The Portrait of a Lady Page #2

there's all the difference in the world.

Call it two, then.

You'll marry someone else as sure as I stand here.

I don't wish to be a mere sheep in the flock.

I shall probably never marry.

[WHISPERING] God.

If you hear it rumoured I'm near marrying, remember what I've said...

and doubt it.

I hate to lose sight of you.

Goodbye.

Hmm.

[SIGHS]

[MR. GOODWOOD WHISPERING] I love you.

You acted very wrongly.

You don't mean to tell me you've sent him off?

I asked him to leave me alone,

and I ask you the same, Henrietta.

If you marry one of these people,

I'll never speak to you again.

You better wait till I'm asked.

Oh, you'll be asked quick enough.

Annie Climber was asked three times in Italy.

Poor, plain, little Annie.

Well, if Annie Climber wasn't captured, why should I be?

Well, I don't believe Annie was pressed, but you'll be.

Do you know where you're going, Isabel Archer?

No, and it's very pleasant not to.

You're drifting off to some great mistake.

You make me shudder.

[MAN COUGHING]

My father's had an attack of his old malady.

It's quite severe, I'm afraid.

[COUGHS]

By great good luck, Dr Matthew Hope is in town,

and I shall make sure of his coming down to Gardencourt.

There's... an express train at 2.45,

and you shall come with me or not, as you prefer.

I shall go with you. I'll pack now.

[SIGHS]

I'm not at peace about Isabel.

I fear she may marry one of these Europeans, and I want to prevent it.

What a rage you have for organising people.

I simply want her to marry Mr Caspar Goodwood.

He's followed her all the way from Boston.

He was here, last night.

In Pratt's? [DISHES SHATTER]

Mmm. It was a little plot of mine.

Is she very fond of him?

If she isn't, she ought to be.

He's simply wrapped up in her.

Three months ago, she gave him every reason to suspect he was acceptable,

and it's not really of Isabel to go back on a friend...

simply because she's changed the scene.

Isabel... was cruel? [TAPPING GLASS]

She gave him no satisfaction.

Her only idea was to be rid of him.

Poor Mr Goodwood.

[DOGS BARKING]

[SILVERWARE CLINKING]

Sir Matthew, he had some kind of seizure last night,

but I feel a dreadful cold coming on.

- You will leave me a powder?

- Of course.

Oh, my great friend from Rome has arrived.

You will stay for tea?

[PIANO PLAYING]

It's very beautiful,

and your playing makes it more beautiful still.

You don't think I disturbed Mr Touchett, then?

His room is so far away, and I play just...

just un peu des doigts.

No, I... I should think that to hear such lovely music...

would make him feel better.

I'm afraid there are moments in life...

when even Schubert has nothing to say to us.

Would... would you play something more?

If it will give you pleasure, delighted.

[MUSIC STARTS]

[MUSIC STOPS]

Are you the niece, the young American?

- I'm my aunt's niece.

- C'est bon. We're compatriots.

I'm Madame Merle.

[MUSIC STARTS]

[DOG PANTING]

[LIGHTLY SNORES]

Mmm.

[DOOR CLOSES]

Who's that with me?

Is it my son?

Yes, it's your son, Daddy.

- Is there no one else?

- No one else.

Cigarette.

What you should do when I'm gone...

is to marry.

What do you think of your cousin?

Do I... do I understand you to propose that I should marry Isabel?

Well, that's what it comes to in the end.

Don't you like Isabel?

Yes, very much. I like Isabel very much.

- I've thought a great deal about it.

- So have I.

I don't mind telling you that.

You're in love with her, then?

I should think you would be. It's as if she came over on purpose.

No, I'm not in love with her, but...

I should be, if... certain things were different.

Things are always different from what they might be.

I shall not live many years...

but I hope long enough to see what Isabel does with herself.

I should like to do something for her.

- I should like to make her rich.

- What do you mean by rich?

I call people rich...

when they're able to meet the requirements of their imagination.

To do what she likes with it?

Absolutely what she likes.

Good boy.

[GRR]

[GRR]

You win.

Down.

Who is this Madame Merle?

She's very charming.

She plays beautifully.

- She does everything beautifully.

- You don't like her.

On the contrary, I was once in love with her.

And she didn't care for you?

That's why you don't like her?

How can we have discussed such things?

Monsieur Merle was then living.

Is he dead now?

So she says.

Don't you believe her?

Yes, because...

the husband of Madame Merle would be likely to pass away.

Mme. Merle:
Am I late?

I do apologise.

No, not at all.

Are you aware of the beautiful walking paths round the estate?

Mme. Merle:
Americans certainly make poor Europeans.

We've no natural place here.

But a woman, it seems to me, has no natural place anywhere.

Wherever she finds herself, she must stay on the surface,

and more or less crawl.

I shall never crawl.

Yes. On the whole, I don't see you crawling.

But the men, the Americans?

Look at poor Ralph Touchett.

What sort of figure do you call that?

Fortunately, he has consumption.

I say fortunately because it gives him something to do.

His consumption's his... carriere.

It's a kind of position.

If he were not ill, he'd do something.

He'd take his father's place in the bank.

I doubt it. He's not at all fond of the bank.

- Are you not good friends?

- Perfectly!

But he doesn't like me.

What have you done to him?

Nothing whatever,

but one has no need of a reason for that.

For not liking you? I think one has need of a very good reason.

Ah. I love the English rain.

There's always a little of it and never too much at once.

Never wet, and it always... smells good.

[SNIFFS] Ah, delicious!

Mmm, delicious!

Mmm, it is!

I'd give a good deal to be your age again,

to have my life before me.

Your life's before you yet.

No. The best part's gone, and gone for nothing.

Oh, surely not for nothing.

Why not? What have I got?

Neither husband nor child nor fortune.

Nor even a house of my own.

What should you like to do that you've not done?

I'm very ambitious.

To me, you're the vivid image of success.

My dreams were so... great.

I should make myself ridiculous by talking of them.

I should like you to have this.

I am going to six places in succession,

and I shall meet no one I like so well as you.

Ahem.

[YAWNS]

He has left me this house, but naturally, I shall not live in it.

I have a much better one in Florence, as you know.

And Ralph gets Gardencourt.

Serena, there is one remarkable clause in my husband's will.

I'll ring for tea?

He has left my niece a fortune.

- A fortune?

- Mm-hmm.

Isabel steps into something like 70,000.

The clever creature.

Man:
She seems to me very genteel.

She's really pretty.

When her mother died, I sent her to see what you'd make of her.

I had faith, you know.

She's perfect. She has no faults.

We've had her since she was so small.

- It's not certain you'll lose her.

- Monsieur,

good as she is, she's not one of us.

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