'Gold' An alchemical adventure.

A play by Andrew Dallmeyer
Act II. Scene 5.
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SCENE  5.

Back at Seton's House. The room is empty.

		(Distant barking.  After a few moments Seton enters the room.  
		He is limping badly.  He moves to the fireplace.  He sits beside
		the fireplace.  There is no fire burning.  All the vessels and
		vials have been cleared away.  A pause. Enter Ann.  She 
		carries a basket of sticks. She drops the basket in astonishment.)

ANN	Alexander. Can it be true?
	Or do my eyes decieve me?
SETON	Tis true, Ann.  Tis true.
ANN	Oh Alexander!

		(She runs to him.  They embrace)

	But look at the state  you are in man.
SETON	I am weary, that is all.
ANN	How thin you are grown! How pale and sickly!
SETON	At least I am still alive Ann.
ANN	Oh Alexander! What has become of you? 
	Where have you been? Did you arrive at Prague?
SETON	I did indeed.
ANN	And was it all that you expectit it to be?
SETON	It was not the Utopia I hopit it would be. 
ANN	Indeed?
SETON	No, Ann.  It was nought but a nightmare. 
ANN	A nightmare?  How so?
SETON	It is a long story and a distressing one too. 
	How long have I been gone?
ANN	More than a year.
SETON	And are you still faithful to me Ann?
ANN	How can you even ask such a thing.
SETON	I had though that you might have given me up for lost 
	and weddit again.
ANN	I knew that you would return one day.  How could I 
	ever marry another?
	Sit you down man.  Sit you down!
	You look as though you are sorely in need of a rest.
SETON	How are the children?
ANN	They are both in good spirits.
	They have misit their father.  Helen has had lately a 
	touch of  fever but nothing too serious.
SETON	And how is the farm?
ANN	I have coppit as well as I might.  I have had help from John 
	Ramsay.  Will you not sit?  I will fetch you some food.  Some 
	bread and some broth.  Sit you down man! Sit you down!

		(He moves with difficulty)

	Why Alexander! What is the matter with your legs?
SETON	It is nothing.
ANN	Then why do you walk in that crabbity manner?
SETON	I am crampit and stiff. That is all.
ANN	Sit down  (He does so) That is better.
	Now take off your boots!
SETON	I do not think that I had better.
ANN	If it be the smell that worries you, have no fear on that account.
	I am usit to smells. Take off your boots!
SETON	I will do it later.
ANN	Now, man, now! Here, let me help you.

		(She removes his boot.  She gasps in horror at the wound.)

	Oh Alexander may the good Lord preserve me!
	How terrible! How terrible! And right
	through the foot too. How came this about?
	Was it an accident?
SETON	It was no accident. I was imprisonit and torturit.
ANN	Oh my poor belovit! And the other foot too?
SETON	Aye. The other foot too.
ANN	Take off your boot! I will fetch warm water.
	At least the wounds may be baithit and annointit.

		(She goes off.  Seton removes his other boot.  Ann
		re-enters with a bowl of warm water. She kneels at his 
		feet, and washes them.)

ANN	For what offence were you so cruelly torturit?
SETON	For failing to transmute in front of the King.
ANN	And is this an offence in Bohemia?
SETON	He felt that I was doing it deliberately but truth to tell I 
	tried as best I could. He would not believe me though I told
	him the truth.  It was only through the goodness and courage
	of others that I managed to escape and come safely back home.
ANN	Oh Alexander my poor belovit. Nothing can touch you now.  
	Nothing can touch you.  Put your arms around me!
SETON	I fear that I cannot.  Not as you would wish, for my hands are 
	likewise scarrit and markit.
ANN	Let me see! This is too tragic! Too tragic for words.
	(She starts to cry.) Forgive me my tears.  
	Such a mingling of joy and sorrow has left me much confusit.
SETON	There, there Ann. There, there.
	My wounds are already much healit. There, there. I am home, 
	Ann.  I am home.  There, there.
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