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  • Part Four

  • Margaret. I met a friend.

  • Come in. Do come in.

  • - Oh, Mr Higgins. - Margaret.

  • How are you?

  • Last week I could do nowt else but bar the door.

  • - I understand. - It were me what made him do it.

  • No, Mr Higgins, you are not to blame.

  • I could have set Boucher on a better road.

  • Sit down, Mr Higgins.

  • We have all of us left undone those things we ought to have done.

  • We confess that daily and God, in his mercy, forgives us.

  • I called him a Judas. A coward.

  • He were a brave man.

  • - I want you to help me. - help you? Of course.

  • When I go down South, I want to take Mrs Boucher with me, and the children.

  • - Work for them, care for them. - Leave here and go South?

  • There's no work for me here. I'm blacklisted.

  • But many a time, Margaret, I've heard you talk of the South.

  • Perhaps you know somebody who might give me work.

  • What sort of work could you do?

  • I reckon I could spade a bit.

  • But you would not bear the dullness of the life.

  • Have you been to Marlborough Mills for work?

  • - Have you been to see Mr Thornton? - Not Thornton himself.

  • But I've been to t'works. I saw the overlooker.

  • He bid me go and be damned.

  • - I wish you had seen Mr Thornton. - Please try to see him.

  • Oh, such a man as me is not likely to see the master.

  • I'll write you a note.

  • A note that you can give to him.

  • I think I may venture to say it will ensure you a hearing.

  • What do you say?

  • You needn't write a note. I'll not have favour currled for me.

  • But I'll tell you what I'll do.

  • I'll do it for your sake, Margaret.

  • It taxes my pride above a bit, but I'll do it for you.

  • - Thank you. - Excuse me, sir.

  • - Are you still here? - I walted for you. I wanted to speak to you.

  • Ah, well, you'd better come in.

  • Now, then...

  • Take these across to Pinfold in the mill, will you?

  • - Have a word with you, sir? - Eh?

  • - A word in private, if you'd be so kind, sir. - Oh?

  • - Or perhaps we could step outside, master. - Walt here, will you?

  • - Do you know who that is? - You tell me.

  • That's Higgins. One of the Ieaders of the union. Been hanging around for hours.

  • - Higgins? - Aye, a desperate character.

  • There's some even say he's a sociallst.

  • Sociallst?

  • Thank you.

  • Leave me alone with him for a minute or two.

  • - well, sir. What do you want with me? - My name's Higgins.

  • I know that. What do you want? That's the question.

  • I want work. So will you Iay me on?

  • You're a fine chap, coming asking me for work.

  • You don't Iack impudence. That's very clear.

  • - What are you walting for? - I asked a question.

  • - I'm walting for the answer. - I gave it to you.

  • all you've done is remarked on my impudence.

  • It's manners to say yes or no when asked a simpIe question.

  • I'll repeat it. I'll be thankfuI to your for work.

  • I've turned off 1 00 of my best hands for following the likes of you.

  • Do you think I'd set you on? Might as well throw a firebrand into t'middIe of t'cotton waste!

  • - I'd make you promises. - What promises?

  • I promise I'll not speak a word as could do you harm

  • if you do right by us working men.

  • And I promise if I see you going wrong, acting unfair,

  • I'd speak to you in private first, and that'd be fair warning.

  • You don't make small beer of yourself, do you?

  • You'll not give me work?

  • I'm sorry to have troubled you. I were coaxed on by a woman.

  • well, tell her to mind her own business, in future.

  • Go on, get out!

  • I'm obIiged to you for your kindness, master.

  • But most of all for your civil way of saying goodbye.

  • Good day to you.

  • You certainly sent him off with his tall between his legs.

  • - What was he after, sir? - After work.

  • - Work? What, here, sir? - Aye.

  • Cheek of the man.

  • Mind you, they do say he's not the revolutionary he was.

  • Not since he caused that fellow's death.

  • Who's death?

  • Boucher. Drowned hisself. That Higgins has it on his conscience.

  • And so he should have.

  • Trled to make up for it by looking after Boucher's wife and children.

  • children?

  • Six of them.

  • Starving to death. Tragic, I know. But I looks at it this way, sir.

  • The BibIe says the sins of the father shall be visited on the children.

  • Mayhap it's the Lord's way of weeding out the riffraff.

  • You told him I sent you?

  • I didn't call you by name.

  • I told him a woman had advised me to come.

  • And he?

  • Oh, he told me to tell you to mind your own business.

  • Never mind, them are civil words to what he used to me.

  • (Urgent knocking)

  • - Mr Higgins. Can I have a word with you? - You? Calling here?

  • You'd best come in.

  • - Miss Hale. - Good evening, Mr Thornton.

  • I apoIogise. I didn't know you had company.

  • - I was on the point of leaving. - But you've only just come.

  • well, my main intention was to call on Mrs Boucher.

  • To see if I can be of help to her.

  • Aye, poor woman. Don't let me keep you, then.

  • I had no knowledge that you were here. I didn't know you were a friend of Mr Higgins.

  • This was the woman you said was to mind her own business.

  • It was you?

  • Ah. I apoIogise for my hasty words.

  • - I wonder if I might ask you a favour. - Favour? ApoIogise?

  • You're Iearning manners at Iast?

  • Never having been in your house before, you may think this impertinent,

  • but I'd be deeply gratefuI if you'd allow Miss Hale and me

  • to have a few words together - alone.

  • Put like that, and you a guest,

  • time and a bit of rented space, to that you're welcome, Mr Thornton.

  • I'll walt in the yard till you're finished.

  • You... You had a visit from my mother, I understand?

  • I did.

  • I regret what took place.

  • I would not have you hunted and badgered.

  • Miss Hale, have you no expIanation?

  • You must know what I can't but think.

  • I am aware of what I must appear to you.

  • But I'm not in a position to explain.

  • If I did, I would bring harm to another person.

  • Then I'll ask no further.

  • I thought we might have had something to say

  • but I see that we mean nothing to one another.

  • I hope you're quite convinced that any foolish passion on my part is entirely over.

  • Yes.

  • Then if you will excuse me...

  • ..good evening, Mr Thornton.

  • Miss Hale.

  • - Good night, ma'am. - Is there anything for Mrs Boucher?

  • well, Mr Thornton, what is it you wanted?

  • - will you take work with me? - Work for you after today? What's the catch?

  • - No catch. I didn't know about the children. - Boucher's children? What are they to you?

  • They're children, that's all.

  • Mr Thornton, we should have a chat, you and me,

  • about the principles of the hiring of labour.

  • I'm not here to discuss the Rights Of Man. will you take the job?

  • - Cos of Boucher's children? - Aye.

  • well?

  • all right. I'll come.

  • And what's more, I'll thank you. And that's a deaI from me.

  • That's a deaI from me.

  • A bargain?

  • Bargain.

  • well, it's all done, Papa.

  • - Dixon and I have packed the big trunk for you. - Thank you, my dear.

  • Mr Thornton has written once more to say that he must forego his Iesson.

  • - This is the third time. - You must be disappointed.

  • Now he must go to France on business.

  • I'd hoped, particularly, to see him before I left for Oxford.

  • Margaret,

  • have you ever had cause to think that Mr Thornton...

  • ..cared for you?

  • Yes.

  • Oh, Papa, I should have told you.

  • My dear, I'm sure you would have if you had returned his regard.

  • Did he...speak to you of it?

  • - Yes. - And you refused him?

  • Yes.

  • Forgive me for not telling you more,

  • but the whoIe thing is so painfuI to me that I... cannot bear to think of it.

  • I understand, my dear.

  • I'm so sorry to have lost you a friend.

  • I... I couldn't help it.

  • But...

  • (Sobs) Oh, I'm sorry.

  • Oh, Margaret, I'm sorry, too.

  • But, my dear, if it distresses you so much,

  • why don't you come to Oxford with me?

  • Your godfather would be delighted to see you.

  • Oh, you're both very kind.

  • After all that has happened these Iast few months,

  • I shall enjoy the peace and qulet of remaining here with Dixon.

  • You will take care of yourself? You promise me?

  • Yes, Papa, I will.

  • I shall be sorry to leave you, Margaret. It will seem strange without you.

  • Oh... But you know how happy you'll be to be in Oxford again, after all this time.

  • Yes, indeed, it is a Iong time.

  • I must confess, Margaret, I feel a little nervous.

  • Oh, you will feel differently tomorrow, once you've arrived.

  • Mm.

  • Ah, thank you. Oh.

  • - Thank you, thank you. - Thank you, sir.

  • - Oh. - (Train whistIe toots)

  • Why, Mr Bell!

  • Thornton? well, what are you doing on this train?

  • I caught it in London.

  • I'm on my way back from France. Been doing some business there.

  • - SuccessfuIly, I hope. - well, yes.

  • It's got me out of troubIe for the time belng.

  • How about you? Don't tell me you're on your way to Milton.

  • Yes. Yes, I am.

  • Not to put up my rent, I hope. We've got to the stage of diminishing returns.

  • Oh, come now. You've never found me an unreasonable IandIord, have you?

  • Aye, not so far as IandIords go, no.

  • But what is the purpose of your visit, may I ask?

  • - A most melancholy errand, I'm afraid. - Oh?

  • You know Mr Hale's been staying with me for the Iast few weeks?

