The Confessions of Frannie Langton (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Episode #1.2 - full transcript
Double murder is a hanging offence,
Miss Langton.
I don't know what happened.
You have to try to remember.
You have to think. Frannie!
FRANNIE: I loved her.'
I think everyone should be
prescribed a poem a day, don't you?
She loved me.'
PETTIGREW: You loved her?
And you hated him.'
You know, I think
we should speak frankly.
It will assist us both.
We have to fight this,
or them are gon' kill you.
Mi nuh waah to lose you.
You're always trying
to save my skin.
You're worth savin'.
I can't prove it wasn't me.
I can't.
Not even to myself.'
How can I be sure I didn't do it?
MEG: I don't care what you said,
I told you not to come.
I need to speak with you.
Stay away from me.
She hurt me, Sal,
and I was so angry.
GLASS BREAKS
Why won't you leave her alone?
Can't you see you've done nothing
but distress her
ever since you came back?
Madame.
This is death.
This is death!
The pair of you always
in some kind of argument.
Not always.'
Her Highness has asked for you
to take those up this morning.
It's typical of her.
She must always have some pet
by her side.
First the boy, Laddie,
and now you.
I saw you prowling around
up there last night.
I've been to see the master
about you.
FRANNIE CHUCKLES
Since I am still here, Mrs Linux,
I assume you didn't get your way.
FRANNIE:
'I'd had a measure of happiness,
the dancing, the feel of her.
Like a taste
I couldn't get out of my mouth.
Since then...' Come in.
...I had pictured her
a thousand times.
And then... there she was.
My thoughts made flesh.'
Mrs Linux said
you'd like topping up.
All right, then. Top me up.
I've been meaning to ask
how you're settling in.
You seem to have found your feet
well enough last night, at least.
Next time, I promise to keep them
more to myself
and less on your toes.
Are the dances so different
in Jamaica?
I never danced there.
I could tell.
Oh, please,
don't fuss about those!
They'll only slip into chaos again.
Sometimes I think
that is what tethers me here.
Not the gowns, or the jewels,
but the books.
I don't think
I could live without them.
If you must, you can tidy up
after I go downstairs.
DOOR CLOSES
Here was another beginning.
The moment I recognised
the feelings she stirred in me.
My whole world that, until then,
had held such horrors in it...
...peeled itself back
to a place that held only her.
So when Benham sent for me
later that day...'
KNOCK ON DOOR Come!
...I decided to use it
to my advantage.'
I'd like you to take a look at this.
They're getting it wrong about me.
About Paradise.
My association with Langton.
I need to set the record straight.
You are arguing that the slaves
on your estate are contented
because you allow them
a little religion,
a little education,
a little land of their own to plant?
And you want
MY testimony in support?
Yes, the testimony
of a former slave.
There is no such thing
as a happy slave.
I think we should speak frankly.
Yes.
It wouldn't hurt for those naysayers
to see me flourishing
under your roof,
in a position more in-keeping with
that education you arranged for me?
There's only one way
to get anything
from a man like George Benham.
You have to let them think
it's their idea.
He wanted to be seen
as a benevolent master.
He was setting out to prove it.
So he made me into a lady's maid.'
KNOCKS ON DOOR
'And the lady was his wife.'
Mr Benham has never recommended
anyone to me before
as a lady's maid.
Mind you, I make it a habit
to look any gift horse
that comes from my husband
right in the teeth.
Have you read this?
Rousseau's Confessions?
It's his autobiography.
The story of his own life.
I know what an autobiography is.
I am planning to write my own.
I was thinking you could help me.
Be my scribe, or...
Well, more of a secretary, really.
Mrs Linux will not be pleased.
Surely the attraction
of the whole arrangement?
I take it you are saying yes?
I am saying yes.
In France, they say
you only need a few lines
in any honest man's hand
and you can find something
to hang him with.
You must promise not to hang me.
I promise to keep you alive.
I think I remember life in Paris,
but I was very young when we left.
There were many families like ours
that came to London...
...and very soon we discovered
that you can't eat noble titles.
But Papa,
he had brought his violin...
...and for months,
he earned us a crumb each day
playing on a street corner
in Spitalfields.
When he wasn't too drunk to do so.
Hm...
I've not seen that in a long while.
The boy in the portrait?
Once upon a time,
he and I were the two
saddest creatures in this house.
