SYBIL: Oh?
VIOLET: You see sometimes, in war, one can make friendships that aren’t quite appropriate, and it can be awkward, you know, later on. I mean, we’ve all done it. I just want you to be on your guard.
SYBIL: Appropriate for whom?
VIOLET: Well, don’t jump down my throat, dear. I’m only offering friendly advice.*
Cora looks across the table to Robert.
CORA: Why do you want to see Bates? To give him his old job back?
ROBERT: Not entirely. I mainly want to see him because we parted badly.
Carson reappears.
CARSON: Telephone call for you, m’lord.
Robert smiles his thanks and stands.
CORA: If you did, I’m sure it’s his fault.
ROBERT: No, it was mine.
He goes. As Carson opens the door, there is a roar of victory from somewhere across the hall.
VIOLET: Oh, really, it’s like living in a second-rate hotel, where the guests keep arriving and no one seems to leave.
* Violet’s warning against inappropriate friendships was given to one of my great-aunts by my great-grandmother. Naturally, I was fascinated by it. The thinking then was that, in wartime, you will make friends with people whom you don’t necessarily want to go on with when peace comes. Naturally, my aunt was affronted, but afterwards it made her laugh. I only recall that when I heard things like this, I had such a sense that, shortly before my own birth (because we were talking about 1920, and I was born only thirty years later), the whole world must have changed into a different universe. Here, Violet is trying to warn Sybil off, because she has a suspicion that with a young girl as pretty as Sybil, and as lively and attractive, there must be someone in pursuit. As far as Violet can work it out, the only reason they haven’t met him has to be because he’s unsuitable, and they’re not allowed to meet him; a completely correct analysis, of course.
END OF ACT TWO
ACT THREE
33 INT. HALL. DOWNTON. NIGHT.
The family walks out of the dining room into the small library, while Robert is on the telephone. He listens.
ROBERT: I see. Yes. Thank you for letting me know.
Edith is last, and only she is there when he puts down the telephone. He looks concerned.
EDITH: Are you all right, Papa?
ROBERT: Not exactly. That was the War Office. Matthew and William went out on a patrol a few days ago and they haven’t been seen since.
EDITH: Oh, my God.
ROBERT: Let’s not fall to pieces quite yet. It happens all the time apparently, and the men turn up in one field hospital or another.
EDITH: But they are treating them as missing in action?
ROBERT: It’s too early for that. There could be lots of things to explain it.
EDITH: You mean they could have been taken prisoner?
ROBERT: It’s possible.*
EDITH: What are you going to do?
ROBERT: There’s not much I can do, until we know more.
He is thinking aloud as he now realises, and regrets.
ROBERT (CONT’D): Don’t say anything to Mary. Or your mother. Or anyone in fact. Not yet. I shouldn’t really have told you.
EDITH: What about Cousin Isobel?
ROBERT: I don’t know how to contact her. And I’m not going to sound the alarm before we know something solid… Anyway, she’s in France. She may hear before we do.
* Whenever anyone was missing in action, there was always a hope they’d been taken prisoner, but it was probably an unfulfilled hope, because they usually knew who had been captured. That is why Robert is unwilling to offer more than faint acknowledgement of Edith’s statement.
34 INT. MRS HUGHES’S SITTING ROOM. DOWNTON. NIGHT.
Mrs Hughes is with O’Brien.
O’BRIEN: I’m not accusing her of anything, but I did wonder if you were aware of this ‘special storage area’?
MRS HUGHES: I dare say Mrs Patmore has her own system, like we all do.
O’BRIEN: Right. Well, I’ll say goodnight.
MRS HUGHES: Goodnight.
Mrs Hughes sees Molesley walking down the passage, outside her door, as O’Brien slips away.
MRS HUGHES (CONT’D): Ah, Mr Molesley, you’re very late.
MOLESLEY: I was doing some invisible mending on one of his coats. I got a bit carried away, but I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out.
MRS HUGHES: I don’t see why you can’t dress him. Until there’s a new valet. It’d be a blessing to Mr Carson.
MOLESLEY: I’d be happy to, if it’d help.
MRS HUGHES: Keep this up and we won’t be able to do without you at all.
MOLESLEY: There’s no reason why you should.