  • - Yes. - well, prepare yourself for a shock.

  • Mr Hale is no more. He passed away Iast night.

  • What?

  • He went to bed Iast night, to all appearances in good health and excelIent spirits.

  • When my servant called him this morning, he had gone.

  • Hale dead?

  • He hadn't seen Oxford for 1 7 years.

  • His visit was a joyfuI reconcillation with his past, with his whoIe life.

  • He was happier than I've ever known him.

  • If a man must die, his was a good death.

  • We can thank God for that.

  • Does... Does Miss Hale know?

  • Margaret? No.

  • I'm on my way to break the news to her.

  • And now she's alone...what will come of her?

  • well, it's obvious she won't stay in Milton.

  • Most likely she will go to London and Iive with her aunt, Mrs Shaw.

  • Oh. London. Yes, I see.

  • - (Whispering) - Thank you, Dixon.

  • - She's in there, sir. - Oh, yes.

  • I'll just have a word with her. Thank you.

  • Margaret?

  • Margaret, my dear?

  • Yes, Godfather.

  • I know this has all been a terribIe shock to you.

  • But I have things that I ought to discuss with you.

  • Can you bear to listen to me?

  • - Yes, of course. - Ah. Good, good.

  • Now...

  • I've written to your aunt and she should be arriving tomorrow.

  • Yes.

  • Now, I think it most likely she'll want to return with you to London as soon as possibIe.

  • You will be happy in London, won't you?

  • - Yes. - Good.

  • Now, then, as I have only really one more day here, I was wondering -

  • as your aunt probably won't leave you enough time to say goodbye to your friends -

  • if you have the courage, my dear, I could accompany you on your leave taking.

  • Leave taking?

  • well, you may never see this place again.

  • I know.

  • well, now, who are the friends that you would wish to visit?

  • We have made so few friends,

  • friends who would remark on my departure.

  • But there's Mr Higgins. I must say goodbye to Mr Higgins.

  • Yes, yes. And who else?

  • I cannot think.

  • There's Mr Thornton. Have you forgotten him?

  • No, I have not forgotten him.

  • Then you'll say goodbye to him?

  • Yes.

  • I will say goodbye.

  • SaddIe of Iamb? Give a working man saddIe of Iamb?

  • - Why not? - Not enough packing in it.

  • - Packing? - No fat. Nothing succuIent.

  • For a dining room for your workers, give them what they're used to and Iots of it.

  • - well, what do you recommend, then? - Here.

  • Take this penciI and do a bit of jotting.

  • - Right. Fire ahead. - First off- hotpot.

  • Next, Belly draft. Neck of Iamb in pearI barIey.

  • ChorI chotters, chitterlings in the jissup.

  • - Jissup? - Aye, chitterlings in the jissup.

  • First-rate fettIe, I tell you.

  • - Got cow heel down, have you? - Um...

  • Oh, it's nice and gIuey around your chops is a cow heel.

  • - And don't forget your giblet pie. - (Laughs)

  • all right, Higgins. all right. You've convinced me.

  • What are you up to, Thornton? You taking up cooking?

  • Mr Bell.

  • It's a scheme Higgins and I are devising.

  • We're opening a canteen.

  • Buying the food whoIesaIe, see. It's cheaper.

  • Every man in t'mill will get one good meaI a day and at a rock bottom price.

  • Most progressive, my good man. Most progressive.

  • - all right, Higgins. We'll complete this tomorrow. - Very good, sir.

  • It's very good of you to call.

  • Actually, I brought Miss Hale with me.

  • She's in the house saying goodbye to your mother.

  • I want to apoIogise for my manner the Iast time we met, Mrs Thornton.

  • I'm sure you meant kindly, however much we may have misunderstood each other.

  • I did no more than what I believed to be my duty.

  • I'm gIad you do me justice.

  • What part of London shall you be residing in, Miss Hale?

  • - HarIey Street. - Oh.

  • Walter and I have discussed the possibillty of acquiring a townhouse...

  • after we are marrled.

  • I fancy Cheyne WaIk, myself.

  • If you do come to town, Miss Thornton,

  • I shall do all in my power to give you every attention.

  • And you, too, Mrs Thornton.

  • - I never go to London. - Oh.

  • - Good day, Mr Thornton. - Good day, Miss Hale.

  • I'm very sorry to hear of your sad loss.

  • Your father was a dear friend to me.

  • I have been sorting through Papa's books...

  • ..and I wondered if you would like his copy of Homer.

  • Oh.

  • I shall vaIue that greatly.

  • Thank you.

  • John, I'm sorry to say that Miss Hale's call is to wish us goodbye.

  • Mr Bell told me. You're leaving, then, for London?

  • Yes. My aunt arrives tomorrow to fetch me.

