解説　場面 41「語られる過去」

"Yes, sir, my name was Selden, and he is my younger brother. We humoured him too much when he was a lad and gave him his own way in everything until he came to think that the world was made for his pleasure, and that he could do what he liked in it. Then as he grew older he met wicked companions, and the devil entered into him until he broke my mother's heart and dragged our name in the dirt. From crime to crime he sank lower and lower until it is only the mercy of God which has snatched him from the scaffold; but to me, sir, he was always the little curly-headed boy that I had nursed and played with as an elder sister would. That was why he broke prison, sir. He knew that I was here and that we could not refuse to help him. When he dragged himself here one night, weary and starving, with the warders hard at his heels, what could we do? We took him in and fed him and cared for him. Then you returned, sir, and my brother thought he would be safer on the moor than anywhere else until the hue and cry was over, so he lay in hiding there. But every second night we made sure if he was still there by putting a light in the window, and if there was an answer my husband took out some bread and meat to him. Every day we hoped that he was gone, but as long as he was there we could not desert him. That is the whole truth, as I am an honest Christian woman and you will see that if there is blame in the matter it does not lie with my husband but with me, for whose sake he has done all that he has."

「はい、旦那様。私の旧姓はセルデンで、あの子は弟です。子どものころ、甘やかしすぎて、何でも好きにさせたものですから、世の中は自分を楽しませるためにあり、好きにしてよいのだと思うようになったのです。大きくなるにつれて悪い仲間と付き合い、悪魔が入り込んだようになって、母の心を打ち砕き、家の名を泥に引きずり込みました。罪を重ね、どこまでも落ちていき、絞首台から救われたのも神のお慈悲だけというところまで来ました。ですが私にとっては、旦那様、姉として世話をし、一緒に遊んだ、あの巻き毛の小さな男の子のままなのです。だから脱獄したのです、旦那様。私がここにいて、助けを求められれば断れないと、知っていたのです。ある晩、疲れ果てて飢え、看守たちにすぐ後ろを追われながら、ここへたどり着いたとき、私たちに何ができたでしょう。家に入れ、食べさせ、世話をしました。それから旦那様がお戻りになり、弟は、捜索の騒ぎが収まるまで、どこよりも荒れ地の方が安全だろうと考え、そこへ隠れたのです。ですが一晩おきに、まだいるかを窓の灯で確かめ、返事があれば、夫がパンと肉を運びました。毎日、もう去っていてほしいと願いましたが、あそこにいる限りは、見捨てられませんでした。これがすべて本当のことで、正直なキリスト教徒の女として誓います。もし責められる点があるとしても、それは夫ではなく、私にあるとお分かりになるでしょう。夫がしてきたことは、すべて私のためなのですから」