Home is the Hunter by Helen MacInnes Read Free Book Online

Eryx will now be halfway toward the Hall. He won’t like it if—
    MELAS
    What’s wrong?
(He still points.)
    PENELOPE
    Wrong?
    MELAS
    It’s as rough as a five-day beard.
    PENELOPE
    Oh... that! Isn’t it natural that I have been thinking of Ulysses, and that I’ve wept? Tears don’t help embroidery. But that’s all over now, all over.
(She smiles to EUMAEUS , who looks nervously back, while CLIA is horrified.)
    MELAS
    You’re worth waiting for. A woman who can weep for a man long after he is dead is a wife worth having.
    PENELOPE
    I wish Ulysses could have heard that.
(She looks at EUMAEUS again.)
    EUMAEUS
    It’s just as well he didn’t hear talk like that from a good-for-nothing drunk. And you listening to it!
    PENELOPE
    Ulysses jealous? Why, he never was. But then, I never gave him cause to be... Was that my mistake?
    MELAS
(Who has advanced on EUMAEUS , meanwhile, and forced him to retreat behind the embroidery frame for safety)
    Who’s a good-for-nothing drunk? Get back to your pigs, or you’ll find yourself skewered over a fire with an apple stuck in your mouth.
( MELAS has drawn his sword, but EUMAEUS picks up the knife from the table and faces the advancing man.)
    EUMAEUS
(Suddenly dignified)
    I wasn’t always a pig farmer. I’ve killed better men than you, in my day.
    PENELOPE
(Moving swiftly between the men, as MELAS raises his sword to strike)
    There’s to be no killing, here! Eumaeus, drop the knife and get back to your job.
(She pushes him toward the door as he drops the knife on the table, keeping herself between him and MELAS . As EUMAEUS leaves, MELAS takes a step after him, his sword still drawn.)
    That would be foolish. For I’ll never marry the man who kills anyone who belongs to this household. That’s one man I’d never choose.
    MELAS
(Hesitates, then sheathes his sword)
    I’d do that for no one else except you.
    PENELOPE
(Looking over her shoulder toward the doorway)
    Isn’t that silence very odd? What are they plotting? A surprise for you, Melas?
    MELAS
(Moving quickly to the door)
    Two more days, Penelope, and you’ll choose a husband. Right?
    PENELOPE
    Two more days.
    MELAS
    You’ll remember all I’ve done for you?
    PENELOPE
    I’ll remember.
( MELAS smiles and leaves. She closes the door behind him, securely, and then begins to laugh quietly.)
    CLIA
(Her rage and dismay at last bursting free)
    Are you out of your mind? What have you done? Penelope, what have you done ?
    PENELOPE
    D’you know, I believe that ruffian thinks he is my protector.
    CLIA
(Seizing PENELOPE ’s shoulders and shaking her as if she were a child)
    I’ll tell you what you’ve done: you’ve kept these men here. You could have let them ride off, but you—
    PENELOPE
(Freeing herself angrily)
    Let them ride off and escape the punishment they’ve earned? Let them sail away and invade some other island and keep its people in misery?
    CLIA
    But—
    PENELOPE
    Stop fussing, Clia. I know what I’m doing.
(She hesitates, lowers her voice almost to a whisper.)
    Ulysses has come home.
    CLIA
(Terrified now)
    My poor girl, my poor girl!... She’s out of her mind... Penelope, can you hear me, can you understand me? Ulysses did not come back. Three men arrived by the fishing boats, this morning. But not one of them was Ulysses.
    PENELOPE
(Startled)
    Who gave you that news?
    CLIA
    Eumaeus. He told me. There’s still no Ulysses. Penelope, what shall we do?
    PENELOPE
(Smiling)
    I’m going to rest. And to think. To think of a plan. Keeping those men here was only the first step... Now I must plan the next one, and the next...
    CLIA
    ...She’s waited too long... she’s lost her reason.
    PENELOPE
(She has walked over to her bedroom door, paying no attention to CLIA ’s hand-wringing. She pauses there, turns to say in a clear firm voice)
    They’ll leave, Clia. They’ll all leave. But as I wish them to leave... I’m the mistress of this house. And Ulysses is still its master.
(She goes out. The bedroom door closes