  • And we shall never see you again?

  • I doubt it.

  • Goodbye, then, Miss Hale.

  • Bye, Mr Thornton.

  • Yes. We ought to be making a move.

  • - Bye, Miss Thornton. - Bye, Miss Hale.

  • I'll come down with you, Miss Hale.

  • My poor dear child.

  • I had simply no conception how you were Iiving.

  • The butIer's wife Iives in a better house than this.

  • How you have suffered, poor Iamb.

  • It can be very pretty round here. In summer.

  • Your taste is bIunted, girI.

  • Still, we shall soon bring you back to what you were born to be.

  • A Iady of refinement.

  • - Dixon. - Yes, madam.

  • I have decided that you will remain here.

  • Can I trust you to sort through what belongings there are,

  • ready for the auctioneer to put under his hammer?

  • You can safely leave that to me, madam.

  • - Thank you, Dixon. You may go. - Thank you, madam.

  • We are selling all our furniture, then?

  • We can hardly have these odds and ends with us in London.

  • Not the right styIe at all.

  • Oh, no, I suppose not.

  • In fact, I am thinking about refurnishing the house,

  • having everything Gothic.

  • Mr Pugin's styIe.

  • - Have you seen any? - No, Aunt.

  • Oh, he had an absoIutely wonderfuI dispIay at the '51 exhibition.

  • His medievaI room is still talked about.

  • A most taIented man is Mr Pugin.

  • You will have to meet him.

  • Thank you.

  • You're going to Iive again, Margaret.

  • There is a wonderfuI life in store for you.

  • Excuse me, madam.

  • Miss Margaret, Mr Higgins would like to see you.

  • Please show him in, Dixon.

  • well, show him in.

  • If you'll step this way, Mr Higgins.

  • Mr Higgins, how good of you to come.

  • This is my Aunt, Mrs Shaw.

  • How do you do?

  • I will go upstairs and Iie down, Margaret dear.

  • - Dixon, you will remain. - Yes, madam.

  • So, you're gonna be a grand Iady up in London, Mr Thornton told me.

  • Oh, not a grand Iady...

  • I should have come to see you.

  • BIess you. I know you'd come if you could.

  • As I said to t'master, ''If I don't see her afore her goes,

  • I shall get up to London next Whitsuntide. I'll not be bauIked of saying a goodbye.''

  • If no-one else remembers me in Milton, I can be certain of you.

  • Aye. You made your mark.

  • I'll not forget you. Not ever.

  • Thank you.

  • I shall always treasure our friendship.

  • We've been great friends.

  • BIess you, Margaret. BIess you.

  • And amen.

  • (CIassicaI music and chatter)

  • Oh, Margaret, if only I could find somebody for you to marry.

  • - I shall never marry. - Nonsense.

  • I want to see you happy again.

  • Don't grieve too Iong.

  • After all, it is more than six months since your father dled.

  • - It's high time you started to think of yourself. - Edith, I...

  • You've become such an attraction to the house during the past few months.

  • ShoIto knows many men who wish to visit here only for your sake.

  • Do you know, Edith, I sometimes think that your stay abroad with the regiment

  • has taught you...

  • well?

  • Just a shade or two of coarseness.

  • Come, my dears. I can't have you two gossiping together all evening.

  • Come, Margaret.

  • well, my dear, how are you enjoying your return to soclety?

  • I find soclety a little difficuIt to accept.

  • I don't feel part of it any more.

  • Margaret, a girI must not say such a thing.

  • Such an admission is impossibIe.

  • What you need, Margaret, my dear, is gentIeness and tenderness.

  • I will leave you with Henry, for he has a rich fund of both.

  • You will look after her, won't you, whiIe I tour the guests?

  • - Margaret. - Yes, Henry?

  • Tear away the pretentious veneer of our conversation

  • and you would find that this room is fuII of aching hearts.

  • Henry, why do you go on with it?

  • I speak for myself.

  • My own somewhat forced, affable chatter

  • is simply a means of disguising how vuInerable I am.

  • You vuInerable?

  • Margaret, all men who have a Ionging for something...

  • someone, are vuInerable.

  • Henry.

  • You are the kindest and most sympathetic friend I have here.

  • Still only a friend.

  • And I remain vuInerable.

  • That belng so, I must make sure that soclety is unaware of it, so come, Margaret.

  • What chit-chat shall we engage in?

  • - I do not enjoy chit-chat. - But you must, Margaret. You must.

  • It is an essentiaI ruIe of the game.

  • I hear that the thing to avold this season

  • is to attend any party where AIfred Lord Tennyson is invited.

  • Got a new poem called Maud.

  • Reads it in a speciaI sing-song voice with tears dripping down his face.

  • Nothing but moans and groans. AbsoIute shocker of a man.

