BATES: What do you want from me?
VERA: Firstly, hand in your notice. Tonight. I’ll put up at the pub in the village.
BATES: What reason do I give?
VERA: You don’t need a reason. Just tell them that you’re going. And then tomorrow we head back to London. We’ll stay in your mother’s house for the time being, ’til we get ourselves sorted.
But as she talks, the camera drifts to a grating in the wall, dissolving through that wall, to find Mrs Hughes listening.
VERA (V.O.) (CONT’D): And in case you’re wondering: whatever my future plans may be, they all involve you.
47 INT. KITCHEN PASSAGE. DOWNTON. NIGHT.
Bates is carrying some pyjamas. He reaches the bottom of the stairs and stops, thinking. Mrs Hughes sees him.
MRS HUGHES: Mr Bates? Are you all right?
BATES: Oh, yes.
Of course Mrs Hughes knows his troubles, but she can’t say so.
MRS HUGHES: Because there are plenty of people here who’d like to help you if they could. That’s if you need help… You’re very highly valued in this house, Mr Bates. By all of us.
He looks at her for a moment, this kind woman.
BATES: Thank you, Mrs Hughes. If that is true, then it will be a great comfort in the days to come.
And he sets off up the stairs.
48 INT. ROBERT’S DRESSING ROOM. DOWNTON. NIGHT.
Robert is getting out of evening dress. He’s in a fury.
ROBERT: What d’you mean? You can’t suddenly jump ship like a sailor on a spree!
BATES: I’m very sorry, m’lord —
ROBERT: So you bloody well should be! What about Anna? What does she say to this change of plan?
BATES: I haven’t spoken to her yet.
ROBERT: Well, don’t you think you should?
Robert feels he got this man entirely wrong, and it hurts.
ROBERT (CONT’D): Bates, when you first came here I fought to keep you. Everyone was against me, everyone, from her ladyship to Carson! They thought I was mad! But I said to them: ‘After all that we’ve been through together, Bates and I, I owe him my loyalty!’
BATES: I appreciate that, m’lord, but —
ROBERT: But what? But loyalty doesn’t matter to you?
BATES: It does matter, m’lord —
ROBERT: Not enough to make you change your mind! Not even enough to make you stay until I’ve found a replacement!
BATES: I can’t.
ROBERT: You won’t take any more money off me! You leave empty-handed!
BATES: I don’t want money, m’lord.
But this was cheap, and now Robert feels ashamed.
ROBERT: I’m sorry, Bates. That was a low shot. Of course you can have whatever is owing to you.
Neither man adds to this. Robert has gone from angry to sad.
ROBERT (CONT’D): I thought we were friends, that’s all. I thought we had crossed the great divide, successfully… Well, well. I’ve had my say. It’s your life. But you’ve disappointed me, Bates. I cannot remember being more disappointed in any man.
49 EXT. KITCHEN COURTYARD. DOWNTON. NIGHT.
Anna is with Bates.
ANNA: I don’t believe it! You say my life is over and your wife will collect you first thing and that’s it? Have you mentioned this to anyone else?
BATES: Only Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes. The others can find out when I’ve gone.
Something is troubling her beyond everything else.
ANNA: I know you’ve not told me the real reason.
BATES: You’re wrong. Vera has reminded me that I’m a married man, that I must give my vows another chance, I had no right to involve you in my life.
ANNA: Yes, but you see that’s just what I don’t agree with. You had every right. You had the right of a suffering prisoner fighting for freedom. But I know you. You’re doing something gallant here. Making a sacrifice for my honour. But I don’t want you to.
She seizes him with both hands, staring into his face.
ANNA (CONT’D): I don’t care. Don’t you understand? I don’t care what people say. I’d live in sin with you! I would! I’d rather stand naked in the full light of day on top of Nelson’s column than let you go!*
She is crying now, but so is he. He can only shake his head.
BATES: I can’t…
ANNA: If she’s threatening to ruin me, then let her! It’s nothing to me! The only ruin that I recognise is to be without you!
He reaches up to stroke her cheek.
BATES: Forget me, and be happy. Please.
ANNA: I couldn’t. Not ever.
BATES: You should and you must. I am nothing.
He walks into the house without a backward look.†
* When Anna offers to live in sin with him, for a young woman in 1916 it would have been an enormously significant choice. The price she would pay, if he took her up on it, would be to lose not just her respectability, but all her friends, as well as the support of her family. She would henceforth be an outcast from the world that she’d known. So it is a tremendous sacrifice that she offers, and Bates knows this, which of course makes it all the worse for him, because it is another reminder of how much they love each other. But anyway, he has to give her up, because he cannot ruin her and plunge her family into disgrace. His choice of action is the only honourable one open to him.
† I think Anna is unreasonable about Vera’s desire to have Bates back, as all people in love are unreasonable about the previous partner of the object of their love. She is not inclined to see Vera’s side at all, and we don’t dislike her for that, but I believe we should be aware that she’s not prepared to give Vera any sort of hearing, even though Vera is, after all, Bates’s wife. In Season One, we did discover from Bates’s mother that, actually, Vera did have a very tough time.
50 INT. SERVANTS’ HALL. DOWNTON. NIGHT.
Daisy comes into the dark, empty room and turns on the lights. William is sitting there, alone.
DAISY: William? I thought everyone had gone up. I’m just looking for that magazine Ethel were reading…
She retrieves it. Still, he doesn’t move. She chatters on.
DAISY (CONT’D): I hope you’ve noticed I’m not scared of electricity any more. Well, not much. I couldn’t touch a switch when it were only upstairs. But I’ve got used to it now.
He does not speak and she goes to sit by him.
DAISY (CONT’D): I hate to see you like this.
WILLIAM: Even though I’m a dirty coward?
DAISY: You are not. Not to me.
WILLIAM: But why don’t I enlist? I could. I know I promised my dad, but he’s not my owner, he’s not the law. Am I frightened? Is that it? Honestly?
DAISY: Don’t be so hard on yourself. No one wants to go to war. Oh, I wish you’d cheer up. Please. I’d do anything to cheer you up.
WILLIAM: Like what?
She thinks for a moment, and then makes a decision.
DAISY: Like this.
She leans across and kisses him gently on the mouth. This does succeed in pulling him out of his black reverie. But…
WILLIAM: You just feel sorry for me.
DAISY: William, I’ve kissed you. You’ve wanted me to long enough. Well, now I have. Enjoy it.
WILLIAM: Does this mean you’ll be my girl, Daisy? ’Cos if you were my girl, I know I could tackle anything.
But Daisy is not at all sure she was right to get into this.*
* This comes from a story told by my mother. At some point in the early Thirties, she’d gone out for dinner with a man whom she liked but wasn’t really attracted to. Unfortunately, he was absolutely mad about her and sobbing with love. At the end of the evening he brought her home, and he wanted to kiss her goodnight. She gave him a kiss, which in those days was not quite the tongue job that it is now, but nevertheless she did, and then she went inside. In their house, the room that overlooked the front was my grandfather’s library. He had been looking out of the window and he’d seen th
is exchange, and so he gave her a great telling-off. My mother thought this was absolutely outrageous. According to her, she said to her father: ‘That was a poor man whom I won’t go out with again, but who is terribly in love with me. When I tell him it’s the end, it’s going to be absolutely ghastly for him. The very least I could do is give him a kiss to remember.’ And I thought, I’m going to use that.
51 INT. MATTHEW’S DUG-OUT. THE SOMME. FRANCE. DAY.
Matthew is unpacking in his dug-out.
MATTHEW: But we were supposed to be at rest for ten days at least.
SERGEANT: The orders arrived this morning, sir. The King’s Own were hit bad. So they’re out and we’re in.
Matthew has placed a picture of Lavinia on a makeshift desk, along with Mary’s rabbit. An explosion shakes everything.
SERGEANT (CONT’D): They’ve been shelling the trench since we got here.
MATTHEW: Is anybody hurt?
SERGEANT: Rankin’s dead and Kent, and Corporal Wright was hit. Thank God the stretcher bearers were there.
MATTHEW: Let’s see what the damage is now.
Standing, he grabs his steel helmet and, after a moment of hesitation, Mary’s rabbit, which he stuffs in his pocket.
52 EXT. TRENCH AT THE SOMME. FRANCE. DAY.
Matthew walks down the crowded trench, past the carnage of mud and blood and groaning men. He comes to where stretcher bearers are loading a body. There is a familiar screech…*
DAVIS: Look out!
They dive for cover as a shell hits the trench and buries them in mud and debris. All is still, then men start to fight their way out. Matthew’s head appears, as his neighbour shakes himself loose. He is one of the stretcher bearers. Matthew’s eyes begin to focus on him…
MATTHEW: Thomas? It is Thomas, isn’t it?
THOMAS: Corporal Barrow now, Mr Crawley. Lieutenant Crawley, that is.
And it is. Thomas, the former first footman.
MATTHEW: You’ll never guess where I’ve just been.
They are certainly a long way from Downton.
* For these men, one of the frightful and almost surreal parts of being in the Army was that two or three days’ travelling took them not just from one place to another, but effectively from one planet to another. They would go back to England on a short leave, and there they would visit a show and have dinner at the Savoy, and then return home to their mother’s house in Belgrave Square, or, further down the social ladder, they would go back to farms or shops or cottages to stay with their parents in some country village. And then, after a very few days, they would find themselves back in this mess of blood and mud and death. That was the point we were making here.
53 INT. ANNA AND ETHEL’S BEDROOM. DAY.
Anna is at the window, tears streaming down her face. Below, a taxicab waits as Bates, supervised by Vera, straps his case on the back. He looks up at the façade, but Anna shrinks back. Then he climbs in after his wife. The vehicle drives off.
54 INT. SYBIL’S BEDROOM. DOWNTON. DAY.
The remains of a sponge cake fill the screen.
MARY (V.O.): I bet you cheated and Mrs Patmore made it.
But she is laughing. The room is full. Violet is watching, while Cora, Edith and Mary help Sybil and Mrs Hughes to pack.*
VIOLET: Where’s Anna?
MRS HUGHES: She’s not very well today, your ladyship. I’ve taken over for the time being.
VIOLET: Oh, that’s so kind of you. Just make sure Lady Sybil packs things she can get in and out of without a maid.
The three sisters and their mother bring clothes from chests and wardrobes to the case on the bed. They crisscross each other, as Sybil keeps taking things out they’ve put in.
SYBIL: I don’t need that. I’d never wear it.
EDITH: But you must have something decent. Suppose you’re invited to dinner?
SYBIL: I know this is hard for you to grasp, but I’m not there to go out to dinner. I’m there to learn.
MARY: Take one. Just in case.
She herself folds up a simple evening dress and packs it.
EDITH: We’ll miss you.
SYBIL: Don’t be silly. It’s only two months and I’ll come home if I can.
EDITH: Why don’t I drive you?
VIOLET: She’s taking enough chance with her life as it is.
EDITH: Oh, Granny.
VIOLET: What is this driving mania?
EDITH: It’ll be useful. They won’t let a healthy man drive us around for much longer. And if Sybil can be a nurse, why can’t I be a chauffeur?
MARY: So it‘s nothing to do with getting poor old Strallan back?
EDITH: I won’t take that from you.
VIOLET: I hope it is. Sir Anthony Strallan may not be much, but what choice will Edith have by the time the war’s over?
CORA: It’s such a pity he was too shy to speak out. I was so sure he’d propose at that garden party, but then he just seemed to run away.
Mary and Edith exchange a look. Violet stands.
VIOLET: Well, I shall leave you. I’ve been summoned by Cousin Isobel for tea. Goodbye, Sybil, and good luck with it all.
SYBIL: Thank you for being such a sport.
VIOLET: It’s a big step you’re taking, dear, but war deals out strange tasks. Remember your Great-Aunt Roberta.
MARY: What about her?
VIOLET: She loaded the guns at Lucknow.*
CORA: I’ll come with you. I’ll tell William to fetch the bags.
She looks at her youngest daughter.
CORA (CONT’D): The first of you to leave the nest.
But then her eyes fill and she hurries out after Violet.
EDITH: Poor Mama. She always feels these things so dreadfully.
MARY: That’s her American blood.*
SYBIL: I’m so glad we’ve settled everything with Cousin Matthew. Aren’t you, Mary?
MARY: Oh, please stop treading on eggshells. I’ve other fish to fry.
Edith snorts, which Mary deliberately misunderstands.
MARY (CONT’D): Why, Edith, are you jealous?
EDITH: If your fish is Richard Carlisle, I’m not jealous; I’m embarrassed.
MRS HUGHES: And I’m finished. I think that’s everything.
There is a knock on the door and William enters.
WILLIAM: Are you ready, m’lady?
She smiles and he takes up the cases.
* It is a big moment for Sybil, not just because she’s going off to nurse, but because she’s leaving home. This was made all the more unusual because most of these women, up to that point in history, had only left home to get married. And when they didn’t leave to get married, on the whole they didn’t leave. But this was war, for the women as well as the men, and I wanted to reinforce Violet’s attitude that, as far as she’s concerned, Sybil is not doing anything that a well-bred young woman should not do in extremis, if it’s called for.
* A classic case of these women of the Empire showing their mettle came during the Indian mutiny, if one may still call it such, at the siege at Lucknow, when the residency of Sir Henry Lawrence, Administrator of the State of Oudh, was surrounded by rebel forces. The British women trapped there, who had never done much more than order dinner for twelve and ring for Nanny, were suddenly loading guns and crawling on their hands and knees, taking ammunition to the men who were firing. At Lucknow most of them managed to get out alive. But others, like the women and children taken prisoner at Cawnpore, were less fortunate. I just thought the incident would give us a nice reminder of Violet’s values.
* Mary often likes to make the point that her mother is American, but that she, Mary, is not. Personally, I think having children who are a different nationality to you is a big challenge. If you marry a man from the Lebanon, and you have his children, you will find that your children, who grow up out there, will have all sorts of different beliefs and traditions from your own. It doesn’t matter how often you remind them that you are English or American, they are essentially Lebanese, an
d at some point you must either fight that or accept it. Cora is American, but she has English children. Elizabeth McGovern has a great understanding of this, because she has also married an Englishman, and she also has English children. She says there are moments when their viewpoint is completely different from what hers would have been at their age.
55 EXT/INT. DOWNTON/CAR. DAY.
The three sisters, watched over by Cora, have a last embrace and then Sybil runs into the car. Branson shuts the door, climbs in and drives off. The girls go inside, but Cora stays there, watching. From inside the car, we see Sybil look back at the solitary figure of her mother against the huge house.
56 INT. DRAWING ROOM. CRAWLEY HOUSE. DAY.
Violet is with Isobel, Clarkson and Molesley.
VIOLET: I make no apology. It would be a terrible thing if poor old Mr Molesley’s son were killed. Wouldn’t it, Molesley?
But before he can do more than open his mouth…
ISOBEL: I’m sure it would, but —
VIOLET: And then I heard William’s father would be left on his own if anything happened to the boy. And what would become of Carson if the last of his staff were to go?
ISOBEL: That’s not the point!
VIOLET: I think it is the point. Surely you can recognise these are special cases? Do you want Molesley to die?
ISOBEL: Of course I don’t!
VIOLET: Well.
ISOBEL: I don’t want my own son to die, either! But this is a war! And we must be in it together! High and low, rich and poor! There can be no ‘special cases’, because every man at the front is a special case to someone!
CLARKSON: Mrs Crawley is right. I understand your motives, Lady Grantham, and I do not criticise them. But I shall write to the Ministry at once correcting the misinformation. Good day. I’ll see myself out.
It is clear he is angry. He goes, leaving an awkward trio.
ISOBEL: Molesley, you understand why I said what I did?
MOLESLEY: Indeed, I do, ma’am.
ISOBEL: You won’t be called up at once. Not while there are younger men to be taken.
VIOLET: But they’ll get you in the end, Molesley. And you can blame Mrs Crawley when they do!*
* Violet, naturally, defends her attempts to save William on the grounds that he is an only son. It would be a terrible thing were he to be killed. I don’t blame her at all for trying to spare William’s father pain, and I rather agree with her, anyway, but nor do I blame Isobel for trying to undo it. For Isobel, it isn’t right that some men should be taken and others spared, when it would be hideous for anyone to lose their son, whoever they are. So, it’s a Downton argument, really, when most of us are sort of on both sides.
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