"Arthur." "Sorry." "Church steeple." "Stop playing the fool, Arthur." "It shows where my thoughts are." "Between the cradle and the grave." "Joanna, may I take my hat off?" "─ No, you may not." "But the elastic is cutting my chin." "Why may I not?" "You can't until the funeral is over." "─ But they've put father in the ground." "It isn't over until we've had tea and the will's been read." "As sole executor of this, my last will and testament." "Now we come to the bequests." "To my neighbours, Richard Huggett of Beau Dell and Isaac Turk of Scotsmarsh." "I leave a mourning ring apiece." "To my trusted servant, Martha Tilden." "The sum of fifty pounds." "An equal sum to my Looker, or Shepherd, Thomas Fuller." "An equal sum to my cowman, Joseph Hook." "To James Stuppeny, who for forty years has served me and my father before me." "The sum of one hundred pounds." "To the Reverend James Brett the sum of five pounds." "Towards the purchase of a set of new prayer books for Brodnyx Parish." "To Arthur Alce, my two volumes of Robertson's sermons." "And "The Sheep In Sickness And In Health"." "To my daughter, Ellen." "The sum of five hundred pounds." "The capital to be hers upon her coming of age." "And I bequeath the farm of Little Baynham in the Parish of Brodnyx, Kent." "To my beloved daughter, Joanna Mary." "Together with the residue of my estate and effects." "There is a codicil attached to this will." "It reads as follows." "It is my earnest desire that my daughter, Joanna Mary." "Shall accept the proposal of marriage which Arthur Alce has made to her." "Though this shall not be an express condition of her inheritance." "Thank you, Mr Huxtable." "Don't look so sad, Jo." "Your dad had a good innings." "─ Arthur, you behaved disgracefully." "More suited to a horse-fair than a funeral." "Playing games and making faces, and my father not cold in his grave." "Well, I got fed up." "─ Fed up?" "You'll be telling me next, you could have done with a drink." "As a matter of fact, I could." "Arthur, if you don't want father's sheep books, I'm sure you needn't have them." "I do want them, to remember him by." "But we'll need more than books to tackle this job. ─ What job?" "Our farm." "─ Ours?" "Well, yours if you like." "At least for the time being." "─ And what about the farm?" "Jo, you keep complaining that I'm not serious." "Well, I'm going to be serious." "This farm has been a good one." "One of the best on the marsh." "And it can be again." "But it's not now." "Your father didn't make a halfpenny out if these past five years." "At the present moment it ain't worth a hat-full of shrimps." "Arthur, you haven't shown respect for the dead all day." "I ask you to show a little now." "It's respect for the living I'm thinking about." "Here, here." "What's this?" "We're going to be married." "Are we?" "Now, half a minute, Jo." "Your dad said I was a good farmer." "But he didn't put me in his will because of that." "I should hope not." "─ Well then." "He was right about us, wasn't he?" "I wonder." "Now look, Jo." "There is my place." "Not a stone's throw away from yours." "As close as they can be." "Just like you and me have always been, ever since we were kids." "I thought it was all fixed up." "With a woman, nothing is ever fixed." "You ought to know that." "But the farm .. what about the farm?" "It's three parts bankrupt." "Your dad knew that." "He had sense to see it needed a man after he'd gone." "I'll manage the farm." "I think things will run to a bailiff." "─ Who said anything about a bailiff?" "Who then?" "─ Nobody." "What do you mean?" "I'll run the farm myself." "That's what I mean." "Jo, you're off your head." "This farm just about killed your father." "Not sure it didn't kill your mother, too." "I'm darned if I'll stand by and see it kill you." "Well, what choice have you got?" "Eh?" "What choice have you if I mean to do it?" "─ You can't mean it." "A woman on a farm?" "Whoever heard of that?" "─ You did." "And a lot more will." "But the men." "They'll never take orders from a woman." "Won't they?" "I'd like to meet the man who wouldn't take orders from me." "Are you going to give me orders?" "No, Arthur." "And a farm can't have two masters." "But Little Baynham is mine now." "Bankrupt or not, for better or worse." "You sound as if you're marrying the farm instead of me." "Perhaps I am." "Then I can't do better than wish you both good luck." "I hope the union will be blessed." "Time to get up, Ellen." "You'll be late for school." "That rotten old school." "Didn't you sleep well, Jo?" "─ Oh, it's nothing." "I got up extra early to do the accounts." "That's all." "The trouble is, I'm like father." "Not much good at figures." "Nor me, I'm afraid." "I've been thinking .. how would you like to go to a real school?" "Jo." "A boarding school?" "─ Uhuh." "There is one at Folkestone I read about." "You'll stay there until you're eighteen." "Oh, I'd have to have lots of new clothes and things, wouldn't I." "You'll have that." "And stay until they've taught you everything they can teach you." "So at least there will be somebody in this family properly educated." "Jo." "I can't go." "─ Why ever not?" "We can't afford it." "I know." "I heard Stuppeny say that .." "Never you mind what old Stuppeny said." "There are ways and means." "Now Ellen, I mustn't hold on here." "I'll be late for market." "Grace Wickens, you should have been up half an hour ago." "Morning, Martha." "─ Morning, Miss Joanna." "Better put the kettle on." "Bring me up a cup of tea as soon as you can." "I'll be somewhere in the yard." "─ Yes, Miss." "Here, what's this?" "Get a move on with that work, and hurry." "Yes, but I wasn't born in a hurry." "─ Well, I'm sorry for your mother." "We're only waiting for a mouthful of tea." "Waited on hand and foot." "It's a wonder you don't need napkins." "No-one's ever spoke to me like that before." "And I've been pretty near since before I was breached." "No-one's ever spoke to me like that." "─ No, me neither." "Well, it's high time someone started." "Fuller!" "Say your prayers." "How many ewes have you taken in?" "─ Plenty." "Take them off." "We save their grazing for the winter." "They ain't fat." "Not good." "Never mind if they're fit, fat or what they are." "Do as I tell you." "I tell you it will be a fool job to take them." "Well, you're taking them." "A new trap now." "What next I wonder?" "Well, if that's the way you carry on when a farm don't pay." "I'll be glad when some of you start drinking more beer and pay less for it." "Yes .. and then perhaps you could go to a fancy high-school in Folkestone." "I get all the fancy schooling I want here, thank you." "New traps, fancy schools." "Where is the money coming from?" "─ Ah, but is it coming?" "That's it." "She ain't paid me so much as the froth off a pint of mild since her dad died." "She's a filly that ain't been properly broke in." "And she wants a strong man to do it." "There goes your strong man." "Good morning, Arthur." "Good morning, Jo." "I was afraid you'd turn up." "Ah, you needn't be afraid." "Well, suppose I make your deals for you?" "I suppose all you men think you will swindle me." "Certainly." "If we get half a chance." "Well, perhaps you'd like to bid for some of my sheep then?" "I'm selling off all my three-lamb ewes." "Flock's got too big for you?" "─ Don't be daft." "I'm thinking of next winter." "Now if I sell all of my old sheep .." "─ Another pint of Old, Reg." "If I sell my old sheep, I'll have enough grass for my one-lamb and two-lamb ewes." "So I need only send the lambs to the hill for winter keep." "I don't hold with it." "Cutting one of the best pedigree flocks on the marsh." "Ah, but I'm thinking ahead." "You see, next November .." "Glad to see you back, Mr Trevor." "─ We're glad to be back." "Mrs Godden, you don't look a day older." "Do you recognise Martin?" "I can't say that I do." "You were such a skinny sort of a lad." "We're settling down for good this time." "Going to put our backs into it." "Do some real farming." "─ I'm glad." "I don't like to see Great Baynham not grazed." "We've just been talking to your shepherd." ""Looker", Mr Martin." "We never say "Shepherd" in the marsh." "It's "Looker"." "Sorry." "Anyway, we've bought some ewes of yours." "Mine?" "I made no sale." "Well they had your mark." "And they were sold to us by your shep .." "I mean "Looker"." "Oh they were, were they?" "Fuller had no right to do a deal off his own hook." "In that case, we'll call it off." "How much did you state to pay?" "─ 35 shillings a head." "The poorest price." "We didn't haggle." "It was the price your Looker suggested." "But does it matter?" "We'd better call it off, hadn't we?" "No, we hadn't." "I must abide by Fuller's word." "How many did you buy?" "─ The whole lot. 80." "80?" "Fuller said a 150." "─ 80 is all there were, I assure you." "I lay Tom Fuller will put her in her place." "Fuller, I told you as clear as clear to bring all the three lamb ewes over here." "How dare you disobey my orders." "─ As a matter of fact, I brought 80." "There was only 80 fit." "I wasn't going to bring any more to be made a fool of." "Reckon I know as much about sheep as you." "Come on, Jo." "─ Keep clear Arthur, and leave it to me." "Your job is to take orders from me." "I should ought to know a sight more than you." "Since I was your father's Looker before you were father's daughter." "You may have been my father's Looker, but you're not mine any longer." "If you won't do as I say, you can leave my service this very month." "What a tartar." "Come on, Arthur." "You co on back .." "I'm not coming." "─ But you haven't finished dinner." "Now listen, Jo." "You can shout at your men, your Looker or who you like." "But you'll not shout at me." "Well, it was enough to make a saint swear." "The trouble is, you think you know everything." "Really you're only being pig-headed." "─ Now, don't you start calling me names." "It's one thing to turn me down." "It's one thing to run Little Baynham by yourself." "It's another thing to do both, and turn down advice and make a fool of yourself." "When I want your advice I'll ask for it." "─ Well, don't be so sure you'll get it." "Whoa." "Hello, Louise." "Good afternoon, Mr Alce." "Going to the sheepdog trials?" "─ Well, I thought perhaps I might." "A nice day for walking." "─ A nice day for riding, too." "Jump in." "Here .. here." "Who is this?" "A fellow called Collard." "He's a Looker at Burrell Springs." "Steady man." "Come on, boy." "Come on." "Come along there." "I hope it's the dog they're applauding." "It seems to me he does all the work." "And all the Looker has to do as well." "To look." "Ahh .. when they clap the dog they're clapping for the man." "You don't need to pay no attention to the Looker." "You watch the dog." "He'll show you if his master knows his job or not." "Steady." "I understand you've never been in the marsh before?" "No Missus." "Not until I come to Baynham." "Marsh sheep are very different from upland sheep." "I know .." "I found that out already." "I reckon you heard why I got shot of Fuller." "Yes, Missus." "─ Well." "If you don't like working for a woman, you've only got to say so." "But my orders are orders." "Just the same as a man's." "You understand?" "Yes, Missus." "Now, did they give you a character?" "Hello." "Hello." "Want some?" "─ Please." "See you tonight?" "I'll try and slip out after seven o'clock. ─ Good." "Good lot of sheep, Kents." "But I wish they would foal more twins." "That's right, missus." "You