Original subtitles

- Did you get very wet? - Oh, never mind'. Are they here?

- They? - Mr. Druce and his client, Mrs. Medlicott.

- Yes. - She's here?

No, no, she's not, not yet.

Well, it's after 4:00.

- They're late. - Yeah, thank heavens, so am I'.

I was expecting plenty of time to have another look at Druce's brief.

I'll be lucky if I can get the grime of the courtroom off my hands before she gets here.

Detain them outside, sir, until you're ready?

- Don't even think of it. - I beg your pardon?

You are to show them up the moment they arrive.

You are not to delay by so much as a single instant, do you understand?

- Very good, sir. - Not one more instant.

I thought we agreed that the cleaning woman should make a special effort in here today.

She did say she was here much longer than usual.

You won't find any dust anywhere.

It looks the same to me, I was wanting...

- Sir? - Oh, nothing.

- Did you expect it to look different? - I don't know what I was expecting.

I don't know what I was wanting.

Damn wig makes it a habit of my hair.

"What's left of it is a site once of a city great and gay,

the country now does not even boast a tree."

- Browning. - Are you all right, Sir Arthur?

Yeah, why? Don't I look all right?

- Oh, yes, you look fine. - What's wrong?

Am I behaving strangely?

Oh.' There they are'.

There she is.

I beg your pardon, sir?

There they are'. Go on down.'

Hurry, man, hurry'.

Move it'.

Mr. Druce's brief, where is it?

I left it on your desk, sir.

Uh, well, place it more conspicuously, will you?

And open it as if I've been studying it.

Go on, man'.

- I mean, does he know... - He'll ask you the questions.

Come.

- Good afternoon, Arthur'. - Oh, there you are, at last.

Hello, George.

We're not so very late, are we?

Few minutes?

It doesn't matter. Come in, come in.

Thank you, Malden. If I need anything, I'll ring.

How are you? Good to see you.

Had a devil of a time getting here from Regent's Park.

The traffic in the Strand at this hour is shocking.

Please, don't apologize.

He's not apologizing, he's explaining.

Mrs. Medlicott, Sir Arthur Granville-Jones.

Sir Arthur, Mrs. Giles Medlicott.

How do you do?

I said, "How do you do?"

I beg your pardon, madam.

I'm very well, thank you. And you?

- As you see. - Yes.

- May we sit down? - Yes, I remember.

- Yes? - What was I saying?

Well, you said that you remember.

- Remember what? - Curious thing,

it's gone clean out of my head.

Never mind, it will come back to you.

Oh, yes.

I'm afraid my skirt got wet.

Yes, yes, it will all come back.

- Is he hard of hearing? - Beg your pardon?

- It's raining. - Oh, I'm so sorry.

Do forgive me. Please, come by the fire.

Shall Morton make you a cup of tea?

Oh, no, thank you, I've had my tea.

- Please, sit here, madam. - Thank you.

Would you like to give me your hat, madam?

Shall I take it?

Why? Don't you like it?

Oh, yes, it's charming.

It's just that it might be wet, and it casts a shadow in this light

just across your face.

And you want to see what sort of woman you're taking on, is that it?

- Yes. - Very well. Be patient.

There are three hat pins.

May I offer you a little sherry?

You may offer it, I shan't have any.

Is there anything at all I can get you?

A quick verdict in my favor would be lovely.

That's very good, isn't it?

Well, we have to see what we can do, eh, George?

- George, please sit. - There.

Well, what do you think?

Do I look the sort of woman who seduces and betrays young boys

as the newspapers have implied?

You look...

Yes?

You know, you look...

Well, if--if that is a compliment,

it seems to me a most ambiguous one.

"Old as I am, for lady's love unfit,

the power of beauty I remember yet."

- That's better. - That's Dryden.

- Here's my hat. - Oh, now where shall I put this?

Anywhere but on your head, I should think.

Yes.

Well, I've been studying your brief, George.

- I see that you have. - Not as thoroughly as I would have liked.

You see, I've been to court every day this week.

Lord Baconthorpe's suit for divorce.

- Yes, I know. - It's a messy business.

- My case? - No, the Baconthorpe affair.

Lady Baconthorpe shot her lover three times in the most unlikely place.

Where, exactly?

- Trafalgar Square. - Ooh, how spectacular.

And I only jilted mine in Petworth Place.

Is that what you're thinking?

Oh, no.

What a letdown. I'm sorry to disappoint you.

- Are you? - Am I what?

Sorry to have disappointed me?

But how solemn you are. I thought we were joking'.

You're misled, I take these matters very seriously.

Are we talking about the same thing?

I wonder.

Have I missed a chapter?

I seem to have lost the thread.

Was there something you wanted to say to me, Mrs. Medlicott?

About what?

Never mind.

Mrs. Medlicott understands that there are questions you'll be obliged to put to her.

Yes. Yes, I'm quite prepared.

I continually have the feeling that you're about to say that you know me.

- Know you? - Yes.

But I don't know you, do I?

- Do you? - Well, how could I?

I've never been to law before.

Recently, you might just have seen me in Petworth Place, I live close by.

In fact, from my window I can see your front door.

- Can you? - I can.

How curious. No, I know very few people in Petworth Place

or any other place for that matter.

I've been told you like to live very quietly.

As a matter of fact, when I first took up the lease of my house in April,

I took the liberty of calling on you.

You said you weren't receiving, I left my card but, regrettably,

there's never been any response.

I've been in mourning for the past two years, Sir Arthur.

Since the death of my late husband Giles Medlicott,

I entertain very little, which is to say not at all.

I'm afraid I don't recall seeing your card.

Had I done, I expect I should have wondered

as to the purpose of your visit.

I know, of course, that you're at the very top of your profession.

George Druce has told me all that.

The finest barrister in the empire, in my humble opinion.

Yes, still, after all, you are,

forgive me, a stranger to me.

I'm sorry.

I had thought we had met.

When?

A long time ago.

Very long time.

Where?

Don't you remember?

I think you must have made a mistake.

Perhaps you're confusing me with someone else.

But if you won't tell me when it was or where...

Never mind.

- It will come back to you. - Oh, how beastly of you'.

Meantime, Arthur, perhaps we...

Yes, do, let's get on with the questions.

Yes, by all means. Well, now, this is a very difficult case.

- It really is very complicated. - Why do you say that?

Surely the charge is common enough.

A breach of promise, oh, yes, it's common enough when it's brought by a woman.

Time was when the courts were fairly swarming with young ladies

hauling up their young men for trifling with their affections, as the saying goes.

But it's a very different matter and rare enough to be most awkward.

When, as in this present case, the charges brought against a lady of...

Yes?

...considerable means and social position and of...

And of?

And of...

- Of a certain age? - Of a certain age,

as the saying goes, by a gentleman somewhat...

Somewhat younger?

Much, much younger.

I don't much care for "much, much."

It's superfluous, isn't it?

Surely, just "much" would have served quite adequately.

- Sorry. - Furthermore,

the idea of Alfred Pratt posing as a gentleman

is nothing more than mutton dressed as lamb.

Oh?

As the saying goes.

Looks nice and tender but, usually, it turns out to be tough and unsavory.

But he was an officer in the Mauretania, was he not?

- He was a purser. - An assistant purser.

- Ah, I see. - A very ambitious,

very tenacious assistant purser, a worm.

- Yet you loved him once. - Did I?

You did consent to marry him. He had witnesses.

Oh, he had witnesses, all right, brought along especially for the occasion.

There was his sister.

Well, she's relatively harmless.

- And his mother? - She's the bitch.

He claims your housekeeper...

- Davis? - Yes, she was also present.

Davis will never give evidence against me.

But she'll be on oath, madam.

Now do you expect the poor woman to perjure herself?

And who are you, Sir Arthur, to tell me what I can and cannot expect of my own servant?

I'm your advocate, dear lady, at least, I presume that's what you want.

