Reap the Wild Wind Page #3

- What lovely girls.

- Mrs. Mottram, I...

- Ivy is singing.

IVY:
[Singing] Save for

the littie faded flower

[Ivy playing piano]

But oh how fondiy dear

Which do you think is

Commodore Devereaux?

He must be here.

But I never saw a less seagoing

run of shad in my whole life.

IVY:
[Singing] Through many

Through many a weary year

[Guests murmuring]

Lovely, Ivy. So tender.

I want you to meet Loxi

Claiborne, Drusilla Alston.

- This is our own Ivy Devereaux.

- Commodore Devereaux's daughter.

Charleston must seem quite different

to you after the wild life of Key West.

I can see you two will

be the best of friends.

- This is Capt. Carruthers.

- Charmed.

Miss Loxi Claiborne,

Mr. Stephen Tolliver.

MRS. MOTTRAM:
Come, Drusilla. I want

you to meet some of our Charleston beaus.

Charmed, Miss Loxi.

[Piano playing]

[Dog whines]

This is Romulus.

Miss Loxi Claiborne,

Mr. Romulus Tolliver.

STEVE:
[Throwing voice]

Charmed, Miss Loxi.

Speaks pointedly good

English, don't you think?

Considering his mother

spoke nothing but Gaelic.

I saw it... I saw your lips move.

STEVE:
[Throwing voice]

She's lovely, isn't she?

[Guests laugh]

What a wonderful pair

of performing dogs.

[Arresting instrumental music]

I've heard a lot about Steve Tolliver.

LOXI:
In Key West.

Well, we're flattered.

You're jumping to

conclusions, Mr. Tolliver.

Now, who's been telling

you stories about Steve?

One of the finest men I

ever met, Capt. Jack Stuart.

[Romulus barks]

That's rather a sore

subject with Romulus.

You see, Capt. Stuart

sat on Romulus once.

STEVE:
[Throwing voice]

And he weighs 200 pounds.

[Guests laugh]

Ivy, I'd be happy if you'd

introduce me to your father.

I'm sorry. My father's not here.

Commodore is very ill. His doctor

won't allow him out of the house.

Then who runs the Devereaux Company?

STEVE:
[Throwing voice] I do,

lady, with a little help from Steve.

You run it?

MRS. MOTTRAM:
Loxi, dear...

your aunt speaks of nothing but those

charming Florida ballads you sing so well.

- Won't you...

- I couldn't. Why, I just couldn't!

Romulus and I are very

partial to sentiment.

Attention, everybody, please.

Miss Claiborne is going to sing one

of those sweet ballads of Key West.

ALL:
Charming.

Steve and I would love to hear one of

those soft moonlight-on-the-sea songs.

Perhaps a breath of Key

West would be refreshing...

to all of us.

[Loxi playing piano]

[Singing] Oh, the Nellie B's your packet

When you're far away from home

And it breaks your back to tack

it O'er the briny, shiny foam

But heave ho, haui

away Just the same as me

For you're just another packet rat

Aboard the Nellie B

Bread and water for your suppers

when you board the Nellie B

And your biood runs from her

scuppers in the briny shiny sea

But heave ho, haui

away Just the same as me

For you're just another packet rat

Aboard the Nellie B

Oh, her mate he'll talk so civil

But he'll rob ya in your sieep

There's no uglier a devil

in the briny, shiny deep

But heave ho, haui away

- Is that Elizabeth's idea of

a sweet ballad? - Mighty salty.

You're just another packet

rat Aboard the Nellie B

Do you sing, too?

LOXI:
[Singing] For

that galley growling crew

For the bos'n is a dirty son of a

Shiny, briny biue!

So heave ho, haui away

Just the same as me

For you're just another packet rat

Aboard the Nellie B

Oh, the

Loxi, please.

LADY:
Come, Barbara.

She has a lovely voice, but...

- But, Auntie, there's still 20 more

verses. - Oh, my goodness.

I'd love to hear them all.

- How could you know such a song?

- I learned it from a pirate friend.

- With rings in his ears?

- In his nose.

I'm afraid Loxi is a

little, un peu exaite!

I find her exaltation most charming.

May I hear the rest of the song soon?

I hope so.

[Henrietta laughs embarrassedly]

[Grunting disapprovingly]

It's just hopeless.

Making a lady out of

you is just hopeless.

Drusilla, I can do it. I can

do everything I came here to do.

Cousin Loxi, you're

playing with gunpowder.

I don't need Commodore

Devereaux. I don't need anybody.

Because I can wrap that Steve

Tolliver around my little finger.

And I'm going to do it.

MAN:
[Singing] Oh,

who's gonna row my honey

Who's going to row my honey

Yes, who's going to row

my honey

When I'm

gone away

And who's going to be

your true iove

Who's going to be

That's the third time they've

been together this week.

What if...

MAN:
[Singing] Yes, who's going to be

your true iove

When I'm

gone away

When I'm

gone away

- And then what happened?

- There she'd gone telling everyone...

the bonnet had just come off the

packet from France, when they...

- Pull up, Caesar!

- What are you stopping for, Ivy?

[Birds chirping]

I declare! They're together

again. That's the 13th time.

[Girl murmurs]

IVY:
Go on, Caesar. CAESAR:

Yes, Miss Ivy. Giddap.

They're lovely. Like ships

in the water, aren't they?

Yes, lovely.

Steve, there's something I most

especially want to talk to you about.

- You took the words right out of my mouth.

- Romulus generally does that.

I'm a little worried about Romulus.

He's been a changed dog

ever since the Mottram tea.

[Singing in throwing voice] You're just

another packet rat Aboard the Nellie B

[Laughing] Quit it, Steve.

Now this is important. It's

about the Southern Cross.

What I have to say is much more

important than the Southern Cross.

- But she's the newest ship in the line.

- Yes, I know. And she's steam and all.

But she's hardly fitted for a honeymoon.

[Slow instrumental music]

Honeymoon?

LOXI:
But, Steve, you don't

mean it. STEVE:
Yes, I do, Loxi.

When you walked into Mrs.

Mottram's tea party...

it was like all the

winds of the Caribbean.

I was shipwrecked at once.

But, Steve, I...

My whole life is Key West.

This is another world to me.

There's only one world,

Loxi, inhabited by two people.

STEVE:
I spoke to your aunt last night.

BIXBY:
Mr. Tolliver!

[Horse galloping]

BIXBY:
Mr. Tolliver! STEVE:

Here's trouble on horseback.

Mr. Tolliver, sir. Pardon, ma'am.

You're wanted at the

counting house at once, sir.

Commodore Devereaux is

already on his way there.

- Has Dr. Jepson gone insane?

- Yes, sir. He asks you to come at once.

- I thought the Commodore was gravely ill.

- He is, ma'am.

But the moment he heard Capt.

Jack Stuart had ianded...

Dr. Jepson said no mortal means

could keep the Commodore at home.

Steve, couldn't you

spare just a moment...

to hear what I was going to

say about the Southern Cross?

I see the Commodore isn't the only one

interested in Capt. Stuart's arrival.

I'll take your horse, Bixby.

You return in the carriage.

Yes, sir.

STEVE:
Romulus will

escort you home, Loxi.

But I want most of your dances

at Mrs. Mottram's ball tonight.

[Horse galloping]

Good day, Mr. Stephen.

The Commodore was so disturbed

by the wrecks at Key West...

- I've twice had to bleed him.

- Stuart with him?

He is, and I fear the

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes