Echoes of Midnight - Full Script
Nov 29, 2015 15:25:05 GMT
Post by philj on Nov 29, 2015 15:25:05 GMT
Echoes of Midnight
by Phil Janvier
Characters: Cast of Four
Harriet Whittaker (Miss) - American accent - Actor 1:
Charles Willow - American or British accent - Actor 2:
Sir Malcolm Gracehawk - British accent - Actor 3:
Rebecca Holmes (Mrs) - British accent - Actor 4:
Charlotte Whittaker (Mrs) - British accent - Actor 4
Lady Mildred Gracehawk - British accent - Actor 4
(FX: THERE IS A THEME OF TICKING CLOCKS AND WIND MOANING, OFTEN MUTED THROUGHOUT THE PLAY THAT ONLY STOPS AT THE CONCLUSION)
(MUSIC: SINISTER AND SETTING THE LISTENER 'ON EDGE.')
CHRISTMAS EVE 1879
SCENE 1 – THE WELCOME
Fade in
(FX: HOWLING WIND AND HAIL, THE SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS RUNNING ACROSS GRAVEL AS A HORSE AND CARRIAGE RATTLE AWAY.)
CHARLES
I do hope they are expecting us.
HARRIET
In my Father's house are many mansions.
CHARLES
But none so bleak as this, are you sure my dear this the right abode?
HARRIET
If it were not so, I would have told you.
(FX: A LOUD KNOCK ON AN OLD OAK DOOR. THUNDER CRASHES AS TORRENTIAL RAIN POURS. THE DOOR CREAKS OPEN)
SIR MALCOLM
Harriet, my dear! Do come out of that appalling weather.
HARRIET
Sir Malcolm! Thank you.
SIR MALCOLM
How was the long journey?
CHARLES
Somewhat tiresome, I'm afraid.
HARRIET
We are here now and that is all that should concern us. May I present my fiancé Charles?
CHARLES
The honour is all -
SIR MALCOLM
Come in dear boy, this wind is bitter.
(FX: COATS FLAPPING, THE DOOR SHUTS AND THE SOUND OF THE WEATHER FADES, GRANDFATHER CLOCKS CHIMES EIGHT O’CLOCK)
SIR MALCOLM
To the front kitchen. The stove makes it warm.
HARRIET
The weather is hardly your fault Sir Malcolm. And our journey could scarce be postponed. We have missed enough of these... family visits with my sojourn home to New England. A mere trip from London is....
SIR MALCOLM
Oh my dear. Do sit down.
CHARLES
She is faint with the journey. The funeral is set... for the Feast of St Stephen?
SIR MALCOLM
Boxing Day, indeed, indeed. Perhaps a small glass of something medicinal?
CHARLES
That would be most agreeable sir.
SIR MALCOLM
I meant for young Harriet here.
CHARLES
Of course, of course.
SIR MALCOLM
A glass of cook's brandy and then perhaps tea. Charlotte will be down. She attends to Lady Mildred.
(FX: A DOOR OPENS AND THE SOUND OF A ROARING FIRE AND THE TICKING OF A SMALLER CLOCK CAN BE HEARD)
CHARLES
Sir Malcolm, call the butler or a maid?
SIR MALCOLM
I allowed them this eve to reside with their families. In the village, down the way... Sip this my dear. It will revive you.
HARRIET
Gosh!
CHARLES
Harriet please! The more distressing the circumstance, the more vital we retain our decorum. We are not in the colonies now.
HARRIET
Former colonies. But yes, you are right. Do forgive me. Did I hear talk of tea? Might I be of assistance?
SIR MALCOLM
No need my dear, I've become... Ah, here's Charlotte. She must have heard the door.
CHARLOTTE
Harriet!
HARRIET
Charlotte… Oh, how awful. But so lovely to see you.
(FX: THEY EMBRACE)
CHARLOTTE
Let us not speak of it now my dear. And... you must be Charles, I have heard so very much about you.
CHARLES
Nothing too beastly I hope!
CHARLOTTE
Now that would be telling wouldn’t it?
HARRIET
How did... How is Lady Mildred these days?
CHARLOTTE
Not as active as in former years. She wiles the days away in her room but seems content enough. In confidence, she is not herself and says but very little. We take her tea and try to see her comfortable as we can.
HARRIET
Will she be well enough to attend the...
CHARLOTTE
I very much doubt it; she's not left her room in months. I regret to say the next funeral she attends may very will be her own.
HARRIET
I do hope I'll be able to our renew our acquaintance before... we retire for the evening.
CHARLOTTE
Of course, I'll go up before you but you may find her sleeping.
CHARLES
Splendid. The water has boiled. Let Harriet - let me help you.
SIR MALCOLM
Thank you, my boy. My eyes are not what they were.
CHARLES
Charlotte?
CHARLOTTE
A splash of milk for me. I daresay you partook of supper on the train but I… cook took the liberty of preparing a stockpot of chicken and mushroom.
CHARLES
If you were to include a glass of brandy, I do believe I would be in heaven.
CHARLOTTE
Then heaven it is.
(FX: A CRASH OF THUNDER)
HARRIET
You are too kind. But I feel I must pay my respects to Lady Mildred. She was so kind when I first arrived on these shores.
CHARLOTTE
But of course. Bear with me a moment to ensure she is presentable.
SIR MALCOLM
Thank you, we will join you once we've drunk this cup of tea.
Fade out
SCENE 2 – LADY MILDRED
Fade in
(FX: A CRASH OF THUNDER INTERRUPTS THE SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS CLIMBING CREEKY STAIRS)
CHARLES
Pray tarry a moment, Harriet dear. I do believe Sir Malcolm is struggling.
HARRIET
My apologies. I was impetuous in my haste. I was positively leaping up the stairs.
SIR MALCOLM
How quickly you young things recover their vigour. These stairs will be the death of me; I do declare they grow a little steeper every day.
CHARLES
Allow me.
SIR MALCOLM
Thank you young man that will not be necessary. Here is her bedchamber door.
(FX: A GENTLE TAP ON THE DOOR. A SMALL CLOCK TICKS IN THE BACKGROUND)
HARRIET
Lady Mildred?
LADY MILDRED
Not too close my dears. I fear you'd catch my chill. Harriet? Is that really you? What an unexpected pleasure. Moreover, that fine young fellow must be your dashing fiancé.
CHARLES
Charles Willow, at your service.
LADY MILDRED
Oh, delightful. You really must marry him.
HARRIET
Thank you. I believe I will. It is sad we meet again in such distressing circumstances.
HARRIET
I was devastated by the news, we hurried up without delay.
SIR MALCOLM
It is good to hear your voice again. Seems an age since last we conversed.
LADY MILDRED
Indeed, and yet already I grow weary.
CHARLES
Perhaps we should let her be.
(FX: SILENCE APART FROM THE CLOCK'S REMORSELESS TICKING)
SIR MALCOLM
Upon my word, I do believe she has fallen asleep. The night grows long for me too. I will retire and leave you to your refreshments. May I bid you good night.
HARRIET AND CHARLES
Good night.
(FX: FOOTSTEPS WALK AWAY. A DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)
CHARLES
For someone at death’s door Lady Mildred seemed in decent fettle.
HARRIET
Bother, I appear to have dropped my broach while I was in the room.
CHARLES
Shall I …?
HARRIET
I think not my love, I would not like to frighten her and she hardly knows you.
CHARLES
Then I will hold the door.
(FX: GENTLE TAP AND THE DOOR OPENING)
HARRIET
Lady Mildred…
CHARLES
Is she still asleep?
HARRIET
I think so; I can see the broach by her chair.
(FX: RUSTLING OF FABRIC AND THE GENTLE TINKLE OF A CHAIN)
Got it.
CHARLES
Let’s go before we disturb her.
HARRIET
(Trying not to scream) I brushed her arm and it is as cold as death.
CHARLOTTE
(Coldly) Can I help you Harriet?
HARRIET
Alas I dropped my broach.
CHARLOTTE
I see that you have it now.
HARRIET
I do indeed but when I brushed Lady Mildred’s hand, it was so cold.
CHARLOTTE
She does grow cold, especially when the weather turns to snow outside; hence these warmer blankets.
CHARLES
May I assist you?
CHARLOTTE
Let's not let that stockpot grow cold.
Fade out
SCENE 3 – CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM SOUP
Fade in
(FX: A LADLE SERVES SOUP. A CLOCK TICKS.
CHARLOTTE
Harriet, my dear will you please say grace?