What I want is to have this contemptible farce over with

as quickly and, I might add,

as economically as possible.

I trust you will remember, Sir Arthur, when we come to the matter of your fee,

that you have been engaged to defend me against extortion, not subject me to it.

- Mrs. Medlicott'. - No, it's all right, George.

And I, delivering you, am satisfied

and therein do account myself well-paid.

Ah, a rhyme for every occasion.

Don't be too generous or I shall distrust you, as human nature.

- Do you recognize those words? - Should I?

Merchant of Venice, Portia to Antonio.

You're fond of quoting poetry.

All lawyers are prone to quote poetry, the Bible.

It's the legal profession's common alternative to an original mind.

How you stare at me.

You haven't answered my question.

Did you love him?

- Love whom? - You know very well whom I mean.

At any rate, you let him believe you loved him, didn't you?

He'll have to prove that.

Consider the boy who loved you, believing that you loved him.

You are being presumptuous'.

Promised?

Promised what?

That you would always...

Always?

That you would never, never...

- What is he talking about? - Arthur?

What on earth is he talking about?

Arthur'.

Hm? What's wrong, what is it? What? Mm?

I promised I would always.

I promised I would never, never.

I cannot follow his thought at all.

- Are you all right? - Yes, yes, quite.

My mind just wandered. What?

Good Lord, I must plead guilty to a charge of woolgathering.

Preoccupation in an advocate.

Surely that is a calamity.

Unpardonable, off with his head.

I have no taste for calamity, Sir Arthur, not anymore, not now.

Neither has any of us, madam.

I used to have.

When Giles died and for a long time after it, I gorged myself on disaster.

Every morning with breakfast, I would pour over the newspapers for word of new catastrophes.

I was insatiable.

And why not? My world, the only world I knew, had been destroyed so suddenly,

so cruelly, and lay about my feet in ruins.

Why should any other world endure?

I know the pain of being left behind.

In time, of course, the rage passes and one is able to face one's loss and to accept it.

Not always.

I look upon my relationship to Alfred Pratt and his family now

as my last bitter taste of calamity.

The day I wrote to him breaking off that preposterous betrothal,

in fact, the very moment I sat down at the desk and put pen to paper,

I knew that I'd come through, that all the anger and anguish

of Giles' death was behind me.

What I wanted from...

What I wanted from then on was only to be quiet, to be very, very quiet

and to live out what was left of my life

as serenely and uneventfully as possible.

Arthur?

Mm.

Most enlightening.

But it's not the story I should advise you to tell to 12 good men and true.

Why not? It's the truth.

In English court, there are always two kinds of truth:

The truth as it is spoken and the truth as it is heard.

A gentleman with a background not unlike your own might listen to that explanation,

might nod and understand and even sympathize.

But a juror of a different class than yours,

chances are a lower one,

is liable to shake his head and think, "Why, this formidable lady has simply used"

the poor lad for her own purposes and then forsaken him

"for the flimsiest of reasons out of weariness, out of boredom,"

and award him the 40,000 pounds

that George Druce will think his counsel will ask for.

- Fifty. - Fifty?

Yes.' Fifty, dammit.

30,000 compensatory damages, 20 in punitive.

Good Lord, 50,000 pounds.

- Must you repeat the amount? - Jessica'.

Oh, my smelling salts.

- George, my bag, my bag. - Shall I open a window?

In this weather? I don't want pneumonia on top of everything else, thank you.

- Filthy stuff. - Better?

Not a penny of my money is he to have.

I told her there's no doubt that Pratt would settle out of court.

Not a farthing.

It will spare you any further notoriety.

I loathe the notoriety, I treasure my privacy, but I will not ransom it from thieves.

You should also know that should you lose your case, you will have to pay not only all the damages,

but all the costs as well.

But who has spoken of losing?

I should also warn you that his solicitors have engaged the services

of one of the most clever advocates in England to represent him in court.

Yes, I heard him this morning. Devine, isn't it?

- Yeah. - Isn't what divine?

- Bad luck. - Yeah, bad luck on us.

What is? What are you two talking on about?

John Francis Devine KC, ironically referred to in the profession

as St. John the Divine.

Because he's the very devil of an opponent.

Anglo-Irish.

He has a common touch.

Yes, and for that reason, juries tend to like him better than they do me,

just as they will probably like his client better than they will you.

- And why is that? - Because you're a great lady

with more money than most of them will hope to see their whole lives long,

and because the idea of poor, unwashed Alfred Pratt

parting you from an enormous chunk of it

has all the ingredients of a popular legend.

Instantaneous success without fault or labor.

Just like winning a fortune in the lottery.

It makes their own hopeless little hopes

seem a little more susceptible of attainment.

Let me tell you something.

I, too, have cherished hopeless hopes.

And I know something about poverty.

Oh, I come of an excellent family, it's true, very proud

and very, very poor.

When I was six, my father went out to Bangalore for the East India Company,

which everyone thought madly romantic,

and succumbed within a fortnight to dysentery,

which they thought somewhat less so.

My mother and I nearly starved.

All that kept me alive through my childhood were dreams of being grown up

and a famous actress with her suite at Claridge's

and a cochon for champagne suppers

in Lord somebody's rooms in the Adelphi.

The reality, as it turned out, was a wretched dressing room

in a provincial theater, third-class railway carriages,

fish-and-chip shops, and shabby theatrical digs.

And, then, I met Giles Medlicott.

And his reality was a country estate, a house in town, and winters in Bordighera.

- Monte Carlo. - He was considerably older than you.

Why do you mention that?

The young men who were your admirers might have accused you of bartering your youth

for an old man's gold, as they say in melodramas.

What is your point?

It's true, he was older than I and he was rich.

If you mean to imply a parallel between myself and Mr. Medlicott

and Alfred Pratt and me, you overlook the most important factor.

Alfred Pratt loves no one but Alfred Pratt.

Giles Medlicott loved me.

- And you? - I loved him too.

In time.

But not when you married him?

Why should you have to know that?

I loved him when he died, isn't that enough?

Long before he died'.

I made him happy.

And that makes you feel deserving of his fortune?

What an extraordinary thing to say.

I mean you want to keep it.

And why not? It's mine now.

- You earned it, as it were. - Earned it? What do you mean?

- Jessica... - I inherited it.

I was his wife, I am his widow.

Naturally, I feel entitled to whatever--

Oh, stop fussing, George'.

What is the purpose of these questions?

Will they help you to plead my cause?

Well, they will introduce you to the sort of technique

you may expect from St. John the Divine

and, at the same time, they will help me to know you,

and that is essential if I am to help you

and represent you properly and effectively.

Can you do so, do you think?

I can try.

Give me your hand on it.

It's settled then.

At last, what a relief.

- I must go. - How natural your hand feels in mine, how familiar.

Oh, you shocking man.

You're going to insist on that again.

And just when we were getting on so famously.

It was so very many years ago.

And we only knew each other for such a very short time.

- Are you certain of it? - Yes, Jessie.

Jessie Gerald.

Jessie Gerald?

But, uh...

You--you, you're...

You're talking ancient history.

The--the Acropolis.

The Roman Forum, Babylon.

Toronto.

Toronto?

Toronto, Canada.

Princess Theater.

The, um...

The Princess Theater?

Yes.

You were there with an English repertory company.

I remember the first time I saw you I was only a poor law student.

In fact, I'd only worked my way out there to read law

because Oxford and Cambridge were beyond my means.

But the play was The Merchant of Venice.

I saw it from the gallery, needless to say.

And Antonio and Bassanio

played the scene about Portia.

"In Belmont is a lady richly left, and she is fair.

Her sunny locks hang from her temples like a golden fleece."

Then, they were gone, then you came on

in a simple white gown with your waiting woman.

"By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great world."

You do remember.

No more than that.

By heavens, you were a vision.

Long golden hair.

- It was a wig. - Yes.

Something else.

One of your charming Toronto critics wrote,

"Miss Gerald has that boyish quality"

which, in France, is called 'gamin' or 'gamine.'

Miss Gerald's voice is as at as her figure,

and her figure is as flat as the Interior Plains

"which is the flattest place in Canada."

Oh, I'd have flattened him if I'd had the chance.

Well, at least you remember Toronto.

I remember the blow to my pride.

But Toronto, Canada,

I recall only as a blur of lakes and infinite green forests

and never more than a few days in any one town or city.

I give up. I really believe you have forgotten me after all.

I'm sorry.

Was it important to you?

I came to see you, I waited for you that night at the stage door.

You were very kind, you came out and had supper with me.

We went to a German restaurant.

We drank May wine.

And the owner's son played Schubert's "Serenade" on the violin.

Like a flower, darling, be.

He sings, too. There's no end to the man's talents.

Three days, that's all it was.

And on Sunday, you and the rest of your company caught a train for Ottawa.

I came to see you off...

That's all it was.

But how naughty of me to forget.

Later on, you must tell me more of our old friendship.

- Not important. - I'm glad you say that.

It means I didn't break your heart.

There were so many attractive men in Jessie Gerald's life.

So many broken hearts, or so they said.

What an incorrigible flirt she must have been.

I'm glad that I remember so little.

Maybe that of all the people who knew her, you're the only one who could forget her.

Ah, you are nice.

No wonder I liked you.

Uh, Ottawa? Ottawa, did you say?

- Toronto. - For pity's sake,

don't tell me when it was.

We mustn't shock George Druce.

He thinks of us as his contemporaries.

He doesn't realize that we are members of a lost civilization.

Yes, I know, the glory that was Ottawa.

- Toronto. - Toronto, sorry.

I expect I'll see you again before my day in court.

Oh, yes, yes, several times, it's essential, excuse me.

"I wish you well, and so I take my leave."

Act IV, Scene One.

You've forgotten the important part of the line, the beginning.

Oh?

"I pray you, know me when we meet again."

Good day, Sir Arthur, George.

All right, Teplow.

I had no idea you two had met before.

I say, what a coincidence, eh?

I was very worried in the beginning, but by the time she left,

I thought you'd become quite reconciled.

Reconciled?

- I could kill her. - Arthur.

She didn't remember me.

Well, do you honestly think she would?

I could tear her to pieces.

You're not serious.

Not? Look at me.

Why? What's she done to you?

She's ruined my life.

How did she ruin your life?

By forgetting three days in a remote city

that happened, what, more than twoscore years ago?

I haven't forgotten'. I remember every moment

as if it had been today, yesterday, and the day before.

You've been free to remember.

Between that time and now, she spent more than 40 years as the wife of another man.

- You never married. - I couldn't.

She spoiled me for any other woman.

You don't understand quite yet, do you, George?

Hasn't sunk in, has it?

- I loved her. - Did she know that you did?

Oh my God, did she know'. She loved me too'.

We loved each other'. We were lovers.'

We made love continuously.

- Now can you understand? - I'm beginning to.

For three days, yes, how nice, we never left each other for an instant'.

We swore we'd be together forever.

She was to go back to England with her company, and I was to join her

in a year's time as soon as I got my degree in law.

At the station that last morning,

we wept like children, both of us.

Her last words to me before the train pulled away were:

"I love you."

I will always love you.

There are only two things in the whole world I truly want:

"To be your wife and to die before you."

The fire has gone out.

I must give it a prod.

It's too late. Do you want some tea or something?

Yeah, I would like some, actually.

Have a drink, George, a good stiff one.

I'm going to.

Oh, perfect.

- Tea is all right. - No, let's go out, George.

I feel stuffy.

It's this way.

- Where to? - Everywhere.

Home, the nearest pub.

The day I got back to London,

at the address I had for her in Bloomsbury,

they told me she had married Giles Medlicott the week before

and was now living in his princely estate in Kent, 200 acres and about as many rooms.

My fortune at that time consisted of exactly three pounds and ten shillings

and a letter of introduction to a firm of solicitors

as a recommendation for the position of junior clerk.

How dare she speak to me

about her love for Giles Medlicott?

And how his death spoiled and ruined and overshadowed her life

after 40-odd years of it?

I had three days of love

and was forced to live on that for the rest of my life.

- Where the hell is that pub? - Straight ahead.

I'm going mad.

Fancy me out of all the advocates in London,

after what she did to me,

being asked to defend her

against a young man's charge of breach of promise'.

Now that's funny, George. That's worth a laugh, eh, isn't it?

Yes, only we don't laugh.

You know, George, I didn't go and live next to Petworth Place by chance.

I'd seen her a thousand times over the years from a window,

from a carriage, from a motorcar, from a box in the theater or opera.

Finally, we meet face to face for the first time,

and what is my reward

after almost 50 years of devotion?

She doesn't remember me'.

God, I need that drink.

- Two whiskeys, please. - A large one.

Doubles.

I expect you'll want to break off.

- Break off what? - Off the case.

- You're going to accept the brief? - Well, I already have, haven't I?

- Arthur... - What?

Well, you have to put your personal feelings completely to one side, you know that.

Surely, it goes without saying.

- Can you, do you think? - Well, I must, mustn't I?

Yes.

Good Lord, yes.

It'd be fatal if the barrister were to get tangled up

with the private man, the romantic.

I say, I never realized before, I don't think anyone has.

You really are a romantic at heart, aren't you?

Disappointed romantic.

Definition, please.

A man who dines alone in a restaurant where there is music.

Oh.

Thank you.

Are you dining at home?

Yes, Ann is expecting me.

Look here, um, will you come too?

Are you free?

My dear boy, I'm freedom's prisoner.

- Ah, that's settled then. - Good of you.

Success.

Success in what?

The trial, of course.

Ah.

The trial.

Uh, I'll be at your flat in an hour.

Don't be late, we're having mutton.

- Oh, mutton. - Dressed as a lamb, of course.

Sir, sir'.

Sir, it's my mistress.

- Will you come, please? - Oh, certainly.

There.

- Ah, Sir Arthur. - Mrs. Medlicott.

Nice of you to come. Thank you, thank you.

Are you all right? She said, "It's my mistress, will you come,"

- and, of course, I was afraid. - No, no, I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine.

I just had to speak to you, that's all.

There's something that's been on my mind ever since I left your chambers,

something that troubles me terribly.

An impression I fear I may have left you with and one I simply must correct

- or I shouldn't be able to sleep tonight. - Oh, I see.

Over and over I've been saying to myself, "What can he think of me?"

How can he possibly respect me, let alone defend me, if I don't set this matter straight?

"I simply must see him as soon as possible and talk to him, explain."

Oh, thank heavens.'

Uh, I beg your pardon?

You see, I think I understand what it is you want to say to me.

- You do? - Yes, it's something personal.

It's something to do with us.

Well, uh, no.

Yes, I mean.

Nat--naturally, it has something to do with us,

but I shouldn't call it "personal" exactly.

What is it you thought I had to say?

No, no, no, go on.

No, I'm sorry I interrupted.

You tell me.

Well, now--now, I've lost my place.

Lost your place?

I mean, uh, where was I?

You were saying to yourself that you must see me--

Ah, yes'. Yes. Yes, yes.

- Now I remember. - Yes, good, I'm listening.

Explain about Alfred Pratt.

- About... - About Alfred Pratt.

You sent for me this evening to come and see you to talk about Alfred Pratt?

Yes, of course.

Oh.

I see.

Do you?

Do you see?

Oh, I hope you don't

because I couldn't bear to leave you with the wrong impression about him and me.

- No, no, naturally not. - As my advocate,

it's important for you to believe in my--in my inno--in me.

Otherwise, how can you be expected to convince a jury?

This couldn't have waited until the next interview?

