1
Well Mr Standish, we've
made good travelling.
Delightful .. today it
is my turn, Clinton.
Here.
Oh lookee gentlemen, Captain Standish
pays with our good English gold.
He knows his Yankee script
has no currency here.
Gentlemen .. I give you the King.
The King!
Well, I owe no allegiance to George III.
However, since the war has
been over a year .. your King.
Well put, sir.
Now I'll give you another
toast, more to your liking.
Your General Washington.
Washington!
You best beware our English ales,
Standish .. it is a strong brew.
Look Clinton, I'll bet you five guineas
I'll drink you under the table in town.
Taken!
Now there Landlord,
what's the talk of London?
Nowt .. excepting last Friday, a
Frenchman flew over the Channel.
Dover to Calais.
Flew?
Hey, where's my Yankee
friend? Hi .. Standish.
It is the very thing you bored me
with all the way from America.
The day would come he
said, when we would all fly.
Aye, and we laughed him down.
By what means did the Frenchman fly?
Why, he flew in a basket sir,
hung under a big bag of hot air.
A "balloon" I think they call it, sir.
It's beginning .. this new
age of speed and invention.
Which we shall never live to see.
Will you take your places
gentlemen, please.
What time shall we reach London, Major?
Mid-afternoon, if you bestir yourself.
Then I shall be able to wait upon
my cousins .. before dinner.
Where do they reside?
Berkeley Square.
Wilkins.
Oh master Tom.
Gad's life Wilkins, when
did you turn prude?
Tell me, why do you slink about so?
Are not maids difficult enough to find
at the beggarly wage we can afford?
Without your making the
keeping of them impossible.
It is me you should thank sister,
that they seek our employment at all.
Your tastes are those of a stable-boy.
You're all alike in the dark.
Children, he's arrived! Our cousin
Peter Standish is in London.
A letter from him.
Oh read it, Ma.
Having arrived within the hour,
I shall do myself the honour ..
To wait upon you and half past
five o'clock in Berkeley Square.
Ten minutes! Ha, the
Yankee wastes no time.
Now Tom, you will meet him
below and bring him up here.
And Kate .. you will welcome
him, on my behalf.
Not alone? Surely, you
will present him to me?
You will do as I tell you.
Would you have me sell
myself to pay our debts?
Oh dear me, the baggage grows bashful.
Now lookee Kate ..
Hook this Yankee Standish, and there's
no more talk of beggary in this family.
I know what you have in mind.
You think to find him drink, women
and cards so that he'll pay for yours.
Will you bag it!
Thomas ..
Ma'am ..
He commends your miniature.
Such blushes too .. art or nature Kate?
More natural than wit in you.
Your husband will find you
sharp of tongue, my lass.
If only he'll have you.
Five o'clock.
Herbert's life! Why, the suitor
of my younger sister is below!
Throstle? Oh, a disgusting little man.
Hush Kate.
As you well know, Mr Throstle
is to enter in our family.
But what of Helen's feelings Ma'am?
You may trust me to act in her interest.
Oh, what's wrong with him Kate?
Teeth none too good perhaps ..
but a man of parts and uh ..
Fifteen hundred a year.
Thomas!
Ma'am ..
Mr Throstle my Lady.
Your servant Lady Ann.
Dear Mr Throstle.
Miss Pettigrew .. your servant sir.
We have great news.
I am aware of it.
I met but now, Major Clinton who
travelled from America with your cousin.
Indeed Mr Throstle, very little happens
in London that you don't hear of.
And Miss Helen?
You will find her in the music
room .. dear Mr Throstle.
And you Tom .. when our cousin
arrives you are not to say "colonial".
The colonists are now independent.
"Yankee puppy" then ..
And you are NOT to mention
the late war with America.
Oh, you don't know those Yankees.
It won't be I who will mention it.
You will ruin everything ..
Kate!
At your service, dear Miss Helen.
I am your servant, sir.
You are aware Miss Helen, that I have
your mother's permission to pay my ..
Mr Throstle .. I am most sensible of
the honour that you would do me.
But I shall never marry.
At least Miss Helen ..
Since your affections are not
disposed elsewhere, my hopes ..
I shall never marry.
Helen .. our cousin Peter
Standish is in London.
And is about to present himself.
Mr Throstle, our cousin has decided he
will buy a townhouse, a country estate.
And a wife!
Thomas!
I hear a coach.
Yes .. it is a coach.
Tom .. downstairs to him.
Good luck with your savage, Kate.
Come, dear Mr Throstle .. come Helen.
Why must mother make it so hard?
I know. But only be yourself, Kate.
Our cousin will not eat you.
Where's your Yankee? I thought
he must have let himself in.
Wilkins said there was no knock.
He did not hear it for the rain.
He's on the doorstep.
No, he's not. I looked myself.
Well someone must let him in.
Well, of course. He's gone around to
the servant's door. Knows his place.
Good afternoon Miss Frant.
Good afternoon Mrs Barwick.
Is Mr Standish in? Or
rather, is he ever out?
Mr Standish was very particular. He
was not to be disturbed Miss Frant.
I suppose you are aware that
Mr Standish and I are to be married?
Oh yes Miss .. I'm sure I
didn't mean to offend you.
Oh that's alright Mrs Barwick.
It's only that I'm so worried about him.
Cooped up in this house for three days.
He's a gentleman of moods, Miss.
Well, he wasn't until he inherited
this house and came to England.
Tell me, what does he
do with himself here?
Well .. he reads a great deal.
It seems he found some old
books and papers in the house.
And then .. he walks about.
Frequently, I'm hearing
him in the night, Miss.
He was here Miss ..
just a few minutes ago.
I'll see ..
Mrs Barwick ..
This house has some queer hold
on Mr Standish .. it isn't healthy.
Yes Miss.
Peter.
Oh, hello Marjorie.
Why a candle?
They used them, you know.
What's that?
Oh this? It's the Crux Ansata.
The Egyptian symbol of
eternal life, I believe.
It came with the house.
You know .. I've made some
wonderful finds since seeing you.
Look .. Peter Standish's diary.
His trip from New York took
twenty-seven days.
The war was just over. He fought
under Washington you know.
Look here .. he says here that
Reynolds wouldn't finish his portrait.
But he did finish it .. it's
obviously all Reynolds.
You might have sat for it yourself.
And his name was Peter Standish too.
It's very odd.
Yes, it is strange, isn't it.
Look. He married the eldest sister Kate
Pettigrew. They lived in this house.
I've got other papers about them.
They had children who died here.
Then there was a younger sister, Helen.
Her people tried to force her
into a marriage that she hated.
Look here, there's even
something about a shawl.
A cashmere shawl that Helen's aunt
gave her, just before Peter came over.
You see .. minute details
about everything.
And I've got all his letters too,
courting Kate before he'd ever seen her.
They were hidden in this box here.
Here's the letter that Peter wrote
Lady Ann, the girl's mother.
Just after he arrived.
Imagine Marjorie .. that clock.
Ticked away five generations.
Maybe it's ticking away now.
Back in that other time.
Other time?
Four o'clock.
He comes at half past five,
September the 3rd.
Why, that is today.
The paper is yellow, the ink is faded.
And I imagine Lady Ann
is reading this letter ..
Now.
It is a hundred and forty-nine
years ago today.
Half past five, September the 3rd 1784.
That he walked in.
Through that door.
Peter. Do you realize you haven't
seen me for three days?
You haven't even called me up.
Old Mr Pettigrew wouldn't
have a phone in the house.
He left everything just as it was.
Furniture ..
Everything ..
I believe you care more about this
old house, than you do about me.
You're so nervous, dear.
You're smoking too much.
Am I?
Oh well .. it's only a month
until I'll be living here.
And able to look after you.
Listen, Marjorie.
I must have that month here .. alone.
Alone?
Marjorie .. please trust me.
Oh I will trust you .. if you will
only tell me what this is all about.
You would not ..
No, I can't ..
You mustn't ask me that ..
What's that?
What?
It sounded like a wagon .. or a
coach rattling over cobblestones.
It seems to stop here.
There is only your car at the door.
Peter .. a coach .. cobblestones?
In Berkeley Square?
Yes .. silly, wasn't it.
Well Peter .. it's time
to come along to tea.
Tea? Oh yes of course .. the Ambassador.
I've got to be back at half past five.
Is someone coming?
No ..
Well then, come along dear.
It will do you good.
Marjorie, you don't want to marry me.
You only want to look after me.
One goes with the other.
I suppose so.
It won't take me a moment to
get a coat. I'll be back in a jiffy.
How quickly we Americans
take to tea over here.
Yes, it doesn't take long
to get to like tea, does it.
I don't mean the tea itself,
but what it stands for.
A sort of charming rest period,
all that sort of thing.
Is that a portrait of John Adams, sir?
Yes.
Our first minister to Great Britain.
He came over here in 1784.
1784?
It's after five. I must run along.
Oh, but you don't have to go, Peter.
Well ..
Goodbye dear.
Marjorie ..
The next time you see me ..
If I behave oddly or ..
It's no use .. goodbye dear.
We must get him out of that house.
Don't worry.
Thank you. Goodbye.
Goodbye.
Changeable weather we're having.
Has it been changeable?
I hardly realized there
has been any weather.
Haven't been going out much, eh?
No, I ..
Why do you ask?
Oh, nothing in particular.
I just wondered why I hadn't seen
you anywhere all these weeks.
Well .. that house has been
taking up most of my time.
You know, I've been wondering why that
remote English cousin left it to you.
Old Mr Pettigrew?
He read a paper of mine on architecture.
It turned out later that a Standish
ancestor of mine had built the place.
Oh, I see .. you know ..
People sometimes get
morbid and musty when they ..
They shut themselves up in old houses.
Marjorie is really quite
disturbed about you.
I do wish she wouldn't be.
I really can't go out just now.
Look here, Standish .. don't you think
you ought to get away for a while?
Get away? .. Yes, it would be
great to get away wouldn't it.
Really away, into the blue .. you
think I'm a bookworm don't you?
But there still are adventures.
Inconceivable adventures.
Why shouldn't I tell you?
I want to leave someone here who knows.
Knows? Knows what?
