Downton Abbey Script Book Season 1 (14 page)

MARY: Oh, Papa. Cousin Matthew doesn't ride.

MATTHEW: I ride.

Her insolence is irritating, but she is a match for him.

MARY: And do you hunt?

This time, of course, she has assessed him accurately.

MATTHEW: No. I don't hunt.

VIOLET: I dare say there is not much opportunity in Manchester.

MATTHEW: Are you a hunting family?

MARY: Families like ours are always hunting families.

ROBERT: Not always. Billy Skelton won't have them on his land.

MARY: But all the Skeltons are mad.
*

MATTHEW: Do you hunt?

MARY: Occasionally. I suppose you're more interested in books than country sports.

MATTHEW: I probably am. You'll tell me that's rather unhealthy.

MARY: Not unhealthy. Just unusual. Among our kind of people.

Which is flattening. The others are uncomfortably aware that the dinner has turned into a duel. Carson leaves.

Carson comes in. Mrs Hughes is there, rearranging china. Daisy loads trays of dirty plates from the previous course.

MRS HUGHES: I'm changing round the dessert services. We always seem to use the Meissen and never the Spode.
†

CARSON: We're missing a sugar sifter. I know I put three out.

MRS HUGHES: I was talking to Anna earlier—

Carson stands as if he'd been shot.

CARSON: Why? What's she been saying?

Mrs Hughes stops her work, taken aback by his tone.

MRS HUGHES: Whatever's the matter?

CARSON: What did Anna say?

MRS HUGHES: Only that she thinks Thomas is bullying William.

Carson is immensely relieved. He nods.

CARSON: She may have a point. I'll keep an eye out. Ah. Here it is.

The sifter was behind some dishes. He takes it and leaves.

As Carson returns, Mary is still taunting Matthew.

MARY: Do you ever read Greek mythology?

MATTHEW: Why?

MARY: I've been studying the story of Andromeda. Do you know it?

The others know Mary. They sense something is coming.

MATTHEW: Why?

MARY: Her father was King Cepheus, whose country was being ravaged by storms and, in the end, he decided the only way to appease the gods was to sacrifice his eldest daughter to a hideous sea monster. So they chained her naked to a rock, and—

VIOLET: Really, Mary. We shall all need our smelling salts in a minute.

MATTHEW: But the sea monster didn't get her, did he?

MARY: No. Just when it seemed he was the only solution to her father's problems, she was rescued.

MATTHEW: By Perseus.

MARY: That's right. Perseus, son of a god. Rather more fitting, wouldn't you say?

MATTHEW: That depends. I'd have to know more about the princess and the sea monster in question. Perhaps they were well suited.

He looks at her with a challenge in his eyes. They don't like each other, these two, but there is something sexual happening between them. Which she feels as much as he.

MARY: Oh, I don't think so. Not at all.

The family continues to eat, this time in silence.

Several of them are there. Daisy flicks through William's book, while William plays the piano in the background.

DAISY: I wish I could dance like that.

THOMAS: Like what?

He snatches the book and stares at the page.

THOMAS (CONT'D): Don't you know the Grizzly Bear?
*

BATES: As if you do.

THOMAS: Certainly, I do. Miss O'Brien, shall we show them?

O'BRIEN: Not likely.

THOMAS: William! Give us a tune. Come on, Daisy.

William's annoyed to be forced to play but Anna nods and he does. Thomas seizes the amazed girl and starts to dance.

MRS PATMORE: Daisy, stop that silly nonsense before you put your joints out. See to the range and go to bed.

She is watching from the door. A breathless Daisy prepares to obey but, as she lets go of Thomas, she smiles at him.

DAISY: Thank you. That was beautiful.

Thomas rather enjoys the whispered compliment.
*

Robert and Cora are at the door as Matthew walks Violet across the gravel. Isobel is already climbing into the car.

VIOLET: I'm sorry Mary was rather sharp, this evening.

MATTHEW: I doubt that Cousin Mary and I are destined to be close friends.

She is sad about this, but she has to agree for now.

MATTHEW (CONT'D): I don't blame her. Her father's home and her mother's fortune are to be passed to me. It's very harsh.
†

VIOLET: Of course, in Spain or Portugal, Mary would be her father's heir.

He nods, but does not argue, which interests her.

VIOLET (CONT'D): What would you say if the entail were set aside in Mary's favour?

MATTHEW: I should try to accept it with as good a grace as I could muster.

VIOLET: Would you? Good evening, Taylor.

TAYLOR: Good evening, m'lady.

He stands by the open door, bringing conversation to an end. She climbs in, followed by Matthew.

Carson is putting the silver that was used at dinner into his safe. He looks at a candlestick as Mrs Hughes enters.

MRS HUGHES: I'll say goodnight, Mr Carson.