know." "There's been Kents here for hundreds of years but nobody's tried crossing them." "Except the South Downs." "─ They're not much better." "Now if I was to start crossing, I'd look further afield." "My master up at Garden Green used to get a rare lot of twins." "Wiltshire blackfaces he had." "Big as little cattle." "You should have seen them." "─ Think he'd sell us some of his rams?" "Reckon he would." "And I reckon we'd get an uncommon lot of lambs from them." "Looks as if it was a lucky day for me when I got shot of Fuller." "When do you think you'll finish?" "Tomorrow night if the weather holds." "That will be record time." "We'll have to mark the event somehow." "Good evening, Arthur." "─ Good evening, Jo." "Well, everybody seems to be having a good time." "Jo, have you met ..?" "─ Like to dance, Arthur?" "After all, a hostess must dance with her guests." "That's only polite, isn't it." "Well .." "Come on, Arthur." "We haven't danced together for such a long time." "You dance nicely, Arthur." "Then I expect you get lots of practice, these days." "Jo, I've been wanting to see you." "See me?" "What's this about crossing breeds?" "Cross-breeding." "Now that's a subject you ought to know something about." "I hear your crossing with Wiltshire blackfaces." "Yes, it's true." "Glad your father's not here to see it." "It's my affair, not my father's." "─ It's your father's flock." "Raised of him." "Bred of him." "One of the finest pedigree flocks on the marsh." "I know what I'm doing." "─ I wonder if you do." "This was Collard's idea, was it?" "─ Now, don't you start lecturing me." "Perhaps it wouldn't do you any harm for a change." "When I think of a pedigree flock like yours that's taken years to raise, I .." "Well, I'm glad to see you got some Old ale." "Have you chaps heard anything about this cross-breeding?" "Well, we hear a lot but we ain't told much." "Oh, you know what she is." "She gets set on a thing and you can't turn her." "That's a fact." "Yes, we hear a lot." "It's so hot in here." "Can't we go outside?" "Just a moment." "─ Well." "Hey, do you want a turn?" "I ain't quite past it yet, you know." "I don't care what Miss Godden says." "You ought to know better." "So you're boss of Little Baynham now?" "No." "But I'm not standing by to see a whole pedigree flock wiped out by your notions." "Miss Godden is my boss." "She gives orders." "I take them." "That's all I know." "─ Well, I warn you." "Your lambs will be too big and your ewes will never deliver them." "It strike me as a bit late, Mr Alce." "If you'd have been half a man, them sheep might have been yours." "Here, I'm off." "That will do thank you, Arthur." "I like a man with brains, not fists." "I think you had better take yourself and your partner home." "Doesn't look as if there's much wrong with them, does it." "We'll show the old stick-in-the-muds something when these start to lamb." "Well, we can't blame the weather." "It's bright enough, but the wind keeps them cold." "And Wiltshire blackfaces are born with uncommon little wool on them." "I can't save the ewe, missus." "Well, save the lamb then." "I can't help it, missus." "You always lose a few in a thousand." "─ A few?" "Morning, Mrs Vennal." "Morning all." "Morning, Arthur." "Ain't cut your throat yet then?" "No, Isaac .." "I find it too useful for pouring things down." "A pint of Old, please, Mrs Vennal." "Bad news for Little Baynham, Arthur." "─ Oh?" "I hear Miss Godden has lost three parts of her flock." "A headstrong woman, she is." "Enough to make her old dad turn over in his grave." "What she needs is some good, sound straightforward advice, I say." "What's up with him?" "No idea .. he's been sitting like that for an hour or more." "Something wrong, Stuppeny?" "─ Not with me." "Little Baynham?" "─ Aye." "Darned if I know what her father would say." "Darned if I do." "And I'm too old to tell her what's right and what's wrong." "Why don't you have a talk to her, Mr Alce?" "Well, I mean .. she might listen to you." "No, not me." "I've tried that once and only barked my knuckles." "I wonder whoever invented figures." "I'm sick of them." "Martha, come and see if you can make it the same as I do." "Alright, let me have a go." "─ Oh, it's you." "Six and nine is fifteen." "Arthur, I'm not sure I want you to .." "─ Shush." "I'm counting." "And seven is twenty-two." "─ But Arthur .. ─ Quiet!" "And twelve is thirty-four." "Well?" "You are eighteen hundred and seventy-five pounds down on the year." "Alright." "You needn't look at me like that." "Now just a moment." "I didn't say that." "─ You looked it." "Well, what else do you expect?" "Alright, I made a mistake." "And came pretty near to making a fool of myself." "I'm not going to make that mistake again." "I got rid of him." "I run through my Lookers fast, don't I." "It's not a Looker that you need, Jo." "You want someone to stop you buying fancy new traps." "And sending Ellen to fancy new schools." "That's one expense you can't afford." "Making Ellen in to a lady." "I want her to have the best." "And as long as I can manage it, she'll get the best." "Whatever you or anyone else may say." "Joanna." "I've got to tell you, Mr Alce or no Mr Alce." "It's Grace Wickens." "I've had my suspicions for some time, but now I'm certain." "She's in the dairy if you want her." "The little slut." "And under my own roof, too." "Oh no, it wasn't under your roof." "She used to meet him in Brendick Lane." "You can laugh." "You are not having it, are you." "Just a moment, Jo." "─ Well, what is it?" "Why don't you stop trying to be a man?" "─ I beg your pardon?" "Alright, beg it." "And beg it again when I'm finished." "Doesn't it strike you that Grace hasn't done anything so very wrong?" "It's all very well being a