Movie script

				BARRY LYNDON


				A

				Screenplay

				by

				Stanley Kubrick



			Based on the novel by

			William Makepeace Thackeray
















							 February 18, 1973






FADE IN:

EXT.  PARK - DAY

Brief shot of duel.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My father, who was well-known to the
	best circles in this kingdom under
	the name of roaring Harry James, was
	killed in a duel, when I was fifteen
	years old.

EXT.  GARDEN - DAY

Mrs. James, talking with a suitor; Roderick, at a
distance.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My mother, after her husband's
	death, and her retirement, lived in
	such a way as to defy slander.  She
	refused all offers of marriage,
	declaring that she lived now for her
	son only, and for the memory of her
	departed saint.

EXT.  STREET - DAY

Mother and son walking together.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My mother was the most beautiful
	women of her day.  But if she was
	proud of her beauty, to do her
	justice, she was still more proud of
	her son, and has said a thousand
	times to me that I was the
	handsomest fellow in the world.

EXT.  CHURCH - DAY

Mother and son entering church.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The good soul's pleasure was to
	dress me; and on Sundays and
	Holidays, I turned out in a velvet
	coat with a silver-hilted sword by
	my side, and a gold garter at my
	knee as fine as any lord in the
	land.  As we walked to church on
	Sundays, even the most envious souls
	would allow that there was not a
	prettier pair in the kingdom.

EXT.  FIELD - DAY

A picnic.  The Dugan family.  Roderick.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My uncle's family consisted of ten
	children, and one of them was the
	cause of all my early troubles; this
	was the belle of the family, my
	cousin, Miss Dorothy Dugan, by name.

EXT.  DUGAN MANOR HOUSE - DAY

A sprawling run-down Irish manor house with large garden,
stables, barn and farm.

Idealized images of Dorothy.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Ah!  That first affair, how well one
	remembers it!  What a noble
	discovery it is that the boy makes
	when he finds himself actually and
	truly in love with some one!  A lady
	who is skilled in dancing or singing
	never can perfect herself without a
	deal of study in private.  So it is
	with the dear creatures who are
	skilled in coquetting.  Dorothy, for
	instance, was always practicing, and
	she would take poor me to rehearse
	her accomplishments upon...

Dorothy talking with the exciseman.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	... or the exciseman, when he came
	his rounds.

Dorothy talking to the steward.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	... or the steward.

Dorothy sitting under a tree with the curate, reading a
book.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	... or the poor curate.

Dorothy talking to the apothecary's lad.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	... or the young apothecary's lad
	from Dugan's Town whom I recollect
	beating once for that very reason.

Roderick, fighting with apothecary's lad.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The torments of jealousy she made me
	endure were horrible.

EXT.  FIELD - DAY

Dorothy, like a greyhound released from days of
confinement, and given the freedom of the fields at last,
runs at top-speed, left and right, back and forth,
returning every moment to Roderick.

She runs and runs until she is out of breath, and then
laughs at the astonishment which keeps Roderick motionless
and staring at her.

After catching her breath, and wiping her forehead, she
challenges Roderick to a race.

			RODERICK
	I accept, but I insist on a wager.
	The loser must do whatever the
	winner pleases.

			DOROTHY
	Agreed.

			RODERICK
	Do you see the gate at the end of
	the field?  The first to touch it
	will be the winner.

They line up together and start on a count of three.
Dorothy uses all her strength, but Roderick holds back,
and Dorothy touches the gate five or six paces ahead of
him.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I was certain to win, but I meant to
	lose to see what she would order me
	to do.

Dorothy catches her breath, thinking of the penalty.  Then
she goes behind the trees and, a few second later, comes
out and says:

			DOROTHY
	Your penalty is to find a cherry-
	colored ribbon which I have hidden
	somewhere on my person.  You are
	free to look for it anywhere you
	will, and I will think very little
	of you if you do not find it.

They sit down on the grass.  Roderick searches her
pockets, the fold of her short bodice and her skirt, then
her shoes; then he turns up her skirt, slowly and
circumspectly, as high as her garters, which she wears
upon the knee.  He unfastens them and finds nothing; he
draws down her skirt and gropes under her armpits.  The
tickling makes her laugh.

			RODERICK
	I feel the ribbon.

			DOROTHY
	Then you must get it.

Roderick has to unlace her bodice and touch her pretty
breasts, over which his hand must pass to reach it.

			DOROTHY
	Why are you shaking?

			RODERICK
	With pleasure at finding the ribbon.

EXT.  FIELD - DAY

Military review.  One hundred English troops, a few
mounted officers, a small military band, fifty local
people.

The Dugan family, Roderick and his mother, Captains Best
and Grogan.

Roderick admires the troops in their splendid uniforms.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	About this time, the United Kingdom
	was in a state of great excitement
	from the threat generally credited
	of a French invasion.  The noblemen
	and people of condition in that and
	all other parts of the kingdom
	showed their loyalty by raising
	regiments of horse and foot to
	resist the invaders.  How I envied
	them.  The whole country was alive
	with war's alarums; the three
	kingdoms ringing with military
	music, while poor I was obliged to
	stay at home in my fustian jacket
	and sigh for fame in secret.

INT.  BALLROOM AT FENCIBLES - NIGHT

Dorothy and Roderick entering.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Once, the officers of the Kilwangen
	regiment gave a grand ball to which
	Dorothy persuaded my to take her.

Several cuts depicting the evening.

Dorothy ignores Roderick; dances, chats, laughs, drinks
punch, and finally, strolls outside with Captain Best.

Roderick makes a half-hearted try at dancing with Miss
Clancy.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I have endured torments in my life,
	but none like that.  Some of the
	prettiest girls there offered to
	console me, for I was the best
	dancer in the room, but I was too
	wretched, and so remained alone all
	night in a state of agony.  I did
	not care for drink, or know the
	dreadful comfort of it in those
	days; but I thought of killing
	myself and Dorothy, and most
	certainly of making away with
	Captain Best.

EXT.  FENCIBLES BALLROOM - DAWN

The guests leaving and saying their goodbyes.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	At last, and at morning, the ball
	was over.

EXT.  ROAD - DAWN

Dorothy and Roderick on horseback together.

			DOROTHY
	Sure it's a bitter night, Roderick
	dear, and you'll catch cold without
	a handkerchief to your neck.

To this sympathetic remark, from the pillion, the saddle
made no reply.

			DOROTHY
	Did you and Miss Clancy have a
	pleasant evening, Roderick?  You
	were together, I saw, all night.

To this, the saddle only replies by grinding his teeth,
and giving a lash to Daisy.

			DOROTHY
	Oh!  Mercy, you make Daisy rear and
	throw me, you careless creature,
	you.

The pillion had by this got her arm around the saddle's
waist, and gave it the gentlest squeeze in the world.

			RODERICK
	I hate Miss Clancy, you know I do!
	And I only danced with her because
	-- because -- the person with whom I
	intended to dance chose to be
	engaged the whole night.

			DOROTHY
	I had not been in the room five
	minutes before I was engaged for
	every single set.

			RODERICK
	Were you obliged to dance five times
	with Captain Best, and then stroll
	out with him into the garden?

			DOROTHY
	I don't care a fig for Captain Best;
	he dances prettily to be sure, and
	is a pleasant rattle of a man.  He
	looks well in his regimentals, too;
	and if he chose to ask me to dance,
	how could I refuse him?

			RODERICK
	But you refused me, Dorothy.

			DOROTHY
	Oh!  I can dance with you any day,
	and to dance with your own cousin at
	a ball as if you could find no other
	partner.  Besides, Roderick, Captain
	Best's a man, and you are only a
	boy, and you haven't a guinea in the
	world.

			RODERICK
	If ever I meet him again, you shall
	see which is the best man of the
	two.  I'll fight him with sword or
	with pistol, captain as he is.

			DOROTHY
	But Captain Best is already known as
	a valiant soldier, and is famous as
	a man of fashion in London.  It is
	mighty well of you to fight farmers'
	boys, but to fight an Englishman is
	a very different matter.

Roderick falls silent.

EXT.  SMALL BRIDGE OVER A STREAM - DAWN

They come to an old, high bridge, over a stream,
sufficiently deep and rocky.

			DOROTHY
	Suppose, now, Roderick, you, who are
	such a hero, was passing over the
	bridge and the enemy on the other
	side.

			RODERICK
	I'd draw my sword, and cut my way
	through them.

			DOROTHY
	What, with me on the pillion?  Would
	you kill poor me?

			RODERICK
	Well, then, I'll tell you what I'd
	do.  I'd jump Daisy into the river,
	and swim you both across, where no
	enemy could follow us.

			DOROTHY
	Jump twenty feet!  You wouldn't dare
	to do any such thing on Daisy.
	There's the captain's horse, Black
	George, I've heard say that Captain
	Bes --

She never finished the word for, maddened by the continual
recurrence of that odious monosyllable, Roderick shouts:

			RODERICK
	Hold tight to my waist!

And, giving Daisy the spur, springs with Dorothy over the
parapet, into the deeper water below.

The horse's head sinks under, the girl screams as she
sinks, and screams as she rises.

Roderick lands her, half-fainting, on the shore.

INT.  MOTHER'S HOUSE - BEDROOM - DAY

Various cuts showing illness and convalescence.

Roderick feverish:  the doctor taking his pulse.

Mother brings a tray of food.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I went home, and was ill speedily of
	a fever, which kept me to my bed for
	a week.

Dorothy visiting him.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Dorothy visited me only once, but I
	quitted my couch still more
	violently in love than I had been
	ever before.

EXT.  DUGAN MANOR HOUSE - DAY

The air is fresh and bright, and the birds sing loud
amidst the green trees.  Roderick is elated, and springs
down the road, as brisk as a young fawn.

He encounters an orderly whistling "Roast Beef of Old
England," as he cleans down a cavalry horse.

			RODERICK
	Whose horse, fellow, is that?

			ORDERLY
	Feller, indeed!  The horse belongs
	to my captain, and he's a better
	fellow nor you any day.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I did not stop to break his bones,
	as I would on another occasion, for
	a horrible suspicion had come across
	me, and I made for the garden as
	quickly as I could.

Roderick see Captain Best and Dorothy pacing the path
together.  Her arm is under his, and he is fondling and
squeezing her little hand which lies closely nestling
against his arm.

Some distance beyond them is Captain Grogan, who is paying
court to Dorothy's sister, Mysie.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The fact is that, during the week of
	my illness, no other than Captain
	Best was staying at Castle Dugan,
	and making love to Miss Dorothy in
	form.

			CAPTAIN BEST
	No, Dorothy, except for you and four
	others, I vow before all the gods,
	my heart had never felt the soft
	flame.

			DOROTHY
	Ah, you men, you men, John, your
	passion is not equal to ours.  We
	are like -- like some plant I've
	read of -- we bear but one flower,
	and then we die!

			CAPTAIN BEST
	Do you mean you never felt an
	inclination for another?

			DOROTHY
	Never, my John, but for thee!  How
	can you ask me such a question?

Raising her hand to his lips.

			CAPTAIN BEST
	Darling Dorothea!

Roderick rushes into view, drawing his little sword.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I pulled out a knot of cherry-
	colored ribbons, which she had given
	me out of her breast, and which
	somehow I always wore upon me, and
	flung them in Captain Best's face,
	and rushed out with my little sword
	drawn.

			RODERICK
	She's a liar -- she's a liar,
	Captain Best!  Draw, sir, and defend
	yourself, if you are a man!

Roderick leaps at Captain Best, and collars him, while
Dorothy makes the air echo with her screams.

Captain Grogan and Mysie hasten up.

Though Roderick is a full growth of six feet, he is small
by the side of the enormous English captain.

Best turns very red at the attack upon him, and slips back
clutching at his sword.

Dorothy, in an agony of terror, flings herself round him,
screaming:

			DOROTHY
	Captain Best, for Heaven's sake,
	spare the child -- he is but an
	infant.

			CAPTAIN BEST
	And ought to be whipped for his
	impudence, but never fear, Miss
	Dugan, I shall not touch him, your
	favorite is safe from me.

So saying, he stoops down and picks up the bunch of
ribbons, which Roderick had flung at Dorothy's feet, and
handing it to her, says in a sarcastic tone:

			CAPTAIN BEST
	When ladies make presents to
	gentlemen, it is time for other
	gentlemen to retire...

			DOROTHY
	Good heavens, Best!  He is but a boy
	and don't signify any more than my
	parrot or lap-dog.  Mayn't I give a
	bit of ribbon to my own cousin?

			RODERICK
		   (roaring)
	I'm a man, and will prove it.

			CAPTAIN BEST
	You are perfectly welcome, miss, as
	many yards as you like.

			DOROTHY
	Monster!  Your father was a tailor,
	and you are always thinking of the
	shop.  But I'll have my revenge, I
	will!  Roddy, will you see me
	insulted?

			RODERICK
	Indeed, Miss Dorothy, I intend to
	have his blood as sure as my name's
	Roderick.

			CAPTAIN BEST
	I'll send for the usher to cane you,
	little boy, but as for you, miss, I
	have the honor to wish you a good
	day.

Best takes off his hat with much ceremony, and makes a low
bow, and is just walking off, when Michael, Roderick's
cousin, comes up, whose ear has likewise been caught by
the scream.

			MICHAEL
	Hoity-toity!  John Best, what's the
	matter here?

			CAPTAIN BEST
	I'll tell you what it is, Mr. Dugan.
	I have had enough of Miss Dugan here
	and your Irish ways.  I ain't used
	to 'em, sir.

			MICHAEL
		   (good-humoredly)
	Well, well!  What is it?  We'll make
	you used to our ways, or adopt
	English ones.

			CAPTAIN BEST
	It's not the English way, for ladies
	to have two lovers, and, so, Mr.
	Dugan, I'll thank you to pay me the
	sum you owe me, and I resign all
	claims to this young lady.  If she
	has a fancy for school-boys, let her
	take 'em, sir.

			MICHAEL
	Pooh!  Pooh!  Best, you are joking.

			CAPTAIN BEST
	I never was more in earnest.

Best exits.

			MICHAEL
		   (in a towering rage)
	You -- you!  Hang you for a meddling
	brat, your hand is in everybody's
	pie.  What business had you to come
	brawling and quarreling here, with
	a gentleman who has fifteen hundred
	a-year?

Michael runs after Best.

			DOROTHY
		   (gasps)
	Oh, I shall die; I know I shall.  I
	shall never leave this spot.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
		   (whisper to Dorothy)
	The Captain is gone.

Dorothy, giving him an indignant look, jumps up and walks
towards the house.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
		   (in a soothing tone
		    to Roderick)
	This is a pretty way to recommend
	yourself to the family.

			RODERICK
		   (shouts after
		    Michael)
	The man that marries Dorothy Dugan
	must first kill me -- do you mind
	that?

			MICHAEL
		   (shouting back from
		    a distance)
	Pooh, sir.  Kill you -- flog you,
	you mean!  I'll send for Nick the
	huntsman to do it.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	You are a gallant lad, and I like
	your spirit.  But what Dugan says is
	true.  It's a hard thing to give a
	lad counsel who is in such a far-
	gone state as you; but, believe me,
	I know the world, and if you will
	but follow my advice, you won't
	regret having taken it.  Dorothy
	Dugan has not a penny; you are not a
	whit richer.  And, my poor boy,
	don't you see -- though it's a hard
	matter to see -- that she's a flirt,
	and does not care a pin for you or
	Best either?

			RODERICK
	Dorothy might love me or not, as she
	likes, but Best will have to fight
	me before he marries her!

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	Faith, I think you are a lad that's
	likely to keep your word.

He looks hard at Roderick for a second to two, then he
walks away, humming a tune, looking back at Roderick as he
goes through the old gate out of the garden.

When Grogan is gone, Roderick is quite alone, and he
flings himself down on the bench where Dorothy had made
believe to faint, and had left her handkerchief and the
ribbons and, taking them up, hides his face in them, and
bursts into a passion of tears.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I must have sat for some hours
	bemoaning myself on the garden-bench,
	for the dinner-bell clanged as usual
	at three o'clock, which wakened me
	from my reverie.

EXT.  DUGAN MANOR HOUSE - DAY

As Roderick passes the courtyard, he sees the Captain's
saddle still hanging up at the stable-door, and his odious
red-coated brute of a servant, swaggering with the
scullion-girls and kitchen people.

			MAID
	The Englishman's still there, Master
	Roderick.  He's there in the parlor.
	Go in, and don't let 'im browbeat
	you, Master Roderick.

INT.  DUGAN MANOR HOUSE - DINING ROOM - DAY

Roderick enters and takes his place at the bottom of the
big table; the butler speedily brings him a cover.

			UNCLE
	Hello, Roddy, my boy!  Up and well?
	That's right.

			AUNT
	He'd better be home with his mother.

			UNCLE
	Don't mind her.  It's the cold goose
	she ate for breakfast -- didn't
	agree with her.  Take a glass of
	spirits, Mrs. Dugan, to Roderick's
	health.

It is evident that his uncle doesn't know of what
happened, but Michael, who is at dinner too, and Harry,
and almost all the girls, look exceedingly black and the
captain foolish; and Miss Dorothy, who is again by his
side, ready to cry.  Captain Grogan sits smiling, and
Roderick looks on as cold as stone.

His uncle is in high good-humor.

			UNCLE
	Dorothy, divide that merry thought
	with the captain!  See who'll be
	married first.  Jack Best, my dear
	boy, never mind a clean glass for
	the claret, we're short of crystal
	at Castle Dugan; take Dorothy's and
	the wine will taste none the worse.
	Mrs. Dugan and ladies, if you
	please; this is a sort of toast that
	is drunk a great deal too seldom in
	my family, and you'll please to
	receive it with all the honors.
	Here's to Captain and Mrs. John
	Best, and long life to them.  Kiss
	her, Jack, you rogue; for faith,
	you've got a treasure.

			RODERICK
		   (spring up)
	His already?!

			HARRY
	Hold your tongue, you fool -- hold
	your tongue!

			RODERICK
		   (shouting)
	He has already been slapped in the
	face this morning, Captain John
	Best; he's already been called a
	coward, Captain John Best; and this
	is the way I'll drink his health.
	Here's your health, Captain John
	Best.

Roderick flings a glass of claret into his face.  The next
moment, he is under the table, tripped up by Harry, who
hits him a violent cuff on the head; as he goes down, he
hardly has time to hear the general screaming and
scurrying that is taking place above him, being so fully
occupied with kicks, and thumps and curses, with which
Harry is belaboring him.

			HARRY
	You fool!  You great blundering
	marplot -- you silly beggarly
	brat --
		   (a thump at each)
	Hold your tongue!

When Roderick gets up from under the table, the ladies are
all gone; but he has the satisfaction of seeing the
captain's nose is bleeding, as his is -- Best is cut
across the bridge, and his beauty spoiled forever.

			UNCLE
	In Heaven's name, what does all the
	row mean?  Is the boy in fever
	again?

			HARRY
		   (turning to his
		    father)
	The fact is, sir, that the young
	monkey has fallen in love with
	Dorothy, and finding her and the
	captain mighty sweet in the garden
	today, he was for murdering Jack
	Best.

			CAPTAIN BEST
		   (bristling up)
	And, I'll tell you what, Mr. Dugan,
	I've been insulted grossly in this
	house.  I ain't at all satisfied
	with these here ways of going on.
	I'm an Englishman, I am, and a man
	of property; and I -- I --

			HARRY
	If you're insulted, and not
	satisfied, remember there's two of
	us, Best.

On which, the captain falls to washing his nose in water,
and answering never a word.

			RODERICK
		   (in dignified tone)
	Mr. Best may also have satisfaction
	any time he pleases, by calling on
	Roderick James, Esquire, of
	Jamesville.

His uncle bursts out laughing, and in this laugh, Captain
Grogan joins.

			RODERICK
	Captain Grogan, I beg you to
	understand that, for my cousin
	Harry, who has been my best friend
	through life, I could put up with
	rough treatment from him; yet, even
	that sort of treatment I will bear
	from him no longer; and any other
	person who ventures on the like will
	not like the cost.  Mr. Best knows
	that fact very well; and, if he's
	man, he'll know where to find me.

			UNCLE
	It is getting late, and your mother
	will be anxious about you.  One of
	you had better go home with him.
		   (turning to his sons)
	Or the lad may be playing more
	pranks.

			HARRY
	Both of us ride home with Best here.

			CAPTAIN BEST
	I'm not afraid of highwaymen.  My
	man is armed, and so am I.

			HARRY
	You know the use of arms very well,
	Best, and no one can doubt your
	courage; but Michael and I will see
	you home for all that.

			UNCLE
	Why, you'll not be home till
	morning, boys.  Kilwangan's a good
	ten miles from here.

			HARRY
	We'll sleep in Best's quarters.
	We're going to stop a week there.
	And, in another week, my boy.

And here, Harry whispers something in the Captain's ear.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	I'll go home with the boy.

EXT.  ROAD - LATE DAY

Grogan walks with Roderick.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	A pretty day's work of it you have
	made, Master Roderick.  Knowing your
	uncle to be distressed for money,
	and try and break off a match which
	will bring fifteen hundred a-year
	into the family?  Best has promised
	to pay off the four thousand pounds
	which is bothering your uncle so.
	He takes a girl without a penny -- a
	girl that has been flinging herself
	at the head of every man in these
	parts these ten years past, and
	missing them all, and a boy who
	ought to be attached to your uncle
	as to your father.

			RODERICK
	And so I am.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	And this is the return you make for
	his kindness!  Didn't he harbor you
	in his house when your father died,
	and hasn't he given you and your
	mother, rent-free, your fine house
	of Jamesville yonder?

			RODERICK
	Mark this, come what will of it, I
	swear I will fight the man who
	pretends to the hand of Dorothy
	Dugan.  I'll follow him if it's into
	the church, and meet him there.
	I'll have his blood, or he shall
	have mine.  Will you take my message
	to him, and arrange the meeting?

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	Well, if it must be, it must.  For a
	young fellow, you are the most
	bloodthirsty I ever saw.  No
	officer, bearing His Majesty's
	commission, can receive a glass of
	wine on his nose, without resenting
	it -- fight you must, and Best is a
	huge, strong fellow.

			RODERICK
	He'll give the better mark.  I am
	not afraid of him.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	In faith, I believe you are not; for
	a lad I never saw more game in my
	life.  Give me a kiss, my dear boy.
	You're after my own soul.  As long
	as Jack Grogan lives, you shall
	never want a friend or a second.

They embrace.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Poor fellow!  He was shot six months
	afterwards, at Minden, and I lost
	thereby a kind friend.  But we don't
	know what is in store for us, and
	that's a blessing.

EXT.  HOUSE - LATE DAY

Mother greeting Roderick and Captain Grogan.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	In spite of my precautions to
	secrecy, I half-suspected that my
	mother knew all from the manner in
	which she embraced me on my arrival,
	and received our guest, Captain
	Grogan.

His mother looks a little anxious and flushed and, every
now and then, gazes very hard into the Captain's face.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	But she would not say a word about
	the quarrel, for she had a noble
	spirit, and would as lief have seen
	any one of her kindred hanged as
	shirking from the field of honor.

INT.  MOTHER'S HOUSE - RODERICK'S BEDROOM - DAY

Roderick waking up.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I never slept sounder in my life,
	though I woke a little earlier than
	usual, and you may be sure my first
	thought was of the event of the day,
	for which I was fully prepared.

Roderick at table with paper and ink.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And now I sat down and wrote a
	couple of letters; they might be the
	last, thought I, that I should ever
	write in my life.

See him write:  "Dearest Mother."

INT.  MOTHER'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Then I went down to breakfast, where
	my mother was waiting for me, you
	may be sure.  We did not say a
	single word about what was taking
	place.

Roderick eats his breakfast with a good appetite; but in
helping himself to salt, spills it, on which his mother
starts up with a scream.

			MOTHER
	Thank God, it's fallen towards me!

And then, her heart being too full, she leaves the room.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Ah!  They have their faults, those
	mothers; but are there any other
	women like them?

There is an elegant, silver-mounted sword that hangs on
the mantelpiece under the picture of Roderick's late
father.

A pair of pistols hang on each side of the picture.

Roderick takes down the sword and pistols, which are
bright and well-oiled, and collects flints, balls and
gunpowder.

EXT.  MOTHER'S HOUSE - DAY

Captain Grogan and Orderly arrive.

			RODERICK
	Have you taken my message to him?

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	The meeting is arranged.  Captain
	Best is waiting for you now.

			RODERICK
	My mare is saddled and ready; who's
	the captain's second?

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	Your cousins go out with him.

Roderick and Grogan, and the Orderly ride off.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I didn't take leave of Mrs. James.
	The curtains of her bedroom-windows
	were down, and they didn't move as
	we mounted and trotted off.

EXT.  COUNTRY ROAD - DAY

They ride their horses at a leisurely pace.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	That's a very handsome sword you
	have there.

			RODERICK
	It was with this sword that my late
	father, Harry James, God rest his
	soul, met Sir Huddelstone
	Fuddelstone, the Hampshire baronet,
	and was fatally run through the
	neck.  He was quite in the wrong,
	having insulted Lady Fuddelstone,
	when in liquor, at the Brentford
	Assembly.  But, like a gentleman, he
	scorned to apologize.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	And now you risk the same fate.  If
	you are killed, your mother is all
	alone in the world.

			RODERICK
	I am Harry James' son, and will act
	as becomes my name and quality.

EXT.  FOREST CLEARING - DAY

Harry, Michael and the Captain are already there.  Best,
flaming in red regimentals, a big a monster as ever led a
grenadier company.  The party are laughing together.

			RODERICK
		   (to Captain Grogan)
	I hope to spoil this sport, and
	trust to see this sword of mine in
	that big bully's body.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	Oh, it's with pistols we fight.  You
	are no match for Best with the
	sword.

			RODERICK
	I'll match any man with the sword.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	But swords are today impossible;
	Captain Best is -- is lame.  He
	knocked his knee against the
	swinging park gate last night, as he
	was riding home, and can scarce move
	it now.

			RODERICK
	Not against Castle Dugan gate, that
	has been off the hinges these ten
	years.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	It must have been some other gate.

They alight from their horses, and join and salute the
other gentlemen.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	I have just explained to Mister
	James that Captain Best is lame, and
	that swords are impossible.

			HARRY
	Oh, yes!  Dead lame.

Harry comes up to shake Roderick by the hand, while
Captain Best takes off his hat, and turns extremely red.

			HARRY
	And very lucky for you, Roderick, my
	boy.  You were a dead man else, for
	he is a devil of a fellow -- isn't
	he, Grogan?

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	A regular Turk.  I never yet knew
	the man who stood to Captain Best.

			HARRY
	Hang the business.  I hate it.  I'm
	ashamed of it.  Say you're sorry,
	Roderick.  You can easily say that.

			CAPTAIN BEST
	If the young feller will go to
	Dublin, as proposed...

			RODERICK
	I'm not sorry -- I'll not apologize
	-- and I'll as soon go to Dublin as
	to hell!

Grogan takes him aside.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	Look here, Roderick, my boy; this is
	silly business.  The girl will marry
	Best, mark my words; and as sure as
	she does, you'll forget her.  You
	are but a boy.  Best is willing to
	consider you as such.  Dublin's a
	fine place, and if you have a mind
	to take a ride thither and see the
	town for a month, here are twenty
	guineas at your service.  Make Best
	an apology, and be off.

			RODERICK
	A man of honor dies, but never
	apologizes.  I'll see the captain
	hanged before I apologize.

			HARRY
		   (with a laugh to
		    Grogan)
	There's nothing else for it.  Take
	your ground, Grogan -- twelve paces,
	I suppose?

			CAPTAIN BEST
		   (in a big voice)
	Ten, sir, and make them short ones,
	do you hear, Captain Grogan?

			HARRY
	Don't bully, Mr. Best.  Here are the
	pistols.
		   (with some emotion
		    to Roderick)
	God bless you, my boy; and when I
	count three, fire.

			RODERICK
	This is not one of my pistols.

			HARRY
	They are all right, never fear.
	It's one of mine.  Yours will serve,
	if they are needed, for the next
	round.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	Roderick, fire at his neck -- hit
	him there under the gorget; see how
	the fool shows himself open.

Michael, who has not spoken a word, Harry, and the Captain
retire to one side, and Harry gives the signal.

It is slowly given, and Roderick has the leisure to cover
his man well.

Captain Best changes color and trembles as the numbers are
given.

At "three" both pistols go off.  Best gives a most
horrible groan, staggers backwards and falls.

			THE SECONDS
		   (crying out)
	He's down!  He's down!

Running towards him, Harry lifts him up -- Michael takes
his head.

			MICHAEL
	He's hit here, in the neck.

Laying open his coat, blood is seen gurgling from under
his gorget.

			HARRY
	How is it with you?

The unfortunate man does not answer, but when the support
of Harry's arm is withdrawn from his back, groans once
more and falls backwards.

			MICHAEL
		   (with a scowl)
	The young fellow has begun well.
	You had better ride off, young sir,
	before the police are up.  They had
	wind of the business before we left
	Kilwangan.

			RODERICK
	Is he quite dead?

			MICHAEL
	Quite dead.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	Then the world's rid of a coward.
	It's all over with him, Roddy -- he
	doesn't stir.

He gives the huge prostrate body a scornful kick with his
foot.

			HARRY
	We are not cowards, Grogan, whatever
	he was!  Let's get the boy off as
	quick as we may.  Your man shall go
	for a cart, and take away the body
	of this unhappy gentleman.  This has
	been a sad day's work for our
	family, Roderick James, and you have
	robbed us of fifteen-hundred a-year.

			RODERICK
	It was Dorothy did it.

Roderick takes the ribbons she gave him out of his
waistcoat, and the letter, and flings them down on the
body of Captain Best.

			RODERICK
	There!  Take her those ribbons.
	She'll know what they mean; that's
	all that's left of her of two lovers
	she had and ruined.

			MICHAEL
	And now, in Heaven's name, get the
	youngster out of the way.

			HARRY
	I'll go with you.

They mount up and gallop off.

EXT.  MOTHER'S HOUSE - DAY

Upon seeing Roderick and Harry ride up, his mother, who
has been waiting outside, rushes to her son with wild
screams of joy.  He dismounts, and she kisses and embraces
him.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I need not tell you how great was my
	mother's pride and exultation when
	she heard from Harry's lips the
	account of my behavior at the duel.

INT.  MOTHER'S HOUSE - PARLOR - DAY

Still much excitement and hustle and bustle.

			HARRY
	The boy must go into hiding, for a
	short time anyway.  Dublin is the
	best place for him to go, and there
	wait until matters are blown over.

			MOTHER
	Dublin?  But the poor lad has never
	been away from home.  He will be as
	safe here as in Dublin.

			HARRY
	I wish that were true, Auntie dear,
	but I'm afraid the bailiffs may
	already be on their way from
	Kilwangan.

INT.  RODERICK'S BEDROOM - DAY

His mother is rushing about and packing a valise.  Harry
sits on the bed.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Harry persisted in the necessity of
	instant departure, in which
	argument, as I was anxious to see
	the world, I must confess, I sided
	with him; and my mother was brought
	to see that, in our small house, in
	the midst of a village, escape would
	be impossible, and capture would be
	impossible to avoid.

INT.  MOTHER'S BEDROOM - DAY

His mother takes out a stocking from her escritoire, and
gives Roderick twenty golden guineas.

			MOTHER
		   (gravely)
	Roderick, my darling, my wild boy, I
	have forebodings that our separation
	is to be a long one.  I spent most
	of all night consulting the cards
	regarding your fate in the duel, and
	all signs betoke a separation.  Here
	is twenty guineas -- all that I have
	in the world -- and I want you to
	keep your father's sword and
	pistols, which you have known to use
	so like a man.

EXT.  MOTHER'S HOUSE - DAY

Roderick's departure.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	She hurried my departure now, though
	her heart, I know, was full, and
	almost in half-an-hour from my
	arrival at home, I was once more on
	the road again, with the wide world,
	as it were, before me.

Roderick waves.  His mother cries.

EXT.  HIGH ROAD TO DUBLIN - DAY

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	No lad of seventeen is very sad who
	has liberty for the first time, and
	twenty guineas in his pocket; and I
	rode away, thinking, I confess, not
	so much of the kind of mother left
	alone, and of the home behind me, as
	of tomorrow, and all the wonders it
	would bring.

Roderick happily riding down the road.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I had no doubts of the future;
	thinking that a man of my person,
	parts, and courage, could make his
	way anywhere.  So I rode on, singing
	to myself, or chatting with the
	passersby; and all the girls along
	the road said, "God save me, for a
	clever gentleman."

Farm girls in the fields flirting with him.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	As for thoughts of Dorothy Dugan,
	there seemed to be a gap of a half-
	a-score of years.

EXT.  ROAD TO DUBLIN - DAY

A well-armed gentleman dressed in green, and a gold cord,
with a patch on his eye, and riding a powerful mare, puts
his horse alongside.

			ARMED GENTLEMAN
	Good day to you, young sir.

			RODERICK
	Good morning.

			ARMED GENTLEMAN
	Where are you bound for?

			RODERICK
		   (after a long look at
		    his companion)
	That is none of your business.

			ARMED GENTLEMAN
	Is your mother not afraid on account
	of the highwayman to let one so
	young as you travel?

			RODERICK
		   (pulling out a
		    pistol)
	Not at all, sir.  I have a pair of
	good pistols that have already done
	execution, and are ready to do it
	again.

At this, a pock-marked man coming up, the well-armed
gentleman spurs into his bay mare, and leaves Roderick.

EXT.  ROAD TO DUBLIN - DAY

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	A little later on, as I rode towards
	Kilcullen, I saw a crowd of peasant
	people assembled round a one-horse
	chair, and my friend in green, as I
	thought, making off half-a-mile up
	the hill.

A footman howls, at the top of his voice.

			FOOTMAN
	Stop thief!

But the country fellows only laugh at his distress, and
make all sorts of jokes at the adventure which had just
befallen.

			COUNTRY FELLOW #1
	Sure, you might have kept him off
	with your blunderbush!

			COUNTRY FELLOW #2
	O the coward!  To let the Captain
	bate you, and he only one eye!

			COUNTRY FELLOW #3
	The next time my lady travels, she'd
	better leave you at home!

			RODERICK
	What is this noise, fellows?

Roderick rides up amongst them, and seeing the lady in the
carriage, very pale and frightened, gives a slash of his
whip, and bids the red-shanked ruffians keep off.

Pulling off his hat, and bringing his mare up in a prance
to the chair-window.

			RODERICK
	What has happened, madam, to annoy
	your ladyship?

			MRS. O'REILLY
	Oh, I am grateful to you, sir.  I am
	the wife of Captain O'Reilly
	hastening to join him at Dublin.  My
	chair was stopped by a highwayman;
	this great oaf of a servant-man fell
	down on his knees, armed as he was,
	and though there were thirty people
	in the next field, working, when the
	ruffian attacked, not one of them
	would help but, on the contrary,
	wished him "good luck."

			COUNTRY FELLOW #1
	Sure, he's the friend of the poor,
	and good luck to him.

			COUNTRY FELLOW #2
	Was it any business of ours?

			RODERICK
		   (shouting)
	Be off to your work, you pack of
	rascals, or you will have a good
	taste of my thong.
		   (to Mrs. O'Reilly)
	Have you lost much?

			MRS. O'REILLY
	Everything -- my purse, containing
	upwards of a hundred guineas, my
	jewels, my snuff-boxes, watches.
	And all because this blundering
	coward fell to his knees...

			FOOTMAN
	Be fair, ma'am, them wasn't so much.
	Didn't he return you the thirteen
	pence in copper, and the watch,
	saying it was only pinchbeck?

			MRS. O'REILLY
	Don't be insolent, or I'll report
	you to the Captain.

			FOOTMAN
	Sorry, ma'am.

He shuffles a few steps away and frowns in the direction
that the Captain has vanished.

			MRS. O'REILLY
	That fool didn't know what was the
	meaning of a hundred-pound bill,
	which was in the pocket-book that
	the fellow took from me.

			RODERICK
	I am riding to Dublin myself, and if
	your ladyship will allow me the
	honor of riding with you, I shall do
	my best to protect you from further
	mishap.

			MRS. O'REILLY
	But I shouldn't like to put you to
	such trouble, Mister...?

			RODERICK
	O'Higgins... Mohawk O'Higgins.

EXT.  ROADSIDE INN - DAY

They stop at the inn.

			RODERICK
		   (very gallantly)
	As you have been robbed of your
	purse, may I have permission to lend
	your ladyship a couple of pieces to
	pay any expenses which you might
	incur before reaching your home?

			MRS. O'REILLY
		   (smiling)
	That's very kind of you, Mr.
	O'Higgins.

He gives her two gold pieces.

INT.  INN - DAY

Roderick and Mrs. O'Reilly finishing their meal.

We will hear dialogue underneath Roderick's voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	How different was her lively rattle
	to the vulgar wenches at Kilwangan
	assemblies.  In every sentence, she
	mentioned a lord or a person of
	quality.  To the lady's question
	about my birth and parentage, I
	replied that I was a young gentleman
	of large fortune, that I was going
	to Dublin for my studies, and that
	my mother allowed me five hundred
	per annum.

			MRS. O'REILLY
	You must be very cautious with
	regard to the company you should
	meet in Dublin, where rogues and
	adventurers of all countries abound.
	I hope you will do me the honor of
	accepting lodgings in my own house,
	where Captain O'Reilly will welcome
	with delight, my gallant young
	preserver.

Paying the bill.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Perhaps had I been a little older in
	the world's experience, I should
	have begun to see that Madame
	O'Reilly was not the person of
	fashion she pretended to be; but, as
	it was, I took all her stories for
	truth, and, when the landlord
	brought the bill for dinner, paid it
	with the air of a lord.  Indeed, she
	made no motion to produce the two
	pieces I had lent her.

EXT.  DUBLIN - STREET - NIGHT

They ride by.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And so we rode on slowly towards
	Dublin, into which city we made our
	entrance at nightfall.  The rattle
	and splendor of the coaches, the
	flare of the linkboys, the number
	and magnificence of the houses,
	struck me with the greatest wonder;
	though I was careful to disguise
	this feeling.

EXT.  O'REILLY HOUSE - DUBLIN - NIGHT

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	We stopped at length at a house of
	rather mean appearance, and were let
	into a passage which had a great
	smell of supper and punch.

INT.  O'REILLY HOUSE - DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Captain O'Reilly, a stout red-faced man, without a
periwig, and in a rather tattered nightgown and cap.
Roderick and Mrs. O'Reilly.

			CAPTAIN O'REILLY
	Mr. O'Higgins, I cannot say how
	grateful I am for your timely
	assistance to my wife.

			RODERICK
	I am only sorry that I was unable to
	prevent the villain from carrying
	off all her ladyship's money and
	pearls.

			CAPTAIN O'REILLY
	Mr. O'Higgins, we are in your debt,
	and rest assured, sir, you have
	friends in this house whenever you
	are in Dublin.
		   (pours a glass)
	Mister O'Higgins, I wonder if I know
	your good father?

			RODERICK
	Which O'Higgins do you know?  For I
	have never heard your name mentioned
	in my family.

			CAPTAIN O'REILLY
	Oh, I am thinking of the O'Higgins
	of Redmondstown.  General O'Higgins
	was a close friend of my wife's dear
	father, Colonel Granby Somerset.

			RODERICK
	Ah -- I see.  No, I'm afraid mine
	are the O'Higgins of Watertown.

			CAPTAIN O'REILLY
	I have heard of them.

There are relics of some mutton-chops and onions on a
cracked dish before them.

			CAPTAIN O'REILLY
	My love, I wish I had known of your
	coming, for Bob Moriaty and I just
	finished the most delicious venison
	pasty, which His Grace the Lord
	Lieutenant, sent us, with a flash of
	sillery from his own cellar.  You
	know the wine, my dear?  But as
	bygones are bygones, and no help for
	them, what say ye to a fine lobster
	and a bottle of as good claret as
	any in Ireland?  Betty, clear these
	things from the table, and make the
	mistress and our young friend
	welcome to our home.

Captain O'Reilly searches his pockets for some money to
give to Betty.

			CAPTAIN O'REILLY
	I'm sorry, Mr. O'Higgins, but I
	don't seem to have any small change.
	May I borrow a ten-penny piece to
	give to the girl?

			MRS. O'REILLY
	I have some money, my dear.  Here,
	Betty, go to the fishmonger and
	bring back our supper, and mind you
	get the right change.

She takes out one of the golden guineas Roderick gave to
her.

INT.  DINNING ROOM - LATER

They are eating.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Our supper was seasoned, if not by
	any great elegance, at least by a
	plentiful store of anecdotes,
	concerning the highest personages of
	the city, with whom, according to
	himself, the captain lived on terms
	of the utmost intimacy.  Not to be
	behind hand with him, I spoke of my
	own estates and property as if I was
	as rich as a duke.

INT.  O'REILLY HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT

The couple wishing Roderick goodnight.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Had I been an English lad, the
	appearance of the chamber I occupied
	might, indeed, have aroused
	instantly my suspicion and distrust.
	But we are not particular in Ireland
	on the score of neatness, hence the
	disorder of my bed-chamber did not
	strike me so much.

Broken door.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Was there a lock to the door, or a
	hasp to fasten it to?

Dress lying over bed.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Though my counterpane was evidently
	a greased brocade dress of Mrs.
	O'Reilly.

Cracked mirror.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And my cracked toilet-glass not much
	bigger than a half-crown, yet I was
	used to these sort of ways in Irish
	houses, and still thought myself to
	be in that of a man of fashion.

Drawers, full of junk.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	There was no lock to the drawers,
	which, when they did open, were full
	of my hostess' rouge-pots, shoes,
	stays, and rags.

INT.  BEDROOM - O'REILLY HOUSE - NIGHT

In the middle of the night, Mrs. O'Reilly comes to
Roderick's room on a flimsy pretext, and in the course of
events, he has his first woman.

INT.  COACH - DAY

Roderick, Captain and Mrs. O'Reilly.

			CAPTAIN O'REILLY
	I needn't ask whether you had a
	comfortable bed.  Young Fred
	Pimpleton slept in it for seven
	months, during which he did me the
	honor to stay with me, and if he was
	satisfied, I don't know who else
	wouldn't be.

EXT.  PROMENADE - PHOENIX PARK - DAY

Roderick, Captain and Mrs. O'Reilly, their friends.
Various cuts.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	After breakfast, we drove out to
	Phoenix Park, where numbers of the
	young gentry were known to Mrs.
	O'Reilly, to all of whom she
	presented me in such a complimentary
	way that, before half an hour, I had
	got to be considered as a gentleman
	of great expectations and large
	property.

INT.  O'REILLY HOUSE - NIGHT

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I had little notion then that I had
	got amongst a set of impostors --
	that Captain O'Reilly was only an
	adventurer, and his lady a person of
	no credit.  The fact was, a young
	man could hardly have fallen into
	worse hands than those in which I
	now found myself.

An evening of gambling.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Their friends were always welcome on
	payment of a certain moderate sum
	for their dinner after which, you
	may be sure, that cards were not
	wanting, and that the company who
	played did not play for love merely.

Various cuts of the characters present.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	What could happen to a man but
	misfortune from associating with
	such company?  And in a very, very
	short time I became their prey.

Roderick loses two hundred guineas to Captain O'Reilly in
a single hand.

We see Captain O'Reilly cheat, but Roderick does not.

He pays him the 18 gold guineas, remaining from the sum
his mother gave him.

			RODERICK
	I shall have to write out a note for
	the rest of it, Captain O'Reilly.

EXT.  STREET - OUTSIDE O'REILLY HOUSE - DAWN

Roderick exits to the street.  The sound of the gambling
can still be heard in the street.  He is soon joined by
Councillor Mulligan.

			COUNCILLOR MULLIGAN
	Master Roderick, you appear a young
	fellow of birth and fortune; let me
	whisper in your ear that you have
	fallen into very bad hands -- it's a
	regular gang of swindlers; and a
	gentleman of your rank and quality
	should never be seen in such
	company.  The captain has been a
	gentleman's gentleman, and his lady
	of no higher rank.  Go home, pack
	your valise, pay the little trifle
	you owe me, mount your mare, and
	ride back again to your parents --
	it's the very best thing you can do.

Roderick does not reply, and walks slowly away from him
down the street.

INT.  O'REILLY HOUSE - RODERICK'S BEDROOM - EARLY MORNING

Roderick enters.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Into a pretty nest of villains,
	indeed, was I plunged!  When I
	returned to my bed-chamber, a few
	hours later, it seemed as if all my
	misfortunes were to break on me at
	once.

Valise open, wardrobe lying on the ground, and Roderick's
keys in the possession of O'Reilly and his wife.

			CAPTAIN O'REILLY
	Whom have I been harboring in my
	house?  Who are you, sirrah?

