Carrington Page #4

- Of course. I'll write to both of you.

Separately.

(# Schubert's String Quintet in C)

How do you spell "intangible"?

I-n-t-a-n-g-i-b-l-e.

Oh. Well, never mind.

Won't you be

just some glorified typesetter?

- No. And that's not really the point, is it?

- Oh? What is the point?

The point is I shall have to live in London.

And I want Carrington to come with me.

Oh, I see.

We'll come back here every weekend and

the servants will look after you all week.

It's not the same.

- I shall miss you terribly.

- Oh, it won't be so very different.

All your gallivanting about, you know

you're only here about half the time.

Except when you're working, and then

it'll be an advantage to be on your own.

Suppose she doesn't agree.

Then I think it would be best for me

to make a complete break.

My darling, I don't think I could face that.

Why do you think I moved away

from London? I hate London.

- That's a selfish attitude.

- I can't just abandon Lytton.

- He doesn't quite see it in that light.

- What do you mean?

There are times when I feel like

a character in a farce by Moliere.

Le Bougre Marie.

I do wish you weren't

quite so single-minded, dearest.

I mean, I have tried.

I can't help it.

Women's bodies I find

somehow subtly offensive.

Or reproachful, would it be?

- Lytton said a strange thing last night.

- Oh, yes? What?

He told me he thought

women's bodies were disgusting.

- Can I come in?

- Of course.

Two indispensable items you've forgotten.

These.

Very handy for boy-watching in ltaly.

And...

You are wonderful. You think

of everything. I shall give you a kiss.

What am I going to do, Lytton?

He's very determined, my dear.

He tells me, if you don't marry him,

he's resolved to go and live abroad.

If only I wasn't so... plural.

Especially when people

seem to want me so conclusively.

I'm sure you'll do the right thing.

I can't see what difference

getting married would make.

- A great deal of difference.

- It's just a piece of paper.

For one, think how much easier

it would be travelling abroad, and...

- And what?

- If that's the way you feel,

there's only one thing for it!

- I shall go to Bolivia.

- What?

A man I know in Oxford wants me

to run a sheep farm in Bolivia.

Oh, I'm quite serious.

I can't go on like this.

- Don't be ridiculous.

- I will not be treated like a child!

If I go, he won't let you live with him

any more. You know that, don't you?

He's never said that.

I don't think he wants to see you again

when he gets back from ltaly.

(Carrington) My dearest Lytton,

There is a great deal to say, and I feel

very incompetent to write it today.

You see, I knew there was nothing

really to hope for from you,

well, ever since the beginning.

All these years, I have known all along

that my life with you was limited.

Lytton, you are the only person who

I ever had an all-absorbing passion for.

I shall never have another.

I couldn't, now.

I had one of the most self-abasing

loves that a person can have.

It's too much of a strain to be

quite alone here, waiting to see you,

or craning my nose and eyes out of

the top window at 44, Gordon Square,

to see if you were

coming down the street.

Ralph said you were nervous lest

I'd feel I had some sort of claim on you,

and that your friends wondered

how you stood me so long,

as I didn't understand

a word of literature.

That was wrong. For nobody, I think,

could have loved the Ballards, Donne,

and Macaulay's Essays and, best of all,

Lytton's Essays, as much as l.

You never knew, or never will know,

the very big and devastating

love I had for you.

How I adored every hair,

every curl of your beard.

Just thinking of you now makes me cry

so I can't see this paper.

Once you said to me - that

Wednesday afternoon in the sitting room -

you loved me as a friend.

Could you tell it to me again?

Yours, Carrington.

My dearest and best,

Do you know how difficult I find it

to express my feelings,

either in letters or talk?

Do you really want me to tell you

that I love you as a friend?

But of course that is absurd.

And you do know very well that I love

you as something more than a friend,

you angelic creature, whose goodness

to me has made me happy for years.

Your letter made me cry.

I feel a poor, old, miserable creature.

If there was a chance that your decision

meant that I should somehow lose you,

I don't think I could bear it.

You and Ralph and our life at Tidmarsh

are what I care for most in the world.

Well, I think I shall spend

all my honeymoons here.

Shouldn't you be wearing a ring?

I lost it, somewhere in the ltalian Alps.

Do you ever get terrified of dying?

(gondolier calls out)

FOUR:
BRENAN 1 921 -1 923

When you've been married for six weeks,

you've no idea how pleasant it is

to get away on your own.

I sometimes wish

I'd met you before Ralph did.

Yes.

I don't suppose I'd have made

much impression on you.

What's the matter?

I don't know.

You know something,

Gerald, you're mad.

Why do you have to go back to Spain

so soon? Why not join us on holiday?

No, I couldn't.

Ready?

This is going very well.

Do you mind awfully?

Not at all.

I must tell Ralph.

- What?

- I must. I can't bear this deceit.

After all, he is one of my oldest friends.

I think I ought to go

and tell him I love you.

That he has nothing to worry about,

that it's just like brother and sister.

- I shouldn't.

- Why not?

- You'd upset him.

- But...

You would. Really, you would. I know.

He's... such a dear.

It wouldn't be fair.

I feel shittish enough about it as it is.

I want you to come back

to Spain with me - now, today -

and live with me.

- I can't, Gerald.

- Why not?

I feel as if I'm drowning.

Well, old chap, I think

this is the parting of the ways.

- Take care of yourself.

- I will.

Oh, I think the lady and gentleman

might be permitted a kiss, don't you?

I really don't understand you.

- A bit of effort.

- What do you mean?

If you'd tried to persuade him, I'm sure

he'd have stayed another couple of days.

Do you know if Ralph's

coming back this evening?

He said he had

some work to do in London.

I don't know who it is, Lytton.

I've had three letters already this week.

I miss him terribly.

- When's he coming back to England?

- He says he can't afford the fare.

It's lovely, Gerald.

I shall always treasure it.

Now this... this is silly.

Ralph has mistresses, you know.

I'm sure he's with one of them now.

So I can't... I can't see the sense in it.

(tumble)

Now will you come back

to Spain with me?

You mustn't spoil things, Gerald.

You want to stay in England with Ralph.

No, not with Ralph.

With Lytton.

Carrington!

Carrington!

Carrington!

- Where's Brenan?

- He's not here.

- I said, where is he?!

- I told you, he's not here.

- I'll kill him.

- Has someone told you something? Who?

- Out of the way!

- He's gone to his parents.

Will you get out of the way?

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