woman farmer, so long as you don't stop being a woman." "But that's just what you've done." "And I reckon it's high time you started being one again." "If you are quite finished, I'll go and give your precious Grace some advice." "Why don't you ask her for some instead?" "This is a fine how-do-you-do." "Taking my wages and eating my food." "All the time you're carrying on with .." "Well, who was it, anyhow?" "It ain't no secret from anyone but you, Miss Joanna." "So I don't mind telling you, and with my voice .. it's Peter Relf." "Don't cry, dear." "A baby is a baby, in or out of wedlock." "We'll look after you." "Oh, Joanna." "Tell me, are you in love?" "Yes Miss, we are." "Terribly we are." "Then that's all that matters." "Martha." "Well, Miss .. is she to pack her things?" "No, Martha." "She stays." "I think we'll move her in to the spare room." "It gets more sun." "Let her have her milk with the cream on in future." "Good afternoon, Miss Godden." "Good afternoon, Mr Brett." "Do sit down." "Thank you very much." "It's only a little thing." "It's not a little thing to me." "A very big thing." "Oh I'm sorry, Mr Brett." "What is it?" "─ The harmonium." "There have been complaints." "People say it wheezes all the time." "And quite a lot of the notes won't play." "Well, I like it as it is." "It's done us alright as long as I can remember." "It's done us so well, that I think we ought to let it retire from business." "And appoint something younger in its place." "Hmm." "I don't like the idea." "How much do you need?" "─ Thirty pounds." "I've walked all around the parish today." "People really have been most generous." "Generous?" "Mr Huggett, five shillings." "Mr Turk, two and six." "And Mr Godfrey, a shilling." "Well, let's save you tramping any further." "You did say thirty pounds, didn't you?" "Oh, Miss Godden." "Jo!" "Jo, how awfully nice of you to meet me." "Well, I can't see you walking for three miles with a trunk on your back." "Oh porter, I've got a box in the van." "─ Right-oh, Miss." "Well, well." "Miss Godden." "─ Good morning." "Good morning." "So this is little Ellen." "How do you do, my dear." "─ How do you do." "My son, Martin." "How do you do?" "─ Awfully glad to meet you." "I'm often in Folkestone." "Perhaps one day next term we might have tea together." "You look about the right age for chocolate eclairs." "Oh, that will be awfully nice." "What's so awful about everything?" "Oh, it's just an expression, Jo." "All the girls talk like that." "Well, then." "It was a waste of my money sending you there." "You could have learnt to speak just as badly at home." "You are awfully old-fashioned, Jo." "─ Oh, am I?" "If that's the way you behave when you come home." "We'll have to think about sending you to an old-fashioned school next term." "Oh come, come, Miss Godden." "You mustn't cheat us out of our chocolate eclairs." "Well, you mustn't take me too seriously." "─ Father, the train is just going." "Goodbye, Miss Godden." "We'll see you at the farmers' dinner." "Goodbye." "I put you next to Miss Godden, Mr Harry." "─ Oh no." "That honour must go to Martin." "He's a great admirer of hers." "Aren't you, Martin?" "Here she is." "Father, you're a cad." "I welcome you on behalf of the Farmer's Club, Miss Godden." "Thank you." "This is a unique occasion." "The first time a member of the fair sex has graced our humble assembly." "Well thank you kindly, Mr Huggett." "But I don't know so much about the humble." "Gentlemen." "I mean, lady and gentlemen." "Take your places please." "Shall I lead the way?" "Evening, Jo." "If we're speaking to each other." "Silly." "Of course we are." "─ Good." "Excuse me." "What were you saying, Arthur?" "There are one or two things I want to talk to you about." "Not now." "After dinner." "Alright." "For what we are about to receive, may The Lord make us truly thankful." "Amen." "─ Amen." "You don't like me, do you?" "─ I beg your pardon?" "Whenever we meet, I always seem to be telling someone off." "You think it's bad manners, don't you." "─ Well really, I .." "I know it's silly of me and unkind, too." "I'll try and cure myself of it." "I assure you, Miss Godden." "─ Oh, I can read your face." "When I let fly at Ellen the other day, if anyone looked sour, it was you." "I suppose I did." "So I'm just as guilty of bad manners as you are." "Suppose we start again from scratch?" "─ Let's." "So we welcome her here tonight." "Not only because she's a lady." "But because she's a farmer, too." "Mr Chairman." "Gentlemen." "Thank you, Mr Chairman for the kind things you've said." "They were said to my face." "What you've all been saying behind my back, I don't know." "Well, now it's my turn." "I suppose a woman farmer is a bit of a caution." "Especially here in the marsh." "Where half of us are inclined to be set in our ways and the other half are .." "As awkward as a Dymchurch donkey." "Now, I'm not like that." "I'm all for a bit of experiment." "Cross-breeding, for instance." "What Mr Huggett so kindly called a bit of bad luck." "Yes." "Well, that didn't come off, did it?" "And some of you weren't too slow in telling me, either." "And quite right, too." "I say you've to try things out before you know whether they are good or bad." "We've got the finest pasture in England." "─ Here, here!" "Yes, but what do we do with it?" "We sit and watch our sheep fatten on it, until they can make some money for us." "Gentlemen, we're not farmers." "We're just graziers." "Well, that won't do for me." "Next spring, I'm going to pile up enough grass." "To have all the beans and roots I shall need for my sheep in the winter." "And I might raise a little wheat as well." "What, break a pasture?" "─ Why not?" "The marsh soil is rich so why don't .." "The pasture was good enough for your father and your father's father." "Well, it's not good enough for me." "Just think of all the fodder we could grow." "No more sending sheep to the hills for winter keep." "If you break up enough pasture, you won't have no sheep to send." "Order, please!" "Don't worry about me, Mr Chairman." "It's about time that tradition about not breaking up grass was bust." "And I'm going to do the bust." "Whosoever breaks pasture, shall himself be broke." "Break a pasture." "Make a man!" "Make a pasture and break a man." "Gentlemen .. gentlemen." "I'm surprised at you." "Now don't be alarmed." "I didn't say I was going to blow up Canterbury Cathedral." "Though you might think so by the look on some of your faces." "All I'm going to do is a bit of farming." "I'm going to do what some of us never do." "From the day they suck the bottle to the day they've broken up on their account." "Bravo." "You were magnificent." "I spoke my mind, that's all." "─ I'm afraid you shocked them a bit." "Farmers are easily shocked." "I'm sure they think your highfalutin notions will ruin you." "Do they?" "Well, do you?" "If your farming's as good as your speech you'll have a good harvest next summer." "Thank you." "Perhaps you will come and see us?" "─ I will be delighted." "Goodnight, Mr Martin." "─ Goodnight, Miss Godden." "You promised to come and see my stacks in September." "Well .. there they are." "Beautiful." "Why, you're not even looking at them." "I'm looking at the light on the marsh." "─ What light?" "Over there." "Don't you see it?" "The light over the sea." "Oh that." "That's nothing." "That's just the sky over Dungeness." "I've seen it plenty of times." "Have you?" "You know, it's only on the marsh that you get it." "I think it's the most beautiful light in the world." "You don't see much beautiful in the marsh." "Just a lot of flat fields and a lot of old ditches." "Don't you?" "That's because you've seen it so often." "Try looking at it again, through my eyes." "Listen to it, too." "Things look very different when you have someone to share them with." "Martin, I'm surprised at you." "You must be in love." "─ I am." "I don't know that I like that." "They'll talk about it at The Woolpack for weeks." "It'll probably end with you having to make an honest woman of her." "Just what I mean to do." "Martin .." "I'm a doddering old man." "Who ought to have died his hair years ago." "And really, my constitution isn't equal to these shots." "Have you asked her?" "─ Practically." "That's alright then." "It doesn't matter about asking a woman practically." "Don't ask her literally." "My dear father, what have you been reading?" "If it had been the other sister now, I could have understood it more easily." "You know, she's becoming distinctly .. attractive." "If you want to make a double event of it father, I shan't stand in the way." "No, no." "I shall build on more solid foundations .. and marry cook." "Home for the holidays?" "─ Yes, Mr Turk." "I've heard the news." "Congratulations, Miss Godden." "Mr Trevor, you're a lucky man." "I'm only marrying her for her money you know." "Merry Christmas, Arthur." "You'll be over later, I hope." "Merry Christmas to you, Jo." "And congratulations." "Oh thank you, Arthur." "Yes, I never heard a better harmonium in my life." "Are you going carol singing, Stupps?" "It all depends whether I get my wind back." "I'm all mixed up inside." "You stay home and keep quiet or you'll be having bad dreams tonight." "I don't have only one kind of dream." "─ Oh, and what's that?" "Oh, they all knows about my little old dreams." "I don't." "─ Go on, Stuppeny." "What are you waiting for?" "─ Come on, Stuppeny." "Tell it for me." "Well, I dreamed that I was sitting in front of the fire." "And a young girl brings me a tankard of beer." "It ain't everyone who as the luck to bring him regular a pretty girl." "I never said she was pretty." "─ Well, ain't she?" "I don't take no notice of her." "It's the beer I'm after." "But it ain't often does the dream last long enough for me to have the drink." "Most times, I can't catch hold of the pot." "Before the silly girl goes and drops it." "Sometimes I do get hold of it, alright." "Then if I don't wake up too quick." "I get a swig." "And what's the beer like?" "Ah now, that's a funny thing." "It used to be good when I was younger." "But these last few years it's been getting terrible poor." "Why soon it will be worse than what they have at The Woolpack." "We're all ready, Miss Godden." "Oh, it's Mr Brett." "Come on all you carol singers." "Don't keep Mr Brett waiting." "We are saving "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen" for The Woolpack." "There you are, Mr Brett." "─ Thank you, Miss Godden." "Your very good health." "Arthur ain't here then?" "No." "And darned if they won't miss him, too." "It ain't half a tidy beast, he ain't." "Must I?" "It's much warmer and pleasanter inside." "Off you go and look after Ellen for me." "Come, too." "─ No, I can't." "Much too busy." "Christmas time always seems like one year after another." "Oh .. some company." "Visitors." "I'm very honoured." "Merry Christmas." "─ Arthur, why didn't you come over?" "Well .." "I thought I made that clear this afternoon." "Besides .." "I like Christmas alone." "I'm enjoying myself." "But Arthur, we've spent Christmas eve together ever since we were children." "Why didn't you come over this year?" "What for?" "To see you kissed under the mistletoe by Martin Trevor." "No thanks." "I like it better here." "Oh Arthur, don't talk like that anymore." "I know I've gone and hurt you." "That's why I came here." "Is it?" "I love you .." "I always have." "No." "Oh Martin, you've spoilt my surprise." "It was meant for our outing." "Sorry, dear." "Do