He laughs pleasantly, but his agenda is clear.
MOLESLEY (CONT’D): Oh, er, I may be wrong, but I thought I saw one of the officers by the maids’ staircase just now.
He is slightly alarmed by the hardening of her expression.
MOLESLEY (CONT’D): I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.
MRS HUGHES: Let’s hope so. Goodnight.
35 INT. THE MAIDS’ PASSAGE/ANNA AND ETHEL’S ROOM/HOUSEMAIDS’ SITTING ROOM. DOWNTON. NIGHT.
Mrs Hughes walks silently along the passage. Outside a door, she stops, turns the knob and opens it. Anna is asleep in one bed, but the other is empty. Mrs Hughes shuts it and walks on. She listens at another door, quietly turns the knob and throws the door open, switching on the light as she does so.
BRYANT: What the bloody —?
He stops at the sight of the housekeeper. They have made a makeshift bed on the floor of this little sitting room with blankets spread out. Ethel clutches at one to cover herself.
MRS HUGHES: Ethel! So you’ve found a new use for the old housemaids’ sitting room.
BRYANT: We were only —
MRS HUGHES: I know precisely what you were doing, Major. I may not be a woman of the world, but I don’t live in a sack.* Now, if you will kindly take your things and go downstairs.
He gets to his feet, clutching a blanket round him, and gathers his clothes awkwardly. Mrs Hughes does not help. He leaves.
MRS HUGHES (CONT’D): Ethel, you are dismissed, without notice and without a character. You will please leave before breakfast.
ETHEL: I didn’t think I —
MRS HUGHES: No. And that’s the problem. You never do.
* This is a very key line for me. These days there is always an assumption that, if you live in quite an enclosed way, you don’t know anything. A monk, or a nun, for example, might live out of the world and therefore they won’t know how it operates. When, in fact, you can find unworldly people at the centre of a crowded ballroom, and extremely knowledgeable and very sophisticated people living in a Trappist order. It’s the same with politicians when the papers say that, because they’ve been to Eton, they don’t know how real people live. As a rebuttal of this foolish argument, you only have to compare David Cameron to Gordon Brown. Which one of those two seems the more normal? Mrs Hughes is not shocked; she’s not a maiden spinster fainting at the sight of a man’s torso. She knew precisely what she would find, and she is extremely tough about it. Just as we have moments when Cora doesn’t know the name of the kitchen maid, one also has to remind the audience of the rules that governed everyone in those days. However much we may love Mrs Hughes, there is no question that, in a case like this, Ethel would have been sacked on the spot.
36 INT. KITCHEN. CRAWLEY HOUSE. DOWNTON VILLAGE. NIGHT.
Mrs Bird and Molesley are having a cup of tea.
MRS BIRD: And you’re not nervous?
MOLESLEY: Well, I gather his lordship knows his own mind, but I’ve no difficulty with that.
MRS BIRD: You’ll enjoy working in a big household. Better than staring at me night after night. What would you say if they ask you to stay?
MOLESLEY: It would be a big step up for me. There’s no point in denying it.
MRS BIRD: Because I thin
k they might.
MOLESLEY: Do you really, Mrs Bird?
MRS BIRD: There goes Mr Molesley. Valet to the Earl of Grantham.
MOLESLEY: Stop it.
His glee at the prospect has shown his hand.
37 INT. ANNA AND ETHEL’S ROOM. DOWNTON. DAWN.
Ethel, weeping throughout, is packing. Anna is with her.
ANNA: But why? What could you have possibly done that’s so terrible?
Ethel just shakes her head and points at the cupboard.
ETHEL: Have I taken everything of mine from there?
Anna goes to check. There is one frock left, which she lifts down and folds for the suitcase as she talks.
ANNA: Would you like me to speak to her? Because I can. I’d be glad to.
ETHEL: No. She wouldn’t listen.
ANNA: She’s not a bad person, Mrs Hughes. I know she can be strict, but she’s not —
ETHEL: She wouldn’t listen.
38 EXT. THE RED LION. KIRKBYMOORSIDE. DAY.
The car arrives and stops, with Branson in the front and Robert in the back. Branson gets out and opens the door.
38A INT. THE RED LION. KIRKBYMOORSIDE. DAY.