It was after I lost a child.
I lost two in short order
just after we were married,
though I was barely
out of childhood myself.
The week after my loss,
I sent word to Mr Benham
who was visiting
his estate in Antigua.
Three months later...
...he came home
with a little boy in tow.
He was four.
He kept telling us
his name was Olaudah...'
Olaudah.
...but Mr Benham insisted
he be called Laddie.
An English name,
not an African one.
I tried to look after him.
To be a friend to him.'
SHE GIGGLES
They had done the same to him
as they had been done to me
at Paradise.
Except I thought I wanted it.
And I thought that
it was a stroke of luck.'
Listen to me,
make sure you mind yourself.
Ya hear me now? Mind yourself.
Not one damn ting more dangerous
than a white woman
when she get bored.
Come, pygmy. Come.
So, you are Frances?
It's the name I gave you myself.
Thank you, missus.
SHE GASPS
Oh! You are a little savage.
Am I staying here now?
Yes.
What you and I have in common
is that neither of us
had any say in the matter.
I's happy to be here, missus.
How long am I to stay?
However long it is,
it will be too long in the end.
I was taken from my mother also.
I think we should shut the door.
But you were fortunate
in other ways.
Your education.
It's more than most women ever get.
Even free women.
Nothing that happened to me
at Paradise was luck.
When it comes to charting
the course of my life,
the old coach house is the place
where the map would show
a desert full of wild beasts.
Here are lions.
Everyone thinks that bodies
are the only things that suffer.
But it wasn't only bodies
that did Langton's bidding.'
This is science, Frances.
We're doing important work in here.
It was minds, also.
"Him not just the devil,
you know."
Phibbah would say.
"You and him the same devil."
I saw things in that coach house
that I can't stop seeing now.
I see them every time
I close my eyes.
And worse, I see her.
I see Phibbah,
what happened to her.
And it always shakes me awake.'
You can't sleep either?
I can never sleep
at this limbo hour.
Neither morning nor night.
Nor one thing, nor the other.
Should I freshen up
your warming pan?
Mr Benham is fond of saying,
"A dream is a wish
the dark part of your soul makes."
But it was just a dream.
It was just a dream.
Would you like some?
No, thank you.
Why can't you sleep?
I spoke to my husband at dinner.
It seems I have misunderstood him.
I can write,
but I may never publish.
I wish I'd never married him.
La... but a lady
is not supposed to discuss
her own marriage, of course...
...only other people's.
I think I will try to sleep now.
Thank you...
Frances.
Good night.
That night had
opened something up inside me
that would not stay closed.
And yet,
she didn't say a thing about it.'
I forgot to say,
we have to pack today.
We're off to Long reach tomorrow.
As if it had not happened at all.'
What's in Long reach?
Lord Percy.
Mr Benham's brother, he's letting
him host a shooting party
to gather support for his petition.
He said you may come also.
It will be much better
to have you with me.
They always give me a maid
with cold hands there.
I forget her name.
What shall I pack?
So when he protested his innocence,
but the evidence was there
for everyone to see.
Excuse me, gentlemen,
for one moment.
Baby brother! Where the devil
have you been hiding?
Perce! Georgie!
Marguerite,
welcome back to Long reach.
Percy.
Georgie, there's some people
I'd like you to meet.
Meg!
Dearest Hep. How have you been?
I'm going to assume you're not
in the least bit interested.
It's been weeks since
you thought to ask me in person.
Isn't this that terribly soggy maid
who was cleaning your front steps
the other day?
Frances Langton.
My very competent new secretary.
Frances, may I present to you
Mr Benham's cousin,
Hephzibah Elliot. Miss Elliot.
Since when do you have a secretary?
Frances has been helping me
with my writings.
She's been frightfully clever,
actually. Fascinating.
You'll never guess who I invited.
Who? You'll see.
Cousin. George.
GEORGE: Our rooms are ready.
Are you ready for my surprise?
I'm intrigued.
I found your little Laddie.
I ran into him a few months ago
at the ice cream parlour
we used to take him to.
Remember?
He's here as my guest.
George and Percy be damned.
No sign of the poor little wretch
in your portrait, is there?
Laddie?
Madame Bebbum.
That was my pet name for her.
You look like you've seen a ghost.
Not happy to see me?
Oh, of course, or course. Yes.
Methinks you protest too much.
Look at you.