I think that when I go home to Berkeley
Square at half-past-five tonight ..
I shall walk into the 18th Century ..
and meet the people living there.
Well, now that I've told you I suppose
you will, ring up a specialist.
Well .. of course, none of us believe
in ghosts in America, but ..
Over here, in these old houses ..
Who said anything about ghosts?
I believe they are alive.
Peter Standish is alive.
Just as I'm living here,
he's living there.
Back in his own time.
Own time?
You mean .. he's still alive
in the 18th Century?
Yes.
But, it's impossible ..
No, no. Look here.
I know what you're going to say.
Perhaps this will help to clear it up.
Suppose you are in a boat ..
sailing down a winding stream.
You watch the banks as they pass you.
You went by a grove of
maple trees upstream.
But you can't see them now, so you
saw them .. in the past, didn't you?
Now you watch a field of clover, before
your eyes, this moment, in the present.
But you don't know what is waiting for
you round the bend in the stream ahead.
There may be wonderful things, but you
can't see them until you round the bend.
In the future .. can you?
No.
Alright now, remember,
you're in the boat.
And I'm up in the sky above you in
a plane. I'm looking down on it all.
I can see it all at once.
So that the past, the present and
the future .. the man in the boat.
Are all one .. to the man in the plane.
Why, doesn't that prove that all
time must really be one?
Time .. real time .. is nothing
but an idea .. in the mind of God.
Well that .. seems a sound argument.
Argument?
How would you like to walk the quiet
streets of London in the 18th Century?
And breathe pure air instead
of the fumes of gasoline.
Ride in sedan chairs instead of
taxi-cabs .. meet John Adams.
Why .. you wouldn't
like it if you got there.
You'd make mistakes, they'd find out.
Oh no they wouldn't.
Here .. here's my passport.
What's that?
His diary .. Peter Standish's diary.
I know everything he did from the
moment he arrived in Berkeley Square.
Of course, naturally I'd have
to do everything that he did.
I mean, I couldn't change
anything in the 18th Century ..
That really had happened
in the 18th Century. Could I?
I'm late .. I must be back by 5:30.
Thanks very much.
Standish, don't ..
Good day, sir.
I am your servant, sir.
At your service, cousin.
Who?
Who are you?
Kate Pettigrew.
Kate ..
Pettigrew ..
On my mother's behalf,
I bid you welcome, sir.
Your mother?
Oh yes, the Lady Ann.
I trust she is well.
I thank you, sir.
It's uh .. it's raining awfully hard.
Oh yes, you will find the weather
wretched in London.
You uh .. seem a little
constrained, cousin.
Well you are not exactly
at your ease yourself.
Had you a tiring journey? You said
nothing of your voyage in your letter.
My letter?
To my mother, from The Blue Boar.
The Blue Boar?
Oh yes of course, I went there
when the coach came in and I ..
I had just come over from America.
Well, we did not think
you'd come from Poland.
In the General Wolfe.
It took 27 dreary days.
Really? In the packet?
Did you not swim across?
Forgive me cousin, for being a bore.
But your manners have been
unexceptionable, sir.
But hardly appropriate for one who has
met his betrothed for .. the first time.
Are we betrothed? I'd not heard of it.
Come Kate .. it's been practically
all arranged in our letters.
But sir! Kate!
But sir!
Kate.
This is more in keeping with what I've
heard of your rough ways at home, sir.
I vow you are the audacious fellow
I told Helen we must expect.
Helen?
Oh yes. Yes, your sister.
You have not even asked my mother's
permission to pay your addresses.
Oh, must I do that?
Well, is it not invariably done?
Well uh .. not in New York.
This is London.
And do visitors in New York walk into
houses without so much as by-your-leave?
Well, I pressed the bell.
Bell?
I mean I .. I knocked.
Oh ..
We saw you alight from your
coach. But who let you in?
The door was ajar .. I walked in.
Simply to get out of the rain.
But your clothes are dry.
I wore a cloak.
My miniature.
Fair.
What is that?
It's for you.
Most charming, but .. but
is this not a little premature?
Premature?
Well, does this not signify in
New York .. what it does here?
Oh of course, if you will
have the declaration formal.
I know how it was done.
Uh how it .. is done.
Miss Pettigrew, fair cousin ..
will you be my wife?
You go much too fast.
You'll not dislike me for that.
I've not said that I dislike you.
Well, I cannot find ..
Ye gads ..
My brother Tom .. Mr Peter Standish.
Your servant, sir .. I trust you
had a pleasant journey, sir?
Yes .. yes indeed.
Thank you.
We have been searching
everywhere for you, sir.
Ma'am, I present our cousin,
Mr Peter Standish.
Oh welcome. Ten thousand
welcomes dear, dear cousin.
And may I present our dear friend
Mr Throstle .. Mr Standish.
Your servant, sir.
And Helen .. I present our
cousin, Mr Peter Standish.
I am your servant sir.
Your servant ..
If London interests you sir, I shall
be glad to show you the town.
Oh yes, yes.
Where should I take him first?
Cox's museum, Ranelagh or Vauxhall?
Of course, I shall put you
down for Brookes's club.
Thanks, I want to see everything.