HARRIET
But of course; Thank you Lord for the fellowship around this table, for the good friends, for the hearts of love that manifested themselves through hands that prepared this wonderful meal. Bless us as we eat and bless us as we fellowship. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
CHARLES AND CHARLOTTE
Amen.
CHARLOTTE
Do tuck in while it is hot.
(FX: SOUND OF SPOONS ON BOWLS AND SOUNDS OF APPRECIATION)
CHARLES
Delightful. A hint of rosemary and... wild mushrooms?
CHARLOTTE
Indeed, I forage for my own. Even at this time of year, the woods have their secrets. This Blusher is a favourite of mine.
CHARLES
I thought as much and simmered to perfection.
CHARLOTTE
You are too kind. Brandy? Not from the cook's cupboard this
(FX: BRANDY BEING POURED)
CHARLES
A little more? I'm sorry; I have not forgotten the reason for our gathering.
HARRIET
Indeed. Where is Earl?
CHARLOTTE
He rests in the library. The stoutest table...
HARRIET
May I...?
CHARLOTTE
I'm afraid we were told the lid should remain closed.
HARRIET
The paper was vague. What befell my cousin?
CHARLOTTE
The hour grows late, and you must be weary. Would the barest of facts now suffice?
HARRIET
As you wish.
CHARLOTTE
Five years we were wed but misfortune followed... In the shape of my twin sister Rebecca.
HARRIET
She was once sweet on Earl - don't try to deny it.
CHARLOTTE
She married a soldier. She was happy enough.
CHARLES
Captain Wilfred Holmes. Chap I knew at Eton. Fine sort of cove, if a little cut and dried in his opinions.
CHARLOTTE
Rebecca... Rebecca used him terribly, feigning love and entrapping him in matrimony. She ploughed through his estate in little more than a year and it's said he fled to India a broken man. She arrived here at the door of my beloved great aunt in near destitution but Sir Malcolm sent her packing with a flea in her ear.
HARRIET
How awful.
CHARLOTTE
She then begged Earl and I for a little something to tide her over - we live the other side of the moor - but my husband would have none of it either.
(Charlotte begins to cry)
CHARLOTTE
I bade her stay with us but she fled in tears... I waited an hour for her return, then followed her back up over the moor, she had no horse, no man, no means of transportation... But for all I walked there was no sign. That evening we waited in vain. Earl supposed she had made for town but I knew better. The next morning first I, then Earl then ten men or more went over the moor to search for her...Three days we tramped that blasted heath.... Calling her name in vain.
HARRIET
But surely... Surely you found her?
CHARLOTTE
Not till three weeks had past... The blacksmith's old bloodhound worried at the fringes of the mire... A lad spotted a streamer from her bonnet on a thorn.... The black depths were dredged with a grappling iron and.... What was left of her reclaimed. She had slipped, Doctor Carmody supposed.... Slipped and hit her head and drowned while we sipped tea and condemned her.
HARRIET
My dear! In all of Earl's letters while we were overseas, there was not a word of this affair.
CHARLOTTE
He felt the guilt no less keenly than I.
HARRIET
A double tragedy then, when Earl's accident befell him.
CHARLOTTE
Some matters are best not dwelt on too deeply… The pain… the guilt…
CHARLES
Indeed one sets one face against such things... And the reading of the will?
CHARLOTTE
After we return from the service and committal.
HARRIET
Charles! How can you speak of such tawdry details. Earl will have left her everything!
CHARLOTTE
I cannot be sure of that. You may benefit too. If he blamed me for what happened, perhaps he sought to leave me destitute too. He left me alone after all.
HARRIET
Charlotte!
CHARLOTTE
You said she was sweet on him. Perhaps he was sweet on her too. Perhaps he married me in her stead and when she died could not bear it. Who knows a man's mind? They are such emotional creatures. Charles. I believe you are named executor, the solicitor will have you confirm his reading, I know little of such matters and care less for them now.
CHARLES
I... I think it best we all retire. Things look different in the morning. Christmas morning most of all.
Fade out
SCENE 4 – MIDNIGHT CHIMES
Fade in
(FX:THE TWELVE CHIMES OF MIDNIGHT. WIND, HAIL AND SNOW. FOOTSTEPS ON THE LANDING AND A KNOCK AT A DOOR)
CHARLES (whispers loudly)
Harriet, darling, are you awake?
HARRIET
Charles? Charles! What brings you to my door at such an hour? What will people think?
CHARLES
The floor is deserted and this is not the first time -
HARRIET
I will thank you to keep your voice down!
(F/X SHE OPENS THE DOOR)
HARRIET
Are you feeling quite well?
CHARLES
I have been somewhat... a touch of... nausea... The stresses of the journey and that terrible tale.
HARRIET
I also feel a trifle light headed.
CHARLES
May I sit a moment by the fire? I will not impede your slumbers...
HARRIET
As you please.... Perhaps it is best we are not alone tonight...
(FX: A SUDDEN RATTLE OF WIND AND HAIL ON THE WINDOWS.)
HARRIET (Jumping with a start from of troubled dreams)
What? What was that? Who's there? Oh! Charles, it is you. Wake up! I felt someone… Please wake up - I’m scared.
REBECCA (Gently calling)
Harriet... Harriet...
HARRIET
Charles. Wake up. There’s someone there!
REBECCA
You shouldn't have come. Harriet...
HARRIET
What in heaven's name.... That sounds like Rebecca.
REBECCA
Run back to New England little girl
HARRIET
Leave me alone. This is a dream. You're not real.
LADY MILDRED
We are real enough to kill you.
HARRIET
Lady Mildred! Leave me alone! This is not real. This is not happening!
REBECCA
Just because we are dead doesn't mean we're not real.
LADY MILDRED
Death is the only reality my child. You too will learn that in time.
REBECCA
Wouldn’t you like to join us? We are all so very happy here.
HARRIET
Leave me alone, just leave me alone.
(FX: HARRIET'S SOBS WAKE CHARLES, HE STRIKES A MATCH TO LIGHT A CANDLE)
CHARLES
What... Harriet! My darling! What ails you?
HARRIET
The most terrible, terrible dream. Rebecca came... Outside the door. She spoke to me.
CHARLES
Impossible. You’ve had beastly night. This is no more than a shade, a nightmare.
HARRIET
... Oh Charles, it was all so real.
CHARLES
I heard nothing my dear.
HARRIET
Half sauced with Sir Malcolm's best brandy
CHARLES
Rebecca is dead. Lady Mildred lies bedridden. Spirits do not walk beyond the covers of the more lurid... What is it?
HARRIET
It was real I tell you.
(FX: THE WIND HOWLS.)
HARRIET
You too? What? What did you see?
CHARLES
Nothing - nothing, just a flicker of the candle... in the draft of the... the....
(F/X HARRIET IS SICK OVER CHARLES)
HARRIET
Oh Charles, I'm so sorry.
CHARLES
I've half a dozen nightshirts. I've only one of you.
HARRIET
We best not sleep... Not sleep tonight.
(F/X THE WIND SHAKES THE WINDOWS AGAIN. THE HARSH RATTLE OF HAIL)
Fade out
SCENE 5 – DEATH OF SIR MALCOLM
Fade in
CHARLES
It's past two. Perhaps we should...Clean up a little.
HARRIET
I am so sorry darling. I made the most awful mess.
CHARLES
Nothing to fret about. We're good as new now. I must admit, I said I turned my back but...
(FX: DOOR OPENING AND SHUTTING AND FOORSTEPS ON THE STAIRS)
HARRIET
The voices!
(FX: VOICES SLIGHTLY MUFFLED AS IF BEHIND A DOOR. ONE IS SIR MALCOLM, THE OTHER A WOMAN'S, BUT THE WORDS REMAIN OBSCURE. THEY QUARREL)
CHARLES
Is that Sir Malcolm? We should -
HARRIET
Shhh! I trust no-one here.
(FX: A STRUGGLE. A VASE SMASHES ON THE GROUND)
(FX: A BODY THUMPS DOWN STAIRS TO THE FLOOR)
(F/X THE SOUND OF FLEEING FOOTSTEPS. HARRIET AND CHARLES LISTEN BEHIND THEIR CLOSED DOOR)
HARRIET
Oh my goodness.
CHARLES
That is no ghost. Stay here, I will... I will...
HARRIET
Don’t leave me, we'll look together.
(FX: THEY OPEN THE DOOR)
HARRIET
Sir Malcolm! At the foot of the stairs! Is he...?
(FX: THEY HURRY DOWN THE STAIRS)
CHARLES
...I'm fear so. His neck is quite broken. He must have tripped on the stairs.
HARRIET
Tripped? We heard two voices or more.
CHARLES
Who’s there?
LADY MILDRED (Laughing)
Fade Out
SCENE 6 – THE TWIN’S DILEMMA
Fade in
(FX: WIND BLOWING AND FOOTSTEPS ON A COLD STONE FLOOR)
HARRIET
You heard that?
CHARLES
I heard... The wind and no more. A delicate matter, but perhaps we should move the body to the cold store.
HARRIET
Won't the magistrate want to see him in situ? Who could believe this was an accident? And yet, there have been so many before.
CHARLES
Sir Malcolm owned the house? Would Charlotte be named as beneficiary?
HARRIET
I cannot believe it of her.
CHARLES
People change - where money's involved. They get themselves into a stew and one lie begets another.
HARRIET
These are deaths. We must inform the authorities.
(FX: WIND HOWLING)
CHARLES
We'd best wait till morning. It would be too easy for an accident to befall us in such weather, two panicked strangers in the dark. We wait here and come dawn the tempest will have abated. I’ve seldom seen winter as brutal.
HARRIET
The savagery of the elements pales before that of man.
CHARLES
Or woman? You will be safe in my protection, tonight, all nights to come.
HARRIET
I cannot bear to see his body.
CHARLES
I will lay him in the cold store. The magistrate can take our statements.
HARRIET
So be it. Then, oh I can't bear to just wait, and I can't think this of Charlotte. There must be some reason we are not privy too. Let us use these hours wisely. Let us find and confront Charlotte.
CHARLES
Yes, perhaps we have misconstrued the situation.
HARRIET
We should ask Lady Mildred after...
CHARLES
I am afraid he is too heavy for me... Perhaps… Could you possibly take his legs?...
(FX: DOOR OPENING AND THE TICKING OF THE CLOCK)
HARRIET
Lady Mildred?
REBECCA
Oh, you startled me!
HARRIET
Rebecca?
CHARLES
Oh my lord.
HARRIET
No ghosts, Charles... Unless
REBECCA
Oh, yes, yes, Rebecca! I'm so relieved to see you!
HARRIET
Rebecca? Charlotte said you were dead!
REBECCA
Charlotte is beside herself with grief! She believes I am dead and refuses to accept my existence!
CHARLES
Sir Malcolm lies dead on the stairway. We need to move him to the -
REBECCA
She - She pushed Sir Malcolm! She wants the house I'm sure of it. Oh What am I to do?
CHARLES
Help us move him for now.
(FX: SHUFFLING OF A BODY)
Fade out
Fade in
HARRIET
I don't know what to believe anymore. Where is Lady Mildred?
REBECCA
Perhaps she took her too!
HARRIET
Can we lock this door? From the outside?
REBECCA
But she is not here.
HARRIET
To protect you in here Rebecca. There is only one door.
CHARLES
Keep the key in the lock and -
REBECCA
Yes, there is only one key.
HARRIET
So we will take the key Charles. Rebecca, for your protection. We will return here with Charlotte and trust the truth will out.
(FX: DOOR SHUTTING AND BEING LOCKED)
CHARLES and HARRIET
Charlotte! Charlotte!!
(FX: FOOTSTEPS AND TICKING OF CLOCKS)
CHARLES
Darling this is futile. We've been through the house and -
CHARLOTTE
There you are! I heard footsteps!
CHARLES
We've been shouting for you.
CHARLOTTE
I... Heard, I was afraid.
HARRIET
We have Rebecca locked in Lady Mildred's room, what is afoot here?
CHARLOTTE
Rebecca? Rebecca is dead.
HARRIET
She is alive and I will prove it.
(FX: THE DOOR BEING UNLOCKED AND OPENING)
CHARLES
Opon my word. But she was here... We locked her in here. See, I have the only key!
HARRIET
We only had her word for that. Charlotte, where have you been?
CHARLOTTE
We... We must wake Sir Malcolm. Inform him what is -
CHARLES
We laid his body in the cold store not an hour ago.
CHARLOTTE (Sobs)
His body? Impossible… It's all beyond the bounds of reason. You said you have seen Rebecca?
HARRIET
We locked her in this room.
CHARLOTTE
She died. At least we went to her funeral. But... what if she were alive and some poor wastrel of the parish was interred in her place?
HARRIET
Then...
CHARLOTTE
We are twins, identical in every superficial aspect. What if Rebecca did for Sir Malcolm and is pretending to be me?
Fade Out
SCENE 7 – THE LADY VANISHES
Fade in
CHARLOTTE
We must flee. And where is Lady Mildred? Is she also...
CHARLES
She was not here. Twas our first port of call.
HARRIET
I thought I heard her spectre, in the tumult of the night.
CHARLOTTE
She is alive.
HARRIET
Lady Mildred?
CHARLOTTE
Rebecca! Of all people I know the darkness in her heart. Oh if you will not save yourselves then -
HARRIET
Charles! Do not let her out of our sight!
CHARLOTTE
Don't you trust me?
HARRIET
I don't trust anyone.
CHARLES
Except -
HARRIET
Anyone. Charlotte, together we are three. Stay for your safety, unless the guilty must flee.
CHARLES
Charlotte is right. Let us brave the night and wake the magistrate.
HARRIET
If she plots our doom then she will be waiting to despatch us. That mire will fill with us all. And, again, we dare not abandon Lady Mildred.
CHARLES
If she lives.... I'd rather take my chance outside.
HARRIET
We have to make sure. One more search, then we go with good conscience. We'll start from the bottom, chase our fiend to the top.
(FX: DOORS OPENING AND CLOSING AND FOOTSTEPS ON LANDINGS)
CHARLES
Harriet! Enough. We can go no higher. We have searched everywhere.
HARRIET
Not quite, these are the attic rooms above. And what is that... foul excrescence?
CHARLOTTE
I don't...
HARRIET
It emanates from... Pull down that attic ladder.
(FX: TRAP DOOR OPENING)
HARRIET
What can you see?
CHARLES
Oh! Perhaps a rat in the walls? There is indeed something rancid.
CHARLOTTE
We should not trespass up there.
HARRIET
Oh let me see.
(F/X HARRIET CLAMBERS UP THE LADDER)
HARRIET
Perhaps it... Nothing. Hold up your candle. What is that travel chest against the wall?
CHARLOTTE
This is all too perfectly ghastly. I'll just wait down....
CHARLES
Harriet! You.... You want me to open one?
HARRIET
Would you rather it were I?
CHARLES
No... No... Safe in my arms and all that. It is so cramped in here
(FX: STRAPS UNFASTENED AND A CHEST BEING OPENED)
CHARLES
So. This one... is a man. Semi-desiccated in this arid air but I wager some degree of decomposition set in before...
HARRIET
Stop prattling! Search for clues to his identity. Oh, let me... Here, a note in his jacket pocket. A letter! To Captain Wilfred Holmes! Charlotte! Charlotte?
(F/X HARRIET SCRABBLES TO THE ATTIC TRAP DOOR)
CHARLES
Do you fear she'd trap us?
HARRIET
She has fled.
CHARLES
Or they are spectres all!
HARRIET
Charles! Unhand me! We must cling to reason rather than each other. One last check of Lady Mildred's room then we must presume she is lost. Whichever twin still besets us, we will be the only ones left.
Fade out
SCENE 8 – THE MUMMY
Fade in
HARRIET
Quiet. Charlotte may await us.
CHARLES
Must we? Oh, Charlotte is not the only mad woman!
(F/X MILDRED'S DOOR OPENS ONCE MORE
HARRIET
Look, through the shutters?
CHARLES
Light! Another visitation?
HARRIET
The wind has died. I do believe it is dawn. Cast them open. Let us see.
(F/X CHARLES FLINGS THE SHUTTERS OPEN)
CHARLES
No sign. Let us flee.
HARRIET
Wait. Something is wrong.
CHARLES
Indeed it is Harriet, now -
HARRIET
No. Wrong. Wrong with the room.
CHARLES
It has all an old lady might require. A bed, a fire, a chair to sit and a table.
HARRIET
But clothes? Where is her clothing?
CHARLES
Perhaps a lady of her standing has a dressing room. Really, this is no time for a feminine obsession with the paucity of her wardrobe!
HARRIET
But there is no dressing room. No chest of drawers.
CHARLES
There are... Some trifles of attire. Seemingly hastily discarded.
HARRIET
My word. I think you are right!
CHARLES
I am? I mean to say, of course I am... What about?
HARRIET
A house like this. A lady of her standing. Of course there was a dressing room. It would be about....
