector- shall we let the man go then, my lord?
Bien-: yes, of course, you can let him go. Leave him with me and go back to your other duties. I have some business matters to talk over with him.
Inspector- if you don’t mind, my lord, we shall stay on till he leaves your house. We think we had better escort him out of this town. He is a notorious robber.
Bien- he won’t attempt any robber in your town today. I have some work away from town later in the morning, and the man can go out with my group. You can leave him here. Thank you for bringing him back.
Inspector- I am sorry we disturbed your morning, my lord.
Bien: - that’s al right. You were doing your duty. Good morning!
Bien- come here, Jean Val Jean, and sit down.
Jean- sits down! In front of the bishop!
Bien- sits down with a brother, Jean Val Jean. Don’t worry about the bishop. That’s just the name of my job.
Jean: - am I really free? Won’t they come and handcuff me again?
Bien- I promise you they won’t. Do you remember your promise to me, Jean Val jean?
Jean: - my promise?
Bien- yes, when I gave you the silver plates…
Jean: - are you saying the silver is mine? Weren’t you saying so to get rid of the police?
Bien- no, I wasn’t. Those plates are all yours. You can take them away and the candlesticks as well.
[At these words, Jean Val Jean’s eyes fill with tears]
Jean- I can’t believe it! I take your silver by theft. You turn my theft into a gift. I tell the police a lie. Yu turn my lie into truth. Such great kindness! I can’t believe it!
Bien-: don’t believe it. Just take silver and keep our promise.
Jean- what promise, my I [he is about to say `lord’.]
Bien: - your brother, Jean. When I gave you the silver, you promised not to steal again, ever. You promised to sell the silver for a reasonable price. You promised to put the money to use in an honest business. Do you agree?
Jean- I’ll agree to anything you say. If you tell me to die this moment, I shall do so happily.
Bien- I’m telling you to live happily, Jean Val Jean. Do you know how to live happily? [Jean shakes his head.]
Bien: - forget yourself and try to make everybody else around you, and you will live a very happy life. Now take those candlesticks off the top of the cupboard and put them in your knapsack. It’s for us to leave. And remember one thing.
Jean- what, my lord?
Bien- your lord! You are incorrigible. Still, remember this. When you are here next time, you don’t have to come in or go out through the window. [Smiling in mild amusement] the front door is always open.
[Jean hangs down his head. The curtain falls as they walk out through the right door]
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