Not possible, I want to tell you now, this minute, tell you everything.

- Everything? - Everything.

- No'. - No?

- You can't'. - Can't?

- No, I won't have it'. - What?

I mean to say it's against the law.

- Against the law? - It is against the traditions of the profession.

No meeting between a barrister and client shall take place

except in the presence of said client's solicitor'.

- Why are you shouting? - I beg your pardon.

I'm only trying to point out that you and I are not permitted to discuss this case

as client and counsel without George Druce standing about.

Very well then, fine, perfect.

We won't discuss it as client and counsel.

We'll discuss it as old friends.

- Old friends? - In fact, in fact,

we needn't discuss it at all, that way no one will ever be able to suggest

that we even bent the law a little, let alone broke it.

No, I shall simply tell you what I have to tell you

and then you needn't say anything at all if you don't want to.

Would you care to sit?

I'll take it standing up, if you don't mind.

What a curious way to put it.

Very well, suit yourself.

In...

In your chambers today, you said I loved him.

Loved Alfred Pratt.

You must know that you are wrong.

You must understand that I never loved him.

Moreover, you must believe that I never,

that we never...

Oh, this is so humiliating'.

To talk about this is agony.

- If you'd rather not... - No, no, it's all right.

How can I make this clear?

I know what you're thinking.

Forty years with a fine, upstanding, distinguished man, and then this--this little...

Oh, you must think me horribly depraved.

You must think me an absolute tart.

Tart? Never.

- How could you... - Don't be kind, don't be kind.

Everyone in London thinks me infamous.

And I'm not trying to excuse what I did.

As far as it went, no, not as far as it went,

which I hope you understand was not.

Oh, I'm thoroughly ashamed, ashamed to have let the little weasel into my house,

let alone considered him as a--as a...

Well, as anything at all.

- Why did you? - Exactly? Why?

Don't you suppose I've asked myself that question a thousand times?

Why, why? Oh, Lord.

Can you understand?

Can...

Can I possibly make you understand?

I--I was lonely, I was alone for the first time in 40 years.

A woman alone, I felt shattered.

I had nothing to live for.

Oh, this house, the country place, our villa in Monte Carlo, nothing really.

And then this boy appeared, such a lovely looking boy,

so sweet, so attractive, so concerned,

or so I thought.

It's an old story, an old, old story, Sir Arthur,

and a rather pathetic one, I suppose.

I...

I lost my head.

For one mad, impetuous moment, I lost my head'.

For one mad, impetuous moment.

I see.

Then you--you were

genuinely attracted by him?

How you look at me, how your eyes accuse me.

You haven't understood at all, have you?

You think that I--you think that we...

I assure you, I think nothing at all, it's not my place to think.

I swear to you, I swear to you, all we ever did was sit or walk or take rides together.

We scarcely ever talked'.

He had no conversation, you see.

Oh, sometimes, he'd read to me rather hauntingly

or play to me on the piano rather clumsily.

Sometimes our hands might touch very lightly.

Or--or I might permit him to kiss me on the cheek or on the forehead,

but never once, not once did he--did I--did we...

I quite understand what it is you're trying to say to me.

- Do you? - Quite.

Oh.

I'm glad.

After all...

...we are both somewhat of an age.

Yes, of an age.

So, why shouldn't I understand?

What has--what has age to do with it?

Our time of life, a great deal, I should say.

And I should say speak for yourself, if you don't mind'.

- I meant no offense. - I see now that you have

misunderstood me completely'.

After all, I didn't say "couldn't," did I?

No, I said "didn't."

A difference that I consider worth emphasizing even if you do not'.

- Sorry? - Forgive me for saying so,

but none of this seems to have had the effect on you that I'd hoped for.

I do hope that our next interview

will find you in a more responsive frame of mind.

I do promise you that I shall at all times be responsive.

Yes, please, because if the subject of my innocence

proves as indifferent to the jury as it appears to have done to you,

what chance will we have when we go into court to try my case?

Morning, Granny.

I said, "Good morning, Granny."

I've told you repeatedly, Devine, you're not to say that to me.

Not say good morning? How very rude.

You know perfectly well what I mean.

- It's not my name. - I can't call you Granville-Jones.

"Good morning, Granville-Jones."

It sounds so formal. You'd think I didn't like you anymore.

- Don't be such an ass. - My, you are in a temper. Now what is the matter?

Nothing. Your wig is on crooked.

Hm, temper, truculent, and now personal criticism into the bargain.

Aye, we are in a pit.

Surely it can't be the case.

I mean, it's fairly routine, isn't it?

Or is it?

Granny?

You may relish your reputation as court jester, Devine,

but to me, you're nothing but a ruddy great boor

and I wish what I always wish whenever I see you.

- And what is that? - I wish you'd go away.

That's the first time I've ever been able to prick that thick skin of yours.

I shall be following your performance with more than usual interest today.

Sir, this is the completed one.

Oh, it's the completed one? Thank you.

Uh, thank you.

I'm watching you.

- Good morning, Jessica. - Good morning.

- Glad to see you on time. - Thank you.

Now what does Davis do?

In the fourth row, Miss Davis.

Yes, just sit.

You and I sit here in front.

Now what is it?

I see our friend, Granville-Jones.

- Yes, with Mr. Devine. - Hm, chatting to the enemy.

Very surprising man you've nominated for my advocate, George.

I could feel his eyes on me just now, right across the room,

as if he were willing me to notice him.

He has no children, has he?

- He has no wife. - That's not an answer.

Why the question?

Something patriarchal about him.

Have you never felt that he wants to thrash you and caress you all at once,

like some cruel, fond parent?

Good heavens, no.

He has a nice, easy stride, hasn't he?

I must say, he's very well put together...

- Jessica... - ...for a man of his age.

Here he comes. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning, George.

- Arthur. - Ready for the inquisition?

Going to court is like going to the dentist.

One is resigned but never ready.

Haven't had a look at the plaintiff yet.

He hasn't arrived yet.

Look at that lawyer.

Scandal buggers, all of them.

You see these? Gentlemen of the press.

Frightened?

Apprehensive.

Oh, dear.

You look especially grand this morning.

- Yes, doesn't she? - Yes.

That's not praise, George, it's criticism.

I did suggest that in a case like this, a simple bonnet and shawl might be more suitable

than a Paris gown and a sensational...

It's a hat. Are you angry with me?

I should be, but it's hard when the effect is so undeniably pretty.

There now, you see how little effort it takes to be charming.

When you're like this, I can almost visualize the young gallant you must have been.

She brought it up, George, not I.

- Good morning. - Good morning.

Ahem.

- Enter the beautiful prince... - Young Pratt.

...who is, in reality, a toad.

It's the fairy tale in reverse.

I can understand why you might have loved him.

I never did, I told you before.

I hadn't seen him before.

Silence.'

Be upstanding for his Lordship.

God save the King'.

This is jury case number 22 of 1911,

Alfred Pratt, plaintiff, versus Mrs. Giles Medlicott, defendant.

Nothing is so much on my mind as I stand before you today, gentlemen,

as the extreme delicacy of the position in which my client

and his counsel find themselves placed.

I have only just spoken of the Englishman's sense of honor and fair play,

yet, here come we to accuse a lady.

A lady of high social position,

a lady of impeccable reputation,

a lady who, although no longer in the first flush of youth perhaps,

is still justly celebrated for her beauty and charm,

her youthful spirit, her elegance, her wit, her brilliance in conversation,

her fine, clear, penetrating intelligence.

In short, all questions of chronological age to one side,

a lady, gentlemen, a lady very much to be admired,

to be sought after.

To be loved, if you will.

And now, the defense will no doubt harp on that old refrain,

"The folly of a May-December match,"

but, oh, gentlemen,

if this be December,

were it not folly to wait for spring?

I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give

shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Your name is Hermione Davis.

Yes, sir.

- Speak up. - Uh, yes, sir.