			RODERICK
	Sirrah!  Sirrah, I am as good a
	gentleman as any in Ireland!

			CAPTAIN O'REILLY
	You're an impostor, young man, a
	schemer, a deceiver!

			RODERICK
	Repeat the words again, and I run
	you through the body.

			CAPTAIN O'REILLY
	Tut, tut!  I can play at fencing as
	well as you, Mr. Roderick James.
	Ah!  You change color, do you?  Your
	secret is known, is it?  You come
	like a viper into the bosom of
	innocent families; you represent
	yourself as the heir to my friends
	the O'Higgins of Castle O'Higgins; I
	introduce you to the nobility and
	gentry of this methropolis; I take
	you to my tradesmen, who give you
	credit.  I accept your note for near
	two hundred pounds, and what do I
	find?  A fraud.

He holds up the name, Roderick James, printed on the
linen.

			CAPTAIN O'REILLY
	Not Master O'Higgins of Watertown,
	but Roderick James of the devil only
	knows where...

Captain O'Reilly gathers up the linen clothes, silver
toilet articles, and the rest of Roderick's gear.

			RODERICK
	Hark ye, Mr. O'Reilly, I will tell
	you why I was obliged to alter my
	name, which is James and the best
	name in Ireland.  I changed it, sir,
	because, on the day before I came to
	Dublin, I killed a man in deadly
	combat -- an Englishman, sir, and a
	Captain in His Majesty's service;
	and if you offer to let or hinder me
	in the slightest way, the same arm
	which destroyed him is ready to
	punish you.

So saying, Roderick draws his sword like lightning, and
giving a "ha, ha!" and a stamp with his foot, lunges it
within an inch of O'Reilly's heart, who starts back and
turns deadly pale, while his wife, with a scream, flings
herself between them.

			MRS. O'REILLY
	Dearest Roderick -- be pacified.
	O'Reilly, you don't want the poor
	child's blood.  Let him escape -- in
	Heaven's name, let him go.

			CAPTAIN O'REILLY
		   (sulkily)
	He may go hang for me, and he's
	better be off quickly, for I shall
	go to the magistrate if I see him
	again.

O'Reilly exits.  His wife sits down on the bed and begins
to cry.

EXT.  DUBLIN STREET - DAY

Roderick riding down the street, with his valise.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Where was now a home for the
	descendant of the James?  I was
	expelled from Dublin by a
	persecution occasioned, I must
	confess, by my own imprudence.  I
	had no time to wait and choose.  No
	place of refuge to fly to.

INT.  ALE HOUSE - DAY

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	There was a score of recruiting
	parties in the town beating up for
	men to join our gallant armies in
	America and Germany.

Roderick approaches a Captain and a Sergeant, who quickly
make him welcome.

			RODERICK
	I will tell you frankly, sir.  I am
	a young gentleman in difficulties; I
	have killed an officer in a duel,
	and I am anxious to get out of the
	country.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	But I needn't have troubled myself
	with any explanations; King George
	was in too much want of men to heed
	from whence they came -- and a
	fellow of my inches was always
	welcome.  Indeed, I could not have
	chosen my time better.  A transport
	was lying at Dunleary, waiting for a
	wind.

EXT.  BRITISH WARSHIP AT SEA - DAY

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I never had a taste for any thing
	but genteel company, and hate all
	descriptions of low life.  Hence my
	account of the society in which I at
	present found myself must of
	necessity be short.  The
	reminiscences of the horrid black-
	hole of a place in which we soldiers
	were confined, of the wretched
	creatures with whom I was now forced
	to keep company, of the plowmen,
	poachers, pickpockets, who had taken
	refuge from poverty, or the law, as,
	in truth, I had done myself, is
	enough to make me ashamed even now.

Roderick sits very disconsolately over a platter of rancid
bacon and moldy biscuit, which is served to him at mess.
When it comes to his turn to be helped to drink, he is
served, like the rest, with dirty tin noggin, containing
somewhat more than half a pint of rum and water.  The
beaker is so greasy and filthy that he cannot help turning
round to the messman and saying:

			RODERICK
	Fellow, get me a glass!

At which, all the wretches round him burst into a roar of
laughter, the very loudest among them being Mr. Toole, a
red-haired monster of a man.

			MR. TOOLE
	Get the gentleman a towel for his
	hands, and serve him a basin of
	turtle-soup.

Roars the monster, who is sitting, or rather squatting, on
the deck opposite him, and as he speaks, he suddenly
seizes Roderick's beaker of grog and empties it in midst
of another burst of applause.

			LINK-BOY
		   (whispers)
	If you want to vex him, ask him
	about his wife, the washerwoman, who
	bates him.

			RODERICK
	Is it a towel of your wife's
	washing, Mr. Toole?  I'm told she
	wiped your face often with one.

			LINK-BOY
		   (whispers)
	Ask him why he wouldn't see her
	yesterday, when she came to the
	ship.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And so I put to him some other
	foolish jokes about soapsuds, hen-
	pecking, and flat-irons, which set
	the man into a fury, and succeeded
	in raising a quarrel between us.

Roderick and Toole fight with cudgels.  Roderick gives him
a thump across his head which lays him lifeless on the
floor.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	This victory over the cock of the
	vile dunghill obtained me respect
	among the wretches among whom I
	formed part.

EXT.  MILITARY DRILL FIELD - CUXHAVEN - DAY

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Our passage was very favorable, and
	in two days we landed at Cuxhaven,
	and before I had been a month in the
	Electorate, I was transported into a
	tall and proper young soldier, and,
	having a natural aptitude for
	military exercise, was soon as
	accomplished at the drill as the
	oldest sergeant in the regiment.

Various cuts.

Roderick learning the soldierly arts, musket drill, manual
of arms, bayonet, marching.

EXT.  MILITARY COURTYARD - CUXHAVEN - DAY

The Cuxhaven troops are drawn up to receive a new
regiment, arrived from England.

Roderick sees, marching at the head of his company, his
old friend, Captain Grogan, who gives him a wink.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Six weeks after we arrived in
	Cuxhaven, we were reinforced by
	Gales regiment of foot from England,
	and I promise you the sight of
	Grogan's face was most welcome to
	me, for it assured me that a friend
	was near me.

INT.  GROGAN'S QUARTERS - DAY

Roderick and Grogan.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Grogan gave me a wink of
	recognition, but offered no public
	token of acquaintance and it was not
	until two days afterwards that he
	called me into his quarters, and
	then, shaking hands with me
	cordially, gave me news which I
	wanted, of my family.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	I had news of you in Dublin.  Faith,
	you've begun early, like your
	father's son, but I think you could
	not do better than as you have done.
	But why did you not write home to
	your poor mother?  She has sent
	half-a-dozen letters to you in
	Dublin.

			RODERICK
	I suppose she addressed them to me
	in my real name, by which I never
	thought to ask for them at the post
	office.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	We must write to her today, and you
	can tell her that you are safe and
	married to "Brown Bess."

Roderick sighs when Grogan says the word "married," on
which Grogan says with a laugh:

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	I see you are thinking of a certain
	young lady at Duganstown.

			RODERICK
	Is Miss Dugan well?

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	There's only six Miss Dugans now...
	poor Dorothy.

			RODERICK
	Good heavens!  Whatever?  Has she
	died of grief?

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	She took on so at your going away
	that she was obliged to console
	herself with a husband.  She is now
	Mrs. John Best.

			RODERICK
	Mrs. John Best!  Was there another
	Mr. John Best?!

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	No, the very same one, my boy.  He
	recovered from his wound.  The ball
	you hit him with was not likely to
	hurt him.  It was only made of tow.
	Do you think the Dugans would let
	you kill fifteen hundred a-year out
	of the family?  The plan of the duel
	was all arranged in order to get you
	out of the way, for the cowardly
	Englishman could never be brought to
	marry from fear of you.  But hit him
	you certainly did, Roderick, and
	with a fine thick plugget of tow,
	and the fellow was so frightened
	that he was an hour in coming to.
	We told your mother the story
	afterwards, and a pretty scene she
	made.

			RODERICK
	The coward!

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	He has paid off your uncle's
	mortgage.  He gave Dorothy a coach-
	and-six.  That coward of a fellow
	has been making of your uncle's
	family.  Faith, the business was
	well done.  Your cousins, Michael
	and Harry, never let him out of
	their sight, though he was for
	deserting to England, until the
	marriage was completed, and the
	happy couple off on their road to
	Dublin.  Are you in want of cash, my
	boy?  You may draw upon me, for I got
	a couple of hundred out of Master
	Best for my share and, while they
	last, you shall never want.

EXT.  VARIOUS LOCATIONS - BRITISH ON THE MARCH - DAY

Roderick on the march.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Our regiment, which was quartered
	about Stade and Luneberg, speedily
	had got orders to march southwards
	towards the Rhine, where we would
	fight the famous battle of Minden.
	It would require a greater
	philosopher and historian than I am
	to explain the causes of the famous
	Seven Years' War in which Europe was
	engaged, and, indeed, its origin has
	always appeared to me to be so
	complicated, and the books written
	about it so amazingly hard to
	understand, that I have seldom been
	much wiser at the end of a chapter
	than at the beginning, and so shall
	not trouble you with any personal
	disquisitions concerning the matter.

Various cuts featuring Roderick; marching, cooking at open
fires, gambling, resting in a farm yard, officers riding
by; shivering in his blanket.

EXT.  BATTLEFIELD OF MINDEN - BATTLE FRAGMENT - DAY

Roderick and his company.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Were these memoirs not characterized
	by truth, I might easily make myself
	the hero of some strange and popular
	adventures.

EXT.  MINDEN - BATTLE FRAGMENTS - DAY

Officers ride by in smoke.  Troops marching to the attack.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	But I saw no one of the higher ranks
	that day than my colonel and a
	couple of orderly officers riding by
	in the smoke -- no one on our side,
	that is.  A poor corporal is not
	generally invited into the company
	of commanders and the great.

Roderick advancing.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	But, in revenge, I saw, I promise
	you, some very good company on the
	French part, for their regiments of
	Lorraine and Royal Cravate were
	charging us all day; and in the sort
	of melee high and low are pretty
	equally received.  I hate bragging,
	but I cannot help saying that I made
	a very close acquaintance with the
	colonel of the Cravates.

Roderick firing his musket.  He bayonets a French colonel,
amidst shouts and curses.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And finished off a poor little
	ensign, so young, slender, and
	small, that a blow from my pigtail
	would have dispatched him.

Roderick kills a French ensign with a blows from the butt
of his musket.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And in the poor ensign's pocket
	found a purse of fourteen louis
	d'or, and a silver box of sugar-
	plums, of which the former present
	was very agreeable to me.

Roderick taking money and the box of sugar-plums from the
ensign.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	If people would tell their stories
	of battles in this simple way, I
	think the cause of truth would not
	suffer by it.  All I know of this
	famous fight of Minden, except from
	books, is told here above.

Captain Grogan is shot, cries out, and falls.

A brother captain turns to Lieutenant Lakenham.

			CAPTAIN
	Grogan's down; Lakenham, there's
	your company.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	That was all the epitaph my brave
	patron got.

Roderick kneels above Grogan.

			CAPTAIN GROGAN
	I should have left you a hundred
	guineas, Roderick, but for a cursed
	run of ill-luck last night at faro.

He gives Roderick a faint squeeze of the hand; and, as the
word is given to advance, Roderick leaves him.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	When we came back to our ground,
	which we presently did, he was lying
	still, but he was dead.  Some of our
	people had already torn off his
	epaulets, and, no doubt, had rifled
	his purse.

EXT.  VARIOUS ROUGH RURAL LOCATIONS - DAY

Short cuts to voice over.

Roderick and British troops rape, pillage and burn.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	After the death of my protector,
	Captain Grogan, I am forced to
	confess that I fell into the very
	worst of courses and company.  In a
	foreign country, with the enemy
	before us, and the people
	continually under contribution from
	one side or the other, numberless
	irregularities were permitted to the
	troops.  It is well for gentlemen to
	talk of the age of chivalry; but
	remember the starving brutes whom
	they lead -- men nursed in poverty,
	entirely ignorant, made to take
	pride in deeds of blood -- men who
	can have no amusement but in
	drunkenness, debauch, and plunder.
	It is with these shocking
	instruments that your great warriors
	and kings have been doing their
	murderous work in the world.

EXT.  BATTLEFIELD - WARBURG - BATTLE FRAGMENTS - DAY

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The year in which George II died,
	our regiment had the honor to be
	present at the Battle of Warburg,
	where Prince Ferdinand once more
	completely defeated the Frenchmen.

Lieutenant Lakenham is shot, falls, and cries for help.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	During the action, my lieutenant,
	Mr. Lakenham, of Lakenham, was
	struck by a musket-ball in the side.
	He had shown no want of courage in
	this or any other occasion where he
	had been called upon to act against
	the French; but this was his first
	wound, and the young gentleman was
	exceedingly frightened by it.

			LAKENHAM
	Here, you, Roderick James.  I will
	pay you five guineas if you will
	carry me into the town which is hard
	by those woods.

Roderick and another man take him up in a cloak, and carry
him towards the nearby town of Warburg.

EXT.  A FARMHOUSE - GERMAN STREET - WARBURG - DAY

In order to get into the house, Roderick and the other man
are obliged to fire into the locks with their pieces,
which summons brings the inhabitants of the house to the
door; a very pretty and black-eyed, young woman, and her
old, half-blinded father.

They are at first unwilling to accommodate the guest, but
Mr. Lakenham, speaking to them in German, and taking a
couple of guineas out of a very full purse, speedily
convinces the people that they have only to deal with a
person of honor.

INT.  WARBURG FARMHOUSE - BEDROOM - DAY

They carry Lieutenant Lakenham to bed and receive their
five guineas.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	We put the patient to bed, and he
	paid me the stipulated reward.  A
	young surgeon, who desired nothing
	better than to take himself out of
	the fire of the musketry, came
	presently to dress the wound.

In his German jargon, Roderick pays some deserved
compliments to the black-eyed beauty of Warburg, thinking,
with no small envy, how comfortable it would be to be
billeted there.

EXT.  STREET - WARBURG - OUTSIDE THE FARMHOUSE - DAY

He starts back to the regiment, with his comrade, when the
man interrupts his reverie by suggesting they divide the
five guineas.

			PRIVATE
	I should get half.

			RODERICK
	Your share is one guinea.

Roderick gives him one guinea.

			PRIVATE
	He gave you five guineas, and I
	bloody well expect half.

			RODERICK
	Go to the devil.

The private lifting his musket, hits Roderick a blow with
the butt-end of it, which sends him stunned to the ground,
allowing his comrade to take the other four guineas from
his pocket.

Recovering his senses, Roderick bleeding, with a large
wound in the head, has barely time to stagger back to the
house where he had just left the lieutenant, when he
falls fainting at the door, just as the surgeon exits.

INT.  WARBURG FARMHOUSE - BEDROOM - DAY

Roderick is carried by the surgeon and the black-eyed
girl, into another bed in the room where the Lieutenant
has been laid.

			LAKENHAM
		   (languidly, in pain)
	Who are you putting into that bed?

			LISCHEN
	We have the Corporal, wounded, to
	you bringing.

			LAKENHAM
	A corporal?  Turn him out.  Schicken
	sie Herrn Koporal weg!

INT.  WARBURG FARMHOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT AND DAY

Lischen brings Roderick a refreshing drink; and, as he
takes it, he presses the kind hand that gave it to him;
nor does this token of his gratitude seem unwelcome.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I found Lischen the tenderest of
	nurses.  Whenever any delicacy was
	to be provided for the wounded
	lieutenant, a share was always sent
	to the bed opposite his, and to the
	avaricious man's no small annoyance.

Lischen serving food.

Various cuts, representing different days.

Lakenham behaving as rottenly as Roderick describes:

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Nor was I the only person in the
	house to whom the worthy gentleman
	was uncivil.  He ordered the fair
	Lischen hither and thither, made
	impertinent love to her, abused her
	soups, quarreled with her
	omelettes, and grudged the money
	which was laid out for his
	maintenance, so that our hostess
	detested him as much as, I think,
	without vanity, as she regarded me.

Roderick making lover to Lischen while Lieutenant Lakenham
sulks in the next bed.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	For if truth must be told, I had
	made very deep love to her during my
	stay under her roof, as is always my
	way with women, of whatever age or
	degree of beauty.  Do not think me
	very cruel and heartless, ladies;
	this heart of Lischen's was like
	many a town, which had been stormed
	and occupied several times before I
	came to invest it,

Roderick sitting up in bed.  Lischen has just served him
his supper.

Enter a British officer, an aide who carries a notebook,
and a surgeon.  In a brief scene to be written, we learn
that a sudden movement on the part of the French requires
the British army to follow them.  The town is to be
evacuated, except for some Prussian line-of-communication
troops, whose surgeons are to visit the wounded in the
place; and, when they are well, they are to be drafted to
their regiments.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I began to reflect how pleasant my
	quarters were to me, and that I was
	much better here than crawling under
	an odious tent with a parcel of
	tipsy soldiers, or going the night-
	rounds, or rising long before
	daybreak for drill.  I determined
	that I never would join mine again.

EXT.  VIEW OUT OF WARBURG FARMHOUSE WINDOW - DAY

Roderick stands by the window, watching English troops and
wagons leaving the town.

INT.  WARBURG FARMHOUSE - BEDROOM - DAY

Roderick walks into Lakenham's room attired in his full
regimentals, and with his hat cocked over his left eye.

			RODERICK
	I'm promoted Lieutenant.  I've come
	to take my leave of you.  I intend
	to have your papers and purse.

			LAKENHAM
	You great scoundrel!  You mutinous
	dog!  What do you mean by dressing
	yourself in my regimentals?  As sure
	as my name's Lakenham, when we get
	back to the regiment, I'll have your
	soul cut out of your body.

With this, Roderick puts his hand under his pillow, at
which Lakenham gives a scream that might have called the
whole garrison about his ears.

Roderick threatens him with a knife at his throat.

			RODERICK
	Hark ye, sir!  No more noise, or you
	are a dead man!

Roderick, taking his handkerchief, binds it tight round
his mouth, and, pulling forward the sleeves of his shirt,
ties them in a knot together, and so leaves him, removing
the papers and the purse, and wishing him politely a good
day.

EXT.  WARBURG FARMHOUSE - STREET - DAY

Lischen, waiting outside the house, with a saddled horse,
throws her arms around him, and makes the tenderest adieu.

Roderick mounts his newly-purchased animal, waves his hat
gallantly, and, prances away down the street.

EXT.  ROAD - DAY

Roderick happily riding along a wooded country road,
rounds a blind bend and sees suddenly before him, about
two hundred yards away, a company of Prussian infantry
resting along the sides of the road, together with a dozen
mounted dragoons.

A quick calculation tells him that is is better to proceed
than to turn back, and he rides into their midst,
approaching a group of officers.

He presents himself as Lieutenant Lakenham and asks for
directions to join his regiment.  He is told that he is
riding in the wrong direction, and is shown a map.

During the explanation, Captain Galgenstein approaches
with an open, smiling countenance, introduces himself, and
says he, too, is bound for the same place, and asks if
Roderick will honor him with his company.

To avoid suspicion, Roderick readily accepts the offer,
and the two men mount up, and ride off together.

EXT.  ROAD - GERMANY - DAY

Roderick and Galgenstein riding together.

Dialogue under voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My companion treated me with great
	civility, and asked me a thousand
	questions about England, which I
	answered as best I might.  But this
	best, I am bound to say, was bad
	enough.  I knew nothing about
	England, and I invented a thousand
	stories which I told him; described
	the king and the ministers to him,
	said the British ambassador in
	Berlin was my uncle, and promised my
	acquaintance a letter of
	recommendation to him.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	What is your uncle's name?

			RODERICK
		   (slowly)
	O'Grady.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
		   (with a laugh)
	Oh, yes, of course, Ambassador
	O'Grady...

EXT.  DESOLATE GERMAN ROAD - DAY

Roderick and Captain Galgenstein.  Their horses' heads
together, jogging on.

They pass a party of recruits under the armed guard of a
red-coated Hanoverian sergeant.

He exchanges signs of recognition with Captain
Galgenstein.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	It hurts my feelings to be obliged
	to commune with such wretches, but
	the stern necessities of war demand
	men continually, and hence these
	recruiters whom you see market in
	human flesh.  They get five-and-
	twenty thaler a man from our
	government for every man they bring
	in.  For fine men -- for men like
	you.
		   (he adds laughing)
	They would go as high as hundred.

EXT.  DESOLATE GERMAN INN - LATE AFTERNOON

Roderick and Captain Galgenstein approach a very lonely-
looking place.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	This is a very good inn.  Shall we
	stop for dinner?

			RODERICK
	This may be a very good inn for
	Germany, but it would not pass in
	old Ireland.  Corbach is only a
	league off, let us push on for
	Corbach.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	Do you want to see the loveliest
	woman in Europe?

Roderick smiles.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	Ah!  You sly rogue, I see that will
	influence you.

			RODERICK
	The place seems more a farm than an
	inn-yard.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	The people are great farmers, as
	well as inn-keepers.

They enter by a great gate into a court, walled round, and
at on end of which is the building, a dingy ruinous place.

A couple of covered wagons are in the courtyard; their
horses are littered under a shed hard by.

Lounging about the place are some men, and a pair of
sergeants in the Prussian uniform, who both touch their
hats to the captain.

The inn has something foreboding about it, and the men
shut the great yard-gates as soon as they enter.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
		   (explaining the gate)
	Parties of French horsemen are about
	the country, and one cannot take too
	many precautions against such
	villains.

The two sergeant take charge of the horses; the captain
orders one of them to take Roderick's valise to his
bedroom.

Roderick promises the sergeant a glass of schnapps for his
pains.

They enter into supper.

INT.  GERMAN INN - LATE AFTERNOON

A dish of fried eggs and bacon is ordered from a hideous
old wench that comes to serve them, in place of the lovely
creature which had been expected; and the captain,
laughing, says:

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	Well, our meal is a frugal one, but
	a soldier has many a time a worse.

Taking off his hat, sword-belt, and gloves, with great
ceremony, Galgenstein sits down to eat.  Roderick puts his
weapons securely on the old chest of drawers where the
captain's is laid.

The hideous old woman brings in a pot of very sour wine,
at which, and at her ugliness, Roderick feels a
considerable ill-humor.

			RODERICK
		   (when she leaves)
	Where's the beauty you promised me?

