Feature Length The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Ned!

Have another, dearie.

Won't do you no harm.

Smoke another pipe.

Never make out a word them saying.

Foreigners...

English...

Makes no odds.

HE MUTTERS NONSENSICALLY

Nonsense.

It's just nonsense.

We all talk nonsense, dearie, when the dream's upon us.

When the wicked man turneth away

from his wickedness that he hath committed...

..and doeth that which is lawful and right...

..he shall save his soul alive.

I acknowledge my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

# Oh, come, let us sing unto the Lord

# Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation... #

Something to keep an eye on.

-Mr Crisparkle!

-Thank you, Reverend.

-Thank you for your forbearance.

-Not ill, Mr Jasper?

Only that sleep is hard to find.

My mother will be thrilled

to offer you her famous medicine chest once again.

Previously she only had me to experiment on.

The lady's very kind. But I expect my nephew today.

Ah, I'm very glad to hear it!

Edwin will do you more good than a dozen medicine chests.

If he does not come soon, I will die of longing!

Rosa has no idea how lucky she is.

Oh, for heaven's sake, you know nothing about it.

There he is! Oh, look at his lovely hair!

Will you please be quiet?!

It's so romantic I could faint.

Mr Edwin Drood to see Miss Rosa Bud.

THEY GIGGLE

It is just so absurd.

What is so absurd, Rosie?

The whole thing. Girls and servants scuttling about giggling,

when it's only you come to call.

That's a nice way to welcome your fiance!

Rosie...

I can't kiss you, Eddy, because I've got a pear drop in my mouth.

Miss Twinkleton.

How do you do, Mr Drood?

Very glad indeed to have the pleasure once more.

Pray excuse me.

Tweezers. Ah!

Shall I just go?

No. No, not so soon, the girls will only want to know why.

So, how are you?

I'd like to reply much the better for seeing you, Rosie.

METRONOME TICKS

Jack?

BELLS CHIME

Jack?

-Agh!

-Jack, you monster!

-Ned!

-Put me down!

-Ned! Oh, Ned, at last.

Are you wet? Cold? Hungry?

Not wet, not cold. Hungry, yes, hungry as a horse.

Don't mollycoddle me, Jack, there's a good fellow.

Let me look at you.

You're late.

I looked in on Rosa first.

Oh, that's a dreadful old picture, Jack. I've more skill now.

I'd draw you another one tomorrow,

but I can't be sure she'll ever show me that smile again.

To a young bride, nervously awaiting her nuptial day.

Nervous! Huh!

Miss Rosa is all thorns and no petals.

-Ned!

-Oh, but the girl provokes me so!

Miss Pert. Miss Scornful.

Nothing I say ever pleases her.

That young lady is too good for you, boy.

God, if only I could choose, Jack.

The loveliest girl in the world is yours,

and you should thank God as well as your father for it.

Oh, you can say so, it's all very well for you.

Your life's not mapped out for you, your work and your marriage,

all to scale and lined

and dotted out like some infernal surveyor's plan.

-You can choose for yourself.

-Ha!

Jack, you look ghastly.

What is it? You're frightening me!

Now, don't you mollycoddly me. My medicine's at my bed.

My Jack's an opium eater!

You disapprove?

No, no, no. If laudanum helps to ease the pain...

To forget. To forget the pain. To forget this place.

You can't be unhappy here, Jack.

Not when you've so exactly found your niche in life?

You're so deeply respected in this queer old place.

-And you've your heavenly music.

-I hate it, Ned.

I hate the grinding monotony of it.

What is a man's life,

where his only choice is which hymn number to select today?

See how even a poor choirmaster may suffer the itch of ambition,

but these are private thoughts and this is a confidence between us.

Of course. It shall be sacredly preserved.

Take it as a warning, then.

My dear fellow, you need never fear

that I will give in to the same despair. Look at me, I'm smiling!

For, in a few months, I shall carry Rosa away from school

as Mrs Edwin Drood, and she shall set sail with me

for our new life in the east.

And we shall be happy, because we shall have made up our minds to be.

You won't be warned, then?

Dear Jack!

Hah! Surrender, wicked mirror! Your money or your life.

While you're waiting for the poor item to decide,

I have a job for you.

That's far too many. Our poor guest will boil.

On the contrary, Sept,

our climate will be a freezing torment to a tropical soul.

-CHURCH BELLS RING Oh!

-What?

What if the bell-ringers disturb his sleep?

I'll move the cathedral, shall I?

Ah!

Come on, then.

What we got today, Mr Durdles?

Who's this "we" when he's at home?

This is Durdles' dinner entirely,

what he is sharing with a workhouse ragamuffin

-out of the goodness of his heart.

-Cheese!

-Yeah.

CHORISTERS SING

Blooming racket's enough to put an honest man off his lunch.

Ow!

Stop, stop, stop, stop!

I know there are a lot of low notes,

but when did you hear me say you're allowed to growl

like a pack of Bengal tigers?

Keep it bright, keep that smile in your mouths.

The key note is IS G, but it is an odd form of G minor,

so don't root down in mud and boots, think upwards, think of heaven.

And this time prove to me you can sing sharp as well as flat.

# According to thy word

# For mine eyes have seen

# Thy salvation

# Which thou hast prepared

# Before the face of all people... #

Ethelinda, reverential wife of Mr Thomas Sapsea.

Mayor, estate agent, auctioneer, etc, etc, etc,

of this very city, whose knowledge of the world,

though somewhat extensive, never brought him acquainted

with a spirit more capable of looking up to him.

That spirit being your late wife?

Stranger, pause, and ask thyself the question.

Canst thou do likewise?

If not, with a blush, retire.

A fine tribute.

I do not reproach myself, sir.

A little long, perhaps?

But there have been times when I have asked myself the question,

what if her husband had not been so very superior to her?

If she had not had to look up so high,

what might have been the stimulating effect upon her liver?

Durdles, what say you as to length?

