Fanny by Gaslight Page #8

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- Company, eh?

- She was just going.

We've met before.

Fanny Hopwood, isn't it?

Good night, Lucy.

Will you let me pass, please?

I beg your pardon.

Another old acquaintance.

Good evening.

You're not running away, surely?

Lucy, where are your manners?

Ask your friends to stay

and have a drink with us.

Won't you stay?

I leave that to Fanny.

Please stay, Fanny.

Very well.

Thank you.

Fancy, this is Fanny's

first visit to Paris.

All the more cause for celebration.

No, not that one.

This is a special occasion.

See how well I've

trained my little Lucy.

Glasses.

And how do you like Paris, Miss...

Hooper?

Delightful city, isn't it?

A city made for adventure.

Anything could happen here.

One's free from observation,

free from criticism.

Not like your prim,

old-fashioned London,

where everything you are and

do is remembered against you.

Not quite cool enough, I

fear, but beautifully alive.

In England, we might call it too sweet.

But then, in England, we don't like

things very sweet. Wine or women.

A dry, rough lot, eh, Somerford?

Miss Hooper.

Why so serious?

Come, my dear, smile.

Forget the past, the future.

Live for the day, the

hour... the minute.

Somerford.

Who would have thought after our last meeting

we should be drinking together in friendship?

Take your glass, Lucy.

A toast.

To the settlement of our

little misunderstanding.

Harry!

That my dear, Somerford, in this delightful

France is the recognised provocation to a duel.

- In France, perhaps.

- We happen to be in France.

I don't believe in

settling quarrels that way.

I'm sorry, I mistook

you for a gentleman.

Shall we go?

He's ready to knock down a man who's drunk

but he's not risking his own precious skin.

Hurry, be quick. Let's

get away from here.

Hey, we may be running away

but don't make it so obvious.

Oh. Oh, I've left my hat

behind. I'll just go and get it.

Don't go back. What does it matter?

It was a very expensive hat.

Won't be a minute.

Is that how you do it?

Where shall my seconds call?

I have a friend in

Paris. A Dr Lowenthal.

If your seconds call

on him at this address,

he'll make the necessary arrangements.

Thank you.

Not at all.

Good night, Lucy.

- Have you got

it? - Mm-hm.

Oh, my hat, yes. I've got it.

You didn't accept his challenge?

Who me? You don't know your Harry.

I'm as hungry as a hunter. What do

you say to a nice dish of escargots?

Escargots?

- Snails.

- Oh, Harry, I couldn't possibly eat snails.

If you're squeamish we'll just have

frogs' legs. I hear they're delicious.

"If by any chance I

do not come back... "

Then you did accept his challenge.

- Mm.

- Why did you pretend?

I didn't want to spoil our

first evening together in Paris.

Oh, Harry, why did you do it?

An affair of honour.

Honour? Stupid, idiotic pride.

What has honour got to do with it?

I thought you despised these

ridiculous, played-out conventions.

- I do.

- Then why?

Probably because I'm not

brave enough to refuse.

What about me?

My darling, I'm thinking of you.

This fellow Manderstoke seems to have

some kind of evil influence on your life.

So you've thought so too.

I can't stand by and see you

hurt and shamed by anyone.

You see, this meeting had

to come sooner or later.

We can't be haunted

by him all our lives.

Everyone I've loved...

It's wicked. Monstrous.

Harry, I can't let you go, I can't.

He'll kill you. I saw it in his eyes.

Oh, no he won't. He's probably

just as rotten a shot as I am.

Harry!

My own darling.

I must go now. Wouldn't

do to keep him waiting.

I shall be very hungry when I get

back, so keep me some rolls and...

Harry!

- Don't go! Don't!

- I must.

Harry!

- Morning, Dr Lowenthal.

- Bonjour, my dear Somerford.

These gentlemen have consented to

act as your seconds, if you approve.

Monsieur le Viscomte de

Parville. Monsieur Thierry.

They have already made all arrangements

with the seconds of Lord Manderstoke.

Good. Attendez I-bas.

Monsieur.

You have agreed to a duel

en se retournant at 22 paces.

Yes.

It is my duty to suggest that there is still

time to settle your difference by an apology.

- Impossible.

- Impossible.

Then it only remains

for me to remind you

that honour pledges you to

conform to the rules exactly.

Your coat, sir.

Oh, yes.

On my command "Marchez"

you will start to move.

And on my command "Tirez"

you will turn and fire.

Are you ready?

Take your places.

Marchez.

Un, deux, trois,

quatre, cinq, six,

sept, huit,

neuf, dix, onze.

Tirez!

You are all right, eh?

Hm? Yes, yes, I'm fine.

I must get back quickly.

I will go and get your things.

Comment

va-t-il?

Je crains qu'il soit gravement bless.

Et I'autre?

Je crois qu'il est mort.

The patient has lost a lot of blood.

He is still very weak.

It's even worse than I thought.

I realised from Miss Hooper's

telegram that he was dangerously ill,

but this sordid...

Can I see him at once?

Please wait here.

Good morning, miss.

Good morning.

You'll be Mr Harry's sister, I suppose.

I'm Joe Boggs of the Jolly Bargee.

An old friend of Harry's and Fan's.

Really?

Docteur?

La soeur du malade est arrive.

Bien.

Mademoiselle.

Don't... leave me.

Only for a moment, darling.

Miss Somerford, I'm so

thankful you've come.

Dr Lowenthal?

I'm Mr Somerford's sister.

I've come to look after him.

- In a few days, madame.

- In a few days?

Surely you don't expect me

to leave him to strangers?

It is hard on you, madame, I know,

but at the present moment

any least excitement...

I understand Miss Hooper

is allowed in the room.

I rely on her to give

him the incentive to live.

Don't you realise that she, and she

alone, is responsible for what's happened?

That is not my affair, madame.

It is mine.

I insist on seeing my brother.

Furthermore, I will not

have that woman in the room.

From now on, I shall take her place.

You do not seem quite

to understand, madame.

The day before yesterday I

removed a bullet from his lung.

Any strain, any anxiety may

cause a fatal haemorrhage.

I do not hold myself responsible.

If you'd prefer to hand the

case over to someone else...

No, Dr Lowenthal, please stay with him.

- If Miss Somerford wishes to have

other advice. - Only because of me.

But I'll go away. Anything.

Please stay with him.

Of course I'd rather you stayed, Doctor.

But only on the conditions I have named.

Fanny?

Where are you?

Harry, it's Kate, dearest.

I've come to look after you.

Fanny.

Darling, try to sleep. It'll

be all right when you wake up.

Fanny. She needs me. I must go to her.

I must go to her.

Fanny.

How dare you, after your promise!

Miss Somerford, please.

He needs me. Don't you see? He needs me.

Needs? You?

Miss Hooper, when I first met you,

I appealed to you to let Harry go.

I even believed that, in

your own way, you loved him.

You refused to listen to me.

Everything I foresaw has come true.

And now this.

And you say he needs you.

But he does. He needs a

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