  • Guaranteed to kill any evening stone dead.

  • Oh, Henry.

  • (Bell toIling in distance)

  • Ah, right sad I am to see it like this, Miss Dixon.

  • 'Twas a tragic house, Mr Higgins.

  • - Tragic from first to Iast. - Aye.

  • Now, Mr Higgins. Miss Hale wrote to me most insistently

  • that you should come in and pick something you liked before it's all sent to the auction tomorrow.

  • How is she now?

  • She doesn't say much in her letters but I'd say London was suiting her.

  • It's her kind of life, see, what she was born and bred for.

  • well now, I've Iaid out the oddments over there.

  • And if there's anything you fancy, just you take it.

  • Right you are.

  • I'll have this - old Hale's tobacco jar.

  • I'll think of him every time I dips in me pipe.

  • Just a minute. That isn't Mr Hale's.

  • I shouldn't have left it there.

  • It is Master Frederick's.

  • Who's Frederick?

  • - He is nobody that you know. - There is a Frederick, then?

  • Walt a minute.

  • You had our Mary working in the kitchen when Mrs Hale was dying.

  • Her said a nice-looking fellow come to the house. Her said it was Miss Hale's brother.

  • How many other peopIe has your Mary told?

  • only me. I pooh-poohed the idea untiI now.

  • I thought it were one of her fancies.

  • But it's right, in't it? Miss Hale does have a brother named Frederick.

  • Mr Higgins, so this goes no further,

  • 'tis best to tell you something.

  • - Aye? - Something the family's trled to hush up.

  • If it got out that he'd come to this house,

  • Miss Margaret could be put in prison for harbouring a desperate criminaI.

  • Miss Hale's brother's a criminaI?

  • well, we don't think so and nobody in thelr right mind would think so.

  • But the law thinks so.

  • If it were left to the law, he'd be dangling from the yardarm.

  • What did he do, then?

  • - He led a mutiny on one of Her Majesty's ships. - Mutiny?

  • He had a good reason for it.

  • The captain were a tyrant.

  • Master Frederick led that mutiny to save more death and suffering.

  • Where is he now?

  • In Spain. He marrled a Spanish girI and settled down there.

  • - Is that jonnock? - Jonnock?

  • - True. - Not a word of a Iie.

  • well, it's an eye-opener, a right fIummoxer.

  • Still, as far as I'm concerned, there ain't no Frederick, nor never was.

  • That's settled, then.

  • Now, Mr Higgins, is there something else that you fancy?

  • Can I have this?

  • That's Mr Hale's prayer book.

  • - I know. - I thought you were against religion?

  • I am a bit. But it'd be nice to have something he'd handled, that Mr Hale put his mind to.

  • You take it, Mr Higgins.

  • Ta, Miss Dixon. Ta.

  • 'Pon my soul, Margaret, it's easier to Iay hands on the Crown Jewels

  • than to get inside this place!

  • How good it is to see you, Godfather.

  • How are they treating you, my dear child? well, I hope.

  • Oh, yes, most kind.

  • Where is your aunt and your cousins? The place seems deserted.

  • - They've gone out visiting. - What?

  • - Left you all alone? - I asked them to.

  • I cannot stand the whirI of the sociaI round, day in, day out.

  • But what brings you here?

  • - well, now, I've just come down from Milton. - Milton?

  • I thought I'd better come straight here and give you my report.

  • You went there specially for the auction?

  • Yes, and to see that the house was taken off your hands.

  • Fortunately, Thornton has found a tenant, so that worry's over.

  • You have seen Mr Thornton?

  • Yes, and great news in that family.

  • - Great news - a marriage. - Marriage?

  • Miss Fanny has marrled Walter SIickson, son of SIickson the manufacturer.

  • Smart young fellow.

  • Perhaps a little too shrewd for his years.

  • Fly, that's what I call him.

  • His talk's all of markets and exchanges and goodness knows what.

  • - But I hope she will be happy with him. - Yes, indeed.

  • well, Margaret, do you know what I did on the train?

  • I felI asleep - fast asleep.

  • And I had a dream, you'll never guess what I dreamt about.

  • I dreamt I was back in that dear little village called Helstone.

  • And when I woke up, I had a notion, just an idea.

  • Oh?

  • I'd like us, just you and I, to go and visit it.

  • Visit Helstone?

  • If it wouldn't pain you too much, my child.

  • Oh, no.

  • My memories of it are happy memories.

  • Oh, Godfather...

  • what a sweet generous soul you are.

  • Nonsense, nonsense.

  • Ah.

  • Ah, thank you, thank you.

  • - There we are. Thank you, my man. - Thank you, sir.

  • well, now. I wonder where everybody is.

  • Let's er...

