The Browning Version Page #4

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happily splitting atoms in your science upper fifth.

- And has he?

- Has he what?

Obtained his promotion.

He has obtained

exactly what he deserves.

No less and certainly no more.

I see.

Time waits, Taplow, and so do I.

The Agamemnon, line 1 ,372.

Begin.

He should never have become

a schoolmaster. Why did he?

- Andrew?

- Mm.

It was his vocation, he said.

He was sure he'd make a big success of it...

especially when he got

the lower fifth his first term.

Like that young fellow in chapel.

How did you meet him in the first place?

I've often wondered.

It was up at Windermere.

I was staying with my uncle,

Sir William Bartop.

- Andrew was on a walking tour.

- A walking tour?

He wasn't always

the Crock, you know.

He was quite good-looking

in those days, believe it or not.

Had a bit of gumption then, too.

At least I thought he had.

Ah, yes. He was sure

he'd end up headmaster of Eton...

with a knighthood

and all that to follow.

Well, I can't help

feeling sorry for him.

He's not sorry for himself,

so why should you be?

It's me you should be sorry for.

I am.

Then show me.

''Oh, Clytemnestra, we're surprised at --''

- ''We marvel at.''

- ''We marvel at thy tongue.

How bold thou art that you --''

- ''Thou.''

- ''Thou can --''

- ''Canst.''

- ''Canst boastfully speak--''

''Utter such a boastful speech.''

''Utter such a boastful speech...

''over...

the bloody corpse of

the husband you've just slain.''

Taplow, I presume you are using

a different text from mine.

- No, sir.

- That is strange...

for the line as I read it reads...

''Etis toion de andri kompazeis logon. ''

However diligently I search,

I can discover no ''bloody,'' no ''corpse''...

no ''you have slain.''

Simply ''husband.''

Yes, sir. That's right.

Then why do you invent words

that simply are not there?

Well, I thought

they sounded better, sir.

More exciting.

After all, she did kill her husband.

She's just been revealed

with his dead body weltering in gore.

I am delighted

at this evidence, Taplow...

of your interest in the rather more lurid

aspects of dramaturgy...

but I feel I must remind you that you are

supposed to be construing Greek...

not collaborating with Aeschylus.

Yes, but still, sir,

translator's license, sir.

I didn't get anything wrong,

and after all, it is a play...

and not just a bit of Greek construe.

I seem to detect a note

of end-of-term in your remarks.

I am not denying that

the Agamemnon is a play.

It is, perhaps,

the greatest play ever written.

I wonder how many boys

in the class think that.

Oh, I'm sorry, sir.

Shall I go on, sir?

Shall I go on, sir?

I remember

when I was a very young man --

only a few years older

than you are now, Taplow --

I wrote, for my own pleasure,

a translation of the Agamemnon.

A very free translation,

I remember, in rhyming couplets.

The whole Agamemnon in verse?

Oh, that must have been

jolly hard work, sir.

It was hard work,

but I derived great joy from it...

and the play had so excited

and moved me...

that I wished to communicate,

however imperfectly...

some of that emotion to others.

I remember

I thought it very beautiful.

Almost more beautiful

than the original.

- Was it ever published, sir?

- No. I didn't finish it.

Yesterday when I was

packing my papers, I looked for it...

but... I'm afraid it is lost...

like so many other things.

- Lost for good.

- Oh, hard luck, sir.

Now go back and get

that last line right.

Um, ''That thou canst utter...

such a boastful speech

over thy husband.''

Yes. And now if you'll be kind enough

to do the line again...

without the facial contortion

which you found necessary to go with it.

- [ Clock Chiming ]

- Uh, isn't that the clock, sir?

It is the clock, Taplow, informing us that

we still have a quarter of an hour for our lesson.

- Look, I really must be going.

- You can't lunch?

I'm afraid not.

I'm lunching down the cricket field.

- Who with?

- One of my boys and his father.

Oh. Not the Carstairs?

Why the Carstairs?

Betty Carstairs has got her eye on you.

I saw you at that tea party.

Don't think I didn't notice.

Oh, Millie, darling, really.

I detest the woman.

Then what were you doing

on Saturday in her box at the concert?

Carstairs was kind enough

to invite me.

I went because it was

a good place to hear from.

Yes, I'm sure it was.

Much better than the circle.

The circle?

- Oh.

- It's all right, my dear.

- As it happens, we gave the seat away.

- I'm terribly sorry.

Don't bother to apologize.

We couldn't afford a box, you see.

It wasn't that.

You know it wasn't. It was just that --

Well, I clean forgot.

Funny you didn't forget

the Carstairs' invitation.

- Millie, don't be a fool.

- Oh, Frank, have you never been in love?

I know you're not in love with me, but

haven't you ever been in love with anyone?

Don't you realize the torture you inflict

on someone who loves you when you do that?

- I'm sorry. What more can I say?

- Why not the truth?

- The truth is I clean forgot.

- The truth is you had something better to do.

Why not say it?

Believe it if you like. It happens to be a lie,

but believe it all the same.

- Only for heaven's sake, stop this.

- For heaven's sake, show me some pity.

Do you think it's any pleasanter for me

to believe you cut me because you forgot?

Do you think that doesn't hurt either?

Oh, I meant to be so brave

and not mention the concert.

Why did I?

You'd better go, Frank.

You'll be late for your lunch.

Yes, I'd better go.

Frank.

I'll come down to the cricket this afternoon.

Any chance of seeing you?

- I'll be sitting by the flagstaff.

- With your lunch people?

No, I'll ditch them.

[ Taplow ]

''What poison, O woman, hast thou found?''

- Frank is just going.

- [ Mr. Crocker-Harris ] Oh.

Please don't get up.

I didn't mean to disturb you.

We shall see you again, I trust,

before Millie and I depart from your life forever?

- Yes, I'm coming here for a drink this evening.

- Splendid.

We expected you

at the concert, Hunter.

- Oh, I'm most terribly sorry--

- He clean forgot, Andrew.

Indeed.

Not everyone is blessed

with your superhuman memory, you see.

- I really can't apologize enough.

- Oh, please. Don't bother to mention it.

We managed to sell the seat to a Dr. Lambert,

who seemed a passably agreeable person.

You liked him, didn't you, Millie?

Yes, very much.

I thought him quite charming.

A charming old gentleman.

Well, good-bye,

my dear fellow.

- Good-bye for now.

- I'll show you out.

[ Sighs ]

Very well, Taplow. If you leave now,

you will be in plenty of time for your lunch.

Oh, thank you, sir.

Uh, may I go out through the garden, sir?

That is surely not

the quickest way to your house.

- It is to the golf course, sir.

- Very well.

Thank you, sir.

- Frank,just tell me one thing.

- What?

That you're not running away from me.

That's all I want to hear.

I'm coming to Bradford.

I think if you don't,

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