CATHERINE
Miss Catherine Winslow. The Winslow Case.

MR. MICHAELS
We understood that t- .....

CATHERINE
They're coming.

MR. MICHAELS
They're coming?

CATHERINE
We didn't hear of the appointment until ..... Miss Catherine Winslow.

SIR ROBERT
I beg your pardon.

CATHERINE
I suppose you know the history of this case, do you, Sir Robert?

SIR ROBERT
I believe I've seen most of the relevant documents.

CATHERINE
Yes. Yes, excellent. Do you think we can bring the case into court by a collusive action?

SIR ROBERT
I really have no idea.

CATHERINE
Curry & Curry seem to think that might hold.

SIR ROBERT
Do they? They are a very reliable firm. Robert Morton.

CATHERINE
Catherine Winslow.

SIR ROBERT
Mr. Michaels, I can have re-arrangement for that appointment.

MR. MICHAELS
Yes, Sir.

SIR ROBERT
I hope you mind not.

CATHERINE
What could be more absurd than you asking me permission to smoke in your own establishment.

SIR ROBERT
Well, it's just a custom.

CATHERINE
I indulge myself.

SIR ROBERT
Indeed?

CATHERINE
Some people find that shocking.

SIR ROBERT
Amazing how little it takes to offend the world's sense with

CATHERINE
No, thank you. My father and brother will be here in a moment. What time are you dining?

SIR ROBERT
Eight o'clock.

CATHERINE
Far from here?

SIR ROBERT
Devonshire House.

CATHERINE
Oh, well then of course you mustn't on any account be late.

SIR ROBERT
No.

CATHERINE
I'm rather surprised that a case of this sort should interest you, Sir Robert.

SIR ROBERT
Are you?

CATHERINE
It seems such a very trivial affair compared to most of your great forensic triumphs. I was in Court during your prosecution of Len Rogers in the Trade Union embezzlement case.

SIR ROBERT
Really?

CATHERINE
Magnificently done.

SIR ROBERT
Thank you.

CATHERINE
I suppose you heard that he committed suicide a few months ago?

SIR ROBERT
Yes, I had heard.

CATHERINE
Many people believed him innocent, you know.

SIR ROBERT
So I understand. As it happened, however, he was guilty.

ARTHUR
Sir Robert, I'm so sorry to keep you waiting.

MR. MICHAELS
Arthur Winslow.

ARTHUR
I'm so sorry. We didn't get your note until .....

SIR ROBERT
No, it's perfectly all right.

CATHERINE
Sir Robert is dining at Devonshire House.

ARTHUR
Yes, yes, yes. I see. I know you're pressed for time, sir. Ehm... My son will be along in any moment. I assume that you want to examine him.

SIR ROBERT
Just a few questions. I fear that's all I will have time for this evening.

ARTHUR
I'm sorry to hear it. My son has made the journey from school especially for the hope of being interviewed and I hoped by the end of it I shall know definitely yes or no whether you would accept the brief. You of course understand my anxiety.

DESMOND
Well, ah.... perhaps Sir Robert would consent to finish the examination some other time.

SIR ROBERT
It might be arranged.

ARTHUR
Tomorrow?

SIR ROBERT
Tomorrow is impossible. I'm in Court all the morning and in the House of Commons for the rest of the day.

ARTHUR
I see. Curry tells me that you think it might be possible to proceed by the Petition of Right. Would you mind if I sat down?

SIR ROBERT
Please.

CATHERINE
What is it : Petition of Right?

DESMOND
Well, granting the assumption that the admiralty as the Crown can do no wrong.

CATHERINE
I thought that was exactly the assumption we refused to grant.

DESMOND
In law I mean. Now...er.... a subject can sue the Crown nevertheless by Petition of Right.

CATHERINE
Petition of Right? Yes?

DESMOND
Redress being granted as a matter of grace and the custom is for the Attorney General on behalf of the Crown to endorse the Petition and allow the case to come to court.

