TSAR'S DAUGHTER MARIE（3）

INT. KITCHEN --WINTER PALACE -- DAY

Marie picks up a threadbare coat and a worn bonnet from the maids' cabinet and puts them on. LEONID SEDNEV, an assistant kitchen boy of thirteen, stops rinsing apples and raises his head to look at Marie.

MARIE

Hey, Leonid, do you think I look like a maid?

LEONID

Oh, Your Highness, are you gonna sneak away from the palace in maid's clothes again?

MARIE

Shh...

Marie grabs two big red APPLES from the fruit bowl. She bites into one apple and puts the other into her pocket, scurrying out of the kitchen.

At the doorway, Marie is stopped by IVAN SEDNEV, the footman to the Grand Duchesses, thirty-one years old, tall, in his court livery, with red hair and a neatly trimmed beard and mustache.

LEONID

Uncle, Uncle, may I escort Grand Duchess Marie going out?

SEDNEV

Your Highness, are you gonna be out? Do you need a cart?

MARIE

No, I'd like to take a walk.

Sednev and Leonid watch Marie slip out of the palace.

LEONID

Have a wonderful day.

EXT. GARRISON -- WINTER PALACE -- DAY

Marie hangs out around the garrison, whistling. Groups of imperial SOLDIERS do exercises on the field. Marie passes a dorm building and peeps through a window.

MARIE'S POV THROUGH THE WINDOW

A yawning SERGEANT sits on his bed and fumbles about under his pillow. He takes out a small wooden box and opens it. He empties the box full of precious things onto the bed and shuffles them.

A SOLDIER enters and looks at the things scattered on the bed.

SOLDIER

Wow, Sergeant, you've got so many valuable things. Did you rob?

SERGEANT

No, I've never robbed any man alive, but took things from dead bodies during the war, dead bodies of both enemies and friends.

SOLDIERS

What are these? They look like teeth of human being.

SERGEANT

Well, these false teeth, made of gold, were drawn from the mouths of some German soldiers. This Swiss watch belonged to an Austrian officer, and that ring, maybe a wedding ring, was taken off from the finger of...

BACK TO SCENE

Marie appears disgusted and scuttles.

EXT. STREETS -- SLUM AREA -- PETROGRAD -- DAY

Marie roams around the markets in the slum area, passing by peddlers yelling and selling varieties of merchandise.

A couple of little BOYS toss a BALL to each other. The ball hits Marie on the back.  Turning her head, Marie sneers at the boys, takes the APPLE out of her pocket and hurls it to them.

The apple flies forward, misses the dispersing boys but, before falling to the ground, hits, right on the forehead, a young MAN whose name is VICTOR PETROV.

Victor stands beside a newsstand and buries himself in reading a newspaper. He, nineteen years old, possesses a striking figure distinguished by his handsome stature and athletic build in his student uniform.

Upon being hit by the apple, Victor raises his head and sees Marie, astonished at the sight of a BUXOM RUSSIAN BEAUTY, fascinated, unable to keep his blue eyes off her.

Marie stares Victor up and down, bold and unaffected, laughing merrily.

MARIE

Oh, sorry, my apple hits you.

Victor bends over to pick up the apple, wipes it on his coat and takes a big bite out of it.

VICTOR

(chewing)

Eve's apple is so delicious, thank you.

MARIE

I'm Marie, not Eve.

VICTOR

I'm Victor, a college student, majoring literature. Nice to meet you.

MARIE

Nice to meet you too.

VICTOR

Who are you? You look like an aristocrat.

MARIE

No, no, no. I'm a commoner, a maid.

VICTOR

A maid? What kind of?

MARIE

Um, scrub, scrub maid, in the kitchen.

VICTOR

Oh, I see. I know.  I work at a bakery after school. By the way, do you like reading?

MARIE

Yeah, a little.

VICTOR

I've read a lot. The best I like is Maxim Gorky, a proletariat writer. What have you read? Jane Austen, I guess?

MARIE

No. I read, uh, Charles Dickens.

VICTOR

Oliver Twist?

MARIE

Yes, and David Copperfield.

VICTOR

My favorite books too.

MARIE

Oh, it's late. I must go. Goodbye.

VICTOR

Goodbye.

Marie walks away, turning her head to Victor and waving her hand. Victor waves his hand to see Marie off. Marie jumps into a cab. Victor runs after her.

VICTOR (CONT'D)

(yelling)

May I see you again?

Marie looks at Victor through the window of the cab and nods her agreement. She smiles at him receding into distance while the cab drives away.

Victor appears excited but lost, left alone. Marie's cab disappears among the traffic and pedestrians in the markets.