Belle Page #15

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LORD MANSFIELDThis man’s ambitions include you.

You will endure shame and riskyour position for a man withoutname, who will sully yours anddrag your reputation to the gutter!

JOHN(bitter and humiliated)

I take great offence in your

summation of my character without

ever even taking a moment to know

me. Where is your right?

LORD MANSFIELD...I have EVERY right...!

JOHN...No! That you will never have!

Not until you cease from judging

the entire world as those above andthose below and begin to see people

as PEOPLE! Human beings, who think

and feel no more or less than you do!

LORD MANSFIELD stands arrested. JOHN’S words strike deep.

LORD MANSFIELDI know there is a lady in Belsize

who is waiting to be your wife.

JOHNNo! I have an ambitious aunt in

Belsize, who like you, assumes

reputation and fortune are allthat life depends on, and

despises love as though it were

the devil’s own creation!

LORD MANSFIELD’s eyes narrow dangerously - rage explodes.

LORD MANSFIELDLove? You claim love....??

He reaches for JOHN’S neck. DIDO throws herself at them.

DIDONO! STOP! Papaa, you must stop!

As she struggles to keep them apart. JOHN falls against

the door. He shouts at the top of his voice to be heard.

JOHNYes...yes I love her! I love her

with every breath I breathe.

Silence! DIDO and LORD MANSFIELD are stunned. A painful beat.

84.

DIDOGo John. You do not deserve this.

JOHN’S breath is heavy, his heart pounding. He catches his

breath, almost chokes on it as he rises, moving with

uncertainty from the carriage, and is gone. DIDO stares at

LORD MANSFIELD.

DIDO (CONT’D)

Captain Sir John Lindsay would

never have behaved like this.

LORD MANSFIELDCaptain Sir John Lindsay would

never behave like this because he

was never HERE!...You are destroying

your possibilities with the only

gentleman who will consider you.

(searching her, hard)

Is that what you want?

No, perhaps it isn’t! DIDO stands wavering - daunted.

INT. BLOOMSBURY SQUARE. DRAWING ROOM. NIGHT.21103103*

A fist comes down hard on the rosewood table

LORD MANSFIELDArrogant...parasite! HE is

filling her with worthlessideals. He wants to ‘make the

world a better place’!...

LORD MANSFIELD is puffed with fury as he paces the room.

He knocks the table again, jolting LADY MANSFIELD.

LORD MANSFIELD (CONT’D)

He is laughing at us! His

childish campaign simply adds to

my already rampant ridicule in

the gossip pamphlets and now...!

As though he were some kind

of...saint, immune from reproach!

LADY MANSFIELDYou said something identical, once.

LORD MANSFIELD stops in his tracks.

LADY MANSFIELD (CONT’D)

That you wanted to change the

world! Quite some time before you

entered your chambers, of course.

Defiant, principled...driven.

(off Lord M)

85.

(MORE)

Desperate to seal your position

among the establishment but always

a little too radical for them.

LORD MANSFIELDI never broke the rules.

LADY MANSFIELD:

Did you not? You simply became

powerful enough to make new ones.

(off his silence)

I always felt you already lovedme when I gave you my hand. Not

that you said it but... something

in the way you looked at me.

LORD MANSFIELD’S face softens slightly, struck by his

wife’s words - of course he loved her! He adored her!

LADY MANSFIELD (CONT’D)

That we were a good match - that

was of no doubt...But I am not

sure I could have married a

gentleman without that...‘thing’

in his eye...without knowing -

privately - that my heart stopped

a moment each time he looked at me

Their eyes are locked. She speaks carefully.

LADY MANSFIELD (CONT’D)

It is possible that even you

cannot fight change, my darling...

And sometimes you cannot fight it

because you are a part of it.

Her words resonate, shifting him into thought.

LADY MANSFIELD (CONT’D)

Do you love her?

His eyes fill. What he says next is deeply heartfelt...

LORD MANSFIELDAs though she were created of you

and I...(poignant)...And that is

why I simply do not want to see

her diminished.

INT. BLOOMSBURY SQUARE. DRAWING ROOM. DAY.22104104*

Like subjects of a pastel Joshua Reynolds painting, the

MANSFIELD ladies are draped around the room .

