Love & Friendship Page #7

Thanks again for the charming evening.

She's with him now!

This can't continue! It mustn't!

Lucy, please, don't. Stay here,

rest, recover your equanimity.

Equanimity?

They're together now!

I implore you, come with me.

Talk with Manwaring. Reason with him.

As my guardian, won't you help?

Even if I found them,

what good could be done?

Yes, heed Mr. Johnson. His counsel's

excellent in such matters.

What have you? A letter?

In her hand?

Return that letter, madam.

It's not for you!

- Lucy, no!

- Excuse me!

Madam, I believe you are on the

verge of making a grave error.

You are Lady Manwaring?

Lady Manwaring of Langford?

You've recognized your friend

Lady Susan Vernon's hand

- and assumed the letter's for you.

- You think that lady is my friend?

She's with my husband now.

As we speak.

He visits her.

That's not possible, Madam.

I've just left her. She's entirely alone.

- Even her servant's sent off.

- Owen!

Owen, come here.

Stand here.

Tell this gentleman what you've seen.

- Your ladyship...

- Repeat to him what you told me.

Well, sir...

Lady Susan sent her servant away,

and then you left,

and a few minutes later,

Lord Manwaring arrived

and was received by her Ladyship.

- Alone?

- Yes, sir, I believe so.

No one else came or went.

No, stop, the letter's for

Mr. Johnson only.

Here. I send Reginald

with this letter.

Keep him there all evening if you can.

Manwaring comes this very hour.

That's not possible.

I must stop this!

Please, sir, come with me.

What could possibly be gained?

It could even be dangerous.

This is a matter for your solicitors.

Mrs. Johnson, this is beyond

what I could have imagined.

You promised that you would give up

all contact with this woman.

I have no idea what she writes.

She's gone mad.

I'm sorry to say, my dear, that

I hear the Atlantic passage

is very cold this time of year.

[ sobbing ]

- Madam?

- Agonies, my dear.

- What's happened?

- The worst.

- Disaster.

- Disaster?

Mr. DeCourcy arrived

just when he shouldn't have.

Lucy Manwaring had just forced herself

into Mr. Johnson's study to sob her woes.

Oh, has she no pride?

No self-respect?

What an impression she makes.

Bursting from Mr. Johnson's library,

wailing like a stuck child.

Seeing the letter in your handwriting,

she tore it from Reginald to read aloud.

- No!

- Yes.

"Manwaring comes

this very hour."

- And Reginald heard that?

- He read it himself.

How ungentlemanly.

- It's shocking. I can't believe it.

- Yes, very shocking.

A gentleman entrusted with

correspondence marked private

reads it regardless, and then because

of a few confidential remarks,

the obloquy's mine?

Who has acted badly in this affair?

Only you and I stand innocent of

reading other people's correspondence.

Unluckily, Lady Manwaring

also wormed out

of her husband's servant that

Manwaring visited you in private.

Oh.

Facts are horrid things.

Don't worry, I'll make my

story good with Reginald.

He'll be a little enraged at first,

but I vow that by dinner

tomorrow, all will be well.

I'm not sure, he was with

Mr. Johnson when I left.

Forgive me for saying it, but,

I dread to imagine what's

being said in your disfavor.

What a mistake you made

marrying Mr. Johnson.

Too old to be governable,

too young to die.

Good afternoon, madam.

Susan:
Of course it might seem

outlandish or shocking to others,

but we're not expecting others

to read our correspondence.

And don't put things for their benefit.

Manwaring only visited me

as his wife's friend.

Friend?

She herself denies this.

Well, of course.

I was her friend when she was sane.

Her great enemy since.

Manwaring left Langford to

escape her deranged suspicions.

In granting him an interview,

my sole motive was

to persuade him to return to

her and see what might be done

- to ease the poor woman's mind.

- Yes, but why alone?

- Why did you arrange to see him alone?

- You cannot divine the motive there?

Servants have ears,

with the unfortunate tendency to repeat

whatever they imagine they've heard.

I dreaded injuring the poor

woman's reputation still further.

You imagine I could accept

such an explanation?

I can only tell you what

I know to be true.

- Did you succeed?

- What?

Did you convince Manwaring

to return to his wife?

Yes, I did.

But it seems that her judgment

is too deteriorated to allow it.

Her jealous and suspicious condition is

not one that would allow reassurance.

You forget.

I saw the letter with my own eyes.

No, I do not forget.

I greatly resent it.

A fault you compounded by misinterpreting

what you should never have seen.

Do you think I would have confided

a letter to a third party

if I thought its contents

in any way dangerous?

Have I not already explained

everything which

the ill-nature of the world

could interpret to my discredit?

What could so stagger your

esteem for me now?

After all we've discussed

and meant to one another,

that you could doubt my actions,

my intentions? My word?

Sorry, Reginald, but I've

reflected upon this deeply.

I cannot marry a man with an

untrusting disposition. I cannot have it.

What?

We cannot marry.

Whatever commitment

was between us is severed.

Any connection impossible.

What are you saying?

Mistrust does not bode well

for any union.

I have a great regard for you.

Yes, a passionate one,

but I must master it.

Oh, Catherine?

Catherine?

- Reginald has returned.

- He's here?

- He's just going to find your father.

- It's not...

No, the most happy news.

- Our fears were in vain.

- What?

- The engagement's off.

- How?

Well, Lady Susan broke it off herself.

She did?

Reginald's most cast down.

But I'm sure he'll soon

recover and, dare we hope,

cast his look elsewhere.

That woman's a fiend.

- What do you mean?

- Lady Susan.

She has an uncanny understanding

of men's natures.

By forcing the rupture herself,

she's engaged Reginald's pride.

Uncanny? I don't understand.

Reginald will start to doubt everything

he's heard to her detriment.

A guilty regret will overwhelm him and

slowly, surely, he'll convince

himself he's wronged her.

You frighten me.

Yes, if Frederick Vernon,

renowned for his good sense,

let Lady Susan ruin him,

what chance has Reginald?

You speak as if your brother

were not wise.

I'm sure he is. Everyone comments

on his lively understanding.

You are the best of mothers,

but Reginald has just

the sort of sincere nature

most vulnerable to

a woman of her genius.

You think she's a genius?

Diabolically so, like the

serpent in Eden's garden.

Does this woman always get her way?

From what I understand,

only clever tradesmen

are astute enough to see

through her stratagems.

Several banded together to send their

agents to intercept her on Seymour Street,

obliging her to pawn

the last of her jewels.

Slay the fatted calf, my dear,

the prodigal's returned.

What's wrong, my boy?

The joy of seeing your

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