Restoration Page #5

Out of paradise ?

Well, yes.

For what is your role now ?

l had not intended to love Celia.

l do not know how it happened.

lt happened because

you allowed it to happen.

By trying to be the thing that you were

charged with pretending to be,

you have rendered yourself

useless to me.

l'm taking Bidnold from you.

What'll l do ?

Hmm. What did you do before ?

l was-- l worked

as a physician.

Ah, yes.

ln the hospital.

Well, you can use

that skill again.

- l cannot !

- Why not, Merivel ?

Because l'm afraid.

Precisely.

So, au revoir, Merivel.

l shall not say adieu,

for who knows,

perhaps in the future, history may have

another role for you.

Your Majesty, you took me

from the Royal College,

gave me your dogs to look after,

liked me for my foolishness.

No, Merivel.

l liked you for your skill,

for then the two were in you--

light and dark.

But now, your skill

is fallen away...

and you are one foolish,

quivering mass.

The plague is coming,

Merivel,

and the plague rouses men

from their sleep.

You know, Will,

in my time at Bidnold...

l have grown

uncommonly fond of you.

And l-- if l may say so, sir--

am uncommonly fond of you.

[ Gates ] So you're off to Mr. Pearce

and the Quakers, sir ?

[ Merivel ]

l've nowhere else to go.

[ Thunder Rumbling ]

Ah ! How may l

help you, friend ?

l-l've come to visit

my friend, Pearce.

You must be Robert.

Please, enter.

Daniel !

Ah, John told us one day

you would like to join us.

- Ah, did he ?

- Get some oats for the horse.

l do not intend

staying long.

l hate being housed up

anywhere for too long, sir.

Robert !

[ Laughs ]

Robert !

Pearce ! Pearce !

- John.

- John ?

Here in Whittlesea,

l'm John and you're Robert.

l'm bound, after all these years,

to find that difficult.

Come on. Let's get you out of the wet

and up to your room.

[ Sobs ] lt's the size

of one of my linen cupboards.

Here we give prominence

to other things, Robert.

When l saw your life before among the

terrible luxuries of the courts, l, uh--

well, l prayed you

would be taken out of it.

And yet l was uncommonly

fond of it, Pearce.

This is our new

friend Robert.

This is Ambrose,

Daniel...

and our dear sisters,

Hannah and Eleanor.

Robert is well qualified

to help us.

He claims to have forgotten

medicine, but l know he has not.

- l have. Sadly, l have.

- Not.

- Well, regrettably, but in fact--

- Stop it.

Lord, send a light

to show Robert the way.

[ Eleanor ]

Dear Jesus, be with Robert.

[ Hannah ] God in heaven,

take Robert's hand.

Be at his side.

[ Daniel ] And even when night comes,

still be at his side.

[ Together ]

Amen.

The inmates are looked after

in a series of barns.

This is the men's barn.

And in the women's barn, the

invalid friends weave sailcloth.

The keepers must never

enter the barns alone.

Yes, l certainly

understand.

- This is alarming.

- [ Women Moaning ]

This is our work now.

But how has madness

undone so many ?

By a hundred different ways.

Madness is a brother

and sister to misfortune.

Poverty and abandonment

are prime causes.

This is Robert !

He's come to help us in our work.

Say the name to yourselves...

and keep it precious

because he is your friend.

- Robert.

- Robert.

We have one here, a young

lrish woman-- Katharine.

She was abandoned one night

by her husband.

And now,

she will not sleep.

Are you another man

sent to do me injustice ?

Katharine, this is our new friend

Robert. He won't hurt you.

- [ Cloth Tearing ]

- [ Chickens Clucking ]

Red may now, having passed under

the hoop, endeavor to roquet black.

May we not play

a little croquet here, Robert ?

Um. No. No. The sight

of a croquet hoop...

would produce in John

a most extraordinary reaction.

What is she doing ?

[ Daniel ]

She calls it her leaving step.

[ Sheep Bleats ]

That's some kind of dance ?

- Hello, Robert.

- Hello.

[ Chickens Squawking ]

Every man on earth

has his leaving step.

lf my husband had been

a small man,

he would not have been

able to leave.

He was a large man.

Stepped over me as l slept,

in one giant stride.

The king, too, being plagued by fools

from whom he wishes to walk away,

has perfected his leaving step

to a walk of unsurpassed elegance.

Show me then that walk.

Um--

Well, sort of--

Uh-- l cannot.

My imitation is too poor.

The shoes are all wrong and, uh--

But you, too, are a man.

Have you not your own leaving step ?

No. lt is others

who leave me.

[ Weak Laugh ]

[ Ambrose ]

Lunacy is a devilish liquid thing.

lt can only be coaxed out

by blood, vomit or feces.

Do you not smell

the choler ?

See. She's quiet now.

Of course. She's lost

a lot of blood.

Do you honestly believe that

the bleeding is necessary ?

l hope to make her sleep.

Sleep is the best thing for her.

ls there not

some other way ?

Robert, you've not seen

the nature of her madness.

She marches up and down at night,

shouting and crying.

- What does she shout ?

- That she is not mad.

Perhaps she is not mad.

On two occasions she tried

to take her own life.

Mightn't that be despair ?

What you and l would feel

were we locked away with the mad.

Why do you tear

your clothes ?

l'm making windows

for my limbs to see through.

Clothes make me blind and l must

be watchful at all times,

lest someone come

to hurt me again.

This is for you.

The robe of sleep.

To comfort you,

as you comfort your doll.

Robert.

l shall be along shortly.

Why are you afraid

to sleep ?

Once l fell asleep,

but the evil in me was wakeful.

And l let slip my little girl.

Your daughter ?

My man was an English soldier.

One of Cromwell's.

He was good to my family.

And l was green as a goose.

[ Merivel ]

And fair looking.

lt was he who took

you to London ?

A little girl was born to us and lived

three years before she was taken.

She liked to see the boats.

We watched the river

and the river watched us...

until one day

l closed my eyes...

and the river took her

for drownin'.

You must be watchful

always, Robert.

Do not sleep.

We will be watchful

for each other.

You can sleep.

l will take the first watch.

l cannot.

Across the sea,

in the Land of Mar...

there is a valley where are kept

all the things lost on earth.

Lost kingdoms,

lost riches,

lost hours,

lost loves.

The people go there to discover

their lost days and lost deeds.

[ Yawns ]

And often they are surprised

to come across a few of their lost wits.

Simply because they'd never

in the least missed them.

Robert, if you're seen to be

overattentive to one,

you'll be seen to be less than attentive

to the others.

l helped her to sleep.

So perhaps l was near a cure for her.

[ Pearce ]

That is somewhat arrogant.

Cures are not performed by us.

Only Jesus cures.

We are merely His agents.

But may we not, as His agents,

look to ourselves ?

To our own experience

to aid in a cure ?

When l am ill,

l will seek out...

at the first sign or footstep

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