Tulip Fever Page #4

- Oh, darling, darling, oh... Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

(bell tolling)

- What are you doing?

- Cornelis will come home early. I know him.

- Don't go.

- I must.

- When will you come back?

- Tomorrow? Oh, I don't know.

- You do love me, don't you?

- Yes, I love you.

(lively music, overlapping chatter)

- Oi! I remember you, darling, huh?

- Oh, someone's been celebrating all right, huh?

- No.

- Yeah?

- No. My life is over.

- Don't say that. Listen. Ooh, you're a very big boy. You got a little something for me in your trousers? Mm-mm. No? Just a little bit?

- No! Piss off.

(coins jingling)

(sighs)

- No! Where's that filthy little whore?! Where's that little b*tch just stole my purse?! I want it back. Where is she?

- Oi! That's my little sister you're calling a whore!

(grunting)

(men grunting, shouting)

- Lads! Here's one for you! Let the Navy have him!

- MAN:
Get him up. Come on. Welcome to the Navy, sailor. It'll take you a year to get back.

- WILLEM:
No, no. No. No! No!

- Hey, that's enough.

(drunken shouts, revelry)

(hinges creak)

(panting)

(running footsteps)

(floorboards creaking)

CORNELIS:
My little soldier's ready again. Sophia...

- Gone?

- How gone? Gone where?

- Nobody knows. There's rumors he's gone to sea. I really thought he loved me.

- My poor Maria.

- That's not all of it.

- What is it?

- I'm going to have a baby.

- Did Willem know?

- No.

- What am I gonna do?

- Your family... In Friesland.

- I'd die of shame. My father wouldn't have me in the house, anyway. Are you going to throw me out?

- No. What can I do? When my husband hears of it, he'll... I'll keep your secret as long as I can.

- I didn't want to have to do this, madam, but if you throw me out, I'll tell your husband what you've been up to. I'll tell him, miss.

(exhales)

- How did you know?

- How would I not? I'll tell him. If we sink, we sink together.

- You wouldn't. Please, Maria.

MARIA:
Yes, I said that. And I was ashamed. I felt the shame in my blood.

- JAN:
It's done. Do you want to see?

(chuckles)

- It's well done.

- JAN:
What's the matter?

- Maria knows about us. And she's going to tell Cornelis.

(door opens in distance)

(wind whistling)

(exhales)

(door closes in distance)

(fire crackling)

(soft scraping)

(wind whistling)

- Cornelis. Why are you awake?

- God took one child and spared my wife. And when... she was in childbed again, crying out, I couldn't put the thought away from me.

- What thought?

- God heard me, and he punishes me still. Because I didn't always treat her well.

- It was not in your hands.

- I asked... that the baby should be spared and... not... If it were one or the other, that... To spare the child and take the mother. And God punished me by taking both.

(exhales)

- God has forgiven you.

- No.

(scoffs)

- I wasn't gonna tell you so soon... but I'm going to have our child.

(inhales)

- You. Oh. Oh, my-my sweet, my sweet Sophia.

(shuddering inhale)

- Oh, praise be to God.

(crying softly)

(humming happily)

(Sophia chuckles)

(Cornelis continues humming)

(Maria gasps)

- SOPHIA:
Maria, are you all right?

- I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Was it valuable?

- Priceless.

(sobs)

- Six months of your wages.

(crying)

- Cornelis, it's just a vase.

- It's one of a pair. So say no more about it.

(Cornelis resumes humming)

- I made a plan to save us both.

- You hide your tummy, and I can...

(scoffs)

- I can stuff a pillow down my dress.

- And then what? And then when the child is born?

- And then we have the baby in the house, then you can be with it. Cornelis gets a baby, Maria keeps her job, and we will be together.

- Are you mad?

- You must trust me.

- How? How will we...

(panting)

- What about a doctor?

- I know a doctor.

(Sorgh humming)

- Dr. Sorgh.

- SOPHIA:
In the parlor. And bring a basin of warm water.

- Good morning.

(Sorgh humming)

- Where did he come from?

- Dr. Sorgh.

- Good morning.

- And how are we feeling today?

- Blood on the sheet. Only a drop. It was nothing.

- I'm sure you're right.

- How is your heart beating, Mrs. Sandvoort? Allow me. Mm? Mm. Mm. Mm. Nice. Neither fast nor slow.

- All is well, but I'd better make an examination just to be sure. Feet up.

(exhales)

Cornelis?

- Will you see what's keeping Maria with the doctor's basin?

(Sorgh humming)

- Ow.

(exhales)

- CORNELIS:
Is everything all right, my love?

- All is well, sir.

- CORNELIS:
Thank the Lord.

- Are there any special... instructions?

- Plenty of rest during the day, plenty of fresh air, nutritious soups, milky puddings. Oh, yes, of course. Most important of all. It's imperative, owing to Missus Sandvoort's delicate bodily constitution, no conjugal relations until the baby's safely born.

- No...?

- I'm afraid so. I recommend separate bedrooms. If the mother is unduly disturbed during the night, well, I fear for the child.

(humming)

- If you say so. As to the child, the sex, the gender? What signs do you...?

- Sniff, please. Do you feel nauseous?

- No.

- A boy.

- You believe so? A b...

- Mm-hmm.

(laughing)?

- A boy. A boy, but... Maria? Will you stay, please? Cornelis, I feel a little shy.

(laughing)?

- A boy.

(Cornelis humming)

- How are you today?

(exhales)

- Hmm.

- Are you all right?

(sighs)

- Feet up.

- Is this necessary?

- Not really. Force of habit.

- How are you feeling?

- I feel sick.

- Well, you're pregnant. You two really think you'll carry this off?

(Sophia exhales)

- SOPHIA:
What choice do we have?

- What a game.

- Do you think it's true to life, Mrs. Overvalt?

- Hmm. Yes. Yes, he's caught the shoulder seam, the line of the bosom. Not so good on the cuffs, but the hem stitches are quite well done.

- What do you ladies think of the likeness?

- He has found you, Sophia.

- As for Cornelis...

- (laughs) With an older man like Cornelis, a likeness might be too much of a good thing. Too much of "winter and spring" about it.

(exhales)

- You're beginning to show, my dear.

(laughs softly)

- CORNELIS:
Urgent business calls me to Utrecht. I could be gone for as long as a few weeks.

- Sophia, let Maria do that.

- We'll be fine, Cornelis.

(gags)

(coughing)

(retching)

(coughing continues)

(retches)

- Oh, my poor dearest.

- It's only natural in the first months. Please go, it's all right. It is a small price to pay.

(gagging)

(panting)

- NICHOLAS:
That woman in Utrecht, she keeps asking about you. Ha. She wants to know when you'll be back.

- JAN:
And when the baby's born, what then?

- SOPHIA:
I don't know. Perhaps the world will come to an end before then.

- If I were rich, I could take you away.

- SOPHIA:
He would find us. He would not stop looking for me unless I was dead.

(bell tolling)

- I heard those bells every day. That's where I grew up when the plague left me an orphan.

- My poor Sophia.

- No. It was my good fortune. The sisters were kind, and we lived amongst beauty. They had a tulip garden in the courtyard.

- A tulip garden? Is it still there?

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