Becoming Jane Page #3

Mr White's Natural History.

Oh.

- Well, how do you like it?

- I cannot get on. It is too disturbing.

- Disturbing?

- Mmm.

Take this observation.

"Swifts on a fine morning in May,

flying this way, that way,

"sailing around at a great height

perfectly happily. Then...

"Then one leaps onto the back of another,

grasps tightly,

"and forgetting to fly, they both sink

down and down in a great, dying fall,

"fathom after fathom, until the female utters..."

Yes?

"...the female utters a loud, piercing cry

"of ecstasy."

Is this conduct commonplace

in the natural history of Hampshire?

Your ignorance is understandable

since you lack... What shall we call it?

The history?

Propriety commands me to ignorance.

Condemns you to it and your writing

to the status of female accomplishment.

If you wish to practise the art of fiction,

to be the equal of a masculine author,

experience is vital.

I see.

And what qualifies you to offer this advice?

I know more of the world.

A great deal more, I gather.

Enough to know

that your horizons must be... widened

by an extraordinary young man.

By a very dangerous young man,

one who has, no doubt,

infected the hearts of many a young...

- Young woman with the soft corruption...

- Read this

and you will understand.

"When the philosopher heard that the fortress

of virtue had already been subdued,

"he began to give a large scope to his desires.

"His appetite was not of that squeamish kind

which cannot feed on a dainty

- "because another..."

"Another has tasted it."

- He's not tasting this dainty.

- What, dear?

"...nor had her face

much appearance of beauty.

"But her clothes being torn

from all the upper part of her body..."

"...her breasts, which were well formed

and extremely white,

"attracted the eyes of her deliverer,

and for a few moments they stood silent..."

"...and gazing at each other."

I have read your book.

- I have read your book and disapprove.

- Of course you do.

- But of what? The scenes? Characters? The prose?

- No, all good.

- The morality?

- Flawed.

Well, of course, it is. But why?

Vice leads to difficulty, virtue to reward.

Bad characters come to bad ends.

Exactly. But in life, bad characters often thrive.

Take yourself.

And a novel must show how the world truly is,

how characters genuinely think,

how events actually occur.

A novel should somehow reveal

the true source of our actions.

What of my hero's feelings?

Well, it seems to me, sir,

that your hero's very vigorous feelings

caused him and everyone connected with him

a great deal of trouble.

Ah, well, if the book has troubled you...

- Oh, but an orphan must know trouble.

- What sort of trouble?

All sorts of trouble.

Laverton Fair. Vastly entertaining.

Monstrous good idea, Jane.

Yes, Miss Austen, not exactly

your usual society, I'd say.

Show a little imagination, Mr Lefroy.

Trouble here enough.

And freedom, the freedom of men.

Do not you envy it?

But I have the intense pleasure

of observing it so closely.

Ah.

Now, there's a fool,

to go to it with a professional.

- You know about this, of course.

- Of course.

Yes, a vastly fashionable pastime in London.

Beating a man to a pulp. What are you doing?

Mr Lefroy, stop!

Make way!

- Stop!

- Let us see how you fare against me, sir.

Coming through.

Five shillings on the gent. Who will take it?

You, sir? That's the ticket.

Have that.

Thank you.

Go on, hit him!

Come on, Lefroy, hit him, man!

Tom, you must stop.

Come on, Lefroy!

Up, sir.

Tom!

Lucy.

- That's twice he's done that to me.

- You spend money like water.

I'm afraid it's damn low water with me.

- I'm afraid I'm short, sir.

- Take it.

How embarrassing.

Yeh!

Mr Lefroy? Mr Lefroy? Mr Lefroy?

Was I deficient in propriety?

Why did you do that?

Couldn't waste

all those expensive boxing lessons.

Forgive me if I suspect in you a sense of justice.

I am a lawyer. Justice plays no part in the law.

Is that what you believe?

I believe it. I must.

I beg your leave.

- Her heart is stirred.

- It's a summer squall.

Mr Lefroy will soon be gone.

And Mr Wisley will still be waiting, I hope.

- The man's a booby.

- Oh, he will grow out of that.

And she could fix him with very little trouble.

You could persuade her.

To sacrifice her happiness?

Jane should have not the man

who offers the best price, but the man she wants.

Oh, Mr Austen.

Must we have this conversation

day in and day out?

We'll end up in the gutter if we carry on like this.

Jenny! Mr Austen!

Where are you?

So kind of you to return the call.

- Will you take a dish of tea, ma'am?

- Green tea?

- Brown, Your Ladyship.

- Then no.

Where is your youngest daughter?

She's visiting the poor, ma'am.

Jane? Jane!

At last. Lady Gresham and Mr Wisley

have come to call. Where have you been?

Ma'am. Sir.

Well, perhaps... Perhaps the young people

would like to take a walk?

I see there's a pretty little wilderness

at the side of the house.

Excuse me.

Jane?

- What is she doing?

- Writing.

Can anything be done about it?

Miss Austen, you may know

that I have known you

for some considerable time

during my visits to Steventon.

The garden is so affecting in this season.

Indeed.

- The impression you have given me has always...

- The flowers particularly.

What I'm trying to say is that I...

I have a respectable property of 2,000 a year

in addition to even greater expectations

as Lady Gresham's heir,

- to which it may be indelicate to refer.

- Oh, indelicate, yes.

It's yours. If we marry, all of it, yours.

Mr Wisley...

Your offer is most sincere, I can see,

and gentlemanlike, and it honours me, truly.

But for all you are, and all you offer, I...

Yes.

Sometimes affection is a shy flower

that takes time to blossom.

Lying to tradesmen,

mending, scratching, scraping.

Endlessly, endlessly making do!

I understand

that our circumstances are difficult, ma'am.

- There is no money for you.

- Surely something could be done.

What we can put by must go to your brothers.

You will have nothing, unless you marry.

Well, then, I will have nothing. For I will not

marry without affection, like my mother!

And now I have to dig my own damn potatoes!

Would you rather be a poor old maid?

Ridiculous, despised, the butt of jokes?

The legitimate sport of any village lout

with a stone and an impudent tongue?

Affection is desirable.

Money is absolutely indispensable.

I could live by my...

Your what?

- I could live by my...

- Pen?

Let's knock that notion on the head

once and for all.

What's this?

Trouble amongst my women?

Come,

take hands and there's an end.

- Where are you going? Miss!

- To feed the pigs, ma'am.

He could give you a splendid home.

- A comfortable life.

- Father.

Consider.

This is likely to be your best offer.

Wisley?

It is true, so far he has not impressed...

- A booby.

- He should grow out of that.

Nothing destroys spirit

like poverty.

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