Hold it up for us.

It'll fit within an eighth of an inch. Give us the key.

Um, surely this fine inscription

is not to be hidden from public view inside the crypt?

When Durdles goes back to put a touch or a finish on his work,

Durdles likes to check the whole job.

Inside and outside.

Key, Mr Mayor, if you please.

Why, Durdles, you're overloaded with ironmongery.

Weighed down by life, is Durdles.

And I'm sure the mayor's key is the heaviest of all.

Indeed, sir, it shall be.

Oh, may I?

Most impressive.

You may retain the key, Durdles, for I have another,

and how the cold is creeping into my bones.

-Good day to you both.

-Good day, Mr Sapsea.

Yours is a curious existence.

Yours is another.

In as much as we both inhabit the same old earthy,

chilly, never-changing place.

But there's more mystery and interest in your work.

Nobody knows this place like Durdles.

Every corner of it has Durdles' handiwork upon it.

Find his way round it blindfold.

-Day or night.

-You shall show me.

Durdles got better things to do.

Excuse me, boys.

Miss Landless?

Oh, welcome to Cloisterham.

I'm Reverend Septimus Crisparkle. How do you do?

How do you do, sir?

-And this must be...

-My brother, Neville.

Splendid.

My dear children, such a dreadfully long voyage, but you're home now.

100 miles south of Jaffna, I believe?

Yes, sir.

Dutch, and then French, till we British got hold of it.

The harbour, you see. Very fine.

Trincomalee! What a tongue-twister.

It means Lord of the Sacred Hill in our mother's language.

-Yes, your mother...

-Was a Christian lady.

Oh, of course.

The letter from the mission school related to us

the sad news of the death of your stepfather.

-To be orphaned twice...

-We have each other.

"Trincomalee! What a tongue-twister?"

It's like talking to a pair of brick walls.

Perhaps in the company of other young people...

Oh, round some up, Sept. Quick as you can!

Boilers again. Boilers and pyramids and canals.

How can you not take an interest in the triumphs of engineering

which will change the whole condition of an undeveloped country?

Who cares about Egypt?! Talk about something else.

-Next, you'll say you don't want to come.

-You're being ridiculous.

Mr Neville Landless, Miss Helena Landless,

may I present to you Miss Rosa Bud and Mr Edwin Drood?

How do you do?

I see I disappoint you.

An unusual name, sir, but familiar to us,

as a Mr Drood was among the kindly benefactors of our mission school.

Not I, Miss Landless, I have not yet set foot in the tropics,

nor my father either, who is dead these nine years.

I am more than sorry to hear that.

Miss Twinkleton, your new pupil.

And you, sir, to the piano if you please. And Rosa!

Yes, yes, come along, now.

Oh, some songs before tea, the rule on our alternate musical Wednesdays.

Yes, sing for our suppers, Rosie, it's the least you can do.

Miss Helena...

If you care to sit here.

# Believe me if all those endearing young charms

# Which I gaze on so fondly today

# Were to change by tomorrow

# And fleet in my arms

# Like fairy gifts fading away

# Thou wouldst still be adored

# As this moment thou art

# Let thy loveliness fade as it will

# And around the dear ruin

# Each wish of my heart

# Would entwine itself verdantly still. #

APPLAUSE Charming, my dear. Most mellifluous.

HE STARTS ANOTHER SONG

-Please, that's enough.

-Oh, Rosie, what's the fuss?

There'll be tears next, Jack, and for nothing, as usual.

If a young lady wishes to stop, what gentleman would force her on?

Oh, there are no gentlemen here, sir.

Only a fiance and a music master.

Shall she take orders from both of them?

Orders? Never. But what if I beg?

-Rosie Posie, be a dear...

-Stop it. Stop it!

Come away, come away.

There, Jack, Miss Landless agrees with me!

-You are a monster and she's afraid of you, too.

-Never.

Well, I think it's time for a drink...

My guests are very young, my dear Mr Jasper, and very tired...

I take no offence, madam, truly,

it's only one of my sudden headaches, forgive me.

I had already put this aside for you.

You are most kind.

Thank you.

-HE LAUGHS

-Do that again and I'll kill you.

You lie!

Get off me! Get off me! Get off!

I could turn you off like a tap.

I am sure Miss Bud will make you very comfortable, Miss Landless.

Good night!

This is my bed, and that shall be yours.

It's beautiful.

I hope you shall not hate sharing it with me.

Oh, the other girls are such geese!

Come, let me take down your hair.

I imagine we shan't be here together for very long.

No, indeed.

For, come the summer, I shall be married and away.

Married to a man who makes you cry in company.

Oh, that's just Eddy's way.

He doesn't mean it.

You do love him, Rosa?

ROSA LAUGHS

What a question!

I have been engaged to Eddy for ever. Of course I love him.

You are so very young.

17.

Sometimes I wonder...

..how can I be sure this is what love feels like?

I only know what I HOPE it feels like.

THEY GIGGLE

The other gentleman...

Don't speak of him.

You do know he loves you?

Oh, don't say that out loud.

Good sir! Our agreement.

Who's died?

You were to conduct me on a tour.

The mysterious world of Durdles.

Not tonight. Durdles is going home for his supper.

I have all the nourishment we need.

Watch your step, Mr Jasper.

As fine a choirmaster as you might be up there,

down here is Durdles the presiding spirit.

There's people hidden away in every corner down here, Mr Jasper.

Old 'uns that's walled up...

..and forgotten forever by everyone excepting Durdles.

You spoke of nourishment?

Not frightened of ghosts, then?

What rational man fears the dead?

That's true, the dead can't hurt ya.

Give you a fright, though.

You're not going to claim you've seen a ghost, Durdles?

You'll disappoint me if you do.

Not seen one, no.

Heard one, though.

I was enjoying my 40 winks one night,

though the nourishment was nowhere near as good as this is,

Mr Jasper, thanking you kindly. When what should wake me?

