Mrs Lirriper's Legacy Part 3 by Charles Dickens

Mrs Lirriper’s Legacy by Charles Dickens: more stories of a London landlady in Victorian England

Episode 3 – The Legacy Concludes

Cast (in order of appearance)

Narrator -                Jim Newberry
Mrs Lirriper -          S-J Vant
Mr Edson -               Jim Newberry
Major Jackman -  Mike Ayris
Master Jemmy -   Frankie Hart

Narrator
In Episode 2, Mrs Lirriper finally came face-to-face with the unknown source of her Legacy.  Now his identity is revealed to her. With Major Jackman’s help, she must negotiate the consequences of a family connection long broken, and successfully protect Master Jemmy from his past.

INTERIOR: Darkened Bedroom

Mrs Lirriper
O you wicked, wicked man!  Your sin has found you out!

FX Englishman moaning and moving

Mrs Lirriper
I knew him the moment life looked out of his eyes to be Mr Edson, Jemmy’s father, who had so cruelly deserted his young mother who had died in my arms, poor tender creetur, and left Jemmy to me.

You cruel wicked man!  You bad black traitor!

FX Englishman straining and sound of a slump

Mrs Lirriper
His arm dropped out of the bed and his head with it and there he lay before me crushed in body and mind. (Crying) Oh blessed Heaven teach me what to say to this broken mortal!  O man, man, man.  If your heart is rent asunder and you are truly penitent for what you did, Our Saviour will have mercy on you yet!

(Kneeling, whispering) Can you hear me? 

Mr Edson
(Faint, gasped assent)  Mmmm.

Mrs Lirriper
Do you know me?

Mr Edson
(Faint, gasped assent)  Mmmm.

Mrs Lirriper
I am not here alone.  The Major is with me.  You recollect the Major?

Mr Edson
(Faint, gasped assent)  Mmmm.

Mrs Lirriper
And even the Major and I are not alone.  My grandson – his godson – is with us.  Do you hear?  My grandson.  Do you know who my grandson is?

Mr Edson
(Faint, gasped assent)  Mmmm.

Mrs Lirriper
I pitied and loved his lonely mother.  When she lay a-dying I said to her: “My dear, this baby is sent to a childless old woman”.  He has been my pride and joy ever since.  I love him as dearly as if he had drunk from my breast.  Do you ask to see my grandson before you die?

Mr Edson
(Faint, gasped assent)  Mmmm.

Mrs Lirriper
Show me when I leave off speaking if you correctly understand what I say.  He has been kept unacquainted with the story of his birth.  He has no knowledge or suspicion of it.  If I bring him here to the side of this bed, he will suppose you to be a perfect stranger. It is more than I can do to keep from him the knowledge that there is such wrong and misery in the world; that it was ever so near him in his innocent cradle I have kept from him, and I do keep from him, and ever will keep from him, for his mother’s sake and his own.

Mr Edson
(Faint, gasped assent)  Mmmm.

Mrs Lirriper
Now rest and you shall see him.

FX footsteps on stairs

Mrs LIrriper
Major!

Major Jackman
(Realisation then anger) Who is that?  That damned scoundrel..!

Mrs Lirriper
I went up to the Major and I led him to the bedside and when I clasped my hands and lifted of them up, the Major did the like.

Major Jackman
Madam..

Mrs Lirriper
O Lord.  Thou knowest what we two saw together of the sufferings and sorrows of that poor creetur now with Thee.  If this dying man is truly penitent, we two together humbly pray thee to have Mercy on him.

Major Jackman
Amen!

Mrs Lirriper
(Whispering) Dear old friend, fetch our beloved boy.

FX two pairs of footsteps on stairs

Mrs Lirriper
Jemmy. I have found out all about this poor gentleman who is so ill, and he did lodge in the old house once.  And as he wants to see all belonging to it, now that he is passing away, I sent for you.

Master Jemmy
Ah poor man!  My heart melts for him.  Poor, poor man!

Mrs Lirriper
My darling boy, there is a reason in the secret history of this fellow creetur, lying as the best and worst of us must all lie one day, which I think would ease his spirit in his last hour.  If you would lay your cheek against his forehead and say, “May God forgive you!”

Master Jemmy
O Gran, I am not worthy!

Mrs Lirriper
But he leaned down and did it.  

Master Jemmy
(Whispering)  May God forgive you.

Mrs Lirriper
Then the faltering fingers of Mr Edson made out to catch hold of my sleeve at last, and I believe he was a-trying to kiss me as he died. 

Mr Edson
(Dying) Ahhhh.

Mrs Lirriper
There my dear!  There you have the story of my Legacy in full, and it’s worth ten times the trouble I have spent upon it, if you are pleased to like it.  

 You might suppose that it set us against the little French town of Sens, but no we didn’t find that. I found myself that I never looked up at the high tower atop of the other high tower, but the days came back again when that fair young creetur with her pretty bright hair trusted in me like a mother, and the recollection made the place so peaceful to me as I can’t express.

 FX background horses neighing, carts clattering, men shouting inaudibly, Major Jackman shouting “Come on Jemmy!”, Jemmy shouting “Godfather!” and laughing

Mrs Lirriper
And every soul about the hotel, down to the pigeons in the courtyard, made friends with Jemmy and the Major, and went lumbering away with them on all sorts of expeditions in all sorts of vehicles drawn by rampageous cart horses – with heads and without – mud for paint and ropes for harness – and every new friend dressed in blue like a butcher, and every new horse standing on his hind legs wanting to devour and consume every other horse, and every man that had a whip to crack-crack-crack-cracking it, as if it was a schoolboy with his first.

As to the Major my dear, that man lived the greater part of his time with a little tumbler in one hand and a bottle of small wine in the other. And whenever he saw anybody else with a little tumbler, no matter who it was, down rushes he to clink glasses.

Major Jackman
Hola!  Capital!

French Chorus
Hola!  Capitale!  Ha ha ha!

FX background French music, dancing, merriment, rhythmic shouting and dancing to the music; Major Jackman shouting and “ha ha!”ing 

Mrs Lirriper
And though I could not quite approve of the Major’s doing it, still the ways of the world are the ways of the world, and of dancing in the open square with a lady that kept a barber’s shop, my opinion is that the Major was right to dance his best and to lead off with a power that I did not think was in him.

FX shouts of “Bravo les anglais militaires!” “Bravo les anglais militaires!” and continuing music, rhythmic clapping, and shouting

Mrs Lirriper
(Above the din) Whatever are they calling out Jemmy?

Master Jemmy
They’re calling out Gran, Bravo the Military English!  Bravo the Military English! 

FX of French music, clapping and shouting fades out

Mrs Lirriper
So every evening at a regular time we, all three, sat out in the balcony of the hotel looking up at the golden and rosy light as it changed on the great towers – and what do you think we did there?  My dear if Jemmy hadn’t brought some other of those stories of the Major’s, telling of former lodgers at 81 Norfolk Street!

Master Jemmy
Here you are Gran!  Here you are godfather!  More of ‘em.  I’ll read.  And though you wrote ‘em for me, godfather, I know you won’t disapprove of my making ‘em over to Gran, will you?

Major Jackman
No my dear boy.  Everything we have is hers, and we are hers.

Master Jemmy
Hers ever affectionately and devotedly J. Jackman and J. Jackman Lirriper.  (Hugs Mrs Lirriper)  Very well then godfather.  Look here.  As Gran is in the Legacy way just now, I shall make these stories a part of Gran’s Legacy.  I’ll leave ‘em to her.  What do you say godfather?

Major Jackman
Hip hip Hurrah!

Master Jemmy
Very well then. Vive the Military English!  Vive the Lady Lirriper!  Vive the Jemmy Jackman Ditto!  Vive the Legacy! Now, you look out Gran. And you’ll look out Godfather.  I’ll read!  And I’ll tell you what I’ll do besides.  On the last night of our holiday here when we are all packed and going away, I’ll top up with something of my own.

Mrs Lirriper
Well, my dear, and so the evening readings of those jottings of the Major’s brought us round at last to the evening when we were all packed and going away next day.  And I do assure you that by that time, though it was deliciously comfortable to look forward to the dear old house in Norfolk Street again, I had formed quite a high opinion of the French nation and had noticed them to be much more homely and domestic in their families, and far more simple and amiable in their lives than I had ever been led to expect.  

And it did strike me, between ourselves, that in one particular they might be imitated to advantage by another nation which I will not mention, and that is in the courage with which they take their little enjoyments on little means and with little things, and don’t let solemn big-wigs stare them out of countenance or speechify them dull.

Major Jackman
Now young man, if you please to remember who was to ‘top up’.

Master Jemmy
Yes, godfather, I am the illustrious personage.  Gran and godfather, you can hardly think how much my mind has run on Mr Edson’s death.

Mrs Lirriper
Ah! It was a sad scene my love and sad remembrances come back stronger than merry.  (Pause for thought then to rouse them) But this is not topping up!  Tell us your story my dear.

Master Jemmy
I will.

Mrs Lirriper
What is the date Sir?  Once upon a time when pigs drank wine?

Master Jemmy
(Joking disapproval) No Gran!  Once upon a time when the French drank wine. In short, Gran and Godfather, the date is this time and I’m going to tell you Mr Edson’s story.

Mrs Lirriper
(Concern) Oh.

Major Jackman
Ahem.

Master Jemmy
That is to say you understand, I am going to give you my version of it.  I shall not ask whether it is right or not: firstly because you said you knew very little about it, Gran, and secondly because what little you did know was a secret.   

The unfortunate gentleman was the son of Somebody and was born Somewhere, and chose a profession Somehow.  It is not with those parts of his career that we have to deal; but with his early attachment to a young and beautiful lady.

Mrs Lirriper
Well my dear, I thought I should have dropped.  I dursn’t look at the Major, but I knew what his state was without looking. 

Master Jemmy
The father of our ill-starred hero was a worldly man who entertained ambitious views for his only son, and who firmly set his face against a contemplated alliance for his son with a virtuous but penniless orphan.  Indeed, he went so far as to roundly assure our hero that, unless he weaned his thought from this object of his devoted affection, he would disinherit him.  

At the same time he proposed, as a suitable match, the daughter of a neighbouring gentleman of a good estate, who was neither ill-favoured nor unamiable, and whose eligibility in a pecuniary point of view could not be disputed.  

But young Mr Edson, true to the first and only love that had inflamed his breast, rejected all considerations of self-advancement, and taking exception to his father’s anger in a respectful letter, he ran away with her.

Mrs Lirriper
My dear, I had begun to take a turn for the better, but when it come to running away, I began to take another turn for the worse.

Master Jemmy
The lovers fled to London and were united at the altar of Saint Clement’s Danes.  And it is at this period of their simple but touching story that we find them inmates of the dwelling of a highly-respected and beloved lady of the name of Gran, residing within a hundred miles of Norfolk Street.

Mrs Lirriper
Phew!  I felt that we were almost safe now. I felt that the dear boy had no suspicion of the bitter truth. The Major gave me an encouraging nod.

Master Jemmy
Our hero’s father proving implacable and carrying his threat into unrelenting execution, the struggles of the young couple in London were severe, and would have been far more so but for their good angel having led them to the abode of Mrs Gran.  She, realising their poverty (in spite of their best endeavours to conceal it), by a thousand delicate arts smoothed their rough way and lessened the sharpness of their first distress.

After a while, they left the house of Mrs Gran and pursued their fortune through a variety of successes and failures elsewhere.  But in all the reverses, whether for good or evil, the words of Mr Edson to the fair young partner of his life were: “Unchanging Love and Truth will carry us through all!”  

Mrs Lirriper
(To herself) Oh such words, so woefully unlike the fact.

Master Jemmy
And so they fought their way, poor but gallant and happy, until Mrs Edson gave birth to a child. 

Mrs Lirriper
A daughter.

Master Jemmy
No, a son.  And the father was so proud of it that he could hardly bear it out of his sight.  But a dark cloud overspread the scene.  Mrs Edson sickened, drooped and died. 

Mrs Lirriper
Ah!  Sickened and drooped and died!

Master Jemmy
And so Mr Edson’s only comfort, only hope on earth, and only stimulus to action was his darling boy. As the child grew older, he grew so like his mother that he was her living picture.  But, unhappily, he was like his mother in constitution, and he died too before he had grown out of childhood.  

Then Mr Edson, who had good abilities, in his forlornness and despair threw them all to the winds. He became apathetic, restless, lost.  Little by little, he sank down, down, down, until at last he almost lived (I think) by gambling.  And so sickness overtook him in the town of Sens in France, and he lay down to die.  

But now that he laid him down when all was done, he thought gratefully of the good, long-lost sight of Mrs Gran, who had been so kind to him in the early days of their marriage, and he left the little that he had as a last Legacy to her. And she, being brought to see him, at first no more knew him than she would know from seeing the ruin of a Greek or Roman temple (what it used to be before it fell); but at length, she remembered him.   

And then he told her, with tears, of his regret for the misspent part of his life and begged her to think as mildly of it as she could, because it was the poor fallen Angel of his unchanging Love and Constancy after all.  

And because she had her grandson with her, and he fancied that his own boy – if he had lived – might have grown to be something like him, he asked her to let him touch his forehead with his cheek and say certain parting words.  

And that concludes my story.

 FX applause and “bravo!” from Mrs Lirriper and Major Jackman

Mrs Lirriper
(Welling up)  You little Conjurer!  How did you ever make it all out?  Go in and write every word down for it’s a wonder.

Master Jemmy
Yes, Gran!

FX begin exit music

Major Jackman
Dearest Madam, all has prospered with us.

Mrs Lirriper
Drying eyes) Ah Major, we needn’t have been afraid.  We might have known it.  Treachery don’t come natural to beaming youth; but trust and pity, love and constancy – they do, thank God!

Narrator
This final episode of Mrs Lirriper’s Legacy featured the talents of S-J Vant as Emma Lirriper, Mike Ayris as Major Jemmy Jackman, Frankie Hart as Master Jemmy and Jim Newberry as Mr Edson.
 
Mrs Lirriper’s Legacy was adapted for audio by Jim Newberry. Sound engineering and effects were, as usual, mastered with magnificent aplomb by Robbie Burgess. This was a joint venture from Oldolly and Uptick Productions.

Charles Dickens – and other writers - will return soon in a blockbuster audio version of Somebody’s Luggage.

FX fade out exit music