Saratoga Trunk Page #5

Do you think i came here

to pick up dollar bits

like those girls

in your cheap dance

halls in the west, do you?

Right careless way

to handle money.

Of course, for somebody

that's going to

have it to burn-

yes, and when i have, it's going

to be my own. Mine-clio dulaine's.

Well, good luck.

When you think about us-

texas, paris-

it's downright comical.

Trying to sneak away

with me, huh?

We leave

these women, yeah?

I heard her tell you

what to do,

now you go and do it.

You go back there and take good

care of her, or i'll skin you alive.

Come in, monsieur.

Monsieur.

Mademoiselle.

From your letter asking

me to call at your office-

which you chose to ignore, mademoiselle.

Madame, or comtesse,

if you prefer.

I'd hoped we were

going to be honest

and straightforward.

Oh, but of course.

Good. I think

i should tell you,

i do not belong to the

old-school new orleans tradition.

I belong to

the post-war period.

The new orleans of the

river steamboat has ended.

You didn't come here to

discuss steamboats, monsieur.

I believe we understand

each other.

Now, i have here some-

no, no, no.

Please, no papers.

When my mother died,

there were so many.

You remember my mother,

monsieur?

Madame, uh...

you are causing a great

deal of pain to my client,

madame nicholas dulaine,

and her daughter

charlotte terese.

Your client

for many years

caused my mother

much greater pain.

This is blackmail.

You're right to say that

you're not of old new orleans.

I'm sure your manners are of a

more recent and unfortunate day.

After all,

i didn't ask to see you.

I was living here quietly

in my mother's house...

quietly?

...disturbing no one.

I'm young. I like to go

by the shops and theaters.

Still,

if as you suggest,

your actions can be

construed as blackmail-

my actions?

You can't frighten me

as you did my mother.

Good day, monsieur.

No, please.

Ahem.

No, thank you.

Um...

may we get

to the point?

I have here $5,000.

It is that or nothing.

$5,000 for what?

"I, who call myself

clio dulaine,

"sometimes known as the comtesse

de trignonai du chenfrais,

"daughter of the woman rita

who called herself dulaine,

"hereby agree and promise

"i shall leave new orleans

within the next 30 days

"and never to return.

I shall cease

to call myself dulaine."

"After leaving,

never to return,

"i shall do

and say nothing

"that will associate me

with the family of dulaine.

I hereby promise-"

and if i do not sign this

very inhospitable paper?

I have

political influence.

I can make it very

uncomfortable for you.

Not as uncomfortable as i

can make it for your client.

Shall we say 10,000?

Impossible.

Madame dulaine is

very far from wealthy.

I might possibly

stretch her to-

shall we save each other

some breath and say...

seven?

10,000.

Now, then, i, too,

have certain demands.

You have demands?

Don't be alarmed. They're

mostly sentimental.

The money is to be paid as

if for the sale of this house.

Agreed.

In fact, very clever.

Then it's to be

torn down

and all its furnishings

destroyed.

Destroy this house, all

this magnificent furniture?

I won't have

dirty eyes gloating

over the belongings

of my mother.

Agreed.

Then my mother is to be

returned to new orleans.

It was her dearest wish.

New orleans

was her home.

She's to be buried in the

cemetery of saint louis.

There is a plot of

unconsecrated ground there.

It'll have to do.

On her tomb

is to be placed

her name

- rita dulaine, beloved wife.

But, my dear child-

rita dulaine.

And flowers are

to be placed there

once a year

on all saints' day,

and her tomb is to be kept whitewashed.

When you have rewritten

your paper,

will you come back

this afternoon?

Do you think you can bring

charlotte terese to see me?

Impossible.

This is indecent.

I suppose,

but i think my father

would have liked it.

Au revoir,

monsieur.

Madame, i am

interested to know

what you are

going to do-

as a man,

an acquaintance,

not a lawyer, i mean.

$10,000-

that can't last long.

I meant no offense.

I'm amused.

I don't mind telling

you i'm going to marry

a very rich

and powerful man.

You don't mean this fellow from

- this texas?

Oh, no, no, no-

not a penny, except

what he wins gambling.

I shall go

to greener fields.

I hope the money

will be of some help.

Madame?

Yes?

You are very beautiful.

I mean...

beautiful.

Yes. Isn't it lucky?

Letterman!

Put those with things we're gonna take

with us, not the things we're selling.

Big show you made

to that lawyer

was going to

destroy everything.

Sentimentality

is for the public.

Practicality

begins at home.

If that isn't

a proverb,

it ought to be.

Letter!

Ahh!

Who from?

What does he say?

"Dear countess,"

it begins.

He means that to

cut me to the quick.

"Every time i think about the..."

go about your work.

Take that chair

outside and burn it.

See to the packing,

angelique.

What did he say?

I haven't

finished it yet.

Smash those glasses.

Bartholomew van steed.

What you say?

Nothing.

What's he say?

He says he's

missing us very much.

Me, too?

All of us!

It's what

she always wanted.

She all fixed up

respectable now?

I hope so, angelique.

Well, that was

a good deed

what you've done

for your mama.

Yes. That does for mama.

Now we'll see what we

can do for little clio.

Gangway!

All aboard!

He must be the one,

running up and down like a

chick without its hen mother.

Come. Now the bus

is gone.

Angelique, hold the

jewel box well forward.

Look, angelique,

almost everyone is gone.

Really, i don't know

what we're to do.

I was to look for a bus

marked saratoga springs hotel,

but as you can see,

it isn't here.

Why,

i beg your pardon.

I couldn't help

overhearing.

I'm driving to the saratoga

springs hotel myself.

I couldn't

trouble you.

It's no trouble at all,

i assure you, madame...

or is it miss?

I'm la comtesse-

i am

mrs. Du chenfrais.

I'm bart van steed.

It's no trouble at all.

Bartholomew van steed.

How enchanting!

It's like being met

unexpectedly

by a friend

in a strange land.

It is a strange land

to me,

but perhaps you're

meeting someone else.

I was expecting

my mother.

She telegraphed that she

was arriving on this train.

And she didn't come?

Perhaps she missed the

train or changed her mind.

My mother never

misses a train.

And she never

changes her mind.

Perhaps someone

was playing a joke.

People do not

play jokes on me.

It was lucky that

i brought the phaeton.

Mother won't ride

in the dogcart.

But i'm afraid there

isn't room for all of you.

Mais certainement,

it will do beautifully.

My woman can sit back

there with your groom-

she's very thin-

and cupidon can stand here on the step.

Now, my bag right there at my feet.

Oh, but i

assure you-

oh, i don't mind. The hotel

porter will see to my trunks.

Angelique, you have

my jewel case? Good.

Cupidon, right here

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