Jamaica Inn Page #2

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You know how Mother was.

(Whistling)

Patience. Don't stand there yappering, woman.

Get the girl's box inside.

Yes. Yes, Joss.

No, no, Aunt Patience, let me.

Easy, easy.

Your new uncle's very particular.

He's not the sort to let lovely ladies

spoil themselves with rough work.

He knows different, does Joss.

Lively with it, Patience, my dear.

- I'll take this end.

- No. I can manage. It isn't heavy, Mary.

- You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

- Mary, don't say anything.

I've had pretty women

pay me compliments before.

Stand clear there.

There.

Our Mary's a little bit sour tonight,

but, bless you, the best of us

can't be sweet-tempered on an empty belly.

Fill it up for her.

Yes, I'll get her something to eat.

Mary, if you'll come with me.

I won't be a minute.

If you'll sit down and rest.

- I'll set the table.

- No, no, no, no.

You'll be tired after your long journey.

I'm not. Where's the cloth and supper things?

Over there in the middle drawer.

(Raucous laughter)

It's nothing. Only some late customers

in the parlour. They'll be going soon, no doubt.

(Raucous laughter)

Shut that gab!

Keep it quiet.

- You see, boys, we've got a visitor.

- Harry told us.

She's a neat piece from what I've seen of her.

Very neat.

That's all you think of, women.

Vanities of the flesh.

Following petticoats

along the path to everlasting corruption.

- Salvation's off again.

- You can laugh now.

But you'll sing a different tune,

when you're roasting in the consuming fire

that's waiting for all of us.

Me included.

- Where are you going, Harry?

- To pay my respects.

She's not partial to your sort, Harry.

What about me in my new lace cuffs?

Anything in mind that way yourself?

Well, I hadn't given the matter a thought,

but I might.

I said I might, Harry.

All right, Joss.

Added to which,

she's my wife's niece from Ireland.

Why didn't you say that before?

My business, Harry, my business.

I knew a girl once.

Come from Ireland.

Talked funny, she did. Like a foreigner.

But it was all right.

I'm not what you expected, am I?

I was only a child when you went away,

Aunt Patience.

I can only just remember you then.

And what was I like then?

You were beautiful.

Was I?

Yes...

I suppose I was.

No doubt your mother told you all about me.

You're thinking I'm paid out for leaving home.

For running away. Well, you're wrong.

Joss has been a good husband to me.

There's nothing I'd change even if I could.

It's hard work and it's risky work.

It's work we'll rot in chains for one day.

All in a neat row.

And what do we get out of it? Next to nothing.

Why, a man's share doesn't come to enough

to hold body and soul together.

That last wreck didn't bring in

what it should have. That's what I say.

That's what you say.

No, that's what Sydney said.

- So, you've been yapping, eh?

- No, no, Mr Merlyn, I assure you.

Showing off your arithmetic, eh?

Doing pretty sums for poor lads

that can't read nor reckon.

You're out to list the goods,

not set a price on them.

Just a minute, Joss.

I told him the last haul didn't fetch

a quarter of what it should have done.

You did, eh?

Reckoning by our share of it,

maybe you're not getting

the right price for the stuff.

Maybe there's a leak somewhere.

(Harry whistles)

You're looking thoughtful, Harry.

Perhaps you'll give us

the benefit of your sentiments.

If any.

About this leak, I think the word is,

if you've a notion in your mind, Harry,

don't be bashful.

Spit it out. We'd be glad to listen.

I wouldn't know about that, Joss.

Well, perhaps I would.

Supposing there is a leak.

And supposing it happens before the goods

get to the inn, do you follow me?

Some absent-minded chap

might mislay a piece or two,

in a manner of speaking,

on the way up from the wreck.

Have you ever thought of that?

How long have you been with me?

A matter of five years, Joss.

Salvation?

We've been lost souls together

for two years and seven months, Joss.

Sydney?

Almost two and a half years, Mr Merlyn.

Dandy?

Let's see, now. I was carrying on

with a bit in Penzance around that time.

Here she is. Annie.

That makes it four years, Joss.

And you?

I'll tell them for you.

Mr Trehearne has been with us

the enormous time of two months.

Eight weeks.

56 days.

How's that for arithmetic?

What do you say to that, Mr Trehearne?

PATIENCE:
Joss.

JOSS:
Clear out!

Joss, please.

Why, what's wrong?

Joss, Mary's just told me,

she came to the inn with Squire Pengallan.

He asked her why she was coming here

and about us.

And, seeing he's a magistrate, I thought...

Joss, you don't think he's found out anything?

What's this about Sir Humphrey, eh?

How did you come to meet him?

Why, I called on him.

The coach took me a long way past here.

So I went to the house for help.

Sir Humphrey was very kind and most obliging.

He knows how to behave towards a woman.

He even lent me a horse to ride here.

One that won him a hundred guineas

in the county steeplechase.

We didn't get the haul we hoped for tonight, sir.

There was a full gale blowing down there

and the ship broke clean in two, sir.

Get a pair of scissors, Merlyn.

Yes, sir.

Why did you leave this blood on?

What do you think we're conducting?

A slaughterhouse? Cut it off.

There were so many tumbling in.

It was butcher's work.

What have they to live for, poor scum?

You were right to put them out of their misery.

Look at this exquisite stuff. Worth the miserable

lives of a hundred rum-rotten sailors.

Perfection of its own kind.

That's all that matters, Merlyn.

Whatever is perfect of its kind.

I'd transport all the riffraff in Bristol

to Botany Bay

to save one beautiful woman a single headache.

Something you don't understand. Never will.

Because you're neither

a philosopher nor a gentleman.

- But you made certain, no survivors?

- Certain sure, sir.

I'm sorry about that girl Mary, sir.

We didn't know she was coming.

She'll be no harm.

I'll get her away in the morning.

Make up the fire. It's cold.

- Get me a drink.

- Yes, sir.

I didn't expect you so soon, sir,

before I'd put the light in the window.

A man's a fool to stir out on a night like this.

Taking a bit of a risk, wasn't it,

coming before I got the men out of the way?

Everything's a risk.

This girl, Mary, not without character.

A mind of her own.

Oh, you leave her to me, sir.

I'll manage her, just as I manage my Patience.

- Have you looked at the stuff?

- I don't see any resemblance to your wife.

Maybe not, but my Patience was

a bit of a beauty when I married her. Why, I...

This won't do, Merlyn. It's not enough.

No, sir, it's not quite what we looked for.

Better luck next time, eh, Sir Humphrey?

We could do with it.

The men are getting impatient.

I can deal with them, but they're asking

where the money goes. They want more.

What for? Rot their innards out sooner

with the blue ruin you sell 'em?

Listen, Merlyn. I want more.

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