Downton Abbey Script Book Season 1 (22 page)

THOMAS: I don't think Mr Pamuk bothered with cocoa much, or books. He had other interests.

WILLIAM: I meant you can go just like that. With no reason.

GWEN: That's why you should treat every day as if it were your last.

THOMAS: Well, we couldn't criticise Mr Pamuk where that's concerned.

Something in this disturbs Anna and Daisy.

DAISY: What do you mean?

THOMAS: Nothing. Careful with that.

He picks up his empty tray and goes, followed by William.

GWEN: You're very quiet.

ANNA: There's a corpse upstairs. What would you like me to do? Sing?

Gwen leaves the others to it, walking out into the passage, when she hears her name whispered from the staircase.

SYBIL (V.O.): Gwen?

She looks up. Sybil is standing there with a newspaper.

GWEN: Your ladyship?

Sybil produces a newspaper, open, with a box circled.

SYBIL: I saw this. It came out yesterday. Look. It's for a secretary at a new firm in Thirsk. See.

GWEN: I don't understand. How did you know?

Sybil comes down to the bottom of the staircase.

SYBIL: That you wanted to leave? Carson told my father.

GWEN: And you don't mind?

SYBIL: Why should I? I think it's terrific when people make their own lives. Specially women.

They are forging a bond. Gwen overcomes her amazement and takes the newspaper, staring at a ringed box.

GWEN: ‘A suitable post for a beginner.' What does that mean?

SYBIL: It means the wages are rock bottom but then you can apply for the next job as an experienced assistant.

Gwen understands this, as she reads.

SYBIL (CONT'D): And you wouldn't be far from home. For your first position.

GWEN: We'd have to wait and see if they'd give me an interview.

SYBIL: Write to them today, and name me as your reference. I can give it without ever specifying precisely what your work here has been.

GWEN: Is that quite honest?

SYBIL: Later you can tell them whatever you wish, but first get the job.

She goes back towards the staircase.

GWEN: M'lady—

Sybil turns.

GWEN (CONT'D): Thank you.

Evelyn is walking towards Cora. He catches up with her.

EVELYN: Lady Grantham! I've come to say goodbye. They're bringing the car round to take me to the station.

CORA: Have you seen Lord Grantham?

EVELYN: I have, and I've apologised for wreaking havoc on your house.

But she does not judge him harshly. It's not his fault.

CORA: You've got everything?

EVELYN: I think so. Your groom's been very kind in helping my chap to organise the horses. And I've taken all of Kemal's belongings.

CORA: He's … gone now, I understand.

EVELYN: Yes, he's gone.

Cora ponders this for a moment, as, behind them, the car comes to a halt on the gravel. William and Taylor carry out Napier's and Pamuk's luggage and strap it on the back.

CORA: Is his mother still alive?

EVELYN: I'm afraid so. Kemal used to talk of her often.

CORA: I should like to write to her if you'd be kind enough to send me the address. She'll have had such hopes for him.

EVELYN: Indeed.

CORA: You build up your dreams for your children. And then … fate just smashes them to pieces.

Evelyn waits. He senses there is something else going on.

CORA (CONT'D): Have you said goodbye to Mary?

EVELYN: I have.

CORA: Will we be seeing you here again?

EVELYN: Nothing would give me more pleasure, but I'm afraid I am a little busy at the moment …

But Evelyn wants to be honest. He knows what they expected.

EVELYN (CONT'D): I wonder if I might risk embarrassing you. Because I should like to make myself clear.

CORA: Please.

EVELYN: The truth is, Lady Grantham, I am not a vain man. I do not consider myself a very interesting person.

She listens without contradicting him.

EVELYN (CONT'D): But I feel it's important that my future wife should think me so. A woman who finds me boring could never love me, and I believe marriage should be based on love. At least at the start.

Cora does not find anything dishonourable in this.
*

CORA: Thank you for your faith in me, Mr Napier. Your instincts do you credit. Good luck to you.

She gives him her hand in forgiveness and he walks away across the wide lawn, taking Mary's future with him.

Robert is standing by the fire, Pharaoh at his feet, when Carson comes in.

ROBERT: Did Mr Napier get off all right?

CARSON: He did, m'lord. Taylor waited to see he was safely on the train.

Robert nods.

ROBERT: And poor Mr Pamuk has been taken care of?

CARSON: We got Grassbys from Thirsk in the end. They're very good and they didn't mind coming out on a Sunday.

ROBERT: Death has no Day of Rest. Is everyone all right downstairs?

CARSON: Well, you know. He was a handsome stranger from foreign parts one minute, and the next he was as dead as a doornail. It's bound to be a shock.

ROBERT: Of course. Upstairs or down. It's been horrid for the ladies. And for the female staff, I expect.

CARSON: It's particularly hard on the younger maids.

