MARY: We never will, of course. But it doesn’t matter.*
* I thought it a shame that we lost Lavinia being rude about Carlisle, because I felt it was nice for her to make a spiky and sarcastic remark. It would have been a new colour for her. But, again, saving one line wasn’t sufficient justification for retaining the scene.
15 INT. ETHEL’S COTTAGE. DAY.
Mrs Hughes is with Ethel and the baby in this dismal cottage.
ETHEL: He’s not coming here. I don’t want him to see this place. I won’t have him pity me.
MRS HUGHES: The question is, are you prepared to let them into Charlie’s life?
ETHEL: I suppose so. Yes.
MRS HUGHES: Good. I’ll ask them to Downton for Monday, at four. And this time, it’ll be all above board.†
† It’s important to realise that Ethel wants them to make her life easier. That is all. In other words, at this stage, she doesn’t understand what she’s letting herself in for. So often in life, you start a chain of action going, and then bitterly regret the consequences. But in this instance her feelings will be very complicated. In a way, there is a kind of triumph in the thought that her son might enjoy an interesting and privileged life. But in another way, of course, she must curse the day she ever began it, because she cannot bear the thought of losing him.
16 INT. SERVANTS’ HALL. DOWNTON. DAY.
Thomas, O’Brien, Bates, Anna and some others are there.
O’BRIEN: You can’t have expected to live here free forever.
THOMAS: I didn’t expect to get booted out.
O’BRIEN: You’ll have to find some work.
THOMAS: It’s not that easy. Every Tom, Dick and Harry is looking for work these days and they don’t all have a hand like a Jules Verne experiment.
Branson arrives in the doorway.
ANNA: Mr Branson, I know it wasn’t easy last night. I’m sorry I missed you.
BRANSON: I’m not. There’s been too much deceit and too many lies. That’s one thing I’ll grant his lordship. We should have spoken out long ago.
DAISY: Spoken out about what?
BRANSON: Ah, why not? Lady Sybil and I are getting married.
This is like an earthquake. Carson appears in the doorway.
CARSON: Have you no shame?
BRANSON: I’m sorry you feel like that, Mr Carson. You’re a good man. But no, I have no shame. In fact, I have great pride in the love of that young woman. And I will strive to be worthy of it.
CARSON: I will not disgrace myself by discussing the topic, and nor will anyone else. Now, if you will go, Mr Branson, we will continue with our day. Leave an address where we may forward what is owing to you.
BRANSON: No problem there, Mr Carson. I’ll be at the Grantham Arms in the village until Lady Sybil is ready to make her departure. I bid you all a good day.
He goes. The company is, in common parlance, gobsmacked.
JANE: Is it really tr—?
CARSON: Please! I have asked for silence and silence I will have!*
ANNA: Are you quite well, Mr Carson?
He certainly is looking rather green around the gills.
CARSON: If I’m not, is it any wonder?
* Branson’s greatest enemy at Downton Abbey is unquestionably Carson, who feels passionately that the former chauffeur has broken the trust between an employer and their employees. For Carson, Branson’s seduction of the daughter of his employer is the ultimate, iconic betrayal in ancient literature or modern fiction, and yet that is inescapably what Branson has done, even if ‘seduce’ isn’t quite the right word. He will remain the enemy of Carson for longer than almost anyone else in the house. I think I am right in saying that even Violet forgives him before Carson. Again, that feels truthful.
17 INT. SYBIL’S BEDROOM. DOWNTON. DAY.
Robert is with Sybil.
SYBIL: So you’ve nothing to say against Tom except that he’s a chauffeur?
ROBERT: Don’t be such a baby. I’m not asking you to agree with the system. Merely to acknowledge it.
SYBIL: But I don’t acknowledge it. You want me to give up the man I love for a system I don’t believe in. Where’s the sense in that?
18 INT. HALL/DRAWING ROOM. DOWNTON. DAY.
Lavinia and Mary are trying to set up a huge gramophone when Violet comes in. Carson straightens up.
VIOLET: What on earth is it?
LAVINIA: A gramophone. Some cousins of mine have given it to us.
VIOLET: I should stand well clear when you light the blue touch paper.*
She walks on into the drawing room, where Edith is arranging gleaming wedding presents on a table in the window.
VIOLET (CONT’D): All on your own?
Edith half shrugs as she works. Violet surveys the table.
EDITH: I’ve left space at the front for jewels. I know Lavinia’s getting something from Papa.
VIOLET: And from me. Though she’s so slight, a real necklace would flatten her… What news of Sybil?
EDITH: Papa’s with her now.
VIOLET: I’m afraid it’ll end in tears.
EDITH: Maybe. But they won’t be Sybil’s.*
VIOLET: I used to think that Mary’s beau was a mésalliance, but compared to this he’s practically a Hapsburg…
Edith sighs as she unpacks the silver frames and boxes.
VIOLET (CONT’D): Don’t worry. Your turn will come.
EDITH: Will it? Or am I just to be the maiden aunt? Isn’t this what they do? Arrange presents for their prettier relations?
VIOLET: Don’t be defeatist, dear. It’s very middle class. Now, I’d better go up and support your father.†
* This gramophone reappears in Season Four and, for me, it is a symbol of the period. When you think of the Twenties, you think of the music and the arrival of these syncopated jazz rhythms, and the gramophone meant that, for the first time, you could have the real sound in your own home, and not some sister trying to approximate it on the piano in the schoolroom. It may not sound now like modern music to young ears, but at the time it was clear that things had changed since their mothers had wept to ‘After the Ball Is Over’ or laughed with Naughty Marietta, who wasn’t that naughty, worse luck. The gramophone marks this journey. Obviously Violet detests it.
* Edith understands what is going to happen, and we might as well all get used to it.
† In a way, this is an American sentiment as well. The British posh and the Americans share a feeling that you should always make it look as if everything’s going your way. Everything’s well, everything’s fine, everything’s great. Obviously, there is a risk of falsity to this, and it may be that the following week you get a divorce and they foreclose on the house. But nevertheless, for me, there is something weak about inviting sympathy and telling people what’s wrong with your life to make them pity you. Most of us would consider the invitation to pity to be ill-bred. In fact, with American friends, it’s only when they tell you something they’re worried about that you realise you must have actually become quite close, because up to that moment nothing could be going better than their lives. When they show you a little weakness, it means everything has moved to a different level, emotionally.
19 INT. SYBIL’S BEDROOM. DOWNTON. DAY.
Robert isn’t any closer to convincing his daughter.
SYBIL: Your threats are hollow, don’t you see? I won’t be received in London, I won’t be welcome at Court. How do I make you understand? I couldn’t care less.
There is a brisk knock and Violet enters. They stand.
VIOLET: I do hope I’m interrupting something.
ROBERT: I only wish you were, but I seem to be getting nowhere. Have you seen Cora?
VIOLET: Oh, she’s lying down, and can we blame her? Now, Sybil dear, this sort of thing is all very well in novels, but in reality it can prove very uncomfortable. And while I am sure Branson has many virtues —
Robert glares at her, but she defends herself.
VIOLET (CONT’D): Well, no,
no, he’s a good driver.
SYBIL: I will not give him up.
ROBERT: Don’t be rude to your grandmother.
VIOLET: No, she’s not being rude. Just wrong.
SYBIL: This is my offer. I will stay one week. To avoid the impression I’ve run away and because I don’t want to spoil Matthew’s wedding. Then we will marry in Dublin, and whoever wishes to visit will be very welcome.
ROBERT: Out of the question.
SYBIL: Will you forbid Mary and Edith?
Robert would answer, but Violet raises her hand.
VIOLET: No, no, don’t say anything you may have to retract.
ROBERT: Know this: there will be no more money. From here on in, your life will be very different.
SYBIL: Well, bully for that.*
* I always think it’s quite funny when you see someone trying to bargain with a bargaining tool that has no currency. It’s like threatening a child. If you say you won’t take them to some treat you’ve planned and they couldn’t care less, then suddenly you have no power over them. Here, Robert has no power over Sybil, because she doesn’t care about his threats.
20 INT. CARSON’S PANTRY. DOWNTON. DAY.
Carson looks terrible. Mrs Hughes arrives with a cup of tea.
MRS HUGHES: I thought this might tide you over — Mr Carson! Whatever is the matter?
