The Rainbow Page #6

It could have ended there and then.

No, you were right. I enjoyed that awful school because I had such high hopes for college.

I saw it as a kind of religious retreat, a temple dedicated to truth and learning.

In reality, it's just a factory where you learn to make money.

In the Army, we earn glory.

I read the casualty lists every week. It was horrible.

I knew I'd come back.

I went back to our church once. Everything was clean and orderly.

Seemed like a dream.

It's getting dark.

Shall I hold your hand?

I'm not afraid of the dark in England - it's soft and natural.

It's my medium. Especially when you are here.

The darkness, were you afraid of it in Africa?

Yes. The darkness there is filled with fear, like the smell of blood.

The blacks know it. They worship it.

The darkness. One almost likes it. The fear -...

..something sensual.

Did you think of me in the darkness?

You were at the back of everything.

I had to come back to you.

This is lovely.

The last time I was here it was under false pretences, too.

Another lover?

Yes!

Aren't I the first?

First and last. No, it was Winifred.

Really?

She was my first great passion.

I'm sure she said above the front door. Here we are.

Welcome.

I'm glad you're not always naked or all the women'd fall in love with you

They do, regularly. I'm considered quite a catch.

Oh! Not a fish out of water, I hope, flapping about on the ground.

Oh, no, there's my colonel's daughter, for instance.

SNIFFS:

Scent?

Soap.

Soap!

GIGGLES:

Would you rather live in India or England when we're married?

India, by far. Nice of you to ask.

It was decided long ago, wasn't it? When I first kissed you.

You'll like India. There's a good social life, hunting, polo.

I'll teach you to ride.

Plenty of servants...who'll cook, bathe babies, keep you cool.

I'll teach little Hindus to write essays on the rabbit!

You wouldn't have to teach, you wouldn't have to do anything.

But I do want to teach, and I don't want to be with other people.

I want to be like this. Isn't this enough?

It's enough for now.

Then let's have no more talk of marriage.

Which means that I'm to get supper tomorrow?

I'll keep you to that!

BLOWS HORN:

Strawberries! Strawberries! Fresh ripe strawberries!

Shush, you'll wake them.

All this hollering and pounding.

I expected them up at this hour.

Woman, you have a fickle memory.

Strawberries! Fresh ripe strawberries!

What a bore!

She's supposed to be chaperoning us. We're supposed to be her guests.

Were you expecting her?

Didn't I say?

Lt Skrebensky, your staff sergeant here.

Ursula! Anton! I wonder where they are.

Maybe they've gone out.

Don't be stupid, woman.

BABY CRIES:

Good morning, grocer. Kindly leave them on the doorstep and go away!

Why have you got your bloomers round your neck?

Anton's wearing my nightie!

But do you love him?

It isn't a question of love. I love him well enough.

More than anyone else.

And I shall never love anyone else the same again.

What does it mean, love? It doesn't lead anywhere.

It isn't supposed to lead anywhere. It's an end in itself.

Then I could love a hundred men one after the other.

Why should I end as Mrs Skrebensky, social wife?

Why not love all the types I fancy, as Ursula Brangwen, spinster, school mistress?

Then you don't love him.

I tell you, I do. Quite as much, and perhaps more, than any of the others.

But there are things that aren't in Anton that I'd love in other men.

Like what?

An understanding, a directness. A man who could let go - reckless and passionate.

What is this fantastic fulfilment you're hankering after?

Is it just other men? Hmm?

If it is, you'd better marry Anton.

The other thing can only end badly.

So I'm to marry out of fear of myself?

We're ready for you!

Time for mixed doubles.

I can see you on an elephant - amongst adoring natives.

I shall be glad to leave England, it's so unspiritual.

Leave the home of democracy?

Democracy... is only for the degenerate races.

Why is democracy unspiritual?

Because only the ugly and the greedy succeed.

The people elect the government.

But what are the people? Each of them has a money interest, and they choose those who have money.

They rule in the name of money.

To me democracy means equality.

The equality of the wage packet is a democracy of dirt.

Then you should give away your worldly goods.

Or join us filthy aristocrats!

Up onto the pedestal!

Revolutionaries and aristocrats don't mix.

But she is an aristocrat - of the spirit.

YES!

Stay just as long as you like.

As long as you don't want to play croquet at the hall!

Bye!

Marriage agrees with them.

Meaning they agree with each other.

It's a little odd, though.

Odd?

Something unnatural about Winifred.

Yes, she has two left feet.

I meant her tendencies.

She should be in a freak show(!)

Your relationship isn't healthy. Just as well we're going to India.

You say the Indians aren't healthy.

We'll improve health standards.

I meant you might find them freakish.

Ursula, you must come with me for your own good.

You'll govern the Indians for their own good with your dead judgements.

If they have to bow down to you, I do not. You're so self-righteous!

Aren't you righteous, in your own mind?

Yes! But at least I am something. There's nobody there where you are.

Are you anybody, with your old dead things?

I didn't mean to hurt you.

Yes, you did.

The words came out without my knowing.

They didn't mean anything really.

You're a romantic, up on some hill...

..so you'll always be looking down, always disappointed.

Why must I climb that hill, Anton? Why not stay below?

Why force one's way up, step after step, for a moment of exhilaration at the top...

..only to plunge into a dark valley?

When shall we be married?

I don't know!

Don't you want to be married?

I don't think I do!

You mean never, or not yet?

I mean never.

He may take you back. You'll have to wait for his reply to your letter.

I was full of apologies for my perverse, selfish behaviour.

The child will make a difference.

That's what decided me.

I must go to him, because it's his child and because...

..he once loved me.

Is that the only reason?

Croquet!

I thought about my mother, too.

If it was enough for her to have her man and children, why not for me?

Why do I punish those who love me? I should be grateful for them.

Do your parents know?

I couldn't tell them so soon after failing my degree.

What if Anton says no?

I'll live at home with the child and go back to teaching.

You haven't even seen a midwife.

What if Anton says yes, you go to India and you find you're not with child?

You'll come straight back, that's what you'll do.

A child binds you to a man as securely as if you were handcuffed.

Aren't you and Henry...?

Very good companions.

But remember, you will always be welcome here.

GONG:

Tea.

I won't stop.

Henry'll be back soon.

It's getting late. I'll get my things.

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