Downton Abbey Script Book Season 1 (5 page)

MRS HUGHES: They've all gone then?

CARSON: They have, thank the Lord.

MRS HUGHES: What about the lawyer?

CARSON: He was the first away. Didn't even stay for the luncheon.

MRS HUGHES: I wish they'd make their minds up. Gwen's put clean sheets on the Blue Room bed. Now she'll just have to strip it again.

CARSON: Can't you leave it for the next guest?

MRS HUGHES: Only if you don't tell.

Which makes them both laugh.

MRS HUGHES (CONT'D): So, has it all been settled?

CARSON: No, I don't know that anything's been
settled
. There's a fellow in Manchester with claims to the title, I gather. But it's all a long way from settled.

MRS HUGHES: You mustn't take it personally.

CARSON: I do take it personally, Mrs Hughes. I can't stand by and watch our family threatened with the loss of all they hold dear.

MRS HUGHES: They're not ‘our' family.

CARSON: They're all the family I've got!

To our surprise, and hers, he's almost shouting.

CARSON (CONT'D): I beg your pardon.

MRS HUGHES: Do you ever wish you'd gone another way?

He looks at her. What does she mean? She shrugs.

MRS HUGHES (CONT'D): Worked in a shop? Or a factory? Had a wife and children?

CARSON: Do you?

MRS HUGHES: I don't know. Maybe. Sometimes.
*

There is a knock at the door and Gwen appears.

GWEN: William's laid tea in the library but her ladyship hasn't come down.

MRS HUGHES: Oh, she'll be tired. Take a tray up to her bedroom.

CARSON: Is Thomas back?

GWEN: Not yet, Mr Carson.

She goes. Carson looks at Mrs Hughes.

CARSON: He asked to run down to the village. I didn't see why not.

MRS HUGHES: I suppose they do realise this is a job and not just the chance to put their feet up?

She sighs. And so does he.

Robert is alone by the fire staring into the flames, when Edith comes in, closing the door behind her.

EDITH: Are you all right, Papa?

ROBERT: I suppose so. If being all right is compatible with feeling terribly, terribly sad.

EDITH: Me too.

He opens his arms and hugs her.

ROBERT: We loved Patrick, didn't we?

EDITH: Oh, Papa.

She is crying again, quite genuinely. He pats her back.

ROBERT: Well, well. Life goes on.

She pulls herself together, wiping away her tears.

EDITH: What did Mr Murray have to say?

ROBERT: Only that I have some very difficult decisions ahead.

EDITH: You must do what you think right.

ROBERT: I may not have an option.

EDITH: No, I only mean … you should do what you feel is your duty. Not just what's best for Mary.

He looks at her. She realises how bald her statement was.

EDITH (CONT'D): Or Sybil. Or me. We'll manage.

ROBERT: Of course you will.

But she has given herself away a little, all the same.

Gwen is leaving. The tea tray she has brought is on the table. O'Brien helps Cora into a relaxing teagown.

O'BRIEN: It's iniquitous. They can't expect you to sit by silent, as your fortune is stolen away.
*

CORA: Can't they ?

O'BRIEN: His lordship would never let it happen.

But Cora will say nothing on this topic. She stretches out on a daybed, taking up a book. O'Brien pours some tea.

CORA: How's Bates working out?

O'BRIEN: Well … I don't like to say.

Cora looks at her, over the book.

O'BRIEN (CONT'D): Only it seems unkind to criticise a man for an affliction, m'lady.

Cora still does not comment. O'Brien presses her case.

O'BRIEN (CONT'D): Even if it means he can't do his job.

At this, Cora does focus on what her maid is saying.

Robert's writing. Pharaoh lies by the fire. The door opens.

BATES: Mr Carson said you wanted me, m'lord.

ROBERT: Yes, Bates, I thought I'd have a bath before I change tonight. I'll come up before the gong.

BATES: Very good, m'lord.

He would go, but Robert stops him.

ROBERT: So how are you settling in?

BATES: Very well, I think. Unless your lordship feels differently.

ROBERT: No complaints?

BATES: If I had any, I should take them to Mr Carson, m'lord. Not you.

ROBERT: You're probably right.

He chuckles at being put in his place. But he does need to reassure himself about Bates.

ROBERT (CONT'D): And the house hasn't worn you out? With the endless stairs and everything?

BATES: I like the house. I like it as a place to work.

Robert nods. He has been slightly emboldened by their talk.

ROBERT: What happened?

BATES: It's only the old wound. After I left the army I'd a spot of bother and, just when I'd got through that, about a year ago my knee started playing up.

