Justin: I didn’t mind the occasional case of brandy. Everyone does that.
Lady Vulcan: It was only occasional, I swear.
Justin: Stop lying to me. I know everything. You’re now running a huge criminal conspiracy–
Lady Vulcan: Oh, what an exaggeration.
Justin: I’ve let you use me. I’ve always detested gambling. But I’ve allowed myself to gain a cruel and sinister reputation by using my good luck against any fool who would take me on. I thought the money was going on Mandrake, though I knew you were squandering some of it–
Lady Vulcan: The merest amout.
Justin: –but I didn’t mind that too much. Now I find that what it was really for was to finance the crime to pay for the contraband that you brought in from France. How much did you make for it in London? Double? Triple? And still it’s not enough, is it? It’s not enough for you! My money, your gambling, the smuggling, it’s not enough! You want more, more, MORE! You’re insane with greed! You disgust me. It’s got to stop. For the honor of the family it’s going to stop.
Lady Vulcan: And if I refuse?
Justin: I shall have the underground caverns and the passage to the sea blocked up.
Lady Vulcan: You could not do that to Mandrake! It has been part of the house for centuries.
Justin: I will do it.
Lady Vulcan: And have you considered what I will do? I will reveal that your father is still alive and that you are an imposter. It will bring the world crashing about your ears.
Justin: You’ve used that threat once too often, mother. I’m close to the point where you may tell and be damned! Try me! You will obey me! It stops HERE!
Justin: It didn’t work.
Lady Vulcan: What?
Justin: Wrotham and Miss Staverly. Your nasty little plot. It failed.
Lady Vulcan: Have you lost your wits?
Justin: You arranged to have him abduct her.
Lady Vulcan: What an obsurd fancy.
Justin: She’s escaped. She’s back in the house. I’ve spoken to her.
Lady Vulcan: Whatever happened, I played no part in it.
Justin: What did he offer you?
Lady Vulcan: I don’t know what you mean.
Justin: Your price.
Lady Vulcan: Heaven’s above. That simpering creature, where else would she find such a match? One day she would have thanked me for it.
Justin: How much?
Lady Vulcan: I declare your question is indecent! If Harry Wrotham felt pleased to give me a modest present for the introduction…
Justin: I want the truth.
Lady Vulcan: Very well then, devil take you. He was giving me ten thousand guineas. Little enough when you consider she was bringing him a doury of eighty.
Justin: Ten thousand guineas. That is your price for selling one of my guests out of my house to a lecher.
Lady Vulcan: It was not like that.
Justin: It’s a stain on the Vulcans of Mandrake that we will never live down.
Lady Vulcan: That is all life means to you: the Vulcans of Mandrake. Oh, the tedium of listening to it all my life! First from my husband and now from my son. Your father married me to set a jewel in Mandrake. He didn’t want flesh and blood. Well, my desires far surpass bricks and stone. Mandrake may be your mistress, but it is not my master!… Well, have I silenced you at last?
Justin: The house will be closed. The tunnels will be blocked. You will be sent abroad.
Lady Vulcan: You cannot mean to banish me! Justin! You cannot!
Justin: But first there is something I must do…
Justin: What happened?
Serena: I can’t tell you. You wouldn’t believe–
Justin: Let me be the judge of that! Tell me!
Serena: I can’t!
Justin: I see. You’re just like all the rest. ‘Taking the moonlight’ I believe it’s called. It was Nicholas, I suppose! Or Peter Gillingham! Was he your fancy?
Serena: How dare you? If you must know, I was lured outside in your mother’s name by one of your servants.
Justin: My mother?
Serena: Yes! Then I was seized and carried of my the man I hate more than anyone else in the world! Then he tried to force himself on me!
(Serena faints and Justin catches her.)
Justin: Lord Wrotham!
Lady Isabel Gillingham: Miss Staverley, I would appreciate a word. What is between you and Justin?
Serena: There is nothing between me and Justin. I do not wish to wed him, and he certainly does not wish to wed me. I hardly know what I’m doing here. I’ve never met people like this, and I would not care if I were never to meet them again. And her ladyship holds me up like a slave to the hopeful bidder. That as best as I can explain it is my situation.