Bates is clearing up at the end of the day. The bell rings as someone enters.
BATES: We’re closed.
He turns round to find that it is Robert.
39 INT. MRS HUGHES’S SITTING ROOM. DOWNTON. DAY.
Mrs Hughes is with Anna.
ANNA: I know Ethel could be difficult, Mrs Hughes, but she was very sorry for her mistake, whatever it was.
MRS HUGHES: I’m sure. It’s cost her her job.
ANNA: But surely it can’t —
MRS HUGHES: Never mind why she’s gone, she’s gone. There’s an end to it.
Which silences the maid.
MRS HUGHES (CONT’D): By the way, I hear Mr Bates is back in the county. Mr Carson says you know all about it.
Anna neither confirms nor denies this.
MRS HUGHES (CONT’D): I gather his lordship has gone to see him.
ANNA: I know. He told me he was going.
MRS HUGHES: Why in heaven’s name didn’t you mention any of it to me?
ANNA: It wasn’t my secret to tell.
40 INT. THE RED LION. KIRKBYMOORSIDE. DAY.
John Bates is with Robert.
ROBERT: I’m glad to hear it. But Carson said your wife made all sorts of threats.
BATES: She won’t carry them out. Not now. Since I left Downton, I’ve discovered that she was… untrue to me.
Robert glances at him, but says nothing.
BATES (CONT’D): I may have been as bad in my heart, m’lord. But I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of. The point is, I can divorce her now, whether she likes it or not.
ROBERT: But what’s to stop her blurting out her stories to the press?
BATES: If she agrees to keep silent, I will give her whatever she wants. She can’t hold me now, so her choice is between poverty and plenty.
ROBERT: And what was the tale she was going to tell? Carson never made it clear.
BATES: Some silly nonsense, m’lord. I wouldn’t waste your time with it. What’s the news from Downton?
41 INT. SERVANTS’ HALL. DOWNTON. DAY.
Most of the servants and Thomas are having tea.
MRS HUGHES: Daisy, you’re not to worry about William. I spoke to his lordship earlier. He says you’re not to be concerned until we know more.
DAISY: But he is missing? I mean, they don’t know where he is, or Captain Crawley, do they?
MRS HUGHES: There could be a hundred explanations.
O’BRIEN: Yes, and one of them is that they’re dead.
She sees Daisy’s look of shock.
O’BRIEN (CONT’D): Don’t mistake me, I hope very much they’re not, but we ought to face the truth.
MRS HUGHES: What may be the truth. And what very well may not.
She goes to leave and meets Anna.
MRS HUGHES (CONT’D): Oh, Anna, do you think that Mr Bates will come back?
ANNA: That’s for him to say.
DAISY: I hope he does. He always seems a romantic figure to me.
Anna smiles at this, but says nothing.
O’BRIEN: Does he? And how do you define romantic?
THOMAS: It’s no good him thinking he can turn up here without a moment’s notice and be Cock o’ the Walk.
MRS HUGHES: Why is that, Thomas? Because the place is already taken?
THOMAS: I’m not making any claims.
MRS HUGHES: Well, that’s a relief to us all.
42 INT. THE RED LION. KIRKBYMOORSIDE. DAY.
The conversation is still in progress.
ROBERT: I hate the word ‘missing’. It seems to leave so little room for optimism. I tell myself it’s too early to despair, but to be honest, Bates, I don’t think I can bear it.
BATES: What does her ladyship say?
ROBERT: I haven’t told her yet. I haven’t told any of them, except Edith, who’s sworn to secrecy. I don’t know why, exactly. Perhaps I don’t want to make it real.
Away from the family, this is as unguarded as we’ve seen him.
BATES: If you’d rather not talk about it —
ROBERT: No, I want to. It’s a relief. Losing Patrick was bad enough, but now the thought of Matthew gone and the future once again destroyed… More than all that, I loved him like a son… No. I love him. Let’s stay in the present tense while we still can… So, will you come back with me? And help me through the Vale of Shadow?
BATES: It’s not what I expected, m’lord, but I will if you want me to.
ROBERT: I misjudged you, Bates, and I abused you when we parted. I should have had more faith. I’m sorry.
BATES: God knows you’ve shown more faith in me than I had any right to.*
* This scene would qualify, in Hollywood, as a sort of mini buddy movie, where, in the narrative, you present an almost romantic arc between two heterosexual men. There was a tremendous fashion for buddy films in the late 1960s and 70s. It allows the movie-maker to put an emotional charge into the scenes, without anything funny happening in the woodshed.
43 EXT. DOWNTON VILLAGE. DAY.
Mrs Patmore and Daisy are walking along, both carrying laden baskets. Mrs Bird hurries down to take some of the load. All this has been witnessed at a distance by O’Brien.
44 INT. PASSAGE. DOWNTON. DAY.
Sybil is at the bandage cupboard, taking some out.
MARY (V.O.): Sybil?
But Sybil just goes on counting out her requirements. Mary walks over to her, but still she takes no notice.
MARY: I never said anything to Granny. Honestly.
SYBIL: Then why did she suddenly start talking about ‘inappropriate friendships’ out of nowhere?
MARY: She thinks you must have a beau, and if we don’t know about him, then you have to be keeping him secret. It’s just Granny being Granny. Don’t make such a thing of it.
SYBIL: I don’t deserve to be told off, not by her or by you. Nothing’s happened.
Now this, of course, is an admission. Mary looks at her.
MARY: Why? What might have happened?
SYBIL: I mean it. We haven’t kissed or anything. I don’t think we’ve shaken hands. I’m not even sure if I like him like that. He says I do, but I’m still not sure.
MARY: We are talking about…?
SYBIL: Branson. Yes.
MARY: The chauffeur, Branson.
SYBIL: Oh, how disappointing of you.
MARY: I’m just trying to get it straight in my head. You and the chauffeur.
SYBIL: Oh Mary, you know I don’t care about all of that.
MARY: Oh darling, darling, don’t be such a baby. This isn’t Fairyland. What did you think? You’d marry the chauffeur and we’d all come to tea?
SYBIL: Don’t be silly. I told you, I don’t even think I like him.
MARY: What has he said to you?
SYBIL: That he loves me, and he wants me to run away with
him.
MARY: Good God in heaven.
SYBIL: He’s frightfully full of himself.
MARY: You don’t say.
SYBIL: But I haven’t encouraged him. I haven’t said anything, really.
MARY: You haven’t given him away, though.
SYBIL: Will you?
MARY: I don’t know. The question is, do you think he’s mad or bad?
SYBIL: Oh, mad, if he must be either. There’s nothing bad in him, Mary. He’s not interested in money or who I am. He hates people like us.
MARY: So he says. Well, I won’t betray him, on one condition. You must promise not to do anything stupid.
Sybil says nothing.
MARY (CONT’D): You must promise now. Or I’ll tell Papa tonight.
SYBIL: I promise.
Their mother comes into view. The conversation is over.
45 INT. KITCHEN PASSAGE. DOWNTON. NIGHT.
The back door opens and Bates arrives, carrying his case. He stands for a moment to take in the place. Mrs Hughes appears.
MRS HUGHES: Mr Bates. You’re a sight for sore eyes. Welcome home.
BATES: Thank you, Mrs Hughes.
At the sound of his voice, Anna comes into the passage.
ANNA: I thought it was you.
BATES: Hello.
MRS HUGHES: Come a way in, and give some substance to the gossip of your return.
She goes ahead of him, and as the others walk away from the camera we see Anna delightedly rub his back and then snatch her hand away before anyone sees.
46 INT. SERVANTS’ HALL. DOWNTON. NIGHT.
The servants have assembled to welcome Bates.
CARSON: You’ll find things a bit different from when you left, Mr Bates.
BATES: Downton at war.
CARSON: Precisely. There’s some extra help in the kitchen, all very nice people, and the nurses, of course, but they live down at the hospital —
ANNA: Except for Lady Sybil.
THOMAS: Nurse Crawley, please.
He is standing in the doorway.
BATES: So, we’ve both returned, you and I. A couple of bad pennies.
THOMAS: I haven’t.
O’BRIEN: Thomas means he’s not here as a servant. He manages the house. He’s a sergeant now.
THOMAS: I take orders from Major Clarkson. He runs this place on behalf of the Army Medical Corps.
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