A Woman's Vengeance Page #9

off to have a good laugh with that ..

Filthy little beast.

How dare you say that!

- Yes. How dare I.

Do what you like but never said.

That's shocking. That's disgusting.

How old was she Henry, when she

first started doing these things?

Eighteen?

Seventeen?

Slut riding and pawing.

And you call it love .. love!

Filth! That's what it was.

And you threw the filth in my face

and then roared with laughter.

Why don't you go on laughing, Henry?

Laugh.

Laugh. This is all part

of the same joke.

Don't you understand?

Janet.

You don't mean it?

Forty hours more.

That's all.

And you asked me to lunch

on your 80th birthday.

Why don't you laugh?

Goodbye, Henry.

Janet, Janet .. Janet!

Janet! Janet!

She was the one. She did it.

Keep quiet.

- But she told me.

She confessed. Janet!

Janet .. Janet!

But she is the murderer. She told me.

But it is true, I swear. Just let me go.

There, that's better. Now sit down.

- Tell her to come back.

Make her say it again in to witnesses.

- Keep quiet. - Let me go.

Let me go, let me go!

Time passes slowly.

Not for him.

Eight o'clock at Wandsworth.

There but for the grace of

God goes James Libbard.

And there but for the grace

of God, goes Janet Spence.

Happily, there was the grace of God.

It is still possible to do it.

- To do what?

To have the execution postponed.

- Why should it be postponed?

If an entirely new fact were to turn up.

- They've proved it.

The jury thought they proved it.

But do you?

Of course you know the basic reason ..

Why poor Emily was

so dreadfully unhappy?

What was that?

Because she wouldn't accept

the facts as she found them.

She was an invalid.

She'd lost her looks.

She wanted to be treated as though

she were young .. and pretty.

What has that got to do with me?

That is for you to answer.

I only point out it's possible to come to

terms with even the most terrible facts.

Old age.

Sickness.

Death.

Yes, even with one's own

wickedness and folly.

Those are just words. That's all.

Just words.

But they can always be

translated into actions.

Listen, Janet.

I understand your not wanting to go to

sleep until you feel that you're safe.

But did you ever stop

to analyse the word?

Safe from what? Safe in which respect?

One can shut the door against one

danger and be wide open to another.

Look at yourself.

You want to be safe from death.

But at what price?

At the price of feeling guilty.

At the price of being driven

mad by the sense of guilt.

And what then?

In your madness .. won't you

try to do away with yourself?

Then again, that's death.

You run away from death.

And what do you run into?

Death.

Madness.

And death.

But if you don't run away.

If you face the facts.

If you accept your destiny.

There is something like a certainty

that you will escape madness.

And a very good chance

of escaping death.

Well.

I'll think about it.

I'm terribly thirsty.

Would you like a drink?

Yes.

That's a good idea.

- I'll get one for you.

Kali, isn't it?

The great mother.

And precisely because she is a mother,

she's also the Goddess of destruction.

If you give life, you also give death.

Inevitably.

I must say they had a pretty realistic

view of the world, these old Hindus.

Oh, I beg your pardon.

I am really most awfully sorry.

I don't think it will harm

the carpet. Do you?

Just a little fizzy water

and a spot of alcohol.

Do I get another?

- Let me do it for you.

No, let me.

That's Emily's bracelet, isn't it?

Yes.

I thought I recognized it.

It's really rather grotesque

when one comes to think of it.

Executing a man for

murdering a dead woman.

Murdering a dead woman?

What do you mean?

Well, that's what she was.

Two months, three months,

four months at the outside.

That's all she had in front of her.

You mean ..

If she hadn't been poisoned.

She would have been

dead in two three months?

That's it.

What are you laughing at?

I don't know.

Nothing.

I'm sorry.

Your poor hand.

Did you do that yesterday?

I did it yesterday.

Darling.

I want to tell you something.

It happened to me last

night, quite suddenly.

In the middle of a proxysm

of rage and despair.

It was like.

Actually hearing your voice.

Only there weren't any words.

There was just a kind of ..

Absolute certainty.

A certainty?

I knew that everything was

finally alright. I knew it.

It's true.

Of course.

One has got to face

things as they really are.

One has got to forget what

one would like them to be.

Tell me, my darling.

Have the leaves started to turn?

They are all golden now.

Even the beech trees?

- Yes.

I remember when I was a little boy.

Walking in the beech woods.

I used to pretend that the dry

leaves were heaps of money.

Knee-deep in gold.

Like the Count of Montecristo.

Then.

Death.

You know, if you accept it.

It's alright.

But if you refuse to accept it, then ..

You go mad.

But I can't accept it. I can't.

Shall I tell you what was hardest?

Accepting the fact that I

shouldn't ever see you again.

I wish I were dead.

I wish I had never been born.

This is nothing to do with one's wishes.

After all, we did not ask to be born.

We've got to put up with life.

Even if we don't like it.

Even if we can't understand it.

Mind you ..

We can never understand it

while we are actually living it.

Life has to be lived forward.

But it can only be understood backwards.

So .. there it is.

That's what I suddenly understood.

Meanwhile, what was I doing?

The exact opposite of

what had to be done.

Knocking my hands to

pieces, driving myself mad.

Raving against the

injustice of the thing.

But it is unjust.

From the outside, yes. From other

people's point of view. But you know.

If you accept injustice

has been done to you.

If you say to yourself, well ..

This is what has happened.

And I put up with it.

I actually will it.

Well .. if you can do this.

Then in some strange mysterious way ..

The nightmare makes a kind of sense.

I know it's difficult to explain but ..

It's true.

Oh, before I forget.

I want you to promise me something.

Don't see too much of Janet.

Don't let her have anything

to do with the baby.

Darling, she's always

been so sweet to me.

I know she has.

But all the same, will you promise?

I promise.

I could tell you all the reasons,

but .. it would take too long.

Besides.

What is the point?

Let the dead bury their dead.

Why bother about the past.

I am glad you didn't

come to see me yesterday.

Why?

Yesterday, I should

almost have hated you.

Hated me?

Yes, hated you for being free.

For having all your

life in front of you.

Whereas I was here.

In a few hours ..?

You love me, don't you?

And I love you, Doris.

And love casts out fear.

Of course, it also works

the other way round.

Fear casts out love.

Yesterday there was nothing but fear.

Today ..

Today it is different.

Two, three.

Can I do a fourth?

Another Queen.

- Let's see what I can do.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote