The Possession Page #7

(CONTINUED)

35.

CONTINUED:

Out on a hill, over a deep, narrow valley, a graveyard.

Maud hears him coming, swivels round as he stands over her.

MAUD:

I asked you to leave me alone. How

did you find me?

ROLAND:

Sorry. I followed you. I had so

many questions...

(beat)

That girl in the photograph. 'M.B.'

Who was she?

MAUD:

May Bailey. Christabel's niece.

ROLAND:

Why did you have her picture?

MAUD:

Sophie La Motte was Christabel's

sister. She had a daughter called

Maia. Everyone called her May.

(beat)

She was my great-great-grandmother.

ROLAND:

So that's why you're so interested

in Christabel. The family

connection.

MAUD:

No. Christabel was so unhappy. I

felt she was cursed. I always

avoided her. But her poetry always

drew me back. This is where

Christabel died.

Roland looks at the tombstone. In white stone, a female

saint curves round a humble tomb: Christabel La Motte 18251890.

ROLAND:

She died alone?

MAUD:

Christabel never married. She had

no children. She spent her last

years living with Sophie and her

husband over at Seal Court.

(CONTINUED)

36.

CONTINUED:

ROLAND:

Where is that? Nearby?

MAUD:

Not far. You can see it over the

hill.

A gale blows fiercer. Above, BRANCHES RUSTLE and CREAK.

Roland picks up an old bouquet of rusting wire and dead

chrysanthemums.

ROLAND:

Can we visit?

MAUD:

I'm afraid not. It's not open to

the public. I've never even been

inside. Leonora tried. But she

didn't get on with the owners.

(beat)

The wind is getting up. You should

go now. I'll drive you to the

station. This time I'll make sure

you get on a train.

As wind and rain blow across the saintly figure. Roland

looks back up a hill. Silhouetted on the skyline, Roland

sees glints of silver -- a person in a wheelchair, in

difficulty.

ROLAND:

Look. Up there...

To Maud's annoyance, Roland heads off up the hill.

EXT. HILL - DAY

On the hilltop, a wind blows as Roland rushes up. Maud

follows behind. Stuck in mud, a branch has fallen in front

of a lady in a wheelchair: silk scarves, hat and boots:

LADY JOAN.

LADY JOAN:

I seem to be stuck. Bogged down.

Foolhardy, my husband says. Most

humiliating. Can you see the

offending object -- ?

ROLAND:

(shifting the

branch, slipping)

There. It's out of the way...

(CONTINUED)

37.

CONTINUED:

Lady Joan lets off the brakes. Maud arrives up the hill.

MAUD:

Just as well we were up here. Are

you alright?

LADY JOAN:

I feel a bit shaky. My dog is meant

to stay with me. Never does.

Useless great lump. Useless... If

you'd accompany me to the foot of

the track, my husband will get me -

ROLAND:

I don't know round here. Which way?

LADY JOAN:

Down there. I live at Seal Court.

My name's Bailey... Joan Bailey. I

hope you don't mind. It's not too

far...

Maud looks at Roland, who suppresses an exclamation.

MAUD:

We'll take you there.

EXT. SEAL COURT - DAY

Dusk. Rain. Roland and Maud push Lady Joan up a weed-

infested driveway. A tall tower dominates a huge, crumbling

Gothic ruin, covered in roses and vines. Escaping the

storm, they enter -

INT. SEAL COURT - HALL - DAY

A grand decaying hall. Stained glass windows, Pugin-style

carvings, rotting velvet tapestries and RAIN DRIPPING

NOISILY into buckets on stone floors.

LADY JOAN:

Better come into the servants' hall.

The only wing we use now. My

husband should be there...

Past a tiger rug on a wide floor, Roland, Maud and Lady Joan

pass through a temple of taxidermy: surrounded by ancient

stuffed animals:
bear, lion... wildebeest. Sadly moth-

eaten, dilapidated.

(CONTINUED)

38.

CONTINUED:

On wooden panelling, a crest of arms: a crossed shield,

held by unicorn and centaur. Now faded and abandoned,

obviously broke...

INT. SEAL COURT - BAILEY LIVING AREA - DAY

Roland and Maud sit in a kitchen of faded grandeur: piles

of newspapers, pots of jam, old shoes, dog food, broken

toasters...

Her husband, SIR GEORGE, sits with The Sporting Life,

watching TV horse-racing. While Lady Joan serves tea from a

china service, preserving an air of decorum.

LADY JOAN:

... I suppose we must be related,

Miss Bailey. But the Lincolnshire

Baileys never got on with the

Norfolk Baileys. Family feud.

(beat)

Tea, Mr. Michell? You say you're a

writer...

ROLAND:

Not quite. A research assistant.

I'm working on a scholarly edition:

The complete works of Ash, the

Victorian poet -

Roland clears a space on the table. Sir George shouts up

from TV.

SIR GEORGE:

Old Tommy Bailey named a horse after

him. Can't think why... Did him at

school once...

LADY JOAN:

We had a sort of poet in this

house...

SIR GEORGE:

The little lady poet. Terrible

stuff about fairies...

LADY JOAN:

Mr. Michell and Miss Bailey might

like poetry -

SIR GEORGE:

They can't like Christabel La Motte

(CONTINUED)

39.

CONTINUED:

MAUD:

I do. We were visiting her grave.

Sir George puts down his paper, glares at Maud.

SIR GEORGE:

Who was that frightful nosy American

female ranting about the state of

the grave? You're not in league

with her -- ?

Maud kicks Roland beneath the table. Smiles at Sir George.

MAUD:

No... I remember Christabel

described the Seal Court garden in

winter, as she walked there with her

dog...

Maud goes to the window, looks out onto an overgrown garden

with a chipped stone pond at the center.

MAUD'S POV

A ghost of a hound walks across the landscape, then vanishes

BACK TO SCENE:

MAUD:

... 'the sheltered bench and the

silvery fish in the little pool...

even under the ice, I could see them

suspended.'

(beat)

I've been studying her life.

SIR GEORGE:

Not much of a life. She shut

herself away in the East Wing tower.

MAUD:

That's what she must have seen.

LADY JOAN:

The east wing's never been used. I

came here as a bride in 1929. No

one's touched her room since then.

(CONTINUED)

40.

CONTINUED:

Maud looks through the window, a Gothic tower in rain and

wind.

LADY JOAN:

We must find the scones. I'm afraid

we don't have too many luxuries

here. But one has to make an

exception -

(to Sir George)

After tea, I think you should show

these young people Christabel's

room. That is, if they want to see.

Roland looks at Maud, whose eyes betray her excitement.

INT. SEAL COURT - EAST WING TOWER - DUSK

Outside, a storm. Up a towering spiral staircase Sir George

leads with an old lantern. Maud and Roland follow with the

Labrador, up CREAKING BOARDS; night sky visible through gaps

in ceiling.

SIR GEORGE:

No electricity in this wing. Closed

since the First War...

Roland stumbles, puts his foot through a rotten board.

SIR GEORGE:

Careful... Don't want to lose you...

Maud and Roland look up the winding stair: a panelled door

with a latch. Sir George tries pushing it, then pulls it

open. A wind rushes through, as -

INT. SEAL COURT - CHRISTABEL'S ROOM - DUSK

By lantern-light, Roland and Maud see a panelled room with a

box-bed, a mahogany desk carved with goblins, a rocking

horse, heavy trunks and bureau drawers. In a wall beside

the bay-window -

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