#marpletowardszero #poirotdeadmansmirror #enchantedapril
On a transatlantic journey, two Englishmen fall for an American woman with a mysterious past. Starring: Diane Cilento, Edward Hardwicke, Derek Jacobi.
On a transatlantic journey, two Englishmen fall for an American woman with a mysterious past. Starring: Diane Cilento, Edward Hardwicke, Derek Jacobi.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00To be continued...
00:30To be continued...
01:00Well, the last time you were on a boat was two and a half months ago when we came.
01:04Besides, I don't see why you should mind.
01:06I'm the one that gets sick.
01:07Yes, I dare say you're right.
01:08I don't see why you're on a boat.
01:15Henry, were you disappointed at all?
01:19I mean, were you, for instance, disappointed in the women at all?
01:22I think I was, rather.
01:24I don't know what one expected American women to be like, or whatever it was, they weren't like it.
01:28Yet we met only the best.
01:30I mean, all those letters of introduction we had, they were dash good letters.
01:33Oh, they were very well connected.
01:35I mean, we were told those Newport girls were stunning.
01:38I don't know.
01:39I feel...
01:41Well, I don't know what I feel, Willie.
01:43As if you had your very best suit packed in your trunk, and you never got a chance to wear it.
01:48That's it, exactly.
01:49Oh, perhaps we expected too much.
02:01I say, I say, dear.
02:09Well, who do you suppose she is?
02:14We've got six days to find out.
02:16Dameril.
02:18D-A-M-E-R-E-L.
02:22Mrs. Elizabeth Dameril.
02:23Chilver.
02:24Henry Chilver.
02:24How do you do?
02:25How do you do, Mr. Chilver?
02:26Why don't you sit down?
02:29Just coffee and a little bread, please.
02:33Is, um...
02:34Is Mr. Dameril aboard?
02:36My husband is dead.
02:37Oh, I'm sorry.
02:38Thank you, but I'm all right now.
02:41I'm over it.
02:42I thought I must travel.
02:44In fact, I was told I should travel.
02:45The solace of distraction and the changing scene.
02:48Wasn't it one of your philosophers, you said that?
02:51In America, there's a philosopher on every front porch.
02:54Yes, I had noticed that.
02:56It's the breadth of our skies.
02:58They encourage the sweeping generalization.
03:01Well, I would say that that is a sweeping generalization.
03:03Which proves my point, I think.
03:05Have you, um, been to England before?
03:09No, this is my very first time.
03:11I'm looking forward to it immensely.
03:13Oh, then you must allow me to show you around a little.
03:17What a lovely way to start the day.
03:20Henry, please introduce me this minute.
03:22Mrs. Dameril, this is my good friend, Mr. Bertram Bradle.
03:25Mr. Bradle, Mrs. Elizabeth Dameril.
03:27How do you do, Mr. Bradle?
03:29Absolutely enchanted.
03:31You don't mind if I join you, do you?
03:32Not at all.
03:34Well, how did you become acquainted with this terrible chap?
03:36Mr. Childer asked if you might join me, and I consented.
03:39I thought you were out of our cabin pretty smartly this morning.
03:43Just coffee, sir?
03:44No, no, all the rest, my dear chap.
03:46All the rest.
03:47Sausages, kidneys, eggs, bacon, mushrooms, so on.
03:50Got to keep one's strength up, you know.
03:51You'll get accustomed to the English breakfast, Mrs. Dameril.
03:54It's based on the assumption that you make it one's last meal on a...
03:56And so it may, by George.
03:58A great deal can happen in a chap's life before luncheon.
04:02You lunch, do you, Mrs. Dameril?
04:05Generally, I do, yes.
04:06It's rather nice to have it on the boat deck.
04:08I know rather...
04:08What a splendid idea!
04:10Let's all have luncheon on the boat deck.
04:12Oh, weather permitting, of course.
04:14Looks as if it might get rather rough.
04:16Have you gentlemen been in America on business?
04:19Oh, not really.
04:20More of a sort of...
04:20No, we've been enjoying ourselves.
04:22We thought it was time to...
04:24The point is that all the chaps one knows,
04:26well, a good number of them anyway,
04:28well, they all seem to have done America already, do you see.
04:31It's getting said that a chap can't have a decent conversation...
04:33Having been to America, if one is to hold one's own,
04:37has become as vital as having the electric light
04:41if one wants to let one's flat.
04:42Yes, now we've been, you see,
04:47and we can press the American button with the best of them.
04:50And I go to learn to press the English button.
04:53Oh, the English button will be enchanted, my dear Mrs. Dameril.
04:56But are neither of you in business that you can spare so much time?
04:59Well, I'm supposed to look after the family trusts and so on,
05:02but they really look after themselves.
05:04And I'm a barrister with a small practice
05:06that I'm ashamed to say doesn't miss me in the least.
05:08Oh, whoops. Oh, squalls ahead.
05:12If you please, sir.
05:13Oh, splendid.
05:14Oh, you know, the sea air really does wonders for one's appetite.
05:18Mmm, sausages.
05:19Oh, here are the kidneys.
05:21Wonderful.
05:23I say, that bacon's a bit fatty.
05:27Oh, look, I say they've given me some liver.
05:29If you'll excuse me, I think I'll take a turn on deck.
05:34Oh, dear, poor Henry.
05:35Anyway, here in the ocean, don't hit it off together.
05:38Oh, dear.
05:40You're not incommoded at all?
05:43No.
05:45I believe I travel well.
05:54I've spent the whole day with her on the boat deck.
05:57Had lunch together.
05:58Please don't mention food.
06:00She's not at all celebrated or well-connected.
06:03And she's the first American lady we've met in the whole time
06:06who isn't well-connected.
06:08Yet she's the most bewitching creature one's encountered.
06:13It really is rotten luck for you, old man,
06:15being laid up like this,
06:17when you could be enjoying her company.
06:18Henry, I'll try not to wake you when I come in.
06:26I don't believe a word of it, Bertie.
06:30Henry, you've struggled out at last.
06:34Well done, old man.
06:35Mrs. Shieldra, I do hope you're better.
06:37Yes, yes, much better, thank you.
06:39Please don't get out.
06:40Elizabeth and I have been working up an appetite.
06:42They tell me it's Ailsford Duckling.
06:44Are you sure?
06:45No, thank you.
06:46No.
06:46Well, then, we'll look you up later.
06:48Bye, my old chap.
06:49Goodbye, Mr. Shieldra.
06:56Well, Henry, one more day,
06:57and we dock in Liverpool.
06:58Thank God for that.
07:00Much longer on this reeling drunkard of a ship,
07:02and I'll be fetching up my boot laces.
07:04Ah, yes, has been rotten for you, old chap.
07:06I do sympathize.
07:09Henry?
07:09Hmm?
07:10You know we decided to push straight on to London when we landed,
07:13rather than stay overnight in Liverpool.
07:15Yes, I remember.
07:16Well, the thing is, you see,
07:17I promised to see Elizabeth through.
07:19I mean, to say, you know what it'll be like.
07:20I mean, first of all,
07:21she's got to slog all the way down from Liverpool to London,
07:24and when she gets to London,
07:25she'll have to change stations,
07:27Houston to Victoria.
07:28I mean, she's got to get across town,
07:29all that luggage.
07:30She's going to be absolutely lost on her own,
07:33what with it being her first time in England and so forth.
07:35So?
07:36So, naturally, I've offered to shepherd her.
07:38Take her under my wing, so to speak.
07:41Naturally.
07:42The only thing is that,
07:44well, she feels she can't really face it straight off the boat,
07:47so she's decided to stay overnight in Liverpool,
07:50which means that I'll have to stay overnight too.
07:53You don't mind, old man?
07:54Not at all.
07:55Now, I'll call at the hotel,
07:56see if there any messages for me,
07:57and then catch the night train on my own.
07:59I mean to say,
08:00you've probably had quite enough of my company by now.
08:02There's no need to apologize.
08:04No, I just thought I'd bring it up.
08:05A Bertie, please.
08:06Oh, I'm terribly sorry, old man.
08:08Oh, those confounded customs people,
08:12what the devil do they suppose we'd be trying to smuggle in anyway?
08:15Well, I'm so happy to be standing on something that keeps to lay out of care.
08:18Fat chance I had to ease the way through for Elizabeth.
08:20She was past them in a flash.
08:21Well, they don't care what the Americans bring in.
08:23It's only the native sons who suffer.
08:25She must have got here a good hour ago.
08:26Good evening.
08:27You've reserved me a room.
08:28The name is Bradle.
08:29I telegraphed from the ship.
08:30My luggage is outside.
08:32Oh, yes, sir.
08:32I believe we did have a communication.
08:34There was also a telegram for you.
08:36Yeah.
08:37Arrived this p.m.
08:38Any messages for me, children?
08:40No.
08:44Oh, confound it!
08:46What is it?
08:47I absolutely must be back in town first thing tomorrow morning.
08:51It's a question of a signature.
08:52A great deal of money hangs on it.
08:54Well, then you must go, old man.
08:55But what about Elizabeth?
08:57I promised to see her through Brighton and all that.
09:00Oh, blazes.
09:02Should you think it's too late to ask for a word?
09:03Oh, I should say so.
09:04She should have retired by this time.
09:06Besides, you'll only just catch the night train, isn't she?
09:08Well, I'll telegram her first thing in the morning.
09:10Sorry.
09:11She won't need the room after all.
09:12You'd better watch your chap.
09:14He's just ramming your luggage into the lift.
09:15No!
09:16Sorry!
09:16Back on the cab, if you please.
09:18Lime Street Station.
09:19Come on, Henry.
09:20I've just had a thought, Bertie.
09:21What?
09:22Oh, come on, old man.
09:23Well, it occurred to me that I might be more used to you staying here than dashing off with you to London.
09:27Used to me?
09:27Well, I could look after Elizabeth Damrell for you in your place, as it were, in loco Bertie.
09:31But I thought you had to be back in town first thing tomorrow, too.
09:34No, not really.
09:35I just said that because I thought you'd like to be alone with Mrs. Damrell.
09:37Well, that was very considerate of you.
09:39Now that that possibility no longer exists, I'd rather take a slow pace.
09:43Of course, if I can do you a favor at the same time.
09:46Of course, if you don't care for the idea.
09:48No, why shouldn't I care for it?
09:50No.
09:51When you've got all my stuff back on, take my friends off.
09:54Would you bring it in here?
09:55This gentleman can have the room I've just cancelled.
09:59I'm not going to have you thinking I'm afraid of competition.
10:01Don't be ridiculous.
10:02You've had six days with her.
10:04Well, I've got to train right.
10:05Well, tell her I'm very sorry.
10:06Say that I'll wire.
10:07No, I'll write.
10:08I've got to address in bite.
10:10You take good care of her.
10:12Bye-bye, old man.
10:13Goodbye.
10:13And thank you.
10:15What for?
10:16Oh, for giving me the chance for a good night's sleep, you know.
10:21Ah.
10:31He really is very kind of you, Mr. Gilbert.
10:33Not at all.
10:35Young Bradle means well, but, well, he's a bit impulsive, you know.
10:38It's, um, it's up to us older men to provide a little stability.
10:46Oh.
10:47Oh, it's adorable.
10:50Don't you think so?
10:51It's, uh, very pretty.
10:53I got it quite on speculation.
10:56I simply wrote to an agent over here.
10:57Did you know anybody who'd been to England before?
10:59No.
11:00No one I know has ever been out of America.
11:02And you've no connections over here?
11:04None at all.
11:05I think you're very brave.
11:06Well, my parents are what we call pioneers.
11:09What, um, cupboard wagons and all that?
11:11That's right.
11:12They make my little adventure look very tame.
11:15I don't think you're a bit tame.
11:23I feel dreadful dragging you all this way, Mr. Chilver.
11:27But I must say, you did make the journey pass very quickly.
11:31Are all English lawyers as entertaining?
11:33Only when their company is as charming.
11:35All the same, I had no idea that it was so far from Liverpool to Brighton.
11:41Oh, I was coming to London anyway.
11:43It's only another 50 miles.
11:44It's a pity about your maid.