ROBERT: Indeed. Don't let the footmen be too coarse in front of them. Thomas likes to show off, but we must have a care for feminine sensibilities. They are finer and more fragile than our own.

The two men know this at least.

Mrs Hughes comes down the service stairs, carrying boot hooks and a nightdress. She hears a groan and at the base, she sees Bates leaning on a table, sweating with pain.

MRS HUGHES: Mr Bates, I am going to have to insist that you tell me what is the matter.

He straightens up and gives an approximation of a smile.

BATES: I thought it was for Mr Carson to give me orders.

MRS HUGHES: Mr Carson's no better than any other man when it comes to illness. Now tell me what it is and I'll see what I can do.

BATES: It's nothing. Truly. I twisted my bad leg and walked on it too soon. I'll be fine in a day or two.

His manner is deceptive, but she is not entirely deceived.

MRS HUGHES: Well, if it isn't, I'm sending for the doctor.

At this moment, Anna comes along the passage, carrying a pair of shoes. Mrs Hughes holds out the hooks and dress.

MRS HUGHES (CONT'D): You left these behind in the Blue Room, when you were dressing Lady Mary for the kill.

ANNA: I'm sorry, Mrs Hughes.

Anna notices Bates's pallor.

ANNA: Are you all right?

MRS HUGHES: He is not all right and he will not tell me why.

BATES: A man's got to have some secrets.

ANNA: But he can have too many.

She looks into his eyes. He won't give in.

Cora is with her three daughters, reading and embroidering, when Violet walks in, followed by Carson.

CARSON: The Dowager Countess—

She's already in. Carson leaves and closes the door.

VIOLET: Is it really true? I can't believe it!

CORA: It's true.

VIOLET: But last night he looked so well!

She directs this at her granddaughters, without a response.

VIOLET (CONT'D): Of course it would happen to a foreigner. Typical.

MARY: Don't be ridiculous.

This earns her a sharp look.

VIOLET: I'm not being ridiculous. No Englishman would
dream
of dying in someone else's house. Especially someone they didn't even
know
.
*

SYBIL: Oh Granny, even the English aren't in control of everything.

VIOLET: Well, I hope we're in control of something, if only ourselves.

MARY: But we're not! Don't you see that? We're not in control of anything at all!

She has shouted and now she storms out, slamming the door.

CORA: Edith, go and tell Mary to come back at once, and apologise to her grandmother.

But for once Violet is surprisingly sympathetic.

VIOLET: No. Leave her alone. She's had a shock. We all have. Let her rest.

Edith looks at Cora who nods. Edith sits again as the door opens and William comes in with the tea tray.

VIOLET (CONT'D): Ah. Just the ticket. Nanny always said sweet tea was the thing for frayed nerves. Though why it has to be sweet I couldn't tell you.

And she sits, with a grandchild on either side.

Thomas has a hot water jug which Daisy is filling. At a basin, O'Brien uses soda to get marks out of a collar. Mrs Patmore is cooking. Gwen watches.

GWEN: What did you mean, Mr Pamuk lived each day as if it were his last?

THOMAS: What I said.

GWEN: But how did you know?

THOMAS: I can't keep William waiting. Gangway.

He has picked up the hot water jug and heads for the door, but as he passes O'Brien, she speaks under her breath.

O'BRIEN: I'll be asking the same question later. So you'd better have an answer ready.

Thomas winks at her and goes. Mrs Patmore looks over.

MRS PATMORE: Daisy, assuming you have not been hypnotised by Doctor Mesmer, could you oblige me by cutting up them onions? Now?

DAISY: Yes, Mrs Patmore.

Daisy is trembling, knowing her great secret.

MRS PATMORE: Where have you hidden the flour? I can't see it anywhere.

DAISY: It's just there, Mrs Patmore.

MRS PATMORE: Well, fetch it to me then. You're all in a daze today.

Daisy does as she is told. But something in the girl's demeanour has attracted O'Brien's interest.

Isobel is writing. Matthew is with her.

MATTHEW: Do you think we should have gone up there? To see how they are?

ISOBEL: I sent a note, but I thought I'd just be in the way. Why?

MATTHEW: I thought Mary was rather struck with him last night, didn't you?

ISOBEL: It must have been frightful for all of them. But there it is. In the midst of life we are in death.

MATTHEW: On second thoughts, perhaps you were right to stay away.

O'Brien is brushing Cora's hair. Cora is dressed in her night clothes and her bed has been turned down.

CORA: What a horrible, horrible day.

O'BRIEN: You'll be glad to see the end of it.

CORA: Poor Mr Pamuk. I keep thinking of his parents. He had such a brilliant future ahead of him.

O'BRIEN: Death is all we can rely on.

She starts to plait Cora's hair for sleeping.

O'BRIEN: I suppose Mr Napier will have to manage everything.