you like it?" "Yes, of course." "Though frankly darling, I think it's a bit .. well, over-ornamented." "Oh, when I had it specially made for you." "I'll never the hang of your notions." "─ You know which hat suits you best?" "This one." "─ That?" "Why, that's just an old thing I wear for working around the farm." "It's lovely because it is you." "Just as the farm is you." "And the trees." "And the shadows." "This will never do." "I must get back to work." "No you don't." "You come with me to see Mr Brett about having the banns called." "I most certainly am not." "─ Now look here, Joanna." "Now look here, Martin." "Peter is on his own as Looker, now." "I can't leave him until lambing is over with." "And by then, April will be gone." "So we'll ask Brett to make it May." "May?" "Who ever heard of getting married in May?" "It's unlucky." "Unlucky is the word." "When June comes it will be hay-making or something" "You'll be putting it off at Christmas." "─ But Martin, I'm a farmer." "You don't seem to understand how important a thing like lambing is." "What other woman on earth would put off a marriage to suit a lot of dumb sheep." "Think darling." "We shall want children." "Do you refuse because you'll have to lie back and keep quiet instead of working?" "Well, that's different." "─ Is it?" "Feminine logic." "It's plain logic about lambing." "And if you can't see that, then I'm sorry for you." "Darling, I'm not saying the farm isn't important." "After all, getting married is an important event of our lives." "I know it is." "But when we're away on our honeymoon, I want to give every minute to you." "It will be the bane of our lives to worry of Little Baynham all the time." "You'll do it anyhow." "That's just what I'll do now." "Now be off with you." "Have a nice day." "See you tonight." "─ Jo, wait a moment." "I can't hear - too busy." "How are you getting on, Peter?" "─ You came at the wrong time, missus." "I've just lost one." "─ Well, we lost a ewe this morning." "That's her lamb over there." "Better skin this one and make a foster coat." "Well, how's the baby?" "─ He's lovely, Miss." "Good." "Let's have a look at him." "He grows as fast as a little calf doesn't he." "He does that, Miss." "You're happy, aren't you." "─ I am now, Miss." "Terrible happy." "It seems hard to believe we had all that upset." "Peter and I reckon we were lucky really, getting married so young." "Some people have to wait years." "And that's a shame." "Because it's just time wasted when you love each other." "Hello." "I'm going to trust old Stuppeny to get the hay in." "I'm sorry I was an obstinate pig." "And don't you take any longer to arrange the banns for us." "Because I shall be a June bride after all." "So when do we first see Mr Brett?" "I publish the banns of marriage." "Between Martin Trevor, bachelor of this parish." "And Joanna Mary Godden .. spinster." "Hi." "Nothing but fisher-folk around here." "During the season they catch so much mackerel there's nothing else eaten." "If you want any for manure they make you pay top price and do your own parking." "I think it's a stunning place." "I may bring you here for our honeymoon." "Oh no you don't." "It's Paris now, or nothing." "Darling, what is it?" "It's the place where I feel frightened." "─ Frightened?" "Oh, I don't know what came over me." "Let's go and see about tea." "Come on." "I told you that Dungeness is a tedious hole." "Good afternoon." "Do you think we could have some tea later?" "About 4 o'clock?" "We're going for a swim first." "I reckon you could." "It isn't much of a place for that." "─ What, for tea?" "You're Miss Godden from Little Baynham, ain't you?" "That's right." "I've read about you in the papers." "Is this the chap you're going to marry?" "I'm afraid so." "Will I do?" "It isn't for me to say, is it." "I suppose the lady knows her own mind." "─ I reckon so." "Are you going to be a June bride?" "That's the thing to be." "It brings you luck, they say." "Well, I wish you both happiness." "Thank you very much." "I was a June bride myself." "What a beautiful day." "Hmm .. good growing weather." "Joanna." "─ I'm sorry." "Don't be long." "─ Alright." "Martin." "Where are you?" "[ Female scream!" "]" "Martin!" "Now let's have this one." "Off to meet Ellen?" "─ Yes." "It will be grand having her home for good." "What, a pretty little thing like her?" "I reckon she'll be getting married soon." "You'll be alone again." "Oh, I'll never be lonely while I still have Baynham." "Are you sure Baynham's enough?" "─ It has to be." "Has it?" "I think I heard the train." "I must be getting on." "Is there any news of Harry Trevor?" "Oh, he's gallivanting about all over the continent." "Oh what a shame." "I thought he'd be giving some lovely parties." "Well, there is plenty going on." "Lydd Club Day is next month" "Lydd Club Day." "─ Well, what's wrong with that?" "There will be a flower show, a vegetable show and swings and roundabouts." "And all the men getting drunk." "Won't there be any dances?" "Mabel and Pauline are going to heaps of dances this Christmas." "Andy Myra West is coming out." "Mayn't I come out, Jo?" "─ Come out of what, dear?" "Look, there's Arthur." "Whoa." "Oh, Miss Ellen." "─ Hello, Martha." "There you are - everything brand new." "I went in to Folkestone for them." "That's where I got the wardrobe." "And the dressing table, too." "They hadn't got a bed I liked in stock." "So they had this one specially sent down from London for me." "And Martha and I spent weeks on the curtains." "And I knew you'd like to have the clock that was father's." "Are you pleased?" "Well .." "I don't know what to say." "While you get unpacked, I'll go and see about tea." "That was lovely, dear." "Oh goodness, I'm tired." "Ellen, it's time you started to wear stays." "I'm not going to wear stays, ever." "Our gym mistress says it's unhealthy." "Well, it isn't nice to show the shape of your body like you do." "I've been told my figure is a very good one." "Whoever dared to make such a remark to you?" "It was a compliment." "I don't call it a compliment to say such things to a young girl." "Of course, you couldn't wear this dress." "I wouldn't, you mean." "I was brought up in the shape of a woman in proper stays the way nature intended." "Jo, you're impossible." "I'm going to bed." "Oh, I'm sorry I spoke like that." "But now that you're home, you'll really have to .." "Why, what have you done?" "Where are my pictures?" "And my beautiful china ornaments?" "You've taken my curtains down." "I was only trying to find a place for my own things." "Well really Jo, this is my room." "You shouldn't mind what I do in it." "Your room indeed!" "You've got some sauce." "You might at least have consulted me a little." "What don't you like then?" "─ What don't I like?" "Oh good heavens Jo, can't you see for yourself?" "Everything is in such bad taste." "Why." "Ellen." "What a thing to say." "After I spent my time and money fixing it all up for you." "Perhaps my taste isn't the same as yours." "Where is father's clock?" "What's the use of a clock that doesn't go?" "It was old Mr Alfred's wedding present to Arthur." "Old Mr Alfred can go and boil himself." "You don't deserve to be your father's daughter, speaking like that." "You put this room back the way I had it." "Now!" "This instant." "Hello, Ellen." "─ Hello." "I'll make you some fresh tea or have you had some?" "No, I don't want anything, thanks." "I've got a frightful headache." "Perhaps if you stopped gadding about so much and found something to do." "Oh I like that." "I've always got plenty to do." "I'm up in the morning as early as you are and I'm busy all day long." "If you call mooning about with a sketch book, and tinkling on a piano as "busy"." "Is that all they taught you at school?" "For goodness sake, Jo." "What do you expect?" "You sent me to Folkestone to be properly educated." "Those were your own words." "It's a bit late to start picking on me now as I spend my time in my own way." "I'm not picking on you, dear." "But couldn't you find time to help in the house as well?" "With all your book-learning you could easily do my accounts or .." "Make out a milk bill or something." "─ I loathe arithmetic." "Well, you'll be getting married one of these days." "So you ought to learn housework." "─ Huh." "I'll take jolly good care not to marry a man who expects me to do housework." "That may be, Ladyship, but while you're under my roof you'll do your fair share." "And you can start now by helping me wash up these tea things." "Oh Jo, look what I've done." "It caught on my sleeve." "I'm awfully sorry." "I'll buy a new one out of my allowance." "─ Nonsense, dear." "You spend your allowance on your person." "What's wrong, Jo?" "You're not daydreaming, are you?" "Me?" "Oh no, it's nothing." "I was thinking, that's all." "─ About Ellen?" "What's the matter with her?" "─ Oh, I'm blessed if I know." "Nothing seems to be right for her." "She comes home from school all ladylike, wanting this, wanting that." "Wanting things she can't have and half the time not knowing what she does want." "Just like a lot of young girls." "There's not much wrong with her that can't be cured." "Don't you?" "What would your prescription be?" "Wouldn't you like to know." "Don't forget, Ellen's got a good deal of the old Godden stubbornness about her." "I don't see you curing her of it any more likely than you curing me." "Mr Turk." "Would you mind stopping?" "It makes me feel sick, you see." "Hello, Stupps." "─ Aye, got to stoke up on beer." "Steady there, steady." "─ Oh Arthur, I'm sorry." "Running away somewhere?" "Well, it doesn't look like it." "[ Tannoy: ] "A dead heat between Mr Arthur Alce and Mr Isaac Turk."" ""Will those two gentlemen kindly come forward for the final."" "I do hope you win." "What prize do you get?" "What prize would you give?" "I don't give prizes." "─ No?" "Well, supposing you started." "What sort if prize would you expect?" ""Mr Arthur Alce." "Will Mr Alce come forward please?"" "Is it a bargain?" "First, shoot your pigeon." "He's hit them every time." "It's a certainty." "Number 2 gun ready." "Ready." "─ Pull." "Number 1 gun ready." "Ready." "─ Pull." "Number 2 gun ready." "Ready." "─ Pull." "Kill." "Well done, Arthur." "I wonder what Jo would say if she could see us now." "No bounds." "Oh ..!" "But you only shot three pigeons." "I lost count long ago." "Oh Arthur, it's been such a wonderful day." "I'm so glad you've enjoyed it." "─ I've never had such a good time." "Thanks to you." "─ Thanks to you." "Oh, it's so nice to find someone who understands you." "There's nobody in this silly old village but a lot of louts." "Nobody to talk to." "Nobody to give you a good time." "And I love having a good time." "Best not let Jo hear you say that." "─ Oh, who cares about Jo." "I want to go to parties and have pretty dresses and nice things." "Why shouldn't I?" "─ And why shouldn't you?" "Would you give them to me, Arthur?" "Well .." "Hello, what's all that?" "Somebody is home at Great Baynham." "It must be Harry Trevor." "Burning enough light for a hotel." "Why not." "It looks lovely." "It must be nice to be rich." "Good morning, Joanna." "─ Good morning." "I say." "Don't tell me this is the little sister?" "Not the chocolate eclair fiend?" "─ The chocolate eclair fiend." "Dear me." "Well quite obviously, we'll have to alter our vocabulary, shan't we." "I hope so." "You'd best be getting on You'll be late for dinner." "Goodbye." "─ Goodbye." "Well." "Time flies, doesn't