11:45Oh, yes.
11:46You were supposed to be part of the arrangement.
11:48But if you will bear with me while I find out where things are, I shall offer you some tea.
11:52I've got a better idea.
11:53You shall come out to tea with me, to a very charming little place I know on the front.
11:57And then we shall call at a very reputable agency that I also know and engage a maid for you.
12:01Oh, you really are very kind, Mr. Chilver.
12:04Tonight I shall book myself into a hotel, take you to dinner in the old town,
12:09and tomorrow we shall go for a trip down the coast.
12:14Oh, who could that be?
12:16Well, perhaps it's your maid.
12:17Better late than never.
12:18I'll go.
12:31Hello!
12:32Hello!
12:32Hello!
12:33Hello!
12:35Elizabeth, my dear!
12:37I thought you had business.
12:39I thought, well, first thing, I hope this terrible chap's been looking after you, has he?
12:43Oh, he's been very kind.
12:43Now, I've taken the liberty of bringing down a couple of very decent people from my father's place at Haywood's Heath.
12:48A parlor maid and a cook.
12:49I thought you might be in difficulties.
12:51I take it you can accommodate them.
12:53Yes, I...
12:53I've already installed the cook in your kitchen.
12:55I hope you don't mind.
12:57My number...
12:57Parlor maid's just outside.
12:58Now, Jessie.
12:59Jessie.
13:00Ah, now, Jessie.
13:01This is Mrs. Dameron.
13:03And you're to look after her as if your life depended on it.
13:06Do you hear?
13:07Yes, sir.
13:08Hello, Jessie.
13:09Ma'am.
13:10Right, off you go, Jessie.
13:13Oh, tell Mrs. Bentham.
13:14I'll be down to have a word with her when she's got the kitchen range going.
13:16Sir.
13:18Oh, and bring us some tea, would you?
13:20Sir.
13:21Ma'am.
13:23Well.
13:24Here.
13:25I shall be staying at the Grand, just round the corner, for a few weeks.
13:29Just to see you settled in, my dear.
13:31Oh, Bertie, really.
13:37At your blessed books again.
13:39Really, I've never knowns it a chap from work.
13:42Well, that's something you know very little about loafing about at the seaside.
13:45I thought you were going to stay for two weeks.
13:46Yes, well, you know how it is.
13:48Third week just crept in.
13:49Yes.
13:50Elizabeth Dameron would tend to make a chap loose track of time, I think.
13:53Oh, you're absolutely right.
13:55She really is an enchantress.
13:57You know, you can't take her anywhere without heads turning.
13:59And you can't leave her alone for five minutes without some chap trying to get into conversation with her.
14:03Yes, and once they have conversed with her, one can't shake them off.
14:07I found that out on the train.
14:08She's a new type, my dear chap.
14:10She's an original.
14:11She's certainly that.
14:17Henry.
14:17Hmm?
14:18You don't think she's a bit off, do you?
14:21Off?
14:22Oh, well, what is the beastly phrase?
14:24Off colour.
14:25You do think she's all right, don't you?
14:27Bertie, are you in love with her?
14:30Damn it, man, of course I am.
14:32Well, doesn't that answer your question?
14:35Doesn't that give you your insight into her?
14:37No, of course it doesn't.
14:39How can you, as a man of the world, ask anything quite so idiotic?
14:42When did you ever find that being in love gave one an insight into anything?
14:46Love, my dear chap, is blind.
14:48I've been in love with creatures I haven't even been able to see properly till the fever had died down.
14:53So have you.
14:54No, I don't think I've ever really been in love.
14:56Well, you've given a very passable impersonation of it, then, in at least three cases I can recall.
15:02Oh, infatuations, passing fancies.
15:05Not to be compared to the real thing.
15:06Well, I don't mind telling you I'm harder hit now than I've ever been in my life.
15:10Well, then!
15:11It's not a question of, well, then, it's a question of placing her, making a judgment about her.
15:16What I don't understand, Bertie, is what set you off in this tack in the first place?
15:19I mean, what do you think is wrong with her?
15:20Well, nothing in the world, really.
15:23She is a widow, of course.
15:25No, I suppose it's just that with English girls one can, you know, cross-refer.
15:29There are connections.
15:30One knows people they know.
15:33But Elizabeth Dameron is out of the blue.
15:35The great American blue.
15:36Well, I would have thought a woman of any nationality would have been called all right if she's pretty.
15:41Clever.
15:42Good.
15:42Good?
15:43Now, how do you know she's good?
15:44Well, damn it, man.
15:45Anyone can see she's a lady.
15:47Yeah, that's true.
15:48But you see, one has known ladies.
15:50Yes, I suppose one has.
15:52Still, one can hardly put Elizabeth Dameron into that category.
15:55In my view...
15:55Well, in my view, she's one of the best things one's come across in a long time.
16:01Yes, I agree.
16:02She's the best by a long shot.
16:06All the same, you know.
16:08She's awfully poor.
16:10Is she?
16:11Oh, yes.
16:11She evidently has to count her shillings.
16:13Well, if she'd be bad, she'd be rich.
16:16So what more do you want?
16:19Nothing, I suppose.
16:20Marvellous.
16:39Absolutely tremendous.
16:42Well, on earth do you learn to play like that?
16:44From a little music master out in the west where I was born.
16:49He was from the conservatoire in Paris, France.
16:52Somehow he'd washed up out there.
16:54The most remarkable people do, you know.
16:56Is he the fellow who taught you to sing as well?
16:59I recall you saying on the boat you used to sing.
17:03Yes, he taught me.
17:05A little professional, were you?
17:07Oh, recitals and concerts mostly.
17:10Oh, no shows.
17:11Nothing like that.
17:12No.
17:13Ah.
17:13I say, I wish you'd sing for me now.
17:17I'm afraid I lost my voice.
17:19When my husband died, I became ill and my voice never came back.
17:23Oh, dear.
17:24Just when you needed it, too, I dare say.
17:26Needed it?
17:27Hmm?
17:28Oh, thank you.
17:28To support yourself.
17:30Since your husband didn't leave you very much, I mean.
17:33Well, he had very little to leave.