The ghost of a cry, that's what.

The ghost of one terrific shriek...

..with an echo like a long,

dismal, woeful howl, such as a dog gives when a person's dead.

You speak of long ago.

No more than a year.

It was just when we buried poor Mrs Sapsea.

Not ashamed to confess I thought it was her.

The lady mayoress, crying for release from her own fresh grave.

Not ashamed to confess I ran all the way home

and never came back to lock up until the morning.

The ghost of one terrific shriek.

He terrifies me.

When he corrects me, and strikes a note, or a chord,

his voice is in the music...whispering...

that he pursues me as a lover.

What words does he use, little one?

I could argue with words.

But he has made a slave of me with his music.

He has forced me to understand him without his saying a word

and he has forced me to keep silent without his uttering a threat.

Is that why you don't tell Edwin?

Oh, Eddy is devoted to him!

John Jasper is more than an uncle to him, he is a guardian and protector.

You must never breathe a word! Promise me, on your life.

Of course.

Good night, little one. I'm here now.

There's no need to be scared.

I'm sorry about your father.

No need to feel sorry for me, Mr Neville.

I hardly knew my father, he lived so much abroad.

-He died in action?

-No! A mining accident in Upper Egypt.

He died making money.

Don't look so puzzled. He was an officer

in the Royal Engineers, and no man got rich on army pay.

Set up a pretty little construction business,

which is left to me when I'm 21.

I congratulate you. And on your other good fortune.

-Miss Rosa?

-You ask a good too many questions already, Mr Neville,

and this matter is none of your business.

The young lady is under one roof with my sister.

-Not for long, thank God.

-Your discourtesy does not become you.

What an odd little thing you are.

Ned! Ned!

Ned, dear boy!

You are the host in this town

and must respect the sacred rules of hospitality!

Ned will be off soon, Mr Neville,

sailing away with his lady love to a life of freedom and adventures.

Look at him lounging there like a lord.

The world is all before him. Where to choose?

Isn't that right, Mr Neville? Whereas we lesser mortals...

To Ned, my dearest fellow.

HE SPLUTTERS

-Lord Jack, this is strong stuff for our new friend.

-I can take it.

And now a toast to Mr Neville, newly-arrived from far-flung...?

Ceylon. Off the south coast of India.

Mr Neville, every schoolboy knows that.

Jack, you're quite right.

I understand you're orphans?

Our mother died when we were 12 years old.

I am a damn fortunate fellow.

I'm sorry to hear that. And your father?

And Rosie's a damn lucky girl, if she did but know it.

Too damn good for the likes of you.

-Now, do speak up, sir.

-You might be worth more, Mr Drood,

if you had known hardship like other people.

I find I tire very easily of the wisdom of the East.

Hospitality, Ned...

You talk as if you were some kind of rare and precious prize,

but you're just a common boaster.

You may know a black common boaster

when you see him, but you are no judge of white men.

Mr Neville, for shame!

Ned, I beg you, I command you, back away!

Mr Neville, I will have your weapon.

Open your hand, sir!

Mr Neville!

Last night, you were not sober.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Through the mercy of God I was swift and strong with him,

or he would have cut Edwin down on my hearth, murder in his heart.

No, no, there's no need for such strong words.

You, my dear sir, have accepted a dangerous charge into your house.

You are our foremost man of culture, Mr Jasper.

There is no reason why you should have known that natives

cannot be trusted with strong drink.

It is because I fear for your safety, dear madam,

that I now raise my concerns.

I appreciate the kindness of, er, of your intention.

-Um...

-Madam.

One is forced to wonder, Mr Jasper,

why the minor canon hadn't the courage to tell his mother himself?

"Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae."

"Of all of these the bravest are the Belgians."

Not Belgians, Mr Neville. No such thing as Belgians in 55BC.

Mr Neville has begun his studies by jumping

straight into Caesar's Gallic Wars.

Means to lay waste to every tribe in Kent, does he?

Translate to the end of the chapter, please,

and we will meet again before luncheon

to continue our discussion of your apology.

-I cannot apologise to Mr Drood.

-I do not present you with a choice.

Our lives have been hard, sir. Our stepfather was a brute.

If that is the reason for the anger in your soul, Mr Neville,

it will be your duty to fight it with forgiveness.

I am secretive and vengeful.

I have the manners of a heathen and a touch of the tiger in my blood.

Your stepfather speaks through you from beyond the grave.

Those were his opinions of me, yes.

It was a good thing he died when he did, or I might have killed him.

Mr Neville! Nothing can justify such violent thoughts...

You never saw him beat your twin sister.

Not even a beloved and beautiful sister's tears.

She never cried.

My sister would have let him rip her to pieces

before she would let him believe he could make her shed a tear.

This was not idle gossip. This was the mayor of Cloisterham talking.

Don't try to make me laugh, I'm not in the mood.

The difference between us is that I believe the two men

-were equally at fault.

-And I do not.

-But why not, Ma?

-Because I don't.

Though, of course, I am open to discussion.

That's exactly what you're not.

I had planned to suggest to you that we jointly hush the whole thing up

to save the reputations of all concerned.

Now you've discussed it with the mayor,

-which is to say the entire town...

-What do you know of

Neville Landless and his sister?

They are orphans in need of an education.

Jasper, they are strangers in a strange land.

Send them away before that boy does serious damage.

We cannot permit one mistake to turn into a destiny

-which cannot be escaped.

-Such is life, surely.

Young ladies, you may set aside your sewing.

Miss Rosa, your guardian is here from London.

Come along, girls!

Ooh!

Sir.

My visits here are like those of the angels.

Not that I compare myself to an angel.

No, Mr Grewgious, sir.

I merely refer to my visits being few and far between.

The angels having, as we see, just run away upstairs.

Do take a seat, sir.

You are my guardian angel, Mr Grewgious, always.

I refer to the guiding memorandum which I prepared earlier.

