Free Gently Continental by Alan Hunter

guessing.
    GENTLY
    He mentioned his wife?
    TRUDI
    No. I don’t remember that.
    STEPHEN
    They’re always married, these Americans, have got a wife they’re running away from.
    TRUDI
    Yes, he said something – what was it? About marriage out there being a bad business.
    STEPHEN
    You couldn’t win, that’s what he said. The woman had you on the hop. It sounded personal, I thought, as though he’d had some experience.
    TRUDI
    Yes, bitter.
    STEPHEN
    Bitter as hell. I wouldn’t mind betting that was his trouble.
    GENTLY
    Hmn. You seem to have had quite a talk with him, after all.
    STEPHEN
    Well, I wouldn’t say that. Just one thing leading to another.
    GENTLY
    And how did it lead to his thoughts on marriage?
    STEPHEN
    As a matter of fact, because of what I’d been saying. That I was studying for my M.D. He advised me to stay clear of women, not to marry till I was established.
    GENTLY
    Not much of a compliment to Miss Trudi.
    TRUDI
    Oh, he was only making fun.
    GENTLY
    While being bitter?
    TRUDI
    I – he didn’t mean—
    GENTLY
    An interesting character, this American of yours.
    STEPHEN
    (Colouring.)
    Just look here! We’re doing our best to answer your questions. It’s not as though we could tell you anything important, all this doesn’t matter a rap. So at least you can stop sneering, pretending we’re telling a pack of lies.
    TRUDI
    Stephen!
    STEPHEN
    I don’t care, Trudi. It’s like some sort of Inquisition.
    TRUDI
    He has to ask about Mr Clooney—
    STEPHEN
    Yes, but he doesn’t have to be so sarcastic.
    TRUDI
    (Makes a little gesture.)
    STEPHEN
    All right, all right. You can put up with it if you like.
    GENTLY
    I’m quite sincere when I say he’s interesting. His character seems so elusive. For instance, he scarcely spoke to other people, yet he let his hair down with you.
    TRUDI
    That’s . . . exaggerating, perhaps.
    GENTLY
    Then this matter of his wife. Some people think he cared nothing about her, others that he cared very much.
    STEPHEN
    We said he was bitter, not that he cared.
    GENTLY
    I’ve been told he treated her as a joke. And even his physical appearance is questionable. Was he ugly – or handsome?
    TRUDI
    Oh – handsome.
    GENTLY
    (To Stephen.)
    You agree?
    STEPHEN
    Why not? He wasn’t bad-looking.
    TRUDI
    He was good-looking. (She blushes.) But you – you’ve seen him.
    GENTLY
    (Shrugs.)
    TRUDI
    Of course . . . now, I dare say . . .
    STEPHEN
    He was well set-up, quite distinguished. May have had a heart condition, but nothing exceptional for his age.
    GENTLY
    A heavy drinker.
    TRUDI
    Not heavy.
    GENTLY
    Drank scotch, reeked of whisky.
    TRUDI
    But that simply isn’t true. Who has been telling you all this?
    STEPHEN
    He drank a bit, like all yanks, but you never saw him the worse for it. He had a colour, I’ll say that. But he never struck you as a lush.
    GENTLY
    Not ugly, not a drunkard, not indifferent about his wife, not even notably secretive. Well, it’ll sort itself out, no doubt. Perhaps he didn’t have an accent, either?
    TRUDI
    He was an American, you could tell that.
    GENTLY
    A native born and bred American.
    TRUDI
    I – yes, born and bred.
    GENTLY
    No overtones – say, Italian?
    TRUDI
    Good Heavens no! He was not Italian.
    GENTLY
    What makes you so certain?
    TRUDI
    He . . . it is just quite impossible.
    STEPHEN
    You must know that, if you’ve looked at him. Wrong ethnological type.
    GENTLY
    His name suggests an Irish ancestry. But nobody suspects him of being Irish.
    TRUDI
    No, not Irish. I’d say . . . I don’t know, one only thought of him as being American. But if there was an accent . . . a slight accent . . .
    GENTLY
    Yes?
    TRUDI
    Well . . . I don’t know . . . Scandinavian?
    STEPHEN
    Of course, yes, that would be it. You’re brilliant, Trudi – that’s his type exactly: a Nordic dolichocephalic.
    GENTLY
    You are familiar with