SIR ROBERT
It is interesting to note that the exact words he uses on such occasions are 'Let Right Be Done'.

ARTHUR
Let Right Be Done. I like that phrase, sir.

SIR ROBERT
It has a certain ring about it, has it not? Let Right Be Done.

MR. MICHAELS
This way, please.

ARTHUR
Grace! Sir Robert, that's my wife and this is Ronnie. Ronnie, Sir Robert is going to ask you a few questions which you must answer truthfully as you always have done. I expect you'd like us to leave.

SIR ROBERT
No, no. Provided, of course, you don't interrupt. Would you sit down, please? Will you stand here facing me? That's right. Now, Ronald. How old are you?

RONNIE
Fourteen and two months.

SIR ROBERT
You were, then, thirteen and ten months old when you left Osbourne. Is that right?

RONNIE
Yes, Sir.

SIR ROBERT
I would like you to cast your mind back to December the seventh of last year. Would you tell me in your own words exactly what happened to you on that day?

RONNIE
It was a half-holiday, so we didn't have any work after dinner.

SIR ROBERT
Dinner at one o'clock?

RONNIE
Yes, at least until prep at seven.

SIR ROBERT
Prep at seven. Hmm.

RONNIE
Well, then just before dinner I went along to Chief Petty Officer and asked him to let me have fifteen and six out of what I had in the school bank.

SIR ROBERT
Why did you do that?

RONNIE
I wanted to buy an air pistol.

SIR ROBERT
Which cost fifteen and six?

RONNIE
Yes, Sir.

SIR ROBERT
And how much money did you have in your school bank at the time?

RONNIE
Two pounds three shillings

ARTHUR
So you see, what incentive could he possibly...

SIR ROBERT
I must ask you to be good enough not to interrupt me, sir. After you had withdrawn the fifteen and six, what did you do?

RONNIE
I had dinner.

SIR ROBERT
Then what?

RONNIE
Then I went to the locker-room and put the fifteen and six away in my locker. Then I went to go and get permission to go to the Post Office.

SIR ROBERT
Yes?

RONNIE
Then I went back to the locker-room and again got out my money and went down to the Post Office.

SIR ROBERT
Yes, go on.

RONNIE
Then I bought my postal order.

SIR ROBERT
For fifteen and six?

RONNIE
Yes, sir. Then I went back to college. Then I met Elliot minor and he said "I say, isn't it rot? Someone's broken into my locker and pinched a postal order. I've reported it to the P.O."

SIR ROBERT
And those were Elliot minor's exact words?

RONNIE
He might have used another word for rot.

SIR ROBERT
I see. Continue.

RONNIE
But then just before prep I was told to go along and see Commander Flower. The woman from the Post Office was there and the Commander said, "Is this the boy?" and she said, "It might be. I can't be sure, they all look so much alike."

ARTHUR
You see she couldn't identify him.

SIR ROBERT
Go on.

RONNIE
And then she said, "I only know that the boy who bought a postal order for fifteen and six was the same boy who cashed one for five shillings". So the Commander said, "Did you buy a postal order for fifteen and six?" and I said, "Yes." And then he made me write Elliot's name on an envelope and compared it to the signature on the postal order. Then they sent me to the sanatorium and ten days later I was sacked..... I mean expelled.

SIR ROBERT
I see. Did you cash a postal order belonging to Elliot minor for five shillings?

RONNIE
No, sir.

SIR ROBERT
Did you break into his locker and steal it?

RONNIE
No, sir.

SIR ROBERT
And that is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

RONNIE
Yes, sir.

SIR ROBERT
Right. The files, please.

MR. MICHAELS
This has just come down from Ridgeley-Pearce.

SIR ROBERT
Thank you. When the Commander asked you to write Elliot's name on an envelope, how did you write it: with Christian name or initials?

RONNIE
I wrote: Charles K. Elliot.

SIR ROBERT
Charles K. Elliot. And did you by any chance happen to see the forged postal order in the Commander's office?

RONNIE
Yes, sir. The Commander showed it to me.

SIR ROBERT
Before or after you'd written Elliot's name on the envelope?

RONNIE
After.

SIR ROBERT
After. And did you happen to see how Elliot's name was written on the postal order?

RONNIE
Yes, sir. The same.

SIR ROBERT
The same. Charles K. Elliot.

RONNIE
Yes.

SIR ROBERT
When you wrote on the envelope, what made you choose that particular form?

RONNIE
Well, that was the way he usually signed his name.

SIR ROBERT
How did you know?

RONNIE
Well, he was a great friend of mine.

SIR ROBERT
That is no answer. How did you know?

RONNIE
I'd seen him sign things.

SIR ROBERT
What things?

RONNIE
Oh.... ordinary things.

SIR ROBERT
I repeat : what things?

RONNIE
Bits of paper.

SIR ROBERT
Bits of paper. Why did he sign his name on bits of paper?

RONNIE
He was practising his signature.

SIR ROBERT
And you saw him.

RONNIE
Yes.

SIR ROBERT
Did he know you saw him?

RONNIE
Well.... yes.

SIR ROBERT
In other words, he showed you exactly how he wrote his signature.

RONNIE
Yes, I suppose he did.

SIR ROBERT
Did you practise writing it yourself?

RONNIE
I might have done.

SIR ROBERT
What do you mean you might have done? Did you or did you not?

RONNIE
Yes.

ARTHUR
Ronnie! You never told me that.

RONNIE
It was only for a joke.

SIR ROBERT
Never mind it was for a joke or not. The fact is: you practised forging Elliot's signature.

RONNIE
It wasn't forging.

SIR ROBERT
What do you call it then?

RONNIE
Writing.

SIR ROBERT
Whoever stole the postal order and cashed it also 'wrote' Elliot's signature, didn't he?

RONNIE
Yes.

SIR ROBERT
And oddly enough in the exact form in which you had earlier been practising writing his signature.

RONNIE
I say: which side are you on?

MR. MICHAELS
Are you aware.... are you aware that the Admiralty sent up the forged postal order to Mr. Ridgeley-Pearce, the greatest hand-writing expert in England?

RONNIE
Yes.

MR. MICHAELS
You are aware of that. And you know that Mr. Ridgeley-Pearce affirmed that there was no doubt that the signature on the postal order and the signature which you wrote on the envelope were by one and the same hand?

RONNIE
Yes.

MR. MICHAELS
And you still say you didn't forge that signature?

RONNIE
Yes, I do.

MR. MICHAELS
In other words, Mr. Ridgeley-Pearce doesn't know his job.

RONNIE
Well, he's wrong anyway.

ARTHUR
Is he indeed?

MR. MICHAELS
Are you aware that the government is in possession of seventeen separate examples of your handwriting and a board of government expert has identified they're identical with the signature Charles K. Elliot.

SIR ROBERT
When you went into the locker-room after dinner, were you alone?

RONNIE
I don't...... I don't remember.

SIR ROBERT
I think you do. Were you alone in the locker-room?

RONNIE
Yes.

SIR ROBERT
And you knew which was Elliot's locker?

RONNIE
Yes, of course.

SIR ROBERT
Why did you go in there at all?

RONNIE
I've told you: to put my fifteen and six away.

SIR ROBERT
Why?

RONNIE
I thought it would be safer.

SIR ROBERT
Why safer than your pocket?

RONNIE
I don't know.

SIR ROBERT
What time did Elliot put his postal order in his locker?

RONNIE
I don't know. I didn't even know he had a postal order at all.

SIR ROBERT
What time did you get into the locker-room?

RONNIE
I don't remember.

SIR ROBERT
Was it directly after dinner?

RONNIE
Yes, I think so.

SIR ROBERT
What did you do after leaving the locker-room?

RONNIE
I've told you: I went to get permission to go down to the post office.

SIR ROBERT
What time was that?

RONNIE
About a quarter past two.

SIR ROBERT
The dinner was over at a quarter to two, which means you were in the locker-room for half an hour.

RONNIE
I wasn't in there all that time.

SIR ROBERT
How long were you there?

RONNIE
About five minutes.

SIR ROBERT
What were you doing for the other twenty-five?

RONNIE
I don't remember. Perhaps I was outside the C.O.'s office.

SIR ROBERT
And no one saw you there either.

RONNIE
I remember. I remember someone did see me outside the C.O.'s office. A chap called Casey. I spoke to him.

SIR ROBERT
What did you say?

RONNIE
I said," Come down to the Post Office with me. I'm going to cash a postal order."

SIR ROBERT
'Cash' a postal order.

RONNIE
I mean 'get'.

SIR ROBERT
You said 'cash'. Why did you say 'cash' if you meant 'get'?

RONNIE
I don't know.

SIR ROBERT
I suggest 'cash' was the truth.

RONNIE
No, no. It wasn't, really. You're muddling me.

SIR ROBERT
You seem easily muddled. How many other lies have you told?

RONNIE
None. Really, I haven't.

SIR ROBERT
I suggest your whole testimony is a lie.

RONNIE
No, it's the truth.

SIR ROBERT
I suggest there is barely one single word of truth in anything you've said either to me or to the Judge Advocate or to the Commander. I suggest that you broke into Elliot's locker, that you stole the postal order for five shillings belonging to Elliot, that you cashed it by means of forging his name.

RONNIE
I didn't. I didn't.

SIR ROBERT
I suggest that you did it for a joke, meaning to give him the five shillings back, but when you met him and he said he'd reported the matter you got frightened and decided to keep quite.

RONNIE
No, no. It isn't true. It isn't true. None of it is true.

SIR ROBERT
I suggest that by continuing to deny your guilt you're causing great hardship to your own family and considerable annoyance to high and important persons in this country.

CATHERINE
That is a disgraceful thing to say.

SIR ROBERT
I suggest that the time has at last come for you to undo some of the misery you have caused by confessing to us all now that you are a forger, a liar, and a thief!

CATHERINE
How dare you!

RONNIE
I'm not. I'm not. I didn't do it.

ARTHUR
This is outrageous, sir.

RONNIE
I didn't do any of it.

GRACE
It's all right, darling. It's all right.

SIR ROBERT
Curry, can I drop you anywhere?

DESMOND
No, I.......

SIR ROBERT
Send all his files here by tomorrow morning.

DESMOND
But will you need them now?

SIR ROBERT
Oh, yes. The boy is plainly innocent. I accept the brief.

*****************

SIR ROBERT
Get this to the First Lord, will you?

FIRST LORD
The chief point of criticism against the Admiralty appears to centre in the purely legal question of The Petition of Right brought by a member. A citizen seeking redress of The Petition of Right and the demurrer thereto.(Thus) this member has made great play of this boy with his eloquence and address. And I was moved as any honourable Member opposite by his resonant use of the words 'Let Right Be Done'-- the time-honoured phrase with which in his opinion the Attorney General should without question have supported Mr. Winslow's Petition of Right.

TONY
Alright, alright. Let's break it down into its essentials. Do we have enough votes to put the question? How important is it to you, Bobby?

SIR ROBERT
How important is it? It's only important to win.

TONY
Shouldn't you be in the house?

SIR ROBERT
Looks like he's repeating himself forever. Give me a piece of paper. Am I missing something here? The thing is: the votes.

RICHARD
Well, yes. Well, what do you say to that, Tony? Do we have the votes?

TONY
Say? Do we have the votes? But as do we have the money -- the answer is perhaps. The point is: do you really want to spend it on this?

SIR ROBERT
Could you bring it to vote?

RICHARD
Can you bring it to vote, Tony?

TONY
Perhaps I can. End of the day. He's a twelve year old boy.

RICHARD
Are you sure you want to fight it?

SIR ROBERT
Who asks you about that?

RICHARD
I'm saying before we start calling in markers.

TONY
Dick's saying to choose your ground, Bob.

RICHARD
Because there is no honourable retreat. You pick this up, you're gonna have to carry it.

TONY
Because this is your best interest, Bobby. That's the thing.

SIR ROBERT
I understand.

***********************

SIR ROBERT
Good evening.

CATHERINE
Good evening.

SIR ROBERT
Something gone down the wrong way?

CATHERINE
Yes.

SIR ROBERT
May I assist?

CATHERINE
Most kind.

SIR ROBERT
Good evening, sir.

ARTHUR
Sir Robert.

SIR ROBERT
I thought I would call and give you an account of the day's proceedings, but perhaps your daughter has forestalled me.

ARTHUR
Sir Robert, would you forgive me for a moment. Cath, I wonder if you'd be kind enough to entertain Sir Robert in my absence.

CATHERINE
Did you know I was in the Gallery?

SIR ROBERT
How could I have missed you with such a charming brown hat?

CATHERINE
Oh, thank you. Will you betray a technical secret, Sir Robert? What happened during the first examination to make you so sure if he is innocent.

SIR ROBERT
Three things. First of all, he made far too many damaging admissions. A guilty person would have been much more careful and on his guard. Secondly I laid him a trap and thirdly left him a loophole. Anyone who was guilty would have fallen into the one and darted through the other. He did neither.

CATHERINE
The trap was when you asked him suddenly what time Elliot put the postal order in his locker, wasn't it?

SIR ROBERT
Yes.

CATHERINE
And the loophole?

SIR ROBERT
I then suggested to him that he'd stolen the postal order for a joke which had he been guilty I'm quite sure he would have admitted to as being the lesser of two evils.

CATHERINE
I see. It was very cleverly thought out.

SIR ROBERT
Thank you.

CATHERINE
And what of the twenty-five minutes?

SIR ROBERT
Twenty-five minutes?

CATHERINE
Ronnie went back to the locker room and there were twenty-five minutes there which he could not account for, what was he doing?

SIR ROBERT
Hmm... But I thought you should know.

CATHERINE
Why on earth me?

SIR ROBERT
It is a crime you indulge in.

CATHERINE
What can you mean?

SIR ROBERT
He was smoking a cigarette.

ARTHUR
Sir Robert, may we offer you some refreshment? Whiskey and soda perhaps?

SIR ROBERT
Whiskey, thank you.

ARTHUR
My daughter told me of your demonstration during the First Lord's speech which she described as magnificent.

SIR ROBERT
Did she? That was good of her, sir. It's a very old trick, you know. I've done it many times in the courts. It's nearly always surprisingly effective. Was the First Lord at all put out by it, did you notice?

CATHERINE
How could he have failed to be? I wish you could have seen it, Father.

VIOLET
I forgot to give you this letter.

CATHERINE
Thank you, Violet. When did this come?

VIOLET
Oh, a few minutes ago, Miss.

CATHERINE
Thank you.

ARTHUR
Do you know the writing?

CATHERINE
I shouldn't bother to read it if I were you.

ARTHUR
Ehm... would you forgive me, Sir Robert?

SIR ROBERT
Of course.

CATHERINE
Well, and what do you think the next step should be?

SIR ROBERT
In the abstract or the particular?

CATHERINE
The particular, please.

SIR ROBERT
I believe that perhaps the best plan would be to renew our efforts to force the Director of Public Prosecution to act.

CATHERINE
Don't you think that would be rather un-orthodox?

SIR ROBERT
I certainly hope so.

CATHERINE
Do you think we have a chance to success?

SIR ROBERT
Of course or I would not suggest it.

CATHERINE
Father, Sir Robert thinks we might get the Director of Public Prosecution to act.

ARTHUR
What? What did you say?

SIR ROBERT
We were discussing how to proceed with the case.

ARTHUR
I'm afraid I don't think all things considered that much purpose would be served by going on. Nay, I don't think any purpose would be served by going on.

