Corridor of Mirrors Page #4

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that I could talk to you.

You wondered how I knew your name?

I heard him say it.

It sounds beautiful from his lips.

I don't understand.

Paul told me there was

nobody else in the house.

For him, there is no-one.

You will have some tea?

But you have many opportunities of

talking to me, when I was alone.

How could I know that he

wouldn't suddenly appear?

You know how he can appear

quite suddenly from nowhere.

But I can always watch

you without his knowing.

I have a way of flitting from room

to room and about the corridors.

Like a ghost.

Sugar?

Very often, I thought that

you would discover me.

What would happen if Paul were to

find out that you had spoken to me?

He would throw me out.

What's he afraid of?

How old do you think

I am? The truth now ..

About .. fifty?

That's what he's afraid of.

That you might find out, why

a woman of thirty should ..

Look like me.

I'll not listen to you anymore!

I don't believe a word of it.

Oh but you must .. you don't want

to become like me .. do you?

Listen .. he found me in Italy during

the war. I'd lost my home, and family.

I was very beautiful .. he

was very rich .. he said ..

That I was what he had

been searching for.

He promised .. that I should

be the mistress of this house.

That I should never want for anything.

That I should have all the clothes

and jewels that I wanted to wear.

I did .. every day I was

dressed up in them.

He never let me go outside the house

because it would spoil the illusion.

And then ..

He got tired of me.

I was banished below stairs.

You could have run away and left him.

How? For years, I've been

a prisoner in this house.

I didn't know a soul.

Since that time, there's been

a long procession of girls.

But I always warn them .. in time.

You think he loves you, don't you?

He loves only himself.

It isn't true .. it isn't true.

Paul didn't force me here.

I came and stayed of my own free will.

Of his will.

He's clever .. He makes

you think it is your will.

He's like a drug .. he makes

you see life his way.

And you have to go on, as if you stop,

you'd find the world so cruel and ugly.

That you would have to go

crawling back to him again.

No ..no .. no .. no!

No .. no .. no .. no ..

"Must get out of this house."

"I must change these clothes."

"I must get out." "He's like a drug".

"He makes you see life his way,"

"There's been a long procession of .."

"Go crawling back to him again."

Come in Mifanwy.

You've found out where I work.

Come here and tell me what you think of

my designs for the musician's costumes.

I found them in this old book.

Paul ..?

Is it true about the other girls?

Did they also have

black hair like mine?

Did you dress them up as well?

So Veronica has been talking to you.

So it is true .. everything she told me

is true .. you haven't a hold over me.

What are you talking about Mifanwy?

You haven't a hold over me.

You can't make me become like

her, or a slave like all the others.

See .. you can't deny anything.

I've seen how she looks. I thought

she was an old woman.

That's why you kept her hidden.

Because you made her what she is.

She looked as she does now when

Mortimer first found her in the street.

She's a poor creature,

with the mind of a child.

Don't lie to me .. you found her in

Italy .. she doesn't sound mad at all.

She's afraid of you Mifanwy,

as a child would be afraid.

Her obsession is, that with you

coming here, she will be turned out.

Why should she be afraid of me?

She also warned the others.

There were no others.

I don't believe you.

Aren't I almost a prisoner? You've done

everything to keep me away from people.

I was afraid of losing you .. because

you are the one I've been waiting for.

Afraid of losing me .. no!

In his untiring quest, the well-known

connoisseur Paul Mangin ..

Discovered her in a rather expensive

curio shop, took her home and ..

Found she was the exact shape and color

to fit his unique collection of costumes.

But this marionette has got tired of

the role, before you got tired of her.

Paul, I don't intend becoming one

of those dolls in your cupboards.

I'm getting out of this toyshop.

Wait!

Mifanwy .. I've no power to hold you.

What I'm going to tell you may

seem puzzling and strange to you.

You may wonder why I

haven't told you before.

You're young, and I wanted to be sure

that you are ready to accept a miracle.

I don't believe in miracles.

Don't you Mifanwy?

Then what's this?

It's wonderful .. when

did you do this of me?

"Portrait Of A Lady".

Attributed to Cristobano Laurie.

"1486"

I don't understand.

I was in a castle in Italy,

after the last war.

Wounded, with a

shell-splinter in my ear.

All the times I lay in bed,

she looked down at me.

In the nights, I dreamed about

her .. she filled my imagination.

After the war, I went back to England.

I found no peace and no happiness.

That girl's face haunted me.

She drew me back to Italy.

I had to possess her.

The day I bought her.

An infinite peace and happiness came

over me for the first time in my life.

I was determined to

find out who she was.

They let me search in the archives at

the castle. Then I discovered her name

"Venetia". Then something

very strange happened.

I became conscious of events in her

life before I had even read about them.

Somehow I'd known her before. That

mirror in her hand. I'd given it to her.

I've always laughed at the

idea of reincarnation.

But this had happened to me.

So I was bound to believe it.

By now, I was convinced that

I had lived 400 years ago.

That I had been Venetia's lover.

You are Paul Mangin,

living here and now.

How could you believe you're that man?

Yes, how could I believe?

One part of the puzzle was missing.

That part .. was me.

You believe that I'm that girl.

That smile .. it's mocking .. cruel.

Yes, I always hated her smile.

I wonder what she was thinking?

She was cruel .. she was faithless.

I could have changed

her .. but she left me.

You speak as if you were really there.

As if?

I was there I tell you. I was there!

This time, you won't leave me, Venetia.

No .. I won't leave you.

No, Paul .. I won't leave you.

"It wasn't easy to lie

to Paul. To leave him."

"But I knew in that moment, that if

I didn't .. I would never be able to."

"It wasn't so much Paul who frightened

me, but what was happening to me."

"And most of all .. I wanted

to be able .. to love again."

[ laughter ]

So you are happy here, aren't you?

Very happy. I never want to leave.

Mifanwy .. have you ever been in love?

A thousand times, but never in love.

Both cynical and sad.

And true.

Here, move over. Use your

wrist more in your cast.

Is that better?

No. Dreadful ..

Do you think you ever could be?

In love? Yes.

I could be.

But not like the other thousand times?

I'd want it to be different somehow.

A thousand and one?

Days and nights.

Heavens! What a country to live in.

No wonder Welshmen are always miners.

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