All This, and Heaven Too Page #10

fortune that brought you to our house...

...as your friend,

I could wish you something quite different.

May I ask what, monsieur?

It would make me most happy

to think of you...

...sitting before your own fire...

...with your own children

playing near at hand.

And your own husband

looking at you and counting his blessings.

- It's late. Hadn't we better be going?

- Oh, please don't go.

Don't even move.

Why?

I might say "don't move"

because as you sit there...

...the firelight is so beautiful

on your hair.

I might say "don't move"

because it is All Souls' Day...

...and you mustn't disturb the spirits.

And again, I might say...

..."don't move"...

...because this is a moment

so full of understanding...

...that I can't bear to see it

come to an end.

Didn't we have a lovely time?

Papa, do you think we'll visit

Madame Gauthier tomorrow?

Oh, I think we can manage.

- Madame makes wonderful hors d'oeuvres.

I think the pastries

she wrapped for us were better.

- Now, you mustn't come in with us.

- Why ever not?

We've bought a surprise

and it isn't wrapped.

So you must promise to stay out here

for five minutes.

Please, mademoiselle.

- See she obeys, Papa.

- I surely will.

If you'll give us a few minutes,

your patience will be rewarded.

Help them, Pierre, will you?

- Don't worry, mademoiselle. I will.

It's been a long day. You must be tired.

No, I'm not tired. I'm frightened.

Would you have preferred

I hadn't come here?

No. And I can't deny it's been beautiful

to have you here these last few days.

And I tried not to think of the accounting

that you and I, too, will have to give.

Whatever comes,

I promise you won't have to face it.

I can't help but feel, this time

you will pay very dearly.

I always pay.

Sometimes I pay most

for what I never had.

It is not unfair that for a few days

I have had what I can never pay for.

- Please, monsieur.

- These few hours...

...this little glimpse

of what life might have been.

- I hadn't asked for more.

- No.

And if it had been only one hour,

one minute...

...it would have been worth

throwing away everything for.

Knowing it could never last?

It will last as long as it is remembered.

Monsieur, if you will be kind enough

to step into the study.

Would you tell the children I'll be up

in a few minutes to say good night?

Mademoiselle Deluzy, just a moment.

But madame, I supposed you...

Monsieur is downstairs...

whatever is told him downstairs,

I am here to make sure that you understand.

This time you've gone too far,

mademoiselle.

You're to leave this house

into which you've brought evil and sin.

Yes, madame, there is evil in this house.

But it was here before I came.

It was not I who brought it.

What intrigue

beneath that mask of innocence.

It was not enough for you

to be a governess. No.

You had to conspire

to become mistress...

...to steal everything that was mine,

including the affections of my children.

Affections cannot be stolen, madame.

They are given freely or not at all.

If you had been a mother to your children,

if you had earned their love...

...nothing I could have done

would ever have made...

You used them shamelessly to attract him,

to separate him from me.

You have deceived yourself

into believing that.

Have you not one shred of decency?

How dare you entice him

to come to you here?

To confess that you and he,

to admit openly without delicacy that you...

why do you stop?

I challenge you to accuse me

of what you know is not true.

I am not here to challenge you

in a matter that is personal.

I am here to dismiss

an unsatisfactory servant.

Mademoiselle.

Mademoiselle, if you will agree to leave

without making a disturbance...

...I am prepared

to deal generously with you.

I will give you a letter,

clearing your name of all scandal...

...praising you as the most excellent

of governesses...

...affirming that you're leaving

of your own free will.

Madame, I don't know what to say.

What of the children?

I promised Monsieur le Duc...

You needn't hope that this time

he will protect you.

A man who has found it so easy

to replace a wife...

...will not find it difficult

to replace a governess.

Wait a minute, mademoiselle.

We're not ready yet.

- Oh. I had forgotten.

- Won't be but a second.

- May I help you take off your hat and coat?

- Oh, yes, thank you, Louise.

Yes. We're nearly ready.

It's a surprise.

- We can hardly wait for you to see.

- Are you ready?

- Not quite.

- Well, hurry up.

Just one little second.

- Ready.

- Now you may look.

There, for you.

You must open it all by yourself.

- You'll never guess.

- We've been planning for the longest time.

That's why we wanted you to go

to Madame Gauthier's with Papa.

We never went to the puppet show at all.

See, mademoiselle, it's another box.

Now you must open this one.

Why didn't Papa come up and see too?

Mademoiselle, why didn't he?

- He'll be here presently.

And here's another one.

Wait till you see what's in this.

- Oh, do hurry, mademoiselle.

Yeah, do.

This is the very last.

Open it quickly, mademoiselle.

There it is.

Oh, we do hope you'll like it.

- We knew you didn't have one.

- So we bought it with our pocket money.

- It's so beautiful.

- Aren't you pleased?

We didn't tell a soul, not even Papa.

Wasn't it funny with all the boxes?

Ha-ha-ha.

But mademoiselle,

you haven't opened it yet.

Yes, mademoiselle,

we have writing on the inside.

- Like on Mama's jewelry.

Read it out loud, mademoiselle.

Now you must turn it over.

"Melun.

November 2nd, 1846."

We picked it out ourselves.

We got it so you'd always remember

today and us and Melun.

Come in.

Mademoiselle,

if you will step downstairs.

- I will talk to mademoiselle.

- But...

- Do as I say.

- Yes.

- Look what we bought.

- Yes.

- Show him.

- Just one minute.

- I have something to say to mademoiselle.

- It's time for bed.

- Don't you want to see?

- What has happened?

- Nothing. Do as mademoiselle says.

- But...

Help the little ones undress.

I'll be in in a moment.

I'll be in a minute.

- Aren't you coming?

Isabelle will help you.

I'll be in just a minute. Monsieur.

If you could have heard them.

To believe that you and I,

with the children here.

They and everyone else.

The marechal showed me the papers.

You can imagine what they're saying.

Full of pity for the wife left ill and deserted

while her husband openly carries on...

- Oh, it's too shameful.

- I beg you, monsieur.

Right you were to call it madness.

My madness.

To think that we could escape,

even for one moment...

...from their pious hypocrisy.

Henriette...

...tell me, say something to me.

Don't just stand there.

Help me!

If there were anything I could say

or do to help you...

...I would.

I'm sorry.

Sometimes I think they'll never stop

until I'm truly mad.

I beg you to forgive me.

My dear friend...

...we have both known

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