  • Whoa. (ExHales)

  • Ah.

  • well, bIess my soul!

  • It's Miss Hale, ain't it? Miss Hale!

  • Good afternoon, Mrs Purkis.

  • Mrs Purkis, I'm afraid we haven't given you any warning, but I do hope you've got some rooms.

  • Mr Bell! Of all peopIe, Mr Bell.

  • - You remember me? - Remember you?

  • Why, many's the time you stayed under this roof in the old days.

  • You're most welcome, sir. Of course we've got rooms.

  • Ah, good, good.

  • Fancy seelng you again, Miss Hale.

  • And how's the Vicar, your father?

  • God bIess him. We never cease to be sorry he left.

  • Papa...

  • He's gone from us, Mrs Purkis.

  • Oh, no, never so?

  • Margaret is my goddaughter.

  • Her father was my oldest friend.

  • So we thought we'd come down here together and have a look at the old place.

  • - 'Tis changed, changed a Iot. - Indeed?

  • Oh, aye. In two or three years, it has changed beyond recognition.

  • We must investigate that for ourselves, mustn't we?

  • Mrs Purkis, would you be kind enough to show us to our rooms?

  • - Right you are. - Can you manage those?

  • What, these bags? They'm feathers.

  • - (ChuckIes) - Godfather?

  • Whatever Mrs Purkis says, peopIe do not change, ordinary peopIe.

  • You don't think so? well, we shall see.

  • - Come. - Yes, we shall see.

  • Let us call on some of the old cottages,

  • and then visit the schooI...

  • and then...

  • if I'm brave enough to bear it, go to the vicarage once more.

  • Anything you say, my dear.

  • I like to think we're the vanguard of the new Church of England, Miss Hale.

  • We can no Ionger afford the induIgence of meditation and all that.

  • CarefuI, william. Miss Hale's father was a schoIar.

  • This room, I believe, was once fuII of his books.

  • There were books in every room.

  • But this was our drawing room too.

  • well, the good old Church is changing. We must change with it.

  • Thank you.

  • Oh, thank you very much.

  • There are no roses? They've gone?

  • The children, Miss Hale.

  • We needed room for them to pIay.

  • VICAR: Strict discipIine. That's what I believe in.

  • A bit of the Roman attitude.

  • Leave abstruse dogma to the wise old fathers of the Church, whiIe we get on with the job.

  • Too much delving by mediocre minds can only Iead to heresy.

  • Are you referring to my father? He became a dissenter and left the Church.

  • Sorry, nothing personal.

  • It's just that I've had to tackle a parish that's got a bit vague about things.

  • I don't quite follow.

  • I mean, they haven't got it clear yet on OriginaI Sin,

  • let alone thelr muddled thinking about transubstantiation.

  • well, my attitude is absoIutely clear, isn't it, my dear?

  • Oh, yes, William.

  • Too much thinking for yourself cuItivates pride.

  • It's your mind against the will of God.

  • And that can Iead to all kinds of troubIe.

  • I think Miss Hale knows that.

  • Yes. all respect to your father.

  • But if he had relled upon falth and the symboIs of falth...

  • The first thing william did was open a chapel to Our Lady.

  • Yes, it's that kind of thing that keeps your mind on the right courses.

  • To be a falthfuI Christian, there's a good case for sacrificing the intellect, you know.

  • In all humillty, may I suggest that that is what your father never did.

  • Sacrifice his intellect?

  • Precisely.

  • No.

  • Papa never did that.

  • (clears throat)

  • Everything all right, sir?

  • Oh, yes, indeed. Thank you, Mrs Purkis.

  • Now, my dear.

  • will you have a little port?

  • - No, thank you. - No?

  • Is anything the matter, my dear?

  • I looked on Helstone as paradise.

  • But everything's altered.

  • Perhaps it's you.

  • Me?

  • Yes, possibly.

  • You see, Iiving in the smoky, bustling North,

  • you probably began to take a romantic view of life down here.

  • Yes.

  • And now I must guard against the reverse.

  • Oh?

  • Taking a romantic view of the North.

  • Of the peopIe? (ChuckIes)

  • There's nothing romantic about them.

  • No, we're...

  • Poor Mr Thornton's having rather a difficuIt time.

  • There are rumours he may have to close the mill.

  • - Oh, no, I hope not. - well, trade is very bad.

  • Please let me tell you something.

  • You could perhaps help me a little.

  • Yes? Go on, my dear.

  • There is something which has caused a barrier between me and Mr Thornton.

  • Oh?

  • It's a Iong story.

  • But you know at the time of Mama's death, my brother returned to this country?

  • No, I did not know.

  • I thought Papa would have told you.

  • I had to hurry Frederick away again quickly out of the country, secretly.

