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SHARPE’S Justice
Richard Sharpe and the
Peace of the Congress of Vienna
Screenplay Written by Patrick Harbinson and Bernard Cornwell.
Novel Adapted by Paul Kaster
PART THREE
1815 NEW YEAR’S DAY.
Chapter 16
KEIGHLEY
On the street, Saunders walks past carts and others out for the morning. He is in this area deliberately to find someone. He doesn’t have to wait long.
Sally Bunting approaches down the street. She walks close to the buildings to avoid the carts, animals and others.
Also in the in that street are Sharpe and Harper. She hurries up to talk with them before they move off. Harper smiles at Sally, then turns to watch the street.
Sharpe lowers his head then talks with her.
“I want a headstone for Elsie’s grave.”
Sally looks at him and scoffs.
“It’s all right. I’ll pay for it.”
Sharpe pulls at his gloved fingers.
“I think Elsie deserves better than an old wood cross.”
Sally looks at him with angry eyes.
“an old wood cross?”
“That old wood cross was all could be ‘ad, once grave had been paid.”
Sharpe is uncomfortable about this. He looks to Harper. Harper turns to him. Sally’s loud voice is drawing attention to them. Several women and children start gathering to watch them. They look on them with angry faces.
Sharpe says to Sally, “I’m sorry…”
Sally cuts him off. “Who looked after Elsie Myers the last year’s of her life when all she would do with her money was drink it.”
Sharpe is very uncomfortable that he is here in public with Sally scolding him. He looks again to Harper to help. Pat just looks back, then returns to watching the crowd.
“And who tended her when she was poxed and dying?”
Sally pokes a finger into Sharpe’s chest. Screws up her face at him.
“And who waited twenty years for you to come back, and how I wish you ‘ad not.”
Sharpe interrupts.
“Sally. Sally. I’m a fool.”
He looks at her trying to understand how he can makes this right with her.
“I should have known that you would look after everything.”
She looks at him. She’s made the decision to share more.
“Not just me.”
She moves in close to his face and repeats emphatically.
“Not just me!”
“Matt Truman too.”
Sharpe looks at her. He doesn’t understand this.
“Matt Truman?”
Sally continues to angrily reveal the things she has kept for years.
“You weren’t the only one sweet on Elsie. Matt Truman fought you for her, but he was the one that stayed with her.”
Sharpe hears. Then with shocked voice,
“What?”
Sally barks at him. “He’s your friend, ya fool! Both of you were on the same side. Both of ya tryin’ to protect Elsie’s innocence.”
She lowers her voice, “Elsie knew that Mr. Eagleton wanted to have his way with her. He had pawed her before. She told Matthew and me long before you showed up.”
“When you arrived, worked at the inn and took an interest in her, she wanted to tell you. But you always had moon eyes for her.”
Sharpe stares at her. His mouth gapes open. “Elsie wanted me with her at the inn to protect her only?”
Sharpe turns away. He can’t believe what he is hearing.
Sally brings him back knowing he doubts her.
“It’s true. All of us were only children. Elsie was still very innocent. She dreamed that some day, she would marry and have children. But not for years.”
He turns away from her again. He holds his head while trying to understand all of this.
“But…Truman and I always fought.”
Sally reminds him.
“Aye, and Elsie or I always pulled you apart.”
Sharpe pauses to again try to grasp this.
“Does he know that neither of us had a chance with Elsie?”
Sally shakes her head.
“Of course he knows.”
With her face full of the sadness of taking care of Elsie, “He laid her in her grave, didn’t ‘e? For many years, he hoped she would agree to marry him. The day Mr. Eagleton disappeared change Elsie. Something happened that night. But she stayed away from Matthew and me. She worked at the inn, but wouldn’t go into the kitchen to stay. She would rush through. Elsie would never talk about it.”
Sharpe knew why. The kitchen was where Elsie was raped and he had killed Mr. Eagleton.
“When the owners took over, they kept her for a while, but then she started to drink. We tried to help her, but she wanted to drink instead of talk.”
“She broke Matthew’s heart as he was moon-eyed over her too, but patient. He had hoped that she could someday agree to marry him. He never had eyes for any other. “
”Matt was busy working around Yorkshire. He had the skills to work on the mill machinery. I was busy with the orphanage. Neither of us saw her for months. She lost her job. The only way she could earn money was to give herself to men at the public houses.”
“Matt found her too many times on the floor of an inn or in good weather on the grass outside. Matt would clean her up. Get her some food, and when I got a room to meself, point her to my place to sleep. We tried to get her to stop the drink. But she wouldn’t.”