With a wry laugh, he gestures with his stick.

BATES (CONT'D): A bit of shrapnel was left in or something, and it moved. But it's fine. It's not a problem.

But Robert is clearly troubled, which he tries to lighten.

ROBERT: We've seen some times, haven't we, Bates?

BATES: We have, m'lord.

ROBERT: And you'd let me know if you felt it was all too much for you?

BATES: I would. But it won't be.

Thomas is walking up the drive, in the beautiful park.

Thomas comes in through the gates.

O'BRIEN (V.O.): And where have you been?

O'Brien sits on a low window ledge. She is smoking.

THOMAS: The village. To send a telegram if you must know.

O'BRIEN: Ooh, pardon me for living.

But she offers him a fag. These two are friends.

O'BRIEN (CONT'D): Well, Murray didn't stay long.

THOMAS: Does her ladyship know how they left it?

O'BRIEN: No. They talked it all through on the way back from the church.

THOMAS: If I was still his valet, I'd get it out of him.

O'BRIEN: Bates won't say a word.

She rolls her eyes at the absurdity of this.

THOMAS: He will not. I'd bet you a tanner he's a spy in the other direction.

She shudders, and he looks at her, questioning.

THOMAS (CONT'D): I wanted that job. We were all right together, his lordship and me.

O'BRIEN: Then be sure to get your foot in the door, when Bates is gone.

This is rather a big assumption.

THOMAS: We can't get rid of him just because he talks behind our backs.

O'BRIEN: There's more than one way to skin a cat.

She gives him a wink.

Anna is dressing Mary's hair for dinner, watched by Edith and Sybil. They are all three in black evening clothes.

ANNA: Perhaps she misunderstood.

MARY: No. It was quite plain. O'Brien told her Bates can't do the job properly. Why was he taken on?

ANNA: He was Lord Grantham's batman when he was fighting the Boers.

MARY: I know that, but even so.

SYBIL: I think it's romantic.

MARY: I don't. How can a valet do his work if he's lame?

ANNA: He's not very lame. There.

She's finished. She takes up a few items to wash.

ANNA (CONT'D): Anything else before I go down?

MARY: No. That's it. Thank you.

The maid goes. Mary grimaces at her skirt.

MARY (CONT'D): Oh, I hate black.

SYBIL: It's not for long. Mama says we can go into half mourning next month. And back to colours for September.

MARY: It still seems a lot for a cousin.

EDITH: But not for a fiancé.

This produces a momentary silence.

MARY: He wasn't really a fiancé.

EDITH: No? I thought that was what you call a man you're going to marry.

MARY: I was only going to marry him if nothing better turned up.

SYBIL: Mary! What a horrid thing to say!

MARY: Edith would have taken him, wouldn't you?

EDITH: Yes. I'd have taken him. If you'd given me the chance, I'd have taken him like a shot.

The awkwardness of this prompts Sybil to calm things down.

SYBIL: Might something better turn up?

MARY: We'll have to wait and see.

EDITH: We'll have to wait and see if he comes to the boil.

MARY: He will. Don't you worry.

EDITH: He hasn't yet.

SYBIL: Who? Who hasn't?

Mary continues to address her spikier sister.

MARY: Things are different for me, now.

EDITH: How do you know? Has Papa told you things are different? Suppose he can't make them different?

MARY: He can and he will. It's not like when it was all going to Patrick.
Papa
won't give everything to a man we've never even
heard
of.

EDITH: And you're happy to catch him in that way?

MARY: I don't care how I catch him.

SYBIL: In what way? Who? What's changed? What things are different?

But Mary and Edith know what they're talking about.

Carson is walking along the passage as Thomas tries to get his attention.

THOMAS: I just think you should know it's not working, Mr Carson. It's been going on for three months now and it's not working.

CARSON: Do you mean Mr Bates is lazy?

THOMAS: Not lazy, exactly. But he just can't carry. He can hardly manage his lordship's cases. You saw how it was when they went up to London for the memorial. He can't help with the guests' luggage neither, and as for waiting at table, we can forget that.

CARSON: And what do you want me to do?

THOMAS: It's not for me to say. But is it fair on William to have all the extra work?

Carson does not comment but he takes the point.

THOMAS (CONT'D): I don't believe you'd like to think the house was falling below the way things ought to be.

CARSON: I would not.

THOMAS: That's all I'm saying.

Carson sighs. He is not a comfortable man.

Sybil's by the door. Mary still sits at the dressing table.

SYBIL: I'm going down. Coming?

MARY: In a moment. You go.