The Possession Page #4

ROLAND:

jots down a reference: 719.640. Moves down to related

literature. Roland holds a card at arm's length. From

behind, a voice:

FERGUS (O.S.)

I didn't know you had an interest in

Christabel La Motte...

Roland turns, sees Fergus peering over his shoulder. Fergus

reaches over to investigate the card. And laughs.

ROLAND:

I don't. I never heard of her until

now.

(beat)

Why did you laugh?

FERGUS:

You're looking for an involuntary

expert. There are two people in the

world who know all about Christabel

La Motte. One is Professor Leonora

Stern from Tallahassee. The real

expert is Doctor Maud Bailey at

Lincoln. Cropper and I met them

both in Paris. A conference on

sexuality and textuality.

(beat)

A formidable pair... they have quite

a thing together.

ROLAND:

A `thing'?

FERGUS:

I don't think they like men.

ROLAND:

Oh, dear.

FERGUS:

Maud runs a resource center up there

in Lincoln. Cropper's funding it.

They've got Christabel's papers

there. If you want anything, that's

where to look.

(CONTINUED)

19.

CONTINUED:

ROLAND:

I might. Thanks. What's she like?

FERGUS:

Unreadable. The feminists are

interested in her. Wrote a poem

about a fairy who married a mortal

for a soul -

ROLAND:

I meant Dr. Bailey... Will she eat

me up?

Fergus considers briefly. A lot of undecodable feeling.

FERGUS:

She thicks men's blood with cold.

ON Roland's look, a mix of intrigue and worry -

EXT. LINCOLN UNIVERSITY - NEXT DAY

The beautiful face of MAUD BAILEY: pale and cool, like a

marble statue. Blonde hair up, Maud stands in a doorway of

a modern campus block, as past campus fountains and lawns -

Roland walks toward her. As he closes in, he is drawn in by

her beauty. He recognizes it, yet cannot even admit it.

She is middle-class, beautiful, confident: everything he

dare not aspire to.

MAUD:

You must be Dr. Michell?

ROLAND:

Yes... Roland...

Maud offers him her long, cool hand. Roland puts down his

briefcase, shakes her hand.

MAUD:

I hope you haven't wasted your

journey, Dr. Michell.

With neither a word nor a smile, Maud turns, walks into the

faculty building. Roland takes a step, remembers his

briefcase. Turns back to pick it up, and has to -

Catch up with Maud, now several steps ahead, opening a door

to -

20.

INT. FACULTY HALL (LINCOLN UNIVERSITY) - DAY

In a new building of beige wood and tinted glass, Maud walks

with Roland towards an elevator. Young, punky female

students walk past, rings in their noses, holding hands.

Roland sees no men.

MAUD:

On the phone you said you found a

connection between Randolph and Ash

and one of my poets.

ROLAND:

I found a draft of a letter in one

of Ash's books. I thought it might

be to Christabel La Motte.

MAUD:

What sort of letter?

ROLAND:

A love letter, I think.

MAUD:

Hard to believe. Where's your

evidence?

Maud presses the button for the elevator. They wait.

ROLAND:

There was a breakfast party, June

18, 1858. At the home of Crabb

Robinson. I believe they met one

another there -

MAUD:

You can never rely on Crabb

Robinson. He was a notorious

gossip, always inventing things...

The ELEVATOR PINGS, opens doors. Maud and Roland step

inside.

ROLAND:

Of course, but he has some curious

details...

INT. ELEVATOR - DAY

Inside the elevator, Roland and Maud are uncomfortably close

together, as they go down into the resource center's

basement.

(CONTINUED)

21.

CONTINUED:

ROLAND:

... He says Ash and Christabel

discussed each other's poems. And

met the spiritualist Mrs. Lees. It

sounded plausible to me. In 1861,

Ash wrote Mummy Possest after a

seance -

MAUD:

My Christabel was interested in

spiritualism. But I don't think Ash

would have appealed to her. His

poem is full of hatred for women -

ROLAND:

Then it's probably a wild goose

chase. As you said.

(beat)

I hope you don't think I've made all

this up. This relationship -

MAUD:

You said `connection.' Now it's a

relationship?

ROLAND:

Between two people. Two human

beings. Isn't that normally called

a relationship?

MAUD:

Depends. I think your theory is way

off the mark. It sounds, frankly, a

little bizarre.

Maud turns away, heads off into the library. Roland follows

her.

ROLAND:

I need to cross-reference it with

her journal. You did say Christabel

kept a journal...

MAUD:

No. But we have a diary by a friend

of Christabel. An artist, Blanche

Glover...

ROLAND:

Crabb Robinson mentions Miss Glover.

Who was she?

(CONTINUED)

22.

CONTINUED:

Maud picks up interest. The ELEVATOR PINGS, doors open.

They walk out of the elevator, towards the library doors.

MAUD:

Blanche was Christabel's housemate

-and most certainly her lover.

In front of the doors, Roland hangs back. Maud holds the

door open.

ROLAND:

Am I allowed in?

MAUD:

Naturally.

INT. LIBRARY (LINCOLN UNIVERSITY) - RESOURCE CENTER - DAY

On a desk, Maud brings out a box of musty manuscripts. She

picks a single volume, places it on the desk in front of

Roland. A thick, green, leather-bound notebook.

MAUD:

Blanche's diary was among

Christabel's papers when she died.

Leonora is looking for a grant to

have it edited. She's found a

researcher from France who's

interested. But we can't go through

everything...

ROLAND:

Then I'll let you know what I find.

Maud is about to go. She relents, giving in to her

curiosity.

MAUD:

I checked my files before you

arrived. Christabel only referred

to Ash. In a letter she wrote to

William Rosetti, towards the end of

her life.

(beat)

It was... if anything... hostile.

(beat)

You have a couple of hours.

Roland sits at a desk. Illuminated by a shaft of overhead

light.

23.

ON COVER:

A gilded dove, flying out from a keyhole. He opens the

lavishly-illustrated book, with marbled endpapers.

"A Journal of Our Home-Life In Our House in Richmond"

By Blanche Glover

Commenced on the day of our Setting up House

May 1st, 1853."

As Roland flicks to June 1858, her writing is decorated with

pretty drawings, slowly merging into swirling, macabre

images.

BLANCHE (V.O.)

`... June 18, 1858. We went out to

breakfast at Mr. Crabb Robinson's

home. Present were Mr. Bagehot,

Mrs. Lees, Mr. Ash the poet, though

without Mrs. Ash, who was

indisposed...'

In his mind's eye -- Roland tries to penetrate a misty cloud

FLASHBACK - EXT. CRABB ROBINSON'S HOUSE (RUSSELL SQUARE)

(SILVER NITRATE BLACK & WHITE) - DAY (1858)

In a garden conservatory, Ash moves towards a beautiful

woman, back turned away from him. Behind her, as Ash draws

closer is -

A woman, we now recognize as -- BLANCHE GLOVER.

BLANCHE (V.O.)

'... The Princess was much admired

and rightly...'

Ash is intercepted by HELLA LEES, a spiritualist. Who

introduces the beautiful woman: CHRISTABEL LA MOTTE, a

beguiling pre-Raphaelite brunette.

BLANCHE (V.O.)

'... She professed to like Mr. Ash's

poem Ragnarok greatly. Which

naturally flattered him...'

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