Sharpe is embarrassed that he is learning this now. He saved Elsie by killing Mr. Eagleton, but it seems that Elsie was lost if he had raped or as a result of seeing him killed. Again he turns away.
Sally says, “I wanted to tell ya, but you were so set against him.”
Sharpe exhales. Holds his head. Bows away from Sally.
Much more quietly, she tells Sharpe. “One day when her health was going, she started to mumble about Mr. Eagleton. I asked her what had happened. She wasn’t very clear, but I kept pulling her with questions. She told me that Mr. Eagleton had tried to rape her. That you saved her. She would never say more than that.”
Sally bows her head too. They stand there quietly for a moment.
With much of her anger spent, Sally says with a softer voice.
“I will… I will arrange it. A headstone.”
“But, you must tell me what you want written.”
She shakes her head.
“I’m sorry Richard.”
Sharpe can’t look at her, but says.
“It’s all right.”
He pulls in several quick breaths.
“You were right to say…”
He swallows H
e looks down, then up to the sky.
At the edge of the crowd, Saunders watches. He has heard all of this. How can he use this to improve his position with Parfitt.
Sharpe quickly resolves what he must do next. He gathers Harper and heads to their inn.
As it is early morning, there are few patrons in the room. Sharpe storms through the door. He approaches Arnold, who ignores him.
Sharpe reaches for him. Grabs him by the throat to bring his face to his.
“Truman. Where is ‘e?”
Arnold is barely able to squawk out. “I don’t know.”
Sharpe pushes him into a chair.
“Mr Harper and me want our rooms back.”
Behind them Crowley enters from a side door.
“Major Sharpe, sir?”
Harper first, then Sharpe turn to the voice.
After the last meeting, they are surprised to see Nate.
With some scorn in his voice, Harper responds to him.
“What do you want, Crowley?”
Crowley removes his cap, then steps forward.
“To talk to Major Sharpe.”
Crowley looks at Sharpe who says nothing.
Sharpe turns to Harper.
Harper says, “Talk, then.”
Crowley looks at them with apologetic eyes.
“Some of us that should ‘ave known better, were a bit ‘asty, sir.”
He shifts his eyes side-to-side.
“There were more than a few lookin’ at a nasty death at the end of a yeoman sword when you and Sgt Major Harper intervened.”
Harper nods his head several times, then rolls his eyes to Sharpe to see how he is taking this.
Sharpe stares with piercing eyes at Crowley.
Neither says anything.
Crowley cocks his head and continues, “What went on, were bad.”
“But, I were wrong to think you ‘ad ought to do wi’ it.”
Sharpe softens his look then says, “Not everybody will be so easy to convince.”
He turns to Harper who lowers his eyes.
Looking back to Crowley.”But, thanks.”
Harper looks up to Crowley.
Sharpe steps towards Crowley.
“And now…
He stops in front of Nate.
“Will you do something for me?”
“Aye, sir.”
“Find Truman.”
Nate shakes his head. “Truman, I don’t know where…”
Sharpe cuts him off. “I know you do Nate.”
“I want to talk to ‘im, not arrest ‘im.”
“Tell ‘im to meet me at ‘is mother’s grave.”
Nate looks at him. “Aye, sir.”
He turns and leaves.
Sharpe and Harper watch him go.
Sharpe wonders if Truman will meet him.
PARFITT’S HOUSE
Saunders made his way from the village to Parfitt’s. He calculated that the knowledge he has can be very useful. When he arrived, he asked to see Sir Willoughby.
The butler leaves to announce him to Parfitt. After a moment, he returns from the library. He escorts him to the room.
Inside, Parfitt had been talking with Wickham. With a new day, they were planning the next steps to take to find and capture Truman and what to do with Sharpe.
Lady Anne again joins them. She has found that spending time in Parfitt’s library is quite entertaining and generates information that she may be able to use another time.
She sits on the sofa and sips her coffee. As Saunders enters, she looks up to see what he will now bring to the day.
Parfitt barks. “What is it Saunders? You say you have news to share with me?”
“Thank you for seeing me Sir Willoughby. I know you are a busy, man.”
“Get on with it!”
Saunders starts, “This morning I was in Keighley village when Miss Sally Bunting had an ‘eated discussion with Major Sharpe.”
“She was very agitated that Major Sharpe wanted to buy a stone headstone to put on a woman’s grave.”
Wickham has been stirring sugar and cream into his coffee.
“Which woman?”
“A woman that Sharpe was sweet on twenty years ago. Elsie Myers.”
