The Prisoner Page #6

Walking the world like Cain, branded.

No. Suicide.

They hope I'll take my life

so they can say...

...I committed the last

cowardice of all.

I shan't do that, you know?

- No, I didn't think you would.

- No.

I might live...

...for 20, 30 years.

Yes, it's one thing I never thought of.

It's more terrible than anything

I could have thought of.

I could pretend to call to

the warder for help as I fire.

Do you want to pray?

- You'd do it?

- Do you want to pray?

I must not ask you...

...to do murder.

You're offering me...

...escape.

And I thought of you...

...as an animal to be

put out of its pain.

Do you want to face the world outside?

No.

But I must.

So the laugh is on me.

You go out from under my hands...

...a stronger man

than when you came to me.

Medical discharge certificate.

Discharge.

- It shook me, I don't mind telling you.

- Give it to me.

All right, doctor,

I'll examine him myself.

Outside.

Remember, that's an

ex-prisoner, that is.

Sir.

Do you realize what I did then?

I hid what I was doing

from the prison staff.

Indulging in secret treachery.

What have you done to me?

- That, from you?

- Oh, I realized the dangers.

I had to get so close to you it was like

two sides of the same man...

...talking to each other.

But to let sympathy for the side

that was you take over...

...even for a moment...

...from sheer sentiment...

To risk losing everything

I'd worked for and achieved...

It means...

...you've defeated me.

You're no convert.

For you, your cause

will always be right.

And what use to my cause is a man

who is too fastidious to trust?

No...

...I shan't wait to

let them find that out.

Your certificate of physical

and mental health.

An appropriate use

for my last official signature.

It doesn't make sense.

You pulled it off, you'll get recognition.

- Thank you, but I still want to resign.

- Why?

All right.

I don't choose to wait until you

put people in my house...

...and on my staff to watch me.

Rustling through my papers,

tapping my telephone.

Should we?

Yes.

Listen...

...10 minutes ago,

I offered to shoot him...

...to spare him the agony of the

heavier sentence, release.

I see.

Yes, you're right.

How can either of us tell

what that capacity for pity...

...may lead me to do in the future.

Servants of the state

can't pick and choose.

Well, I can't half serve a cause.

- The aristocrat?

- No.

The fanatic.

I shall have to take this higher up.

Do you mind waiting in there?

There's a reception committee

and a half waiting for you out there.

Hundreds of them...

...standing there, dead still...

...all looking this way, waiting.

Fairly gives you the creeps.

Ready, sir?

I'll have them open up for you.

See if you can get rid of the kidneys.

He thought I'd like them.

Try...

...not to judge the priesthood...

...by the priest.

Any confession I may be said to have

made in prison will be a lie...

... or the result of human weakness.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes