Berkeley Square Page #6

---

Heaven will not permit it.

Kate, if you cannot master this strange

perversity, you must return to Budleigh.

This has been the

most lovely day of all.

He cast a spell on me .. but

God took pity and saved me.

And I've returned to save Helen.

Mr Standish .. when you

came into this house ..

Though the door was shut and locked ..

Did you come from America?

I did .. that much at least is true.

I made a list of ten of his phrases.

He said they were used in New York.

On my way home,

I stopped at The Legation.

Should the American Minister, Mr Adams,

know what words are used in New York?

He .. he's from Massachusetts.

I asked him .. he'd never

heard one of the ten.

So you see .. those words

are not used in America.

They're not used in this world.

The Devils uses them in Hell !!

Peter Standish came from

New York in the General Wolfe.

His body stands there .. but

what have you done with him?

You've stolen his body .. what

have you done with his soul?

"John Brown's body lies a mouldering

in his grave, his soul goes .."

A new "Fire Of London". That's what is

needed here. Yes, and a new plague too.

Dirt, disease, cruelty, smells ..

Lord how the 18th Century stinks.

Kate, you may be a fool.

But you're trying in your silly way to

help Helen now. And I love you for that.

Madam, I've seen you in Sheridan's plays

and read you in Jane Austen's novels.

You know what you want, and you plough

straight over and through everything.

Like a tank, lumbering through the mud.

Do you hear that Kate? "Like a tank".

There is your eleventh strange word

from the lexicon of Beelzebub.

Go to the American Legation and ask

Charles Adams what "tank" means?

No, it isn't Charles Francis Adams

who is Minister here now. It's ..

It is his Grandfather John Adams,

second President of The United States.

Charles Francis Adams

isn't even born yet.

He won't be Minister here

until the civil war in 1861.

What's one blunder among so many?

Peter Standish came from New York to

Plymouth in the General Wolfe, did he?

Peter Standish came from New York

to Plymouth in the Mauritania!

Shall I make a few more

blunders for you to gibber at?

Shall I drive you back to Budleigh

in my car? Fifty miles an hour!

No, not on a broomstick.

Shall I sell my portrait in America

Ma'am, for thirty thousand pounds?

The Americans buy all the Reynolds's ..

What do I care about you?

You're all over and done with.

You're all dead, you're all rotted

in your graves. You're all ghosts.

That's what you are .. ghosts!

Stop her .. she'll tell Helen.

You dead and buried little pipsqueak!

Returnez Satanist!

Ah! Exorcism! Cast out the Devil!

You would send me back to Hell,

where I came from, would you?

I'm too vanish in a

clap of thunder, am I?

I'll set ten Devils on you!

Ahhh!

Imprisonment.

Imprisonment for life.

For life .. for life ..

In this filthy little pigsty of a world.

Peter ..

oh Helen .. Kate knows ..

And Throstle.

Yes Peter.

They tell me how you feel

buried alive among the dead.

Now, you can never see them again.

No .. never again.

We'll go away together, to America.

People would hate and fear you anywhere.

Why should they hate me?

They hate what they fear, just

as you fear and hate them.

I can face them all .. for you

belong to me .. not them.

I'm strong now.

Don't make me weak again.

Each night I've said "he must go back".

But each morning when we

ride away together .. I think ..

Let me have only one more day.

Helen, I couldn't face my

own life without you.

What life is this for you?

Be brave Peter .. and listen.

We two alone have been

chosen for this wonder ..

Out of all the millions of

lovers since time began ..

Our love is more real than if you had

been born in my world .. or I in yours.

Because .. it is a miracle.

That we came together at all, proves

we weren't meant to lose each other.

Yes .. Yes!

And we shall be together always Peter.

Not in my time .. nor in yours.

But in God's ..

But Helen, I want you now.

You can't want me to go back.

You love me.

With all my soul.

Then I stay here.

Stay then, Peter .. for life, for life!

A life of nightmare that never ends.

So that you may live on in my

world in a living death. Mad!

Is it because you love me,

that you condemn me to that?

You do see it.

Leave me while our

love is still beautiful.

I ask it for my sake.

You have your own life to

live, out in the future Peter.

Don't be too sad there about a

girl who's been dead so long.

As I grow old .. your youth will

seem to me eternal youth.

For you will come, won't you?

Young as I see you now, to my

grave in St Mark's churchyard.

To you, that will be tomorrow.

And yet, to the generations

after I am dead.

I'll ask for a stone with

the letters cut deep.

So they won't wear away

before you come to me.

And you must come alone.

But if you love that other

girl .. you must marry her.

Oh don't ..

But you can't live in this house with

only that old woman to look after you.

When that happens, I shall be ..

And yet I am jealous .. even

though I will be dead.

Helen .. I love you only.

Now .. and in my own time .. and in

whatever other times may come.

I believe .. forgive me.

If only you could take back with

you just one thing that was mine.

Father got this in Egypt

when the fleet was there.

In some strange way .. it

has meant so much to me.

The Crux Ansta ..

What is it?

It's the symbol of life .. of eternity.

Then that is why I loved it so.

Helen .. that was mine .. long ago.

Yours? Long ago?

It was here .. when I

first entered this house.

In the future.

Then this little thing has crossed

the great darkness between us.

Mine while I live.

And yours in that world

that I shall never see.

This was our parting.

[ thunderclap ]

No more dear shadows ..

Has Mr Standish come in yet?

Yes Miss, he came in just as

the clock struck five-thirty.

Where had he been?

He said he had been

to St Mark's churchyard.

Sorry to have brought you here. I was so

worried, I didn't know where he'd gone.

That's quite alright my dear.

Mrs Barwick .. has anything particular

happened since I was here last?

Well sir, Mr Standish has

been drinking quite a lot.

Why only yesterday, he told me he

had just come from the 18th Century.

Yes, he tried to get into Brookes's

club, insisting he was a member.

They had to throw him out.

Hmm, his old mania.

But when he came in just now,

he seemed more like his old self.

Quieter .. if you know what I mean.

I see.

Well my dear, what would

you like me to do?

Wait here, I'll go up to

him, and see for myself.

Last night, some people came with

some I.O.U.'s he'd given them.

He yelled at them, sir. He

told them they weren't alive.

And that they wouldn't be born

for another hundred years.

Marjorie.

Peter .. you know me?

Of course.

I'm afraid ..

Peter Standish has been giving

you an awful lot of trouble.

Well, you haven't been yourself

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes