EDWIN ASHTON
We should listen to the King, I suppose.

SEFTON BRIGGS
Mmm. First Christmas of peace, Edwin...historic occasion.

EDWIN
We didn't think of it like that six years ago, did we?

SEFTON
What, Christmas?

EDWIN
No, peace...an historic occasion. We took it for granted, didn't we? We'd had The War to End All Wars, we thought. I was out in the garden with Philip just before Chamberlain said his bit...a lovely day. He never got over Spain, you know. It's a good job we can't read the future.

SEFTON
I don't think about the future very much these days.

EDWIN
Has it turned out very bad for you, this business with Howells?

SEFTON
Bad enough, bad enough. The best we've had, you and I, it's in the past now, isn't it? We've that in common, I suppose. We share the same memories.

EDWIN
(with an ironic laugh)
I doubt it, Sefton.

SEFTON
We've been through the same bad times. We've both made a bit of a mark on life, one way or another. Hmm, not much of it, though.

EDWIN
I wish I could think so. I went wrong somewhere...I don't know where. Jean knew...or seemed to. I've been trying to tie up the loose ends, tidy up a bit.

SEFTON
Is that why you wanted to pay off the mortgage?

EDWIN
To give Margaret and John a chance. I'll have to look for a little place for myself, I suppose.

SEFTON
Yes, I'll be doing the same thing myself.

(A thought occurs to him.)

SEFTON
I, uh, suppose you wouldn't, uh...uh, I mean, uh...

EDWIN
(chuckling)
Oh...you and me sharing, Sefton.

SEFTON
Yes, yes. I daresay you're right. I'm not sure how I shall manage on my own.

EDWIN
Jean would have liked the idea.

SEFTON
She always spoke very highly of you to me, did Jean.

EDWIN
You make it sound like a testimonial, Sefton.

(Sefton laughs.)

EDWIN
I burned all our old letters the other day.

SEFTON
Oh, old letters...they don't mean anything.

EDWIN
I thought perhaps there might be something of me as I might have been. It was like reading something written by a stranger. I took a couple of days off work...went back home, where I was brought up...nothing of me there, nothing. And the other day, up in the attic, I found a letter I wrote to you and never gave you.

SEFTON
To me?

EDWIN
Twenty-five years ago I wrote it...my resignation.

SEFTON
Why didn't you give it to me?

EDWIN
Hard times, Sefton. My only excuse, not a bad excuse, but it's hardly adequate.

SEFTON
Oh, a pity you didn't perhaps. It might have been good for both of us.

EDWIN
It wasn't only myself I resigned for...a chap called Edwards. You fired him because he answered back.

SEFTON
I don't remember.

EDWIN
Hmm, I do, and I daresay he does, if he's still alive.

SEFTON
You've always disapproved of my way of doing things, haven't you, Edwin?

EDWIN
And my own.

SEFTON
I'm the man I was brought up to be.

EDWIN
I wish I could say that, Sefton. By God, I do.

SEFTON
You blame me that you can't?

EDWIN
Partly...myself mostly. Well, that's all over and done with. It's the future that counts. This is ours...we set it up years ago...and here it is. Better make the most of it, hadn't we?

 

(from "...Yielding Place to New" by John Finch)