My little Laddie!
I go by Olaudah now.
Unless I'm in the ring.
You box?
Oh, can't you tell?
He does so much more than box.
He's simply the cleverest speaker.
So articulate.
Most whites will fall over
themselves being impressed
by anything that comes from
a Black man's mouth
if it's in plain English.
FRANNIE CHORTLES
And this is?
My secretary, Frances Langton.
Mr Cambridge.
Miss Langton.
Your reputation precedes you.
What do you mean by that?
Oh, Mr Benham, look who Hep found.
Wandering in the wilderness.
Laddie.
Well, fancy seeing you here.
Well, I have a craving for Champagne
and blood sport, same as you.
That's quite the...
quite the English gentleman.
Laddie is here as my guest.
Still, er... still singing
for your supper, young man?
Well, what else is
a little Black page boy good for
after he's all grown up?
Quite. Well, I'm sure
that you can understand
that no man can be expected
to employ a footman
whom his own wife
once cuddled on her lap.
TAP ON GLASS
If you'll excuse us.
PERCY: Er... if I may?
Thank you all
for coming to Long reach.
Unusually for me, I'm going
to give George the first word.
It's his party,
so I shall hand over to him
to welcome you all.
George?
Gentlemen...
...ladies.
This is no mean feat,
that we have all assembled here.
Abolitionists, planters,
parliamentarians,
but experience has told me
that any man
can put aside his differences
if the wine is good enough!
SCATTERED LAUGHTER
We must find a way to keep
putting those differences aside.
To answer this emancipation question
in a way which enables us
to repair these rifts
rather than to deepen them.
That avoids the problem
of compensation to planters,
which, as we all know,
is what is holding things up
and that is based upon a model,
my own model,
with which I've had
particular success.
I suppose that's what I am?
A model of your success.
LOW MURMURS FROM CROWD
My lords, ladies, and gentlemen,
Mr Olaudah Cambridge.
A free English and - were it
not for the interruption, Laddie, -
I would say, gentleman.
SCATTERED CHUCKLES
And I hope that you will all agree,
a wonderful model of success.
RIPPLE OF AGREEMENT FROM CROWD
Such a shock to see him again.
So unexpected.
Perhaps I should
find you some brandy?
I shouldn't.
I have to speak with him.
Can you find him
and bring him a note?
As you wish.
To think I came out here
in search of peace and quiet.
Madame Benham sent me
to give you this.
She couldn't find a footman
to do her dirty work?
You couldn't find a footman
to tend to your gun?
"Please believe, I would be
delighted to know you again."
"I believe we have much
to atone for,"
"my husband and I,
for the way you were treated."
Blah-blah-blah.
I suspect she would not be
so delighted to "know me again",
if she knew how much
I despise the pair of them.
Is that all?
Earlier...
...when you said
my reputation precedes me.
What is it you THINK you know?
I know that last year,
John Langton purchased
an albino boy from Barbados.
It's all over the gossip rags.
George Benham must be finding it
increasingly difficult
to pretend he has no idea
about the things
that have been done in his name.
He never gets his hands dirty,
he left that to other people.
Like Langton...
...and you.
I don't know
what you're taking about.
I want to know
what happened to the boy.
Whether he can still be helped.
Whether George Benham
can finally be forced
to face his own sins.
You don't have to worry
about any of that.
It's not your concern.
I suspected it would be useless,
now that you're Benham's new pet.
I'm no-one's pet.
He's parading you around
to save his reputation.
He's not parading me anywhere!
Why else would you be here?
You came here
when you were what, four, five?
You grew up
in an English drawing room
with silk cushioning your backside.
The hardest job you had
was being an ornament, a plaything.
You don't know a thing...
not a damn thing.
About any of it.
He was no different
from the rest of them.
All anyone wanted to know
was what had happened at Paradise.
I'll tell you what happened...
...I became Langton's creature.
He was doing experiments
to prove that all a man's potential
is seeded in his skull.
To prove that blacks
were the inferior race.
When he told me
I had to help him...
...I told myself I had no choice.'
Excuse me, miss,
the servant's entrance is just a...
Which room is John Langton's?
Which room?!
Top of the stairs,
first door on the left.
Why have you come here? Why?
None of your damned business.
Your business is my business.
Do you think because
Benham's wife has seen fit
to appoint you as her lapdog,
you and I
are now on equal footing?