17:35He was a professional man, a surveyor.
17:38Just getting started.
17:39Did your parents help at all?
17:40Well, my parents were dead by then.
17:44I sold their little ranch, but it didn't bring in much.
17:47It was a bad year.
17:48So, what did you do?
17:50I mean, how did you survive?
17:51Well, I gave piano lessons.
17:53In the Midwest?
17:55No, in the Sandwich Islands.
17:57Ah.
17:58Where the devil are they when they're at home?
18:01They're in the South Atlantic.
18:03That's where we were when my husband died.
18:06He was doing some work for the government.
18:08So, you were sort of stranded there?
18:11Yes, I was.
18:12Good Lord.
18:14I have rubbed shoulders with some very strange company in my time, Bertie.
18:19Oh, do tell.
18:20Well, I'd love to hear your adventures.
18:25I'll tell you all about them one day.
18:28There's no use goggling at me like a baffled street lamp.
18:31I can't read the riddle of your sphinx for you.
18:34Not that I'm convinced that there is a riddle there in the first place.
18:37I tell you there is.
18:38There is something in her past history that she ought to have told a fellow before letting
18:42him get so far gone.
18:43How far gone?
18:44Dammit, I'd marry her tomorrow.
18:46That's how far.
18:47Does that mean you believe she'd marry you?
18:49Oh, yes.
18:50I believe she would.
18:51If I'd let her off, of course.
18:53Let her off what?
18:54You're telling me.
18:55Whatever it is, she's keeping back.
18:57When you say she's keeping it back, do you mean you've questioned her about it?
19:00No, not directly.
19:02Of course.
19:03No, no.
19:03I've been round and about it, you know, in a subtle sort of way.
19:07I know you.
19:07You've been about as subtle as a buffalo stampede through the middle of her drawing.
19:11Well, at any rate, she's aware that I want to know.
19:14Bertie, just what is it you think she's hiding?
19:17Will.
19:19Something or other in her life.
19:22You know, some awkward passage.
19:25Some beastly episode.
19:27Accident, even.
19:28Accident?
19:29Well, hang it.
19:30You know, the sort of things that do happen, that often have happened to women that you
19:34might think perfectly straight.
19:37You know, things that they quite often hide.
19:40Oh, come on now, hang it.
19:42You know what I'm driving at.
19:44Yeah.
19:45You know, some slip.
19:47Have you any evidence at all that she's ever made such a slip?
19:51No.
19:51Has she ever shown you the least sign of a coarseness of nature?
19:54No.
19:55Has she ever behaved with anything less than the most practiced elegance and courtesy?
19:58No.
19:59Henry, I'm not in your blessed witness box.
20:01It seems to me that you see her as a column of figures, each highly satisfactory in itself,
20:05but adding up to a total of doubts.
20:06That is exactly it.
20:08You see, she really hasn't any references.
20:10My dear man, you're not engaging a housemaid.
20:12Well, no, I know.
20:13I know.
20:14What I don't understand, Bertie, is that you love her enough to marry her, yet evidently
20:17not enough to take her on trust.
20:19Supposing it should be something quite awful.
20:23Isn't it just as easy to suppose that there's nothing at all?
20:27No, damn it, of course it isn't.
20:30If it had been, don't you suppose I'd have done it?
20:32Henry, there is something.
20:33I don't know what it is, but it's there.
20:36Then ask her.
20:38Point blank.
20:40Would you?
20:41Good God, no.
20:42Thank you, Jessie.
20:46Barry!
20:47Now, Elizabeth, my dear.
20:48Do sit down.
20:49I shan't be long.
20:53That's catching up on our letter-writing, are we?
20:56Well, it has to be done, I'm afraid.
20:59A matter of interest.
21:01How much does it cost to send a letter to the Midwest?
21:05Oh, this one's to the Sandridge Islands.
21:08Ah.
21:09I don't know.
21:10I shall have to inquire at the post office.
21:13Well, we can post it on our way.
21:16Oh, I shan't be finished before we go out to lunch.
21:18I'm sorry.
21:19I just must finish this description of the pavilion while it's still fresh in my head.
21:24There.
21:30She'll enjoy that, the little lamb.
21:34Little lamb?
21:36Oh, just a little friend.
21:38I promised her.
21:42There.
21:43Now, lunch.
21:44Elizabeth, my dear.
21:53Yes, Bertie.
21:56Oh, nothing.
21:57I suppose I should ask her.
22:02Point blank, and she swears there's nothing.
22:04Well, then you'd be the happiest man alive, wouldn't you?
22:06Yes.
22:07Then in another way, no.
22:08Bertie, lucid.
22:09I can't think we would get that dazzling clarity of mine.
22:11Bertie, you know what I mean.
22:12Bertie, I'm hanged if I do.
22:15Unless you mean you wouldn't believe her even if she did swear.
22:18Oh, no, you can't mean that.
22:19You really can't.
22:20You see, that is the situation I dread most of all.
22:23Having her swear, then finding I didn't believe her.
22:26Oh, then I give you up.
22:28To be honest, Bertie, I find you just the least bit sickening.
22:31Oh, it's all right for you to be so self-righteous.
22:34If you'd seen a bit more of her, you'd know what I mean about her having no references.
22:38Your whole life has been so conveniently away from everything.
22:41Conveniently for whom?
22:42For her.
22:43It can't be verified.
22:44It's all in the Great West.
22:46Well, we saw some of the Great West, do you remember?
22:48If you also remember, there was a bit too damn much of it.
22:52Of course, you can hardly be blamed for that.
22:53Her whole life has been spent in that veritable ocean of the Great West.
22:57In California and the Sandwich Islands.
23:00Well, I may be too particular, but I don't fancy a Sandwich Islands past.
23:05She admits herself she's been in some very queer corners.
23:09Even her late husband.
23:11She's got nothing to show for him, even.
23:13Not a picture, not a lock of hair, an announcement in a newspaper.
23:18Well, they're hardly the kind of mementos she'd leave about the drawing room of a Brighton flat.
23:21No, I dare say not, but it's not only that.
23:23What else is it, then?
23:24Well, it is tremendously odd her never having, even by the slightest chance,
23:29bumped into anything or anyone that one has ever heard of.