(FX: SHE TAPS ON THE WALLS. THEY ARE SOLID AND THEN SHE STRIKES A HOLLOW NOTE)
HARRIET
Here! Somewhat crudely papered over, but invisible by candlelight or with these shutters closed.
CHARLES
I have my cigar trimmer.
HARRIET
At last a worthwhile use for that beastly device.
(FX: CHARLES RIPS AT THE PAPER.)
HARRIET
The door! Prise it open!
(F/X THE DOOR IS PULLED OPEN)
HARRIET
Lady Mildred I presume.
CHARLES
Still in her chair.
(FX: RUSTLE OF FABRIC MOVING)
HARRIET
Quite mummified in this sterile ante-chamber.
CHARLES
But we saw her. We conversed!
HARRIET
Did we? We talked to someone. Leave her be. We can do nothing for her now.
(FX: DOOR CLOSING)
CHARLES
Nothing but ghosts since the echoes of midnight.
HARRIET
I do not care for ghosts, at least no more than they would care for me.
Fade out
SCENE 9 – ECHOES?
Fade in
(FX: CLOCK TICKING)
CHARLES
Here. Let us steal out through the library.
HARRIET
The library! We must check on poor Earl.
CHARLES
Is this wise, dear?
HARRIET
Wise? Of course not, but still I must know who lies here. Perhaps there is a chance he is held hostage somewhere.
CHARLES
We should hurry to the magistrate.
HARRIET
Murder upon murder before we arrived. Where was your precious magistrate then? We must solve this mystery or risk becoming a part of it. Undo these screws with me.
(FX: SOUND OF THE COFFIN LID BEING PRISED OPEN)
HARRIET
Ah. I'd hoped for a moment he might still be alive. His face is quite…
CHARLES
The papers hinted at.... Well....
HARRIET
So he didn't shoot himself through the face.
CHARLES
Quite.
HARRIET
Yet another murder on her hands.
(FX: THEY CLOSE THE LID)
CHARLES
Where has she gone? Fled do you think? Or are her sights still upon us?
HARRIET
Perhaps we should wait. Let her come to us.
CHARLES
You would have us as bait?
HARRIET
Of a kind.
(FX: A PIANO IS PLAYED QUIETLY)
HARRIET
The music room. Come listen at the keyhole!
(FX: A PIANO IS PLAYING SLIGHTLY LOUDER, THEN SUDDENLY STOPPING)
LADY MILDRED
Keep playing Charlotte, it helps calm my nerves.
CHARLOTTE
Yes Great Aunt.
LADY MILDRED
You girls were always so gifted. Malcolm and I always enjoyed your recitals and all your little dress up plays. Do you still know Chopin, Rebecca?
REBECCA
I am in want of practice these days. However, if you wish...
LADY MILDRED
Thank you, most kind.
(FX: A FRESH SELECTION BEGINS)
LADY MILDRED
Where are we in our arrangements?
REBECCA
Everything is as it should be, however we will not gain rights to Earl's estate until the reading of the will.
LADY MILDRED
I assume Harriet lives until she validates the will.
REBECCA
Yes great Aunt.
LADY MILDRED
And of tonight?
REBECCA
No-one would be believe her ramblings, she'll not believe them herself. Dreams, a series of unfortunate accidents.
LADY MILDRED
And then?
REBECCA
Perhaps a train derailment. She'd not stand out in wider tragedy. And all of it, all of it shall be ours.
Fade out
SCENE 10 – CHRISTMAS DAY
Fade in
(FX: DOOR BURSTING OPEN AND THE PIANO SUDDENLY STOPS)
LADY MILDRED
So kind of you to join us my dears!
HARRIET
Rebecca. You are quite... Quite insane.
CHARLES
Where are the others?
HARRIET
There are no others.
REBECCA
You interrupt us. How... tiresome.
(FX: THE MUSIC STOPS PLAYING)
CHARLES
She has a gun.
HARRIET
Is that Earl’s? The one he... The one you...
REBECCA
Yes, why yes it is. He bade me never touch it, yet experience shows he quite overestimated the complexity of its operation.
CHARLES
Try not to annoy her.
REBECCA
Perhaps you should listen just once in your days.
HARRIET
You did alone. Or did Sir Malcolm...?
REBECCA
He noticed when I was little we saw the world in the same way. And yet, the cuckoo in the nest and all that. There can be but one final inheritor.
HARRIET
Inherit what? A pile of brick and rot sodden in the blood of your loved ones.
REBECCA
Loved ones? I never loved them. And they never loved me. Except Earl, maybe.
CHARLOTTE
No… he was mine!
HARRIET
You monster.
REBECCA
Monster? Come now. There are no monsters. Every cheque in England is written in someone else's blood. Slaves whipped on the plantations of the Indies. Children losing their fingers in the mills. At least I looked them in the eye. And so much more satisfying than the slaughter of strangers.
HARRIET
You killed Wilfred. You killed all of them. You killed your own twin. Up on the moors, that was you.
REBECCA
Charlotte? How could she do that to me? Cast me aside? Choose Earl over me? She followed. We quarrelled. She... fell. I was... cold, I took her clothes but.... She was always a part of me. She still is, inside of me.
CHARLES
Feign madness if you wish. It will not save you from the courts.
REBECCA
Brave words for a man without a pistol.
HARRIET
And Lady Mildred?
REBECCA
You'd best ask Sir Malcolm about that. A pillow... to still her nagging. I knew so... He did as he was told.
HARRIET
But drew the line at our murder tonight? And so you killed him instead?
REBECCA
It is late in the season. My mushrooms were not quite as potent as I'd hoped.
CHARLES
But still we suffered hallucinations… What a foolish man am I, you fed us chicken and mushroom soup.
REBECCA
(Proudly) Deadly Panther Cap…
CHARLES
Whish is often mistaken for the Blusher mushroom.
REBECCA (In Lady's Mildred's voice)
Quite right. Clever boy. I told you I liked him.
HARRIET
You are quite mad.
CHARLES
Are you going to kill us?
REBECCA
One of us will, (giggles) but I don't know which one.
HARRIET
Charlotte. You say Charlotte's inside you? A part of you now? I don't believe you.
REBECCA (cautiously)
She is. She is here.
HARRIET
Worse than a murderer, you're a liar too.
CHARLOTTE
No, Harriet. It is true. I am here. Within her.
HARRIET
Charlotte. If that is truly you – You must be an end to this. Wilfred. Earl. You should have stopped her.
CHARLOTTE
No. I... I tried… I tried so hard but she was too strong for me… (Tears) I couldn't stop her.
HARRIET
You can end this now.
CHARLES
Harriet, she raises the pistol!
HARRIET
Charlotte, Charlotte, you couldn't save them but you can save us.
(F/X: A GUNSHOT. SILENCE)
CHARLES
It seems your aim was amiss.
REBECCA
How bothersome… I did so want you to die.
CHARLOTTE
You shall not kill anyone else.
REBECCA
When I set my mind to something, you cannot stop me.
CHARLOTTE
I do not need too, for I have already condemned you to an asylum or worse.
REBECCA
What?
CHARLOTTE
I hate you… I hate what you have made me do… It ends today.
REBECCA
Foolish girl what have you done?
CHARLOTTE
I was always the better cook so you allowed me to prepare the soup you have just consumed.
REBECCA
What of it?
CHARLOTTE
You have a liking for the Panther Cap mushroom do you not? I should have given you enough to kill you but I thought that was too easy. In your greed… (she laughs) I have given you enough to drive what is left of your mind completely mad. Isn’t that so Great Aunt Mildred?
LADY MILDRED
Indeed… you’ll never have peace again. (Cackles in laughter)
CHARLOTTE AND LADY MILDRED
(Demented laughing)
(FX: REBECCA SCREAMS, A GUN FALLS TO THE FLOOR AND REBECCA RUNS OUT OF THE ROOM)
CHARLES
Shall I run after her?
HARRIET
Why… there is nowhere for her to go for she cannot run from herself… It is over.
CHARLES
How did you know she would....
HARRIET
I didn't. But - I knew Charlotte. Maybe she absorbed too much of her sister. Or perhaps Rebecca... Perhaps you forget you're acting if you're acting all the time.
CHARLES
Then this was her finest performance.
HARRIET
No. No. That was Charlotte.
CHARLES
What a dark night.
HARRIET
The light shines in the darkness...
CHARLES
...and darkness overcame it not.
(FX: THE PEAL OF CHURCH BELLS IN THE DISTANCE)
CHARLES
The bells. Happy Christmas.
