1ANNA AND BATES
6. INT. The servants' hall at Downton Abbey.
Anna and Bates are at the table, chatting. Carson comes in.
CARSON: Mr. and Mrs. Bates, I'm sorry to be the one to convey this news to you, but I've just had a phonecall from Sergeant Willis.
ANNA: Sergeant Willis? What's he want?
CARSON: He told me that Inspector Viner is on his way from London with important new information. He hesitates.
BATES: What is it, Mr. Carson? Was there more to it than that?
CARSON: Ye-e-es, Mr. Bates. As a matter of fact, and I'm only telling you this because I am convinced of your innocence, Sergeant Willis said that Mr. Viner intends to arrest you.
ANNA: But why? Haven't we gone all through that? Mr. Bates was in York that day. He has an ironclad witness in Mr. Salter. Why won't they leave us alone?
Carson, apparently more than willing to leave the Bateses alone, leaves.
ANNA: He's looking awfully downcast. I wonder what's wrong.
BATES: (getting up) I think I'd like to go back to the cottage for a while.
ANNA: What is it? What is it, Mr. Bates? They can't possibly think you're responsible. You've told them over and over again. Your presence in York has been proven. You...
BATES: (with a sigh) I'm afraid Mr. Viner's new information may prove critical. If that is the case, and it seems to be as he has apparently committed himself to my arrest, then I'm not going to wait for him to arrive.
ANNA: If you're going anywhere, then I'm going with you!
BATES: I don't think that will work very well. And it wouldn't be right. Not for you. Or me.
ANNA: I don't understand.
BATES: (with another sigh) That doesn't surprise me, coming from you. You've always been unwilling to face hard truths about those you love.
ANNA: What do you mean? What hard truth is there to face?
BATES: Did you really think I would stand by and let a man who could do such a thing to you get away with it?
ANNA: Well, no, I didn't. That's why I was so afraid for so long that you might have done it. That's why I kept the story from you in the first place.
BATES: Well, you know me even better than you think you do.
ANNA: What are you saying, Mr. Bates? Are you saying that you killed Mr. Green? But that's impossible. You were in York that day. It's been proven. You have an eyewitness.
BATES: I suspect that Mr. Viner has investigated Mr. Salter.
ANNA: So what? What could there possibly be in the background of an innkeeper in York that would compromise his evidence about you?
BATES: The fact that not only did we serve in the South African War, but that we served together. In the same regiment. In the same company, to be exact. We've been friends for decades.
ANNA: But...then why didn't Lord Grantham recognize the name? Why didn't he think to question the testimony?
BATES: Lord Grantham didn't focus on any of the enlisted men in our regiment. He only knew me because I dressed him. As for the others, they were all alike to him. He wouldn't have remembered a name from there any more than he can remember the name of the kitchen maids.
ANNA: What are you saying, Mr. Bates? Are you saying that you did kill Mr. Green?
BATES: Well, what do you think?
ANNA: And you concocted that story with Mr. Salter?
BATES: Of course I did. I needed a solid cover to prove that I'd been somewhere other than where I'd been. But Salter told Molesley too much. He shouldn't have mentioned our casual chat about the South African War. That gave Viner something to verify and, of course, he found the connection. Salter never was very good at following the script.
ANNA: Mr. Bates, I'm not understanding you here.
BATES: Oh, I think you are.
ANNA: But...you said. You told me that you wanted to kill Mr. Green, but that you didn't do it because you knew you'd hang and you couldn't do that to me.
BATES: Anna, my darling, don't you see that it had to be done? A man can't let his wife be wronged in that manner without exacting vengeance. It isn't right. And a jury might even have understood that if I wasn't already a convicted murderer.
ANNA: Well, a convicted murderer, perhaps, but not a murderer. You were innocent of killing Vera.
BATES: That was a much closer call. I honestly thought this time I'd get away with it cleanly.
ANNA: Wait a minute. Are you saying, now, Mr. Bates, that you did kill Vera?
BATES: Vera wasn't a kind and loving person, Anna. And she wasn't the brightest button in the box either. But her attachment to life was every bit as determined as that of you or me. You don't kill yourself for revenge. What's the point of revenge if you're not around to witness it? And plans backfire all the time. You can't be sure of something unless you're supervising it directly.
ANNA: I can't believe I'm hearing this. Are you telling me, Mr. Bates, that you killed Vera? But...that's impossible. Mrs. Bartlett's evidence was quite clear. Vera was making the pie that killed her when Mrs. Bartlett walked in on her. You were already on the train to Downton. And...and the poison was in the pastry where you said you couldn't have put it. How can all that evidence be wrong?
BATES: It isn't. Mrs. Bartlett did see Vera making the pie that killed her. And the poison was not found in any of the other ingredients, that's true. But Vera was intending to make herself a nice pie for dinner that evening. When I arrived early in the day, she had already set out all the ingredients and even measured the flour out. It was sitting in a cup by the kneading board. All I had to do was fetch a measure of arsenic from the bag in the cellar and add it to flour already sitting there. Then I was long gone when she made the pie. It was that simple.
ANNA: (horrified) But...but you denied doing it!
BATES: I never denied killing Vera. I maintained my usual stoic demeanour. I did say that the poison was in the pastry where I couldn't have put it. I never said I didn't put it in the flour.
ANNA: (furiously now) Mr. Bates, that is merely splitting hairs. You killed Vera.
BATES: Well, she deserved it, didn't she? She was obstructing our happiness, Anna, and we couldn't have that, could we. You were happy to see the back of her, too.
ANNA: But not by murder! Mr. Bates, you knew I was prepared to run away with you, to live with you in sin, anything to spend my life with you. Why would you have done such a horrible thing?
BATES: Like you, I was prepared to do anything to rid our lives of that albatross. Why should we leave our jobs, sacrifice our livelihood, as well as all of our money and property, and our reputations to boot, for such a miserable woman. It would have been different if she'd been at all reasonable, if she'd just gone away, but she wouldn't. It was easier all around, Anna, and it was better for all of us, including Vera. She really wasn't enjoying her life.
ANNA: So you murdered Vera and Mr. Green.
BATES: I prefer to think of it as putting down two miserable creatures who are better off, as are we all, where they are now.
ANNA: Was ...is that all? Is there anyone else?
BATES: Yes, that is all, although I have to admit, I've been sorely taxed bytimes to send Thomas after them. But the opportunity never presented itself. Now, I think you'll agree that if I'm to save my neck, I've got to get out of here fast.
(Bates leaves. Anna hurries after him.)
THOMAS
7. INT. The corridor outside the Servants' hall.
Thomas is eavesdropping.
THOMAS: Well, Mr. Bates. I was only storing up this information to employ to my amusement at some later date. But now you've made me angry.