23:32Or could, you know, get at.
23:34Yeah, but that's precisely what I find refreshing about her.
23:37That a girl as stunning as that should simply be thrown up by the Great American Garden,
23:41one of the obscure 70 million.
23:43Yes.
23:47Of course, if she were English, on those lines, one wouldn't look at her, would one?
23:52I say, imagine her English.
23:55Had she been English, my dear chap, she'd probably never have looked at you.
23:59How do you make that out?
24:00Well, what she regards as English eccentricity, an English girl would have spotted straight away for what it is.
24:05Which is what?
24:07Congenital thick-headedness.
24:09Oh, you're very kind. Much obliged.
24:11Well, Henry, you're not being a great deal of help.
24:14Well, what do you want me to do, man?
24:15Go down to Brighton, put on my wig and cross-examine her for you in my best style.
24:18Don't be funny.
24:19Well, for God's sake, clear the thing up.
24:21How?
24:26Well, if she won't tell you, and you wouldn't believe her, even if she would,
24:33there would appear to be only one thing for it.
24:35No, but that's too absurd, I should think, even for you.
24:37What is it, man? Come on, for heaven's sake, what?
24:39Well, you must put on your deerstalker hat, pick up your magnifying glass,
24:43go out to the Great West and the Sandwich Islands, and investigate on the spot.
24:48Oh, gracious, I couldn't do that.
24:51Of course you couldn't. I warned you it was absurd.
24:53Now put it out of your head.
24:55Yes, I shall.
24:56I mean, it's just not on, is it?
24:58Oh, damn it, although I've got to know.
25:11Mr. Chilver, what a pleasant surprise.
25:15Jesse, get another cup, will you?
25:17I was on business in Hove, so I gave myself the pleasure of calling on you.
25:21How nice. And how well-timed.
25:26Won't you sit down?
25:28I have just been deprived of the company of Bertie.
25:32Oh!
25:33Yes. He has gone off to find out about me.
25:36Ah, well, he didn't actually tell you what he was up to.
25:39Oh, no, of course not. Thank you, Jesse.
25:42No, you know Bertie.
25:43He imagined that he was being brilliantly discreet.
25:47He said that he had to go off to America on business
25:50and promptly turn bright scarlet from head to foot.
25:54Without doubt, he was more direct with you.
25:56He did just touch on his preoccupation with your history.
26:01Is it a preoccupation which you share, Mr. Chilver?
26:04I am not in a position to entertain his hopes.
26:07Milk.
26:08I have no right, as it were, to be curious.
26:12Sugar.
26:13But if you were in what you call his position, what then?
26:21Well, we are both a little older than Bertie.
26:25Are you inviting me to confess to the accuracy of that statement, Mr. Chilver?
26:29My dear Mrs. Damrell, I invite you to confess nothing.
26:32What I mean to say is that age, however modest a margin,
26:35brings experience, tolerance, and even an appreciation of how a certain amount of living of life
26:43can enhance a person's attractiveness.
26:47You are not an attorney for nothing, Mr. Chilver.
26:50Well, I don't know whether to feel complimented or offended.
26:53My intention was all for your delight.
26:56Then as such, I shall accept it, sir.
26:59Do you think he will succeed in finding out what it is he wants to know?
27:11That remains to be seen.
27:13Should he return satisfied and easy in his mind, shall you take up with him where you left off?
27:19Oh, heavens, no.
27:23Well, he will.
27:24Expected, you know, he will want to.
27:27Perhaps English women take a humbler view of their duty.
27:30You regard yourself as free, then?
27:34That's bad.
27:35Oh, it's perfect.
27:42Why have you never shown it to me before?
27:45Madam, a gentleman does not show his chambers to every pretty face he makes.
27:49It's just about as English and pokey and stuffy as it's possible for a place to be.
27:55Well, there's somebody brought up in the middle of a prairie like a red Indian.
27:58It has its advantages.
28:00Only a red Indian could have stayed up on that horse your father put me upon yesterday.
28:03No, he was most impressed. He was equally impressed by your skill with a pack of cards.
28:07I've never seen such slight of hand.
28:09It is the one sure way a lady has to prevent the gentleman from patronizing her in a card game.
28:15At one time in my life, my best friend in the whole world, aside from my horses and my dogs,
28:22was James Jackson, the famous saloon gambler.
28:28Oh!
28:28He was 73 and I was 9.
28:31And it would have taken a tomahawk to part us.
28:34I don't recall Bertie telling me any of this.
28:36Oh, Bertie doesn't know it.
28:37Why not?
28:38I don't know.
28:40Bertie and I never talk the same way.
28:42Why?
28:43Oh, you don't actually wear this, do you?
28:45Indeed I do.
28:46And very fierce of my look in it, I can tell you.
28:48Oh, put it on me.
28:49No, not that.
28:49Oh, yes, please.
28:50It only shows his father's in court.
28:51Oh, Henry, please.
28:53Oh, don't be stuffy.
28:55Let me see.
28:57There.
28:58I'm sorry.
29:07That has been there for me from the beginning.
29:12From the day I made sure of getting down to breakfast first on the boat.
29:17It has for me too.
29:18And then Bertie came along and took over and you let him and I thought my instinct must
29:26be wrong.
29:26I let him?
29:28What the deuce do you think I could do about it with my stomach feeling most of the time
29:30as if it was situated between my ears?
29:32Well, I didn't know you were as bad as that.
29:35I thought it must be some sort of diplomatic indisposition.
29:39Diplomatic.
29:40Will you marry me?
29:51Please?
29:56Yes, I believe I will.
29:58So, when I thought I couldn't have you because of your lack of interest in me, I suppose
30:07I devoted myself to Bertie so as to exclude you, not to have to think about you.
30:11And after all, he's very well connected, disgustingly rich.
30:13And extremely good looking.
30:15Yes, well, of course, if that's the sort of face your taste runs, so I suppose.
30:18And wildly in love with me.
30:20Never underestimate how heavily that weighs with a woman.
30:23Why didn't you tell him what he wanted to know?
30:26What did the poor man want to know?