Why would he invite you?
HE CHUCKLES
Keep your enemies close, they say.
HE GRUNTS
People are talking
about the albino boy.
It's in the papers.
My illegal purchase.
You're a monster.
I never want
to lay eyes on you again.
This is no way to treat
a dying... man.
HE GASPS
You're what?
Dying.
So they tell me.
HE CRIES OUT
I should have been
the one to kill you.
And I should have done it
LONG before now!
There you are.
I was looking for you.
May I?
You are cross with me.
Please say something.
What we did...
We haven't even spoken about it.
You will not speak about it.
It is sending me mad.
I am your mistress, Frances.
It was wrong.
What if...
What if I could say I wanted it?
What if you could say
you wanted it, too?
Some things cannot
be brought into the light.
Then let it be done in the dark.
You are a surprise.
I don't want to be a surprise.
Haven't you done it before?
With one of those quality ladies.
You are a quality lady.
WINGS FLUTTER
What was that?
Did you hear it? No.
I should get back.
I'll ask him to invite you
to dinner tonight.
Yes, but you understand, my husband
is not against manumissions,
it's just that he's more of a, er...
gradualist than an immediatist.
It's an important work,
and one which I still hope
the scientific community
will come to acknowledge.
Of course,
all this stalling in parliament
is down to commerce and convenience.
The progressives among us
would like to see swifter action
and less chat.
It's absolutely
without question inhumane.
No, no, no,
but the picture you paint,
it's so one-sided.
You seem to rely
almost completely, entirely
on testimonies ploughed out
by the abolitionists years ago.
Now I, for one,
take my responsibilities
for all the souls on my Antigua
estate very seriously indeed.
Now I wish that
you could see the place.
When I visit,
there's feasting and dancing.
It's all of us, we're together.
Though I must admit, the heat does
get rather too much after a time.
You make it sound so...
...bucolic, George.
Ah, well.
Tell us one of your stories, Laddie.
Honestly, I cry listening to him.
It's heart-breaking.
I'll tell you the story
my mother told me...
...the last night I spent with her.
I remember every minute of it.
She was feeding me hominy,
and she'd lit a candle
that she'd made herself
from beef-fat...
...so she could make
the shadows dance on the wall.
The whole cabin
smelled like barbecue.
It was an Igbo tale.
One her own mother had told her
about the Asiki.
The Asiki were human children
who were snatched by witches.
Kidnapped. Taken out of sight.
The witches spirited them away
deep into large forests
where they sliced out their tongues.
MUFFLED GASPS
Changed every hair on their heads
from wool to silk.
Changed their skin too,
from black to gold.
Put them to sleep.
The next morning,
the Asiki woke with no memory.
Their mothers and fathers...
forgotten.
Their homes... forgotten.
Full of questions
they had no way to ask.
A toast, George!
To your singing, dancing,
smiling subjects.
To all those men in Antigua
who make your own manhood possible.
LANGTON CHUCKLES
And to the women...
LANGTON CHOKES LIGHTLY
What is it the women
do for you again... George?
Is my mother still among them?
SHOCKED MURMURS
Gentlemen.
Cigars.
Speaking for myself,
I've thoroughly enjoyed this
evening's entertainment, George!
Top-notch!
Well, I think he had a point.
It was cruel that
you didn't think to warn me
that you would be bringing him.
What's cruel is that
you can never simply be happy
about my efforts to make you happy.
Is that so impossible?
Is your happiness
so entirely out of reach, Meg?
You and Frances are
certainly very quiet, my dear.
I am sure we're all simply tired.
Welcome home, Sir, Madame.
Mrs Linux.
Hep Elliot had the boy in tow
this weekend.
I shouldn't be surprised
if he tried to call on us here.
If he does,
we will not be at home.
Him also now, Sir!
Just see to it, Mrs Linux.
And as for you, Homer is missing.
Who? The cat!
I have not taken the cat, Mrs Linux.
I have no idea where he is.
I haven't eaten him,
nor do I have his bones.
I've no idea what you're capable of.
I was coming to find you.
I'll stay in the dark
if that's where you are.
I suppose I am your secret now.
What do two women do
in a room of their own?
Isn't this the question
that troubles my accusers most?
We loved each other.
But there are things
about that love...
...I can't bear to talk about.'
She hurt me, Sal...
...and I was so angry.
She wanted me to...