So, my dear. "Well and happy."

Yes, indeed, sir, thank you.

"Pounds, shillings and pence."

A dry subject for a young lady, but...

I want for nothing.

"Marriage."

I remember how you love fresh air, Mr Grewgious.

Do I?

You like him, and he likes you.

I like him very much, sir.

-Capital.

-But what happens if we don't get married?

You haven't read your father's will?

Um...the legal language.

You will remain my ward for another four years, until you are 21,

and then come into your inheritance just the same.

You are really asking if you stand to lose your inheritance

if you go against your father's wishes.

-That sounds so dreadful.

-Rosa.

Do you suppose that if your dear father were here today

he would want you to be unhappy in any way that can be imagined?

Preposterous.

My dear, two young people can only be betrothed in marriage

of their own free will.

Lord, bless me!

You find me rather the worse for wear, I'm afraid.

Um...

May I offer you, er...

A glass of water will suffice, thank you.

Please, be...be seated. My manners are Pictish today.

This is a certified copy of Rosa's father's will.

Oh, thank you.

Keep it safe.

You are staying long in Cloisterham?

Oh, no, no. Back to London as soon as I can.

I am an awkward species of a man, with no experience of such delights,

but I figure to myself, subject to your correction, Mr Edwin,

that the true lover is ever impatient to be close to the object

of his affections, seeking her company as a bird seeks its nest.

I do write to her in between visits.

Although I'm an engineer, not a poet.

You will notice from your perusal of Rosa's father's will,

a kindly allusion to a little trust, confided to me in conversation,

to discharge at such time as I in my discretion may think best.

This ring was removed from the dead hand of Rosa's mother,

in my presence.

Your placing it on her daughter's finger...

..will be the most solemn seal upon your love.

Take it.

If anything should be even

slightly amiss between you,

if you should have even the slightest suspicion

that you are marrying for other than

the highest reasons of true love,

I charge you, Edwin Drood,

by the living and the dead,

to bring that ring back to me.

I give you my word.

What a fool you must think me, Jack.

What was it you said to me?

"The loveliest girl in the world

"is yours by will and testament, Ned."

To think I ever entertained any doubts

when it seems so real to me now.

So sacred.

I shan't wait until the summer.

I shall marry Rosa on the day that I turn 21.

Shake my hand on it.

Thank you, dearest Jack.

BIRDSONG

But if we are to stay here,

-even for a short while...

-I cannot do it.

I cannot. Now more than ever.

Can't you see?

I apologise if I intrude on a restorative walk.

This is a new pleasure for us, Mr Crisparkle.

We do not come from a walking country.

I'm glad to see you become so very English so very soon.

Miss Landless, may I come straight to the point?

You have been not 48 hours in Cloisterham

and already there is a notion abroad that Mr Neville

is a dangerously passionate fellow

of an uncontrollable and vicious temper.

-Because we are strangers?

-No.

Well, yes, possibly.

-Sir, he cannot help it.

-His background is not an excuse.

Mr Neville, you are clenching your fist and I dislike it.

I cannot help it.

He treats that beautiful creature like a doll

and I despise him for it.

-You've only met Miss Rosa once.

-I've seen enough

to know that Edwin Drood is not worthy of her.

HE SIGHS

Who knows of this unfortunate attachment?

Only we three.

Good. I shall rely on you, Miss Landless, to keep it that way.

Miss Rosa is engaged to be married.

She's not available.

While you live under my roof, Mr Neville,

you will not see her, nor contact her, nor even think about her.

I won't tell you it will be easy. I know it won't.

But, in return, I promise I will find a way

to help you bury this foolish argument with Edwin Drood

before it ruins your happiness in your new home.

For me.

Praise the Lord. Miss Landless, you help your brother towards the light.

Thank you.

Oh, er...

Tut! I'm much overpaid.

Mr Jasper!

-Down from London, Mr Grewgious? Something wrong?

-Not at all.

I thought to consult my pretty ward

about her wedding plans,

but I discover she has some little delicate feminine instinct

that all arrangements should be made

between her and Mr Edwin in private.

In other words, Jasper,

she don't want us.

You mean me.

I mean us.

I understand the happy day may come sooner than we anticipated.

Really?

You surprise me.

I found my ward rather... Well, imagine, Jasper!

The dear girl believed her marriage to Edwin

to be legally inescapable.

I was glad to reassure her.

I'll wager she hinted no desire to be free of her engagement?

In truth, there was a moment

when I almost believed that was exactly what she does want.

Well! It's for the two young people to decide.

God bless them both.

Aye, God save them both.

Rock of ages...

..cleft for me...

# Let me hi-i-ide

# Myself in the-e-e. #

-Rosa...

-Eddy, let's be brave.

And kind.

Kind to one another, for once in our lives.

Starting today,

and for ever.

Let's change to brother and sister.

-Not get married?

-No.

In spite of our fathers' wishes?

Yes.

-If after all there is another young man...

-There is not, I promise you.

-But I love you, Rosa...

-And I love you.

With all my heart, but not...

..as a wife should love a husband.

As I believe she should.

As I hope...

Oh, this is so hard!

-Don't hate me!

-No, no. You mistake me, my dear Rosa.

I mean your courage

and your clarity of thought. I am sorry, too.

Think, Eddy! How much better to be sorry now than later,

when it will be too late?

DISTANT CONVERSATION

..never be angry with one another again.

-How wonderful it will be!

-Yes, it will.

'Ere he is!

My little singin' bird!

-A choirmaster, eh?

-What are you doing here?

Not so loud, dearie,

I'm thinking more of a nice, quiet little chat

on a matter of mutual interest.

-There's a lot more I know about you!

-Leave me alone!

Oh! Watch out, you mischief-maker!

Get off me!

Look, no! No!

Has that child hurt you?

No, dearie.

Another one.

The one I had 'opes would put coals on my fires for many a day.

Ah!

Have you no home to go to?