30:28Oh, come now, you're perfectly well aware.
30:30You share his view, then, that there is something to know?
30:34Well, most of us have a page in the book we'd like to tear out.
30:36Have you?
30:37Oh, my book's quite open.
30:39I'm known to one father, nine aunts, four brothers, two sisters, thirty cousins, assorted
30:44judges, and my head of chambers.
30:46I'm anatomized, laid down for all to see from my school days onwards.
30:50Meaning that I am not?
30:51Well, let's say that your book is not published over here.
30:55You mean to put me to the question, too, then?
30:59Well, I should love to know all about my future wife, yes.
31:02I should like to make a bargain with you.
31:13Oh?
31:15I swear that six months after the date of our marriage, I shall tell you everything.
31:24If you still want to know.
31:27And that is your condition?
31:28My great condition.
31:31Your calculation is you shall have me so drunk with happiness I shan't bother to ask.
31:35Perhaps.
31:35And even if I do ask in my bliss, I shan't care what revelations you make.
31:40Certainly.
31:40Henry, I think I can make you happy.
32:04Henry.
32:04Happy anniversary, my dearest.
32:07Henry.
32:09Oh.
32:11Oh, it's lovely.
32:14Oh, you darling.
32:16But why?
32:19Anniversary?
32:20Six months, Elizabeth.
32:21Six months today.
32:23Oh, I've forgotten.
32:26I haven't bought you anything.
32:28You are all I want.
32:29No letter from Bertie yet.
32:39Oh, you enhance it.
32:41I wish it were diamonds.
32:43I don't want diamonds.
32:46Why?
32:46Were you expecting a letter from Bertie?
32:48No, not really.
32:49I still live in hopes that he'll reply to the one I sent him.
32:51It would be reassuring to have his news.
32:55His news?
32:56Well, what he's doing, wherever he is, how he's taken it.
33:03Why should you think of him this morning, particularly?
33:06Oh, I don't know.
33:06The anniversary thing.
33:08You know, the six months.
33:11Milestones, bringing back friends, that sort of thing.
33:15Yes, it was the six months, mainly.
33:18Oh, Bertie will be all right.
33:20The Berties of this world are always all right, wherever they are.
33:23That certainly goes for the Elizabeths.
33:26Oh?
33:27Well, I have the feeling that whatever strange places or fixes you found yourself in, you've
33:31always been equal to.
33:33That's very charming of you.
33:36But you cannot both pay me compliments and eat your breakfast.
33:41Please, your egg will be getting cold.
33:43Oh, yes, my anniversary egg.
33:45My six months egg.
33:47You know, I should really try to find some way to preserve it.
33:52If you are to appear before Mr. Justice Omorod this morning, and if he is half the dragon
33:57you say he is, you had better sustain yourself with it.
34:00You're quite right.
34:03No letters for you today.
34:05You know what a rare occasion a letter is in my day.
34:09Besides, I haven't been in England long enough to generate correspondence.
34:14No, you should write to friends back in America.
34:17Then they would reply.
34:20Our lives have grown so far apart.
34:23One loses a sort of mental contact.
34:27Yes.
34:30Elizabeth?
34:31Yes, Henry.
34:35I...
34:36I love you very much.
34:43Yes, your letter caught up with me a year ago in Hawaii.
34:47Hawaii?
34:48Oh, I've been all around the world, Henry.
34:50In all sorts of extraordinary holes.
34:52You might have replied to it.
34:53It wasn't a very easy letter to write.
34:54I thought I made a pretty good job of it under the circumstances, but not a word in return.
34:58Yes, I suppose it was as decent as such a letter could be,
35:00but I didn't like it.
35:02Well, damn it, man, you could hardly have expected me to.
35:05So I didn't reply.
35:06Well, it can't have come as a complete surprise.
35:08I mean, you must have realized the risk you were taking,
35:10leaving a bloom like Elizabeth in the border while you went off to heaven knows where.
35:13I hardly expected it to be you who deprived me.
35:17I'm sorry, Bertie.
35:18I'm very, very sorry.
35:20No, I don't know.
35:21I suppose I knew that I'd spoiled my chances, really.
35:25It suddenly occurred to me, halfway across the Atlantic,
35:28what an extraordinary thing I was doing.
35:30Well, it was a bit extreme.
35:32Yes, but I had to do it.
35:33You see, I had to find out.
35:35And, uh, did you?
35:37No.
35:38What do you mean?
35:39You inquired in California?
35:40Yes, and in all the Midwest, and in all the Sandwich Islands.
35:43I found nothing.
35:45You mean nothing objectionable?
35:46No, I mean nothing at all.
35:48Not a scrap or a thread or a clue.
35:50No trace of her passage, no whisper of her name.
35:53It's as if she'd never existed.
35:54Oh, she'd covered her tracks very well.
35:57But then, of course, you'll know all about that.
36:00How she did it, I mean.
36:01Did what?
36:02Well, as I say, covered her tracks.
36:04Fooled me.
36:05I mean, you must know the whole thing if you've married her.
36:08She's told you all about it, and you've been able to swallow it.
36:11Well, she's, uh, told me nothing.
36:15What?
36:16I know as little about all that as you do.
36:17You mean you've married her without knowing?
36:20Oh, she offered to tell me after we've been married for six months if I wished her to.
36:23But surely from your letter, you must have been married a year by now.
36:26Fourteen months.
36:27And you still don't know?
36:30Oh, I see.
36:32Oh, she's refused to tell you.
36:34She's gone back on her word.
36:35On the contrary, I haven't asked her.
36:37You haven't asked her?
36:38And neither would you in my place.
36:39Oh, if you'll pardon me.
36:40No, you wouldn't.
36:41But it was her offer.
36:42She was willing.
36:43But the thing is, Bertie, I really do love her.
36:46It's something I haven't felt before.
36:49I seem to love her more all the time.
36:51I feel that if, well, if her life up to now has made her the lovely woman that she is,
36:55then there can't be anything very dreadful in her background, can there?
36:58But you can't be sure.
36:59That's no sort of proof.
37:01It's proof of the heart.
37:02I never thought I'd hear a lawyer coin that phrase.
37:06Touché.
