When confronted with the text of the letter, Leslie denies having written

it, claiming it can only be a forgery. She later admits having written and

claims she asked him to come because she was planning a surprise for her

husband’s birthday. Later she admits that she and Hammond had been lovers

and he had left her for the Chinese woman. Joyce promises to try to buy the

letter from the Chinese woman.

Leslie comes through the trial well, is acquitted and comes home. Her

husband tells her that he has come to hate the plantation and wants to take

up an offer of a new plantation in Sumatra. Joyce has to admit that he used

ten thousand dollars of Crosbie’s money to buy the letter. Robert demands to

see the letter and, due to this, Leslie has to admit that Hammond had been

her lover for years. She claims that she didn’t want to love him, but she

couldn’t help herself. Her husband is devastated.

The play takes a jump into the past, to the evening that Hammond came to see

Leslie. She begs him not to leave her, swearing that she'll tell everyone

about his Chinese woman if he does.

Once again, we are in the present, and Leslie promises Joyce that she will

spend the rest of her life trying to make it up to her husband although she

is still in love with the man she murdered.

Elizabeth Unger

For Services Rendered - a play by W. Somerset Maugham

The name of this play, For Services Rendered, concerns the military services

rendered to the British Commonwealth during the first world war. All the

characters have been directly or indirectly affected by the war and their

lives will never be the same again. This social study portrays the

disappointments and bitterness of the members of the Ardsley family and

their friends. The only exception seems to the father, Leonard, a country

solicitor who was too old to have been drafted and still believes in

patriotism and honour. His wife, Charlotte, who is dying of cancer and

refuses treatment, is only partially aware of the pain being suffering by

those around her.

Her eldest daughter, Ethel, married Howard Bartlett, a local tenant-farmer

who was socially far beneath her. Howard’s glory days were during the war

when he was “an officer and a gentleman”. Wearing a uniform and being a hero

let him gave any girls he wanted and though he has been married to Ethel for

over 15 years, he still dreams of the good old days. Ethel tries not to

admit it, but Howard, his drinking and his farmer’s life is a terrible

disappointment to her but she “made her bed and she’ll have to lie in it”.

Sidney, the Ardsley’s oldest son, had also been an officer in the war. While

many of his friends and fellow soldiers died, he has been blinded in battle.

He spends his time knitting, playing piquet and chess and wondering if being

killed in battle hadn’t been bitter than being blinded.

His sister, Eva, now over 35, is devoting her life to her brother because

her fiancé was killed in the war. But her discontent is easy to see and she

sets all her hopes in Collie Stralton, around her age and a former commander

in the Royal Navy. He is one of many officers who was no longer needed after

the war and has been let go with 1000 pounds “for services rendered”. He has

invested this in a garage and workshop but has no real training and no sense

of business. Collie is not only bankrupt, he is arrested for writing bad

checks. Eva offers him her money in exchange for marriage. Collie, however,

commits suicide which pushes Eva over the edge into insanity.

Lois, the youngest daughter, 26, still hopes to find a man who’ll love and

marry her. The only men who want her are her brother-in-law, Howard, and

Wilfred Cedar, a much older and married man. He claims to be in love with

Lois, gives her presents, and convinces her to run off with him, in exactly

the same way as he had done with his second wife, Gwen, who he is leaving

now. He is a wealthy man who could easily have helped Collie with his

financial difficulties, thus saving his life, but he didn’t.

The play ends with Eva’s insanity, Mrs. Ardsley’s approaching death, Lois’

imminent departure and Mr. Ardsley going on about how ”very nice it is to

have a cup of tea by one’s own fireside and surrounded by one’s family. If

you come to think of it none of us have anything very much to worry about.

This old England of ours isn’t done yet and I for one believe in it and all

it stands for.” Eva, in her insanity, sings “God save our gracious King!”

while the others look in horror-struck surprise.

“Home and Beauty” is a farce which takes place in 1918. Victoria was

happily married to William who tragically fell in the War. After one year

of appropriate mourning, during which she gave birth to William’s son, she

married Frederick. He had been William’s best friend and is, like William,

a Major. Victoria and Frederick have recently had a baby.

At the beginning of the play Victoria’s biggest problems are the lack of

coal which means she can only have a fire in the children’s room and her

bedroom and the fact that the cook has left. While having a manicure,

Victoria explains that she adored her first husband but that she’s just as

fond of her second one. “Of course, I should never survive it if anything

happened to my present husband, but if anything did - touch wood, you know I

couldn’t help myself, I’d just have to marry again, and I know I’d love my

third husband just as much as I loved the other two!”

While recovering from the strain of the manicure Victoria receives a visit

from Mr. Leicester Paton, a ship builder who is able to wangle almost

anything one wants. She flirts with him outrageously.

Soon after, Frederick comes home, announcing that William, Victoria’s first

husband, will be arriving in a few minutes. And then the chaos is complete.

It seems that William had mistakenly been declared dead. He had, in fact,

been wounded and taken by German soldiers. No one can bear to tell him that

Victoria and Frederick are not only married but have a child as well. The

rest of Act I and Act II are full of misunderstandings and confusion about

which of the two men will step aside or “do the honourable thing”. Both of

them come to the conclusion that being married to Victoria, as lovely as she

is, is not such a wonderful thing.

In Act III Victoria comes up with the solution to this problem by announcing

that she plans to divorce both of them and marry Paton, who is far wealthier

and can take much better care of her. Neither of her husbands are very

distressed by this turn of events but it must be handled well.

Victoria’s solicitor, Mr. A.B. Raham, arrives to go through the necessary

steps for divorce. In the end adultery is the only grounds for divorce

which would be fast enough. Mr. Raham employs Miss Monmorency, a woman of

about 55, as “the other woman” and she suggest her friends, Mrs. Onslow

Jervis, a clergyman’s widow, as the other “other woman”.

The arrangements are completed and husbands one and two bid their farewells

as Victoria asks both of them to return the various presents she had given

them as she’ll be needing them for husband number three.