And you are Mrs. Medlicott's housekeeper, are you not?

For more than 30 years.

Oh, you were with her then when the late Mr. Medlicott was alive?

I was. God rest him.

There was a man.

And you were with her, of course, when Alfred Pratt came into her life.

In fact, you were, I believe,

in the room at the very time that he proposed marriage to her.

Is that so?

I was in the house.

Unhappily, that does not satisfy my question.

The witness must answer either yes or no.

But I'm not sure, I was passing to and fro from pantry to sitting room.

It was tea time, you see.

No need to excite yourself, Ms. Davis.

Simply tell us whether or not you heard Alfred Pratt ask Mrs. Medlicott to be his wife.

I might have done.

Might have done?

I'm fairly nervous being in court and all.

It's--it's the first time.

You're doing splendidly.

Perhaps you'd prefer to tell us, in your own way,

just when it was you learned that, uh, your mistress was betrothed to the plaintiff.

I'm sorry, I've no mind for dates and such like.

Everyone says I've a head like a sieve.

I see.

You simply don't remember, is that it?

I'm sorry.

Well, not to worry.

I'm sure we all understand perfectly.

You are devoted to the lady.

You would never do or say anything to distress or anger her, would you?

- Certainly not. - Certainly not.

After all, you have your position to think of.

Thank you very much, Ms. Davis.

No further questions.

I told you, I told you he wouldn't get anything out of Davis.

He's gotten precisely what he wanted, Mrs. Medlicott.

Ms. Davis,

can you by any chance tell me

exactly the date upon which you entered Mrs. Medlicott's service?

Yes, sir, it was the 3rd of January, 1880.

Thirty years, more than thirty,

and yet you say you have no mind for dates and such like.

Well, I...

Ms. Davis, I suggest not only have you an excellent mind for dates and such like,

but that you also have a remarkable memory for detail of every sort.

Yes.

No, I...

No, and yet the incident to which Mr. Devine suggests you were a witness

occurred as recently as the 12th day of September last.

Ms. Davis, think, think hard.

You're an intelligent woman.

You know that the least suggestion of perjury

can be as dangerous as a formal charge.

Perjury?

No, when I say "witness," you must understand

I don't mean in the legal sense as at a wedding.

I only mean that you were present at the time.

There's no more than that.

Well, if you put it like that, sir, but yes, I was in the room.

It was when I came in to see if the maid could serve tea.

And you heard the young man propose.

- Yes. - And you heard Mrs. Medlicott accept.

I suppose I must have done.

Why didn't you tell that to counsel for the plaintiff?

To the who?

Mr. Devine.

I don't know, sir.

Was it because you were afraid you might be thought a prying sort of person,

that the jury might think of you as little better than an eavesdropper?

Milord, with respect, counsel is leading the witness.

Question withdrawn.

I'm sure the gentlemen of the jury will understand and sympathize

with Ms. Davis's confused state of mind during my learned friend's examination.

Thank you, Ms. Davis.

You may leave now.

Mrs. Fanny Pratt to the witness box, please.

I think this would be an opportune moment to adjourn for lunch

until we sit again at 10 minutes past 2 o'clock.

Have you any idea what you've done?

You've done what the other side couldn't do.

You've hectored that good, loyal woman into giving evidence against me.

- Now, look... - No, thank you, I'm not helpless.

- Where are you taking us, by the way? - You'll see.

- Did you hear what I said just now? - Yes, I had my reasons.

"Which reason knoweth not." Pascal.

Oh, thank you.

I say, what a charming place.

I've never been here before. Is it French?

- German. - Ah.

Back in a tick.

No, no, I think here is... fine.

No, don't bother.

Keep going, I want to hear about my housekeeper.

Oh, it's very simple really.

The impression given was that Ms. Davis was withholding information

because of your influence over her.

- Nonsense'. - It's not nonsense.

- Did you influence her? - Certainly not'.

What do you take me for?

What exactly did you say to her before you came to the court?

I--I said what anyone in my position would say.

I said if they ask you-- try to make you give evidence against me,

plead a faulty memory.

Oh.

Yes, I thought as much, and so did the jury.

Don't you see that by doing that, you forced me to hector

that poor, good, loyal woman?

- I did? - Yes, you did.

Don't you realize that I had to discredit her earlier evidence, then?

- I? - Yes, you, you.

All right.

Don't apologize.

I never apologize,

but none of us are so virtuous that we don't make mistakes,

but apologizing is such a waste of time.

Even when our mistakes offend and hurt other people?

When did apology ever mend a harm?

Hear what they're playing?

Yes.

Don't you recognize it?

Yes.

It's the song you sang to me that day,

that first day outside your chambers.

Don't you remember anything else about it?

You said we heard it together all those years ago in, um, Ottawa.

- Toronto. - Toronto.

Yes, we did.

Thee is love, thee is wine.

But more, much more.

Thee is sun when the days are cold.

Someone's eating fish.

Do you know what I wish?

I'm not sure I want to know, but we'd better order.

- Oh, it's all ordered. - Oh.

- What on earth is this? - Sauerbraten.

- Sauerbraten? - With sauerkraut.

You can't be serious.

Just everything as it was in Toronto.

What's more, they've even done us a schaum torte

with strawberries and cream for finishing with.

All this for lunch, and I should have indigestion for a week.

Lovely, pour some for Madame.

No, no, no, it will make me drunk.

It is May wine, May wine.

Remember, you can't refuse.

Well, I must.

I--I--I should fall asleep halfway through the afternoon.

- But the dreams. - No, my friend, thank you, but no.

They've taken such pains.

I'm sure. Obviously, so have you.

But, uh, whatever you're thinking of, I'm thinking of the courthouse

and the trial and--

Ah, George.

This is for you.

I really--I really daren't.

I shall have egg and milk, please.

- Egg and milk? - Egg and milk.

Egg and milk'. Egg and milk, please.

- And a little toast. - And a little toast.

Would it change anything if...

if I should say I'm sorry?

Mind you, she didn't say anything right off,

but you could see that she was deeply moved, deeply moved.

She says, "Alfred, I am deeply moved."

He says, "Mrs. M., you have only to say the word"

that will make me the happiest man in England."

She says, "Well, if you really want me."

He says, "Oh, I do. Indeed, I do."

She says, "Then I expect I shall have to say yes."

And we all have a nice cry and a glass of that sticky green stuff with our tea.

Uh, sticky green stuff?

Chartreuse, I think they call it. You know, French.

- Chartreuse. - That's the stuff, yes.

It's a bit sugary for my taste, but still, it is served in all the best houses.

Yes, now, Mrs. Pratt, you were never, at any time, disturbed

by the, uh, disparity of age between your son and the defendant?

The what?

Beg your pardon, the difference in age

between your son and the defendant.

Oh, bless you, sir, not at all.

I mean, in many ways, she's a good deal younger than my Alfie.

I mean, he's a very serious person.

You know, old for his years the way she's quite young for hers.

No, truly, I felt it was a very suitable match.

Very suitable indeed.

Come, Mrs. Pratt.

I appeal to you as a mother,

as a level-headed mother.

Can you, in all conscience,

look at these two people as they are here today

and say that their betrothal didn't strike you as the least bit improper?

Well, they're apart now, aren't they?

It's a bit of a muddle, all this.

And they're showing the strain, especially Alfred.

But if you could've seen them together as I did, all... lovey-dovey.

All what?

Lovey-dovey, Milord.

They were ever so nice together.

Playful as two kittens, they were.

Always whispering in corners and...

fondling and stroking one another.

By, uh, fondling and stroking,

I take it you mean that, uh, sometimes Mrs. Medlicott's hand

might brush up against that of your son while they were seated at the piano

or in some...

At the piano?

Lord, love you.

They never needed no piano nor any other instrument to start them...

fribbling and frolicking about.

Fribbling and frolicking...

What was that?