HARRIET
Happy Christmas my love.
Fade out
THE END
by Phil Janvier
Characters: Cast of Four
Harriet Whittaker (Miss) - American accent - Actor 1:
Charles Willow - American or British accent - Actor 2:
Sir Malcolm Gracehawk - British accent - Actor 3:
Rebecca Holmes (Mrs) - British accent - Actor 4:
Charlotte Whittaker (Mrs) - British accent - Actor 4
Lady Mildred Gracehawk - British accent - Actor 4
(FX: THERE IS A THEME OF TICKING CLOCKS AND WIND MOANING, OFTEN MUTED THROUGHOUT THE PLAY THAT ONLY STOPS AT THE CONCLUSION)
(MUSIC: SINISTER AND SETTING THE LISTENER 'ON EDGE.')
CHRISTMAS EVE 1879
SCENE 1 – THE WELCOME
Fade in
(FX: HOWLING WIND AND HAIL, THE SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS RUNNING ACROSS GRAVEL AS A HORSE AND CARRIAGE RATTLE AWAY.)
CHARLES
I do hope they are expecting us.
HARRIET
In my Father's house are many mansions.
CHARLES
But none so bleak as this, are you sure my dear this the right abode?
HARRIET
If it were not so, I would have told you.
(FX: A LOUD KNOCK ON AN OLD OAK DOOR. THUNDER CRASHES AS TORRENTIAL RAIN POURS. THE DOOR CREAKS OPEN)
SIR MALCOLM
Harriet, my dear! Do come out of that appalling weather.
HARRIET
Sir Malcolm! Thank you.
SIR MALCOLM
How was the long journey?
CHARLES
Somewhat tiresome, I'm afraid.
HARRIET
We are here now and that is all that should concern us. May I present my fiancé Charles?
CHARLES
The honour is all -
SIR MALCOLM
Come in dear boy, this wind is bitter.
(FX: COATS FLAPPING, THE DOOR SHUTS AND THE SOUND OF THE WEATHER FADES, GRANDFATHER CLOCKS CHIMES EIGHT O’CLOCK)
SIR MALCOLM
To the front kitchen. The stove makes it warm.
HARRIET
The weather is hardly your fault Sir Malcolm. And our journey could scarce be postponed. We have missed enough of these... family visits with my sojourn home to New England. A mere trip from London is....
SIR MALCOLM
Oh my dear. Do sit down.
CHARLES
She is faint with the journey. The funeral is set... for the Feast of St Stephen?
SIR MALCOLM
Boxing Day, indeed, indeed. Perhaps a small glass of something medicinal?
CHARLES
That would be most agreeable sir.
SIR MALCOLM
I meant for young Harriet here.
CHARLES
Of course, of course.
SIR MALCOLM
A glass of cook's brandy and then perhaps tea. Charlotte will be down. She attends to Lady Mildred.
(FX: A DOOR OPENS AND THE SOUND OF A ROARING FIRE AND THE TICKING OF A SMALLER CLOCK CAN BE HEARD)
CHARLES
Sir Malcolm, call the butler or a maid?
SIR MALCOLM
I allowed them this eve to reside with their families. In the village, down the way... Sip this my dear. It will revive you.
HARRIET
Gosh!
CHARLES
Harriet please! The more distressing the circumstance, the more vital we retain our decorum. We are not in the colonies now.
HARRIET
Former colonies. But yes, you are right. Do forgive me. Did I hear talk of tea? Might I be of assistance?
SIR MALCOLM
No need my dear, I've become... Ah, here's Charlotte. She must have heard the door.
CHARLOTTE
Harriet!
HARRIET
Charlotte… Oh, how awful. But so lovely to see you.
(FX: THEY EMBRACE)
CHARLOTTE
Let us not speak of it now my dear. And... you must be Charles, I have heard so very much about you.
CHARLES
Nothing too beastly I hope!
CHARLOTTE
Now that would be telling wouldn’t it?
HARRIET
How did... How is Lady Mildred these days?
CHARLOTTE
Not as active as in former years. She wiles the days away in her room but seems content enough. In confidence, she is not herself and says but very little. We take her tea and try to see her comfortable as we can.
HARRIET
Will she be well enough to attend the...
CHARLOTTE
I very much doubt it; she's not left her room in months. I regret to say the next funeral she attends may very will be her own.
HARRIET
I do hope I'll be able to our renew our acquaintance before... we retire for the evening.
CHARLOTTE
Of course, I'll go up before you but you may find her sleeping.
CHARLES
Splendid. The water has boiled. Let Harriet - let me help you.
SIR MALCOLM
Thank you, my boy. My eyes are not what they were.
CHARLES
Charlotte?
CHARLOTTE
A splash of milk for me. I daresay you partook of supper on the train but I… cook took the liberty of preparing a stockpot of chicken and mushroom.
CHARLES
If you were to include a glass of brandy, I do believe I would be in heaven.
CHARLOTTE
Then heaven it is.
(FX: A CRASH OF THUNDER)
HARRIET
You are too kind. But I feel I must pay my respects to Lady Mildred. She was so kind when I first arrived on these shores.
CHARLOTTE
But of course. Bear with me a moment to ensure she is presentable.
SIR MALCOLM
Thank you, we will join you once we've drunk this cup of tea.
Fade out
SCENE 2 – LADY MILDRED
Fade in
(FX: A CRASH OF THUNDER INTERRUPTS THE SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS CLIMBING CREEKY STAIRS)
CHARLES
Pray tarry a moment, Harriet dear. I do believe Sir Malcolm is struggling.
HARRIET
My apologies. I was impetuous in my haste. I was positively leaping up the stairs.
SIR MALCOLM
How quickly you young things recover their vigour. These stairs will be the death of me; I do declare they grow a little steeper every day.
CHARLES
Allow me.
SIR MALCOLM
Thank you young man that will not be necessary. Here is her bedchamber door.
(FX: A GENTLE TAP ON THE DOOR. A SMALL CLOCK TICKS IN THE BACKGROUND)
HARRIET
Lady Mildred?
LADY MILDRED
Not too close my dears. I fear you'd catch my chill. Harriet? Is that really you? What an unexpected pleasure. Moreover, that fine young fellow must be your dashing fiancé.
CHARLES
Charles Willow, at your service.
LADY MILDRED
Oh, delightful. You really must marry him.
HARRIET
Thank you. I believe I will. It is sad we meet again in such distressing circumstances.
HARRIET
I was devastated by the news, we hurried up without delay.
SIR MALCOLM
It is good to hear your voice again. Seems an age since last we conversed.
LADY MILDRED
Indeed, and yet already I grow weary.
CHARLES
Perhaps we should let her be.
(FX: SILENCE APART FROM THE CLOCK'S REMORSELESS TICKING)
SIR MALCOLM
Upon my word, I do believe she has fallen asleep. The night grows long for me too. I will retire and leave you to your refreshments. May I bid you good night.
HARRIET AND CHARLES
Good night.
(FX: FOOTSTEPS WALK AWAY. A DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)
CHARLES
For someone at death’s door Lady Mildred seemed in decent fettle.
HARRIET
Bother, I appear to have dropped my broach while I was in the room.
CHARLES
Shall I …?
HARRIET
I think not my love, I would not like to frighten her and she hardly knows you.
CHARLES
Then I will hold the door.
(FX: GENTLE TAP AND THE DOOR OPENING)
HARRIET
Lady Mildred…
CHARLES
Is she still asleep?
HARRIET
I think so; I can see the broach by her chair.
(FX: RUSTLING OF FABRIC AND THE GENTLE TINKLE OF A CHAIN)
Got it.
CHARLES
Let’s go before we disturb her.
HARRIET
(Trying not to scream) I brushed her arm and it is as cold as death.
CHARLOTTE
(Coldly) Can I help you Harriet?
HARRIET
Alas I dropped my broach.
CHARLOTTE
I see that you have it now.
HARRIET
I do indeed but when I brushed Lady Mildred’s hand, it was so cold.
CHARLOTTE
She does grow cold, especially when the weather turns to snow outside; hence these warmer blankets.
CHARLES
May I assist you?
CHARLOTTE
Let's not let that stockpot grow cold.
Fade out
SCENE 3 – CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM SOUP
Fade in
(FX: A LADLE SERVES SOUP. A CLOCK TICKS.
CHARLOTTE
Harriet, my dear will you please say grace?
HARRIET
But of course; Thank you Lord for the fellowship around this table, for the good friends, for the hearts of love that manifested themselves through hands that prepared this wonderful meal. Bless us as we eat and bless us as we fellowship. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
CHARLES AND CHARLOTTE
Amen.
