A Man for All Seasons Page #6

He.:
plants his golden leg before her crouching form, the absurd codpiece prominent. That’s a dancer’s leg, Margaret!

She has the wit to look straight up and smile at him. He pulls her to her feet. On SOUND, sycophantic chuckles. KING turns to:

His party has followed and stands against the wall, all smiling and chuckling. MORE bows and smiles, the host. His expression changes. He has seen: CROMWELL in a modest position among the Officials, bows to MORE. KING

Lady Alice, the river’s given me an appetite.

ALICE:

If Your Grace would share a very simple supper.

KING:

It would please me to. Take them in, Thomas and I will follow. He throws an arm about MORE s neck, the good friend.

ALICE Matthew.

STEWARD My lords and gentlemen!

He stalks majestically away along the path. The COURTIERS and OFFICIALS follow, MUSICIANS now hop over the wall with ribboned strings and polished brasses. KING

(calls after)

Do you like music, Margaret?

36

MARGARET Yes, Your Grace.

KING They’ll play to you.

CUT:

MUSIC floats from an open window of MORE’s house. HENRY and MORE come on frame. The KING is very pastoral, raising his hand to trail it through the leaves of the apple trees, picking a flower, almost skipping. MORE plods behind him. The music changes. . ‘ KING

Ah. Now listen to this, Thomas.

54 EXT. MORE’S ORCHARD & HOUSE

CLOSE SHOT They come to rest beneath a big tree. A rotten garden bench beneath it. The KING is very much the connoisseur, head tilted, beating time with one finger. He smiles at MORE. KING Sit down.

MORE hesitates.

ò

KING:

Be seated ... No courtship Thomas; you are my friend are you not? MORE Your Majesty.

KING:

And thank God I have a friend for my Chancellor. Readier to be friend I trust than he was to be Chancellor. MORE

My own knowledge of my poor abilities—

KING:

I will judge of your abilities, Thomas ... Did you know that Wolsey named you for Chancellor’: MORE Wolsey!

37

KING:

Aye; before he died. Wolsey named you and Wolsey was no fool. MORE

He was a statesman of incomparable ability, Your Grace.

KING:

Was he? Was he so? Then why did he fail me? It was villainy then! He is shouting, his eyes blaze with indignation. MORE rises. CUT 55 INT. MORE’S HOUSE GREAT HALL

In the hall, the MUSICIANS are silent. So too the SERVANTS and the COURTIERS, scattered about, seated and standing. All are listening uneasily to the all-too-familiar voice whose roaring comes in distantly at the open window. NORFOLK and ALICE exchange worried glances. STEWARD looks frightened. MARGARET looks cautiously at CROMWELL. He seems to be lost in. contemplation of a tapestry. But all the while the furious voice comes unintelligibly to us. It ceases.: All relax. CUT

56 EXT. MORE’S ORCHARD & HOUSE

The KING relaxes too. Confidential:

KING:

Wolsey was a proud man, Thomas, pride sight through. And he failed me!—He failed me in the one thing that matters Thomas, then as now. He looks keenly at MORE, who lowers his eyes. The KING affects to chide himself. But look .... Be seated... Both sit.

38

KING (Cont) What an evening.

MORE smiles. The KING fills his splendid chest. A man could fight a lion, eh?—MORE (with genuine affection and ò admiration)

Some men could, Your Grace.

KING:

Touching this matter of my divorce, Thomas, have you thought of it since we last talked? MORE

Of little else, Your Grace.

KING:

Then you see your way clear to me?

MORE:

That you should put away Queen

Catherine, sire? Oh alas, as I think

of it I see so clearly that I can not come With Your Grace that my endeavour is not to think of it at all. KING

Then you haven’t thought enough!

His eyes blaze again. Then the fire goes out. He pats MORE’s knee reassuringly. His gaze wanders, focusses with pleasure. That’s a lilac.

Their POV, a beautiful lilac alone in the sunshine. KING comes on frame, calling back to MORE: We have them at Hampton ... Not so fine as this though.

01"

He breaks off a blossom and strolls back with it to MORE.

KING:

Ha. I’m in an excellent frame of mind.

He puts the blossom to his nose.

Beautiful

(now his tone

becomes serious,

thoughtful)

You must consider, Thomas, that I stand in peril of my soul. It was no marriage; I have lived in incest with my brother’s widow. Leviticus—“Thou shalt not uncover ‘the nakedness of thy brother’s wife.” Leviticus. Chapter 18, Verse 16. MORE Yes, Your Grace.

(he hesitates) But Deuteronomy—

KING:

(triumphantly)

Deuteronomy’s ambigious!

MORE:

Your Grace, I’m not fitted to meddle in these matters—to me it seems a matter .for the Holy See—KING

(reproving)

Thomas, Thomas, does a man need a Pope to tell him when he’s sinned? It was a sin, Thomas ...And God has punished me. I have no son. Son after son she’s borne me Thomas, all dead at birth or dead within the month; I never saw the hand of God so clear in anything. 39

40

His face is clouded and fearful, full of superstitious dread. Dully: KING

It is my bounden duty to put away the Queen ...

(flaring)

And all the Popes back to Peter shall not come between me and my duty! (with real but irritable curiosity)

How is that you cannot see? Everyone else does.

MORE:

(eagerly persuasive)

Then why does Your Grace need my poor support?

KING:

Because you are honest.

(he looks at him,

hard, shrewd and

frank)

What’s more to the purpose you’te known.. to be honest ... There are those like Norfolk who follow me because I wear the crown, and there are those like Master Cromwell who follow me because they are jackals with sharp teeth and I am their tiger, and there is a mass that follows me because it follows anything that moves. And there is you. MORE

I am sick to think how much I must displease Your Grace.

KING:

No, Thomas, I respect your sincerity. Respect? Oh man, it’s water in the desert ... He looks gloomy, abstracted. Looking up, he finds MORE’s anxious, paternal regard upon him and smiles. 41

YONG:

How did you like our muiaic? That air they played, it had a certain—well, tell me what you:thought MORE

Could it have been Your Grace’s own?

KING:

Discovered! . Now I’ll never know your true opinion. And that’s irksome, Thomas, for we artists, though we love praise, yet we love truth better. MORE

Then I will tell Your Grace my true opinion.

But he pauses.

KING Well?

MORE To:
me it seemed ...

He pauses as though_for the exact critical word. KING makes a little involuntary gesture, like a dog eager for a bone. ... Delightful.

KING:

Thomas, I chose the right man for Chancellor.

MORE:

I should in fairness add that my taste in music is reputedly deplorable. KING

Your taste in music is excellent. It

exactly coincides .With my own .

Ahlmusic! Music! Send them back without me Thomas; I will live here in Chelsea and make music. MORE

My house is at Your Grace’s disposal.

42

KING:

Thomas you understand me ...

But his attention wanders. He looks gloomily at:

The lilac. A cloud shadow passes over it and it bends to the wind. The KING lays aside the blossom.

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