Barry Lyndon Page #2

RODERICK:

I hate Miss Clancy, you know I do!

And I only danced with her because

-- because -- the person with whom I

intended to dance chose to be

engaged the whole night.

DOROTHY:

I had not been in the room five

minutes before I was engaged for

every single set.

RODERICK:

Were you obliged to dance five times

with Captain Best, and then stroll

out with him into the garden?

DOROTHY:

I don't care a fig for Captain Best;

he dances prettily to be sure, and

is a pleasant rattle of a man. He

looks well in his regimentals, too;

and if he chose to ask me to dance,

how could I refuse him?

RODERICK:

But you refused me, Dorothy.

DOROTHY:

Oh! I can dance with you any day,

and to dance with your own cousin at

a ball as if you could find no other

partner. Besides, Roderick, Captain

Best's a man, and you are only a

boy, and you haven't a guinea in the

world.

RODERICK:

If ever I meet him again, you shall

see which is the best man of the

two. I'll fight him with sword or

with pistol, captain as he is.

DOROTHY:

But Captain Best is already known as

a valiant soldier, and is famous as

a man of fashion in London. It is

mighty well of you to fight farmers'

boys, but to fight an Englishman is

a very different matter.

Roderick falls silent.

EXT. SMALL BRIDGE OVER A STREAM - DAWN

They come to an old, high bridge, over a stream,

sufficiently deep and rocky.

DOROTHY:

Suppose, now, Roderick, you, who are

such a hero, was passing over the

bridge and the enemy on the other

side.

RODERICK:

I'd draw my sword, and cut my way

through them.

DOROTHY:

What, with me on the pillion? Would

you kill poor me?

RODERICK:

Well, then, I'll tell you what I'd

do. I'd jump Daisy into the river,

and swim you both across, where no

enemy could follow us.

DOROTHY:

Jump twenty feet! You wouldn't dare

to do any such thing on Daisy.

There's the captain's horse, Black

George, I've heard say that Captain

Bes --

She never finished the word for, maddened by the continual

recurrence of that odious monosyllable, Roderick shouts:

RODERICK:

Hold tight to my waist!

And, giving Daisy the spur, springs with Dorothy over the

parapet, into the deeper water below.

The horse's head sinks under, the girl screams as she

sinks, and screams as she rises.

Roderick lands her, half-fainting, on the shore.

INT. MOTHER'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - DAY

Various cuts showing illness and convalescence.

Roderick feverish: the doctor taking his pulse.

Mother brings a tray of food.

RODERICK (V.O.)

I went home, and was ill speedily of

a fever, which kept me to my bed for

a week.

Dorothy visiting him.

RODERICK (V.O.)

Dorothy visited me only once, but I

quitted my couch still more

violently in love than I had been

ever before.

EXT. DUGAN MANOR HOUSE - DAY

The air is fresh and bright, and the birds sing loud

amidst the green trees. Roderick is elated, and springs

down the road, as brisk as a young fawn.

He encounters an orderly whistling "Roast Beef of Old

England," as he cleans down a cavalry horse.

RODERICK:

Whose horse, fellow, is that?

ORDERLY:

Feller, indeed! The horse belongs

to my captain, and he's a better

fellow nor you any day.

RODERICK (V.O.)

I did not stop to break his bones,

as I would on another occasion, for

a horrible suspicion had come across

me, and I made for the garden as

quickly as I could.

Roderick see Captain Best and Dorothy pacing the path

together. Her arm is under his, and he is fondling and

squeezing her little hand which lies closely nestling

against his arm.

Some distance beyond them is Captain Grogan, who is paying

court to Dorothy's sister, Mysie.

RODERICK (V.O.)

The fact is that, during the week of

my illness, no other than Captain

Best was staying at Castle Dugan,

and making love to Miss Dorothy in

form.

CAPTAIN BEST:

No, Dorothy, except for you and four

others, I vow before all the gods,

my heart had never felt the soft

flame.

DOROTHY:

Ah, you men, you men, John, your

passion is not equal to ours. We

are like -- like some plant I've

read of -- we bear but one flower,

and then we die!

CAPTAIN BEST:

Do you mean you never felt an

inclination for another?

DOROTHY:

Never, my John, but for thee! How

can you ask me such a question?

Raising her hand to his lips.

CAPTAIN BEST:

Darling Dorothea!

Roderick rushes into view, drawing his little sword.

RODERICK (V.O.)

I pulled out a knot of cherry-

colored ribbons, which she had given

me out of her breast, and which

somehow I always wore upon me, and

flung them in Captain Best's face,

and rushed out with my little sword

drawn.

RODERICK:

She's a liar -- she's a liar,

Captain Best! Draw, sir, and defend

yourself, if you are a man!

Roderick leaps at Captain Best, and collars him, while

Dorothy makes the air echo with her screams.

Captain Grogan and Mysie hasten up.

Though Roderick is a full growth of six feet, he is small

by the side of the enormous English captain.

Best turns very red at the attack upon him, and slips back

clutching at his sword.

Dorothy, in an agony of terror, flings herself round him,

screaming:

DOROTHY:

Captain Best, for Heaven's sake,

spare the child -- he is but an

infant.

CAPTAIN BEST:

And ought to be whipped for his

impudence, but never fear, Miss

Dugan, I shall not touch him, your

favorite is safe from me.

So saying, he stoops down and picks up the bunch of

ribbons, which Roderick had flung at Dorothy's feet, and

handing it to her, says in a sarcastic tone:

CAPTAIN BEST:

When ladies make presents to

gentlemen, it is time for other

gentlemen to retire...

DOROTHY:

Good heavens, Best! He is but a boy

and don't signify any more than my

parrot or lap-dog. Mayn't I give a

bit of ribbon to my own cousin?

RODERICK:

(roaring)

I'm a man, and will prove it.

CAPTAIN BEST:

You are perfectly welcome, miss, as

many yards as you like.

DOROTHY:

Monster! Your father was a tailor,

and you are always thinking of the

shop. But I'll have my revenge, I

will! Roddy, will you see me

insulted?

RODERICK:

Indeed, Miss Dorothy, I intend to

have his blood as sure as my name's

Roderick.

CAPTAIN BEST:

I'll send for the usher to cane you,

little boy, but as for you, miss, I

have the honor to wish you a good

day.

Best takes off his hat with much ceremony, and makes a low

bow, and is just walking off, when Michael, Roderick's

cousin, comes up, whose ear has likewise been caught by

the scream.

MICHAEL:

Hoity-toity! John Best, what's the

matter here?

CAPTAIN BEST:

I'll tell you what it is, Mr. Dugan.

I have had enough of Miss Dugan here

and your Irish ways. I ain't used

to 'em, sir.

MICHAEL:

(good-humoredly)

Well, well! What is it? We'll make

you used to our ways, or adopt

English ones.

CAPTAIN BEST:

It's not the English way, for ladies

to have two lovers, and, so, Mr.

Dugan, I'll thank you to pay me the

sum you owe me, and I resign all

claims to this young lady. If she

has a fancy for school-boys, let her

take 'em, sir.

MICHAEL:

Pooh! Pooh! Best, you are joking.

CAPTAIN BEST:

I never was more in earnest.

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