She wanted you to what?
Frannie, she wanted you to what?
Miss Langton.
I don't know what happened.
You have to try to remember.
You have to think. Frannie!
FRANNIE: I loved her.'
I think everyone should be
prescribed a poem a day, don't you?
She loved me.'
PETTIGREW: You loved her?
And you hated him.'
You know, I think
we should speak frankly.
It will assist us both.
We have to fight this,
or them are gon' kill you.
Mi nuh waah to lose you.
You're always trying
to save my skin.
You're worth savin'.
I can't prove it wasn't me.
I can't.
Not even to myself.'
How can I be sure I didn't do it?
MEG: I don't care what you said,
I told you not to come.
I need to speak with you.
Stay away from me.
She hurt me, Sal,
and I was so angry.
GLASS BREAKS
Why won't you leave her alone?
Can't you see you've done nothing
but distress her
ever since you came back?
Madame.
This is death.
This is death!
The pair of you always
in some kind of argument.
Not always.'
Her Highness has asked for you
to take those up this morning.
It's typical of her.
She must always have some pet
by her side.
First the boy, Laddie,
and now you.
I saw you prowling around
up there last night.
I've been to see the master
about you.
FRANNIE CHUCKLES
Since I am still here, Mrs Linux,
I assume you didn't get your way.
FRANNIE:
'I'd had a measure of happiness,
the dancing, the feel of her.
Like a taste
I couldn't get out of my mouth.
Since then...' Come in.
...I had pictured her
a thousand times.
And then... there she was.
My thoughts made flesh.'
Mrs Linux said
you'd like topping up.
All right, then. Top me up.
I've been meaning to ask
how you're settling in.
You seem to have found your feet
well enough last night, at least.
Next time, I promise to keep them
more to myself
and less on your toes.
Are the dances so different
in Jamaica?
I never danced there.
I could tell.
Oh, please,
don't fuss about those!
They'll only slip into chaos again.
Sometimes I think
that is what tethers me here.
Not the gowns, or the jewels,
but the books.
I don't think
I could live without them.
If you must, you can tidy up
after I go downstairs.
DOOR CLOSES
Here was another beginning.
The moment I recognised
the feelings she stirred in me.
My whole world that, until then,
had held such horrors in it...
...peeled itself back
to a place that held only her.
So when Benham sent for me
later that day...'
KNOCK ON DOOR Come!
...I decided to use it
to my advantage.'
I'd like you to take a look at this.
They're getting it wrong about me.
About Paradise.
My association with Langton.
I need to set the record straight.
You are arguing that the slaves
on your estate are contented
because you allow them
a little religion,
a little education,
a little land of their own to plant?
And you want
MY testimony in support?
Yes, the testimony
of a former slave.
There is no such thing
as a happy slave.
I think we should speak frankly.
Yes.
It wouldn't hurt for those naysayers
to see me flourishing
under your roof,
in a position more in-keeping with
that education you arranged for me?
There's only one way
to get anything
from a man like George Benham.
You have to let them think
it's their idea.
He wanted to be seen
as a benevolent master.
He was setting out to prove it.
So he made me into a lady's maid.'
KNOCKS ON DOOR
'And the lady was his wife.'
Mr Benham has never recommended
anyone to me before
as a lady's maid.
Mind you, I make it a habit
to look any gift horse
that comes from my husband
right in the teeth.
Have you read this?
Rousseau's Confessions?
It's his autobiography.
The story of his own life.
I know what an autobiography is.
I am planning to write my own.
I was thinking you could help me.
Be my scribe, or...
Well, more of a secretary, really.
Mrs Linux will not be pleased.
Surely the attraction
of the whole arrangement?
I take it you are saying yes?
I am saying yes.
In France, they say
you only need a few lines
in any honest man's hand
and you can find something
to hang him with.
You must promise not to hang me.
I promise to keep you alive.
I think I remember life in Paris,
but I was very young when we left.
There were many families like ours
that came to London...
...and very soon we discovered
that you can't eat noble titles.
But Papa,
he had brought his violin...
...and for months,
he earned us a crumb each day
playing on a street corner
in Spitalfields.
When he wasn't too drunk to do so.
Hm...
I've not seen that in a long while.
The boy in the portrait?
Once upon a time,
he and I were the two
saddest creatures in this house.
It was after I lost a child.