My 'ome's in London. Oh, give us three and six!

I'll get straight back there.

Will you spend my three and six on a train ticket?

-Or on drink and opium?

-I haven't drunk in 16 year!

Thank ye and bless ye as a gentleman. What's your name, dearie?

Why, will you tell my fortune? It's Edwin.

Edwin.

Does your sweetheart call you Eddy?

I have no sweetheart.

Because your little rosebud's been picked by another.

Ned, innit?

Ooh, that's a bad name to 'ave just now, is Ned.

There's a threat to young men named Ned.

Only one man calls me Ned.

There's the man

who's picked your rosebud.

HE SOBS

GLASS SMASHES

Mr Neville?

A fine weapon.

Now I come into a walking country, I need a walking stick.

Cudgel, more like!

Oh, it's much too heavy. Is it ironwood?

Don't wave it in my direction.

If I walk all day tomorrow...

By tomorrow she'll be sweetness and light again.

By tomorrow she'll prob...

You are right, Mr Crisparkle. This foolishness has gone on long enough.

Mr Neville, please do me the honour of dining

with me and my nephew tonight,

and we shall become the friends we should have been from the beginning.

There, Mr Neville! What do you think of that?

Thank you, sir.

CLOCK CHIMES, TICKING

This was to be part of my trousseau.

But now it's for you.

A gift from a heart which is free at last.

THUNDER RUMBLES

What is it, dear?

Oh, I am sorry, I'm just so anxious about my brother.

This supper tonight with Edwin and Mr Jasper...

Edwin said nothing to me about it.

You gave him too much else to think about!

THUNDER RUMBLES

What's this?

Ned, we are putting the past behind us and the present to rights.

And the future?

The future shall be as we make it.

-What else are you not telling me, Jack?

-Come, my bright boy,

shake Mr Neville's hand and let us be friends.

# Yet all the lads, they smile on me When comin' through the rye. #

That was a good deal more fun than our alternate musical Wednesday.

Oh, whisper it! But listen to that wind.

It's a bad night to be out.

Dear heavens, I'm all done in. Kiss me, dear.

Good night, Ma. Sleep well.

In my country, when the monsoon comes,

the rain is like a river falling from the sky.

It brings the snakes crawling out from the jungle.

Our old people believe them to be the avatars of the dead.

Superstitious nonsense.

Don't the English love a ghost story, too?

Mr Jasper, thank you, but it's getting late.

I'll come with you.

Grab a breath of fresh air, chase a few ghosts.

I'll take you to the most haunted place in Cloisterham.

1,200 years old?

Time enough to accumulate an army of ghosts.

A pretty poor show if not!

How wonderful! Such majesty.

Such beauty frozen into stone.

See how it rises, so far above our heads, all the way to heaven.

Mr Edwin?

Mr Edwin?

Do you mean to jump out and frighten me?

I shall resist!

Edwin?

To be betrayed by someone you love is a bitter thing.

All my life, I've known I would one day stand before this altar

and marry Rosa.

You are more than fortunate.

Perhaps you don't know what it's like to suffer the failure

of every dream and every expectation.

I am an orphan born out of wedlock.

Then at least you're used to disappointment.

It is my constant companion.

Jack!

Ned!

Lost some lead off the roof too, sir.

And the hands in the clock's all bent and twisted.

Dear me, what a night.

We must pray no lives were lost.

Jasper?

My bright boy is gone.

HE KNOCKS ON DOOR

Rosa, to your room this minute.

-What is it?

-When did you last see Edwin?

-Yesterday afternoon. Why?

You saw or heard nothing of him last night?

What has happened to Eddy?

He departed my house last night with Neville Landless

and he never came home.

Neville left at first light to walk by the coast.

Thank you, Miss Twinkleton.

They will blame my brother.

They will punish my brother.

This is my fault.

Mine.

What are you, huh?

A pack of thieves?

-What have you done with my nephew?

-I don't understand.

-Gently, Jasper.

-What have you done with him?

-How should I know?

His bed was not slept in last night. He never came home.

We said our good nights in the cathedral and I went home.

So, you left him there alone?

There was no danger in it. He was restless.

He said he wanted fresh air and the smell of open water.

So, he came down to the estuary?

Jasper, the storm.

Come along.

A most agonising summons!

The messenger brought a note

which was addressed very personally to me, I see, Mr Hiram Grewgious.

Being, as I am, your assistant, I must be privy to all events,

of which you will agree, there are precious few hereabouts.

And being, as I am, your assistant,

I dare predict there'll be a great deal for you to do today, sir,

in the investigating and comforting line, and you will be requiring me

to be of service in the organising and, and, and catering line.

I am not so awkward that I cannot find my own sandwiches, thank you.

I follow you, sir.

Oh, but, oh, sir, how I do hate the indoors. Oh, the hellish indoors!

They also serve, Bazzard, who only hold the fort.

Take a trip to Doctors Commons, if it please you.

And take sight there of Edwin Drood's last will and testament.

You don't know he's dead yet.

Edwin Drood Senior.

Ned!

Mr Drood?

Ned!

Mr Drood?

I was so sure we'd find him.

Have courage.

-He may have simply left, gone back to London.

-Without telling me?

-He'd never be so cruel.

-Do not give in to despair, my friend.

My bright boy...is dead.

He seemed in agreement with me.

He seemed relieved.

As I was.

But...

Rosa fears she made him unhappier than he admitted.

That he has brought himself to harm because of her.

You made no mention of a ring.

-Deputy, what you got there?

-Nothing.

Eh?

There'll be some young lady

somewhere crying her heart out over that.

It's mine.

Durdles don't entirely think so.

Have mercy upon me, oh, God,

according to thy loving kindness.

Blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin.

NED!

Ned?

I can't even sing for him.

Then pray with me.

Our Father who art in heaven...

..hallowed be thy name.

-Thy kingdom come, thy will be done...

-I cannot...

forgive those that trespass against me...