Wickham recognizes the name. When he was coming of age, Elsie Myers had been a woman that some of his friends had ‘used’ for their first sex experience.
“I’ll wager it was the pox that killed ‘er.”
Saunders smirks “Say so sir, Pox and gin.”
Parfitt stops them. “Ladies present, gentleman. Ladies.
Lady Anne cocks her head at this. But, she says nothing. She continues to work on her needlepoint. She looks at Parfitt and Saunders and smiles demurely.
George moves to a chair.
When Lady Anne looks at him, she sees he is staring at her with a lecherous smile. She has so far kept George at a distance.
George knows that Anne is there as Parfitt’s guest. And, that Parfitt had one time proposed to Anne, who turned him down. He is smart to avoid offending her and succeeding with a woman that Parfitt failed to conquer. But, he has thought about what it would be like to bed Anne.
George stares at her while mildly smacking his lips as if the coffee tastes good. He is more intent on Lady Anne than the coffee.
“As you may know, Miss Bunting is the caring type. She helped Elsie Myers in ‘er final days.”
Saunders looks at Parfitt and smiles. He knows that this is the news that will get Parfitt’s attention.
“But what’s better yet, is that Major Sharpe ain’t this woman’s only knight in shining armour, sir.”
Parfitt has been growing impatient that Saunders is taking too much time, but realizes that he has now reached to point of his news.
“What? Who else?”
With a smug grin, he says emphatically, “Matthew Truman.”
Parfitt pulls a fist to his mouth and grinds on it.
Wickham turns from Anne to Saunders
“Truman?
Anne hears this and wonders what could be next. She turns he head and eyes slowly to Wickham.
“Truman? “
“Truman … is Sharpe’s friend?”
Saunders says, “Friend. Wouldn’t say so, but they are connected to the same women, Elsie Myers and Sally Bunting. They knew the two girls and each other twenty years ago when Sharpe was here for a few months.” He smiles a large grin after sharing this.
Saunders raises his head over Parfitt’s shoulder to direct his next words to Lady Anne.
“Elsie Myers was very free with her… affections.”
Lady Anne, nods, lowers her head thoughtfully, then sips her coffee.
Wickham,
“So the brave Major Sharpe is the friend of a proscribed felon?”
With a smile and a twinkle in his eyes, “Now that is ripe.”
Addressing her, “Don’t you find that ripe, Anne.”
Anne knows how to play George. With a smile and twinkling eyes of her own, she responds with “Very ripe, sir”.
Parfitt has been standing gnawing on his fist. He paces away from Saunders to Wickham.
“It’s more than ripe, GEORGE.”
“This is the reason. He let Truman get away.” He turns to Anne.
George says, “That is how it seems sir.”
Parfitt spins on George and questions, “Seems?:
“It bloody is.”
He stares back at Saunders. His face screwed up in anger.
Then he offers.
“And they’ll meet again.”
“Yes sir. Busom Friends, Friends that share a secret, etc. Sharpe left here suddenlike those years ago. Elsie wasn’t right since he left. Something terrible happened that connect the four.”
Parfitt spits out, “What happened twenty years ago means nothing today. What we have today is that they may be conspiring together. Why else would Sharpe let him go.”
George eagerly adds, “Which means he will be aiding and abetting a fugitive.”
“Which is transportation, at least.”
Parfitt turns from his pacing, “Transportation? It means crows having his eyeballs.for breakfast.”
“The question is, where will they meet?”
Parfitt looks to Saunders.
Saunders understands that his work is not finished.
Lady Anne has been sitting and listening to all of this. While she is still annoyed that Sharpe has again chosen another woman over her, she still finds Sharpe attractive. And, the life she leads now is a result of his honourable actions for his soldiers and also her. Parfitt and Wickham are determined to capture Sharpe with Truman so destroy him. It is time she warns Sharpe, not merely suggest things to him.
KEIGHLEY
That evening, Sharpe and Harper returned to the inn. Sharpe is washing his face in the basin. He has removed his uniform jacket and weapons.
He requested the keeper to bring more hot water and towels.
He hears a knock on the door.
“Bring it in.”
The door opens. The noise from the main room enters with the person who has knocked. But when that person speaks, he hears a woman’s voice.
“Where do you want it, sir?”
With his head in the basin, he is unable to tell who is there. He stands and turns to the door. Water drips from his face and hands.
“Damn this.”
Lady Anne stands in the doorway. She continues to hold the pitcher of water and towels.
“Why are you’re here, Ma’am?” Sharpe dries the water from his face on his sleeve.
Lady Anne turns to the door. Closes it, then walks towards Sharpe.
