That Hamilton Woman Page #9

but, today, they were the scene of your triumph,

the triumph of our greatest man

coming to his home.

They have made you the symbol

of all that is most precious to them.

Whatever you do

will be their guide and example.

You will not speak to your wife

and I shall not speak to William.

(Clock chimes)

I'm cold!

I'm freezing. I'm frightened!

Emma! Somebody will hear you.

Ssh, Emma!

Dear, Emma, ssh!

(Whispers) Is this better?

Lowered voices? Stolen meetings?

Darkness, suspicion, lies, more lies?

Is this what has become of it?

All that beauty

and light and glory?

Good night, my dearest love.

Good night.

(Sobs)

(Clock chimes)

I, my lords,

have, in different countries,

seen much of the miseries of war.

I am, therefore,

in my innermost soul...

..a man of peace.

Yet I would not, for the sake of any peace,

however fortunate,

consent to sacrifice

one jot of England's honour.

Hitherto

there has been nothing greater known

on the continent

than the faith

the untainted honour

the generous public sympathies

the high diplomatic influence,

the commerce,

the grandeur,

the irresistible power,

the unconquerable valour of the British nation.

(Murmurs of agreement)

He's nervous.

Look. Look at his hand. He's trembling.

It's nerve-racking for any man

to come into the House of Lords for the first time.

It will be more nerve-racking

for the poor man when he goes out.

Why?

There is that Hamilton woman.

peace or war no interest

And, don't look now, his wife.

and as the nation was pleased

with the sincere spirit of peace

It will be a thrilling moment

when he goes into the vestibule.

I can hardly wait

to see which one he goes to first.

Her?

Or her?

Here he comes.

My dear, were you comfortable up there?

Sufficiently, Horatio. Sufficiently.

- Did you hear my speech?

- For the most part.

You have a way of overemphasising,

which is rather embarrassing.

- Oh.

- It was quite interesting.

Lady Keith.

Lady Spencer.

Lady Hamilton.

WOMAN:
Why, what's the matter?

GENTLEMAN:
Stand back please! Give her air!

- What was that?

- It's Lady Hamilton!

- Stand back please!

Wait, Frances, please.

- Will you fetch a doctor?

- Immediately.

Make way, please

- What's happened?

- I told her not to come.

She's not been feeling well all day.

N SO N W here s the doctor?

But why should she faint?

My dear, it's natural to women of all classes.

Drive on!

(Door opens)

Well?

Frances, how could you drive away like that,

without making the slightest effort to help?

Did you expect me to take her into my carriage,

just because she selects the House of Lords

for her melodrama?

When people have been kind to me and

generous, don't ignore them when they're ill.

- Even in the House of Lords.

- Generous? Ha ha!

It is well known that what success

I may have achieved

has been largely due

to the help I have received from the Hamiltons.

- Why are you so ungrateful?

- Why are you so blind?

Don't you see what that woman is after?

It's the oldest story in the world,

the most sordid and the most contemptible.

Find a public hero and there you'll find,

as sure as fate, a woman parasite.

Don't you realise that all she wants

is to flutter about in your glory,

to use you for her own ambition and conceit?

Oh, I know, she helped you,

she encouraged you.

Why, it was part of her plan

to play upon your vanity.

She's capable of declaring you

the father of her child.

- Frances, control yourself!

- Why not?

Even that accusation stirs some men's vanities.

Silence!

Oh, yes, everyone says

she's a wonderful actress.

She is brilliant, to have hidden

her sweet secret for so long.

The other day, you remarked upon

the new fashions, all these frills and folds.

She invented them and all society followed.

Wonderful to lead society into helping her

through a predicament.

You fool! Don't you realise everything she does

is calculated and cold-blooded?

She faints in the House of Lords,

a perfect place.

Do you suppose she'd have wasted time

in fainting in her own bedroom?

You poor silly man!

Poor and silly?

Yes, that is what I am without her.

I'm a peer of England because of her.

And because of her, I'm Lady Nelson.

Lady Nelson? Ha!

What an honour!

They point after my coach, point up

at my windows, point at me in the streets.

There's a coarse joke about me in the taverns.

A foul song about me on the Limehouse barges.

Lady Nelson!

How funny!

How pitiful!

And how proud I might have been.

I'm sorry, Frances.

Sorry?

Is that all you have to give me?

Yes. That is all.

Very well.

I shall take that as your answer

and now you shall have mine.

I shall go away,

but I shall never drag the name of Nelson

through the divorce court.

As long as I live, I shall be your wife.

Goodbye.

Horatio, call her back.

I implore you, call her back.

You mustn't let her go like this.

I couldn't help hearing what you said, Horatio.

Please, Father,

try to understand.

do, m y boy, do

I know I'm a silly old man, a humble

country parson, and I don't know the world,

except the little people who come to me with

their little troubles,

but even those little people sometimes

have to fight in the depths of their soul,

the same temptations as you,

the great of the world.

And, when they have to choose

between right and wrong,

I give them the same advice

as I give to you now.

Even if it forces all three of us

to live in misery for the rest of our lives?

Even so.

That is something I cannot do, Father.

Then I shall go with her, Horatio.

What s the name off the child?

Horatia Thompson.

Her father's name?

Horatio Thompson.

- Profession?

- Sailor.

Where is he now?

At sea.

(Running footsteps)

- Emily!

- Mother, darling!

- Are you well?

- Yes. How's the baby?

I wish you could see her. She's an angel.

Not at all like a child of two months.

She's like a little princess.

I wish you could see the way she receives

her bottle and then indicates the meal is over.

- You'd adore her.

- What does she weigh now?

9lb 4oz, before her second bottle.

- The news, isn't it splendid?

- What news?

- Haven't you heard?

- I haven't been out

He's done it again. He's beaten the Danes.

It's a glorious victory!

Nelson was in the front line of battle,

ahead of the main fleet.

His commander in chief saw the enemy

outnumbered us by more than two to one.

He sent off a signal to Nelson

telling him to give up and withdraw.

Do you know what Nelson did?

When the signal was pointed out to him,

he put a telescope to his blind eye, said, ''I'm

darned if I can see it'', went on fighting and won.

There, you see, everything comes in handy,

if you know how to use it, even a blind eye!

(Both giggle)

How's William, Mother?

I have some news, too, Emma,

but not so good as yours.

All his treasures, pictures, everything, he's

waited for them to come from Naples for so long.

Now, we know for certain they all went down

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