BRODIE, the Deacon's Sister

JEAN WATT, the Deacon's Mistress

VAGABONDS, OFFICERS OF THE WATCH, MEN-SERVANTS

The Scene is laid in Edinburgh. The Time is towards the close of the
Eighteenth Century. The Action, some fifty hours long, begins at eight
p.m. on Saturday and ends before midnight on Monday

NOTE.--_Passages suggested for omission in representation are enclosed
in parentheses, thus_ ( )

SYNOPSIS OF ACTS AND TABLEAUX

ACT I

TABLEAU I The Double Life
TABLEAU II Hunt the Runner
TABLEAU III Mother Clarke's

ACT II

TABLEAU IV Evil and Good

ACT III

TABLEAU V King's Evidence
TABLEAU VI Unmasked

ACT IV

TABLEAU VII The Robbery

ACT V

TABLEAU VIII The Open Door

DEACON BRODIE

OR THE DOUBLE LIFE

ACT I

TABLEAU I

THE DOUBLE LIFE

_The Stage represents a room in the Deacon's house, furnished partly
as a sitting-, partly as a bedroom, in the style of an easy burgess
of about 1780. C., a door; L.C., second and smaller door; R.C.,
practicable window; L., alcove, supposed to contain bed; at the back,
a clothes-press and a corner cupboard containing bottles, etc._

_MARY BRODIE at needlework; OLD BRODIE, a paralytic, in wheeled chair,
at the fireside, L._

SCENE I

_To these, LESLIE, C._

LESLIE. May I come in, Mary?

MARY. Why not?

LESLIE. I scarce knew where to find you.

MARY. The dad and I must have a corner, must we not? So when my
brother's friends are in the parlour he allows us to sit in his room.
'Tis a great favour, I can tell you; the place is sacred.

LESLIE. Are you sure that "sacred" is strong enough?

MARY. You are satirical!

LESLIE. I? And with regard to the Deacon? Believe me, I am not so
ill-advised. You have trained me well, and I feel by him as solemnly as
a true-born Brodie.

MARY. And now you are impertinent! Do you mean to go any further? We are
a fighting race, we Brodies. O, you may laugh, sir! But 'tis no child's
play to jest us on our Deacon, or, for that matter, on our Deacon's
chamber either. It was his father's before him: he works in it by day
and sleeps in it by night; and scarce anything it contains but is the
labour of his hands. Do you see this table, Walter? He made it while he
was yet a 'prentice. I remember how I used to sit and watch him at his
work. It would be grand, I thought, to be able to do