SIR ROBERT
That's absurd. Of course we must go on. How can you say otherwise?

ARTHUR
I've made sacrifices with this case. Some of them I had no right to make, but I made them none the less. But there's a limit and I've reached it. Sorry, Sir Robert. The Winslow case is now closed.

CATHERINE
Perhaps I should explain this letter.

SIR ROBERT
There is no need.

CATHERINE
This letter is from a certain Colonel Watherstone who is the father of the man I'm engaged to. He writes that our efforts to discredit the Admiralty in the House of Commons today have resulted merely in our making the name of Winslow a nation- wide laughing-stock.

SIR ROBERT
I don't care for his English.

CATHERINE
It's not very good, is it? He goes on to say that unless my father would give him a firm undertaking to drop this whining and reckless agitation-- I suppose he means the case -- he will exert every bit of influence he has over his son to prevent him marrying me.

SIR ROBERT
I see. May I take a cigarette?

CATHERINE
Yes, of course. It's a vile habit, isn't it?

SIR ROBERT
Which of us is perfect? That really was a most charming hat, Miss Winslow.

CATHERINE
I'm glad you liked it.

SIR ROBERT
It seems decidedly wrong to me that a lady of your political persuasion should be allowed to adorn herself with such a very feminine allurement. It really looks so awfully like trying to have the best of both worlds.

CATHERINE
Does it indeed?

SIR ROBERT
It does.

CATHERINE
And is that particularly female trait? I am not a militant, you know, Sir Robert. I don't go about shattering glass or pouring acid down pillar boxes.

SIR ROBERT
I'm very glad to hear it. Both those activities would be highly unsuitable in that hat. I have never yet fully grasped, what active steps you take to propagate your course, Miss Winslow?

CATHERINE
I'm an organizing secretary at the West London Branch of the Woman's Suffrage Association.

SIR ROBERT
Indeed. Is the work hard?

CATHERINE
Very.

SIR ROBERT
But not, I should imagine, particularly lucrative.

CATHERINE
The work is voluntary and unpaid.

SIR ROBERT
Dear me. What sacrifices you young ladies seem prepared to make for your convictions. Forgive me, sir, if I spoke out of turn just now.

ARTHUR
Oh that's quite all right.

SIR ROBERT
Of course you must act as you think fit. But may I suggest that you delay your decision until you've thought of them awhile.

ARTHUR
I'll give you my answer presently.

*********************

FIRST LORD
For a child, gentlemen. For a child. A guilty child. O can we not, I do beseech you, make an end. One can not sue the Crown. Justice has been done to the tenth decimal point. And it is time to lay aside nursery gossip and to proceed with the business of the government. The business of government....

RICHARD
You're all in, Bobby. I say you're all in. Go home.

TONY
We're finished, Bob.

RICHARD
You've fought the good fight. You've fought the good fight but we ain't got the votes. It's over. Don't break your heart.

TONY
Everybody looses one and no shame in it.

RICHARD
Listen to Tony.

TONY
You can't hold back the tide.

RICHARD
You could not have fought harder. The House is against you. Let's let it go.

FIRST LORD
And I believe I can state with certainty that the mood of this house is sure, correct and supportive of the Admiralty. On behalf of which and on behalf of those it is sworn to die. I thank you for your patience and I thank you for your time.

SIR ROBERT
What's this?

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Mr. Speaker, put the question.

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Hear, hear. Put the question.

SIR ROBERT
They're calling the question.

RICHARD
Let them call the question. We are done. There's no shame in it, Bob.

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
The motion is....

SIR ROBERT
Point of order, Mr. Speaker. Point of order.

FIRST LORD
I am on my feet.

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Does this escape you?

SIR ROBERT
Point of order I said.

FIRST LORD
I am on my feet.

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Gentlemen, there is a motion on the floor.

SIR ROBERT
Point of order I must insist.

FIRST LORD
Upon what grounds?

SIR ROBERT
Sit down and I'll tell you.

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
That's right, sit down!

FIRST LORD
Very well. Make your old speech.

SIR ROBERT
Thank you. I have a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I should like to read into the record two items. Two items. First item: popular song of the day. How Still We See Thee Lie or The Naughty Cadet. How dare you sully Nelson's name who for this land did die, oh naughty cadet. For shame, for shame; how still we see thee lie. They suggest, they suggest our concern for the boy may perhaps tarnish the reputation of Lord Nelson.

FIRST LORD
You said two items.

SIR ROBERT
The other one is this. It's from a slightly older source. It is this: you shall not side with the great against the powerless.

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Mr. Speaker, point of order.

SIR ROBERT
I am on my feet.

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Will you yield?

SIR ROBERT
I will not yield, Mr. Speaker. You shall not side with the great against the powerless.

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Yeah.

SIR ROBERT
Have you heard those words, gentlemen? Do you recognize their source? From that same source I add this injunction. It is this: what you do to the least of them you do to me. Now, now gentlemen....

REPORTER
Get on the camera! Will you get on the camera?

CATHERINE
What happened?

REPORTER
Let me through, please.

REPORTER
What happened? What happened?

REPORTER
First Lord thought he was safe, thought he was home free. Sir Robert spoke, now he is under attack.

CATHERINE
From whom?

REPORTER
From whom? From everybody. When he comes out.......

MR. MICHAELS
Excuse me, sir.

CATHERINE
Mr. Michaels, what happened?

MR. MICHAELS
It seems, Miss, it seems that rather than risk a division. The first order has given to an undertaking to endorse the Petition of Right which means the case of Winslow versus Rex can therefore come to court. Ah, Sir Robert.

SIR ROBERT
Well, Miss Winslow, what are my instructions?

CATHERINE
Do you need my instructions, Sir Robert? Aren't they already on the Petition? Doesn't it say: Let Right Be Done?

SIR ROBERT
Then we must endeavour to see that it is.

*********************

VIOLET
Sir Robert Morton.

SIR ROBERT
Good afternoon. I thought you might like to hear the actual terms of the Attorney-General's statement, so I jotted them down for you. On behalf of the Admiralty etc etc... The cadet Ronald Arthur Winslow did not write the name on the postal order, he did not take it, he did not cash it, that he is consequently innocent of the charge, that this is a full unreserved and complete acceptance of his statement.

ARTHUR
Sir Robert, it's hard for me to find the words which to thank you.

SIR ROBERT
Pray do not trouble yourself to search for them, sir. Let us take these rather conventional expressions of gratitude for granted, shall we? Pity you were not in Court, Miss Winslow. The verdict appeared to cause quite a stir.

CATHERINE
So I heard. Why did the Admiralty resign the case?

SIR ROBERT
Oh, it was a foregone conclusion.

CATHERINE
Oh?

SIR ROBERT
Once the hand-writing expert has been discredited, not for the first time in legal history, I knew we had a sporting chance.

CATHERINE
But this morning you seemed so depressed.

SIR ROBERT
Did I? Perhaps the heat in the court room.

VIOLET
Sir, the gentlemen at the front door say, "Please will you make a statement?". They say they won't go away unless you do.

ARTHUR
Very well, Violet. Thank you.

VIOLET
Sir.

ARTHUR
Hmm. What should I say to them?

SIR ROBERT
I hardly think it matters, sir. Whatever you say will have little bearing on what they write.

ARTHUR
I could say: This victory isn't mine, it belongs to the people. How does that strike you, sir? A trifle pretentious, perhaps.

SIR ROBERT
Perhaps, sir. I should say it, none the less. It will be very popular.

ARTHUR
Perhaps I should just say: Thank God we beat 'em.

SIR ROBERT
Miss Winslow, might I be rude enough to ask you for a glass of your excellent whiskey?

CATHERINE
Yes, of course.

SIR ROBERT
Very kind.

CATHERINE
I beg your pardon. How remiss of me, not to offer you any hospitality. I correct that straight away. What must you think of me?

SIR ROBERT
Perhaps you would forgive me not getting up. The heat in that court room was really so infernal.

CATHERINE
Are you alright, Sir Robert?

SIR ROBERT
Oh, it's just a slight nervous reaction, that's all. Besides, I've not been feeling myself all day. I told the judge so this morning if you remember, but I doubt if he believed me. He thought it was a trick. What suspicious mind people have, have they not?

CATHERINE
Yes.

SIR ROBERT
Thank you.

CATHERINE
I'm afraid I have a confession and an apology to make to you, Sir Robert.

SIR ROBERT
Dear lady, I'm sure the one is rash and the other is superfluous. I would far rather hear neither.

CATHERINE
I'm afraid you must. This is probably the last time I shall see you and it's a better penance for me to say this than to write it. I have entirely misjudged your attitude to this case and if in doing so I've ever seemed to you either rude or ungrateful, I'm sincerely and humbly sorry.

SIR ROBERT
My dear Miss Winslow, you've never seemed to me either rude or ungrateful and my attitude in this case has been the same as yours: a determination to win at all costs. Only, when you talk of gratitude, you must remember that those costs were not mine but yours.

CATHERINE
Weren't they also yours, Sir Robert?

SIR ROBERT
I beg your pardon?

CATHERINE
Haven't you too made a certain sacrifice for the case?

SIR ROBERT
The robes of that office would not have suited me.

CATHERINE
Wouldn't they?

SIR ROBERT
And what is more I fully intend to have Curry censured for revealing a confidence. I must ask you never to divulge it to another living soul. And I'd like you to forget it yourself.

CATHERINE
I shall never divulge it. I'm afraid I cannot promise to forget it myself.

SIR ROBERT
Very well if you choose to endow an unimportant incident with a romantic significance, you are perfectly at liberty to do so. Would you show me out another way, please? Thank you.

VIOLET
There you are.

RONNIE
I say, Sir Robert, I'm most awfully sorry I didn't know anything was going to happen.

SIR ROBERT
Where were you?

RONNIE
At the pictures.

SIR ROBERT
Pictures?

CATHERINE
Cinematograph.

SIR ROBERT
Ah.

RONNIE
I say, we won, didn't we?

SIR ROBERT
Yes, we won.

RONNIE
How about that? We won.

CATHERINE
One thing puzzles me, why are you always at such pains to prevent people knowing the truth about you, Sir Robert?

SIR ROBERT
Am I, indeed?

CATHERINE
You know that you are. Why?

SIR ROBERT
Which of us knows the truth about himself?

CATHERINE
That is no answer.

SIR ROBERT
My dear Miss Winslow, are you cross-examining me?

CATHERINE
On this point. Why are you ashamed of your emotions?

SIR ROBERT
To fight a case on emotional grounds is the surest way to lose it.

CATHERINE
Is it?

SIR ROBERT
Emotions cloud the issue. Cold, clear logic wins the day.

CATHERINE
Was it cold, clear logic that made you weep today at the verdict?

SIR ROBERT
I wept today because right had been done.

CATHERINE
Not justice.

SIR ROBERT
No, not justice. Right. Easy to do justice, very hard to do right. Well, now I must leave the witness box. Miss Winslow, I hope I shall see you again. One day perhaps in the House of Commons, up in the Gallery?

CATHERINE
Yes, Sir Robert. In the House of Commons one day, but not up in the Gallery. Across the floor, one day.

SIR ROBERT
You still pursuit your feminist activities?

CATHERINE
Oh yes.

SIR ROBERT
Pity. It's a lost cause.

CATHERINE
Oh, do you really think so, Sir Robert? How little you know about women. Goodbye. I doubt that we shall meet again.

SIR ROBERT
Oh, do you really think so, Miss Winslow? How little you know about men.

Adapted by David Mamet
The movie is based on the Terence Rattigan's play, first staged in 1946.
More info about The Winslow Boy movie.