Lines of Wellington Page #5

Are you going back

when this is all over?

If I'm still alive.

Aren't you?

I don't think

I could bear to see the well.

Good night.

What well, Father?

Ours.

The one Rosa leapt into it

with her son to escape the French.

Let's get some sleep. It's late.

Sergeant?

A semaphore message from Socorro.

It seems the French

won't be long in coming.

Less than a day's march.

They'll be here tomorrow morning.

You're a crook, Penabranca.

I won't haggle...

But I tell you to your face,

you're a thief.

The lad's burning up.

There's plague about. You should

get him to Misericrdia Hospital.

I'm not his father.

I feel sorry for you.

A man all alone...

It's true, really.

I don't think it's fair.

It's your wife, Christ, or isn't she?

What right do I have to have her?

None, whatsoever!

Listen...

Listen.

Let's settle in good terms,

alright?

Like gentleman.

You can have her for 20 cruzados.

I know I should return her for free.

But I've spent some money,

you understand.

She eats, she drinks...

That's expensive as hell nowadays!

We are at war, or did you forget that?

Come on!

Ten cruzados and that's it!

- Alberto!

- Maria de Jesus!

Don't touch me!

Don't you dare touch me, Vicente!

You should be ashamed...

a man in his state.

Come, my love, lean on me.

Get out of my sight, Vicente!

Go away, you coward!

Leave us alone!

Five cruzados.

Six.

It's not worth more.

Good morning, Francisco.

Good afternoon.

First word of the day...

Second word of the day...

Marry me, Maureen.

Marry me.

I cannot.

But why?

So what?

We get married!

Then your child is my child.

No, Francisco!

Percy is dead.

He died.

- The dead don't have children.

- Percy's not dead!

Percy... here.

Percy... here.

Here.

The French will be here tomorrow...

The French. Tomorrow.

If you really want to leave,

you'd better waste no time...

A keepsake?

Goodbye.

What place is this, aunt Flora?

It looks like a staging post!

What are all these girls doing here?

We should go back home.

I'm terribly tired...

Mother will be getting worried.

No, no, I've let her know, don't worry.

Why are you being so formal?

Are you cross with me, aunty?

No, I'm not cross.

Wait for me here.

I need to have a few words

with my friend over there.

- I'd rather go with you.

- No.

Do as I say.

Wait for me here.

Don't be wilful.

I'll be back.

Good morning, Dona Filipa.

Miss.

Miss?

Yes.

Miss Filipa.

Is this truly the new school, sister?

I thought so.

It is!

I recognized

two or three of the girls...

They were at the Sisters of Mercy

last year.

I realised later on.

Mother had said...

...I could stay at home this year.

Tell her I'm not cross with her,

aunt Flora.

Is this my bed?

Well...

I'll be going now...

I have things to do.

I'll leave you here with sister...

I'll be off.

Won't you give me a kiss, aunt Flora?

A kiss. Of course I will!

I was just about to.

I'm so afraid I won't see her again.

Me?

No.

Filipa.

The other one.

Nonsense...

Don't say that, you'll make me cry too.

We'll pray for his soul, my son.

I'm not your son.

Platoon!

Shoulder... Arms!

Platoon!

Prepare to salute the flag.

Present... Arms!

D. Pedro!

Lieutenant, sir!

- I thought you were dead and buried!

- Buried is an exaggeration!

But dead... yes, almost.

How did you get here?

How did you cross the country

with Jacobins all over the place?

Alone?

It's a long story, Sergeant.

But finish the manoeuvre

or they'll turn to pillars of salt.

Platoon!

Shoulder... Arms!

Platoon!

Stand at ease.

I don't know how you got here,

but you came in time.

The French aren't far off.

You've arrived just in time

for the dance.

The outskirts of Lisbon

were covered in fortifications

the English had secretly been

building for a year and a half.

Marechal Massena, who for 6 months

had been preparing to invade Portugal,

knew nothing

of these huge constructions.

Baron de Marbot!

Wellington?

Wellington.

We soon discovered

that the English entrenchment

formed a huge arc around Lisbon,

extending 15 Portuguese leagues,

equivalent, more or less,

to 15 leagues in France.

Excuse me, sir...

Wasn't that Miss Warren?

Do you know her?

We shared a room.

In hospital, that is.

I mean, her father and I...

You don't say. It's a small world...

She came to bid farewell.

She's returning to England.

Oh, returning?

- Did she ask after me?

- No.

Of course not.

- She probably doesn't remember I exist.

- Quite.

"Ah, think, my Lord,

that any other tye"

"would shame the Caesars,

authors of my birth?"

"No, Madam,

he to whom I mean to give ye"

"may without shame

unite your race with his."

"You need not blush

when you accept his flame."

"- Whom does my Lord intend?

- Madam, my self."

"Your self!"

"I would have nam'd another, Junia,

had there been any other above Nero."

"My eyes, to find a choice

you might subscribe to,"

"have travell'd o'er the Court,

Rome, and the Empire..."

Sergeant?

Are you there, Sergeant?

The man with the beard!

Zanaga!

The nurse! Eusbio!

I knew I'd seen him before.

Do you know him?

He carried you

off the battlefield at Buaco.

Zanaga!?

It seems we both knew him before.

But not in the same guise...

Franois-Marie Vilarreal.

Sergeant of the Imperial Guard.

On a mission behind the enemy lines.

Behind the lines

and not in uniform,

you know what to expect...

I did my duty. You do yours.

May I, Major sir?

Go ahead, Lieutenant.

The Abbot and the others?

They fell in the field with honour.

They battled bravely to the last.

I did what I had to.

You did what you had to?

- You betrayed them!

- No, Lieutenant.

My father was Portuguese.

My mother, French.

In all conscience I served both nations

serving the Emperor. I betrayed no one.

Platoon!

- Halt!

- Volunteer for the squad, sir.

- May I ask why?

- The landslide yesterday.

My godson didn't make it.

I don't object,

but nor do I approve.

Personal revenge, Sergeant,

is not seemly in a soldier.

I'm a soldier by chance, Lieutenant.

I was born a farmer.

Advance...

Riflemen!

Advance...

Prisoner!

Arms... Make ready!

Aim...

- Long live the Emperor!

- Fire!

"When the father creator"

"saw the creature

which he had made moving and living,"

"the created image of the eternal gods,"

"he rejoiced,"

"and in his joy,"

"determined to make the copy

still more like the original;"

"and as this was eternal,"

"he sought to make

the universe eternal,"

"so far as might be."

"Now the nature of the ideal being

was everlasting,"

"but to bestow this attribute in its

fulness upon a creature was impossible."

"Wherefore he resolved to have..."

"...a moving image of eternity."

It's over!

Good morning, Ti Miguel.

What have you got for us there?

A Christian, in need of burial.

Burial, here?

I don't know if that's allowed...

It was here he died.

What's the matter, private?

What does he want?

What's this body doing here?

One of the workmen, sir...

wants to bury this deceased.

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