CARSON: Look at that scratch. I'll have to get it sorted out when they're up in London.

He holds out the candlestick. She stares at it.

MRS HUGHES: You can hardly see it.

CARSON: But I'll know it's there.

MRS HUGHES: Are you all right now? Only you seemed a little upset earlier.

CARSON: I'm sorry about that. I'm just—

He was caught off guard, and almost confided in her. He takes up his pipe and starts to light it.

CARSON (CONT'D): I'm a bit tired.

MRS HUGHES: And no wonder. Did the dinner go well?

CARSON: Well enough. Although they won't make a match between them, if that's what they're thinking.

MRS HUGHES: Lady Mary doesn't like him?

CARSON: Why
should
she like the man she's been passed over for? And why has she been? That's what I'd like to know.

MRS HUGHES: It's the law.

CARSON: Then it's a wicked law.

At a table in the yard, O'Brien has Cora's evening coat, wrapped in linen, as she sews the button on. Thomas fiddles with a clock. He has oil and screwdrivers and cloths. They are both smoking surreptitiously.

O'BRIEN: Why does Mr Carson let you do that?

THOMAS: Because my Dad was a clock-maker. Anyway, this is from the Morning Room. It isn't a good one.

O'BRIEN: Did you really ask Mr Carson for the job with the Crawleys?

She gives a snort of derision, which he finds unfair.

THOMAS: I'm sick of being a footman.

O'BRIEN: I'd rather be a footman than wait on someone who ought to be a footman, himself.
*

THOMAS: But he shouldn't have told Bates.

He glances at her as he continues to poke inside the clock.

THOMAS (CONT'D): How are things with Lady G.?

O'BRIEN: Same as usual.

THOMAS: Yes, my lady, no, my lady, three bags full.

O'BRIEN: I'd like to give her three bags full. Preferably on a dark night.

THOMAS: Will you hand in your notice?

O'BRIEN: And let her ruin me with a nasty reference? Oh, I think
not
.

O'Brien bites the thread fiercely as the clock chimes.

Doctor Clarkson is with Violet.

CLARKSON: I don't want to exaggerate. She's been very generous in many ways.

VIOLET: Generous? To instruct you in your own practice?

CLARKSON: She may even have a point. But it does not seem to me realistic—

VIOLET: Nor is it! Put an end to her meddling! I am your President and I say get rid of her.

CLARKSON: What does Lord Grantham think?

She thinks for a moment how to suggest Robert's agreement.

VIOLET: He's as shocked as I am that she's attempting to teach you to suck eggs. Tell her you don't need her help.

CLARKSON: Won't that be awkward? I gather she's planning to stay in the village for the foreseeable future.

VIOLET: No one can foresee the future, Doctor. Not you, not I, and
certainly not
Mrs Crawley.

Robert is with Matthew, surveying the house from a hill.

ROBERT: You do not love the place yet.

MATTHEW: Well, obviously it's—

ROBERT: No. You don't love it. You see a million bricks that may crumble, a thousand gutters and pipes that may block and leak, lead that will shrink, and stone that will crack in the frost.

MATTHEW: But you don't.

ROBERT: I see my life's work.
*

MATTHEW: Was it ever in danger?

ROBERT: Many times. My dear Papa thought the balloon would go up in the 1880s.

MATTHEW: What saved it?

Robert looks at him for a second before he answers.

ROBERT: Cora. I often wonder what the good Isaiah Levinson would have thought, when he built that first emporium in Cincinnati, if he knew that the fruits of his toil would save a seat of unearned privilege.

MATTHEW: For the benefit of a man who does not share his blood.

Robert chooses not to answer this.

MATTHEW (CONT'D): So, it's safe now.

ROBERT: It is healthy. Nothing in life is safe.

He walks towards the house with his almost-son.

Isobel is sealing an envelope when Molesley enters.

ISOBEL: I have an errand for you, and it will be quite an imposition.

MOLESLEY: Very good, ma'am.

ISOBEL: Tomorrow, I want you to travel to Manchester, to this address, and to put this letter into the hands of Doctor Gordon. He will give you a package in return.

She is almost defiant enough to frighten the butler.

Anna is cleaning some satin ball slippers with breadcrumbs. Bates comes in, carrying a hunting coat. He looks round.

BATES: Where is everyone?

ANNA: They've gone down to the village. Some travelling salesman's set up at the pub for the afternoon.

He sits and starts to clean the brass buttons, by means of a split card to protect the material beneath them.

BATES: Alone at last.

He's joking, but is there a trace of a blush on her face?

BATES (CONT'D): We shouldn't be without both footmen. Does Mr Carson know?

ANNA: Mrs Hughes does. She's gone with them. They won't be long.

He nods at the ballroom slipper she is working on.

BATES: So, you see to the girls
and
you're supposed to be head housemaid. You should put in for a raise.