37:07And what happens if, by some accident or some unforeseen intervention, the facts do emerge?
37:12And they are quite dreadful.
37:14The sort of thing no man could possibly live with.
37:16I can conceive of nothing that would destroy my love for Elizabeth.
37:19You haven't asked her because you're afraid.
37:23You're afraid of spoiling your happiness and hers?
37:26It could be that.
37:28Unless, of course, in everybody's interest.
37:31You're lying.
37:33You do know and you're not telling.
37:36Well, aren't you ever going to ask her?
37:38Never.
37:39Well, how the devil am I ever to find out then and be at rest?
37:41My dear Bertie, you can't expect me to ask her simply for your sake.
37:44I don't see why not.
37:46You owe me something, you know.
37:47What?
37:48Well, it was you who first put it into my mind to go over there to investigate.
37:52Yes, and then I immediately tried to put it out of your mind.
37:55Hadn't the damage been done by then, Henry?
37:58And didn't you know it would have been?
38:00The thing is, Elizabeth, he's made me feel damnably guilty.
38:06I don't see why you should feel guilty.
38:08Well, he hasn't got the quickest mind in the world, but he does get there in his own good time.
38:14Once he's got hold of a fact, it's there for life.
38:17Brandy?
38:17Yes, please.
38:22He's come to the conclusion that I deliberately got him out of the way.
38:26So you did.
38:28You know that and so do I.
38:30We've both known it all along.
38:33The only new factor is that now Bertie knows it too.
38:36You don't feel guilty, my dear.
38:38Just embarrassed.
38:39Well, whatever it is, it's deuced uncomfortable.
38:42I wish there was something we could do for him.
38:44Something we could do?
38:45Well, it's a bit hard.
38:46I mean, he's lost you.
38:48I know how I should feel about that.
38:49He's been all around the world.
38:51Got a bit thin, actually.
38:53And he hasn't even got the satisfaction of having got what he set out for.
38:56What he set out for, if I might remind you, my dear Henry, was to rake up my past.
39:01Well, yes, I realize that, but that can't affect us now.
39:07I fail to see how it can affect him either.
39:09Well, I do see what you mean.
39:10Of course I do.
39:11It's just that the poor chap's in such a fever.
39:13It's become an obsession with him now to know a fixed idea.
39:18I can understand it in a way.
39:20If he's lost you, he wants to feel that there's a...
39:22That I wasn't worth having in the first place.
39:24What was it that you wanted us to do for him, Henry?
39:29Oh, nothing.
39:31Nothing.
39:32It's just a feeling, I suppose.
39:36Not on?
39:37What do you mean it's not on?
39:38I mean, there's nothing I can do for you, Bertie.
39:40Your own sense of propriety should have told you that.
39:43Mine, too, come to that.
39:44Now, look here, Henry.
39:45I've never felt so out of countenance in my life.
39:48When?
39:48When I took it up with Elizabeth.
39:50I felt as if I'd suddenly found myself in court with no clothes on.
39:53I know case, ma'am.
39:54You did take it up with her, then?
39:56I tried.
39:57How hard, I wonder?
39:58As hard as any man may,
39:59before his wife is entitled to throw the dinner service at his head.
40:02Well, did she say anything about me?
40:04She said she had the tenderest memories of you.
40:07You know.
40:08She'd always think of you as her brother and so on.
40:11How nice.
40:13Then you'd better show him in, Mary.
40:15Bertie!
40:22What that is, Mr. Bradle.
40:26Oh, no.
40:28Bertie, why not?
40:29We can't be strangers.
40:31Elizabeth, my dear.
40:34Oh, you won't find Henry here.
40:36He's still at his chambers.
40:38Yes, I know.
40:39Oh, yes, of course you would.
40:41Would you like some tea?
40:42Er, no, thank you.
40:44Oh, well.
40:45Oh, please do sit down.
40:51Elizabeth.
40:52Yes?
40:53Would you mind?
40:53I know it's a terrific cheek,
40:56but do you think you could just tell your maid that you're not at home?
40:59I do so want not to be interrupted.
41:01Oh, you won't be.
41:03We don't have your life, you know.
41:06The wife of a barrister making his way is not swamped by social obligations.
41:11I do not expect a stream of callers.
41:13I see.
41:14No, I suppose not.
41:18You're quite happy living here in Hammersmith?
41:23Well, we know it's not Belgrade Square.
41:25Oh, Elizabeth, I would have given you so many things.
41:30Perhaps all I wanted to be given was trust.
41:35Oh, please, don't say that.
41:37I'm sorry?
41:38Well, it's as if you're saying that I could have had you if I hadn't spoiled myself.
41:42But could I?
41:43See, I hadn't asked.
41:44You hadn't accepted.
41:46Now, I suppose I could never really have had you anyway.
41:49Oh, Bertie, this isn't like you.
41:51This does no good.
41:52But could I?
41:54Well, what do you want me to say?
41:55Well, stop thinking about how not to hurt me.
41:58Now, never mind what I want you to say.
42:00You just speak the truth.
42:02But I don't know the truth.
42:04Which one of us can claim to know that?
42:08The best any of us can do is to look back and try to trace a pattern.
42:14If it will satisfy you, I think that I have always preferred Henry.
42:20Well, I didn't allow Henry a look-in.
42:24I should have continued not to do so.
42:26You're very masterful.
42:28So that I would have got you, after all?
42:31Oh, Bertie, you've grown so expert at tormenting yourself.
42:35Henry told me about this condition you laid on him.
42:39Has he still not asked you?
42:41No, he has not asked me.
42:43Will he?
42:43Ever, do you think?
42:45No.
42:46If he had been going to, he would have done so the minute his time was up.
42:50Now he will never ask.
42:52So you're safe.
42:54Safe?
42:55And I'm as far off knowing as ever.
42:57You're very confident that Henry would have told you, even if he knew.
43:01He owes it to me.
43:03No man owes it to another to tell him his wife's secrets.
43:06Oh, no, of course.
43:07No, I shouldn't have asked for the details.
43:09Oh, thank you for that, anyway.
43:11Oh, no, God, sorry.
43:13Oh, that was a hideous expression.
