Downton Abbey Script Book Season 1 (12 page)

CARSON: You will mend it
now
. And you will never again appear in public in a similar state of undress.

WILLIAM: No, Mr Carson.

CARSON: To progress in your chosen career William, you must remember that a good servant at all times retains a sense of pride and dignity, that reflects the pride and dignity of the family he serves.
*

This has silenced the company. William is crushed.

CARSON (CONT'D): And never make me remind you of it again.

He leaves. The sigh of relief is almost audible.

DAISY: I'll do it. And cheer up. We've all had a smack from Mr Carson.

She takes the coat and picks up a needle from the table. Anna glances at the despondent William.

ANNA: You'll be a butler, yourself, one day. Then you'll do the smacking.

WILLIAM: I could never be like him. I bet he comes from a line of butlers that goes back to the Conqueror.

BATES: He learned his business and so will you. Even Mr Carson wasn't born standing to attention.

THOMAS: I hope not for his mother's sake.

In the laugh that follows, William notices Daisy smiling at him. He finds it surprisingly encouraging.

Robert and Cora are in bed. She is trying to read.

ROBERT: But if he must work, it should be politics. He could build on it when he goes to the Lords.

CORA: He trained for the law.

ROBERT: Well, I don't know what the local people will make of it.

CORA: I can't see why he has the right to your estates
or
to my money. But I refuse to condemn him for wanting an honest job.

ROBERT: Really, Cora. Just because you dislike my mother, there's no need to turn into Mark Twain.

He blows out his lamp and settles down for the night.

A new day. Carson is checking the account books, when William appears, carrying an envelope.

WILLIAM: This was at the back door.

CARSON: Thank you, William.

The footman goes as he opens the letter. One glance is enough to make him stand, take his hat and hurry away.

Bates is walking back through the village when, across the road some way ahead, he sees Carson hurrying along. He vanishes into the pub. Bates is rather surprised. He walks on, past a sign announcing the cottage hospital.

Isobel is in a ward, with Doctor Richard Clarkson.

CLARKSON: It's kind of you to take an interest.

ISOBEL: I'm afraid it's a case of the warhorse and the drum. You know my late husband was a doctor?

CLARKSON: I do. I'm familiar with Doctor Crawley's work on the symptoms of infection in children.

ISOBEL: My father was also in medicine, Sir John Turnbull, and my brother is Doctor Edward Turnbull.
*

He acknowledges her provenance.

ISOBEL (CONT'D): Even I studied nursing during the South African War.

They have come to a bed which is screened off. A young woman is being helped away by a nurse. Isobel looks enquiringly at her companion. Clarkson lowers his voice.

CLARKSON: Very distressing. A young farmer, John Drake, a tenant of Lord Grantham's. He came in today. It's dropsy, I'm afraid.
*

ISOBEL: May I see him?

Clarkson is surprised but he moves back the screens. A young man of about thirty is sitting up against pillows, his skin grey, his legs twice their normal size. He looks up.

ISOBEL: I hope you're not too uncomfortable, Mr Drake.

But the patient cannot speak, and instead only wheezes muffled words until he starts to cough violently and when he takes away the handkerchief, it's thick with blood.

Isobel and the Doctor are together.

ISOBEL: Is the dropsy of the liver or the heart?

CLARKSON: Everything points to the heart. There is a good deal of fluid around it.

ISOBEL: You mean an effusion.

CLARKSON: Forgive me. I keep forgetting I am talking to a medical expert.

The touch of irony is not lost on Isobel.

ISOBEL: What will happen to his wife?

CLARKSON: She may try to keep the farm on. Grantham is not a harsh landlord. But her children are young …

ISOBEL: What can I do to help?

Clarkson hesitates.

ISOBEL: If I'm to live in this village, I must have an occupation. Please. Let me be useful.

CLARKSON: It will take a lot to keep him comfortable. If you could look in from time to time, and relieve my nurses I should be very grateful.

Molesley's staring out of the window, as Bates comes in. He looks round, leaning on his stick. Nothing is out of place.

BATES: Very tidy, I must say.

MOLESLEY: That's how he leaves it.

Molesley shrugs. He is clearly despondent.

MOLESLEY (CONT'D): He chooses his clothes himself. He puts them out at night and hangs the ones he's worn … I get to take the linen down to the laundry, but that's about all.

BATES: That's all?

MOLESLEY: I'll do this, he says, and I'll take the other and I'll tie that. And I'm just stood there like a chump watching a man get dressed. To be honest, Mr Bates, I don't see the point of it.
*

BATES: Don't tell Thomas. He's jealous enough already.

BATES: What about the butlering?