CHARLOTTE
Do tuck in while it is hot.
(FX: SOUND OF SPOONS ON BOWLS AND SOUNDS OF APPRECIATION)
CHARLES
Delightful. A hint of rosemary and... wild mushrooms?
CHARLOTTE
Indeed, I forage for my own. Even at this time of year, the woods have their secrets. This Blusher is a favourite of mine.
CHARLES
I thought as much and simmered to perfection.
CHARLOTTE
You are too kind. Brandy? Not from the cook's cupboard this
(FX: BRANDY BEING POURED)
CHARLES
A little more? I'm sorry; I have not forgotten the reason for our gathering.
HARRIET
Indeed. Where is Earl?
CHARLOTTE
He rests in the library. The stoutest table...
HARRIET
May I...?
CHARLOTTE
I'm afraid we were told the lid should remain closed.
HARRIET
The paper was vague. What befell my cousin?
CHARLOTTE
The hour grows late, and you must be weary. Would the barest of facts now suffice?
HARRIET
As you wish.
CHARLOTTE
Five years we were wed but misfortune followed... In the shape of my twin sister Rebecca.
HARRIET
She was once sweet on Earl - don't try to deny it.
CHARLOTTE
She married a soldier. She was happy enough.
CHARLES
Captain Wilfred Holmes. Chap I knew at Eton. Fine sort of cove, if a little cut and dried in his opinions.
CHARLOTTE
Rebecca... Rebecca used him terribly, feigning love and entrapping him in matrimony. She ploughed through his estate in little more than a year and it's said he fled to India a broken man. She arrived here at the door of my beloved great aunt in near destitution but Sir Malcolm sent her packing with a flea in her ear.
HARRIET
How awful.
CHARLOTTE
She then begged Earl and I for a little something to tide her over - we live the other side of the moor - but my husband would have none of it either.
(Charlotte begins to cry)
CHARLOTTE
I bade her stay with us but she fled in tears... I waited an hour for her return, then followed her back up over the moor, she had no horse, no man, no means of transportation... But for all I walked there was no sign. That evening we waited in vain. Earl supposed she had made for town but I knew better. The next morning first I, then Earl then ten men or more went over the moor to search for her...Three days we tramped that blasted heath.... Calling her name in vain.
HARRIET
But surely... Surely you found her?
CHARLOTTE
Not till three weeks had past... The blacksmith's old bloodhound worried at the fringes of the mire... A lad spotted a streamer from her bonnet on a thorn.... The black depths were dredged with a grappling iron and.... What was left of her reclaimed. She had slipped, Doctor Carmody supposed.... Slipped and hit her head and drowned while we sipped tea and condemned her.
HARRIET
My dear! In all of Earl's letters while we were overseas, there was not a word of this affair.
CHARLOTTE
He felt the guilt no less keenly than I.
HARRIET
A double tragedy then, when Earl's accident befell him.
CHARLOTTE
Some matters are best not dwelt on too deeply… The pain… the guilt…
CHARLES
Indeed one sets one face against such things... And the reading of the will?
CHARLOTTE
After we return from the service and committal.
HARRIET
Charles! How can you speak of such tawdry details. Earl will have left her everything!
CHARLOTTE
I cannot be sure of that. You may benefit too. If he blamed me for what happened, perhaps he sought to leave me destitute too. He left me alone after all.
HARRIET
Charlotte!
CHARLOTTE
You said she was sweet on him. Perhaps he was sweet on her too. Perhaps he married me in her stead and when she died could not bear it. Who knows a man's mind? They are such emotional creatures. Charles. I believe you are named executor, the solicitor will have you confirm his reading, I know little of such matters and care less for them now.
CHARLES
I... I think it best we all retire. Things look different in the morning. Christmas morning most of all.
Fade out
SCENE 4 – MIDNIGHT CHIMES
Fade in
(FX:THE TWELVE CHIMES OF MIDNIGHT. WIND, HAIL AND SNOW. FOOTSTEPS ON THE LANDING AND A KNOCK AT A DOOR)
CHARLES (whispers loudly)
Harriet, darling, are you awake?
HARRIET
Charles? Charles! What brings you to my door at such an hour? What will people think?
CHARLES
The floor is deserted and this is not the first time -
HARRIET
I will thank you to keep your voice down!
(F/X SHE OPENS THE DOOR)
HARRIET
Are you feeling quite well?
CHARLES
I have been somewhat... a touch of... nausea... The stresses of the journey and that terrible tale.
HARRIET
I also feel a trifle light headed.
CHARLES
May I sit a moment by the fire? I will not impede your slumbers...
HARRIET
As you please.... Perhaps it is best we are not alone tonight...
(FX: A SUDDEN RATTLE OF WIND AND HAIL ON THE WINDOWS.)
HARRIET (Jumping with a start from of troubled dreams)
What? What was that? Who's there? Oh! Charles, it is you. Wake up! I felt someone… Please wake up - I’m scared.
REBECCA (Gently calling)
Harriet... Harriet...
HARRIET
Charles. Wake up. There’s someone there!
REBECCA
You shouldn't have come. Harriet...
HARRIET
What in heaven's name.... That sounds like Rebecca.
REBECCA
Run back to New England little girl
HARRIET
Leave me alone. This is a dream. You're not real.
LADY MILDRED
We are real enough to kill you.
HARRIET
Lady Mildred! Leave me alone! This is not real. This is not happening!
REBECCA
Just because we are dead doesn't mean we're not real.
LADY MILDRED
Death is the only reality my child. You too will learn that in time.
REBECCA
Wouldn’t you like to join us? We are all so very happy here.
HARRIET
Leave me alone, just leave me alone.
(FX: HARRIET'S SOBS WAKE CHARLES, HE STRIKES A MATCH TO LIGHT A CANDLE)
CHARLES
What... Harriet! My darling! What ails you?
HARRIET
The most terrible, terrible dream. Rebecca came... Outside the door. She spoke to me.
CHARLES
Impossible. You’ve had beastly night. This is no more than a shade, a nightmare.
HARRIET
... Oh Charles, it was all so real.
CHARLES
I heard nothing my dear.
HARRIET
Half sauced with Sir Malcolm's best brandy
CHARLES
Rebecca is dead. Lady Mildred lies bedridden. Spirits do not walk beyond the covers of the more lurid... What is it?
HARRIET
It was real I tell you.
(FX: THE WIND HOWLS.)
HARRIET
You too? What? What did you see?
CHARLES
Nothing - nothing, just a flicker of the candle... in the draft of the... the....
(F/X HARRIET IS SICK OVER CHARLES)
HARRIET
Oh Charles, I'm so sorry.
CHARLES
I've half a dozen nightshirts. I've only one of you.
HARRIET
We best not sleep... Not sleep tonight.
(F/X THE WIND SHAKES THE WINDOWS AGAIN. THE HARSH RATTLE OF HAIL)
Fade out
SCENE 5 – DEATH OF SIR MALCOLM
Fade in
CHARLES
It's past two. Perhaps we should...Clean up a little.
HARRIET
I am so sorry darling. I made the most awful mess.
CHARLES
Nothing to fret about. We're good as new now. I must admit, I said I turned my back but...
(FX: DOOR OPENING AND SHUTTING AND FOORSTEPS ON THE STAIRS)
HARRIET
The voices!
(FX: VOICES SLIGHTLY MUFFLED AS IF BEHIND A DOOR. ONE IS SIR MALCOLM, THE OTHER A WOMAN'S, BUT THE WORDS REMAIN OBSCURE. THEY QUARREL)
CHARLES
Is that Sir Malcolm? We should -
HARRIET
Shhh! I trust no-one here.
(FX: A STRUGGLE. A VASE SMASHES ON THE GROUND)
(FX: A BODY THUMPS DOWN STAIRS TO THE FLOOR)
(F/X THE SOUND OF FLEEING FOOTSTEPS. HARRIET AND CHARLES LISTEN BEHIND THEIR CLOSED DOOR)
HARRIET
Oh my goodness.
CHARLES
That is no ghost. Stay here, I will... I will...
HARRIET
Don’t leave me, we'll look together.
(FX: THEY OPEN THE DOOR)
HARRIET
Sir Malcolm! At the foot of the stairs! Is he...?
(FX: THEY HURRY DOWN THE STAIRS)
CHARLES
...I'm fear so. His neck is quite broken. He must have tripped on the stairs.
HARRIET
Tripped? We heard two voices or more.