CARSON: Oh, I’m sure I’ll be all right if I can just stay still for a moment —
MRS HUGHES: You will not stay still. Not down here. Get to bed this minute! I’ll send for the doctor.
CARSON: I can’t. We’ve got the Crawleys tonight and Miss Swire, what with this business of Lady Sybil —
MRS HUGHES: I’ll deal with it.
CARSON: Get Mr Molesley to help.
MRS HUGHES: There’s no need.
CARSON: I mean it. The war is no longer an excuse for sloppy presentation.
MRS HUGHES: Oh, very well, I’ll ask him, but only on condition you go to bed!
21 INT. DRAWING ROOM. CRAWLEY HOUSE. DAY.
Isobel and Matthew are together.
MATTHEW: Well, if they have brought Spanish ’flu, it’s not your fault.*
ISOBEL: Isn’t it? Mrs Dupper’s new maid has got it, and the Lanes’ two labourers, and I placed them all. Oh, thank you, Molesley.
The door has opened and Molesley appears with the tea tray.
MOLESLEY: I’ve had a message from Mrs Hughes, ma’am. Mr Carson’s been taken ill and they’re wondering if I could help them out tonight.
ISOBEL: There’ll be no one here, so why not?
MATTHEW: Rather a challenge.
MOLESLEY: Oh, I don’t know, sir. But I’m pleased to go if they need me.
He’s very confident. Matthew smiles. Lavinia comes in.
MATTHEW: How did you get on?
LAVINIA: Quite well, I think. And we got Cousin Binny’s gramophone going. Woosh! I do feel rather worn out.
ISOBEL: Do you want to cry off dinner?
LAVINIA: No, it’s too late to chuck. I’ll be all right if I can just have a bath to recover.
* Matthew is referring to the refugees, who were being sent all round the country, often with the result that the disease spread even faster than it might have done anyway. The Spanish ’flu epidemic of 1918–19 has been almost forgotten today. After the series went out, I was so interested by how many young people thought I had exaggerated its seriousness. And when you tell them that twice as many people died of the ’flu than in the war, they are absolutely astonished. They will accept there was a bit of Spanish ’flu about – they have heard that somewhere – but not that it was a decimation. I always like it when I feel we’re telling them something they didn’t know.
22 INT. KITCHEN PASSAGE. DOWNTON. EVE.
Mrs Hughes hails Anna. She is with Molesley.
MRS HUGHES: Anna, Mr Molesley is kindly helping with dinner tonight. When you’ve finished the young ladies, can you take him through it, please?
MOLESLEY: If you’ve time, but honestly, I’m quite happy to go sight unseen.
23 INT. CORA’S BEDROOM. DOWNTON. EVE.
Robert, dressed, is with Cora and O’Brien.
O’BRIEN: Are you too hot in that, m’lady? We still have time to change.
CORA: No, I’m fine. Thank you.
But she dabs her temples, as the maid leaves.
CORA (CONT’D): So what do we do next?
ROBERT: God knows. This is what comes of spoiling her. The mad clothes, the nursing. What were we thinking of?
CORA: That’s not fair. She’s a wonderful nurse. And she’s worked very hard.
ROBERT: But in the process she’s forgotten who she is!
CORA: Has she, Robert? Or have we overlooked who she really is?
ROBERT: If you’re turning American on me, I’ll go downstairs.*
* A reminder of my beloved stepmother who, if the conversation threatened it, would always cry: ‘Now, don’t let’s get psychological!’ It is all part of that British horror of introspection, which has only recently lost its grip on the nation. Robert would certainly have shared this view, and I’m not completely convinced we have profited as much from the change as some people like to think.
24 INT. SERVERY. DOWNTON. EVE.
Anna is with Molesley.
ANNA: Mr Carson likes to serve two white wines, which you should open and decant just before they eat. A light one for the hors d’oeuvres, then a heavier one with the soup. Keep that going for the fish and then change to claret, which you should really decant now. There’s a pudding wine and, after that, whatever they want in the drawing room with their coffee.
MOLESLEY: Blimey. It’s a wonder they make it up the stairs.