Fribbling and frolicking, Milord.

It's true.

It's true, it seemed like she couldn't get enough of me.

My mum, my mama used to say,

"If I was a custard, Mrs. M. would've ate me with a spoon."

In other words, Mr. Pratt, the lady doted on your company.

Well, that's one way of putting it, if you take my meaning.

Of course, you'll realize all this goes against the grain, don't you?

I mean, all this sort of thing.

It isn't easy for a man of any character to talk about in public.

Don't seem very chivalrous, does it?

But then, being under oath and all, one has to speak the truth, ain't he?

Hasn't he--hasn't...

What was the question?

Beg your pardon, Milord.

Mr. Pratt, I ask you again, please try to be less discursive.

Yes or no this time, right?

Now, the lady doted on your company, did she not?

- Yes, sir, she did and all. - Good, well done. Now...

After you had met her whilst on shore leave

and you attempted to return to your ship, she detained you, did she not?

- She did, she wouldn't let me out of her sight'. - Mr. Pratt'.

"Don't leave me, Squidgy," she'd say.

"Oh, Squidgy, never leave me'.

Without you, my life would hardly be worth living."

Her exact words, I swear.

Why did, uh, she call you...

Squidgy?

She used to say I was all squidgy and nice to touch.

Squidgy?

It was one of her pet names for me.

And so, at Mrs. Medlicott's urging,

you gave up your position aboard the SS Mauretania?

I gave up everything, I did. My career, my expectations, the lot.

And I'd have given up more if I'd had more to give once I realized I'd found the girl of my dreams.

The "girl"? The "girl," Mr. Pratt?

Yes, sir, truly.

For on my honor as an Englishman and a former ship's officer,

she is a girl in every important sense of the word.

Is she?

Passionate nature like you wouldn't expect to find

outside of Spain or the Canary Islands.

What are the Canary Islands to do with this case?

Well, the point I'm trying to make...

is that it's a load of old rubbish

for anyone to try and say me and Mrs. M. was unsuited to each other.

- Young man... - I mean, anyone that wasn't there

never actually saw us together...

Not so fast for His Lordship's pen.

Lies'.

Slander. Object. Why don't you?

God help me, I still love her,

even though she's broken her solemn promise to me,

just as I loved her before I'd ever even met her.

Loved her before you met her?

I know, I know, it sounds daft,

but, well, Mum had written to me such a lot about her

and I reckon I was in love with Mrs. M. before I ever laid hands--

eyes on her.

Every particle of her is precious to me,

from her dainty little foot to the least hair on her head.

Mr. Pratt, you are wandering again.

Don't go too far.

I mean, but does that sound like something you'd say to a woman that's too old for you?

No, it don't, by George, too old indeed.

What rot'.

I mean, it's as ridiculous on the face of it as the other gentlemen implying

me and my mum's no better than to pair a common fortune unto us,

which God in heaven knows we ain't.

Aren't.

- Aren't. - Are.

Mr. Pratt, that is quite enough.

I know, I know, I've said more than a gentleman ought,

but it's only for the one purpose and one purpose only,

and that's to put the lid on all this talk of age'.

What's for--a few years one way or the other to a man in love?

If only you could see her with my eyes.

Yes, Mr. Pratt, that would be a help to us, no doubt.

Why, in my eyes, she's no age at all.

You've only to look at her.

I assure you I do'.

We all do'.

Constantly.

With pleasure.

They've even had photographs taken of them.

Mr. Devine, for the benefit of the jury, can we clarify the situation

regarding the photographs your client has referred to?

Yes, Milord.

How did your mother meet Mrs. Medlicott?

- They met at a flower show. - A flower show?

Yes, Milord, the Royal Horticultural Society's annual show.

They became quite friendly, my mum--my mother and Mrs. Medlicott.

- Friendly? - Yes, Milord...

The quality of mercy is not strained.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.

It is twice blessed.

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

'Tis mightiest in the mightiest.

Yes.

Oh, yes.

You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand such as I am.

Oh, yes.

Though for myself alone,

I would not be ambitious in my wish to wish myself much better,

yet for you I would be trebled twenty times myself,

a thousand times more fair, ten thousand times more rich...

Lady, you have bereft me of all words.

Only my blood speaks to you in my veins.

And there is such confusion in my powers...

- sir Arthur! - ...as after some oration...

- Sir Arthur! - ...from a beloved...

- What's wrong with him? - I think he's...

- Sir Arthur? - Sir Arthur?

- Milord? - We are waiting.

- Beg your pardon, Milord. - Did we understand you

to mutter something about your veins?

- My veins, Milord? - I also thought we heard you say something

about confusion in your powers.

The witness is yours now.

Thank you, Milord.

- No questions. - No questions?

No questions?

No questions? Indeed, the man is mad'.

- Silence.' - In that event,

in view of the hour, we will adjourn until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning.

Silence.' Be upstanding for His Lordship'.

It was all that wine with lunch, no doubt, and all that goulash.

Goulash. Did you hear that, "all that goulash"?

Your one chance to cross-examine Alfred Pratt, and you bungled it.

- Bother Alfred Pratt'. - What did you say?

- Bother him'. - Hear, hear.

No tantrums on the stairs, please. Do you mind?

We're all very worried about you, you and your veins.

Push off, Devine.'

Mad, bad, dangerous to know.

In my view, the little bounder was his own bloody cross-examination.

A shade too slick, too cunning for words,

our little Alfie, but never fear.

I shall deal with him in my own time and in my own way.

Meanwhile, I think my silence has provoked their curiosity

and even increased their suspicion of the boy.

How ingenious'.

And to think that it all came to you in your sleep,

as the story of Jekyll and Hyde is said to have come to Mr. Stevenson.

Once more, I was not asleep'.

I admit my mind wandered.

You could hardly deny it.

And a bloody good thing too'.

You seem to fancy that word.

I must tell you that I do not.

Bloody good thing for you, Mrs. M., and for your case,

and if I may mention it, your fortune'.

Don't you snarl at me.' I'm not on trial here.

- You are, you know. - Oh, shut up'.

Oh, come on'.

A bloody good thing you said for me and my defense.

- Why? - Doesn't matter.

Oh, don't be a child'.

Why, for God's sake?

Because, in what you are pleased to call my sleep,

I saw, saw quite clearly the way this case is going,

going for the plaintiff, and happily saw it in time to plug the dike.

Plug the dike?

Well, what exactly did you see, Arthur?

After listening for hours to Dr. Devine applying his magical rejuvenating elixir,

I suddenly looked at you

and I saw what I knew the jury was seeing too.

Quite miraculously, under the tidal wave of blarney and bunkum,

you would actually become the vision that he'd been trying to conjure up all the afternoon,

and as soon as I came to, I said to myself that,

"Dear God, we have deliberately played into their hands."

- We? - Yes, we.

We had helped them to light the fuse

under the only effective defense that you have.

- Which is? - That your age has placed you

so far beyond the reach of Alfred Pratt,

it was unseemly, reaching up for you.

Thank you.

But...

Oh, forgive me if that sounds blunt, but there it is.

After all, all you wanted was to live out the rest of your life, I think you said,

very, very quietly.

Hmm?

Yes, well, here are my instructions,

which I expect you to listen to, to pay heed to, and follow to the last letter.

Understand?

That has the disagreeable ring of an edict.

Be quiet, please.

You will come to the courtroom tomorrow dressed as befits your age and your situation.

No more frills, no more feathers, no more folderol,

though it's so stylish and...

It's positively affronting'.

I'll wear a hale shirt and a humble expression.

You will wear the least assertive gown and bonnet that you own--

Nobody under 70 wears a bonnet'.

Exactly'.

Pity, gentlemen...

Pity the poor widow woman...

Jessica, please'.

What does he say?

Mexican peas?

No, thank you, it sounds most unappetizing.

I could be angry with you in a minute.

I shouldn't like that.

