[Exit Ruth.
Spread. That’s a good girl! (He sits on seat.) I couldn’t make up my mind to pass the old house without framing an excuse to take a peep at it. (Looks round.) Very nice—very pretty—but, dear me, on a very much smaller scale than I fancied. Remarkable changes in thirty years! (Rises and walks round trees, looking about.) Why, the place is a town, and a railway runs right through it. And this is really the old garden in which I spent so many pleasant hours? Poor little Jenny!—I wonder what’s become of her? Pretty little girl, but with a tendency to stoutness; if she’s alive, I’ll be bound she’s fat. So this is Mr. Braybrook’s, is it? I wonder who Braybrook is—I don’t remember any family of that name hereabouts. (Looking off.) This, I suppose, is Mrs. Braybrook. Now, how in the world am I to account for my visit?
Enter Jenny—she curtsies formally, he bows.
I beg your pardon, I hardly know how to explain this intrusion. Perhaps I had better state my facts, they will plead my apology:—I am an old Indian civilian, who, having returned to England after many years’ absence, is whiling away a day in his native place, and amusing himself with polishing old memories—bright enough once, but sadly tarnished—sadly tarnished!
Jen. Indeed? May I hope that you have succeeded?
Spread. Indifferently well—indifferently well. The fact is, I hardly know where I am, for all my old landmarks are swept away; I assure you I am within the mark, when I say that this house is positively the only place I can identify.
Jen. The town has increased very rapidly of late.
Spread. Rapidly! When I left, there were not twenty houses in the place, but (politely) that was long before your time. I left a village, I find a town—I left a beadle, I find a mayor and corporation—I left a pump, I find a statue to a borough member. The inn is a “Palace Hotel Company—” the alms-house a county jail—the pound is a police station, and the common a colony of semi-detached bungalows! Everything changed, including myself—everything new, except myself—ha, ha!
Jen. I shall be glad to offer you any assistance in my power, I should be a good guide, for I have lived here thirty-two years!
Spread. Thirty-two years! is it possible? Then surely I ought to know you? (He feels for his glasses.) My name is Spreadbrow—Sir Henry Spreadbrow!