The Possession Page #18

Up at the window, the lace curtain flutters out on the

breeze.

Inside, in the reception room -- a letter is flung onto a

table.

ELLEN (V.O.)

She wrote twice. And came here...

On the envelope:
Ash's handwriting: Inside, a manuscript

of a poem. Addressed to "Christabel La Motte..." Ellen

stares at it.

She turns away from -- Blanche. Who paces up and down in

her neat worn boots, clasping and unclasping her hands.

BLANCHE:

Your own happiness is ruined, is a

lie. You could help me if you

chose. We were so happy -

From the table, Ellen picks up a bell. She rings it.

ELLEN:

I can do nothing about your

happiness, Miss Glover. Please

leave my house.

A maid comes to the door. Ellen stares at her. Blanche

pauses. Then exits. Ellen turns away.

DISSOLVE TO:

102.

INT. ASH'S HOUSE (RUSSELL SQUARE) - LIBRARY - NIGHT (1859 )

Ash before Ellen, stumbling to find words.

ASH:

I do not know what to say, Ellen. I

do not expect to see her -- Miss La

Motte again. We were agreed that

this one summer must see the end -of...

(voice trembles)

... the end. And even if that were

not so -- she has vanished, she has

gone away -

Ellen hears Ash's pain, notes it, says nothing.

ASH:

You must be angry -- distressed -

ELLEN:

Not angry. I know how gentle and

patient you have been with me. For

I have never been a real wife to

you...

ASH:

Ellen, do not -

ELLEN:

If I have not proffered the proper

intimacy between husband and wife,

that is my regret, Randolph.

(beat)

Yet you have never ceased to love

me.

A silence falls between them.

ASH:

You are my wife, Ellen. I shall

always love you.

ELLEN:

Then, as you have forgiven me, so I

shall forgive you.

Ellen wipes a tear from her eye, looks up at Ash.

ELLEN:

It is a question of silence. Let us

not talk of it again, Randolph.

Ellen gently responds, touching his hand. NOISES FADE IN

from a MODERN-DAY STATION, as we -

DISSOLVE BACK UP TO:

103.

EXT. VICTORIA STATION - DAY (PRESENT)

A busy train station. Roland and Maud emerge on a platform,

push through crowds. Roland looks up to see: a wild figure

dashing up the platform: Beatrice, waving frantically.

ROLAND:

Beatrice -- ?

Beatrice arrives, huffing and puffing, out of breath.

BEATRICE:

Oh dear. I am sorry. You may think

I'm mad, or bad, or presumptuous -I

could only think of you -

MAUD:

Dr. Nest -- Beatrice -- please...

BEATRICE:

I wouldn't have come unless you

seemed to care about her -

ROLAND:

About...

BEATRICE:

Her... Ellen.

(beat; as if it was

obvious)

I have to tell you both something.

It's urgent.

INT. ASH HOUSE MUSEUM (RUSSELL SQUARE) - NIGHT (SUNSET)

Back indoors, a cup of tea freshly made, Beatrice is back

under control. Roland and Maud listen, as Beatrice calms

down.

BEATRICE:

Mortimer Cropper was here today.

Looking at sections of Ellen's

journal.

MAUD:

About Blanche's visit?

Beatrice looks at them both. Very serious.

BEATRICE:

No. About Ash's funeral. He

brought young Hildebrand Ash.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

104.

CONTINUED:

BEATRICE (CONT'D)

I'm absolutely certain Cropper wants

to open up Ash's tomb. He wants to

find out what is in the box.

MAUD:

What box?

BEATRICE:

Ellen's.

ROLAND:

The one Ellen buried in Ash's tomb.

Maud sits down with Roland, now surrounded by Beatrice and

Maud.

BEATRICE:

I don't know what to do. They all

dislike me so -- they think Ellen's

diary is unimportant. I've been

thinking...

(beat)

Ellen wrote to baffle us.

ROLAND:

What do you mean?

BEATRICE:

She wrote so much. To throw us off

the scent.

(beat)

I believe she must have known if

there was a child... what happened

to it. How it died. That's why she

buried the truth in a box...

From a leather portfolio, Beatrice removes an old scrap of

paper.

BEATRICE:

She left this scrap of paper in her

desk when she died. I'm sure Ellen

knew the scavengers would come -sooner

or later...

(reciting from memory)

`What shall I be without you?

My Randolph now is gone...'

Beatrice stands in front of the glass cases, from inside,

Roland and Maud hear a FLUTTERING sound. As if the

BUTTERFLIES are suddenly alive, fluttering wings, trying to

escape, as -

(CONTINUED)

105.

CONTINUED:

With Maud, he follows Beatrice towards the old bedroom.

BEATRICE:

Follow me...

Beatrice walks into the old bedroom, past the glass cases

and portraits, the aquarium and books of the first dreamlike

shot -

As if Beatrice has become Ellen's ghost...

CUT TO:

FLASHBACK - INT. ASH'S HOUSE (LONDON) - BEDROOM - NIGHT

(1888)

Ellen leans over her dying husband. Ash lies in bed,

propped up on pillows. He is dying.

ASH:

Forty-four years with no anger. I

do not think many husbands and wives

can say as much...

(beat)

It cannot be helped. Do you think,

after death, we continue...?

Ellen bows her head, begins to weep.

ASH:

Do not cry. I am not sorry. I have

not -- done nothing, you know. I

have lived.

Ellen sees Ash clutching in his hand a gold pocket watch: a

long, plaited chain of gold hair tied around it.

ASH:

Do not let me be picked by vultures.

Burn what they should not see...

Ellen unwinds her hair from his hands. A KNOCK at the door.

As she gets up to go, Ash moans deliriously -

ASH:

Summer fields... in a twinkling of

an eye, I saw her. I should have

looked after her. How could I? I

could only hurt her...

(CONTINUED)

106.

CONTINUED:

ELLEN:

You saw who? In the summer fields?

You saw who, Randolph?

ASH:

(after a pause)

I... forgot...

Ash falls back asleep, his hand clutches the watch with the

golden hair which Ellen will also later bury. Ellen goes to

the door, opens it to a doctor. As he enters, Ellen turns

back -

To look at her husband -- a moan as she sees he is -

Dead. A wind blows her candle, smoke past tearful eyes.

INT. ASH HOUSE (RUSSELL SQUARE) - LATER THAT NIGHT

ON a ROARING FIRE, flames burn up papers. Ellen watches,

throws more on. At her husband's desk -

ELLEN:

What shall I be without you?

(NOTE:
The one Roland and Maud now read, lies on the desk.)

She takes a packet of letters, tied with ribbons. She

hesitates.

Instead of throwing them on the fire, Ellen walks toward a

box...

ELLEN (V.O.)

`-- My Randolph now is gone.

Tomorrow we will set out together on

his last blind journey...'

She unlocks the box, removes an envelope, addressed to

"Randolph Ash." The broken seal recognizable as

Christabel's:
a crest of arms, a shield held up by a

unicorn and centaur.

Ellen goes to the bed-stand: a pocket watch with a plait of

golden hair wrapped around the chain-ring.

ELLEN (V.O.)

`... And these letters and mementoes

-- why do I choose to put them up,

in their sealed enclosure...?

On the desk beside Ellen's note, an open box. She

hesitates, holding the letters in her hand, then -

107.

EXT. CEMETERY - DAY (1888)

As in the opening -- the same box. Closed and sealed in

Ellen's hands. PULL BACK to reveal: mourners in black.

Ellen walks forward with the box -

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