-In time...

-..any more than I could forgive myself.

Do not reproach yourself. You have nothing to forgive.

-Anyone could see how you loved that boy.

-I did.

I did love him. Of course.

All these years I cared for him and now some...

..some stranger... has taken him from me.

Let the monster that killed him hear my vow.

I devote myself to his destruction.

Mr Jasper asserts a history

of violent words and even fisticuffs between you!

There was nothing ill-tempered in our meeting last night.

Nevertheless, while investigations continue, I have no option

but to issue a warrant and commit you forthwith to jail.

-On what grounds?

-Circumstances of grave suspicion.

-And the case has a generally dark look to me.

-No! No, that's absurd!

I mean, sorry, your worship. I mean no disrespect,

but no man can be accused of murder in the absence of the body.

Will you not be satisfied

until they find my nephew's poor, dead body?

-You twist my meaning.

-Sirs!

Please do not sacrifice your friendship on my account.

I can end this argument now, as I could've done earlier,

had I told you the truth.

I did not kill Edwin Drood.

I could never have killed Edwin Drood.

He is my brother.

My sister and I came here as orphans

to seek our father,

Captain Edwin Drood.

Mr Jasper...

..we are kinsmen.

That...

vile and groundless allegation would mean that Captain Drood,

the best of husbands, betrayed his marriage vows to my sister...

..with a native concubine.

My mother was a Christian lady!

Neville, for shame!

Whether Mr Landless is right or wrong is immaterial, surely?

If he believes Edwin to be his brother,

then why would want to harm him?

Angry, resentful, excluded, unloved and poor!

Everything Edwin had, he wanted,

and stopped at nothing, not even murder, to get it.

Mr Sapsea may feel a duty to public safety...

-Indeed! Indeed I do.

-BANGS GAVEL

Remanded in custody.

I give my solemn guarantee, as a man of the law,

that the young man will be confined to my house,

under my responsibility, and I shall produce him whenever demanded.

You cannot send my brother away.

-When did you plan to tell me?

-Please, let us explain.

-This year?

Next year, some time, or never?

We only sought to find the father

that abandoned us and throw ourselves upon his love.

-Upon his pocketbook, more like.

-Ma! Not helpful.

-Fortune hunters.

Your mother was never Mrs Drood.

No, sir.

So you have no document to prove the connection you claim?

-Our mother was a Christian woman...

-Yes, so you said.

-..who never told a falsehood in her life.

-A commendable trait -

one she failed to pass on to her offspring.

Do not clench your fist at me!

Neville, go and get your coat.

Mr Jasper may accuse my brother for his own reasons.

The poor man's beside himself with grief and fear.

No, sir, Mr Jasper is in love with Rosa.

If you can call it love, that raging, angry thing.

-Nonsense!

-Dear God!

Mr Crisparkle, you have seen him with your own eyes,

sitting at your own piano, in your own house,

devouring her with his looks.

Have you absolutely no shame?

Ah, Mr Neville.

He suffers and I do my best to help him

and you ask me to apologise for it.

And the poor boy hasn't even a mother of his own, of course.

I have one on long-term loan to him, it seems.

A very fine medicine chest among her attractions.

Ma, dear, it might be the action of a friend,

especially a kindly maternal friend, to persuade him to depend on

fresh air and exercise in his grief, rather than on laudanum.

Perhaps you don't remember. You were so young, but I do.

I remember when he came here to the choir school,

that poor little boy, seven years old, and all alone in the world.

He's not seven years old any more.

Sept, dear Sept, can't you see how lonely he is?

Feel as sorry for John Jasper as you like, Ma,

but I forbid you to give him laudanum again.

You forbid me?!

What century do you believe this to be?

No matter how many hours you spend studying that document...

I know my father's will off by heart, sir,

and I know it will never change.

"I leave my entire estate to my beloved and only son, Edwin."

The uniform penny post is arrived.

Oh, the excitement.

Captain Drood would, alas,

not be the first Englishman to father children

in foreign climes and then abandon them.

He was the first Englishman to do it to me.

-Ahem.

-Yes, Bazzard?

Being, as I am, only your assistant

and not permitted to leave this hellish office,

I have been forced to apply to the trustees using the penny post.

-Trustees?

-Of the Mission School in Trincomalee.

Which, august gentlemen,

confirm that a certain Captain Edwin Arthur Drood

began regular payments to the school in the autumn of 1834.

When my sister and I were six years old.

Oh, Mr Grewgious! I know it's not proof, but this could...

But it is evidence, Neville.

Very suggestive evidence.

And ended in the summer of 1836.

He lost interest in us after only two years?

Perhaps it is simply that the regiment moved back to Egypt.

I need to know. Mr Grewgious,

the regimental archives are in Cloisterham.

Neville, you know very well that you cannot go back to Cloisterham.

Bazzard! Get your coat.

Speak to no-one. In particular, keep your distance from Mr Jasper.

I could use a "suedeonym" to avoid discovery.

You shall do no such thing. And the word is "pseudonym."

Or, or, or, employ the Scottish accent I used as a schoolboy

in my very well-received Macbeth.

Bazzard, go to the archives. Track Captain Drood's movements.

Speak to no-one!

I follow you, sir.

-SCOTTISH ACCENT:

-Och, aye, the noo!

I do understand how cravings can be very strong in such cases but...

You suspect an element of pleasurable excitement in it.

-Why else begin it?

-Mmm.

To banish grief beyond endurance.

To reach total eclipse without all hope of day.

When you came to me last year about your pain...

Oh, no man flies back to opium from physical pain.

From what, then?

Blank and hopeless desolation.

And then for a while it brings dreams of paradise and unimaginable pleasure.

I have stood looking down into an abyss of divine enjoyment,

until a desolation more blank and hopeless than before returns.

We must seek a way to break this slavery, through prayer.

Oh, there is no need, dear lady.

For my slavery is already at an end since my poor Ned...

WHISPERS: I cannot speak of it.

Oh, never have my prayers been answered more quickly.

Regimental Muster Rolls.

Most efficient. Thank you.

ALL CHATTER

-I shall miss you.

-Your first duty is to your brother.

-It was supposed to be you leaving me behind.

-And in my wedding dress.

How long ago that seems.

Miss Landless, please, let me.

I can carry my own bag, sir.

But why should you when a friend presents himself as beast of burden?

A friend?

I wish we'd not quarrelled.

Cloisterham will seem very quiet without both Landlesses.

It will do as well without us now as if we had never come here.

But, Helena, then I would never have known you.

Either of you, I mean, of course. You and your brother, both of you.

Excellent pupils.

Um...

You will send him my best regards?

All aboard now! Miss Landless.

Oh! Run!

Thank you.

Oh, this is all happening too quickly. Reverend Crisparkle,

kindest of men, so much kinder than we deserved.

COACHMAN: Walk on.

Thank you.

Weeks without even a glimpse of your face

while I waited patiently for your summons.

Why should I summon you?

Back to my duties as your faithful music master.

I shall never play the piano again.

Never let those lovely fingers make sweet melody?

Nobody can see us.

Everyone's gone home for the summer.

Except little orphan Rosa.

But I will not touch you again.

I'll come no nearer to you than this.

Sit, my love.

You wear his ring.

My mother's ring, in his memory.

-Dear God, I tried so hard not to love you.

-I won't hear you.

If you knew what visions tormented me.

I have wandered through paradise and through hell, every night,

carrying you in my arms.

But as long as you were his, I stayed loyal to him.

Every day that you pursued me, every day you made my life hell,

you betrayed him.

But he's dead.

He never knew, that trusting soul, who loved you, like a brother.

He's dead, and you are free.

My poor Edwin never knew that his Jack's heart is black as coal.

-You will love me, Rosa.

-I'd rather die too.

Oh, sweet witch, then keep your love.

I'll gladly take this pretty rage instead.

If you could see yourself, Rosa, in your panting hatred,

you're more desirable than ever.

You would take by force what will never be yours by consent?

But you will consent.

In the end, you will love me, Rosa.

How could I ever love a man whose spirit is so mean,

whose heart is so bitter?

You drove my friends away with false accusations.

You still defend Neville Landless?

Your pursuit of him is like your pursuit of me -

unfair and ugly and cruel.

Ugly and cruel? Ugly and cruel? Am I that man?

Pretty little Neville Landless

is entirely guilty of dreaming he can have you.

As to his guilt in the death of my boy,

I have wound the coil of suspicion so tightly around him,

it hardly matters if it be true or not.

Nor does it matter if you love me, Rosa, or hate me. I no longer care.

Ugly and cruel, yes, you have made me so and you will still come to me.

I will not.

You refuse to save him? Well, then Neville Landless will hang.

WOODEN DOOR CREAKS

Say nothing to a living soul. Rosa, I love you more

than any man ever loved a woman and you will never be rid of me.

I will pursue you to the death.

What are you looking at? Nothing has happened here.

I say!

Excuse me.

This officer here, Captain Drood.

See, I've discovered him leaving Ceylon and going back to Egypt in 1836.

Then a year later there's a mining accident, and he is listed as missing.

But...when I try to cross-reference the accident report with the record of his death...

Well, it's not there.

Our records is never wrong.

There's got to be a death in service record if he's dead.

IF he's dead.

STONES CLATTER

SHEEP BLEATS

Hit 'im again! I made a dent in his wool!

-Let him be, you've lamed him.

-You lie! He lamed himself.

Show me where your choirmaster's house is.

I will not.

Ain't going nowhere near him, not ever again,

not after he upended me and damn near choked me.

Anyway, it's miles away.

Take me where the ruffian lives and I'll give you a penny.

No point, cos he's not in!

But give me another and I'll take you to his landlord.

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

Your worshipfulness.

What an honour it is for a humble student of funerary architecture

to come face-to-face with the fons et origo

of such a piece of perfection.

The inscription composed by my own unworthy hand, sir.

And, yet, strangers have been seen copying it down in their notebooks.

"Stranger pause."

It is the language of Shakespeare.

Thank you, sir.

Mr...?

The name's...Datchery.

Dick Datchery, at your most humble service.

I have the honour, sir, to welcome you to an ancient city,

a proud city, an ecclesiastical city.

Your worshipfulness inspires me with a desire to know more,

and confirms me in my inclination to spend some time under his beneficent sway.

SAPSEA CHUCKLES

In which context, and after a woeful night at the Dog and Gun,

I wonder if you might suggest somewhere I might stay.

Somewhere architectural and inconvenient. Somewhere...

cathedral-y?

KNOCKING AT DOOR

KNOCKING CONTINUES

Rosa?

Don't let him catch me.

I never knew I was such a coward.

-You are nothing of the sort.

-I am.

For I think now that I was afraid to marry Edwin for fear

I would never then be free of his uncle.

Now my poor Eddy is dead and it was all for nothing,

for I will never be free again.

BELLS RING

# Ride on! Ride on in majesty!

# Thy last and fiercest strife is nigh... #

Glad to hear praise the Lord with such enthusiasm, Jasper.

I find I am much inspired, since my bright boy's demise,

by thoughts of our joy to come in heaven.

For are not we sinners always knocking on heaven's door?

So you think Mr Crisparkle, if he were here,

would release me from my promise?

I do.

Not least because in rooms this small

you can scarcely avoid bumping into Rosa several times a day.

But, Neville, she is in mourning.

In mourning for a good man.

And under attack from an evil one.

I would not dream of adding to her burdens.

Besides, she already seems more like a beloved sister to me now.

I have sent word to Miss Twinkleton that Rosa is safe with us.

And, yes, Helena, I have requested she refrain from telling Mr Jasper.

Ah, my dear!

You have slept.

And now you must eat. Come.

