The Draughtsman's Contract Page #7
- R
- Year:
- 1982
- 108 min
- 1,921 Views
With Mr. Neville's contract...
...I shall have them both.
For your protection and
...I will trade you the
contract of your infidelities.
I have no money.
Seven hundred is a calculated sum.
I will trade you the
contract for the drawings.
You have 12 drawings...
...and Mr. Neville has a reputation.
What for 12 drawings
executed privately?
Consider, Madam.
The drawings could be construed
as an embarrassment to you.
And the original purpose
and significance...
...of the drawings as a
gift to your husband is absolved.
Those drawings, Mr. Noyes...
...have cost me too much already.
They may cost you a great deal more.
They may cost you possibly everything.
An adulteress with a dead husband
is no reputation to relish.
And Mr. Neville?
What of Mr. Neville?
He's gone to Radcote.
What part is he in this stratagem?
He is not part of my stratagem.
arrangement with the same intent.
You paid him a fee, Madam...
...and you offered him full board on
your property during the commission.
To the prying eye that is
as much as he is usually worth.
With the contract in your
hand and then destroyed...
...why should the world
think you have offered him more?
Where is that contract now?
I have it here.
Where are the drawings?
What would be said if I no
longer had the drawings?
That you destroyed them.
For without your husband
they were valueless to you.
What would happen
if it were known...
...that they were for sale?
Your stratagem is weak.
That you sold them...
memorial to your husband...
...or alternatively...
...that you sold them in
order to rid the house...
you each time you look at them.
You once asked me if I could...
...supply you with a
ribald piece of gossip.
I remember your
friendly gesture at the time.
Madam, you Romans
know how to be charitable.
I can supply you with a
little more than gossip.
I invite you to help me...
...elaborate and
decorate such an item.
An entertaining item.
We need not work
too hard for the rump...
...of the matter has been well laid.
What real benefit do
...from this exercise?
Amusement...
...and a certain delight
in a symmetrical stratagem.
And the satisfaction
that our betters...
...might be discomforted.
And who knows, perhaps...
...two parterres and a
grove of orange trees.
If Mrs. Herbert is generous.
And why Mrs. Herbert?
Because I think you will
find she is mistress of strategy.
If you don't benefit
from her directly...
...I think that, if you
wait a few years...
...then you will
achieve them from me...
...as a token of my esteem.
From the same source?
I think you have understood me.
A monument would need a designer.
Would a certain pecuniary
draughtsman...
...be eager to sign another contract?
As far as I am aware,
the idea is Mrs. Herbert's.
Though the expenses might
be laid at Mr. Neville's door.
An about face.
It is his drawings
that are to be sold.
Not more of his talent.
By Mr. Neville's growing
reputation...
profitably sold...
...to furnish a more
solid and enduring monument.
It is said that Mr. Neville
is to be invited to The Hague.
If I had the wherewithal...
Herbert one hundred guineas...
...straight away
for capital audacity...
...for bravura in the face of grief.
Mr. Herbert is no especial
excuse for such generosity.
But how publicly
directed is the gesture?
How could posterity
doubt her affection?
Just so.
I shall offer 300 guineas, not my
own money, you understand.
My father-in-law's can afford it...
...he collects, has no
perspicacity, no knowledge.
I shall tell him...
...that they are Italian...
...Guido Reni...
...Modesta.
He shall hang them
in the darkroom...
...and they shall never be seen again.
That is a pity...
...for they are full
of illuminating details.
Mrs. Herbert's susceptibilities...
...like a man pressing a
life-work by slow stages.
Would there perhaps be an idea
in Mr. Neville's imagination...
...for a certain
contract to cap them all?
On horseback, a dashing St. George...
...looking like a Jacobite with...
With a palette for a shield
and quiver full of brushes...
...and a pen held
crosswise in his teeth.
With ink stained fingers.
What is in his fingers?
Unmentionable.
Another pen?
It's like a pen.
Is it a pen?
A little pen.
The pen is mightier than the sword.
We will forward 400 guineas...
...to this scabrous monument to a pen.
And our receipt will be Mr. Neville's
drawing in the bath-house.
The one with the little dog.
Wagging its tail.
Mrs. Herbert does well to sell them.
How much will they bring?
They are worth what
those who buy them wish to pay.
Mr. Seymour has tentatively
offered four hundred guineas.
he makes his offer generous...
...to Mrs. Herbert in order to
interest her in a larger and...
...a grander sale.
What other sale?
Why, of course, of the house.
That was very forward to him.
I tested his ambition by suggesting...
...that he might buy a set
of distinguished drawings of it.
Either way is a useful way
to help Mrs. Herbert to a...
...more profitable bargain...
...and thereby to help
her demonstrate her loss...
...in the knowledge that
...for a larger
monument for her husband.
Mr. Herbert, one way or another...
...stands to benefit
by Mr. Neville's industry.
As do we all.
I fail to see, for a start, my
benefit, or for that matter, yours.
Mr. Talmann, you are disingenuous.
You as by your leave...
...your future son's
future guardian...
...stand in an enviable position.
Consider the neatness of it.
an endurable memorial...
...which is part of the landscape,
instead of 12 perishable items...
...which are mere
representations of it.
I fail to see why Mr.
Seymour's presumption...
...should gain him a
part of my son's inheritance.
Maybe there again...
...Mr. Seymour will
be doing you a favour.
What do you mean?
By taking away the possibility
of your son ever seeing them...
...when you have
one, as I'm sure you will.
Why should he not see them?
Because he might perceive
the allegorical evidence...
...in them which you might
Mr. Neville had no use for allegory...
...and I am unlikely to miss
what my son would appreciate.
An allegorical meaning
that might involve his mother.
What? My Wife? How is that?
It is fancifully imputed...
...that Mr. Neville saw
you as a deceived husband.
How was I deceived?
I've been convinced, Sarah...
...that you have been deceiving me.
What is the matter with your voice?
Damn my voice.
If you did, it would scare me less.
What's the matter with your face?
Your face, Louis, is very red.
No redder than your backside...
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Submitted on August 05, 2018
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