I lost two in short order
just after we were married,
though I was barely
out of childhood myself.
The week after my loss,
I sent word to Mr Benham
who was visiting
his estate in Antigua.
Three months later...
...he came home
with a little boy in tow.
He was four.
He kept telling us
his name was Olaudah...'
Olaudah.
...but Mr Benham insisted
he be called Laddie.
An English name,
not an African one.
I tried to look after him.
To be a friend to him.'
SHE GIGGLES
They had done the same to him
as they had been done to me
at Paradise.
Except I thought I wanted it.
And I thought that
it was a stroke of luck.'
Listen to me,
make sure you mind yourself.
Ya hear me now? Mind yourself.
Not one damn ting more dangerous
than a white woman
when she get bored.
Come, pygmy. Come.
So, you are Frances?
It's the name I gave you myself.
Thank you, missus.
SHE GASPS
Oh! You are a little savage.
Am I staying here now?
Yes.
What you and I have in common
is that neither of us
had any say in the matter.
I's happy to be here, missus.
How long am I to stay?
However long it is,
it will be too long in the end.
I was taken from my mother also.
I think we should shut the door.
But you were fortunate
in other ways.
Your education.
It's more than most women ever get.
Even free women.
Nothing that happened to me
at Paradise was luck.
When it comes to charting
the course of my life,
the old coach house is the place
where the map would show
a desert full of wild beasts.
Here are lions.
Everyone thinks that bodies
are the only things that suffer.
But it wasn't only bodies
that did Langton's bidding.'
This is science, Frances.
We're doing important work in here.
It was minds, also.
"Him not just the devil,
you know."
Phibbah would say.
"You and him the same devil."
I saw things in that coach house
that I can't stop seeing now.
I see them every time
I close my eyes.
And worse, I see her.
I see Phibbah,
what happened to her.
And it always shakes me awake.'
You can't sleep either?
I can never sleep
at this limbo hour.
Neither morning nor night.
Nor one thing, nor the other.
Should I freshen up
your warming pan?
Mr Benham is fond of saying,
"A dream is a wish
the dark part of your soul makes."
But it was just a dream.
It was just a dream.
Would you like some?
No, thank you.
Why can't you sleep?
I spoke to my husband at dinner.
It seems I have misunderstood him.
I can write,
but I may never publish.
I wish I'd never married him.
La... but a lady
is not supposed to discuss
her own marriage, of course...
...only other people's.
I think I will try to sleep now.
Thank you...
Frances.
Good night.
That night had
opened something up inside me
that would not stay closed.
And yet,
she didn't say a thing about it.'
I forgot to say,
we have to pack today.
We're off to Long reach tomorrow.
As if it had not happened at all.'
What's in Long reach?
Lord Percy.
Mr Benham's brother, he's letting
him host a shooting party
to gather support for his petition.
He said you may come also.
It will be much better
to have you with me.
They always give me a maid
with cold hands there.
I forget her name.
What shall I pack?
So when he protested his innocence,
but the evidence was there
for everyone to see.
Excuse me, gentlemen,
for one moment.
Baby brother! Where the devil
have you been hiding?
Perce! Georgie!
Marguerite,
welcome back to Long reach.
Percy.
Georgie, there's some people
I'd like you to meet.
Meg!
Dearest Hep. How have you been?
I'm going to assume you're not
in the least bit interested.
It's been weeks since
you thought to ask me in person.
Isn't this that terribly soggy maid
who was cleaning your front steps
the other day?
Frances Langton.
My very competent new secretary.
Frances, may I present to you
Mr Benham's cousin,
Hephzibah Elliot. Miss Elliot.
Since when do you have a secretary?
Frances has been helping me
with my writings.
She's been frightfully clever,
actually. Fascinating.
You'll never guess who I invited.
Who? You'll see.
Cousin. George.
GEORGE: Our rooms are ready.
Are you ready for my surprise?
I'm intrigued.
I found your little Laddie.
I ran into him a few months ago
at the ice cream parlour
we used to take him to.
Remember?
He's here as my guest.
George and Percy be damned.
No sign of the poor little wretch
in your portrait, is there?
Laddie?
Madame Bebbum.
That was my pet name for her.
You look like you've seen a ghost.
Not happy to see me?
Oh, of course, or course. Yes.
Methinks you protest too much.
Look at you.
My little Laddie!
I go by Olaudah now.