Anne likes Sharpe. Wryly she says.
“I see your manners have not improved.”
Sharpe holds his wet hands in front of him. He holds his head slightly bent forward.
“No, nor has my situation.”
Anne, moves to him. Offers a towel, which Sharpe takes. He dries his face and hands.
While drying, he asks, “What do you want, ma’am?”
Anne says, “I wanted to warn you, but I knew you would not listen, so…”
She turns walks to the stand. Places the water pitcher. Turns back to Sharpe.
“I will give you information instead.”
Sharpe finishes drying. Turns to face Anne.
Walks to her. He says nothing, but his face and posture tell her to go on.
Anne looks up at him.
“Did you know that is only Parfitt’s mills that do not get burned?”
“And yet, his are the ones most would like to burn.”
Sharpe pauses after hearing this, then offers, “Parfitt organizes the burnings?”
Anne lowers her eyes before replying, “I don’t know.”
She looks up to Sharpe with fervor in her eyes.
“But, he knows which owners are weak and how to make them weaker.”
“I heard to that Percy Stanwyck has a new steam engine coming over from Bolton tomorrow evening.”
“Due for one of his factories.”
Sharpe listens. Lowers his eyes.
“I’ve heard of this engine.”
“It t’is no secret.”
Anne continues with the energy that she has that she can help. When Sharpe looks up to her, she focuses him to her with her eyes.
“Is it now secret that it will NOT reach Stanwyck’s factory?”
Sharpe is taken off guard.
“What?”
Anne continues. “It will be attacked.”
“And destroyed.”
Sharpe looks at her with incomprehension that she has this information. He shakes his head before asking.
“How do you know this?
Anne wags her head. Smiles a wry smile. Lowers her eyes to modestly reply.
“People confide in me.”
“And, if they do not…?”
She raises her eyes back to Sharpe to let her know that she uses many ways to learn things.
“Doors do.”
Sharpe turns, then walks away at this to provide some distance.
“You mean Wickham confides in you.” He says sulkily.
Anne ponders this. Turns her head to the side, then asks.
“Are you jealous, Major Sharpe?”
From the stand holding the candle that lights the room, Sharpe partially turns before answering.
“No.” Sharpe wonders where Anne will take this conversation.
“Why are you telling me this, anyway?”
Anne turns directly to him.
“Because, YOU are foolish enough to do something about it.” She smiles demurely at him.
“And, you may want to wipe out some of the shame of your last battle honour at Keighley town.” She says caringly. She says this to let him know that she believes his story of events at Keighley and supports his intentions to right the wrong.
Sharpe remains embarrassed by the events. He needs to test her to make sure he is hearing information that can help him, or whether this is a trap that can make it worse or finish him.
“Do you believe that?”
Anne replies softly. “No.”
Sharpe looks back to her and too softly replies, “Wickham. He has a lot to answer for.”
“And, yet again…”
Sharpe hangs his head before continuing, “He has My Lady’s favour.”
Anne, sensing that she has Sharpe’s full attention,
“Is that what you think?
Sharpe quickly responds.
“I have eyes.”
Anne is annoyed mildly by this. She continues to set her intentions with Sharpe.
“But, NO brain.”
Shaking her head while she continues to say that no, Sharpe is incorrect.
“All Wickham has had of me, OR kissed of me, is my hand.”
She shakes her head.
“And of that, I was glad to be wearing gloves.” With another smile.
Sharpe hangs his head. He has continued to misread her. That she had started the sword fight at Parfitts’s that embarrassed him had led him to think that she no longer was interested in him.
“I’m sorry.”
Sharpe looks back to her.
“Yet your imputations continue.”
She pauses.
“You never looked like a gentleman,”
“But, you at least used to act like one.”
She turns away. She looks at the floor.
Sharpe raises his eyes.
Slowly he walks to her. He takes her hand. Turns her towards him.
Intimately, he repeats, “I am sorry , ma’am.”
Anne looks to him.
She decides to share the biggest piece of information now.
“They know about you and Truman. That you are his friend.”
He holds both her arms so that both face each other.
“Are you ashamed to be seen with me then?”
Anne lowers her eyes so that she looks to Sharpe’s chest.
“No, clearly not.”
She places her hands on his chest, then looks back to his eyes.
Pleadingly she says, “But, take care Richard, please?”
He nods, “ I will take care.”
“Of you.” He pulls her to him to kiss her.
She looks at him and teases, “So has my ‘alley cat’ decided to play?”
“Most assuredly, my lady.”
Sharpe lifts her to carry her to his bed.
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