Isabel: Oh, Miss Staverley, but I like you for that. I should hate you, but it seems we must be friends. (Isabel holds out her hand.) Serena?
Serena: (Shakes it.) Friends, Isabel. Do you…do you love him very much? (Meaning Justin.)
Isabel: More than life. But he’ll have none of me and that is part of his deadly attraction. Oh, I know it is obsurd, but I cannot help it. The colder he is to me, the more he makes me suffer, the more I love him. I do like my men to be men. Did you know that Justin once beat England’s champion prize fighter for a bet? What do you think of that?
Serena: I don’t know what to think.
Isabel: No, I had forgotten you were a little country mouse. I will wager that you do not know the half of what goes on in that house.
Serena: I have eyes; I can see.
Isabel: What about what you cannot see?
Lady Vulcan And now you shall meet your dinner companion.
Serena: I am well acquainted with Lord Wrotham. Among other things, he murdered my father! (Serena exits the room and is greeted by Lord Justin Vulcan, Lady Vulcan’s son.)
Lord Vulcan: I was just remarking how quick the journey is from London these days. I swear, the Dover Road gets busier by the month!
Serena: That man Lord Wrotham, I can’t bear to be near him. His eyes, they… I’ve been put next to him at dinner.
Lord Vulcan: You will not be.
Serena: May I retire?
Lord Vulcan: And run away?
Serena: You’re right. He should be the one to run away.
Lord Wrotham: And when we return it shall be as man and wife!
Serena: You must be mad! I loathe you! You make me shudder!
Lord Wrotham: Oh, how exciting; I long to make you shudder!
Lord Wrotham: I will have her.
Lord Wrotham: I’ll see you’re hanged!
Old Lord Vulcan: Do you love my son?
Serena: No.
Old Lord Vulcan: I see. And does he love you?
Serena: Why should he?
Old Lord Vulcan: Oh what I would give to be in his shoes.
Serena: Good evening, my Lord. (Sees Justin.) Oh, well I came to see your father.
Justin: My father? Is there any secret that can be kept from you in this house?
Serena: I found him by accident.
Justin: The devil you did.
Serena: I just came to bring him these.
Justin: Ah, strawberries. But it’s so early. Where did you get them?
Serena: From your own gardens, my Lord.
Justin: My father has a frail heart. He’s resting at the moment.
Serena: Well, will you please see that he gets these…with my love.
Justin: I’m glad that you have found someoneto love at Mandrake. In the short time you’ve been here, you know all our most guarded secrets.
Serena: You can trust me.
Justin: Can I?
Serena: (Holds out her hand.) You have the hand of Staverley on it.
Justin: (Takes her hand and runs his thumb up and down her palm.) Such a little hand to hold the honor of Mandrake in its palm.
(Serena is examining the wall where she has just seen Lady Vulcan go into a secret door as Justin finds her.)
Justin: You are interested in panelling?
Serena: Y-yes. That is, we had something like it in the library at Staverley Court.
Justin: In this house, it really does not pay to be curious. Now, I’m sure you’ve heard that Mandrake is haunted. Well, you never know what ghosts you may meet.
Serena: Well if it is haunted, I cannot blame the ghosts. The house is so beautiful.
Justin: I like to hear you say that. I love Mandrake. The parlor is Saxon and then there is Norman, Elizabethan, Restoration, Queen Anne… Each generation has added to and improved the house. It’s a great house and a gracious one. Are you happy here?
Serena: There are so many strangers.
Justin: You were happy when I placed you next to your cousin Nicholas at dinner.
Serena: I’m very fond of Nicholas.
Justin: Do you contemplate marrying him?
Serena: I do not, any more than he wishes to marry me. He’s in love with Lady Isabel.
Justin: And you?
Serena: I’m in love with no one.
Justin: Least of all the man to whom you are betrothed? Shall I make you fall in love with me, Serena? Are you afraid of love, or merely of me?
Page Topic: Movie Quotes from ‘Hazard of Hearts, A’: Quotes from the movie ‘Hazard of Hearts, A’