ANNA: They don’t drink much of any of it. Now, let me show you the decanters. These four for the white, the jugs are for the claret; oh, and it’s a peculiarity of his, but he always…
Molesley starts to realise what he has taken on.*
* As I have said before now, it was considered second rate for an upper-middle-class household, let alone an aristocratic one, to have no male servants. This was a snobbish prejudice, but it was usually held as passionately, or more so, by the other servants as by the employers. And Carson believes very strongly that for a maid to wait at table is a stain that would not easily be eradicated. Here, the obvious solution to his illness would be for Anna to run the dinner, but that doesn’t occur to him or to anyone else.
25 INT. HALL. DOWNTON. EVE.
Mrs Hughes is with Cora, who seems hot and puzzled.
CORA: So I don’t have to receive that terrible man again?
MRS HUGHES: It won’t be necessary. They’ll meet Ethel here, but then — should you be downstairs, m’lady?
CORA: Oh, I’m perfectly all right, thank you.
26 INT. KITCHEN. DOWNTON. EVE.
Mrs Patmore is working with Daisy. Thomas is there.
THOMAS: Why Molesley? I could have done it.
MRS PATMORE: But you always make a mountain out of not being a servant.
THOMAS: I’m just trying to be helpful.
MRS PATMORE: I’m afraid ‘being helpful’ is not something we associate you with.*
Thomas pushes off.
MRS PATMORE (CONT’D): Oh, it’s wonderful what fear can do to the human spirit.
DAISY: What do you mean?
MRS PATMORE: Never mind… Daisy, did you ever answer that letter from William’s dad?
DAISY: Yes.
MRS PATMORE: What did you say?
DAISY: I said I didn’t see the point of meeting. That I thought it would make things worse for him, to be reminded. Where’s the good in that?
Which Mrs Patmore must accept.
* In putting himself forward as someone who wants to be helpful, Thomas is trying to get taken back onto the staff. This is not because he wants to be in service any more than he did at the end of the war, but because he doesn’t know what else he’s going to do. I suspect quite a lot of post-war servants were secretly beginning t
o entertain ideas of an alternative career, as many of them did start to slip away when the opportunities presented themselves.
27 INT. SERVERY. DOWNTON. EVE.
Anna and Jane carry in food. Molesley sips from a glass.
ANNA: Are you quite right, Mr Molesley?
MOLESLEY: Yes. I just want to be absolutely sure that this is the lighter wine.
JANE: What does it matter? As long as it’s white.
MOLESLEY: No. I believe in starting the way you mean to go on… I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot.
He pushes through into the dining room, carrying the carafes.
28 INT. DINING ROOM. DOWNTON. EVE.
The family, plus Violet and the Crawleys, are at dinner.
VIOLET: I’m glad you’re here, Sybil, dear. I was afraid you’d have a tray in your room.
ROBERT: Maybe you should have done.
SYBIL: Why? I’m not eloping like a thief in the night. I might have once, but Mary and Edith talked me out of it.
VIOLET: Oh? The plot thickens.
ISOBEL: After all, Sybil’s had enough time to think about it —
MATTHEW: Mother! It is not for us to have an opinion.* Mr Molesley? Are you quite well?
Molesley has slopped wine out of the glass. He is green.
MOLESLEY: I — I’m all right. Thank you, sir.
MATTHEW: I don’t believe you are.
CORA: The awful truth is, I’m not quite all right, and I’m afraid I’m going to ask you to excuse me.
She stands and so do the men.
ROBERT: I’m so sorry. Would you like us to call Doctor Clarkson?
CORA: Not now, darling. It’s too late.
ANNA: He’s coming anyway, your lordship, for Mr Carson.
EDITH: I’ll bring him up when he arrives.
ROBERT: I can sleep in my dressing room.
He is by the door as he says this. Jane has heard and she catches Robert’s eye. Almost reluctantly, he holds her look.*
* It’s a personal thing of mine, but I am always interested when, in a group discussion, a subject arises that is only really the business of the couple or the family concerned. In which case, the polite thing to do for the other participants is to keep out of it. Someone who understands how life is lived is always able to judge which conversations they have a right to take part in, and which ones they have nothing to add to. In fact, if you do not develop this instinct, you can be a very tiresome guest. Here, Matthew judges correctly that it is not for them to start talking about whether or not Sybil should marry Branson. Unfortunately, Isobel’s judgement is less reliable.
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