The Paradise Page #5

Season #2 Episode #16

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CLARA:

It’s none of our business, Lucille.

SUSY:

I was wondering.

If CLARA’s stare could kill, SUSY would keel over.

LUCILLE:

He was sick. I was nursing him and

... Men always fall for their

nurses.

CLARA:

There. Now we know. He’s a lucky

man to have you.

MYRTLE:

Is there any fried mongrel to go

with that peasant?

The game is to move the conversation on, but SUSY is not

getting it.

SUSY:

Did he court you while he was sick

in hospital?

Big mistake. MYRTLE digs SUSY in the ribs.

LUCILLE:

I let him woo me. Why should I not?

I had my heart broke plenty of

times. Men get well and they go

away. They forget they were in

love. I thought my time had passed.

But Ballentine didn’t forget. He

wanted to marry me. So when my

chance came along, I took it.

CLARA:

Lucille:
you have a grand life.

Look at all of this. What girl

wouldn’t wish for such good

fortune?

But LUCILLE’s drinking is making her reckless now.

LUCILLE:

I know what all the wives around

here think of me. You will be

thinking the same. I tricked an old

man into loving me. I am no more

than a pretty face.

25.

Quite a conversation killer. No one knows what to say.

CLARA:

I had a child to a man was already

married. I have chased after men

who will never love me. You have

found a husband whose only desire

is to make you happy. Lucille, if

you think we are here to judge you

for that, then you are wrong.

LUCILLE is weeping, feeling the relief of being accepted.

And there, to cap it, is BALLENTINE waving to them from a

bench.

23 EXT. PATH NEAR THE RIVER - DAY 23

KATHERINE and MORAY walk by the river.

KATHERINE:

It truly is a comfort to me to have

you to turn to, Moray. I hope that

you appreciate how grateful I am. I

feel that -- knowing you are at

hand, that is enough.

(she lets out a choked

laugh)

I dreamt about you last night. In

truth, it was hardly a dream: I saw

you standing in my room, as though

you were actually there. I took it

as a sign. Please say that you

don’t mind me speaking this way.

MORAY:

A sign of what, Katherine?

KATHERINE:

That you are beside me.

MORAY:

Katherine, seeing you this way ...

Seeing you as you were when we last

spoke ... Tom punishes you because

I am here to remind him of how

things were between us. It is a

provocation to him. If we see one

another -- I can’t help thinking

this will make this worse.

This stops her. She looks at him.

26.

MORAY (CONT’D)

Be honest with me -- be honest with

yourself:
do you suppose things

will get better if we continue like

this?

KATHERINE:

I brought you back here to punish

you. It was not enough to ruin you.

That could never match the hurt I

felt when you abandoned me. I put

you back in that place so that I

could watch you with Denise and ...

I didn’t care how long it might

take ... I wanted her to feel as I

felt. To be terrified of losing

you. And then to lose you. But now

... A few moments alone with you,

to feel your tenderness, your

protection ... I don’t want to hurt

anyone now. I only want to know

that sometimes we can be like this.

Don’t take that away from me. You

asked me to be honest ... That is

as much truth as I can bear.

MORAY:

Tom will destroy you ...

KATHERINE:

Denise will destroy you. Have you

thought of that?

This stops him:
he doesn’t know what she means. He fears it.

KATHERINE (CONT’D)

Tom told me what he sees in the

store ... Denise has such ambition

... I saw her face when he

suggested that she might go to

Paris ... He says that she will

outrun you ...

She’s done it:
she’s got beneath his skin, and she can see

it.

KATHERINE (CONT’D)

You asked me to be honest with you,

Moray. I implore you to meet truth

with truth. What I describe: Is

that what you see?

He has to make himself lift his head to look her in the eyes:

he nods his head, yes.

KATHERINE (CONT’D)

You have comforted me. Can’t I

comfort you?

27.

She takes hold of his hand.

24 EXT. GARDENS. DEERNESS HOUSE - DAY 24

DENISE approaches BALLENTINE on his bench.

In the distance the GIRLS can be heard laughing on their

picnic blanket.

DENISE:

I thought you might like to try a

piece of Myrtle’s Myrtle cake, Mr.

Ballentine.

BALLENTINE:

Sit with me.

DENISE sits and BALLENTINE tries the cake.

BALLENTINE (CONT’D)

You have something on your mind.

DENISE:

You have such a splendid home, such

a good life, a lovely wife ...

BALLENTINE:

Why do I not retire? Why should I?

I had several opportunities to sell

my brewery, but I was never

tempted. It keeps me going, to

work. Keeps me sharp.

(he laughs)

Every new challenge takes ten years

off my life! Well, perhaps five. I

make beer. I feel I have done all

there is to do in selling ales to

the nation. I would like one more

business conquest to make me young

again.

It’s an enticement, and it makes DENISE smile.

BALLENTINE (CONT’D)

I heard that Moray has been trying

to raise funds to get his store

back -- without much success. How

did he come to lose it?

DENISE:

He fell in love. He gave up all

that he had to be true to his girl.

BALLENTINE looks over to the picnic.

28.

BALLENTINE:

Yes. I am aware of the stories. It

rather endears him to me. But then

I have become something of a

romantic in my old age, as you can

see, Denise.

DENISE:

Mr. Ballentine, would you meet with

Mr. Moray so that he might put

before you a proposal to invest in

The Paradise? It is a sound

enterprise, with potential for

extensive expansion. We are not

vulnerable to the whims of fashion

-- in fact, we are always ahead of

our customers. As modern

manufacturing creates new goods, we

are the first to offer them. More

and more people are coming to the

city -- as I did, as your wife did.

What they want is the new, the

glamorous, foreign goods ... People

want betterment and The Paradise is

a haven for all that they wish for.

BALLENTINE:

Why would I need Moray to present

to me when you do it so admirably?

DENISE:

(laughs)

I’m sorry. I got carried away ...

BALLENTINE:

Don’t apologise for what you’re

good at, Denise. I wanted a son.

Someone who would take my business

and make it flourish for his own

generation. If I’d had the son I

wished for, he would have been just

like you. Put together a formal

proposition and I will consider it.

DENISE smiles, elated.

25 INT. THE GREAT HALL. THE PARADISE - NIGHT 25

MORAY watches as PORTERS hang up the store decorations ...

Great, beautiful Birds of Paradise and a banner proclaiming

Five Years.

29.

26 INT. THE GREAT HALL. THE PARADISE - DAY 26

The store is brightly decorated. STAFF are passing out flags

to the CUSTOMERS.

DENISE carries her sense of elation into the scene. She’s on

the move with MORAY and DUDLEY.

DENISE:

Mr. Ballentine understands the need

for progress, that a business like

ours can never rest.

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