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
		   (laughing and looking
		    hard at Roderick)
	It was my joke.  I was tired, and
	did not care to go farther.  There's
	not prettier woman here than that.
	If she won't suit your fancy, my
	friend, then you must wait awhile.

This increases Roderick's ill-humor.

			RODERICK
		   (sternly)
	Upon my word, sir, I think you have
	acted very coolly.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	I have acted as I think fit.

			RODERICK
	Sir, I'm a British officer.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	It's a lie!  You're a deserter!
	You're an impostor, sir; Your lies
	and folly have confirmed this to me.
	You pretend to carry dispatches to a
	general who has been dead these ten
	months; you have an uncle who is an
	ambassador and whose name you don't
	know.  Will you join and take the
	bounty, sir, or will you be given
	up?

			RODERICK
	Neither!

Springing at him like a tiger.

But, agile as he is, Galgenstein is equally on his guard.
He takes two pistols out of his pockets, fires one off,
and says, from the other end of the table where he stands
dodging Roderick, as it were.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	Advance a step, and I send this
	bullet into your brains!

The door is flung open, and the two sergeants enter, armed
with musket and bayonet to aid their captain.

The game is up.  Roderick flings down a knife with which
he had armed himself, for the old hag, on bringing in the
wine, had removed his sword.

			RODERICK
	I volunteer.

EXT.  A ROAD - DAY

Prussian troops on the march.  Roderick is now one of
them.

Captain Galgenstein rides by.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	At the close of the Seven Years' War,
	the Prussian army, so renowned for
	its disciplined valor, was
	officered and under-officered by
	native Prussians, it is true, but
	was composed for the most part of
	men hired or stolen, like myself,
	from almost every nation in Europe.
	The deserting to and fro was
	prodigious.

EXT.  A FIELD - DAY

Prussian punishment gauntlet.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The life the private soldier led was
	a frightful one to any but the men
	of iron courage and endurance.  The
	punishment was incessant.

EXT.  VARIOUS RURAL LOCATIONS - DAY

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I was not near so unhappy, in spite
	of all, as I had been on my first
	enlisting in Ireland.  At least,
	there will be no one of my
	acquaintance who will witness my
	shame, and that is the point which I
	have always cared for most.

Rape, pillage and burn.

Brief thematic repeat of British army version.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I reasoned with myself thus:  "Now
	you are caught, there is no use in
	repining -- make the best of your
	situation, and get all the pleasure
	you can out of it.  There are a
	thousand opportunities of plunder,
	offered to the soldier in war time,
	out of which he can get both
	pleasure and profit; make use of
	these, and be happy."

EXT.  BATTLEFIELD - FRAGMENT

Prussians against Austrians, or French, or Saxons.

Roderick fighting.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I do not intend to make a history of
	battles in the Prussian any more
	than in the English service.  I did
	my duty in them as well as another,
	and there was not a braver,
	cleverer, handsomer, and, I must
	own, wickeder soldier in the
	Prussian army.

EXT.  BATTLEFIELD - ACTION - DAY

			RODERICK
	I had formed myself to the condition
	of the proper fighting beast; on a
	day of action, I was savage and
	happy.

Roderick saves Captain Galgenstein's life.

EXT.  FIELD - DAY

Roderick is decorated by Colonel Bulow for his heroism in
saving Captain Galgenstein.

Colonel Bulow gives Roderick two Frederic d'or in front of
the regiment.

			COLONEL BULOW
	You are a gallant soldier, and have
	evidently come of good stock; but
	you are idle, dissolute, and
	unprincipled; you have done a deal
	of harm to the men; and, for all
	your talents and bravery, I am sure
	you will come to no good.

			RODERICK
	I hope Colonel Bulow is mistaken
	regarding my character.  I have
	fallen into bad company, it is true;
	but I have only done as other
	soldiers have done; and, above all,
	I have never had a kind friend and
	protector before, to whom I might
	show that I was worthy of better
	things.  The Colonel may say I am a
	ruined lad, and send me to the
	devil; but be sure of this, I would
	go to the devil to serve the
	regiment.

Captain Galgenstein looks pleased with Roderick's
performance.

BERLIN - 1763

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Soon after the war ended, our
	regiment was garrisoned in the
	capital, the least dull, perhaps, of
	all the towns of Prussia; but that
	does not say much for its gaiety.

INT.  ANTE-ROOM - CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN'S OFFICE - DAY

Roderick enters and approaches the Captain's sergeant.

			RODERICK
	Private Roderick James.  First
	Hanoverian Guards.  Captain
	Galgenstein sent for me.

			PRUSSIAN SERGEANT
	You may wait.

			RODERICK
	Thank you, sir.

Roderick stands stiffly.  We can make out the sound of
loud talking behind the closed door.

Enter a private huffing and puffing.

			PRIVATE
	Sergeant, the wagon has arrived with
	the Captain's furniture, but the
	driver says he is not supposed to
	unload it.  Is it possible for you
	to talk to him?

Exit the sergeant, muttering.  Roderick, now alone in the
office, walks closer to the door so that he can hear what
is being said.

			MINISTER GALGENSTEIN (O.S.)
	Give him his discharge!  Bon Dieu!
	You are a model of probity!  You'll
	never succeed to my place, my dear
	nephew, if you are no wiser than you
	are just now.  Make the fellow as
	useful to you as you please.  You
	say he has a good manner and a frank
	countenance, that he can lie with
	assurance, and fight, you say, on a
	pinch.  The scoundrel does not want
	for good qualities.  As long as you
	have the regiment in terrorem over
	him, you can do as you like with
	him.  Once let him loose, and the lad
	is likely to give you the slip.
	Keep on promising him; promise to
	make him a general, if you like.
	What the deuce do I care?  There are
	spies enough to be had in this town
	without him.

Roderick hears the sergeant returning and walks back to
the door.

Then the office door opens, Captain Galgenstein looks out,
sees Roderick, smiles and say:

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	Good morning, Private James.  Please
	come in.  I should like you to meet
	my uncle, Herr Minister of Police
	Galgenstein.

			RODERICK
	How do you do, sir?

The Minister nods.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The captain was the nephew and heir
	of the Minister of Police, Herr
	Galgenstein, a relationship which,
	no doubt, aided in the younger
	gentlemen's promotion.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	Your loyalty to me and your service
	to the regiment has pleased me very
	well -- and now there is another
	occasion on which you may make
	yourself useful to us; if you
	succeed, depend on it, your reward
	will be your discharge from the
	army, and a bounty of 100 guineas.

			RODERICK
	What is the service, sir?

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	There is lately come to Berlin a
	gentleman in the service of the
	Empress Queen, who calls himself the
	Chevalier de Belle Fast, and wears
	the red riband and star of the
	pope's order of the Spur.  He is
	made for good society, polished,
	obliging, a libertine, without
	prejudices, fond of women, of good
	food, of high play, prudent and
	discreet.

The Captain smiles at Roderick.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	He speaks Italian and French
	indifferently; but we have some
	reason to fancy this Monsieur de
	Belle Fast is a native of your
	country of Ireland, and that he has
	come here as a spy.

The Captain rises and begins to pace back and forth.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	Naturally, your knowledge of English
	makes you an ideal choice to go into
	his service.  Of course, you will
	not know a word of English; and if
	the Chevalier asks as to the
	particularity of your accent, say
	you are Hungarian.  The servant who
	came with him will be turned away
	today, and the person to whom he has
	applied for a faithful fellow will
	recommend you.

Roderick nods.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	You are a Hungarian; you served in
	the army, and left on account of
	weakness in the loins.  He gambles a
	great deal, and wins.  Do you know
	the cards well?

			RODERICK
	Only a very little, as soldiers do.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	I had thought you more expert.  You
	must find out if the Chevalier
	cheats.  He sees the English and
	Austrian envoys continually, and the
	young men of either ministry sup
	repeatedly at his house.  Find out
	what they talk of, for how much each
	plays, especially if any of them
	play on parole.  If you are able to,
	read his private letters, though
	about those which go to the post,
	you need not trouble yourself -- we
	look at them there.  But never see
	him write a note without finding out
	to whom it goes, and by what channel
	or messenger.  He sleeps with the
	keys of his dispatch-box with a
	string around his neck -- twenty
	frederics, if you get an impression
	of the keys.

			MINISTER GALGENSTEIN
	Does this assignment interest you?

			RODERICK
	Yes, Minister, I am interested in
	any work in which I can be of
	service to Captain Galgenstein.

The Minister studies Roderick, coldly.

EXT.  CHEVALIER DE BELLE FAST'S HOUSE - BERLIN - DAY

Roderick, now dressed in civilian clothes, admires a
beautiful carriage, waiting at the door.  Then he enters.

INT.  CHEVALIER DE BELLE FAST'S APARTMENT - DAY

			CHEVALIER
	You are the young man who M. de
	Seebach recommended?

			RODERICK
	Yes, sir.  Here is my letter.

Roderick bows, and hands him a letter from that gentleman,
with which the Captain had taken care to provide him.

As the Chevalier reads the letter, Roderick has the
leisure to examine him.

He is a man of sixty years of age, dressed superbly,
wearing rings, diamonds and laces.

One of his eyes is closed with a black patch, and he wears
a little white and red paint, and a pair of moustachios,
which fall over his lip.

The Chevalier is seated at a table near the window to read
the letter.

			CHEVALIER
	Your name is Lazlo Zilagyi?

			RODERICK
	Yes, sir.

			CHEVALIER
	You come highly recommended by Herr
	Seebach.

			RODERICK
	Herr Seebach was a very kind
	employer.

			CHEVALIER
	For whom else have you worked?

			RODERICK
	No one, sir.  Before that I served
	in the army but had to leave due to
	weakness of the loins.

			CHEVALIER
	Who else can give me information
	about you?

			RODERICK
	Only the agency of servants.

The Chevalier puts the letter down, looks at Roderick for
a few seconds, and then smiles.

			CHEVALIER
	You will do.  I will give you 30...
	a day.  I do not provide your
	clothing; you will sleep at home,
	and you will be at my orders every
	morning at seven o'clock.

He notices Roderick begin to tremble and look peculiar.

			CHEVALIER
	Is there something wrong?

He goes up to Roderick.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	It was very imprudent of me; but
	when I saw the splendor of his
	appearance, the nobleness of his
	manner, I felt it impossible to keep
	disguise with him.  You, who have
	never been out of your country know
	little what it is to hear a friendly
	voice in captivity; and there's a
	many a man that will understand the
	cause of the burst of feeling which
	was about to take place.

The Chevalier takes Roderick by the shoulder.

			RODERICK
		   (as he speaks,
		    bursting into tears)
	Sir, I have a confession to make.  I
	am an Irishman, and my name is
	Roderick James.  I was abducted into
	the Prussian army two years ago, and
	now I have been put into your
	service by my Captain and his uncle,
	the Minister of Police, to serve as
	a watch upon your actions, of which
	I am to give information to the same
	quarter.  For this odious service, I
	have been promised my discharge, and
	a hundred guineas.

Sobbing, Roderick falls into his arms.

			CHEVALIER
	The rascals!  They think to catch
	me, do they?  Why, young man, my
	chief conspiracy is a faro-bank.
	But the king is so jealous, that he
	will see a spy in every person who
	comes to his miserable capital, in
	the great sandy desert here.

EXT.  BERLIN - PARK - DAY

Roderick and the Chevalier walking.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And I think he was as much affected
	as I was at thus finding one of his
	kindred; for he, too, was an exile
	from home, and a friendly voice, a
	look, brought the old country back
	to his memory again, and the old
	days of his boyhood.

			CHEVALIER
	I'd give five years of my life to
	see the old country again, the
	greenfields, and the river, and the
	old round tower, and the burying
	place.

EXT.  BERLIN - STREET - DAY

Roderick and the Chevalier walking.

			CHEVALIER
	My lad, I have been in every
	service; and, between ourselves, owe
	money in every capital in Europe.  I
	have been a rolling stone.  Play --
	play has been my ruin!  That and
	beauty.  The women have made a fool
	of me, my dear boy.  I am a soft-
	hearted creature, and this minute,
	at sixty-two, have no more command
	of myself than when Peggy O'Dwyer
	made a fool of me at sixteen.

EXT.  BERLIN - LAKE WANNSEE - DAY

Roderick and the Chevalier walking along the bank.

			CHEVALIER
	The cards are now my only
	livelihood.  Sometimes I am in luck,
	and then I lay out my money in these
	trinkets you see.  It's property,
	look you, and the only way I have
	found of keeping a little about me.
	When the luck goes against me, why,
	my dear, my diamonds go to the
	pawnbrokers and I wear paste.  Do
	you understand the cards?

			RODERICK
	I can play as soldiers do, but have
	no great skill.

			CHEVALIER
	We will practice in the mornings, my
	boy, and I'll put you up to a thing
	or two worth knowing.

INT.  CHEVALIER'S ROOMS - BERLIN - DAY

Quick cuts -- Roderick being taught the profession of
cards and the dice-box.

EXT.  GARDEN HOUSE - BERLIN - DAY

Roderick, Minister Galgenstein, and Captain Galgenstein.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I carried my little reports to
	Captain Galgenstein at the Garden
	house outside the town where he gave
	me rendezvous.  These reports, of
	course, were arranged between me and
	the Chevalier beforehand.  I was
	instructed, and it is always the
	best way, to tell as much truth as
	my story would possible bear.

Dialogue comes up from under voice over.

			RODERICK
	He goes to church regularly -- he is
	very religious, and after hearing
	mass comes home to breakfast.  Then
	he takes an airing in his chariot
	till dinner, which is served at
	noon.  After dinner, he writes his
	letters, if he has any letters to
	write; but he has very little to do
	in this way.  His letters are to the
	Austrian envoy, with whom he
	corresponds, but who does not
	acknowledge him; and being written
	in English, or course, I look over
	his shoulder.  He generally writes
	for money.  He makes his party with
	Calsabigi, the lottery contractor,
	the Russian attaches, two from the
	English embassy, my lords Deuceace
	and Punter, who play a jeu d'enfer,
	and a few more.  He wins often, but
	not always.  Lord Deuceace is a very
	fine player.  The Chevalier Elliott,
	the English Minister, sometimes
	comes, on which occasion the
	secretaries do not play.

INT.  CHEVALIER'S APARTMENTS - NIGHT

The Chevalier is at play against several gentlemen,
including the Prince of Turbingen, while Roderick signals
the cards.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	It was agreed that I should keep my
	character of valet, that in the
	presence of strangers I should not
	know a word of English, that I
	should keep good lookout on the
	trumps when I was serving the
	champagne and punch about; and,
	having a remarkably fine eyesight,
	and a great natural aptitude, I was
	speedily able to give my dear
	benefactor much assistance against
	his opponents at the green table.

Several cuts of playing and cheating to illustrate voice
over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Simplicity was our secret.
	Everything successful is simple.
	If, for instance, I wiped the dust
	off a chair with my napkin, it was
	to show that the enemy was strong in
	diamonds; if I pushed it, he had an
	ace, king; if I said, "Punch or
	wine, my lord?" hearts was meant.
	If "Wine or punch?" clubs.  If I
	blew my nose, it was to indicate
	that there was another confederate
	employed by the adversary; and then,
	I warrant you, some pretty trials of
	skill would take place.  The Prince
	of Turbingen, although so young, had
	a very great skill and cleverness
	with the cards in every way; and it
	was only from hearing Ritter von
	Brandenburg, who came with him, yawn
	three times when the Chevalier had
	the ace of trumps, that I knew we
	were Greek to Greek, as it were.

The Prince loses a big hand, and, in a fury, throws down
his cards.  He stares at the table, then at the Chevalier.

			PRINCE
	Chevalier, though I cannot say how,
	I believe you have cheated me.

			CHEVALIER
	I deny your Grace's accusations, and
	beg you to say how you have been
	cheated?

			PRINCE
		   (glaring at Roderick)
	I don't know.

			CHEVALIER
	Your Grace owes me seventy thousand
	frederics, which I have honorably
	won.

			PRINCE
	Chevalier, if you will have your
	money now, you must fight for it.
	If you will be patient, maybe I will
	pay you something another time.

			CHEVALIER
	Your Grace, if I am so tame as to
	take this, then I must give up an
	honorable and lucrative occupation.

			PRINCE
	I have said all there is to be said.
	I am at your disposal for whatever
	purposes you wish.  Good night.

He exits.

EXT.  GARDEN HOUSE - DAY

Roderick, Captain Galgenstein and Minister Galgenstein.

			MINISTER GALGENSTEIN
	Was he cheated?

			RODERICK
	In so far as I can tell these things
	-- no.  I believe the Chevalier won
	the money fairly.

			MINISTER GALGENSTEIN
	Hmm-mmmm.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	What are the Chevalier's intentions?

			RODERICK
	I am not sure.  The Prince told him
	quite clearly that if he wished to
	have the money, he would have to
	fight for it.

			MINISTER GALGENSTEIN
	A meeting with the Prince of
	Turbingen is impossible.

			RODERICK
	The Prince left him only that
	choice.

The Captain and the Minister walk a few steps away and
speak in whispers.

Then they return to Roderick.

			MINISTER GALGENSTEIN
	Will you be able to return here
	tomorrow without arousing suspicion?

INT.  CHEVALIER'S APARTMENTS - DAY

			CHEVALIER
	Tell them I intend to demand
	satisfaction from the Prince.

			RODERICK
	But they will prevent a meeting at
	whatever the cost.

			CHEVALIER
	Have no fear.  It will come out well
	for me.

			RODERICK
	I believe they will deport you.

			CHEVALIER
	I have faced that problem before.

			RODERICK
	But, if they send you away, then
	what is to become of me?

			CHEVALIER
		   (with a smile)
	Make your mind easy, you shall not
	be left behind, I warrant you.  Do
	take a last look at your barracks,
	make your mind easy, say a farewell
	to your friends in Berlin.  The dear
	souls, how they will weep when they
	hear you are out of the country,
	and, out of it, you shall go.

			RODERICK
	But how, sir?

EXT.  GARDEN HOUSE - BERLIN - DAY

Roderick, Captain Galgenstein and Minister Galgenstein.

			MINISTER GALGENSTEIN
	The King has determined to send the
	Chevalier out of the country.

			RODERICK
	When is he to go?

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	Has he sent the challenge yet?

			RODERICK
	Not yet, but I believe he intends
	to.

			MINISTER GALGENSTEIN
	Then this must be done tomorrow.

			RODERICK
	What is to be done?

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	You say he drives after breakfast
	and before dinner.  When he comes
	out to his carriage a couple of
	gendarmes will mount the box, and
	the coachman will get his orders to
	move on.

			RODERICK
	And his baggage?

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	Oh!  That will be sent after him.  I
	have a fancy to look into that red
	box which contains his papers, you
	say; and at noon, after parade,
	shall be at the inn.  You will not
	say a word to any one there
	regarding the affair, and will wait
	for me at the Chevalier's rooms
	until my arrival.  We must force
	that box.  You are a clumsy hound,
	or you would have got the key long
	ago.

EXT.  CHEVALIER'S APARTMENTS - DAY

Action as per voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	At ten o'clock the next morning, the
	carriage of the Chevalier de Belle
	Fast drew up as usual at the door of
	his hotel, and the Chevalier came
	down the stairs in his usual stately
	manner.

Looking around and not finding his servant to open the
door.

			CHEVALIER
	Where is my rascal, Lazlo?

			PRUSSIAN OFFICER
		   (standing by the
		    carriage)
	I will let down the steps for your
	honor.

No sooner does the Chevalier enter than the officer jumps
in after him, another mounts the box by the coachman, and
the latter begins to drive.

			CHEVALIER
	Good gracious!  What is this?

			PRUSSIAN OFFICER
		   (touching his hat)
	You are going to drive to the
	frontier.

			CHEVALIER
	It is shameful -- infamous!  I
	insist upon being put down at the
	Austrian ambassador's house.

			PRUSSIAN OFFICER
	I have orders to gag your honor if
	you cry out, and to give you this
	purse containing ten thousand
	frederics if you do not.

			CHEVALIER
	Ten thousand?  But the scoundrel
	owes me seventy thousand.

			PRUSSIAN OFFICER
	Your honor must lower his voice.

			CHEVALIER
		   (whispering)
	All Europe shall hear of this!

			PRUSSIAN OFFICER
	As you please.

Both lapse into silence.

EXT.  ROAD - DAY

The coach drives by.  Suddenly -- "boom," the alarm cannon
begins to roar.

INT.  COACH - DAY

			PRUSSIAN OFFICER
	Do not be alarmed.  The alarm cannon
	only signals a deserter.

Chevalier nods.

EXT.  ROAD - DAY

The coach drives by and action as described.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Hearing the sound of the alarm
	cannon, the common people came out
	along the road, with fowling-pieces
	and pitch-forks, in hopes to catch
	the truant.  The gendarmes looked
	very anxious to be on the lookout
	for him too.  The price of a
	deserter was fifty crowns to those
	who brought him in.

EXT.  SAXON CUSTOM-HOUSE - DAY

The black and white barriers came in view at last hard by
Bruck, and opposite them the green and yellow of Saxony.
The Saxon custom-house officers came out.

			CHEVALIER
	I have no luggage.

			PRUSSIAN OFFICER
	The gentleman has nothing
	contraband.

The Prussian officers, grinning, hand the Chevalier the
purse and take their leave of their prisoner with much
respect.

The Chevalier de Belle Fast gives them three frederic a-
piece.

			CHEVALIER
	Gentlemen, I wish you a good day.
	Will you please go to the house from
	whence we set out this morning, and
	tell my man there to send my baggage
	on to Three Kings at Dresden?

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Then ordering fresh horses, the
	Chevalier set off on his journey for
	that capital.  I need not tell you
	that I was the Chevalier.

INT.  ROOM - HOTEL DES TROIS COURONNES - DAY

Roderick reading a letter over his breakfast in bed.

			CHEVALIER (V.O.)
	From the Chevalier de Belle Fast to
	Roderick James, Esquire, Gentilhomme
	Anglais.  At the Hotel des trois
	Couronnes, Dresden, Saxe.  My dear
	Roderick -- This comes to you by a
	sure hand, no other than Mr. Lumpit,
	of the English mission, who is
	acquainted, as all Berlin will be
	directly, with our wonderful story.
	They only know half as yet; they
	only know that a deserter went off
	in my clothes, and all are in
	admiration of your cleverness and
	valor.

INT.  CHEVALIER'S ROOM - DAY

Action as per description in letter.

			CHEVALIER (V.O.)
	As I lay in my bed two and a half
	hours after your departure, in comes
	your ex-captain, Galgenstein.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
		   (in his imperious
		    Dutch manner)
	Roderick!  Are you there?

