Barry Lindon Page 8

  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 woul
d, 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.