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248 Githa Sowerby
all the good common things : a good house, good food,
warmth. He s a delicate little thing now, but he ll grow
strong like other children. . . . Give me what I ask,
and in return I ll give you him. On one condition.
I m to stay on here. I won t trouble you you needn t
speak to me or see me unless you want to. For ten years
he s to be absolutely mine, to do what I like with. You
mustn t interfere you mustn t tell him to do things or
frighten him. He s mine for ten years more.
Rutherford. And after that?
Mary. He ll be yours.
Rutherford. To train up. For Rutherfords ?
Mary. Yes.
Rutherford. After all? After Dick, that I ve bullied
till he s a fool? John, that s wished me dead?
Mary. In ten years you ll be an old man; you won t
be able to make people afraid of you any more.
When I saw the masterly presentation of the
play on the stage, Mary s bargain looked unreal
and incongruous. It seemed impossible to me
that a mother who really loves her child should
want it to be in any way connected with the Ruther
fords . But after repeatedly rereading the play,
I was convinced by Mary s simple statement:
"
In ten years you ll be an old man; you won t be
able to make people afraid of you any more."
Most deeply true. The Rutherfords are bound
by time, by the eternal forces of change. Their
influence on human life is indeed terrible. Not-
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