Narrator: Lucinda's mother knew that she had produced a proud square peg
in the full knowledge that from coast to coast there were nothing but
round holes.
Fish: You have caught the germ
Oscar: No, no thank you. Fish: I am corruption you
Oscar: No Fish, Fish, don't you see? You are an agent of the Lord.
Fish: Whoa Oddbod ease up.
Oscar: I have been praying to God for funds and now it ha I shall be
able to pay my bills
Oscar: That's the sailor. Fish has that got a powerful bum?
Narrator: When Lucinda exploded her present of the Prince Rupert's drop
it was not something she easily forgot. She knew that glass was a thing
in disguise. It was not a solid at all but a liquid and even while it
was as frail as the ice on Parramatta puddle, it is stronger than Sydney
sandstone.
Hassett: And now the Pies de resistance.
Lucinda: Ohhh. No, no you must not
Hassett: Why must I not?
Lucinda: Because ... you know what will happen wwhen it is gone.
Hassett: Oh.
Lucinda: I'm sorry.
Lucinda: Yes, you cannot help me.
Hassett: On the contrary, of course I shall help you to buy your
glassworks.
Lucinda: I have more than 10,000 pounds.
Hassett: The juice you do.
Lucinda: Will you take the plunge with me?
Fish: Look at you. You look like a scarecrow.
Oscar: Perhaps that is because I'm wearing your coat.
Lucinda: You were right in your choice of navy.
Lucinda: Eight with spades.
Dabs: A duck to water you have caught the bug.
Lucinda: I am sorry you argued with your friend.
Hassett: Is there any truth in his story?
Lucinda: I have been to Mr. Dab's house.
Narrator: Lucinda had an immense feeling of relief. No responsibility.
No choice. Every loss was one brick less in the foundation of her
fortune.
Lucinda: I confess to God Almighty and the whole company of Heaven that
I have sinned.
Oscar: Uh-huh.
Lucinda: I have attended rooms in Drawry Lane, for the purpose of
playing fantan. I have played dice on a train full of racing types. I
did not attend the race track bit I went on the train expressly to play
dice. I tried to persuade a business colleague of mine to take me to a
cock fight. He refused, but I would have gone. I set up the table here
like this as a trap for the steward who I know to play poker. I wish to
play with them.
Oscar: Where's the sin? We bet! I is all in pastal you know. We bet that
there is a God. We bet our live on it. We calculate the odds that return
that we will sit with the saints in paradise. Our anxiety about our bet
wakes us before dawn in a cold sweat. And God, God sees us suffer. I
cannot believe that a God whose fundamental requirement of us is that we
gamble our mortal souls--it is true we stake everything on the fact of
his existence. I cannot believe that he would look unkindly on a chap
wagging a few quid on the likelihood of a dumb animal crossing the line
first. Unless, unless it might be considered a blasphemy to apply to
common pleasure that which is divine. Shall we play?
Lucinda: Yes!
Lucinda: You are a rude woman. And you are a rude man. You imagine you
are civilized but really you are savages with toppers and tails. You
should pray God to forgive you your rudeness. You may leave. The way you
came!
Lucinda: We shall make a pact.
Oscar: We shall?
Lucinda: To never gamble again. I promise never to invite you to another
game of cards or any other form of gambling. And we shall keep it and be
friends.
Oscar: I do not fit. I know that.
Lucinda: You do not give a hoot what people think of you.
Oscar: I have an idea. Are you curious?
Lucinda: Yes, of course I am curious.
Narrator: Oscar's idea was born out of Christianity. That you sacrifice
yourself you will obtain the object of your design. The odds were surely
stacked against him. Had it been a horse rather than a woman's heart, he
never would have bet on it, not even for a place.
Oscar: A Church! Made-of-Glass!
Lucinda: A Church?
Oscar: Of Glass!
Lucinda: A Glass Church?
Oscar: Yes!!
Oscar: You think it is outside my scope.
Lucinda: There is no shame in that.
Oscar: There is no truth in it either.
Oscar: I wager you I can do it. You can nominate the date.
Lucinda: This is madness.
Oscar: I am prepared to wager you that I can have the glass church in
Bellingen by, say, Good Friday.
Lucinda: On what can you bet?
Oscar: Ten quid.
Lucinda: It's not enough
Oscar: What is enough.
Lucinda: Your inheritance.
Oscar: My father may live until he is 100. He is not a rich man anyway.
Lucinda: That makes no difference.
Oscar: And you will bet?
Lucinda: Same.
Oscar: Same amount?
Lucinda: The same. My inheritance.
Oscar: But you already have it.
Lucinda: Yes
Oscar: Your works
Lucinda: Yes everything.
Oscar: You, you will wager all that?
Lucinda: Yes.
Oscar: Five weeks without even a game of penny poker and now this.
Lucinda: He is a brave man, Mr. Jeffries.
Jefferies: Yes.
Lucinda: Far braver than you or I.
Narrator: That she did not open Oscar's letter was not forgetfulness.
She did not wish to cry.
Oscar, in letter: I dare not hope and yet I must that through this deed
I gain your trust.
Lucinda: You had my trust. You fool. My darling.
Oscar: This wrist, God made me. How could I smite you... I will play you
poler and will win. This money will be your gift to God's work in
Bellingen.
ie