LADY MARY uses a dainty magnifying glass to read a pamphlet

as LADY MANSFIELD sips tea, ELIZABETH reads and DIDO gazes

out of the window...LADY MARY reads aloud.

86.

LADY MANSFIELD (CONT’D)

LADY MARYThe niece of the Marquess of

Winchester. Mr James Ashford is

to marry the niece of the

Marquess of Winchester.

ELIZABETH looks up, bewildered.

LADY MARY (CONT’D)

I am reading it here.

She indicates the pamphlet and her heart sinks as she sees

ELIZABETH’S heartache.

LADY MANSFIELD(sardonic)

That shall render your future

mother-in-law ecstatic, Dido.

ELIZABETH slams her book down, gets up and storms off. DIDO

thinks about it a beat, uncertain then goes after her.

INT. BLOOMSBURY SQ. STAIRCASE LANDING. DAY.22105105*

ON ELIZABETH sobbing into DIDO’S arms. She lifts her head.

ELIZABETHDon’t you dare say a word.

DIDOI won’t.

ELIZABETHWhy! Why do they ALWAYS do that!!

DIDOWho, Bette?

ELIZABETHMen! They leave and never come back!

A painful beat, then DIDO kisses and hugs her tightly, as

ELIZABETH desperately sobs some more.

INT. BLOOMSBURY SQ. DIDO AND ELIZABETH’S BEDROOM. EVE.22106106*

DIDO lies still in bed, ELIZABETH beside her.

ELIZABETHI saw you with him, that day. At

the pleasure garden.

DIDOYou said nothing.

87.

ELIZABETHI wanted you to tell me. To trust me.

DIDOI should have.

ELIZABETHYou know, if I had your choice, I

would choose...the man I loved(off Dido, sad)

I simply hope he is worth it.

INT. BLOOMSBURY SQUARE. DRAWING ROOM. DAY.23107107*

OLIVER stands, numb. LADY ASHFORD turns to us, eyes flashing.

LADY ASHFORDI am not in the habit of

requiring explanation more thanTWICE! But on this occasion, you

will have to forgive me.

LORD MANSFIELD(burdened)

Lady Ashford there is little

point in repetition...

LADY ASHFORDThen let me be clear that I have

understood. Your charge - your

mulatto charge...

LADY MANSFIELD(fiercely protective)

That is enough!

DIDO sits staring at the floor. OLIVER cuts in, aggrieved...

OLIVER(to Lady Mansfield)

Is it not true enough, your

ladyship?!!

LADY ASHFORD...whose unfortunate circumstances

of birth, we chose to forgive -

has decided she no longer wishes

the match with my son - a

gentleman and an officer.

OLIVER stares across at DIDO. He speaks quietly...

OLIVERWhy, Miss Lindsay?

DIDO is silent.

88.

LADY ASHFORD(poignant and pained)

Do you feel I have any lesser need to

ensure my child’s wellbeing and

future than you?...(beat)...Does she

still have a tongue?

DIDOI have a tongue, Madam. Though

yours explains well enough why I

may not marry your son...beat)...

You view my circumstances asunfortunate, though I cannotclaim even a portion of the

misfortune of those to whom I most

closely resemble.

ON LADY MANSFIELD stung by the thought.

DIDO (CONT’D)

My greatest misfortune would be

to marry into a family who willcarry me as their shame - as I

have been required to carry my

own mother.

LORD MANSFIELD swallows hard. LADY MANSFIELD’s gaze falls.

DIDO (CONT’D)

Her apparent crime, to be born

negro, and mine - to be the

evidence.

(beat)

Since I wish to deny her no more

than I wish to deny myself, youwill pardon me for wanting ahusband who feels ‘forgiveness’of my bloodline is bothunnecessary and without grace.

ON the astonished ASHFORD faces.

INT. BLOOMSBURY SQUARE. STAIRS/GROUND FL HALLWAY. DAY.23108108*

DIDO steps from the room, shaken...what has she just done?!

LADY MARY approaches, intuitively hands DIDO a hankerchief.

EXT:
KENTISH TOWN CANAL. DAY.23109109*

Wide on the canal, bustling with life - the poor and

working classes. - FIND JOHN sitting alone, forlorn.

89.

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