Should your tastes prove more
sober than Mr Tom's, sir ..
I shall be glad to present you to the
President of the Royal Academy.
Sir Joshua.
Reynolds?
Do you think he'd paint my portrait?
Aye, at a hundred guineas.
Five hundred dollars .. for Reynolds.
Indeed it is a monstrous
price, but he's the fashion.
Of course my prospective brother-in-law
may persuade him to paint you for less.
Brother-in-law?
Our cousin will be here for
your birthday reception, Helen.
Oh then your aunt's gift is
your birthday present?
Gift?
I mean the cashmere shawl.
Oh Helen, you sly puss.
Is it a shawl?
Aunt Willoughby gave me
a parcel for my birthday.
But I wasn't to open it until then.
I haven't opened it .. I
don't know what's in it.
Dear me, what conjurer's trick is this?
How did you know about Helen's present?
Yes, how did you know it was a shawl?
I believe it is an American jest.
A shawl .. so it is, by gad ..
But cousin, how did you know?
Indeed, how cousin? Come, come sir.
I'm heartily sorry. I must
Have got muddled somehow.
Muddled sir, muddled? It is
not you who are muddled.
Oh Helen, here is a rival for you.
Now lookee cousin. Can you
read thoughts like my sister?
No, of course not.
Pray solve us your riddle, Peter.
I .. I must have heard about
the shawl somewhere.
But sir, you have now reached
London from America.
I'm afraid our cousin Peter is not well.
No, I'm not .. I have a
rather tiresome headache.
And then you must rest until dinner.
Tom .. take our cousin to his room.
Ma'am .. come sir.
Hmm .. the man must be
gifted with second-sight.
Such feats as this are
common in Scotland.
Your room, cousin.
Thank you sir.
Now that the rain has ceased, I shall
go to The Blue Boar for your boxes.
Berkeley Square.
I thought it would look like this.
Why do you stop?
I hope your headache is gone, cousin.
There wasn't really anything the
matter with your head, was there?
No, not really .. but you were
the only one who saw.
But any rate, you made
them stop bothering me.
And .. how could you
know about my shawl?
Please .. don't ask me any more
about the confounded thing.
If you wish.
Thank you.
You know .. just as soon
as I saw you I felt ..
Here is someone I can talk to.
You'll help me out here, won't you?
How can I help you, cousin?
It's all so strange.
Strange?
Yes, all this.
England? London?
Yes .. I didn't think it would but
it makes me .. uncomfortable.
You see that. I see that you see it.
I feel like a fish out of water.
Kate will soon put you at your ease.
Helen, are you really
engaged to Mr Throstle?
Tom had no right to say it.
I thought so.
I could see you weren't
in love with him.
Oh, do you think that's reason
enough not to marry?
Of course.
Look here Helen, we'll make a bargain.
You help me out .. and I'll back you up.
Will you?
Yes, I will.
Of course, I keep forgetting.
I can't interfere with
things that happen.
That really do happen.
I mean ..
You see, my position
here is so .. unusual.
You don't realize yet what
your position here is.
They'll do anything you wish.
Yes, but ..
You would never understand.
Perhaps .. perhaps you really
do marry him after all.
Never!
Oh, that's the spirit, Helen .. I don't
care much for the little fellow.
And anyway, I'm quite sure there
is nobody here good enough ..
Why do you look at me like that?
I don't know.
Is there anything strange
or wrong about me?
Strange or wrong?
I'm an American you know, just come into
the New World .. That's why I'm nervous.
Is it?
No, no, don't go .. I've got nothing
in common with the others.
All the others?
Most amazing, sir. Never met
anybody like him in my life.
Why it is no small privilege for a
Yankee to be admitted to this club.
Yet he patronizes the members.
Why only yesterday, he turned
his back on the Prince Of Wales.
Thank heaven it was thought an accident.
Why did he, though?
Because His Highness blew
his nose with his fingers.
Have you also observed his ignorance
of the petty details of everyday life?
And his nice disgust
with so many of them?
We affect him, as a tribe of
barbarians would affect us.
Yet he is an American .. a colonial.
It is the most absurd paradox.
This sounds not at all like my Yankee.
But then I've not seen him
since we reached London.
Well, see him you shall,
for there is your rebel now.
Why Standish ..
Have I had the honour, sir?
My friend of 27 days in the packet from
New York pretends he doesn't know me?
Standish, have you forgotten Clinton?
Oh Major Clinton, of course.
Without travelling garb and dressed as a
peacock, your mother wouldn't know you.
You don't seem the same man ashore.
You take the words out of my mouth.
You don't seem the same man on shore.
Well I must push off .. I have a
sitting with Sir Joshua Reynolds.
I will see you later.
"Push off"?
"See you later" ..
[ tut, tut, tut ]
You Americans seem to
believe Mr Standish ..
That now you've broken away from England
you will do great things in the Colon ..
I mean .. "The United States".
I suppose we shall .. you see
our forefathers .. I mean "we".
We have brought forth on
this .. uh that, continent ..
A new nation .. conceived in liberty.
And dedicated to the proposition
that all men are created equal.
All men are created equal?
But sir, that proposition is absurd.