CHARLES
Who’s there?
LADY MILDRED (Laughing)
Fade Out
SCENE 6 – THE TWIN’S DILEMMA
Fade in
(FX: WIND BLOWING AND FOOTSTEPS ON A COLD STONE FLOOR)
HARRIET
You heard that?
CHARLES
I heard... The wind and no more. A delicate matter, but perhaps we should move the body to the cold store.
HARRIET
Won't the magistrate want to see him in situ? Who could believe this was an accident? And yet, there have been so many before.
CHARLES
Sir Malcolm owned the house? Would Charlotte be named as beneficiary?
HARRIET
I cannot believe it of her.
CHARLES
People change - where money's involved. They get themselves into a stew and one lie begets another.
HARRIET
These are deaths. We must inform the authorities.
(FX: WIND HOWLING)
CHARLES
We'd best wait till morning. It would be too easy for an accident to befall us in such weather, two panicked strangers in the dark. We wait here and come dawn the tempest will have abated. I’ve seldom seen winter as brutal.
HARRIET
The savagery of the elements pales before that of man.
CHARLES
Or woman? You will be safe in my protection, tonight, all nights to come.
HARRIET
I cannot bear to see his body.
CHARLES
I will lay him in the cold store. The magistrate can take our statements.
HARRIET
So be it. Then, oh I can't bear to just wait, and I can't think this of Charlotte. There must be some reason we are not privy too. Let us use these hours wisely. Let us find and confront Charlotte.
CHARLES
Yes, perhaps we have misconstrued the situation.
HARRIET
We should ask Lady Mildred after...
CHARLES
I am afraid he is too heavy for me... Perhaps… Could you possibly take his legs?...
(FX: DOOR OPENING AND THE TICKING OF THE CLOCK)
HARRIET
Lady Mildred?
REBECCA
Oh, you startled me!
HARRIET
Rebecca?
CHARLES
Oh my lord.
HARRIET
No ghosts, Charles... Unless
REBECCA
Oh, yes, yes, Rebecca! I'm so relieved to see you!
HARRIET
Rebecca? Charlotte said you were dead!
REBECCA
Charlotte is beside herself with grief! She believes I am dead and refuses to accept my existence!
CHARLES
Sir Malcolm lies dead on the stairway. We need to move him to the -
REBECCA
She - She pushed Sir Malcolm! She wants the house I'm sure of it. Oh What am I to do?
CHARLES
Help us move him for now.
(FX: SHUFFLING OF A BODY)
Fade out
Fade in
HARRIET
I don't know what to believe anymore. Where is Lady Mildred?
REBECCA
Perhaps she took her too!
HARRIET
Can we lock this door? From the outside?
REBECCA
But she is not here.
HARRIET
To protect you in here Rebecca. There is only one door.
CHARLES
Keep the key in the lock and -
REBECCA
Yes, there is only one key.
HARRIET
So we will take the key Charles. Rebecca, for your protection. We will return here with Charlotte and trust the truth will out.
(FX: DOOR SHUTTING AND BEING LOCKED)
CHARLES and HARRIET
Charlotte! Charlotte!!
(FX: FOOTSTEPS AND TICKING OF CLOCKS)
CHARLES
Darling this is futile. We've been through the house and -
CHARLOTTE
There you are! I heard footsteps!
CHARLES
We've been shouting for you.
CHARLOTTE
I... Heard, I was afraid.
HARRIET
We have Rebecca locked in Lady Mildred's room, what is afoot here?
CHARLOTTE
Rebecca? Rebecca is dead.
HARRIET
She is alive and I will prove it.
(FX: THE DOOR BEING UNLOCKED AND OPENING)
CHARLES
Opon my word. But she was here... We locked her in here. See, I have the only key!
HARRIET
We only had her word for that. Charlotte, where have you been?
CHARLOTTE
We... We must wake Sir Malcolm. Inform him what is -
CHARLES
We laid his body in the cold store not an hour ago.
CHARLOTTE (Sobs)
His body? Impossible… It's all beyond the bounds of reason. You said you have seen Rebecca?
HARRIET
We locked her in this room.
CHARLOTTE
She died. At least we went to her funeral. But... what if she were alive and some poor wastrel of the parish was interred in her place?
HARRIET
Then...
CHARLOTTE
We are twins, identical in every superficial aspect. What if Rebecca did for Sir Malcolm and is pretending to be me?
Fade Out
SCENE 7 – THE LADY VANISHES
Fade in
CHARLOTTE
We must flee. And where is Lady Mildred? Is she also...
CHARLES
She was not here. Twas our first port of call.
HARRIET
I thought I heard her spectre, in the tumult of the night.
CHARLOTTE
She is alive.
HARRIET
Lady Mildred?
CHARLOTTE
Rebecca! Of all people I know the darkness in her heart. Oh if you will not save yourselves then -
HARRIET
Charles! Do not let her out of our sight!
CHARLOTTE
Don't you trust me?
HARRIET
I don't trust anyone.
CHARLES
Except -
HARRIET
Anyone. Charlotte, together we are three. Stay for your safety, unless the guilty must flee.
CHARLES
Charlotte is right. Let us brave the night and wake the magistrate.
HARRIET
If she plots our doom then she will be waiting to despatch us. That mire will fill with us all. And, again, we dare not abandon Lady Mildred.
CHARLES
If she lives.... I'd rather take my chance outside.
HARRIET
We have to make sure. One more search, then we go with good conscience. We'll start from the bottom, chase our fiend to the top.
(FX: DOORS OPENING AND CLOSING AND FOOTSTEPS ON LANDINGS)
CHARLES
Harriet! Enough. We can go no higher. We have searched everywhere.
HARRIET
Not quite, these are the attic rooms above. And what is that... foul excrescence?
CHARLOTTE
I don't...
HARRIET
It emanates from... Pull down that attic ladder.
(FX: TRAP DOOR OPENING)
HARRIET
What can you see?
CHARLES
Oh! Perhaps a rat in the walls? There is indeed something rancid.
CHARLOTTE
We should not trespass up there.
HARRIET
Oh let me see.
(F/X HARRIET CLAMBERS UP THE LADDER)
HARRIET
Perhaps it... Nothing. Hold up your candle. What is that travel chest against the wall?
CHARLOTTE
This is all too perfectly ghastly. I'll just wait down....
CHARLES
Harriet! You.... You want me to open one?
HARRIET
Would you rather it were I?
CHARLES
No... No... Safe in my arms and all that. It is so cramped in here
(FX: STRAPS UNFASTENED AND A CHEST BEING OPENED)
CHARLES
So. This one... is a man. Semi-desiccated in this arid air but I wager some degree of decomposition set in before...
HARRIET
Stop prattling! Search for clues to his identity. Oh, let me... Here, a note in his jacket pocket. A letter! To Captain Wilfred Holmes! Charlotte! Charlotte?
(F/X HARRIET SCRABBLES TO THE ATTIC TRAP DOOR)
CHARLES
Do you fear she'd trap us?
HARRIET
She has fled.
CHARLES
Or they are spectres all!
HARRIET
Charles! Unhand me! We must cling to reason rather than each other. One last check of Lady Mildred's room then we must presume she is lost. Whichever twin still besets us, we will be the only ones left.
Fade out
SCENE 8 – THE MUMMY
Fade in
HARRIET
Quiet. Charlotte may await us.
CHARLES
Must we? Oh, Charlotte is not the only mad woman!
(F/X MILDRED'S DOOR OPENS ONCE MORE
HARRIET
Look, through the shutters?
CHARLES
Light! Another visitation?
HARRIET
The wind has died. I do believe it is dawn. Cast them open. Let us see.
(F/X CHARLES FLINGS THE SHUTTERS OPEN)
CHARLES
No sign. Let us flee.
HARRIET
Wait. Something is wrong.
CHARLES
Indeed it is Harriet, now -
HARRIET
No. Wrong. Wrong with the room.
CHARLES
It has all an old lady might require. A bed, a fire, a chair to sit and a table.
HARRIET
But clothes? Where is her clothing?
CHARLES
Perhaps a lady of her standing has a dressing room. Really, this is no time for a feminine obsession with the paucity of her wardrobe!
HARRIET
But there is no dressing room. No chest of drawers.
CHARLES
There are... Some trifles of attire. Seemingly hastily discarded.
HARRIET
My word. I think you are right!
CHARLES
I am? I mean to say, of course I am... What about?
HARRIET
A house like this. A lady of her standing. Of course there was a dressing room. It would be about....