Unless I'm in the ring.
You box?
Oh, can't you tell?
He does so much more than box.
He's simply the cleverest speaker.
So articulate.
Most whites will fall over
themselves being impressed
by anything that comes from
a Black man's mouth
if it's in plain English.
FRANNIE CHORTLES
And this is?
My secretary, Frances Langton.
Mr Cambridge.
Miss Langton.
Your reputation precedes you.
What do you mean by that?
Oh, Mr Benham, look who Hep found.
Wandering in the wilderness.
Laddie.
Well, fancy seeing you here.
Well, I have a craving for Champagne
and blood sport, same as you.
That's quite the...
quite the English gentleman.
Laddie is here as my guest.
Still, er... still singing
for your supper, young man?
Well, what else is
a little Black page boy good for
after he's all grown up?
Quite. Well, I'm sure
that you can understand
that no man can be expected
to employ a footman
whom his own wife
once cuddled on her lap.
TAP ON GLASS
If you'll excuse us.
PERCY: Er... if I may?
Thank you all
for coming to Long reach.
Unusually for me, I'm going
to give George the first word.
It's his party,
so I shall hand over to him
to welcome you all.
George?
Gentlemen...
...ladies.
This is no mean feat,
that we have all assembled here.
Abolitionists, planters,
parliamentarians,
but experience has told me
that any man
can put aside his differences
if the wine is good enough!
SCATTERED LAUGHTER
We must find a way to keep
putting those differences aside.
To answer this emancipation question
in a way which enables us
to repair these rifts
rather than to deepen them.
That avoids the problem
of compensation to planters,
which, as we all know,
is what is holding things up
and that is based upon a model,
my own model,
with which I've had
particular success.
I suppose that's what I am?
A model of your success.
LOW MURMURS FROM CROWD
My lords, ladies, and gentlemen,
Mr Olaudah Cambridge.
A free English and - were it
not for the interruption, Laddie, -
I would say, gentleman.
SCATTERED CHUCKLES
And I hope that you will all agree,
a wonderful model of success.
RIPPLE OF AGREEMENT FROM CROWD
Such a shock to see him again.
So unexpected.
Perhaps I should
find you some brandy?
I shouldn't.
I have to speak with him.
Can you find him
and bring him a note?
As you wish.
To think I came out here
in search of peace and quiet.
Madame Benham sent me
to give you this.
She couldn't find a footman
to do her dirty work?
You couldn't find a footman
to tend to your gun?
"Please believe, I would be
delighted to know you again."
"I believe we have much
to atone for,"
"my husband and I,
for the way you were treated."
Blah-blah-blah.
I suspect she would not be
so delighted to "know me again",
if she knew how much
I despise the pair of them.
Is that all?
Earlier...
...when you said
my reputation precedes me.
What is it you THINK you know?
I know that last year,
John Langton purchased
an albino boy from Barbados.
It's all over the gossip rags.
George Benham must be finding it
increasingly difficult
to pretend he has no idea
about the things
that have been done in his name.
He never gets his hands dirty,
he left that to other people.
Like Langton...
...and you.
I don't know
what you're taking about.
I want to know
what happened to the boy.
Whether he can still be helped.
Whether George Benham
can finally be forced
to face his own sins.
You don't have to worry
about any of that.
It's not your concern.
I suspected it would be useless,
now that you're Benham's new pet.
I'm no-one's pet.
He's parading you around
to save his reputation.
He's not parading me anywhere!
Why else would you be here?
You came here
when you were what, four, five?
You grew up
in an English drawing room
with silk cushioning your backside.
The hardest job you had
was being an ornament, a plaything.
You don't know a thing...
not a damn thing.
About any of it.
He was no different
from the rest of them.
All anyone wanted to know
was what had happened at Paradise.
I'll tell you what happened...
...I became Langton's creature.
He was doing experiments
to prove that all a man's potential
is seeded in his skull.
To prove that blacks
were the inferior race.
When he told me
I had to help him...
...I told myself I had no choice.'
Excuse me, miss,
the servant's entrance is just a...
Which room is John Langton's?
Which room?!
Top of the stairs,
first door on the left.
Why have you come here? Why?
None of your damned business.
Your business is my business.
Do you think because
Benham's wife has seen fit
to appoint you as her lapdog,
you and I
are now on equal footing?
Why would he invite you?
HE CHUCKLES
Keep your enemies close, they say.