No answer.

			CAPTAIN GALGENSTEIN
	The rogue is gone out.

Action as per voice over.

			CHEVALIER (V.O.)
	Straightaway he makes for the red
	box where I keep my love letters, my
	glass eye which I used to wear, my
	two sets of Paris teeth, and my
	other private matters that you know
	of.  He first tries a bunch of keys,
	but none of them fit the English
	lock.  Then he takes out of his
	pocket a chisel and hammer, and
	falls to work like a professional
	burglar, actually bursting open the
	little box!  Now was my time to act!
	I advance towards him armed with an
	immense water-jug.  I come
	noiselessly up to him just as he has
	broken the box, and, with all my
	might, I deal him such a blow over
	the head as smashes the water-jug to
	bits, and sends the captain with a
	snort lifeless to the ground.  Then
	I ring all the bells in the house;
	and shout, and swear, and scream,
	"Thieves! -- Thieves! -- Landlord!
	-- Murder! -- Fire!" until the whole
	household comes tumbling up the
	stairs.

			CHEVALIER
	Where is my servant?  Who dares to
	rob me in open day?  Look at the
	villain whom I find in the act of
	breaking my chest open!  Send for
	the police, send for his Excellency
	the Austrian Minister!  All Europe
	shall know of this insult!

			LANDLORD
	Dear heaven!  We saw you go away
	three hours ago.

			CHEVALIER
	Me!  Why, man, I have been in bed
	all morning.  I am ill -- I have
	taken physic -- I have not left the
	house this morning!  Where is that
	scoundrel, Lazlo?  But, stop!  Where
	are my clothes and wig?

			CHAMBERMAID
	I have it -- I have it!  Lazlo is
	off in your honor's dress.

			CHEVALIER
	And my money -- my money!  Where is
	my purse with forty-eight frederics
	in it?  But we have one of the
	villains left, Officers, seize him.

			LANDLORD
		   (more and more
		    astonished)
	It's the young Herr Galgenstein.

			CHEVALIER
	What!  A gentleman breaking open my
	trunk with hammer and chisel --
	impossible!

			CHEVALIER (V.O.)
	Herr Galgenstein was returning to
	life by this time, with a swelling
	on his skull as big as a saucepan;
	and the officers carried him off,
	and, to make a long story short,
	poor Galgenstein is now on his way
	to Spandau; and his uncle, the
	Minister of Police Galgenstein, has
	brought me five hundred louis, with
	a humble request that I would leave
	Berlin forthwith, and hush up this
	painful matter.

INT.  GERMAN PALACE - BALLROOM - NIGHT

Roderick, the Chevalier and the Duke of Wurttemberg.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The Chevalier de Belle Fast was in
	particularly good order with the
	Duke of Wurttemberg, whose court
	was, at this period, the most
	brilliant in all Europe.

The Duke of Wurttemberg chatting with ballet dancers, who
will perform at the party.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	He spent fabulous sums on the
	ballets and operas.  All the
	ballerinas were pretty, and they all
	boasted that they had all at least
	once made their amorous sovereign
	happy.

Roderick and the Chevalier kissing hands, hobnobbing with
the nobility, and dancing minuets.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	There was not a party of the
	nobility to which the two Irish
	gentlemen were not invited, and
	admired, nor where we did not make
	the brave, the high-born and the
	beautiful talk to us.  There was no
	man in Europe more gay in spirits,
	more splendid in personal
	accomplishment, than young Roderick
	James.

EXT.  GERMAN STREET - DAWN

Roderick and the Chevalier in a comfortable coach, on
their way home to bed, pass troops marching out on early
parade.

INT.  COACH - DAWN

Roderick sinks back into the comfortable cushion and
yawns.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	What a delightful life did we now
	lead!  I knew I was born a
	gentleman, from the kindly way in
	which I took to the business, as
	business certainly it is.

INT.  BEDROOM - GERMANY - DAY

Roderick in a tub, being washed by a servant.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	For though it seems all pleasure,
	yet I assure any low-bred persons
	who may chance to read this, that
	we, their betters, have to work as
	well as they; though I did not rise
	until noon, yet had I not been up at
	play until long past midnight?

INT.  ANOTHER BEDROOM - GERMANY - DAY

His hair being done.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I came into it at once, and as if I
	had never done anything else all my
	life.  I had a gentleman to wait
	upon me, a French friseur to dress
	my hair of a morning.

INT.  DINING ROOM - NIGHT

A candle-lit supper.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I knew the taste of chocolate as by
	intuition almost, and could
	distinguish between the right
	Spanish and the French before I had
	been a week in my new position.

INSERTS - JEWELRY

Action and cuts as voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I had rings on my fingers, watches
	in both my fobs, trinkets, and
	snuff-boxes, of all sorts, and each
	outvying the other in elegance.

INT.  RECEPTION ROOM - GERMANY - DAY

As described.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I had the finest natural taste for
	lace and china of any man I ever
	knew.

EXT.  STABLES - GERMANY - DAY

Buying horses.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I could judge a horse as well as any
	dealer in Germany.  I could not
	spell, but I could speak German and
	French cleverly.

INT.  DRESSING ROOM - GERMANY - DAY

Roderick being fitted for clothes.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I had at least twelve suits of
	clothes; three richly embroidered
	with gold, two laced with silver;
	one of French grey, silver-laced and
	lined with chinchilla.  I had damask
	morning robes, to which a peacock's
	tail is as sober as a Quaker's drab
	skirt.

INT.  ORANGERY - DAY

Action as voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I took lessons on the guitar, and
	sang French catches exquisitely.
	Where, in fact, was there a more
	accomplished gentleman than Roderick
	James?

INT.  GAMING ROOM - GERMANY - NIGHT

Action as per voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	How have we had the best blood, and
	the brightest eyes, too, of Europe
	throbbing round the table as I and
	the Chevalier have held the cards
	and the bank against some terrible
	player, who was matching some
	thousands out of his millions
	against our all which was there on
	the baize!

INT.  GAMING ROOM - GERMANY - NIGHT

Roderick dealing a faro bank.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Our principles were:  play grandly,
	honorably.  Be not, of course, cast
	down at losing; but, above all, be
	not eager at winning, as mean souls
	are.

INT.  GAMING ROOM - GERMANY - NIGHT

Action as voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	When the Duke of Courland brought
	fourteen lackeys each with bags of
	florins, and challenged our bank to
	play against the sealed bags, what
	did we ask?

			CHEVALIER
	Sir, we have but eighty thousand
	florins in bank, or two hundred
	thousand at three months; if your
	highness' bags do not contain more
	than eight thousand, we will meet
	you.

Playing.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And we did, and after eleven hours
	play, in which our bank was at one
	time reduced to two hundred and
	three ducats, we won seventeen
	thousand florins off him.

Four crowned heads look on at the game, and an imperial
princess, when Roderick turns up the ace of hearts, bursts
into tears.

INT.  MASQUERADE BALL - NIGHT

Roderick and a girl.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Nor need I mention my successes
	among the fairer portion of the
	creation.  One of the most
	accomplished, the tallest, the most
	athletic, and the handsomest
	gentleman in Europe, as I was then,
	a young fellow of my figure could
	not fail of having advantages, which
	a person of my spirit knew very well
	how to us.

INT.  BOUDOIR - NIGHT

Making love to a masked lady.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Charming Schuvaloff.

INT.  COACH - NIGHT

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Black-eyed Sczortarska.

INT.  BOUDOIR - NIGHT

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Dark Valdez.

			RODERICK
	Do you expect me to believe that
	your lover brought you here tonight?

			VALDEZ
	Yes.  He brought me in his carriage,
	and he will call for me at midnight.

			RODERICK
	And he doesn't care about me?

			VALDEZ
	He is only curious to know who you
	are.

			RODERICK
	If his love were like mine, he would
	not permit you to come here.

			VALDEZ
	He loves me, as I love you.

			RODERICK
	Will he wish to know the details of
	this night?

			VALDEZ
	He will believe that it will please
	me if he asks about it, and I shall
	tell him everything except some
	circumstances which might humiliate
	him.

EXT.  GARDEN - NIGHT

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Tender Hegenheim.

INT.  BOUDOIR - NIGHT

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Brilliant Langeac.

Roderick takes from his portfolio a little jacket of very
fine transparent skin, eight inches long and closed at one
end, and which by way of a pouch string at its open end,
has a narrow pink ribbon.

He displays it to her, she looks at it, and laughs.

			LANGEAC
	I will put in on you myself.

She puts it on, out of shot.

			LANGEAC
	There you are, dressed by my hand.
	It is nearly the same thing; but
	despite the fineness and
	transparency of the skin, the little
	fellow pleases me less well in
	costume.  It seems that this
	covering degrades him, or degrades
	me -- one of the other.

			RODERICK
	Both, my angel.  It was Love who
	invented these little jackets:  for
	he had to ally himself with
	Precaution.

INT.  ROOM OFF A BALLROOM - NIGHT

Roderick making love to the Countess von Trotha.  Enter
the Count, in the uniform of a Colonel.

			COUNT
	I entered here, monsieur, at a bad
	moment for you; it seems that you
	love this lady.

			RODERICK
	Certainly, monseigneur, does not
	Your Excellency consider her worthy
	of love?

			COUNT
	Perfectly so; and what is more, I
	will tell you that I love her, and
	that I am not of a humor to put up
	with rivals.

			RODERICK
	Very well!  Now that I know it, I
	will no longer love her.

			COUNT
	Then you yield to me.

			RODERICK
	On the instant.  Everyone must yield
	to such a nobleman as you.

			COUNT
	Very well; but a man who yields
	takes to his legs.

			RODERICK
	That is a trifle strong.

			COUNT
	Take to your legs, low Irish dog.

Roderick smiles at him.

			RODERICK
	Your Excellency has wantonly
	insulted me.  That being so, I
	conclude that you hate me,
	Monseigneur, and that hence you
	would be glad to remove me from the
	number of the living.  In this wish,
	I can and will satisfy Your
	Excellency.

EXT.  BEAUTIFUL GARDEN - EARLY MORNING

Roderick's sword duel with the Count.

Details to be worked out.

INT.  BILLIARD ROOM - NIGHT

Roderick watches the Chevalier play with a Prussian
officer, Lieutenant Dascher.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	It was my unrivaled skill with
	sword and pistol, and readiness to
	use them, that maintained the
	reputation of the firm.

Towards the end of the game, Dascher, seeing that he is
losing, makes an unfair stroke, so obvious that the marker
tells him so to his face.

Lieutenant Dascher, for whom the stroke wins the game,
takes the money which is in the stake bag, and puts it in
his pocket, paying no attention to the marker's
adjurations, or to Roderick's.

Roderick, who is without his sword, reaches for a billiard
cue and swings it at Dascher's face.

He wards off the blow with his arm, drawing his sword and
runs at Roderick, who is unarmed.

The marker, a sturdy young man, catches Dascher around the
waist and prevents murder.

			DASCHER
	I see that you are without your
	sword, but I believe you are a man
	of mettle.  Will you give me
	satisfaction?

			RODERICK
	I shall be delighted; but you have
	lost and you must pay me the money
	before we meet, for, after all, you
	cannot pay me when you are dead.

			ANOTHER OFFICER
	I will undertake to pay you the 20
	louis, but only tomorrow morning at
	the meeting.

EXT.  FIELD - DAY

On the field, there are six people waiting with Dascher,
and his seconds.  Dascher takes 20 louis from his pocket
and hands them to Roderick, saying:

			DASCHER
	I may have been mistaken, but I mean
	to make you pay deadly for your
	brutality.

Roderick takes the money and puts it in his purse with the
utmost calm, making no reply to the other's boasting.

			RODERICK
		   (privately)
	It is distasteful to kill a
	scoundrel -- that should be work for
	a hangman.

			CHEVALIER
	To risk one's life against such
	people is an imposition.

			RODERICK
		   (laughs)
	I risk nothing, for I am certain to
	kill him.

			CHEVALIER
	Certain?

			RODERICK
	Perfectly certain, because I shall
	make him tremble.

He takes his station between two trees, about four paces
apart, and draws a pair of dueling pistols.

			RODERICK
	You have only to pace yourself at
	ten paces difference, and fire
	first.  The space between these two
	trees is the place where I choose to
	walk back and forth.  You may walk
	too, if you wish, when it is my turn
	to fire.

No one could have explained his intentions more clearly or
spoken more calmly.

			DASCHER
	But we must decide who is to have
	the first shot.

			RODERICK
	There is no need of that.  I never
	fire first; and, in any case, you
	have that right.

Dascher places himself at the specified distance.

Roderick walks slowly back and forth between the two trees
without looking at him.

Dascher takes aim and fires, missing.

			RODERICK
		   (with the greatest
		    composure)
	You missed me, sir.  I was sure you
	would.  Try again.

The others think he is mad, and had expected some kind of
discussion between the parties, but not a bit of it.

Dascher takes careful aim and fires a second shot, again
missing Roderick.

Without a word, but in a firm and confident manner,
Roderick fires his first shot into the air.

Dascher looks amazed.  Then, aiming at Dascher with his
second pistol, he hits him in the center of the forehead
and stretches him out dead on the ground.

EXT.  ROAD - DAY

Roderick and Chevalier traveling in their coach.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Thus is will be seen that our life,
	for all its splendor was one of
	extreme difficulty and danger,
	requiring high talents and courage
	for success, and sudden and
	unexpected departures.

They meet a four-wheel carriage, drawn by two horses,
carrying a master and a servant.

The driver of the four-wheel carriage wants Roderick's
driver to make way for him.

Roderick's driver protests that if he does, he will upset
his master in the ditch, but the other insists.

Roderick addresses the master, a handsome young man, and
asks him to order his driver to make way for him.

			RODERICK
	I am posting, monsieur, and
	furthermore I am a foreigner.

			STRANGER
	Monsieur, here in Saxony, the post
	has no special right, and if you are
	a foreigner, you must admit that you
	have no greater claim than mine,
	since I am in my own country.

At that, Roderick gets out and holding his drawn-sword
tells the stranger to get out, or to make way for him.

The stranger replies, with a smile, that he has no sword
and that, in any case, he will not fight for such a silly
reason.

He tells Roderick to get back in his chaise, and he makes
way for him.

INT.  GAMING ROOM - NIGHT

Roderick and the Chevalier running a faro bank when an
important lady suffers a huge loss.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The ladies were passionately fond of
	play, and hence would often arise no
	small trouble to us; for the truth
	most be told, that the ladies loved
	to play, but not to pay.  The point
	of honor is not understood by the
	charming sex; and it was with the
	greatest difficulty that we could
	keep them from the table, could get
	their money if they lost or, if they
	paid, prevent them from using the
	most furious and extraordinary means
	of revenge.

EXT.  ROAD - DAWN

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	On this evening, the lady of high
	rank, after I had won a considerable
	sum in diamonds and pearls from her,
	sent her lover with a band of cut-
	throats to waylay me.

Roderick and the Chevalier are sound asleep in their
carriage when they are awakened by a violent jolt, upon
which the carriage overturns in the middle of the road.

The Chevalier is underneath, and screams from the pain in
his right arm, which he thinks is broken.

Their servant forces the door open to help them out,
telling them that the two postilions have fled.

Roderick easily gets out of the carriage through the door,
which is above him, but the Chevalier, unable to move
because of his disabled arm, has to be pulled out.

His piercing shrieks make Roderick laugh, because of the
strange oaths with which he interlards his prayers.

From the carriage, Roderick takes his dueling pistols,
and sword.

Roderick tells his servant to mount and to looking for
armed peasants in the vicinity; money in hand, he leaves.

The Chevalier has lain down on the hard ground, groaning
and in no condition to resist robbers.

Roderick makes his own preparations to sell his fortune
and his life at the highest price.

His carriage is close to the ditch, and he unhitches the
horses, tieing them to the wheels and the pole in a
circle, and stations himself behind them with weapons.

In this predicament, Roderick cannot help laughing at the
poor Chevalier, who is writhing like a dying dolphin on a
seashore, and uttering the most pitiful execrations, when
a mare, whose back was turned to him, take it into her
empty head to empty her bladder on him.  There is nothing
to be done; he has to put up with the whole stinking rain,
and to forgive Roderick's laughter, which he has not the
strength to hold in.

The chill wind and the silence are suddenly broken by an
attack, which is half-hearted and uncertain, by the lady's
lover, and his hesitant band of six cut-throats.

Some falter and run away as soon as Roderick fires his
pistol.

The leader and two heartier followers engage Roderick.
During the fight, they mortally wound the helpless
Chevalier and two of them are killed.

After they flee, Roderick kneels by the Chevalier, who
utters some appropriate last words, then dies.

His servant finally arrives at full gallop, shouting at
the top of his voice, and followed by a band of peasants,
each with his lantern, come to his rescue.  There are ten
or twelve of them, all armed with muskets, and all ready
to obey his orders.

EXT.  SPA - HOTEL - DAY

Roderick's carriage arrives.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	After making suitable arrangements
	for the Chevalier's burial, in
	proper accord with his church, I
	traveled to Spa, which was now in
	season, alone, to continue my
	profession which formerly had the
	support of my friend and mentor.

INT.  GAMING ROOM - NIGHT

Crowds surround Roderick.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I was by this time one of the best-
	known characters in Europe; and the
	fame of my exploits, my duels, my
	courage at play, would bring crowds
	round me in any public society where
	I appeared.

INT.  CASINO - NIGHT

Attractive women alone, while men are at the gaming table.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The passion for play is stronger
	than the passion for gallantry; the
	gamester at Spa has neither time to
	stop to consider the merits of a
	woman, nor the courage to make
	sacrifices for her.

EXT.  GARDEN IN SPA - DAY

The Countess of Cosgrove walks beside her husband, Sir
William Cosgrove, who is in a wheelchair.  They are
accompanied by their young son, Lord Brookside, and two
servants.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	In evoking the recollections of
	these days, I have nothing but
	pleasure.  I would if I could say as
	much of a lady who will henceforth
	play a considerable part in the
	drama of my life -- I mean the
	Countess of Cosgrove, whose fatal
	acquaintance I made at Spa, very
	soon after the tragic events which
	caused me to quit Germany.

Closer shot of the Countess.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Victoria, Countess of Cosgrove.  A
	Countess and a Viscountess in her
	own right.

Closer shot of Sir William Cosgrove.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	She was the wife of her cousin, the
	Right Honorable Sir William Reginald
	Cosgrove, Knight of the Bath, and
	Minister to George II and George III
	of several of the smaller courts of
	Europe.

Closer shot of young Lord Brookside, walking behind them
in the care of his governor.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	She was the mother to Viscount
	Brookside -- a melancholy, deserted,
	little boy, about whom his father
	was more than indifferent, and whom
	his mother never saw.

INT.  GAMING ROOM - NIGHT

Shots of Sir William Cosgrove being wheeled in, and at
play with Roderick, and some other gentlemen.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I made Sir William Cosgrove's
	acquaintance as usual at the play-
	table.  One could not but admire the
	spirit and gallantry with which he
	pursued his favorite pastime; for,
	though worn out with gout and a
	myriad of diseases, a cripple
	wheeled about in a chair, and
	suffering pangs of agony, yet you
	would see him every morning, and
	every evening at his post behind the
	delightful green cloth.

			SIR WILLIAM
	Hang it, Mr. Roderick James, you
	have no more manners than a barber,
	and I think my black footman has
	been better educated than you; but
	you are a young fellow of
	originality and pluck, and I like
	you, sir.  because you seem
	determined to go to the devil by a
	way of your own.

Laughter at the table.

			RODERICK
	I am obliged to observe, Sir William
	Cosgrove, that since you are bound
	for the next world much sooner than
	I am, I will depend on you to get
	comfortable quarters arranged for
	me.

Laughter.

			SIR WILLIAM
	Indeed, you are right, sir.  Look at
	me.  Marriage has added forty years
	to my life.  I am dying, a worn-out
	cripple, at the age of fifty.  When
	I took off Lady Cosgrove, there was
	no man of my years who looked so
	young as myself.  Fool that I was!
	I had enough with my pensions,
	perfect freedom, the best society in
	Europe -- and I gave up all these,
	and married and was miserable.  Take
	a warning from me, Mr. Roderick, and
	stick to the trumps.  Do anything,
	but marry.

			RODERICK
	Would you have me spend my life all
	alone?

			SIR WILLIAM
	In truth, sir, yes, but, if you must
	marry, then marry a virtuous drudge.

			RODERICK
		   (laughing)
	The milkmaid's daughter?

			SIR WILLIAM
	Well, why not a milkmaid's daughter?
	No man of sense need restrict
	himself or deny himself a single
	amusement for his wife's sake; on
	the contrary, if he selects the
	animal properly, he will choose such
	a one as shall be no bar to his
	pleasure, but a comfort in his hours
	of annoyance.  For instance, I have
	got the gout; who tends me?  A hired
	valet who robs me whenever he has
	the power.  My wife never comes near
	me.  What friend have I?  None in
	the wide world.  Men of the world,
	as you and I are, don't make
	friends, and we are fools for our
	pains.

Polite laughter at the table.

			SIR WILLIAM
	My lady is a weak woman, but she is
	my mistress.  She is a fool, but she
	has got the better of one of the
	best heads in Christendom.  She is
	enormously rich, but somehow I have
	never been so poor, as since I
	married her.  I thought to better
	myself, and she has made me
	miserable and killed me, and she
	will do as much for my successor
	when I'm gone.

There is a reflective silence at the table.

			RODERICK
	Has her ladyship a very large
	income?

This question causes Sir William to burst out into a
yelling laugh, joined by the rest of the table, and makes
Roderick blush not a little at his gaucherie.

EXT.  ORNAMENTAL GARDEN - SPA - NIGHT

A beautiful scene, lit by the flambeaux, held by a dozen
footmen.  A small orchestra, playing in a Temple of Love,
some dancers, people gambling and lounging along a line of
trees.

Roderick approaches the Countess.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Despite my friend's strong warning.
	I resolves to become acquainted with
	his lady.  Sir William Cosgrove was
	dying.  His widow would be a rich
	prize.  Why should I not win her,
	and, with her, the means of making
	in the world that figure which my
	genius and inclination desired?
	When I determine, I look upon the
	thing as done.

			RODERICK
	Charming lady, tell me the truth and
	earn my gratitude.  Have you a
	lover?

The countess laughs.

			COUNTESS
	No.

			RODERICK
	Have you had one?

			COUNTESS
	Never.

			RODERICK
	But, for a time... a passing fancy?

			COUNTESS
	Not even that.

			RODERICK
	How can I believe that there is not
	a man who has inspired desires in
	you?

			COUNTESS
	Not one.

			RODERICK
	Have you not a man whom you value?

			COUNTESS
	That man has, perhaps, not yet been
	born.

			RODERICK
	What!  You have not met a man worthy
	of your attention?

			COUNTESS
	Many worthy of attention; but
	valuing is something more.  I could
	value only someone whom I loved.

			RODERICK
	Then you have never loved?  Your
	heart is empty.

			COUNTESS
	Your word "empty" makes me laugh.
	Is it fortunate, or unfortunate?  If
	it is fortunate, I congratulate
	myself.  If it is unfortunate, I do
	not care, for I am not aware of it.

			RODERICK
	It is nonetheless a misfortune, and
	you will know it when you love.

			COUNTESS
	But if, when I love, I am unhappy, I
	will know that my empty heart was my
	good fortune.

			RODERICK
	That is true, but it seems to me
	impossible that you should be
	unhappy in love.

			COUNTESS
	It is only too possible.  Love
	requires a mutual harmony which is
	difficult, and it is even more
	difficult to make it last.

			RODERICK
	I agree; but God put us on earth to
	take that risk.

			COUNTESS
	A man may need to do that, and find
	it amusing; but a girl is bound by
	other laws.

			RODERICK
	I believe you, and I see I must
	hasten to leave, for otherwise I
	shall become the unhappiest of men.

			COUNTESS
	How so?

			RODERICK
	By loving you, with no hope of
	possessing you.

She laughs.

			COUNTESS
	You want my heart?

			RODERICK
	It is my only object.

			COUNTESS
	To make me wretched in two weeks.

			RODERICK
	To love you until death.  To
	subscribe to all your commands.

			COUNTESS
	The amusing thing is that you
	deceive me without knowing, if it is
	true that you love me.

			RODERICK
	Deceiving someone without knowing it
	is something new for me.  If I do
	not know it, I am innocent.

			COUNTESS
	But you deceive me nonetheless if I
	believe you, for it will not be in
	your power to love me when you love
	me no longer.

Roderick laughs and kisses her.

			COUNTESS
	Be so good as to tell me with whom
	you think you are?

			RODERICK
	With a woman who is completely
	charming, be she a princess or a
	woman of the lowest condition, and
	who, regardless of her rank, will
	show me some kindness, tonight.

She laughs.

			COUNTESS
	And if she does not choose to show
	you some kindness?

			RODERICK
	Then I will respectfully take leave
	of her.

			COUNTESS
	You will do as you please.  It seems
	to me that such a matter can hardly
	be discussed until after people know
	each other.  Do you not agree?

			RODERICK
	Yes -- but I am afraid of being
	deceived.

			COUNTESS
	Poor man.  And, for that reason, you
	want to begin where people end?

			RODERICK
	I ask only a payment on account
	today -- after that, you will find
	me undemanding, obedient and
	discreet.

She laughs.  He kisses her again.  They exit.

EXT.  ROAD - SPA - NIGHT

Coach and four moves slowly along.

INT.  COACH - NIGHT

They kiss.  She gently struggles as he tries to undo her
dress.  He stops.

			RODERICK
	Will we always leave it at this?

			COUNTESS
	Always, my dear one, never any
	further.  Love is a child to be
	pacified with trifles.  A full diet
	can only kill it.

			RODERICK
	I know better than you do.  Love
	wants a more substantial fare, and
	if it is stubbornly withheld, it
	withers away.

			COUNTESS
	Our abstinence makes our love
	immortal.  If I loved you a quarter
	of an hour ago, now I should love
	you even more.  But I should love
	you less if you exhausted my joy by
	satisfying all my desires.

			RODERICK
	Let us give each other complete
	happiness, and let us be sure that
	as many times as we satisfy our
	desires, they will each time be born
	anew.

			COUNTESS
	My husband has convinced me of the
	contrary.

			RODERICK
	Sir William Cosgrove is a man who is
	dying, and yet I envy him more than
	any man in Christendom.  He enjoys a
	privilege of which I am deprived.
	He may take you in his arms whenever
	he pleases, and no veil keeps his
	senses, his eyes, his soul from
	enjoying your beauty.

She silences him with her fingertips.

			COUNTESS
	Shall I tell you something -- I
	believed what was called love came
	after the union -- and I was
	surprised when my husband, making me
	a woman, made me know it only by
	pain, unaccompanied by any pleasure.
	I saw that my imaginings had stood
	me in better stead.  And so we
	became only friends, seldom sleeping
	together and arousing no curiosity
	in each other, yet on good terms for
	a while, as whenever he wanted me, I
	was at his service, but since the
	offering was not seasoned with love,
	he found it tasteless, and seldom
	demanded it.

			RODERICK
	O, my dearest love.  Enough!  I beg
	you.  Stop believing in your
	experience.  You have never known
	love.  My very soul is leaving me!
	Catch it on your lips, and give me
	yours!

They kiss ardently.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	To make a long story short, her
	ladyship and I were in love six
	hours after we met; and after I once
	got into her ladyship's good graces,
	I found innumerable occasions to
	improve my intimacy, and was
	scarcely ever out of her company.

EXT.  COUNTESS' HOUSE - SPA - DUSK

Action as per voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I shall never forget the
	astonishment of Sir William Cosgrove
	when, on one summer evening, as he
	was issuing out to the play-table,
	in his sedan-chair, her ladyship's
	barouche and four came driving into
	the courtyard of the house which
	they inhabited and, in that
	carriage, by her ladyship's side,
	sat no other than "the vulgar Irish
	adventurer," as she was pleased to
	call me.

Sir William makes the most courtly of bows and grins, and
waves his hat in as graceful a manner as his multiplicity
of illness permits, and her ladyship and Roderick reply to
the salutation with the utmost politeness and elegance on
their part.

INT.  RODERICK'S APARTMENT - SPA - NIGHT

Making ardent love.

			COUNTESS
	Without you, my dearest, I might
	have died without ever knowing love.
	Inexpressible love!  God of nature!
	Bitterness than which nothing is
	sweeter, sweetness than which
	nothing is more bitter.  Divine
	monster which can only be defined by
	paradoxes.

			RODERICK
	Let me give a thousand kisses to
	that heavenly mouth which has told
	me that I am happy.

			COUNTESS
	As soon as I saw you loved me, I was
	pleased, and I gave you every
	opportunity to fall more in love
	with me, being certain that, for my
	part, I would never love you.  But
	after our first kiss, I found that I
	had no power over myself.  I did not
	know that one kiss could matter so
	much.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	We then spent an hour in the most
	eloquent silence except that, from
	time to time, her ladyship cried
	out:  "Oh, my God.  Is it true -- I
	am not dreaming?"

INT.  GAMING ROOM - NIGHT

Roderick enters and approaches a table at which Sir
William Cosgrove, who is drunk, is at play with several
other jovial fellows.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Sir William Cosgrove, with his
	complication of ills, was dying
	before us by inches.  He was
	continually tinkered up by doctors,
	and, what with my usual luck, he
	might be restored to health and live
	I don't know how many years.  If
	Cosgrove would not die, where was
	the use of my pursing his lady?  But
	my fears were to prove groundless,
	for on that very night, patient
	nature would claim her account.

			SIR WILLIAM
	Good evening, Mr. James, have you
	done with my lady?

			RODERICK
	I beg your pardon?

			SIR WILLIAM
	Come, come, sir.  I am a man who
	would rather be known as a cuckold
	than a fool.

			RODERICK
	I think, Sir William Cosgrove, you
	have had too much drink.  Your
	chaplin, Mr. Hunt, has introduced me
	into the company of your lady to
	advise me on a religious matter, of
	which she is a considerable expert.

Sir William Cosgrove greets this line with a yell of
laughter.  His laugh is not jovial or agreeable, but
rather painful and sardonic, and ends in a violent fit of
coughing.

			SIR WILLIAM
	Gentlemen, see this amiable youth!
	He has been troubled by religious
	scruples, and has flown for refuge
	to my chaplin, Mr. Hunt, who has
	asked for advise from my wife, Lady
	Cosgrove, and between them both,
	they are confirming my ingenious
	young friend in his faith.  Did you
	ever hear of such doctors and such a
	disciple?

			RODERICK
	Faith, sir, if I want to learn good
	principles, it's surely better I
	should apply for them to your lady,
	and your chaplin than to you?

			SIR WILLIAM
		   (laughing, but pretty
		    red)
	He wants to step into my shoes!  He
	wants to step into my shoes!

Roderick stares at him coldly.

			RODERICK
	Well, if my intentions are what you
	think they are -- if I do wish to
	step into your shoes, what then?  I
	have no other intentions than you
	had yourself.  Lady Cosgrove's
	wealth may be great, but am I not of
	a generous nature enough to use it
	worthily?  Her rank is lofty, but
	not so lofty as my ambition.  I will
	be sworn to muster just as much
	regard for my Lady Cosgrove as you
	ever showed her; and if I win her,
	and wear her when you are dead and
	gone, corbleu, knight, do you think
	that it will be the fear of your
	ghost will deter me?

			SIR WILLIAM
	Is it not a pleasure, gentlemen, for
	me, as I am drawing near the goal,
	to find my home such a happy one; my
	wife so fond of me, that she is even
	now thinking of appointing a
	successor?  Isn't it a comfort to
	see her; like a prudent housewife,
	getting everything ready for her
	husband's departure?

			RODERICK
	I hope that you are not thinking of
	leaving us soon, knight?

			SIR WILLIAM
	Not so soon, my dear, as you may
	fancy perhaps.  Why, man, I have
	been given over many times these
	four years, and there was always a
	candidate or two waiting to apply
	for the situation.  Who knows how
	long I may keep you waiting.

			RODERICK
	Sir, let those laugh that win.

			SIR WILLIAM
	I am sorry for you Mr. James.  I'm
	grieved to keep you or any gentleman
	waiting.  Had you not better to
	arrange with my doctor or get the
	cook to flavor my omelette with
	arsenic?  What are the odds,
	gentlemen, that I don't live to see
	Mr. James hang yet?

There is laughter around the table, and Sir William starts
dealing the cards.

			VOICE
	Dies at Spa, in the Kingdom of
	Belgium, the Right Honorable Sir
	William Cosgrove, Knight of the
	Bath, Member of Parliament for
	Cosgrove and Devonshire and many
	years His Majesty's representative
	at various European courts.  He hath
	left behind him a name which is
	endeared to all his friends for his
	manifold virtues and talents, a
	reputation justly acquired in the
	service of His Majesty, and an
	inconsolable widow to deplore his
	loss.

Sir Williams keels over dead.

INT.  CHURCH - DAY

The wedding of Roderick and the Countess.  The service is
preformed by Reverend Hunt, her ladyship's chaplain.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	A year from that day, on the
	fifteenth of May, in the year 1773,
	I had the honor and happiness to
	lead to the altar Victoria, Countess
	of Cosgrove, widow of the late Right
	Honorable Sir William Cosgrove, K.B.
	I had procured His Majesty's
	gracious permission to add the name
	of my lovely lady to my own, and,
	henceforward, assumed the title of
	James Cosgrove.

EXT.  A GARDEN - LONDON - DAY

The Wedding reception.

Roderick and the Countess are approached by young Lord
Brookside, aged 12.

			COUNTESS
	My Lord Brookside, come and embrace
	your papa!

Brookside walks slowly towards them, and shakes his fist
in Roderick's face.

			BROOKSIDE
	He, my father!  I would as soon call
	one of your ladyship's footmen,
	papa!

Roderick laughs, as the Countess unsuccessfully tries to
get the boy to shake hands.

			COUNTESS
	Lord Brookside, you have offended
	your father.

			BROOKSIDE
	Mother, you have offended my father.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	It was a declaration of war to me,
	as I saw at once; though I declare I
	was willing enough to have lived
	with him on terms of friendliness.
	But as men serve me, I serve them.
	Who can blame me for my after-
	quarrels with this young reprobate,
	or lay upon my shoulders the evils
	which afterwards befell?

EXT.  ROAD - DAY

Three carriages, each with four horses, proceed along the
picturesque track.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	After we had received the
	congratulations of our friends in
	London -- I and Victoria set off to
	visit our country estate, Castle
	Hackton, where I had never as yet
	set foot.

INT.  CARRIAGE - DAY

Roderick and his Lady.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The first days of a marriage are
	commonly very trying; and I have
	known couples, who lived together
	like turtle-doves for the rest of
	their lives, peck each other's eyes
	out almost during the honeymoon.  I
	did not escape the common lot.  In
	our journey westwards, my Lady
	Cosgrove chose to quarrel with me
	because I had pulled out a pipe of
	tobacco.  Lady Cosgrove was a
	haughty woman, and I hate pride, and
	I promise you that, in this instant,
	I overcame this vice in her.

Roderick blows smoke into the Countess' face.  She is
shocked into an apprehensive silence.

INT.  COACH - DAY

Young Lord Brookside with his governor, glowering and
petulant.  A parrot, in a cage, on his lap.

EXT.  ROAD - DAY

As the carriages drive past, there is a band, floral
arches, flags, church bells ringing.  The parson and the
farmers assemble in their best by the roadside, and the
school-children and the laboring people are loud in their
"hurrahs" for her ladyship.

Roderick flings pennies among the cheering tenants, from
two bags of coppers, stored in the carriage for the
occasion.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Fifty, or so, servants have turned out to greet their
mistress, and their new master.  The land steward, who is
the senior servant, introduces the others -- the clerk of
the kitchen, clerk of the stables, head gardener, ladies
in waiting, butler, valet, chef, cook.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I had not arrived at the pitch of
	prosperity, and having, at thirty
	years of age, by my own merits and
	energy, raised myself to one of the
	highest social positions that any
	man in England could occupy, I
	determined to enjoy myself as
	becomes a man of quality for the
	remainder of my life.

INT.  STABLES - DAY

Roderick and his beautiful horses.

EXT.  A STREAM - DAY

Roderick and some companions fishing.

EXT.  FIELDS - DAY

Roderick and his friends riding.

EXT.  FIELDS - DAY

Roderick and friends shooting.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Roderick having his portrait painted by a miniaturist.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	But it was not meant for me to
	finish my life as a man of quality
	and position.  Indeed, I am one of
	those born clever enough at gaining
	a fortune, but incapable of keeping
	one; for the qualities and energy,
	which lead a man to accept the
	first, are often the very causes of
	his ruin in the latter case; indeed,
	I know of no other reason for the
	misfortunes which finally befell me.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - COUNTESS' BEDROOM - DAY

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	At the end of the year, Lady
	Cosgrove presented me with a son;
	Patrick Cosgrove, I called him, in
	compliment to my royal ancestry, but
	what more had I to leave him than a
	noble name?

EXT.  COSGROVE HOUSE - LONDON - DAY

Two coaches pull up, and the Countess and Roderick exit.
Servants remove their luggage and baby Patrick.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	We spent the season in London at our
	house in Berkeley Square.

INT.  COSGROVE HOUSE - BEDROOM - NIGHT

The Countess alone and depressed.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Her ladyship and I lived, for a
	while, pretty separate when in
	London.  She preferred quiet, or, to
	say the truth, I preferred it, being
	a great friend to a modest, tranquil
	behavior in woman and a taste for
	the domestic pleasures.

INT.  COSGROVE HOUSE - LONDON - DAY

Several cuts of the Countess, caring for the infant,
Patrick.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Besides, she was a mother, and had
	great comfort in the dressing,
	educating, and dandling of our
	little Patrick for whose sake it was
	fit that she should give up the
	pleasures and frivolities of the
	world; so she left that part of the
	duty of every family of distinction
	to be performed by me.

INT.  THEATER LOBBY - NIGHT

Roderick arriving with a party of friends, escorting a
beautiful woman.

INT.  COSGROVE HOUSE - LONDON - DAY

Countess crying and having an argument with Roderick.
Live dialogue under voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Her ladyship's conversations with me
	were characterized by a stupid
	despair, or a silly blundering
	attempt at forced cheerfulness,
	still more disagreeable; hence, our
	intercourse was but trifling, and my
	temptations to carry her into the
	world or to remain in her society of
	necessity exceedingly small.

INT.  COSGROVE HOUSE - DRAWING ROOM - LONDON - NIGHT

A drunken Roderick rudely demands his lady to entertain
their guests.  She rushes from the room in tears.
Dialogue starts scene, goes under for voice over, then
ends scene.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	She would try my temper, at home,
	too, in a thousand ways.  When
	requested by me to entertain the
	company with conversation, wit, and
	learning, of which she was a
	mistress; or music, of which she was
	an accomplished performer, she
	would, as often as not, begin to
	cry, and leave the room.  My company
	from this, of course, fancied I was
	a tyrant over her; whereas, I was
	only a severe and careful guardian
	of a silly, bad-tempered and weak-
	minded lady.

EXT.  PARK - DAY

Roderick strolling arm-in-arm with his Countess.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Despite the utter distaste with
	which I now regarded Lady Cosgrove,
	and, although I took no particular
	pains to disguise my feelings in
	general, yet she was of such a mean
	spirit that she pursued me with her
	regard, and would kindle up at the
	smallest kind word I spoke to her.

INT.  COSGROVE STUDY - DAY

Roderick and accountant.  Her ladyship is signing various
documents, and orders for payment.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And, in these fits of love, she was
	the most easy creature in the world
	to be persuaded, and would have
	signed away her whole property, had
	it been possible.  And, I must
	confess, it was with very little
	attention on my part that I could
	bring her into good humor, and, up
	to the very last day of our being
	together, would be reconciled to me,
	and fondle me, if I addressed her a
	single kind word.  Such is female
	inconsistency.

INT.  COSGROVE HOUSE - DAY

Roderick and the Countess fighting about her refusal to
sign some papers.  Live dialogue under voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	She was luckily very fond of her
	youngest son, and through him I had
	a wholesome and effectual hold on
	her; for if in any of her tantrums
	or fits of haughtiness, she
	pretended to have the upper-hand, to
	assert her authority against mine,
	to refuse to sign such papers as I
	might think necessary for the
	distribution of our large and
	complicated property.

Roderick picks up baby Patrick.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I would have Master Patrick carried
	off to Chiswick for a couple of
	days; and I warrant me his lady-
	mother could hold out no longer and
	would agree to anything I proposed.

The Countess rushes to the window to see the child being
put into a carriage.

INT.  COSGROVE HOUSE - DAY

Another quarrel.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Lady Cosgrove and I did not quarrel
	more than fashionable people do, and,
	for the first three years, I never
	struck my wife but when I was in
	liquor.

INT.  COSGROVE HOUSE - DAY

Roderick throws a knife at young Brookside.  The knife
digs into an expensive antique chest, just missing the
young Brookside's head.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	When I flung the carving-knife at
	Brookside, I was drunk, as
	everybody present can testify, but
	as for having any systematic scheme
	against the poor lad, I can declare
	solemnly that, beyond merely hating
	him, I am guilty of no evil towards
	him.

INT.  COSGROVE HOUSE - DAY

The Countess discovers Roderick making love to the child's
nurse.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Do what one would to please her, my
	lady would never be happy or in good
	humor.  And soon she added a mean,
	detestable jealousy to all her other
	faults, and would weep and wring her
	hands, and threaten to commit
	suicide, and I know not what.

She screams and shouts something about suicide.

Her son, Brookside, comes running in and consoles her.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Her death would have been no comfort
	to me, as I leave any person of
	common prudence to imagine; for that
	scoundrel of a young Brookside who
	was about to become my greatest
	plague and annoyance, would have
	inherited every penny of the
	property.

INT.  COSGROVE HOUSE - LONDON - RODERICK'S STUDY - DAY

Roderick, bored and distracted, sits before a stack of
bills and papers, with his accountant.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Humble people envy us great men, and
	fancy that our lives are all
	pleasure.  But the troubles of
	poverty, the rascality of agents,
	the quibbles of lawyers are endless.
	My life at this period seemed to
	consist of nothing but drafts of
	letters and money-brokers relative
	to the raising of money, and the
	insuring of Lady Cosgrove's life,
	and innumerable correspondence with
	upholsterers, decorators, cooks,
	horsekeepers, bailiffs, and
	stewards.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - GARDENS - DAY

Various cuts.

Birthday fete for Patrick who is now five years old.

Gaily colored tents, ponies, a puppet show, expensive
presents.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My own dear boy, Patrick, was now
	five years old, and was the most
	polite and engaging child ever seen;
	it was a pleasure to treat him with
	kindness and distinction; the little
	fellow was the pink of fashion,
	beauty, and good breeding.  In fact,
	he could not have been otherwise,
	with the care both his parents
	bestowed upon him, and the
	attentions which were lavished upon
	him in every way.

Brookside and Roderick.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Whereas, young Brookside had grown
	to be a very nasty and disrespectful
	fellow indeed.  In my company, he
	preserved the most rigid silence,
	and a haughty, scornful demeanor,
	which was so much the more
	disagreeable because there was
	nothing in his behavior I could
	actually take hold of to find fault
	with, although his whole conduct was
	insolent and supercilious to the
	highest degree.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - LIBRARY - DAY

Brookside sitting alone reading a book.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	In addition to this, the lad was
	fond of spending the chief part of
	his time occupied with the musty old
	books, which he took out of the
	library, and which I hate to see a
	young man of spirit pouring over.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Brookside and the Countess.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The insubordination of that boy was
	dreadful.  He used to quote passages
	of "Hamlet" to his mother, which
	made her very angry.

Brookside quoting "Hamlet."

The Countess begins to cry and leaves the room.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - RODERICK'S STUDY

Roderick caning young Brookside.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	As it is best to nip vice in the
	bud, and for a master of a family to
	exercise his authority in such a
	manner as that there may be no
	question about it, I took every
	opportunity of coming to close
	quarters with Master Brookside.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Many guests around the table.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	He always chose the days when
	company, or the clergy, or gentry of
	the neighborhood were present, to
	make violent, sarcastic, and
	insolent speeches.

Brookside begins to fondle and caress Patrick.

			BROOKSIDE
	Dear child, what a pity it is I am
	not dead for your sake!  The
	Cosgroves would then have a worthy
	representative, and enjoy all the
	benefits of the illustrious blood of
	the James' of Duganstown, would they
	not, Mr. James Cosgrove?

INT.  RODERICK'S STUDY - NIGHT

Roderick caning Brookside again.  The boy bears the
punishment without crying.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Roderick's reunion with his mother.

Present are the Countess, Patrick, Lord Brookside and
others.

Mrs. James flings herself into her son's arms with a
scream, and with transports of joy, which can only be
comprehended by women who have held, in their arms, an
only child, after a twelve-year absence from him.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Roderick and mother feeding Patrick.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - GARDEN - DAY

Roderick and mother playing with Patrick in the garden.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Mother at dinner with the family, in a strained
atmosphere.

INT.  PATRICK'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Roderick and his mother talk in whispers near the bed of
the sleeping Patrick.

			MOTHER
	Ah, Roderick, it's a blessing to see
	that my darling boy has attained a
	position I always knew was his due,
	and for which I pinched myself to
	educate him.  Little Patrick is a
	darling boy, and you live in great
	splendor, but how long will it last?
	Your lady-wife knows she has a
	treasure she couldn't have had, had
	she taken a duke to marry her, but
	if, one day, she should tire of my
	wild Roderick and his old-fashioned
	Irish ways, or if she should die,
	what future would there be for my
	son and grandson?

INT.  RODERICK'S STUDY - CASTLE HACKTON - NIGHT

Roderick and his mother.

			MOTHER
	You have not a penny of your own,
	and cannot transact any business
	without the Countess' signature.
	Upon her death, the entire estate
	would go to young Brookside, who
	bears you little affection.  You
	could be penniless tomorrow, and
	darling Patrick at the mercy of his
	stepbrother.

INT.  MOTHER'S ROOM - CASTLE HACKTON - NIGHT

Roderick and his mother.

			MOTHER
	I shall tell you a secret -- I shall
	not rest until I see you Earl of
	Duganstown, and my grandson, a Lord
	Viscount.

She smooths down Roderick's hair.

			MOTHER
	This head would become a coronet.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - GARDEN - DAY

Roderick and Mother slowly walking and talking.  Young
Patrick, ahead of them sitting in a small cart, pulled by
a lamb.

			MOTHER
	These things entail considerable
	expense, and you will need your
	lady's blessing, but the young boy
	forms the great bond of union
	between you and her ladyship, and
	there is no plan of ambition you
	could propose in which she would not
	join for the poor lad's benefit, and
	no expense she will not eagerly
	incur, if it might be any means be
	shown to tend to his advancement.
	You have important friends, and they
	can tell you how these things are
	done.

INT.  LONDON GAMING ROOM - NIGHT

Standing away from the play tables, Roderick chats with
Lord West, a fat giant of a man.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And, to be sure, I did know someone
	who knew precisely how these things
	were done, and this was the
	distinguished solicitor and former
	Government Minister, Lord West,
	whose acquaintance I made, as I had
	so many others, at the gaming table.

			LORD WEST
	Do you happen to know Gustavus
	Adolphus, the thirteenth Earl of
	Crabs?

			RODERICK
	By name only.

			LORD WEST
	Well, sir, this nobleman is one of
	the gentlemen of His Majesty's
	closet, and one with whom our
	revered monarch is on terms of
	considerable intimacy.  I should say
	you would be wise to fix upon this
	nobleman your chief reliance for the
	advancement of your claim to the
	Viscounty which you propose to get.

INT.  LONDON CLUB - DAY

Roderick having lunch with Lord West and the Earl of
Crabs.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And for a five-hundred guinea fee,
	paid to his City law-firm, Lord West
	kindly arranged a meeting with that
	old scamp and swindler, Gustavus
	Adolphus, the thirteenth Earl of
	Crabs.

			EARL OF CRABS
	Mr. Cosgrove, when I take up a
	person, he or she is safe.  There is
	no question about them any more.  My
	friends are the best people.  I
	don't mean the most virtuous, or,
	indeed, the least virtuous, or the
	cleverest, or the stupidest, or the
	richest, or the best born, but the
	"best" -- in a word, people about
	whom there is no question.  I cannot
	promise you how long it will take.
	You can appreciate it is not an easy
	matter.  But any gentlemen with an
	estate, and ten-thousand a-year
	should have a peerage.

INT.  DRAWING ROOM - EARL OF CRABS - DAY

Roderick being introduced to three noblemen, including the
Duke of Rutland.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The striving after this peerage, I
	consider to have been one of the
	most unlucky dealings at this
	period.  I made unheard of
	sacrifices to bring it about.  I can
	tell you bribes were administered,
	and in high places too -- so near
	the royal person of His Majesty that
	you would be astonished were I to
	mention what great personages
	condescended to receive our loans.

INT.  DRAWING ROOM - NIGHT

Roderick gives a beautiful diamond to a fat princess on
her birthday.  He is applauded by the other guests.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I lavished money here, and diamonds
	there.

EXT.  FARMLAND - DAY

Roderick and the seller, riding over a prospective
property.  A broker shows them a survey map of the
property.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I bought lands at ten times there
	value.

INT.  SALON - LONDON - NIGHT

A musical evening.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I gave repeated entertainments to
	those friends to my claims who,
	being about the royal person, were
	likely to advance it.

INT.  STATELY HOME - DAY

Roderick buying pictures.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I purchased pictures and articles of
	vertu at ruinous prices.

EXT.  RACES - DAY

Roderick laughing and paying a bet.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I lost many a bet to the royal
	dukes, His Majesty's brothers.

EXT.  FIELD - DAY

Reviewing the company of troops.

Roderick, the Earl of Crabs, the Countess, Patrick and
Brookside, several princes and noblemen and the Duke of
Rutland.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	One of the main causes of expense
	which this ambition of mine entailed
	upon me was the fitting out and
	arming of a company of infantry from
	the Hackton estates, which I offered
	to my gracious sovereign for the
	campaign against the American
	rebels.  These troops, superbly
	equipped and clothed, were embarked
	at Portsmouth in the year 1778.

INT.  ST. JAMES - RECEPTION ROOM - DAY

George III meeting people and stopping to talk to
Roderick.  Present also is the Duke of Rutland.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And the patriotism of the gentlemen
	who raised them was so acceptable at
	court that, on being presented by my
	Lord Crabs, His Majesty condescended
	to notice me particularly and said:

			GEORGE III
	That's right, Mr. Cosgrove, raise
	another company, and go with them,
	too!

INT.  COFFEE HOUSE - NIGHT

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Crabs was really one of the most
	entertaining fellows in the world,
	and I took a sincere pleasure in his
	company, besides the interest and
	desire I had in cultivating the
	society of the most important
	personages of the realm.

Roderick clumsily tries to engage in conversation with the
famed Dr. Johnson, on the subject of a book or play, of
the day, and is rebuffed for his trouble.

			JOHNSON
	If I were you, Mr. Cosgrove, I
	should mind my horses and tailors
	and not trouble myself about
	letters.

Laughter, Roderick bristles.

			RODERICK
	Dr. Johnson, I think you misbehave
	most grossly, treating my opinions
	with no more respect than those of a
	schoolboy.  You fancy, sir, you know
	a great deal more than me, because
	you quote your "Aristotle" and
	"Plato," but can you tell me which
	horse will win at Epsom Downs next
	week?  Can you shoot the ace of
	spades ten times without missing?
	If so, talk about Aristotle and
	Plato with me.

			BOSWELL
		   (roars)
	Do you know who you're speaking to?!

			JOHNSON
	Hold your tongue, Mr. Boswell, I had
	no right to brag of my Greek,
	gentlemen, and he has answered me
	very well.

			RODERICK
		   (pleased)
	Do you know ever a rhyme for
	Aristotle?

			GOLDSMITH
		   (laughing)
	Port, if you please.

			JOHNSON
	Waiter, bring on of Captain James'
	rhymes for Aristotle.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	And we had six rhymes for Aristotle
	before we left the coffee house that
	evening.

INT.  LONDON CLUB - NIGHT

			EARL OF CRABS
	Henri, this is Mr. James Cosgrove,
	who wishes to arrange a dinner party
	next week for sixty guests.

			HENRI
	I am at your service, Mr. Cosgrove.
	How much do you wish to spend?

			RODERICK
	As much as possible.

			HENRI
	As much as possible?

			RODERICK
	Yes, for I wish to entertain
	splendidly.

			HENRI
	All the same, you must name an
	amount.

			RODERICK
	It is entirely up to you.  I want
	the best.

			EARL OF CRABS
	May I suggest five hundred guineas?

			RODERICK
	Will that be enough?

			HENRI
	Last month, the Duke of Suffolk
	spent no more.

			RODERICK
	All right, five hundred guineas.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - RODERICK'S STUDY - DAY

Roderick is seated at a large table, stacked high with
bills and letters; his accountant is seated next to him,
aided by a bookkeeper.  Roderick looks at each bill and
his accountant explains the charge.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The life I was leading was that of a
	happy man, but I was not happy.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - LONG GALLERY - DAY

Roderick, walking with big strides, leads Brookside by his
ear.  Little Patrick runs alongside, pleading for his
brother.

			PATRICK
	Papa, please don't flog Brookside
	today.  It wasn't his fault --
	really is wasn't.

Roderick ignores him.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	By now, young Brookside was of so
	wild, savage, and insubordinate a
	nature that I never had the least
	regard for him.  As he grew up to be
	a man, his hatred for me assumed an
	intensity quite wicked to think of
	and which, I promise you, I returned
	with interest.

He drags Brookside into his study, slamming the door
behind him.

INT.  LIBRARY - DAY

Roderick alone.  Brookside enters with a pistol.

			BROOKSIDE
		   (grinding his teeth)
	Look you now, Mister Roderick James,
	from this moment on, I will submit
	to no further chastisement from you!
	Do you understand that?

			RODERICK
	Give me that pistol.

			BROOKSIDE
	Take heed, Mister James.  I will
	shoot you if you lay hands on me
	now, or ever again.  Is that
	entirely clear to you, sir?

Roderick stares hard at him, then he laughs and sits down.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I decided, at once, to give up that
	necessary part of his education.
	In truth, he then became the most
	violent, daring, disobedient,
	scapegrace, that ever caused an
	affectionate parent pain; he was
	certainly the most incorrigible.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - BROOKSIDE'S ROOM - DAY

Brookside smashing a chair over the head of his governor,
Reverend Hunt.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Twice or thrice, Reverend Hunt
	attempted to punish my Lord
	Brookside; but I promise you the
	rogue was too strong for him, and
	leveled the Oxford man to the
	ground with a chair, greatly to the
	delight of little Patrick, who cried
	out:  "Bravo, Brooksy!  Thump him,
	thump him!"

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - GARDEN - DAY

Brookside and Patrick.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	With the child, Brookside was,
	strange to say, pretty tractable.
	He took a liking to the little
	fellow -- I like him the more, he
	said, because he was "half a
	Cosgrove."

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - BALLROOM - NIGHT

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Another day, it was Patrick's
	birthday, we were giving a grand
	ball and gala at Hackton, and it was
	time for my Patrick to make his
	appearance among us.

There is a great crowding and tittering as the child comes
in, led by his half-brother, who walks into the dancing-
room in his stockinged feet, leading little Patrick by the
hand, paddling about in the great shoes of the older.

			BROOKSIDE
		   (very loudly)
	Don't you think he fits my shoes
	very well, Sir Richard Wargrave?

Upon which, the company begins to look at each other and
to titter, and his mother comes up to Lord Brookside with
great dignity, seizes the child to her breast, and says:

			COUNTESS
	From the manner in which I love this
	child, my lord, you ought to know
	how I would have loved his elder
	brother, had he proved worthy of any
	mother's affection.

Brookside is stunned by his mother's words.

			BROOKSIDE
	Madam, I have borne as long as
	mortal could endure the ill-
	treatment of the insolent Irish
	upstart, whom you have taken into
	your bed.  It is not only the
	lowness of his birth, and the
	general brutality of his manners
	which disgusts me, but the shameful
	nature of his conduct towards your
	ladyship, his brutal and
	ungentlemanlike behavior, his open
	infidelity, his habits of
	extravagance, intoxication, his
	shameless robberies and swindling of
	my property and yours.  It is these
	insults to you which shock and annoy
	me more than the ruffian's infamous
	conduct to myself.  I would have
	stood by your ladyship, as I
	promised, but you seem to have taken
	latterly your husband's part; and,
	as I cannot personally chastise this
	low-bred ruffian, who, to our shame
	be it spoken, is the husband of my
	mother, and as I cannot bear to
	witness his treatment of you, and
	loathe his horrible society as if it
	were the plague, I am determined to
	quit my native country, at least
	during his detested life, or during
	my own.

Bursting into tears, Lady Cosgrove leaves the room.
Roderick loses control, and rushes at Brookside, knocking
down Lords, Dukes and Generals, left and right, who try to
interfere.

The company is scandalizes by the entire incident.

INT.  LONDON CLUB - NIGHT

Action as per voice over.  Roderick is shunned.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	If I had murdered my lord, I could
	scarcely have been received with
	more shameful obloquy and slander
	than now followed me in town and
	country.  My friends fell away from
	me, and a legend arose of my cruelty
	to my stepson.

INT.  ST. JAMES - DAY

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My reception at court was scarcely
	more cordial.  On paying my respects
	to my sovereign at St. James, His
	Majesty pointedly asked me when I
	had news of Lord Brookside.  On
	which I replied, with no ordinary
	presence of mind:

			RODERICK
	Sire, my Lord Brookside has set sail
	to fight the rebels against Your
	Majesty's crown in America.  Does
	Your Majesty desire that I should
	send another company to aid him?

The King stares at Roderick, turns on his heel and quickly
leaves the presence-chamber.

Roderick is approached by the Duke of Rutland, who takes
him aside into an alcove.

			DUKE OF RUTLAND
		   (speaking very
		    quietly)
	Let me tell you, sir, that your
	conduct has been very odiously
	represented to the King, and has
	formed the subject of royal comment.
	The King has said, influenced by
	these representations, that you are
	the most disreputable man in the
	three kingdoms, and a dishonor to
	your name and country.

Roderick begins to sputter.

			DUKE OF RUTLAND
	Hear me out, please.  It has been
	intimated to His Majesty that you
	had raised the American Company for
	the sole purpose of getting the
	young Viscount to command it, and so
	get rid of him.  And, further, that
	you had paid the very man in the
	company, who was ordered to dispatch
	him in the first general action.

			RODERICK
	Thus it is that my loyalty is
	rewarded, and my sacrifices in favor
	of my country viewed!

			DUKE OF RUTLAND
	As for your ambitious hopes
	regarding the Irish peerages, His
	Majesty has also let it be known
	that you have been led astray by
	that Lord Crabs, who likes to take
	money, but who has no more influence
	to get a coronet than to procure a
	Pope's tiara.  And, if you have it
	in mind to call upon Lord Crabs, you
	will be disappointed.  He left for
	the continent on Tuesday, and may be
	away for several months.

INT.  LORD WEST'S OFFICE - DAY

Roderick and Lord West.

			RODERICK
	I insist upon being allowed to
	appear before His Majesty and clear
	myself of the imputations against
	me, to point out my services to the
	government, and to ask when the
	reward, that had been promised me,
	the title held by my ancestors, is
	again to be revived in my person.

There is a sleepy coolness in the fat Lord West.  He hears
Roderick with half-shut eyes.  When he finishes his
violent speech, which he has made striding about the room,
Lord West opens one eye, smiles, and says:   

			LORD WEST
		   (gently)
	Have you done, Mr. Cosgrove?

			RODERICK
	Yes!

			LORD WEST
	Well, Mr. Cosgrove, I'll answer you
	point by point.  The King is
	exceedingly averse to make peers, as
	you know.  Your claim, as you call
	them, have been laid before him, and
	His Majesty's gracious reply was,
	that you were the most impudent man
	in his dominions, and merited a
	halter, rather than a coronet.  As
	for withdrawing your support from
	us, you are perfectly welcome to
	carry yourself whithersoever you
	please.  And, now, as I have a great
	deal of occupation, perhaps you will
	do me the favor to retire, or tell
	me if there is anything else in the
	world in which I can oblige you.

So saying, Lord West raises his hand lazily to the bell,
and bows Roderick out.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - RODERICK'S STUDY - DAY

Roderick and his accountant going over the bills which he
has heaped on the table.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The news of His Majesty's disregard
	were not long in getting around,
	and, in a very short time, all the
	bills came down upon me together --
	all the bills I had been contracting
	for the years of my marriage.  I
	won't cite their amount; it was
	frightful.  I was bound up in an
	inextricable toil of bills and
	debts, or mortgages and insurances,
	and all the horrible evils attendant
	upon them.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - GROUNDS - DAY

Roderick walking alone.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Was it my own want of style, or my
	want of a fortune?  I know not.  Now
	I was arrived at the height of my
	ambition, but both my skill and my
	luck seemed to be deserting me.
	Everything I touched, crumbled in my
	hands; every speculation I had,
	failed; every agent I trusted,
	deceived me.  My income was saddled
	with hundreds of annuities, and
	thousands of lawyers' charges, and I
	felt the net drawing closer and
	closer around me, and no means to
	extricate myself from its toils.
	All my schemes had turned out
	failures.

INT.  LONDON GAMING CLUB - NIGHT

Roderick at the gaming table.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My wife's moody despondency made my
	house and home not over-pleasant;
	hence, I was driven a good deal
	abroad, where as play was the
	fashion in every club, tavern, and
	assembly, I, of course, was obliged
	to resume my old habit, and to
	commence as an amateur those games
	at which I was once unrivaled in
	Europe.

Roderick loses a large amount of money.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I had a run of ill-luck at play, and
	was forced to meet my losses by the
	most shameful sacrifices to the
	money-lenders, and was compelled to
	borrow largely upon my wife's
	annuities, ensuring her ladyship's
	life, which was the condition for
	every loan against her property.

INT.  LONDON OFFICE - INSURANCE BROKER - DAY

Roderick and the broker.

			BROKER
	Your wife's life is as well known
	among the insurance societies in
	London, as any woman in Christendom,
	and, I'm sorry to say there is not
	one of them willing to place another
	policy against her ladyship's life.
	One of them even had the impudence
	to suggest that your treatment of
	the Countess did not render her life
	worth a year's purchase.

EXT.  STUD FARM - DAY

Roderick buying a horse.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	In the midst of my difficulties, I
	promised to buy a little horse for
	my dear little Patrick, which was to
	be a present for his eighth
	birthday, that was now coming on.  I
	may have had my faults, but no man
	shall dare to say of me that I was
	not a good and tender father.

Roderick admires the horse.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	It was a beautiful little animal,
	and stood me in a good sum.  I never
	regarded money for that dear child.

EXT.  ROAD - DAY

The horse kicks off one of the horse-boys who tries to
ride him.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	But the horse was a bit wild, and he
	kicked off one of the horse-boys who
	rode him at first, and broke the
	lad's leg.

EXT.  ROAD - DAY

Roderick riding the horse.  The horse-boy lies in the back
of a wagon.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	But he was a beautiful animal and
	would make a fine horse for Patrick
	after he had a bit of breaking-in.

EXT.  ROAD - NEAR CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Roderick dismounts and gives the horse to one of the
horse-boys.

			RODERICK
	Timmy, take the injured lad to see
	the doctor, and then bring the horse
	to Doolan's farm, and tell him to
	break him in thoroughly.  Tell him
	it's for little Patrick, and that
	I'll be over to see him next week.

			HORSE-BOY
	Yes, sir.

			RODERICK
	One more thing, and listen well, I
	don't want little Patrick to know
	where the horse is being kept.  It's
	going to be surprise for his
	birthday.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Patrick rushes out to greet his father.

			PATRICK
	Hello, papa!

Roderick picks him up in his arms, and kisses him.

			PATRICK
	Did you buy the horse, papa?

			RODERICK
	Now, just have a little patience, my
	boy.  Your birthday isn't until next
	week.

			PATRICK
	But I will have it on my birthday,
	won't I?

			RODERICK
	Well, we'll just have to wait and
	see, won't we?

He walks up the steps holding Patrick, who hugs and kisses
him.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My son, little Patrick Cosgrove, was
	a prince; his breeding and manners,
	even at his early age, showed him to
	be worthy of the two noble families
	from whom he was descended, and I
	don't know what high hopes I had for
	the boy, and indulged in a thousand
	fond anticipations as to his future
	success and figure in the world, but
	stern Fate had determined that I
	should leave none of my race behind
	me.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Roderick is drunk.  Patrick is brought in by his governor,
Hunt, to say good night.  His kisses his mother first,
then approaches Roderick.

			PATRICK
		   (kissing him)
	Good night, papa.

			RODERICK
	Good night, my little darling.

			PATRICK
	Papa?

			RODERICK
	Yes?

			PATRICK
	One of the boys in the stable told
	Nelly that you've already bought my
	horse, and that it's at Doolan's
	farm, where Mick the groom is
	breaking it in.  Is that true, papa?

			RODERICK
		   (angered)
	What the devil?  What kind of fools
	do we have here?  Pottle, who told
	the lad this story?

			HUNT
	I don't know, sir.

			PATRICK
	Then it's true!  It's true!  Oh,
	thank you, papa!  Thank you!

He hugs his father.

			COUNTESS
	Promise me, Patrick, that you will
	not ride the horse except in the
	company of your father.

			PATRICK
		   (unconvincingly)
	I promise, mama.

			RODERICK
	I promise your lordship a good
	flogging if you even so much as go
	to Doolan's farm to see him.

			PATRICK
	Yes, papa.

INT.  RODERICK'S BEDROOM - DAY

Roderick is awakened by his valet and Hunt, the governor.

			RODERICK
	Yes...?

			VALET
	I'm sorry to disturb you, sir, but
	Mr. Hunt has something important to
	tell you.

			RODERICK
	Yes?

			HUNT
	I think Master Patrick has disobeyed
	your orders and stolen off to
	Doolan's farm.  When I went to the
	lad's room this morning, his bed was
	empty.  One of the cooks said she
	saw him go away before daybreak.  He
	must have slipped through my room
	while I was asleep.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - STABLES - DAY

Roderick, in a rage, taking a great horse-whip, gallops
off after the child.

EXT.  ROAD - CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Roderick comes upon a sad procession of farmers, moaning
and howling, the black horse led by the hand, and, on a
door that some of them carry, little Patrick.  He lies in
his little boots and spurs, and his little coat of scarlet
and gold.  His face is quite white, and he smiles as he
holds a hand out to Roderick and says painfully:

			PATRICK
	You won't whip me, will you, papa?

Roderick bursts out into tears in reply.

INT.  PATRICK'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Some doctors around the bed, Roderick and the Countess
anxiously waiting upon them.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The doctors were called, but what
	does a doctor avail in a contest
	with the grim, invincible enemy?
	Such as came could only confirm our
	despair by their account of the poor
	child's case.  His spine was
	injured, the lower half of him was
	dead when they laid him in bed at
	home.  The rest did not last long,
	God help me!  He remained yet for
	two days with us, and a sad comfort
	it was to think he was in no pain.

INT.  PATRICK'S BEDROOM - DAY

Roderick, Countess and Patrick.

			PATRICK
		   (weakly)
	Papa, I beg you and mama to pardon
	me for any acts of disobedience I
	have been guilty of towards you.

			COUNTESS
		   (weeping)
	Oh, my little angel, you have done
	nothing for which you need pardon.

			PATRICK
	Where is Brooksy?  I would like to
	see him.

			RODERICK
	Your bother is in America fighting
	the rebels.

			PATRICK
	Is he all right, papa?

			RODERICK
	Yes, he's fine.

			PATRICK
	Brooksy was better than you, papa,
	he used not to swear so, and he
	taught me many good things while you
	were away.

Patrick takes a hand of his mother and of Roderick, in
each of his little clammy ones.

			PATRICK
	I beg you not to quarrel so, but to
	love each other, so that we might
	meet again in heaven where Brooksy
	told me quarrelsome people never go.

His mother is much affected by these admonitions, and
Roderick is too.

Patrick gives Roderick a ring from his finger, and a
locket to his mother.

He says that these gifts are so that they will not forget
him.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	At last, after two days, he died.
	There he lay, the hope of my family,
	the pride of my manhood, the link
	which kept me and my Lady Cosgrove
	together.

EXT.  CHURCH - GRAVEYARD - DAY

Funeral.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I won't tell you with what splendor
	we buried him, but what avail are
	undertakers' feathers and heralds'
	trumpery.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - STABLE - DAY

Roderick enters the stable and, after a few seconds, we
hear a pistol shot.  He exits rapidly, the smoking pistol
still in his hand.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - VARIOUS - DAY AND NIGHT

The Countess:  Praying.  Waking up screaming.  Fits of
crying.  Severely depressed.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Lady Cosgrove, always vaporish and
	nervous, after our blessed boy's
	catastrophe, became more agitated
	than ever, and plunged into devotion
	with so much fervor that you would
	have fancied her almost distracted
	at times.

Countess sees visions.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	She imagined she saw visions.  She
	said an angel from heaven told her
	that Patrick's death was a
	punishment to her for her neglect of
	her firstborn.  Then she would
	declare that Brookside was dead.

INT.  RODERICK'S STUDY - DAY

Roderick and his accountant.  Bills, bills, bills.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	By now, my financial affairs were
	near to ruin.  I could not get a
	guinea from any money-dealer in
	London.  Our rents were in the hands
	of receivers by this time, and it
	was as much as I could do to get
	enough money from the rascals to pay
	my wine-merchants their bills.  Our
	property was hampered, and often as
	I applied to my lawyers and agents
	for money, would come a reply
	demanding money of me for debts and
	pretended claims which the rapacious
	rascals said they had on me.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Mother arrives.  Roderick greets her.  Servants unload her
bags.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My mother was the only person who,
	in my misfortune, remained faithful
	to me -- indeed, she has always
	spoken of me in my true light, as a
	martyr to the rascality of others,
	and a victim of my own generous and
	confiding temper.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Mother supervising kitchen staff.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	She was an invaluable person to me
	in my house, which would have been
	at rack and ruin before, but for her
	spirit of order and management and
	her excellent economy in the
	government of my rapidly dwindling
	household staff.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - GARDEN - DAY

Roderick and his mother.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	If anything could have saved me from
	the consequences of villainy in
	others, it would have been the
	admirable prudence of that worthy
	creature.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DRAWING ROOM - NIGHT

Action as per voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	She never went to bed until all the
	house was quiet and all the candles
	out; you may fancy that this was a
	matter of some difficulty with a man
	of my habits who had commonly a
	dozen of jovial fellows to drink
	with me every night, and who
	seldom, for my part, went to bed
	sober.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - RODERICK'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

Actions as per voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Many and many a night, when I was
	unconscious of her attention, has
	that good soul pulled my boots off,
	and seen me laid by my servants snug
	in bed, and carried off the candle
	herself...

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - RODERICK'S BEDROOM - DAY

Action as per voice over.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	... and been the first in the
	morning, too, to bring me my drink
	of small beer.  It was my mother's
	pride that I could drink more than
	any man in the country.

INT.  RODERICK'S STUDY - NIGHT

Roderick and his mother holding a letter before a fire,
which slowly brings out the writing in lemon juice between
the widely-spaced lines of directions to her milliner.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My mother discovered that always,
	before my lady-wife chose to write
	letters to her milliner, she had
	need of lemons to make her drink, as
	she said, and this fact, being
	mentioned to me, kind of set me
	a-thinking.

			RODERICK
		   (reading letter
		    aloud)
	"This day, three years ago, my last
	hope and pleasure in life was taken
	from me, and my dear child was
	called to Heaven.  Where is his
	neglected brother, whom I suffered
	to grow up unheeded by my side, and
	whom the tyranny of the monster to
	whom I am united drove to exile,
	and, perhaps to death?  I pray the
	child is still alive and safe.
	Charles Brookside!  Come to the aide
	of a wretched mother, who
	acknowledges her crime, her coldness
	towards you, and now bitterly pays
	for her error!  What sufferings,
	what humiliations have I had to
	endure!  I am a prisoner in my own
	halls.  I should fear poison, but
	then I know the wretch has a sordid
	interest in keeping me alive, and
	that my death would be the signal
	for his ruin.  But I dare not stir
	without my odious, hideous, vulgar
	gaoler, the horrid Irish woman, who
	purses my every step.  I am locked
	into my chamber at night, like a
	felon, and only suffered to leave it
	when ordered into the presence of my
	lord, to be present at his orgies
	with his boon-companions, and to
	hear his odious converse as he
	lapses into the disgusting madness
	of intoxication."

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Roderick, and the Countess and mother, at a silent dinner.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	It was not possible to recover the
	name for whom the note was intended,
	but it was clear that, to add to all
	my perplexities, three years after
	my poor child's death, my wife,
	whose vagaries of temper and wayward
	follies I had borne with for twelve
	years, wanted to leave me.  I
	decided it best not to reveal to her
	ladyship our discovery, that we
	might still intercept and uncover
	further schemes with might be afoot.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - VARIOUS - DAY AND NIGHT

A few cuts showing Mother keeping an eye on the Countess.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	Yet I was bound to be on my guard
	that she should not give me the
	slip.  Had she left me, I was ruined
	the next day.  I set my mother to
	keep sharp watch over the moods of
	her ladyship, and you may be sure
	that her assistance and surveillance
	were invaluable to me.  If I had
	paid twenty spies to watch her lady,
	I should not have been half so well
	served as by the disinterested care
	and watchfulness of my excellent
	mother.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - GARDENS - DAY

Roderick walking with the Countess.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My Lady Cosgrove's relationship with
	me was a singular one.  Her life was
	passed in a series of crack-brained
	sort of alternation between love and
	hatred for me.  We would quarrel for
	a fortnight, then we should be
	friends for a month together
	sometimes.  One day, I was joking
	her, and asking her whether she
	would take the water again, whether
	she had found another lover, and so
	forth.  She suddenly burst out into
	tears, and, after a while, said to
	me:

			COUNTESS
	Roderick, you know well enough that
	I have never loved but you!  Was I
	ever so wretched that a kind word
	from you did not make me happy?
	Ever so angry, but the least offer
	of good-will on your part did not
	bring me to your side?  Did I not
	give a sufficient proof of my
	affection for you in bestowing one
	of the finest fortunes of England
	upon you?  Have I repined or rebuked
	you for the way you have wasted it?
	No, I loved you too much and too
	fondly; I have always loved you.
	From the first moment I saw you, I
	saw your bad qualities, and trembled
	at your violence; but I could not
	help loving you.  I married you,
	though I knew I was sealing my own
	fate in doing so, and in spite of
	reason and duty.  What sacrifice do
	you want from me?  I am ready to
	make any, so you will but love me,
	or, if not, that at least, you will
	gently us me.

Roderick kisses her.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I was in a particularly good humor
	that day, and we had a sort of
	reconciliation.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - NIGHT

Roderick and his mother.

			MOTHER
	Depend on it, artful hussy has some
	other scheme in her head now.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	The old lady was right, and I
	swallowed the bait which her
	ladyship had prepared to entrap me
	as simply as any gudgeon takes a
	hook.

EXT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Arrival of Mr. Newcombe, the money-broker.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I had hired a money-broker
	especially to find some means of my
	making a loan.  After several months
	without success, it was with some
	considerable interest that I
	received his visit.

INT.  RODERICK'S STUDY - DAY

Roderick and the money-broker, Mr. Newcombe.

			NEWCOMBE
	I have good news for you, Mr.
	Cosgrove.  The firm of Bracegirdle
	and Chatwick, in the city of London,
	are prepared to lend you 20,000
	pounds, pledged against your
	interest in the Edric mines.  They
	will redeem the encumbrances against
	the property, which amount to some
	10,000 pounds, and take a twenty-
	year working lease on the mines.
	They will lend you the 20,000 pounds
	against the lease income,
	which they will apply to the loan as
	it comes in, and they will make a
	charge of 18% per annum interest on
	the outstanding loan balance.

			RODERICK
	Mr. Newcombe, I have made some
	difficult loans during the past few
	years, at very onerous terms, but
	18% a year interest seems very stiff
	indeed.

			NEWCOMBE
	Considering your financial
	circumstances, Mr. Cosgrove, it has
	been impossible to find anyone at
	all prepared to do any business with
	you.  I think you may count yourself
	lucky to have this opportunity.
	But, obviously, if you would reject
	this offer, I shall keep trying to
	find a better one.

			RODERICK
		   (after a pause)
	I am prepared to accept the terms,
	Mr. Newcombe.

			NEWCOMBE
	There are a few other points we
	should discuss.  The loan agreement
	can only be executed by her
	ladyship's signature, and provided
	that Bracegirdle and Chatwick can be
	assured of her ladyship's freewill
	in giving her signature.

			RODERICK
	Provided that they can be assured of
	her ladyship's freewill?  Are you
	serious?

			NEWCOMBE
	May I be quite frank with you?

			RODERICK
	Yes, of course.

			NEWCOMBE
	Mister Bracegirdle said to me that
	he had heard her ladyship lives in
	some fear of her life, and meditated
	a separation, in which case, she
	might later repudiate any documents
	signed by herself while in durance,
	and subject them, at any rate, to a
	doubtful and expensive litigation.
	They were quite insistent on this
	point, and said they must have
	absolute assurance of her ladyship's
	perfect freewill in the transaction
	before they would advance a shilling
	of their capital.

			RODERICK
	I see.

			NEWCOMBE
	When I asked them in what form they
	would accept her ladyship's
	assurances, they said that they were
	only prepared to accept them if her
	ladyship confirms her written
	consent by word of mouth, in their
	presence, at their counting-house in
	Birchin Lane, London.  I requested
	they come here, and save her
	ladyship and yourself the
	inconvenience of the trip to London,
	but they declined, saying that they
	did not wish to incur the risk of a
	visit to Castle Hackton to
	negotiate, as they were aware of how
	other respectable parties, such as
	Messrs. Sharp and Salomon had been
	treated here.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Roderick and his mother.

			MOTHER
	Depend on it, there is some
	artifice.  When once you get into
	that wicked town, you are not safe.
	There are scores of writs out
	against you for debt.  If you are
	taken in London, and thrown into
	prison, your case is hopeless.

			RODERICK
	Mother dear, we are now living off
	our own beef and mutton.  We have to
	watch Lady Cosgrove within and the
	bailiffs without.  There are certain
	situations in which people cannot
	dictate their own terms; and faith,
	we are so pressed now for money,
	that I would sign a bond with old
	Nick himself, if he would provide a
	good round sum.  With this money, we
	can settle our principal debts and
	make a fresh start.

			MOTHER
	Roderick, you must listen to me.  As
	soon as they have you in London,
	they will get the better of my poor
	innocent lad; and the first thing
	that I shall hear of you will be
	that you are in trouble.  You will
	be a victim of your own generous and
	confiding nature.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - COUNTESS' BEDROOM

Roderick and the Countess.

			COUNTESS
	Why go, Roderick?  I am happy here,
	as long as you are kind to me, as
	you now are.  We can't appear in
	London as we ought; the little money
	you will get will be spent, like all
	the rest has been.  Let us stay here
	and be content.

She takes his hand and kisses it.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - DAY

Mother and Roderick.

			MOTHER
	Humph!  I believe she is at the
	bottom of it -- the wicked schemer.

EXT.  COUNTRY ROAD - DAY

Roderick's carriage moving along.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	We did not start in state, you may
	be sure.  We did not let the country
	know we were going, or leave notice
	of adieu with our neighbors.  The
	famous Mr. James Cosgrove and his
	noble wife traveled in a hack-
	chaise and pair.

INT.  COACH - DAY

The Countess lays her head on Roderick's shoulder and
smiles.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	When a man is going to the devil,
	how easy and pleasant a journey it
	is!  The thought of the money quite
	put me in a good humor, and my wife,
	as she lay on my shoulder in the
	post-chaise, going to London, said
	it was the happiest ride she had
	taken since our marriage.

EXT.  INN - DUSK

The carriage stops and they disembark.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	One night we stayed at Reading.

INT.  INN - NIGHT

Roderick and his wife at dinner.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	My lady and I agreed that, with the
	money, we would go to France, and
	wait there for better times, and
	that night, over our supper, formed
	a score of plans both for pleasure
	and retrenchment.  You would have
	thought it was Darby and Joan
	together over their supper.

INT.  BEDROOM - NIGHT

Roderick and his wife making love.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	O woman!  Woman!  When I recollect
	Lady Cosgrove's smiles and
	blandishments, how happy she seemed
	to be on that night!  What an air of
	innocent confidence appeared in her
	behavior, and what affectionate
	names she called me!  I am lost in
	wonder at the depth of her
	hypocrisy.  Who can be surprised
	that an unsuspecting person like
	myself should have been a victim to
	such a consummate deceiver?

EXT.  GRAY'S INN OFFICE - DAY

The coach drives up.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	We were in London at three o'clock,
	an half-an-hour before the time
	appointed.

INT.  STAIRCASE - DAY

Roderick and the Countess looking for the office.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I easily found out Mr. Tapewell's
	apartment:  a gloomy den it was, and
	in an unlucky hour, I entered it.

They climb up dirty backstairs, lit by a feeble lamp, and
the dim sky of a dismal London afternoon.

The Countess seems agitated and faint.

When they get to the door, she stops in front of it.

			COUNTESS
	Roderick -- don't go in.  I am sure
	there is danger.  There's time yet,
	let us go back -- anywhere!

The Countess has put herself before the door in a
theatrical attitude and takes Roderick's hand.

He pushes her away to one side.

			RODERICK
	Lady Cosgrove, you are an old fool.

			COUNTESS
	Old fool!

She jumps at the bell, which is quickly answered by a
moldy-looking gentleman in an unpowered wig.

			COUNTESS
	Say Lady Cosgrove is here!

She stalks down the passage, muttering:  "Old Fool."

INT.  MR. TAPEWELL'S OFFICE - DAY

Tapewell is in his musty room, surrounded by his
parchments and tin boxes.

He advances and bows, begs her ladyship to be seated, and
points towards a chair for Roderick, which he takes,
rather wondering at the lawyer's insolence.

The lawyer retreats to a side-door, saying he will be back
in a moment.

In the next moment, he reenters, bringing with him another
layer, six constables in red waist-coats, with bludgeons
and pistols, and Lord Brookside.

Lady Cosgrove flings herself into the arms of her son,
crying and whimpering and calling him her savior, her
preserver, her gallant knight.

Then, turning to Roderick, she pours out a flood of
invective which quite astonishes him.

			COUNTESS
	Oh fool as I am, I have outwitted
	the most crafty and treacherous
	monster under the sun.  Yes, I was a
	fool when I married you, and gave up
	other and nobler hearts for your
	sake -- yes, I was a fool when I
	forgot my name and lineage to unite
	myself with a base-born adventurer
	-- a fool to bear, without repining,
	the most monstrous tyranny that ever
	woman suffered; to allow my property
	to be squandered; to see women as
	base and low-born as yourself...

			TAPEWELL
	For heaven's sake, be calm.

Tapewell bounds back behind the constables, seeing a
threatening look in Roderick's eye.

The Countess continues in a strain of incoherent fury,
screaming against Roderick, and against his mother, and
always beginning and ending the sentence with the word
"fool."

			RODERICK
	You didn't tell all, my lady -- I
	said "old" fool.

			BROOKSIDE
	I have no doubt that you said and
	did, sir, everything that a
	blackguard could say or do.  This
	lady is now safe under the
	protection of her relations and the
	law, and need fear your infamous
	persecutions no longer.

			RODERICK
	But you are not safe, and as sure as
	I am a man of honor, I will have
	your heart's blood.

			TAPEWELL
	Take down his words, constables;
	swear the peace against him.

			BROOKSIDE
	I would not sully my sword with the
	blood of such a ruffian.  If the
	scoundrel remains in London another
	day, he will be seized as a common
	swindler.

			RODERICK
	Where's the man who will seize me?

He draws his sword, placing his back to the door.

			RODERICK
	Let the scoundrel come!  You -- you
	cowardly braggart, come first, if
	you have the soul of a man!

The Countess and the bailiffs move away.

			TAPEWELL
	We are not going to seize you!  My
	dear sir, we don't wish to seize
	you; we will give you a handsome sum
	to leave the country, only leave her
	ladyship in peace.

			BROOKSIDE
	And the country will be rid of such
	a villain.

As Brookside says this, he backs into the next room.

The lawyer follows him, leaving Roderick alone in the
company of the constables who are all armed to the teeth.

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I was no longer the man I was at
	twenty, when I should have charged
	the ruffians, sword in hand, and
	sent at least one of them to his
	account.  I was broken in spirit,
	regularly caught in the toils,
	utterly baffled and beaten by that
	woman.  Was she relenting at the
	door, when she paused and begged me
	to turn back?  Had she not a
	lingering love for me still?  Her
	conduct showed it, as I came to
	reflect on it.  It was my only
	chance now left in the world, so I
	put down my sword upon the lawyers
	desk.

Roderick puts his sword down on the lawyer's desk.

			RODERICK
	Gentlemen, I shall have no violence;
	you may tell Mr. Tapewell I am quite
	ready to speak with him when he is
	at leisure.

Roderick sits down and folds his arms quite peaceably.

EXT.  COFFEE HOUSE - NEAR GRAY'S INN - DAY

INT.  RODERICK'S ROOM IN COFFEE HOUSE - DAY

			RODERICK (V.O.)
	I was instructed to take a lodging
	for the night in a coffee house near
	Gray's Inn, and anxiously expected a
	visit from Mr. Tapewell.

Tapewell talking to Roderick.

			TAPEWELL
	I have been authorized by Lady
	Cosgrove and her advisors to pay you
	an annuity of 300 pounds a year,
	specifically on the condition of you
	remaining abroad out of the three
	kingdoms, and to be stopped on the
	instant of your return.  I advise
	you to accept it without delay for
	you know, as well as I do, that your
	stay in London will infallibly
	plunge you in gaol, as there are
	innumerable writs taken out against
	you here and in the west of England,
	and that your credit is so blown
	upon that you could not hope to
	raise a shilling.  I will leave you
	the night to consider this proposal,
	but if you refuse, the family will
	proceed against you in London, and
	have you arrested.  If you accede, a
	quarter salary will be paid to you
	at any foreign port you should
	prefer.

			RODERICK
	Mr. Tapewell, I do not require a
	night to consider this proposal.
	What other choice has a poor, lonely
	and broken-hearted man?  I shall
	take the annuity, and leave the
	country.

			MR. TAPEWELL
	I am very glad to hear that you have
	come to this decision, Mr. Cosgrove.
	I think you are very wise.

There is a knock at the door and Roderick opens it.
Brookside enters with four constables armed with pistols.

The dialogue for this scene has to be written.

Brookside has gone against the bargain, and has decided to
have Roderick arrested upon one of the many writs out
against him for debt.

Mr. Tapewell is surprised and complains weakly that
Brookside is acting in bad faith.

Brookside brushes aside his objections.

Roderick is defeated, and meekly sits down in a chair.

The following lines are read over Roderick being shackled
and led out of the room.

			NARRATOR
	Mr. James Cosgrove's personal
	narrative finishes here, for the
	hand of death interrupted the
	ingenious author soon after the
	period which this memoir was
	compiled, after he had lived
	nineteen years an inmate of the
	Fleet Prison, where the prison
	records state he died of delirium
	tremens.

EXT.  FLEET PRISON - DAY

His mother, now very old and hobbled with arthritis,
enters the prison, carrying a basket on her arm.

			NARRATOR
	His faithful old mother joined him
	in his lonely exile, and had a
	bedroom in Fleet Market over the
	way.  She would come and stay the
	whole day with him in prison
	working.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - COUNTESS' STUDY

Signing a payment draft, the Countess sighs and gazes out
of the large window.

			NARRATOR
	The Countess was never out of love
	with her husband, and, as long as
	she lived, James enjoyed his income
	of 300 pounds per year and was,
	perhaps, as happy in prison, as at
	any period of his existence.

INT.  CASTLE HACKTON - STUDY - DAY

Brookside tearing up the payment draft presented to him by
his accountant.

			NARRATOR
	When her ladyship died, her son
	sternly cut off the annuity,
	devoting the sum to charities,
	which, he said, would make a nobler
	use of it than the scoundrel who had
	enjoyed it hitherto.

INT.  FLEET PRISON - DAY

Roderick, now grey-haired, blacking boots.

			NARRATOR
	When the famous character lost his
	income, his spirit entirely failed.
	He was removed into the pauper's
	ward, where he was known to black
	boots for wealthier prisoners, and
	where he was detected in stealing a
	tobacco box.

INT.  FLEET PRISON - DAY

Roderick and his mother.  Action as per voice over.

			NARRATOR
	His mother attained a prodigious old
	age, and the inhabitants of the
	place in her time can record, with
	accuracy, the daily disputes which
	used to take place between mother
	and son, until the latter, from
	habits of intoxication, falling into
	a state of almost imbecility, was
	tended by his tough old parent as a
	baby almost, and would cry if
	deprived of his necessary glass of
	brandy.

TITLE CARD

	It was in the reign of George III
	that the above-named personages
	lived and quarreled; good or bad,
	handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they
	are all equal now.

						    FADE OUT.

			THE END