Kind Hearts And Coronets Page #9

during this present visit

to the castle...

I was likely to see the ruin

of my whole campaign.

My best wishes

for a successful outcome.

The next morning

I went out shooting with Ethelred...

or rather,

to watch Ethelred shooting...

for my principles will not allow me

to take a direct part in blood sports.

- Been round the traps this morning, Hoskins?

- Not yet, Your Grace.

Sounds as if we've bagged one there.

Ah. Been losing so much game lately,

we've started setting the mantraps again.

Hoskins is now going to thrash you.

Then he'll let you go.

Let this be a lesson to you

not to poach on my land.

That'll do.

Keep moving them around, Hoskins,

or they'll tell each other where they are.

Yes, Your Grace.

- I thought mantraps were illegal.

- They are.

What happens

if he tells the police?

He comes up before the bench for poaching,

gets six months in jail.

If he keeps his mouth shut,

he just gets a few days in bed.

Which would you choose?

Only way to deal with

these ruffians, I assure you.

Oh. I must have dropped my cigarette case

back there. I'll catch you up.

- Find it?

- Yes, thanks.

Might have another walk round

this afternoon, if you feel like it.

That would be

most pleasant.

After luncheon we went out

to massacre a few more unfortunate birds.

- Listen.

- What is it?

I thought I heard something,

like someone running through the bracken.

Another poaching ruffian!

Come on!

There was someone here. Look.

Blast!

Louis, get me out of this.

Hurry up, man.

- Have you gone mad?

- Be quiet, Ethelred.

I want to talk to you

for a minute.

If you make a noise,

I shall blow your head off at once.

By the time anyone

has heard the shot...

I shall be running back toward the castle,

shouting for help.

I shall say that you

stepped on the trap...

and that your gun went off

accidentally as it fell.

So be quiet.

To spare you as much pain

as possible...

I'll be brief.

When I've finished,

I shall kill you.

You'll be the sixth D'Ascoyne

that I've killed.

You want to know why?

In return for what

the D'Ascoynes did to my mother.

Because she married for love

instead of for rank or money or land...

they condemned her to a life

of poverty and slavery...

in a world with which

they had not equipped her to deal.

You yourself refused

to grant her dying wish...

which was to be buried

When I saw her poor little coffin

slide underground...

saw her exiled in death

as she'd been in life...

I swore to have my revenge

on your intolerable pride.

That revenge

I am just about to complete.

It's clear that you are insane.

Give me that gun at once.

No.

From here, I think, the wound should look

consistent with the story that I shall tell.

Help.!

Help! Help!

And so Ethelred...

duly came to his place in the family vault.

There were few D'Ascoynes

left to mourn him...

for the shortest possible period...

having expired of shock on hearing

that he had succeeded to the title.

And so... I became

Fortunately, the ninth duke

had found time before he expired...

to make a will bequeathing to me

his interests in the business.

You may remove that.

A day or two later,

an affecting little feudal ceremony took place...

to welcome me into residence

at the castle.

And I promise you

that my first consideration...

and that of Mrs. D'Ascoyne, who has

done me the honor to consent to be my bride...

will be the welfare of the estate

and of the people who live on it.

God bless you all.

Long live His Grace.!

Long live His Grace.

Pennyman, Your Grace,

from Sprockett's Farm.

Mrs. Pennyman.

My son, Tom,

from Sprockett's Farm.

Mr. Wyvold,

from Sprockett's Farm.

Sprockett's Farm?

No, Your Grace.

From Scotland Yard.

Scotland Yard?

A matter of some delicacy.

Follow me, please.

The blow was so sudden

that I found it hard to collect my thoughts.

Which of them could it be?

Young Ascoyne?

Henry? Ethelred?

The parson?

The general?

Lady Agatha?

Or could it be all of them?

- Now.

- I am.

- I am Detective Inspector Burgoyne...

of the Criminal

Investigation Department.

And I hold a warrant for your arrest

on a charge of murder.

Murder?

Of murdering Mr. Lionel Holland at-

- Murdering whom?

- Mr. Lionel Holland...

at number 242 Connaught Square,

Bayswater...

on the 17th of October last.

Utterly bewildered,

I tried to fathom what series of events...

could conceivably have led

to this not-very-amusing irony.

I could only suppose that Lionel

had actually carried out...

that drunken threat of suicide.

But how then had the blame

fallen on me?

Time alone-and the trial-

would reveal the answer.

Seeing no reason to forego any of

the available privileges of my rank...

I exercised my right to be tried

before the House of Lords.

you, as a peer of England,

are indicted for murder.

How say you, Your Grace?

Are you guilty of the felony with which

you are charged or not guilty?

- Not guilty.

- How will you be tried?

- By God and my peers.

- God send Your Grace a good deliverance.

It shall be the truth, the whole truth

and nothing but the truth...

so help me God.

Mrs. Holland, will you tell

Their Lordships in your own words...

the substance of the conversation

you had with your husband...

the evening before his death?

He told me that Louis -

the prisoner-

was coming to see him the next day

on a rather delicate matter.

Did he indicate

what that matter was?

He had discovered that

the prisoner and I had been -

Had been on terms of intimacy?

- Yes.

- And what was his attitude?

He felt that the correct thing to do...

was to tell him to his face that he intended

to start proceedings for divorce.

From your knowledge of the prisoner...

how would you expect him

to receive that news?

I should expect him

to be very angry.

Now he was heir to a dukedom,

he had no more use for me.

I see. He was trying to discard you.

- Yes.

- Mrs. Holland...

I apologize for submitting you

to this ordeal...

but will you tell Their Lordships

how you found your husband's body?

I came back about half past 4:00.

Their Lordships have no objection

to the witness being seated.

Yes, Mrs. Holland?

I came back about half past 4:00.

I went into my husband's study.

He was lying on the floor...

with a dagger stuck in his chest.

One last question,

Mrs. Holland.

Had your husband ever, at any time,

threatened suicide?

- Never.

- Thank you, Mrs. Holland.

My client craves

Their Lordships' permission...

to cross-examine

the witness himself.

Their Lordships grant their permission.

Mrs. Holland, you understand

the meaning of being on oath?

Of course.

You realize that a life may depend upon

the truthfulness of your evidence?

Yes.

I put it to you that your story

of your conversation with your husband...

on the night before his death

is a complete fabrication.

It is not.

I put it to you

that your husband committed suicide.

He would never have done that

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