HE GRUNTS
People are talking
about the albino boy.
It's in the papers.
My illegal purchase.
You're a monster.
I never want
to lay eyes on you again.
This is no way to treat
a dying... man.
HE GASPS
You're what?
Dying.
So they tell me.
HE CRIES OUT
I should have been
the one to kill you.
And I should have done it
LONG before now!
There you are.
I was looking for you.
May I?
You are cross with me.
Please say something.
What we did...
We haven't even spoken about it.
You will not speak about it.
It is sending me mad.
I am your mistress, Frances.
It was wrong.
What if...
What if I could say I wanted it?
What if you could say
you wanted it, too?
Some things cannot
be brought into the light.
Then let it be done in the dark.
You are a surprise.
I don't want to be a surprise.
Haven't you done it before?
With one of those quality ladies.
You are a quality lady.
WINGS FLUTTER
What was that?
Did you hear it? No.
I should get back.
I'll ask him to invite you
to dinner tonight.
Yes, but you understand, my husband
is not against manumissions,
it's just that he's more of a, er...
gradualist than an immediatist.
It's an important work,
and one which I still hope
the scientific community
will come to acknowledge.
Of course,
all this stalling in parliament
is down to commerce and convenience.
The progressives among us
would like to see swifter action
and less chat.
It's absolutely
without question inhumane.
No, no, no,
but the picture you paint,
it's so one-sided.
You seem to rely
almost completely, entirely
on testimonies ploughed out
by the abolitionists years ago.
Now I, for one,
take my responsibilities
for all the souls on my Antigua
estate very seriously indeed.
Now I wish that
you could see the place.
When I visit,
there's feasting and dancing.
It's all of us, we're together.
Though I must admit, the heat does
get rather too much after a time.
You make it sound so...
...bucolic, George.
Ah, well.
Tell us one of your stories, Laddie.
Honestly, I cry listening to him.
It's heart-breaking.
I'll tell you the story
my mother told me...
...the last night I spent with her.
I remember every minute of it.
She was feeding me hominy,
and she'd lit a candle
that she'd made herself
from beef-fat...
...so she could make
the shadows dance on the wall.
The whole cabin
smelled like barbecue.
It was an Igbo tale.
One her own mother had told her
about the Asiki.
The Asiki were human children
who were snatched by witches.
Kidnapped. Taken out of sight.
The witches spirited them away
deep into large forests
where they sliced out their tongues.
MUFFLED GASPS
Changed every hair on their heads
from wool to silk.
Changed their skin too,
from black to gold.
Put them to sleep.
The next morning,
the Asiki woke with no memory.
Their mothers and fathers...
forgotten.
Their homes... forgotten.
Full of questions
they had no way to ask.
A toast, George!
To your singing, dancing,
smiling subjects.
To all those men in Antigua
who make your own manhood possible.
LANGTON CHUCKLES
And to the women...
LANGTON CHOKES LIGHTLY
What is it the women
do for you again... George?
Is my mother still among them?
SHOCKED MURMURS
Gentlemen.
Cigars.
Speaking for myself,
I've thoroughly enjoyed this
evening's entertainment, George!
Top-notch!
Well, I think he had a point.
It was cruel that
you didn't think to warn me
that you would be bringing him.
What's cruel is that
you can never simply be happy
about my efforts to make you happy.
Is that so impossible?
Is your happiness
so entirely out of reach, Meg?
You and Frances are
certainly very quiet, my dear.
I am sure we're all simply tired.
Welcome home, Sir, Madame.
Mrs Linux.
Hep Elliot had the boy in tow
this weekend.
I shouldn't be surprised
if he tried to call on us here.
If he does,
we will not be at home.
Him also now, Sir!
Just see to it, Mrs Linux.
And as for you, Homer is missing.
Who? The cat!
I have not taken the cat, Mrs Linux.
I have no idea where he is.
I haven't eaten him,
nor do I have his bones.
I've no idea what you're capable of.
I was coming to find you.
I'll stay in the dark
if that's where you are.
I suppose I am your secret now.
What do two women do
in a room of their own?
Isn't this the question
that troubles my accusers most?
We loved each other.
But there are things
about that love...
...I can't bear to talk about.'
She hurt me, Sal...
...and I was so angry.
She wanted me to...
She wanted you to what?
Frannie, she wanted you to what?