  • I went with him to the rallway station.

  • It was very Iate.

  • Midnight.

  • Mr Thornton saw us walting for the train...

  • ..embracing.

  • well.

  • And you've never explained to him?

  • How could I?

  • The fewer peopIe who knew about Frederick, the better.

  • Now I'm not likely to see Mr Thornton ever again.

  • Oh, I wouldn't say that.

  • But I believe I never shall.

  • Somehow, one does not like to sink so Iow in a friend's opinion.

  • would you like me to see Mr Thornton for you,

  • and explain, discreetly, of course, the whoIe matter to him?

  • - would you? - Mm.

  • would you?

  • Please tell him all the circumstances.

  • tell him aIso that I gave you leave to do so.

  • For Papa's sake, I should not like to lose Mr Thornton's respect.

  • Though we may never meet again.

  • My dear, I shall take the first opportunity of going to Milton to see him.

  • Why are you not in bed?

  • I heard you waIking about down here.

  • well...

  • is it the end?

  • I fear so.

  • Can you ask Mr Bell to forego the rent for a whiIe?

  • He might even Iend you what you need to tide you over.

  • - Did I not tell you, Mother? Mr Bell's very ill. - ill?

  • I had a letter from his servant. He was too ill to write himself.

  • - Why don't you go before it's too Iate? - Why?

  • To get money from a dying man? I'd find that despicable.

  • In any case... (InHales sharply)

  • I wouldn't be indebted to the person who is likely to inherit his fortune.

  • - Who's that? - His goddaughter.

  • What, Miss Hale?

  • He's nobody else to leave it to.

  • You mean she'll own this house... and the factory?

  • Aye, and all his other properties in Milton.

  • No.

  • I shall have to give up business.

  • I can just cover all the debts, pay off the men.

  • We shall have very little left.

  • You mustn't grieve, Mother, about leaving the house.

  • I don't care about the house.

  • It's you I care about.

  • It breaks my heart to see you Iess than you should be.

  • Is there nothing you can do?

  • No.

  • It's not fair, Mother!

  • I can't start again with the same heart.

  • Sometimes I wonder where justice has gone to.

  • Now I don't believe there is any.

  • God has seen fit to be very hard on you, John.

  • Did he leave a will?

  • When I Iast saw Mr Bell, he hinted to me the terms of it.

  • UnIess he has added a codiciI, which is unlikely, the whoIe of his estate passes to Margaret.

  • Which is...

  • what, exactly?

  • well, besides any money, she will have the whoIe of his Milton properties.

  • They amount to some pounds40,000.

  • Mr Bell dled well.

  • Margaret will be heartbroken.

  • She was so fond of him, Mama.

  • Oh, yes.

  • The death of a dear one is always hard to bear.

  • - Henry? - Mrs Shaw?

  • You must break this news to her yourself.

  • Oh, yes, I intend to.

  • But I feel if you and Edith were there too, the comfort of womenfolk...

  • No, no, Henry, I do not agree.

  • There is much to be gained by her having the soIe comfort of a man.

  • As her lawyer, you must stay by her.

  • Give her all the help and sympathy she needs.

  • (Door opens)

  • Margaret, my dear.

  • Henry has just told us. He has some very serious news for you.

  • Oh?

  • - Edith, we will allow them some privacy. - Yes, Mama, of course.

  • - Dixon. - Yes, madam.

  • Dearest Margaret.

  • - Yes? - I have some deeply sad news to tell you.

  • Mr Bell has departed this life.

  • Mr Bell?

  • Oh, no.

  • His solicitors felt that I should be the one to tell you.

  • They have aIso suggested that when, in a day or two, the will is read...

  • Where did he die?

  • - In Oxford. - Oxford?

  • Not Milton?

  • Goodbye, Jenkins. Thank you.

  • Goodbye, master. And if you ever start up the factory again, you can count on me.

  • I'm the only one as knows how to work that new carding machine.

  • Thank you.

  • Goodbye, Roberts. Thank you.

  • Goodbye, Penfold.

  • Thank you, master, for getting me placed with Mr Hamper.

  • I wish I could have done it for all of you.

  • Still, if there's anything I can do at any time...

  • We do know that, master. We know it.

  • Goodbye.

  • Bye-bye.

  • That's the Iot, master.

  • Don't bother Iocking up, williams. I'll see to it.

  • well, what are you going to do?

  • My brother wrote me.

  • He'll get me work down t'pit Durham way.

  • - Pit? - Aye.

  • Wife's dead, why not?

  • well...take care of yourself, Williams.

  • Aye.

  • Bye, master.

  • Lord be with you.

  • Thank you.

  • Goodbye, williams.

  • Bye, ma'am.

  • well...

  • Very qulet, Mother.

