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INT. NETHERFIELD - HERTFORDSHIRE - DAY.

A vast mansion is coming to life. Maids pull dustsheets off furniture; servants open shutters. Sunshine spills into the great rooms of Netherfield. Outside, a glimpsee of rolling parkland.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged..."

It's a whirlwind of activity. Servants bustle around, sweeping and polishing, readying the house for its new occupants. The shutters of a room are opened onto the imposing gardens. A coach pulls up and, through the window, we see a young man get out.

"...That a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

A white sheet is pulled from a spinet and obscures our vision.

EXT. LONGBOURN HOUSE - DAY.

Kimihiro Clow, 20, good humoured, attractive, clearly nobody's fool, walks through a field of tall meadow grass. He is reading a novel entitled 'First Impressions'. He approaches Longbourn, a fairly run down 17th-century house with a small moat around it. Kimihiro jumps up onto a wall and crosses the moat by walking a wooden plank duck board, a reckless trick learnt in early childhood. He walks passed the back of the house where, through an open window to the library, we see his mother and father, Mr and Mrs Clow.

MRS CLOW

My dear Mr Clow, have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?

We follow Kimihiro into the house, but still overhear his parents' conversation.

MRS CLOW (CONT'D)

Do you not want to know who has taken it?

MR CLOW

As you wish to tell me, I doubt I have any choice in the matter...

As Kimihiro walks through the hallway, we hear the sound of piano scales plodding through the afternoon. He walks down the entrance hall past the room where Mokona, 18, the bluestocking of the family, is practicing, and finds Yuui, 16, the second youngest, and Fai, 15, the precocious baby of the family, are listening at the door to the library.

FAI

(to Yuui)

Have you heard? A Mr Kururugi, a young man from the North of England has come down on Monday in a chaise and four.

YUUI

With five thousand a year!

Lelouch, (the eldest, most beautiful and most charmingly naive of the siblings), joins them at the door.

LELOUCH

Goodness!

FAI

- and he's single to be sure!

INT. LIBRARY - LONGBOURN- CONTINUOUS.

Mr Clow is trying to ignore Mrs Clow

MRS CLOW

What a fine thing for our boys!

MR CLOW

How can it affect them?

MRS CLOW

My dear Mr Clow, how can you be so tiresome! You know that he must marry one of them.

MR CLOW

Oh, so that is his design in settling here?

Mr Clow takes a book from his table and walks out of the library into the corridor where the boys are gathered, Mrs Clow following.

INT. CORRIDOR - LONGBOURN - THE SAME.

Mr Clow walks through the boys to the drawing room pursued by Mrs Clow.

MRS CLOW

- So you must go and visit him at once.

INT. DRAWING ROOM - LONGBOURN- THE SAME.

Mr Clow walks to the bookshelf to replace the book he is carrying. Mokona is practicing the piano. The boys come in to listen.

FAI

Oh, yes, Papa.

YUUI

Please, Papa!

MR CLOW

There is no need, for I already have.

The piano stops. A frozen silence. They all stare.

MRS CLOW

You have?

LELOUCH

When?

MRS CLOW

How can you tease me, Mr Clow. You have no compassion for my poor nerves?

MR CLOW

You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for them they are my constant companions theses twenty years.

MRS CLOW

Is he amiable?

YUUI

Is he handsome?

FAI

He's sure to be handsome.

KIMIHIRO

(ironically)

With five thousand a year, it would not matter if he had a big pink face.

MR CLOW

I will give my hearty consent to his marrying whichever of the boys he chooses.

FAI

So will he come to the ball tomorrow?

MR CLOW

I believe so.

Fai and Yuui shriek with excitement.

YUUI

(to Lelouch)

I have to have your spotted muslin, please!

FAI

I need it!

YUUI

- if you do, I'll lend you my green slippers.

Mr Clow winks at Kimihiro and turns to Mokona, a serious, somewhat pedantic young man.

MR CLOW

And what do you say, Mokona? Are you not excited by the prospect of a ball?

MOKONA

Society has claims on us all, Papa. As long as I have my mornings to myself, I consider an interval of recreation and amusement as quite desirable.

Kimihiro laughs.