What did you take last?

Was it breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea or supper?

And what will you take next? Shall it be breakfast, lunch,

or a nice jumble of all meals?

Mr Grewgious, I have something to say.

The hardest thing I have ever had to say in my life.

Helena has told me of Mr Jasper's unwanted attentions.

Oh, that is nothing.

Nothing compared to the question to which those attentions give rise.

My friends, ask yourselves, please, as I have been forced to do...

..who on this earth had most to gain from the death of Edwin Drood?

Oh, Mr Jasper, thank heaven you've come!

Her bed not slept in, and this foolish maid,

taken in by a notice on the door - "do not disturb"!

Oh, Mr Jasper, can you find her?

Can you bring our little rosebud home?

It was him that upset her!

No! Don't you start your nonsense again!

HYSTERICAL SOBBING

-NEVILLE:

-She's not here!

-Liar! Rosa?

Rosa, what is this foolishness? Come home with me now.

You will come no closer.

-Who will prevent me?

-Neville, stay back!

-Rosa, come now.

-I'm not afraid of you, sir.

-No?

-You terrify me.

-I'm not afraid of you because the threats

you have made are empty. You cannot harm my brother

-because he is innocent and you know it.

-It makes no difference now.

-Come, Rosa, my love.

-She shrinks from your love!

Rosa is not afraid of me. She's afraid of what's in her own heart.

Look at her.

Look at the real Rosa, not the one of your dreams.

Tell me, what does she see?

A lover.

A monster. A killer.

Look into your own black heart, John Jasper,

and tell me she is wrong.

Dear God!

So, it was you.

FOOTSTEPS FADE AWAY

Mr Jasper?

What is this?

-You should not be here.

-You have poisoned her mind against me!

Neither her mind nor her heart

needed any help from me, I assure you. Let go of me!

Mr Jasper, you must learn to accept that when a lady says no,

-it is her free choice.

-She is meant for me!

As it was her free choice to end her engagement to Edwin.

Ah! You did not know.

This young couple, the lost youth and the lovely girl,

though so long engaged and so close to being married,

decided the very afternoon of his death

that they would be happier as brother and sister,

than as man and wife,

and, accordingly, broke off their engagement.

WHISPERS: He never told me.

He should have told me.

ROSA GIGGLES

EDWIN CHOKES

HE PANTS

NED!

Are you alone here?

Worse luck for business, I am, dearie.

Come in, where I can see you, for your voice is familiar.

Well, stranger! Huh!

And there was me thinking you'd died and gone to heaven.

Not you that died, then.

Who's that you're in mourning for?

I can't see.

I can't remember.

Then you've come to the right place,

cos that's just what Princess Puffer's here for.

LOCK RATTLES

SOBBING

Miss Twinkleton, please calm yourself.

Septimus, read this!

Ma!

A message from Mr Grewgious.

MISS TWINKLETON WAILS

DEPUTY WHISTLES

-Whoa!

-Mr Grewgious sent me!

On an errand of burglary?

Well, he did not expressly forbid it. He was most insistent

on other things. I must stay in the library, I must talk to no-one...

And did you find anything in the library, Mr...?

The name's Datcher... Bazzard.

I found the Royal Engineers pensions record for Captain Drood.

And, sir...

..he has been picking it up for the last nine years.

That's nonsense, Datcher Bazzard.

He died in a mining accident in Upper Egypt.

Well, if he did, there's no record of it.

Either someone else is taking the money...

or Captain Drood is still alive.

Oh, that's just the old man's will.

I obtained a copy weeks ago. There's nothing in it.

He's crossed out Edwin's name.

Every time it appears.

Cor! He really hated 'im!

Was it hate or envy?

And where did he hide the body?

Bet I know.

Yes, I brought Mr Jasper down here,

a couple of days before the unfortunate business with Mr Edwin.

Wooooo!

-Go on!

-DEPUTY LAUGHS

Get out of it!

I was telling him about the night I was enjoying my forty winks,

when I was woken by the ghost of one terrific shriek.

HIGH-PITCHED SCREAM

-Spooked you! Ha!

-Get out of it!

Deputy was right, Mr Crisparkle.

So many hiding places.

There is no place in this cathedral that's hidden to Durdles.

Durdles is the keeper of all the keys.

Nearly all the keys.

Durdles has had a loss perplexing him and preying on his mind, sir.

He's sorry to say that on the night he took Mr Jasper on his tour,

Durdles found himself in a state of intoxication,

which makes him now wonder if that was the night he lost hold of...

This one!

No. It was much bigger.

Oh, dear.

Need his worship's permission.

"Good morning, Mr Sapsea.

"Please may we dig up your dead wife on a foolish whim?"

BAZZARD CHUCKLES

If only I could see the end.

The end of what, dearie?

I rehearsed it hundreds, thousands of times in this room.

I saw him fall like a snowflake.

Like a breath of sweet air falling so gently.

Things never turn out like we hope, do they?

Millions, millions of times.

I never saw that before.

This stuff's not strong enough.

What next?

Show me what happened next.

Oh, what a poor, mean, miserable thing this is.

Oh, Rosa!

Oh, I thought I was dreaming.

Lord! How like your dear mother you have grown.

I've made you sad?

I'm so sorry.

I can never be sad when I think of her,

or look at you.

-Did she know your feelings?

-Oh, I hope not.

What kind of specimen am I to have hopes in that direction?

Lord, what a conversation!

Mr Grewgious, please tell me.

What is true love like?

True love...

..is always returned.

Oh, how we witter on when the dream's upon us.

Singing like a little canary bird all night long, we was.

Sing some more.

What was that?

Tell me what you did.

I'm nearly...

..nearly...

..damned.

"Oh, subtle and mighty opium

"to the guilty man for one night gives back the hopes of his youth,

"and hands washed pure from blood."

Tell me what happened to him and I will go with you.

And there is no danger of any harm befalling my inscription?