I'll say goodnight.

Goodnight?

Where the devil does that leave us?

Waiting at the church.

That's not worthy of you, George.

Sorry, I meant to say "in the lurch."

- Oh. - Not much better?

Well, I actually meant to say, I expect it leaves us to find our own way out.

Unbelievable.

Silence.' Be upstanding for His Lordship'.

Where is she, man, where is she?

- Dear God. - God save the King.

Pratt vs. Medlicott, second day.

Gentlemen, you've heard the case of the plaintiff.

You will now here Sir Arthur Granville-Jones present his case for the defendant.

Please the Lordship, gentlemen of the jury,

the defense reserves the bulk of its argument for its closing speech.

There will be no opening speech and there will be only one witness, Jessica Medlicott.

Go on now.

Four shirts, two shillings, eight colors, one...

Beg the court a pardon.

Was that your laundry?

Someone's been mucking about with my cards.

I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give

shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

What is your name?

Jessica Medlicott.

Where do you live?

Number 5, Petworth Place, Regent's Park.

And what is your age?

Did you not hear the question?

- I asked you your age. - I heard the question.

I could not believe that you had asked it.

Don't you want the jury to know how old you are?

I cannot think that it is any of their business.

I don't know their ages. Why should they know mine?

Silence.'

So you won't say in what year you were born then?

I was born in the year of my birth.

I assure you, it's quite customary to tell one's age in the witness box.

And I assure you that it is quite incompatible with civilized behavior.

No gentleman would dream of insisting upon it.

I am sure my learned opponent would agree with you wholeheartedly.

How he would like us all to believe that all such things as birth certificates

should be ignored or even suppressed.

Neither in my case, merely lost.

How lost, in a fire?

In a fire, exactly.

And what fire was that, Mrs. Medlicott?

Any fire you like.

The Great Fire of London?

The Great Fire of London was in--

1666.

Silence.'

Silence.'

I was right.

You are no gentleman.

Well said, Mrs. Medlicott.

Clearly, my learned friend is in the wrong box

when he implies that your manner and your mode of dress

might tend to prejudice your defense.

I dare say there are plenty who find both most becoming.

Most becoming.

I am just as I appear to be.

Exactly. We are indeed happy to see that, in spite of any advice to the contrary,

you have the courage to be yourself.

And I am happy to see that there is someone here

who knows how to behave toward a lady.

Milord, what is the purpose of this orgy of reciprocal backscratching?

Oh, sit down.

Madam'.

You're making yourself ridiculous.

I don't make myself ridiculous.

I have you for that.

Mrs. Medlicott'.

Mrs. Medlicott has described, under oath,

how the plaintiff's mother labored to ingratiate her young son

with the older woman

and how the boy himself flattered and wooed the lady,

appealing to her feminine vanity,

much as his counsel has attempted to do during the conduct of this trial.

Indeed, were we to accept my learned friend's attempts

at retouching and restoring nature's canvas,

we would see before us here a picture of perfect suitability,

of two lovers ideally matched, unquestionably equal.

Gentlemen, look at this woman.

Look at her'.

Oh, pray, do not be misled by the costume,

which would, of course, be most appropriate were this the eternally youthful nymph

of Mr. Devine's wayward and, not to say, wanton imaginings,

but which, in the circumstances, is, at the very least of it, silly and unsuitable

and, at the very worst of it, pitiful and ridiculous.

No, gentlemen, I invite you to look beneath the costume,

in manner of speaking, just as I invite you to look

beneath the young man's mask of pious and sincere devotion.

Gentlemen, can you, in all conscience, see these two at the altar?

On their honeymoon?

In a cottage?

Outdoors, running, gaming, sporting,

in the hundred ways that are the province of bride and groom?

Tell me, are there children in that fantasy?

A daughter to perpetuate her mother's beauty?

A son to carry on the name of Pratt?

No, gentlemen.

It is, by heaven, it is unlikely as it is unseemly and unnatural

to imagine this shackled for life-- for what is left of her life, to this.

Here is an individual so low

that he will bargain away his youth, the brave, young manhood,

for a mess of pottage and 30 pieces of silver

and the feeble, impotent embrace

of this crumbled, pathetic ruin of a once great lady'.

- What's that? - Mrs. Fanny Pratt...

Crumbled, pathetic ruin?

Silence.'

Silence be damned'.

I will not have that in the record'.

Madam, any further interference on your part and I'll have you removed from court.

- This is an outrage, an outrage'. - It is nothing to your behavior.'

Sit down.

Mrs. Fanny Pratt, that indefatigable matchmaker,

sent a photograph of my client to her son

who then developed a mad, aming passion for his lady love

without ever laying hands-- eyes on her.

We need not seek far in the literature of Venus and Cupid to find his prototype,

for, like the crackpot in the old farce,

poor, passionate Alfred fell in love with a picture of his grandmother,

perhaps in this case a picture of his great-grandmother,

the poor, palpitating bride-to-be who, trembling on the threshold of senility,

lost her head for one mad, impetuous moment'.

Lout'.

- Not another word'. - Silence'.

- Silence him'. - Be quiet'.

Once and for all, will you sit down and be silent?

No, I will not'.

Usher her away, Tipstaff.

I demand a censor for this vermin, this viper, this venturous blaggard'.

Touch me at your peril.'

Now, Madame, will you kindly accompany me?

Be careful, she's very frail.

I'll give you frail.'

You will give nothing to anyone.

Accompany this gentleman. Do you hear?

Gentleman?'.

Scum'.

I'm going.

Gladly.

There isn't a gentleman in this room.

Whoever said that chivalry is dead in England

should be here today to see it's buried

and its corpse is great'.

Silence.'

Mine'.

Any further demonstration of this kind, and I shall clear the court.

Alas, a most unfortunate display, gentlemen,

and yet, not without a certain value if we look upon what we have just seen

not merely as the misbehavior of one rather desperate old woman,

but as a metaphor for age itself,

the dimming of all our precious faculties.

The Book of Psalms, we read,

"I have been young and now am old,

yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken."

You will not forsake Jessica Medlicott, gentlemen.

You will not abandon her to the wiles of those who would use her, bleed her,

and hold her up to ridicule.

Oh, she has been...

she has been tiresome, I know.

She's been careless and headstrong and rash,

but she's not deserved your contempt.

Remember, for 40 years, she was a devoted wife.

For a few days, a few weeks at most,

she fell from grace out of a longing, a melancholy, out of loneliness.

She fell.

"And the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape."

The Alfred Pratts of this world, to the world's misfortune,

always appear in pleasing shapes and sizes,

the better to seduce the unwary and vulnerable,

clothing their malicious motives in fine words.

The finest word that we've heard from the mouth of that clever lad

and the one most degraded by the mere fact of his having spoken it,

is that most precious of words in the language: love.

Love.

Dr. Johnson, in all his-- all his perversity,

tells us that love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise,

or to those who would prefer to believe with Dryden,

that love is the finest frailty of the mind, but however we define it,

we cannot mistake it for a hypocrisy, for cupidity, for cunning.

We cannot look upon greed and call that love.

We cannot and must not reward so vile a counterfeit.

The girl?

The girl that Jessica Medlicott once was

is gone and will not come again.

The day when she might have joined her life with that of a young man,

her contemporary, is past.

Like her, such a youth can be young no longer,

but were he here, he would remember for us

the wonder of that young girl,

of their young love, and he would say to us, "Yes, she was doting."

She was passionate.

She was a thousand times more exciting and dynamic

than ever this ignominious little prat could've suspected, let alone understood'.

She had more dignity, more delicacy, and pride than any of you could know,

who have smirked on us here and witnessed her humiliation.

Were he a man prone to quote,

he might then wish to comfort and reassure her

in the voice of the only begetter of the sonnets,

"To me, fair friend, you never can be old,"

for as you were when first your eye I eyed,

"such seems your beauty now."