Yes, it does seem a little
cockeyed, doesn't it.
"Cock .. eyed" ..?
That's an American word, Kate.
You see .. we've invented a
new language over there.
You must instruct me.
Oh I .. I can paint no more today.
What is it Sir Joshua?
Something .. something
in his face .. eludes me.
Why, have I not an ordinary face?
A face beyond all my
experience of human nature.
But what expression in any
face can elude the artist ..
Who painted for instance, Mrs Siddons?
The mistress of all expressions.
As the tragic muse.
Tragic muse?
Sir .. you make sport of me.
Make sport of you? But why? How?
But you talked with Mrs Siddons?
No. I've never spoken to Mrs Siddons in
my life. I say only what everyone knows.
Surely .. surely the tragic
muse is painted?
One sitting .. that is all.
I told her nothing .. not even my name,
for the portrait .. which no-one knows.
But you .. and your servant, sir.
I'm sorry I mentioned
it .. before it happened.
Good day, Sir Joshua.
Helen, are you afraid of me too?
How can I be afraid of
somebody I'm .. sorry for?
Why are you sorry for me?
Because you're unhappy with us.
You feel so strange here.
Yes I do.
I can't imagine what America is like.
But I suppose everything is different.
And the people too ..
Yes, yes that's it.
Everything is so different.
You know, they all liked
me at first, your people.
And then I say something wrong.
I see it in their eyes .. fear.
It is because you look through us.
You seem to know what we think.
Even what we are going to do next.
I don't understand you.
I wish I could help you.
But you do, just by your sympathy.
Even though you can't possibly
know how much I need it.
Do you?
The days are alright .. I go
about your old London.
That's the most marvellous experience
that ever came to a living man.
But when I lie in bed and
think .. it all seems a nightmare.
Until I remember you.
You're not like the others,
you're .. you're real.
I'm Kate's sister.
Kate, this is unlike you.
Our cousin does take the air with
Helen, to which no-one can object.
Since all the town knows
he is promised to you.
Can you think me jealous
Ma'am? It is not that.
When I'm with him, he makes me afraid.
And when she is with
him .. I'm afraid for her.
I'm afraid I am disgracing myself.
I've had only three lessons.
Do they not still dance the
minuet in America, cousin?
Well, we have forgotten
your polite measures.
Our dances are modelled
on those of the ..
The Red Indians ..
Oh by gad, look at him!
Now that the dance has stopped,
they all crowd around him.
We're holding the living. The big cad ..
This life ..
Yes, it is rather amusing, isn't it.
And what impresses you most
about London, Mr Standish?
Well, I don't know .. I
think your sedan chairs.
Do not the quality of New York
use sedan chairs?
Oh no, no. No, we ride in ..
In .. coaches ..
Most amazing, most amazing fellow.
Why, every morning two maids have
to carry buckets of hot water ..
Up three flights of stairs for
Master Colonial to wash himself.
Wash himself all over?
Every morning.
Washes himself all over?
Every morning?
What's all this talk of baths?
You took but one bath
on the General Wolfe.
And you talked about that
for a week beforehand.
I can't stand salt water.
Besides, bathing hasn't always
been an eccentricity you know.
You admire the Romans.
The Romans bathed.
Only excessively sir, when
they became degenerate.
The virile fathers of the republic ..
Were as dirty as you are.
Yes, I suppose you are right.
Kate!
We haven't danced yet.
Do you suppose you could
bear my clumsy steps?
Forgive me .. I promised this
dance to .. Major Clinton.
Mr Standish, Doctor Johnson informed
me you waited upon him this afternoon.
Oh yes .. yes.
I trust sir that you were amused?
Yes, he thundered out a few platitudes.
Well sir, you can at least sympathize
with the feelings of Englishmen ..
Who have been obliged
to sign away a continent.
But do not grudge us Americans our
poor stretches of wilderness My Lord.
You, upon whose Empire,
the sun never sets ..
Sir .. that is the most magnificent
compliment ever paid to Great Britain.
Yes, it is rather a
good phrase isn't it.
But I expect you'd find it hackneyed
if you'd heard it a 100 times before.
After all, why did we bother?
We would have eased the
tax on tea, to end fighting.
What made you go on with the war?
Well I ..
Just to make the world
safe for democracy.
Democracy?
Peter .. the Duchess has
asked me to present you.
Sir.
Duchess, Mr Peter Standish.
The Duchess of Devonshire.
My other guests.
May I have the honour Duchess?
If you are to take my scalp,
it must be by your wit.
Which they say is much
better than your dancing.
Sir .. let me congratulate you.
Miss Pettigrew will make
you a devoted wife.
There is nothing like the
devotion of a married woman.
It's a thing no married man
knows anything about.
Sir .. such views of matrimony ..
Are commonly entertained by
that most ignoble work of God ..
A faithless husband!
Fidelity is a strange thing Duchess.
When we are young, we try
to be faithful and cannot.
When we are old we try to be faithless.
And cannot.
Oh, a delightful aphorism, sir.
Be seated.
If Helen is coy and shy, it is
that she would tease you, sir.
But I will speak with her.
Your American pyrotechnics make me feel
as stupid as a girl at her first ball.
I can scarcely believe that
I am .. well .. who I am.
Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire.
You rolled it out as though you
were announcing me at court.
All the charm of the period
seems to centre in that name.
Flatterer! Admit that in America
you've never even heard of me.
But what barbarian has not
heard of the fifth Duchess?
Your name in English history is the
finest flower of the age of elegance.
We know your face from Gainsebor ..
Er .. Gainsborough has
painted you, hasn't he?
Yes.
All the legend and beauty of
the age cling about you.
As powerful in politics,
as irresistible in love.
What can the 18th Century
offer that can compare with ..
Compare with ..
You speak of me so strangely.
I find your overwhelming
compliments a little disturbing.
You were talking of me as we two
might talk of Madame de Maintenon.
In the past tense.
Oh no, Duchess .. I never
once used the past tense.
But you were thinking of
me in the past tense.
Now I know what it is.
You have been talking
about me as though ..
As though I were already .. dead.
I .. I have tried so hard
to make an impression.
Sir .. you have made .. an
indescribable .. impression.
Your arm, Sir Joshua.
Your self-assurance sir, is magnificent.
Are you so confident that Miss Pettigrew
is not of a mind to break with you?
Kate? Break with me?
Listen, Throstle .. we're going to be
married and have three children.
One dies of smallpox at the age seven,
and is buried in St Mark's churchyard.
That's absurd, isn't it? But
you believe it, don't you?
Well .. since you can read
Miss Pettigrew's future ..
Perhaps you will inform
me as to Miss Helen's?
Helen's?
No .. I don't know that.
Oh come on Throstle,
can't you take a joke?
I don't know any more about
the future than you do.
What have you been saying
to the Duchess, Peter?
She's been repeating things that
don't sound like you at all.
Oh .. I just dazzled her with
a few cheap epigrams.
Made up by a fellow named "Oscar Wilde".
A friend of yours in New York?
No, no .. no, he's dead.
Or rather he's not ..
Never mind. It is a bit complicated.
You did dazzle the Duchess, Peter.
But you made her afraid of you too.
My dear Lady Ann ..
Offense was taken by the Duchess ..
it will be the talk of London tomorrow.
Kate .. you danced with every Tom, Dick
and Harry, and not once with Peter.
And you Helen .. you have not been
even commonly civil to Mr Throstle.
Oh .. I'm .. just ..
I'm stranded.
Sir Joshua presents you his compliments,
by me .. he will paint you no more.
He will destroy your portrait.
The portrait will not be destroyed ..
And Sir Joshua will complete it.
Painters have good eyes.
What did Sir Joshua see?
Kate!
How did you first get into this house?
You walked in here .. but
no-one saw you below.
You remember the rain ..
his shoes were dry!
Madam, if I could have a few
moments alone with Kate ..
Indeed yes, cousin. Oh, we
must see to our other guests.
Come Mr Throstle, come Helen, come Tom.
And we are living in the 18th Century,
the age of reason, the age of Voltaire.
Kate, there is nothing to be afraid of.
Sir Joshua saw it ..
That cursed picture again.
You mustn't talk like this ..
we are going to be married.
In the morning I shall post to Budleigh.
I cannot stay in this house with you.
Kate, you can't break our engagement.
So .. you think there are no limits to
what a wizard can do with a woman.
The women all press
up to you, don't they ..
But no woman wishes to
dance with you twice ..
Excepting Helen.
You think you can make me marry you.
When I fear you .. as I fear the Devil!
Now listen, Kate.
We're going to be married, have children
and live in this house .. that happens!
I'll not return while
you're in this house.
In heaven's name, go back to America!
If that is where you come from ..
But this marriage has to be.
You can't do this .. it
didn't happen this way.
I've a woman's simple answer
for your "can't do this" ..
I've been afraid to look into your eyes.
But now .. look in mine .. and
tell me that you love me.
Kate.
When you see me again.
I may be changed.
I might not seem the same man.
I may feel differently
about Helen and Throstle.
If I do ..
Promise me that you'll stand
by Helen against them all.
Help her Kate .. she'll be
alone. She'll need your help.
She will indeed need help .. if
you take such an interest in her!
One o'clock!
A fine morning!
All .. is .. well ..!
Peter.
You know?
Kate is not herself tonight.
Oh, it isn't Kate's fault.
She's found out that ..
That I don't love her.
But you want to marry her?
I had to play a part .. that was all.
Peter .. how can you speak of
things that haven't happened yet?
How can you know things
you couldn't know?
First .. about my shawl.
And since, so many things.
Helen ..
Things of tomorrow .. seem as
real to me as things of yesterday.
I want to see ahead, the wonderful
things that are coming ..
After we are dead.
So, you're in love with the
future .. as I was in love with ..
There is mystery behind
your eyes .. tell me!
There aren't any words.
No words.
But I think I can see ..
through your eyes.
That isn't possible.
Yes, show me .. I will see!
Helen, your eyes .. they burn.
It is this room .. it blazes
with magic lights.
Not only this room.
All London outside .. is lit by one
movement of a man's hand.
There is your portrait
on the wall, finished.
You said it would be.
The veil is thin for you.