  • You're a brave man, John, to say goodbye to your workers.

  • I like things to be tidy, Mother, rounded off.

  • I'll join you in the house. You leave me alone to Iock up.

  • Higgins.

  • My friend.

  • I'd like to speak to you, master.

  • Don't call me ''master''.

  • I'm nobody's master now.

  • If you want to start up again, in a small way in a backyard, I'll work for you for nothing.

  • - Nothing? - Aye, till you've got your feet off the ground.

  • (Tuts) Higgins, where are your union principles now?

  • - No more batle left betwixt you and me. - Aye.

  • We're two men out of a job.

  • I'm sorry I couldn't get you alternative empIoyment.

  • - But because of your union associations... - Don't worry.

  • Time'll come when they'll have to accept us.

  • You won't be offended if I speak to you man to man?

  • - No, please do. - Been thrust together, haven't we?

  • First the strike, then getting mixed up with the Hales.

  • How is Miss Margaret? Have you heard?

  • - Miss Hale? - Aye, all alone in London.

  • Not even her brother to look after her.

  • Brother?

  • Aye. You know she's got a brother, dun't you?

  • Came over here at the time of her mother's death, Iives in Spain.

  • In Spain?

  • I don't suppose he'll ever be back.

  • Leading a mutiny on one of Her Majesty's ships.

  • No forgiveness for that, is there?

  • No, no.

  • Oh.

  • I better be toddling, then.

  • Eh?

  • Oh, aye.

  • Good day, then...

  • Thornton.

  • Good day, Higgins.

  • Brother.

  • Mr Thornton.

  • Yes, Miss Margaret.

  • He wishes to speak with you.

  • Mr Thornton? Thornton of Milton?

  • I believe so, madam. His speech...is certainly not of London.

  • - If you will pardon my saying so, Miss Margaret. - You will not see him, Margaret.

  • Not see him?

  • I consider it more prudent.

  • You have inherited a considerable fortune.

  • Henry has told me about this Mr Thornton.

  • He is a man in sharply reduced circumstances.

  • With respect, Mrs Shaw,

  • I do feel that some allowances should be made.

  • After all, generosity of spirit, if nothing else,

  • can be shown to those who have fallen from thelr pinnacles.

  • Henry! He is not a member of one of your London clubs.

  • He is a Northerner.

  • Newton, show Mr Thornton into the Iibrary.

  • Yes, Miss Margaret.

  • Margaret, my dear...

  • Do you reallse what you have just done?

  • You have countermanded my order in front of a servant.

  • In what way?

  • I have forbidden you to see Mr Thornton.

  • It is for your own good. There will be many who come after your money.

  • You must be protected.

  • I am now of age. You cannot command me.

  • And I shall do with my own as I wish.

  • Don't be foolish, Margaret.

  • would you do me the kindness to let me speak to Mr Thornton?

  • I think you must let Margaret speak with him.

  • As you think best, Henry.

  • - Mr Thornton. - Thank you, Newton.

  • Mr Thornton.

  • Miss Hale.

  • What brings you to London?

  • A delicate action and a deep apology.

  • That night at the rallway station.

  • The man I saw you with was your brother,

  • was he not?

  • How did you know?

  • I was told so by Mr Higgins.

  • Oh, I see.

  • He didn't greatly enlarge upon it.

  • A matter of some discretion.

  • But...

  • I truly believe it was your brother.

  • Forgive me.

  • Of course.

  • You have had to close Marlborough Mills.

  • Yes.

  • I'm sorry I shall be losing you as a tenant.

  • Thank you.

  • Mr Thornton...

  • I believe I have a little over pounds 18,000 lying unused in my bank.

  • It was only yesterday I was discussing it with Henry Lennox.

  • It brings in a mere two-and-a-half per cent.

  • If you would take this money, you could pay me much better interest

  • and go on working Marlborough Mills.

  • You could make it into one of the finest industries in the whoIe of England.

  • You once told me that was your aim.

  • Given my capital, could it not be your aim once more?

  • Margaret!

  • Margaret.

  • Why do you not speak?

  • If I must go, then send me away at once.

  • Margaret?

  • I love you.

  • I've always loved you.

  • Look, er...

  • I have something to show you.

  • - Do you know these roses? - No.

  • You might have once worn sister roses.

  • They are from Helstone.

  • You've been there.

  • When?

  • At a time when I had no hope of calling you mine.

  • I went there on my return from France.

  • I wanted to see the place where Margaret Hale grew to be what she is.

  • - You must give them to me. - Very well.

  • But...

  • you must pay me for them first.

  • Margaret...

  • ..you must leave all of this.

  • London.

  • - The South. - Aye.

  • It is not places that matter...

  • ..but peopIe.

Part Four

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