(FX: SHE TAPS ON THE WALLS. THEY ARE SOLID AND THEN SHE STRIKES A HOLLOW NOTE)
HARRIET
Here! Somewhat crudely papered over, but invisible by candlelight or with these shutters closed.
CHARLES
I have my cigar trimmer.
HARRIET
At last a worthwhile use for that beastly device.
(FX: CHARLES RIPS AT THE PAPER.)
HARRIET
The door! Prise it open!
(F/X THE DOOR IS PULLED OPEN)
HARRIET
Lady Mildred I presume.
CHARLES
Still in her chair.
(FX: RUSTLE OF FABRIC MOVING)
HARRIET
Quite mummified in this sterile ante-chamber.
CHARLES
But we saw her. We conversed!
HARRIET
Did we? We talked to someone. Leave her be. We can do nothing for her now.
(FX: DOOR CLOSING)
CHARLES
Nothing but ghosts since the echoes of midnight.
HARRIET
I do not care for ghosts, at least no more than they would care for me.
Fade out
SCENE 9 – ECHOES?
Fade in
(FX: CLOCK TICKING)
CHARLES
Here. Let us steal out through the library.
HARRIET
The library! We must check on poor Earl.
CHARLES
Is this wise, dear?
HARRIET
Wise? Of course not, but still I must know who lies here. Perhaps there is a chance he is held hostage somewhere.
CHARLES
We should hurry to the magistrate.
HARRIET
Murder upon murder before we arrived. Where was your precious magistrate then? We must solve this mystery or risk becoming a part of it. Undo these screws with me.
(FX: SOUND OF THE COFFIN LID BEING PRISED OPEN)
HARRIET
Ah. I'd hoped for a moment he might still be alive. His face is quite…
CHARLES
The papers hinted at.... Well....
HARRIET
So he didn't shoot himself through the face.
CHARLES
Quite.
HARRIET
Yet another murder on her hands.
(FX: THEY CLOSE THE LID)
CHARLES
Where has she gone? Fled do you think? Or are her sights still upon us?
HARRIET
Perhaps we should wait. Let her come to us.
CHARLES
You would have us as bait?
HARRIET
Of a kind.
(FX: A PIANO IS PLAYED QUIETLY)
HARRIET
The music room. Come listen at the keyhole!
(FX: A PIANO IS PLAYING SLIGHTLY LOUDER, THEN SUDDENLY STOPPING)
LADY MILDRED
Keep playing Charlotte, it helps calm my nerves.
CHARLOTTE
Yes Great Aunt.
LADY MILDRED
You girls were always so gifted. Malcolm and I always enjoyed your recitals and all your little dress up plays. Do you still know Chopin, Rebecca?
REBECCA
I am in want of practice these days. However, if you wish...
LADY MILDRED
Thank you, most kind.
(FX: A FRESH SELECTION BEGINS)
LADY MILDRED
Where are we in our arrangements?
REBECCA
Everything is as it should be, however we will not gain rights to Earl's estate until the reading of the will.
LADY MILDRED
I assume Harriet lives until she validates the will.
REBECCA
Yes great Aunt.
LADY MILDRED
And of tonight?
REBECCA
No-one would be believe her ramblings, she'll not believe them herself. Dreams, a series of unfortunate accidents.
LADY MILDRED
And then?
REBECCA
Perhaps a train derailment. She'd not stand out in wider tragedy. And all of it, all of it shall be ours.
Fade out
SCENE 10 – CHRISTMAS DAY
Fade in
(FX: DOOR BURSTING OPEN AND THE PIANO SUDDENLY STOPS)
LADY MILDRED
So kind of you to join us my dears!
HARRIET
Rebecca. You are quite... Quite insane.
CHARLES
Where are the others?
HARRIET
There are no others.
REBECCA
You interrupt us. How... tiresome.
(FX: THE MUSIC STOPS PLAYING)
CHARLES
She has a gun.
HARRIET
Is that Earl’s? The one he... The one you...
REBECCA
Yes, why yes it is. He bade me never touch it, yet experience shows he quite overestimated the complexity of its operation.
CHARLES
Try not to annoy her.
REBECCA
Perhaps you should listen just once in your days.
HARRIET
You did alone. Or did Sir Malcolm...?
REBECCA
He noticed when I was little we saw the world in the same way. And yet, the cuckoo in the nest and all that. There can be but one final inheritor.
HARRIET
Inherit what? A pile of brick and rot sodden in the blood of your loved ones.
REBECCA
Loved ones? I never loved them. And they never loved me. Except Earl, maybe.
CHARLOTTE
No… he was mine!
HARRIET
You monster.
REBECCA
Monster? Come now. There are no monsters. Every cheque in England is written in someone else's blood. Slaves whipped on the plantations of the Indies. Children losing their fingers in the mills. At least I looked them in the eye. And so much more satisfying than the slaughter of strangers.
HARRIET
You killed Wilfred. You killed all of them. You killed your own twin. Up on the moors, that was you.
REBECCA
Charlotte? How could she do that to me? Cast me aside? Choose Earl over me? She followed. We quarrelled. She... fell. I was... cold, I took her clothes but.... She was always a part of me. She still is, inside of me.
CHARLES
Feign madness if you wish. It will not save you from the courts.
REBECCA
Brave words for a man without a pistol.
HARRIET
And Lady Mildred?
REBECCA
You'd best ask Sir Malcolm about that. A pillow... to still her nagging. I knew so... He did as he was told.
HARRIET
But drew the line at our murder tonight? And so you killed him instead?
REBECCA
It is late in the season. My mushrooms were not quite as potent as I'd hoped.
CHARLES
But still we suffered hallucinations… What a foolish man am I, you fed us chicken and mushroom soup.
REBECCA
(Proudly) Deadly Panther Cap…
CHARLES
Whish is often mistaken for the Blusher mushroom.
REBECCA (In Lady's Mildred's voice)
Quite right. Clever boy. I told you I liked him.
HARRIET
You are quite mad.
CHARLES
Are you going to kill us?
REBECCA
One of us will, (giggles) but I don't know which one.
HARRIET
Charlotte. You say Charlotte's inside you? A part of you now? I don't believe you.
REBECCA (cautiously)
She is. She is here.
HARRIET
Worse than a murderer, you're a liar too.
CHARLOTTE
No, Harriet. It is true. I am here. Within her.
HARRIET
Charlotte. If that is truly you – You must be an end to this. Wilfred. Earl. You should have stopped her.
CHARLOTTE
No. I... I tried… I tried so hard but she was too strong for me… (Tears) I couldn't stop her.
HARRIET
You can end this now.
CHARLES
Harriet, she raises the pistol!
HARRIET
Charlotte, Charlotte, you couldn't save them but you can save us.
(F/X: A GUNSHOT. SILENCE)
CHARLES
It seems your aim was amiss.
REBECCA
How bothersome… I did so want you to die.
CHARLOTTE
You shall not kill anyone else.
REBECCA
When I set my mind to something, you cannot stop me.
CHARLOTTE
I do not need too, for I have already condemned you to an asylum or worse.
REBECCA
What?
CHARLOTTE
I hate you… I hate what you have made me do… It ends today.
REBECCA
Foolish girl what have you done?
CHARLOTTE
I was always the better cook so you allowed me to prepare the soup you have just consumed.
REBECCA
What of it?
CHARLOTTE
You have a liking for the Panther Cap mushroom do you not? I should have given you enough to kill you but I thought that was too easy. In your greed… (she laughs) I have given you enough to drive what is left of your mind completely mad. Isn’t that so Great Aunt Mildred?
LADY MILDRED
Indeed… you’ll never have peace again. (Cackles in laughter)
CHARLOTTE AND LADY MILDRED
(Demented laughing)
(FX: REBECCA SCREAMS, A GUN FALLS TO THE FLOOR AND REBECCA RUNS OUT OF THE ROOM)
CHARLES
Shall I run after her?
HARRIET
Why… there is nowhere for her to go for she cannot run from herself… It is over.
CHARLES
How did you know she would....
HARRIET
I didn't. But - I knew Charlotte. Maybe she absorbed too much of her sister. Or perhaps Rebecca... Perhaps you forget you're acting if you're acting all the time.
CHARLES
Then this was her finest performance.
HARRIET
No. No. That was Charlotte.
CHARLES
What a dark night.
HARRIET
The light shines in the darkness...
CHARLES
...and darkness overcame it not.
(FX: THE PEAL OF CHURCH BELLS IN THE DISTANCE)
CHARLES
The bells. Happy Christmas.
HARRIET
Happy Christmas my love.
Fade out
THE END