43:15I'm very sorry.
43:16Oh, I'm very far gone, I'm afraid.
43:19I suppose Henry's told you about the results of my inquiries.
43:23Yes, he did mention it in fact.
43:24Yes, that must have been your one remaining fear.
43:28Fear?
43:29Not my return.
43:31That I should come back with the full story.
43:33Should I have had to been afraid, would you have told him?
43:39What?
43:40I don't know.
43:41No, of course I wouldn't, great God.
43:44Of course I wouldn't.
43:46Then you see, I had nothing to fear at all.
43:49You changed your name, didn't you?
43:52When I married Natalie.
43:54No, no, don't mean that.
43:55I mean, you told me that your maiden name was Johnson.
43:58But it wasn't, was it?
43:59It was something else.
44:00That's why I could find no trace of you before your marriage.
44:03And your husband's name wasn't Damerill, was it?
44:06There was something else, too.
44:08Which is why I could find no trace of you after your marriage.
44:10It really has become a kind of madness with you, Bertie.
44:14Is that how you eluded me?
44:15Am I on the right track?
44:17No, Bertie.
44:19I did not change my name.
44:21Neither my own name nor my husband's.
44:23I was Elizabeth Johnson.
44:25I was Mrs. Damerill.
44:27Then I simply don't understand.
44:30You really are superbly ignorant about some things, Bertie.
44:35You've done America.
44:37But you haven't even begun to understand the first thing about it.
44:41Oh, I wouldn't say that.
44:41Please don't interrupt me.
44:43You haven't even caught on to the fact that America is not just a larger version of England,
44:48where everybody knows everyone else and everything is written down in beautiful copperplate
44:53hand-biting by old gentlemen in high collars.
44:56That's not fair.
44:57My mother gave birth to me in a wagon, going over a pass in the high Sierras, in the second
45:10Californian gold rush in the late 60s.
45:12The birth was registered at the next mining camp we came to, which was probably washed
45:18away by the spring rains, which probably didn't make any difference at all, because
45:23the Swedish pastor who notarized the details of my birth couldn't even write his name in
45:27English, or, if you prefer, in American.
45:30I met my husband, who was a French immigrant, in Mexico.
45:35We married in Texas.
45:36Then we moved on to Virginia.
45:38We stayed some time in Arizona before we moved to the Sandwich Islands.
45:41My parents' little ranch, which, as I told you, I sold, was in a community which was wiped
45:49out two years ago by hoof disease.
45:53I could go on, Bertie, but I think you begin to see.
45:58I think so, indeed.
46:00I think so.
46:01You have no comprehension of the volatility of the American society.
46:06You were beaten before you started.
46:07You didn't even have a chance of picking up my trail.
46:10No matter what dreadful thing I'd done.
46:13It was dreadful, then, this thing you did.
46:16Oh, please, I've got to know, Elizabeth, for pity's sake.
46:19What was it?
46:20I shall tell you, if you make me a promise.
46:29Anything.
46:31You must promise me with great solemnity.
46:34Yes.
46:35On your sacred honor as a gentleman.
46:37Yes.
46:39Never, never to repeat to anyone whatsoever what I shall tell you.
46:45Very well.
46:49But has the answer never occurred to you?
46:51I mean, not even as one of the possibilities.
46:53Possibilities?
46:54From a scientific point of view, it should at least have been considered.
46:58What?
46:59For heaven's sake, what?
47:00I did nothing.
47:14Sorry?
47:16I did nothing.
47:17I have no interesting past.
47:22No hidden notoriety.
47:24But...
47:25No, I don't understand.
47:28I am simply an obscure little prairie flower.
47:34Alarming to an Englishman because of my total lack of credentials.
47:40I have lived a life of blameless non-entity.
47:44I am as free of guilt as a fall of snow.
47:48And that is why you could never find any trace of me.
47:52But you gave the impression you were a scarlet woman.
47:56You took the impression.
47:58Well, if you knew that's what I was thinking, why didn't you deny it?
48:01Why should I?
48:03Besides, to deny an accusation before it has been openly stated is to admit to its truth.
48:09But you've also let Henry think.
48:12That condition about six months...
48:14I had no choice.
48:15Fixed ideas are infectious.
48:17You had already transmitted your idea to Henry.
48:21Had I protested my innocence, he would have believed me.
48:25Sweet man that he is.
48:27But he would never have been sure.
48:30There would always have been a sneaking doubt.
48:33But surely this way's worse.
48:35No.
48:36This way is the only way.
48:39His nature is not yours, remember.
48:41This way, he chooses not to know.
48:47He expresses his love for me in the generous and delicate act of accepting me as I am.
48:55Of not exercising his right to cross-examine me.
49:00He makes this sacrifice for me, and it gives him great joy.
49:04Any passage of question and answer would be sordid by comparison.
49:11But you can't let Henry go around thinking you're a...
49:16A...
49:17A what?
49:18I'm blessed if I know.
49:21Precisely.
49:22It's all vague shapes and shadowy mystery.
49:26Besides, who's to say that we dull little prairie flowers can't do with a little mystery?
49:36Now look, if you are not going to take tea, I think you'd better go.
49:44I don't know what I'd tell Henry I was doing here.
49:48No, no.
49:50Elizabeth, my dear, you are incredible.
49:55Please, Bertie, that's how all this started.
50:07I met Bertie at the club today.
50:09Oh?
50:10He's off on his travels again.
50:13Where to this time?
50:14I believe he said India.
50:17Uh-huh.
50:18Oh, he'll be back in time to be godfather.
50:20Well, I should hope so.
50:22He, uh...
50:23He gave me a message for you.
50:26Oh, what was that?
50:28He said you weren't to travel on any wagons or anything of that sort between now and then.
50:32Now, what the deuce do you suppose he meant by that?
50:35I haven't the least idea.
50:37He said he is.
50:39What the?
50:40He said he said he doesn't know and he left out.
50:42He said he's theير us to do it to the next day.
50:43You don't know the terny.
50:43variety of things.
50:44They처럼.
50:44They were from
50:46Wait.
50:47He said,
50:48ORGAN PLAYS
51:18ORGAN PLAYS
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