"And ruined love, when that it grows anew,"

shows fairer than at first,

"more strong, far greater."

It is love that is on trial here, gentlemen,

the honor and integrity of love itself.

In finding for my client, you will find for yourselves,

you'll find for us all, and for those who come after us.

It is with the utmost confidence in your fairness and good judgment

that the defense rests its case.

Silence.'

Foreman, have you agreed upon your verdict?

We have.

Do you find for the plaintiff or the defendant?

For the defendant.

Silence.'

Silence in this court'.

Milord, the jury having found in favor of my client,

I would respectfully ask for judgment and for costs.

So be it.

I will award judgment to your client, Sir Arthur,

and also costs to this action.

Thank you, gentlemen of the jury.

You are dismissed.

- Magnificent'. - Thank you.

She was furious, but we have to find her.

Well, never mind, you won'.

Very good. George, will you go and find her?

She's liable to take my head off.

- George, please'. - You were absolutely magnificent.

- Very good speech, sir. - Thank you.

George, will you go?

Jessica? Jessica?

Jessica?

Jessica?

Oh.

- Knaves. - Jessica, we won'.

Queens.

That's 7,800 pounds you owe me.

I'll send you around a check in the morning, shall I?

- Any time, any time. - Did you hear what I said?

Certainly I heard. I'm not deaf, you know, not yet.

- Thank you. - You--you don't seem at all surprised.

- I'm not. - Well, you mean you knew we'd win?

Naturally.

Well, have you any idea how close you came to botching it?

- Botching it? - It's a good job you had Arthur Granville-Jones there

to take what you were doing and turn it to our advantage.

Yes, I seemed to inspire him to heights of rhetorical brilliance, didn't I?

Indeed you did, I've never heard him more articulate, more eloquent.

But as for you, you were a very naughty girl.

- Why do you say that? - You deliberately flouted his instructions.

But George, look, I'm only asking, but if I'd done as he said,

if I'd simply sat there quietly like a good little girl,

a good little girl of 90 or 95...

- Yes. - Would it have been the same, do you think?

Would that have inspired him to anything at all?

Tell me if I'm wrong, but weren't we very much more in danger of losing

with anything as tame as that?

- You devil'. - What?

- You did it'. - No.

You--you did'.

You gave him a fool whom he could attack and ridicule without compunction'.

- No, no, no, no'. - You actress, you.'

Why, I haven't been on the stage for more than 40 years.'

- Where is he? - Come along.

Oh, he'll be crushed when he finds out.

Finds out?

I promise you, if you ever breathe a word of it to him, I'll deny everything.

I'll denounce you as a liar, I'll cross you off my list.

- Oh, I say'. - No, you don't say'.

That's the whole point, you don't say a word'.

Well, as much as it hurts, Granny, I've got to hand it to you.

Oh, that's very good of you.

I admit it took me completely off my guard.

I tell you, when I looked up and saw her come in in that incredible--

Well, I'll be off then.

Down to the Wig & Pen, drown my sorrows in a pint of bitter.

Go easy on the champagne, now, would you?

Remember, it was your man Dryden who said,

"Even victors are by victory undone."

I know, "Push off, Devine."

Oh.

Ma'am.

A loser's kiss.

Dear lady, adieu.

Adieu.

Yes, well, uh, I'll be on my way as well.

I've a client waiting in my office.

- Bye. - Arthur.

Bye-bye, George. Thank you.

Cheerio.

- I was brutal to you in there. - You couldn't help it.

- You mean that? - There was nothing else to be done.

- You understand I didn't... - I understand you perfectly.

There at the end, it seemed to be just a choice between your dignity or your fortune.

There was no apparent way you could get both,

and so I--I thought that, uh,

that your dignity was a bit expensive at 40,000 pounds.

- Fifty, you were right. - Fifty.

You did exactly what you had to do, and you did it brilliantly.

You--you were wonderful.

Oh, I'm so pleased to hear you say that'.

Because it would be simply awful if you felt,

though if anybody said, "Oh, yes, he got her off, all right,"

but what a way to go about it.

I mean, it was as if he was punishing her himself.

It was as if she--he was trying to get his own back

"for what she did to him all those years ago."

And if you had done, what of it? After all, I wounded you once.

And I wasn't the only one, was I?

There was your dear mother dying when you were no bigger than that.

That's true.

I always have rotten luck with women.

That aunt of yours, the one you were so attached to.

- Aunt Lottie. - That's the one, ran away with a policeman.

- Mounted policeman. I was just 14. - No.

- The worst possible time. - Yes.

My voice was just beginning to change, if you see what I mean.

Of course.

And then there was my childhood sweetheart that everybody supposed I was going to marry.

She fell afoul of some germ or other and I had to go to--to Italy for a cure.

The cure was so successful that she went into a convent out of gratitude.

- Remarkable. Yes, remarkable indeed,

when you think she wasn't even a Catholic.

Then in my twenties, to be...

To be jilted by Jessica Gerald.

Jilted by Jessica Gerald.

Has a music all its own.

Yes, and who's to say you weren't entitled

to get a little of your own back on all of us?

Oh, but that sounds contemptable. That sounds like revenge.

Well, where's the harm in a little revenge?

Oh, I'm not like that.

No, of course you're not.

Hold on'.

What you said just now about my mother and the rest.

How did you know all that?

- You must've told me. - When?

When? Well, uh,

when--when I came to your chambers or when you came to my house, I suppose.

No.

It was 40 years ago in Toronto.

- Are you sure? - Positive.

Oh.

You remember, don't you?

I suppose I must.

When--when did you first remember?

Was it always? Was it from the first,

from the first day that George came and brought you to see me?

No, no, truly.

When then?

I'm not sure.

A little patch here and there.

What exactly do you remember at this instant now?

You'd be surprised.

Toronto?

The Princess Theatre.

The stage door?

You had on a tight frock coat someone had lent you,

and your hair was all mussed from snatching your hat off when I came out.

You thought me ridiculous.

I thought you, why, the funniest, most attractive young man

I'd seen on the whole tour.

You were adorable.

What else do you remember?

Who knows?

Perhaps when I've remembered everything, you'll be free to forget.

- Jessie. - Granny.

You're the only person I allow to call me that, you know.

I'm the only one who said it with love.

- Why did you abandon me? - It was--it was you, you who abandoned me.

- You went off without me. - You sent me'.

I was going to follow, I was going to join you'.

In a year or more'. A year at that age, it's an eternity.

I begged you not to let me go, I begged you to keep me with you.

- I had no income.' - I didn't care'.

Oh, you cared'.

You cared, all right'.

It's true.

I had a horror of poverty.

I...

I was terrified you mightn't get on

and there we'd be with half a dozen hungry children

in Putney or Peckham Rye in two wretched rooms

and we'd grow to hate each other the way my mother and father did at the end.

Well...

perhaps we should put all that behind us now.

Whatever we've done, here we are, we still exist, we've survived.

A couple of relics.

Perhaps.

Let's make the best of it.

Coming?

Excuse me. I do hope you don't think me too bold,

but I saw the play tonight and I thought you most awfully good,

- and I just had to come and tell you... - I don't think you're too bold.

I don't think you're bold at all. I think you're sweet.

Do you really?

Do you think you could possibly consider having supper with me?

- I hate eating alone. - Consider it? I'd leap at it.

- Would you really? - Somewhere with violins.

- Violins it is'. - But no goulash.

You never said that.

No, but I should have.

Arthur Granville-Jones.

- With a hyphen? - A hyphen, yes.

I like hyphens. They inspire confidence.

- Jessie Gerald. - Oh, yes, I know, I read my program.

Well, shall we make a start?

- A start? - Yes, a sort of a start.

A... late start.

Wait a minute.

Your hair's all mussed.

There, that's better.

"Grow old along with me.

The best is yet to be."

Dryden?

Browning.

I accept.