The Draughtsman's Contract Page #4

needed to be looked after.

An orphan...

...because his mother

became a Catholic?

Philip, find out what's happening.

Mr. Neville, Sir...

...I'm sorry about the coat.

It was not I that put it there.

Is that so, Madam...

...then who did?

I'll ask.

No, don't ask. Leave it there.

Someone is getting careless.

The garden is becoming a robe-room.

I wonder what they

keep in their clothespress.

Plants perhaps.

Who will be your

husband's direct heir after you?

A future grandson...

...though not after me.

Mr. Herbert does not believe...

...in a woman owning property.

And what about your

daughter and her husband?

They would be

guardians on a grandson's behalf.

Do you intend to study legal matters?

You must forgive my curiosity.

Open your knees.

To have possession of my person...

...is not an excuse to be

privy to my husband's Will.

Your loyalty is exemplary.

But what will happen to the estate

if your daughter has no heirs?

I don't like to think about it.

The estate was my father's.

Mr. Herbert obtained

it through marriage to me.

It is imperative,

Augustus, that in representing me...

...you ask of yourself the very best.

And you do not fraternise

with whomsoever you choose.

And chasing sheep is a

tiresome habit best left to shepherds.

If Mr. Neville chases

sheep he is not to be emulated.

Drawing is an attribution

worth very little...

...and in England

worth nothing at all.

If you must scribble...

...I suggest that your time would be

better spent in studying mathematics.

I will engage a tutor...

...and, who knows,

one day you, Augustus...

...may add the Talmann

name to the Royal Society.

Augustus...

...your tutor of course

must be German.

There are already far too many English

influences on your life as it is.

Mr. Neville is our

resident draughtsman.

He is making one or two drawings

of Mr. Herbert's house and estate.

I've heard of your

prowess, Mr. Neville.

Indeed I've heard more than that.

I've heard you're

not a conventional man.

Mr. Neville has planned

his stay here...

...like an officer

in a hostile billet.

We've orders to

appear and disappear...

...to wear cocked hats, to

eat meals in the open air...

...and to prepare

furniture for inspection.

And yet, Louis...

...I hear that you're not

averse to exchanging exercise...

...on a new horse for standing

to attention in the hot sun...

...like a halberdier.

What control you

must exercise Mr. Neville.

You might be better

employed as a military man...

...than as someone who

merely draws a landscape.

Mrs. Herbert...

...whatever is the

price you must pay...

...to capture this general

who leads the wheat by the ear.

Mrs. Herbert pays no

price she cannot afford.

Thanks to her generosity, I am

permitted to take my pleasure...

...without hindrance

on her property...

...and to enjoy the maturing

delights of her country garden.

And, gentlemen...

...there is much

there to be surprised at...

...and applauded.

Board!

Good Afternoon, Mr. Talmann.

Good afternoon, Mr. Neville.

You are late.

I heard the clock strike four

some minutes ago.

That is indeed true.

I met Mr. Porringer.

I'm becoming Mr. Porringer's

taster of victuals.

Does the same thing happen to you?

Today, it was raspberries.

I congratulate you on

today's raspberries...

...but not on yesterday's damsons.

They were tasteless, "geschmacklos".

Like your coat Mr. Talmann.

There is no way...

...that I was going to

wear that coat a third day.

We are indeed...

...losing the novelty

of this situation.

First I was graced with the

presence of Mrs. Talmann...

...two servants, a maid and a meal

served on silver-plate.

Now what have we?

Yourself dressed in the wrong clothes.

Mr. Neville, enough.

Your enthusiasm for

complaint knows no limit.

For a fee of 8 pounds your

impertinence is too expensive.

Would you have me be

impertinent for nothing?

For nothing...

...I would have you

run off my property.

Good day.

Your property, Mr. Talmann?

Mr. Talmann, you've forgotten

your riding-boots.

They are not mine, Mr. Neville.

I felt sure that they were yours.

Why doesn't your husband

have the moat cleaned out?

He doesn't like to see the fish.

Carp live too long.

They remind him of Catholics.

Besides from his window...

...the duckweed could

be mistaken for lawn.

Can he swim?

I've never seen him swim.

Good morning, Mrs. Herbert.

This morning I'm progressing well.

I am beginning to enjoy myself.

Would you be so good as to sit?

It's a little chilly perhaps, but I

think you tremble too much.

It is not easy for me

this way to use your person...

...as I would like to.

Would you stand?

The ladder, as you

can see, has now become...

...a meretricious vertical.

But I forgive you

for standing it there.

What use have I for the ladder.

It does not go anywhere.

Would you be so good as to kneel?

Kneel, Madam.

If you have any influence

over your son-in-law...

...I suggest that he travel over

to Mr. Seymour's to see...

...what can be done with limes...

...by doing as little as possible.

Limes, Madam...

...can smell so sweet.

Especially when they are

allowed to bloom without hindrance.

And it will shortly be time to bloom.

Is it true...

...that you would wish

to see Mr. Herbert dead?

I've no great love for Mr. Herbert.

Goodness, a provocative question.

Then why stay?

Mr. Noyes has a great

attachment to my mother, Mr. Neville.

I'm employed by Mr.

Herbert as Estate Manager.

Mr. Herbert is often away...

...and I can make myself

useful to Mrs. Herbert.

In more ways than one I presume.

But is it not that way

which is most important?

Your questions...

...are far too imprudent

and provocative in this company.

Then you'd rather I asked

them behind your back?

Mr. Noyes' position in this house

is well known to us all.

It is a...

...a difficult position.

I'm surprised that

you all concur in it.

The organisation of this

house is Mr. Herbert's affair.

My father and Mr. Noyes

were once great friends.

And then?

My mother was at one

time promised to Mr. Noyes.

Your position Mr. Noyes

is then a consolation.

You overstep your privileges in being

a guest in Mrs. Herbert's house.

Sit down, Mr. Noyes.

I merely pursue an enquiry.

It may help me to understand

what is happening in the garden.

That shirt, Mr. Neville, is

prominent enough in your drawing.

Would it be possible

to disguise its presence?

I try very hard...

... never to distort or to dissemble.

Would that always be you

method of working?

It would.

Well...

...let me make a little speech.

In your drawing of the

north side of the house...

...my father's cloak lies wrapped

around a figure of Bacchus.

In the drawing of the

prospect over which...

...my husband turns an

appreciative gaze...

...you will have noticed that there

is unclaimed a pair of riding boots.

In the drawing of the

park from the east side...

...it is possible to see leaning

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