Mrs Brown Page #5

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BROWN has time to survey the room. Dominating everything

are the same black-wreathed busts and portraits of Prince

Albert glimpsed in the corridor.

Finally, VICTORIA nods and LADY ELY beckons BROWN forward.

He steps up in front of the desk and waits. VICTORIA looks

up and BROWN bows deeply.

Silence.

She stares at him for a long moment without apparently

registering who he is. He towers over her, in bright

tartan, while she sits hunched in her seat, all in black

and knotted with tension.

Finally, she finds her voice. She sounds nervous and edgy.

VICTORIA:

Mr Brown.

BROWN:

Ma'am.

VICTORIA:

You are here safely.

BROWN:

Aye, ma'am.

VICTORIA:

You are well?

BROWN:

I am.

VICTORIA:

And the pony?

BROWN:

She's well, too.

VICTORIA blinks at the sight of him. His presence is

bringing him back. A beat.

VICTORIA:

Your family sent cards. It was much

appreciated.

BROWN:

I'm glad of it.

In an effort to control her emotions, VICTORIA now sounds

the same severe note as at lunch. But BROWN, unlike

others, seems unaffected.

VICTORIA:

My husband was always very

complimentary in speaking of you. He

would have approved, I am sure, of my

calling on you in this way.

(beat)

I trust it does not inconvenience you

too much.

BROWN:

I've no family, ma'am, apart from my

brothers and sisters.

VICTORIA:

Yes.

(beat)

You have a brother in service here, do

you not?

(furrowing her brow)

I forget his name.

BROWN:

Archie.

VICTORIA:

Yes.

(beat)

That will be company for you.

BROWN:

Yes, ma'am.

Silence. VICTORIA starts to tire. She takes a sip of

water and spills a little on herself. Flustered, she

searches for a hanky but cannot find one. LADY ELY hurries

up with one of her own and the Queen dabs it off. BROWN

watches all of this with genuine concern. When VICTORIA

finally looks up, he stares at her in deep sympathy.

BROWN (CONT'D)

Honest to God, I never thought to see

you in such a state. You must miss

him dreadfully.

VICTORIA stares back in stunned silence. PONSONBY coughs

involuntarily. LADY ELY freezes. A beat.

VICTORIA:

You do not - he ... get him out.

(beat)

Get him out. Get him out!

Suddenly, BROWN finds himself tugged backwards out of the

room. LADY ELY rushes up to assist as VICTORIA shouts

herself into a fit of uncontrolled sobbing.

INT. OSBORNE HOUSE, BROWN'S QUARTERS - DAY

Some minutes later, BROWN is angrily unpacking a trunk.

His humiliation expresses itself in the extraordinary

ferocity with which he slams down every object.

His younger brother, ARCHIE, sits on the bed. He's in his

early thirties, bright, sharp and dressed in the same

distinctive kilt and tweed.

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