Barry Lyndon Page #7

INT. COACH - DAY

Roderick, Captain and Mrs. O'Reilly.

CAPTAIN O'REILLY

I needn't ask whether you had a

comfortable bed. Young Fred

Pimpleton slept in it for seven

months, during which he did me the

honor to stay with me, and if he was

satisfied, I don't know who else

wouldn't be.

EXT. PROMENADE - PHOENIX PARK - DAY

Roderick, Captain and Mrs. O'Reilly, their friends.

Various cuts.

RODERICK (V.O.)

After breakfast, we drove out to

Phoenix Park, where numbers of the

young gentry were known to Mrs.

O'Reilly, to all of whom she

presented me in such a complimentary

way that, before half an hour, I had

got to be considered as a gentleman

of great expectations and large

property.

INT. O'REILLY HOUSE - NIGHT

RODERICK (V.O.)

I had little notion then that I had

got amongst a set of impostors --

that Captain O'Reilly was only an

adventurer, and his lady a person of

no credit. The fact was, a young

man could hardly have fallen into

worse hands than those in which I

now found myself.

An evening of gambling.

RODERICK (V.O.)

Their friends were always welcome on

payment of a certain moderate sum

for their dinner after which, you

may be sure, that cards were not

wanting, and that the company who

played did not play for love merely.

Various cuts of the characters present.

RODERICK (V.O.)

What could happen to a man but

misfortune from associating with

such company? And in a very, very

short time I became their prey.

Roderick loses two hundred guineas to Captain O'Reilly in

a single hand.

We see Captain O'Reilly cheat, but Roderick does not.

He pays him the 18 gold guineas, remaining from the sum

his mother gave him.

RODERICK:

I shall have to write out a note for

the rest of it, Captain O'Reilly.

EXT. STREET - OUTSIDE O'REILLY HOUSE - DAWN

Roderick exits to the street. The sound of the gambling

can still be heard in the street. He is soon joined by

Councillor Mulligan.

COUNCILLOR MULLIGAN

Master Roderick, you appear a young

fellow of birth and fortune; let me

whisper in your ear that you have

fallen into very bad hands -- it's a

regular gang of swindlers; and a

gentleman of your rank and quality

should never be seen in such

company. The captain has been a

gentleman's gentleman, and his lady

of no higher rank. Go home, pack

your valise, pay the little trifle

you owe me, mount your mare, and

ride back again to your parents --

it's the very best thing you can do.

Roderick does not reply, and walks slowly away from him

down the street.

INT. O'REILLY HOUSE - RODERICK'S BEDROOM - EARLY MORNING

Roderick enters.

RODERICK (V.O.)

Into a pretty nest of villains,

indeed, was I plunged! When I

returned to my bed-chamber, a few

hours later, it seemed as if all my

misfortunes were to break on me at

once.

Valise open, wardrobe lying on the ground, and Roderick's

keys in the possession of O'Reilly and his wife.

CAPTAIN O'REILLY

Whom have I been harboring in my

house? Who are you, sirrah?

RODERICK:

Sirrah! Sirrah, I am as good a

gentleman as any in Ireland!

CAPTAIN O'REILLY

You're an impostor, young man, a

schemer, a deceiver!

RODERICK:

Repeat the words again, and I run

you through the body.

CAPTAIN O'REILLY

Tut, tut! I can play at fencing as

well as you, Mr. Roderick James.

Ah! You change color, do you? Your

secret is known, is it? You come

like a viper into the bosom of

innocent families; you represent

yourself as the heir to my friends

the O'Higgins of Castle O'Higgins; I

introduce you to the nobility and

gentry of this methropolis; I take

you to my tradesmen, who give you

credit. I accept your note for near

two hundred pounds, and what do I

find? A fraud.

He holds up the name, Roderick James, printed on the

linen.

CAPTAIN O'REILLY

Not Master O'Higgins of Watertown,

but Roderick James of the devil only

knows where...

Captain O'Reilly gathers up the linen clothes, silver

toilet articles, and the rest of Roderick's gear.

RODERICK:

Hark ye, Mr. O'Reilly, I will tell

you why I was obliged to alter my

name, which is James and the best

name in Ireland. I changed it, sir,

because, on the day before I came to

Dublin, I killed a man in deadly

combat -- an Englishman, sir, and a

Captain in His Majesty's service;

and if you offer to let or hinder me

in the slightest way, the same arm

which destroyed him is ready to

punish you.

So saying, Roderick draws his sword like lightning, and

giving a "ha, ha!" and a stamp with his foot, lunges it

within an inch of O'Reilly's heart, who starts back and

turns deadly pale, while his wife, with a scream, flings

herself between them.

MRS. O'REILLY

Dearest Roderick -- be pacified.

O'Reilly, you don't want the poor

child's blood. Let him escape -- in

Heaven's name, let him go.

CAPTAIN O'REILLY

(sulkily)

He may go hang for me, and he's

better be off quickly, for I shall

go to the magistrate if I see him

again.

O'Reilly exits. His wife sits down on the bed and begins

to cry.

EXT. DUBLIN STREET - DAY

Roderick riding down the street, with his valise.

RODERICK (V.O.)

Where was now a home for the

descendant of the James? I was

expelled from Dublin by a

persecution occasioned, I must

confess, by my own imprudence. I

had no time to wait and choose. No

place of refuge to fly to.

INT. ALE HOUSE - DAY

RODERICK (V.O.)

There was a score of recruiting

parties in the town beating up for

men to join our gallant armies in

America and Germany.

Roderick approaches a Captain and a Sergeant, who quickly

make him welcome.

RODERICK:

I will tell you frankly, sir. I am

a young gentleman in difficulties; I

have killed an officer in a duel,

and I am anxious to get out of the

country.

RODERICK (V.O.)

But I needn't have troubled myself

with any explanations; King George

was in too much want of men to heed

from whence they came -- and a

fellow of my inches was always

welcome. Indeed, I could not have

chosen my time better. A transport

was lying at Dunleary, waiting for a

wind.

EXT. BRITISH WARSHIP AT SEA - DAY

RODERICK (V.O.)

I never had a taste for any thing

but genteel company, and hate all

descriptions of low life. Hence my

account of the society in which I at

present found myself must of

necessity be short. The

reminiscences of the horrid black-

hole of a place in which we soldiers

were confined, of the wretched

creatures with whom I was now forced

to keep company, of the plowmen,

poachers, pickpockets, who had taken

refuge from poverty, or the law, as,

in truth, I had done myself, is

enough to make me ashamed even now.

Roderick sits very disconsolately over a platter of rancid

bacon and moldy biscuit, which is served to him at mess.

When it comes to his turn to be helped to drink, he is

served, like the rest, with dirty tin noggin, containing

somewhat more than half a pint of rum and water. The

beaker is so greasy and filthy that he cannot help turning

round to the messman and saying:

RODERICK:

Fellow, get me a glass!

At which, all the wretches round him burst into a roar of

laughter, the very loudest among them being Mr. Toole, a

red-haired monster of a man.

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