Belle Page #2

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INT. KENWOOD HOUSE. STAIRS/ENTRANCE HALL/GALLERY - DAY. 277*

ON ELIZABETH seated at the grand staircase as LADY MARY and

DIDO emerge. Like ELIZABETH, DIDO is now freshly dressed in

rich silks, an adorable sight as they move through corridorsELIZABETHAre you...a nee-gro?

ELIZABETH makes her way across...taking her aunt’s hand as

all three walk. DIDO is silent.

ELIZABETH (CONT’D)

Are you what they call ‘a negro?’

I heard them talking.

LADY MARYQuestions, questions, Elizabeth!

Tis a most irritating trait you

and your father share.

ELIZABETHPapaa M?

LADY MARYNo your blood papaa. Sir David

Murray. You should not insist on

always speaking your mind, you

know. You will end up an old maid

with only your own company for

entertainment!

ELIZABETHLike you, Aunt Mary? That is what

the maids say?

LADY MARYYou little....

ELIZABETH takes off. LADY MARY rushes after her.

DIDO is left alone - through the doorway of the gallery, a

portrait of LINDSAY stares at her. She gazes at it.

LORD MANSFIELD approaches, arrested at the sight of DIDO,

newly tidied. He follows her gaze to LINDSAY’S image. The

sight affects him, unexpectedly.

LORD MANSFIELDCaptain Sir John Lindsay.

(off her reaction)

Do you recognise him?

She nods. A beat as conflict fills him.

6.

INT. KENWOOD HOUSE. GALLERY. CONTINUOUS. DAY 288*

LORD MANSFIELDD’you see here...? This..this is

your grandfather, Sir Alexander

Lindsay of Evelick.

DIDO examines the painting. LORD MANSFIELD watches her.

LORD MANSFIELD (CONT’D)

I am here too....do you see?

Her eyes search the long line of her aristocratic heritage,

until her gaze settles. He chuckles, reluctantly charmed as

she points to his likeness.

LORD MANSFIELD (CONT’D)

Yes...I am William Murray, First

Earl of Mansfield.

A beat as he looks to her, affected by this little person.

Gently, he leads her to a final portrait.

LORD MANSFIELD (CONT’D)

(carefully)

Now...do you see this man? He is

my nephew...do you understand...?

(off Dido’s nod)

...your uncle - Sir David Murray.

DIDOElizabeth’s papa.

He pausesLORD MANSFIELDYou are a sharp little one. He is

The Seventh Viscount Stormont...

(beat. Almost to himself)

...to inherit everything that we

are standing on when I am gone.

She nods, bites her lip - that much has gone over her

head...he can see. He closes his eyes. The enormity of this

new responsibility weighing heavy.

INT. KENWOOD HOUSE. LADIES PARLOUR/LAWNS - DAY. 299*

LORD MANSFIELD’s POV: through window - The lawns. ELIZABETH

gently takes DIDO’S hand in hers, leads her off to run

between the trees. As their delighted screams filter...

LADY MANSFIELD enters - observes LORD Mansfield, a moment.

LADY MANSFIELDBorn on English soil?

7.

LORD MANSFIELDIndeed. He discovered her mother

aboard a captured Spanish slave

ship. He was charged with

conveying it back to these

shores, he tells me.

LADY MANSFIELDEvidently he had some...‘feeling’

for the woman.

LORD MANSFIELD(dry)

And there I was believing it was

sheer lack of ‘self control’.

(scathing)

He has been at sea, six years.

All of this child’s life!

LADY MANSFIELDWell, he clearly saw to their

wellbeing. The child is not

altogether uncivilized.

(she breathes deeply)

So...now we have two nieces in

our guardianship.

LORD MANSFIELD(reticent)

Elizabeth was much in need of a

companion.

LADY MANSFIELDAnd that is what we shall say

when questions are asked of us?

LORD MANSFIELDWe shall say that in accordance

with her birthright, she is

entitled to live beneath this roof.

(with irony)

Such...is the nature of ‘order’.

LADY MANSFIELDAnd where in this ‘order’ should

her colour be placed? Below or

above her Murray bloodline?

(off his silence)

May she dine with us?

LORD MANSFIELDShe may...(pause)...NOT...in

company. We cannot escape

society’s confines on etiquette

LADY MANSFIELDMarriage?

8.

He shakes his head at the complexity of it all.

LORD MANSFIELDImpossible. Any match her..’other

origins’ may attract would surely

disgrace her and the family rank.

LADY MANSFIELDAnd when we are no longer here? No

husband - who will take care of her?

He rubs his eyebrows, perturbed, turns back to the lawns.

EXT. KENWOOD HOUSE. LAWNS - CONTINUOUS. DAY.2/31010*

A view across the idyllic estate. SOUNDS of children’s

shrieks have become adult.

CAPTION:
1781A twenty year old DIDO darts between trees.

DIDOBette! No...no surprises Bette!

ELIZABETH, also twenty now, suddenly jumps from behind the

willows, causing DIDO to wail hysterically.

LADY MARY stands at the doorway of the old nursery.

LADY MARY(shrieking)

Girls! Will you refrain from

shrieking like the...bless-ed

French!

The girls race towards the house.

ELIZABETH’S blonde colouring remains, whilst DIDO’S looks

have become dramatic - her dark hair, thick and long, wrapped

in a bun, and black lashes that frame her dark eyes.

EXT. HAMPSTEAD. CHURCH - DAY.31111*

Church bells - parishioners make their way into the

beautiful sixteenth century chapel, in lush green fields.

INT. CHURCH - DAY.31212*

REVEREND DAVINIER, white wigged, stands at the pulpit.

9.

REVEREND DAVINIER...for it is the power of God

unto salvation to every one that

believeth. So saith Christ the

Lord. Amen.

CONGREGATIONAmen.

A FLAME as a YOUNG MAN lights a candle by the altar. He sings,

choir-like, the word ‘amen’ rather than simply saying it.

REVEREND DAVINIERHymn no. 76.

ON the MANSFIELDS as the congregation begins to sing.

INT. CHURCH - DAY. 31313*

The YOUNG MAN stands collecting bibles as the congregation

file out. DIDO hands him hers.

He is chaotically handsome with deeply set, expressive eyes

that lock with hers for a moment, stirring her. Then his

gaze moves suddenly to LORD MANSFIELD - intense, as he

watches him drift from the church, the family in tow.

EXT. KENWOOD ESTATE. HEATH - DAY.31414*

Pure, lush, green. The Mansfield carriage on the horizon.

INT. MANSFIELD CARRIAGE - DAY.31515*

LORD and LADY MANSFIELD sit together, ELIZABETH beside

them. DIDO and LADY MARY ride backwards.

LORD MANSFIELDI have reason to speak with youalone, Dido.

DIDO is quietly alarmed.

DIDOHave I wronged you, Papaa?

LORD MANSFIELDYou have done no such thing.

INT. KENWOOD HOUSE. LORD MANSFIELD’S STUDY - DAY.31616*

LORD MANSFIELD is grave. DIDO stands before him.

10.

LORD MANSFIELDI have not past experience in the

ways of breaking grave news to you.

He hands her a letter and she reads. A beat, as the news

resonates through her, silently. Her pained gaze slowly

rises to meet LORD MANSFIELD’S.

DIDO(quiet, shock)

I thought I should one day have

the opportunity to make his

better acquaintance.

LORD MANSFIELDYes. I know.

INT. KENWOOD HOUSE. DIDO AND ELIZABETH’S BEDROOM - DAY.31717*

ELIZABETHTwo thousand pounds a year?

ELIZABETH sits at the edge of the bed in day clothes. DIDO

nods, her back to us as she stares out through the window.

ELIZABETH (CONT’D)

Then you are an heiress! He has

left you your fortune!

INT. KENWOOD HOUSE. DIDO AND ELIZABETH’S BEDROOM - NIGHT 31818*

Darkness. DIDO and ELIZABETH lie in separate beds. Only a

shaft of moonlight illuminates their faces.

ELIZABETHHe must have loved you, Dido.

DIDOHe did not know me.

ELIZABETHMy father’s new wife wishes him

to leave me not a thing, and he

obliges her.

DIDOThen it is her cruelty you should

lament, Bette, not his stupidity.

ELIZABETHI think he might have loved me

more if Mamaa had not died.

11.

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