MOLESLEY: The food's on the sideboard, and he keeps the wine on the table so he can pour it himself. It's like an all-day breakfast.

Robert is walking with Violet.

ROBERT: I thought you didn't like him.

VIOLET: Well, so what? I have plenty of friends I don't like.

ROBERT: Would you want Mary to marry one of them?

VIOLET: Why do you always have to pretend to be nicer than the rest of us?

ROBERT: Perhaps I am.

VIOLET: Then pity your wife whose fortune must go to this odd young man, with his ‘weekends' and ‘jobs'. If Mary were to marry him then all would be resolved.

They've reached the house. Thomas stands to attention.

Anna comes in. Gwen has been reading something and now she hurriedly stuffs it into a folder along with other papers.

ANNA: What have you got there?

She starts to undress.

GWEN: Nothing.

ANNA: What kind of nothing? You haven't got an admirer?

GWEN: I might have. Why shouldn't I?

ANNA: Don't tell Mrs Hughes or she'll bring the vicar round to have you exorcised.

GWEN: How are we supposed to find husbands if we're never allowed to see any men?

ANNA: Perhaps she thinks the stork brings them. What's he like?

Gwen is puzzled until Anna nods at the folder.

GWEN: Oh. He's … all right.

ANNA: Don't trust me then.

During this, Anna, then Gwen, change into nightdresses, wash with a jug and basin on a table, and climb into bed.

ANNA: Lady Mary's in for a surprise. Thomas was in the library when old Violet came in from the garden. Seems they want to fix her up with Mr Crawley.

GWEN: Well, it makes sense. And she was going to marry Mr Patrick.

ANNA: Would she have, though? When it came to it? That's the question.

And she blows out the candle.

As Matthew enters, Molesley steps in to take his coat but Matthew shrugs it off and hangs it up. His mother arrives.

ISOBEL: There you are, dear. I was hoping you'd be home in time.

MATTHEW: In time for what?

ISOBEL: I have been paid the compliment of a visit.

Her eyes give him a warning.

Violet, in a marvellous hat, sits with an equally elegant Cora. The others enter. Molesley is serving tea.

CORA: Good afternoon, Cousin Matthew. We were just saying how charming this room is now.

VIOLET: It always seemed rather dark when my mother-in-law lived here, but then she made everything dark.
*

Violet chuckles. She laughs pleasantly. Molesley has brought a plate over.

MOLESLEY: Sir.

MATTHEW: No, thank you.

MOLESLEY: A cup of tea, sir?

MATTHEW: It's all right. I'll help myself.

He goes to the tea table to fetch one. Violet takes pity.

VIOLET: So, Molesley, how does it feel to be home again? Your father must be glad you're back.
†

MOLESLEY: He is, your ladyship.

VIOLET: Might I give you this cup? Then we really must be going.

Molesley takes Violet's cup. They walk into the hall.

ISOBEL: Thank you.

CORA: You'll think about it?

Isobel nods, as they all follow Violet out.

The servants are also having tea. Anna's trying to get a mark out of a shirt while O'Brien discusses the new family.

O'BRIEN: He's only a third cousin. What does that mean? I might be ‘third cousin' to the King.

BATES: Or a trapeze artist.

ANNA: Or a mass murderer.

O'BRIEN: All right.

She hates their teasing. Anna turns to show Gwen the stain.

ANNA: What do you think that is?

GWEN: I don't know. Milk?

Anna sniffs it.

ANNA: I'll try it with some water and see what happens.

She stands and leaves, taking the shirt with her.

Isobel, Matthew and Molesley are back.

MATTHEW: Thank you. We can manage now.

Molesley, defeated, goes and they are alone.

MATTHEW (CONT'D): What was all that about? And why were they spooning over Molesley?

ISOBEL: They weren't ‘spooning'. They were trying to be nice, because you were so rude to him.

MATTHEW: What?

ISOBEL: They thought you'd made him look a fool, and they were right. Now, never mind that. I need help with your father's books.

He's upset but he's missed his moment to challenge her.

Anna is alone in the kitchens, working at the shirt with a damp cloth, when she hears a noise from one of the larders. She walks to the door. Carson is filling a bag, which he drops at the sight of her. Fruit, meat and bread roll out.

Carson acknowledges Anna.

CARSON: I thought no one was here.

He bends down and gathers up the contents into the bag.

ANNA: Can I help, Mr Carson?

CARSON: No, no, thank you, Anna.

But he is agitated as he takes the bag and hurries away.

Isobel is sitting with Drake, sponging off his swollen legs which are weeping straw-coloured fluid. Clarkson looks in.