No more of this, Helen.
I must see.
Devils! .. Demons!
Not men.
You've seen the future, Helen.
Oh, it is not true!
God wouldn't have put us here to suffer,
for fiends like that to come after us ..
Oh Helen .. try to understand.
I come to you .. from somewhere else.
That other world ..
That world?
Now, you are afraid of me.
It's not true.
I love you .. oh God help
us both .. I love you.
I loved you before I ever saw you.
In my first dream of you .. coming from
somewhere far away to meet me.
Yes, but Helen .. I'm not
playing my part now.
I'm myself you see .. I'm myself!
This isn't possible, it isn't my life or
yours .. it isn't my world or yours.
Well then, take me with you Peter.
I can't. Then don't leave me!
I won't leave you.
When I kissed Kate .. that was
his kiss .. to his betrothed.
There has never been a kiss like
that .. since the world .. began.
Miss Helen .. sir.
Miss Helen, it has been a week since
I have able to ask about your health.
Has it been so long, Mr Throstle?
I trust sir you have found agreeable
your rides about our countryside.
I love the English countryside.
Some men are more backward
in confessing their affections.
Every tongue in London must be wagging.
Does he not avoid everyone
since our reception?
Are they not seen together every day?
Why, is he not meant to have
Helen after Kate broke with him?
He'd not have leant me more money.
Press him, Ma'am .. press him.
I cannot force the young man
to declare his intentions.
Ye gad, Ma'am, with this Yankee anything
might happen. They must marry at once.
Mr Throstle my Lady.
My dear sir.
We had hoped that your visits here
were not to be discontinued.
In the "altered circumstances"
you would say Lady Ann ..
Of course there is no choice between my
1,500-a-year and your cousin's 10,000.
You know the world, sir.
One corner of it .. fairly well.
Indeed, it was evident that Helen and
Mr Standish were made for one another.
And Mistress Kate .. does she
intend a long stay in the country?
She'd rather be bored to death in the
country than scared to death in town.
Go to The Blue Boar and
I will send you word.
Yes Miss.
Kate, you cannot do it! Have you
no feelings for your poor brother?
So .. because you've had his money
and can't pay if we break with him ..
You would see your sister damned.
First, she puts aside 10,000
a year for herself.
And now she posts to town to prevent
Helen from bringing it into the family.
Sir, is 10,000 a year worth the
loss of Miss Helen's happiness?
What is this Mr Throstle? Who
spoke of loss of happiness?
Madam .. Mr Standish is no fit
mate for any mortal woman.
You know .. you know ..
Heaven will not permit it.
Kate, if you cannot master this strange
perversity, you must return to Budleigh.
This has been the
most lovely day of all.
He cast a spell on me .. but
God took pity and saved me.
And I've returned to save Helen.
Mr Standish .. when you
came into this house ..
Though the door was shut and locked ..
Did you come from America?
I did .. that much at least is true.
I made a list of ten of his phrases.
He said they were used in New York.
On my way home,
I stopped at The Legation.
Should the American Minister, Mr Adams,
know what words are used in New York?
He .. he's from Massachusetts.
I asked him .. he'd never
heard one of the ten.
So you see .. those words
are not used in America.
They're not used in this world.
The Devils uses them in Hell !!
Peter Standish came from
New York in the General Wolfe.
His body stands there .. but
what have you done with him?
You've stolen his body .. what
have you done with his soul?
"John Brown's body lies a mouldering
in his grave, his soul goes .."
A new "Fire Of London". That's what is
needed here. Yes, and a new plague too.
Dirt, disease, cruelty, smells ..
Lord how the 18th Century stinks.
Kate, you may be a fool.
But you're trying in your silly way to
help Helen now. And I love you for that.
Madam, I've seen you in Sheridan's plays
and read you in Jane Austen's novels.
You know what you want, and you plough
straight over and through everything.
Like a tank, lumbering through the mud.
Do you hear that Kate? "Like a tank".
There is your eleventh strange word
from the lexicon of Beelzebub.
Go to the American Legation and ask
Charles Adams what "tank" means?
No, it isn't Charles Francis Adams
who is Minister here now. It's ..
It is his Grandfather John Adams,
second President of The United States.
Charles Francis Adams
isn't even born yet.
He won't be Minister here
until the civil war in 1861.
What's one blunder among so many?
Peter Standish came from New York to
Plymouth in the General Wolfe, did he?
Peter Standish came from New York
to Plymouth in the Mauritania!
Shall I make a few more
blunders for you to gibber at?
Shall I drive you back to Budleigh
in my car? Fifty miles an hour!
No, not on a broomstick.
Shall I sell my portrait in America
Ma'am, for thirty thousand pounds?
The Americans buy all the Reynolds's ..
What do I care about you?
You're all over and done with.
You're all dead, you're all rotted
in your graves. You're all ghosts.
That's what you are .. ghosts!
Stop her .. she'll tell Helen.
You dead and buried little pipsqueak!
Returnez Satanist!
Ah! Exorcism! Cast out the Devil!
You would send me back to Hell,
where I came from, would you?
I'm too vanish in a
clap of thunder, am I?
I'll set ten Devils on you!
Ahhh!
Imprisonment.
Imprisonment for life.
For life .. for life ..
In this filthy little pigsty of a world.
Peter ..
oh Helen .. Kate knows ..
And Throstle.
Yes Peter.
They tell me how you feel
buried alive among the dead.
Now, you can never see them again.
No .. never again.
We'll go away together, to America.
People would hate and fear you anywhere.
Why should they hate me?
They hate what they fear, just
as you fear and hate them.
I can face them all .. for you
belong to me .. not them.
I'm strong now.
Don't make me weak again.
Each night I've said "he must go back".
But each morning when we
ride away together .. I think ..
Let me have only one more day.
Helen, I couldn't face my
own life without you.
What life is this for you?
Be brave Peter .. and listen.
We two alone have been
chosen for this wonder ..
Out of all the millions of
lovers since time began ..
Our love is more real than if you had
been born in my world .. or I in yours.
Because .. it is a miracle.
That we came together at all, proves
we weren't meant to lose each other.
Yes .. Yes!
And we shall be together always Peter.
Not in my time .. nor in yours.
But in God's ..
But Helen, I want you now.
You can't want me to go back.
You love me.
With all my soul.
Then I stay here.
Stay then, Peter .. for life, for life!
A life of nightmare that never ends.
So that you may live on in my
world in a living death. Mad!
Is it because you love me,
that you condemn me to that?
You do see it.
Leave me while our
love is still beautiful.
I ask it for my sake.
You have your own life to
live, out in the future Peter.
Don't be too sad there about a
girl who's been dead so long.
As I grow old .. your youth will
seem to me eternal youth.
For you will come, won't you?
Young as I see you now, to my
grave in St Mark's churchyard.
To you, that will be tomorrow.
And yet, to the generations
after I am dead.
I'll ask for a stone with
the letters cut deep.
So they won't wear away
before you come to me.
And you must come alone.
But if you love that other
girl .. you must marry her.
Oh don't ..
But you can't live in this house with
only that old woman to look after you.
When that happens, I shall be ..
And yet I am jealous .. even
though I will be dead.
Helen .. I love you only.
Now .. and in my own time .. and in
whatever other times may come.
I believe .. forgive me.
If only you could take back with
you just one thing that was mine.
Father got this in Egypt
when the fleet was there.
In some strange way .. it
has meant so much to me.
The Crux Ansta ..
What is it?
It's the symbol of life .. of eternity.
Then that is why I loved it so.
Helen .. that was mine .. long ago.
Yours? Long ago?
It was here .. when I
first entered this house.
In the future.
Then this little thing has crossed
the great darkness between us.
Mine while I live.
And yours in that world
that I shall never see.
This was our parting.
[ thunderclap ]
No more dear shadows ..
Has Mr Standish come in yet?
Yes Miss, he came in just as
the clock struck five-thirty.
Where had he been?
He said he had been
to St Mark's churchyard.
Sorry to have brought you here. I was so
worried, I didn't know where he'd gone.
That's quite alright my dear.
Mrs Barwick .. has anything particular
happened since I was here last?
Well sir, Mr Standish has
been drinking quite a lot.
Why only yesterday, he told me he
had just come from the 18th Century.
Yes, he tried to get into Brookes's
club, insisting he was a member.
They had to throw him out.
Hmm, his old mania.
But when he came in just now,
he seemed more like his old self.
Quieter .. if you know what I mean.
I see.
Well my dear, what would
you like me to do?
Wait here, I'll go up to
him, and see for myself.
Last night, some people came with
some I.O.U.'s he'd given them.
He yelled at them, sir. He
told them they weren't alive.
And that they wouldn't be born
for another hundred years.
Marjorie.
Peter .. you know me?
Of course.
I'm afraid ..
Peter Standish has been giving
you an awful lot of trouble.
Well, you haven't been yourself
dear .. but it's alright now.
We were going to be
married .. you and I.
It seems so very long ago.
You remember?
If you remember me .. you can't
think any longer that you're ..
He.
Marjorie .. something has happened.
Something that you could never believe.
And now I .. I must live here .. alone.
In this house? .. Alone?
I shall keep this room ..
Just as it was ..
Always ..
Peter, you can't do ..
Why .. what's that paper you have?
An epitaph.
I just copied it from a tombstone
in St Mark's churchyard.
Whose epitaph is it?
A girl who died.
A hundred and forty-six years ago.
Who was she?
Oh .. a cousin of Peter Standish.
It is in Latin .. what does it mean?
Peter .. you are crying.
Who was that girl who's
been dead for ages?
Peter .. speak to me!
Don't you know me?
Would you .. rather I go?
Hic Jacet
Here lies ..
In the confident hope of the blessed
resurrection and life eternal.
Helen Pettigrew.
Beloved younger daughter
of Sir William Pettigrew K.B.
Vice Admiral of the Blue .. and
the Lady Ann Pettigrew.
Who .. who departed this life ..
June the fifteenth .. 1787.
Aged .. twenty-three .. years.
[ Helen ]
We shall be together always, Peter."
[ Helen ]
Not in my time .. nor in yours."
[ Helen ]
But in God's ..
T-G 2018