it." "─ So we're told." "And none of us get any younger." "None of us?" "Joanna, if you don't mind my saying so." "We mustn't go on mourning Martin for ever." "I was his father." "It was a pretty hard blow for me." "But I'm going to enjoy what's left of life." "Why don't you?" "You know, you needn't be afraid of incurring my displeasure." "If you were to ever marry anybody else." "That's very kind of you." "Spring is a nice time." "Summer is even better." "Don't forget what Shakespeare said." "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May." "And summer's lease hath all too short a date." "Well .." "I must be getting on." "Goodbye, dear." ""Don't forget what Shakespeare said."" ""Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May."" ""And summer's lease hath all too short a date."" "Hello Arthur." "Come in." "Hello Jo." "No, this way." "Do sit down." "A nice evening." "Beautiful." "Rain will do good." "Jo, you must have noticed that I've been around pretty near every evening lately." "Well, I do seem to have seen more of you." "Yes." "I reckon you must have been wondering why." "Well I don't know if I'm so dense as you think." "Perhaps not." "That will make it easy." "You see Jo .. there is something I've got to ask you." "And I suppose, being old friends like we are." "We've known each other all our lives, very near." "Well it .. it seems to be a bit difficult." "Yes." "When it comes to marriage." "Marriage?" "Yes." "I .." "I want to ask your permission to marry Ellen." "Ellen?" "─ Yes, Jo." "I've been seeing a lot of her, lately." "I'm terribly fond of her." "Well, you have no objections have you?" "Well, you know what I've always said, Arthur." "Nothing but the best for Ellen." "I'll give her the best." "The best of everything." "Well then, that's all that matters." "If you want her and she'll have you, I .." "I don't suppose there's anyone I'd rather see .." "Oh, good evening." "I expect you'd like a drink?" "This calls for a celebration, doesn't it." "Celebration?" "Whatever did she mean?" "Ellen .. do you remember the Club Day?" "Of course I do." "Yes, I .." "I hoped you would." "I want to ask you something." "Will you marry me?" "Well, you .." "You don't waste much time, do you." "I reckon I've wasted enough time already." "Come on Ellen, will you?" "I'll think it over." "─ No thinking it over." "I've got a nice farm." "I've got three thousand in the bank." "I've got 485 head of sheep." "I've got a long time to live." "And I've got a look in my eye." "What more do you want?" "Nice things." "Lots and lots of nice things." "Pretty dresses." "Parties." "Going to London when I'm tired of the marsh." "Oh, lots and lots and lots of things." "Well, how is this for going on with?" "That airy-fairy little creature making the best match in the marsh." "If I was at liberty to tell you, which I'm not." "What they spent on the wedding breakfast .." "Whatever it is, Alce is getting his money's worth." "She's as pretty as pink." "Hello dear." "Can I come in?" "─ Yes, do." "Oh, what lovely things you've got." "Yes, haven't I?" "You're a lucky girl, Ellen." "A very lucky girl." "I wonder if you know just how lucky you are." "Luck has nothing to do with it." "Don't be so preaching, Jo." "─ I'm not preaching." "I've a right to take a little interest in my sister's marriage, I suppose." "I suppose so." "Do you really love Arthur?" "Now that is taking an interest, isn't it." "Arthur is a very dear friend of mine." "It would be nice to know he was marrying someone who loved him." "Poor Jo." "I believe you can't bear the thought of someone having what you might have had." "You conceited little beast." "How dare you say that." "Well Jo, it's very obvious." "Obvious, is it?" "Well let me tell you something that's not so obvious." "You are very lucky to be marrying Arthur Alce at all." "I gave him up to you." "You what?" "─ I gave him up to you." "I gave permission." "Without that .." "─ Ha." "Without that .." "I should have done very well without that, thank you." "It's just like you, isn't it." "Made a mess of your own life and trying to make a bigger mess of other people's." "Ellen." "Don't." "Oh, you're impossible and I'm tired of it." "I tell you I know what I want, and I'm going to have it." "Very well." "I wish you luck." "Very good luck." "─ Oh, stop talking about luck." "Life isn't run by good luck." "It's run by good sense." "It's about time you found that out." "Oh, don't let's quarrel any more." "Not now." "You and I haven't quite hit it off, have we my dear." "Well I dare say a lot of it is my fault." "I've made mistakes, I know." "But I was only trying to do what was best for you." "Don't let's finish our time together fighting." "Very well." "Goodnight, Ellen." "Goodnight." "They say there's been snow up in the hills." "It's cold enough." "This miserable, draughty little house." "It's never warm." "You should go out once in a while." "─ Out?" "Where to?" "What for?" "Look at it." "Nothing but grass and sheep, and sheep and grass!" "Well, that's a masterpiece of a thing." "A man in the Wield has got a cow that gives 1,200 gallons of milk a year." "What's so wonderful about that?" "─ It's a lot of milk for a cow to give." "Why?" "That's what they're for, isn't it?" "Do you know what our little lot average?" "I've no idea." "It depends on the grass of course." "Somewhere about 900." "Sometimes less." "Hmm .. fancy that." "I'll take you another day, darling." "When I'm not going to be busy with ewes and heifers all the time." "You'd only be bored." "─ Bored?" "I suppose being at home is much more exciting?" "I tell you what .. next week we'll have that promised day in London." "That long promised day in London." "Alright." "The longer the promise, the longer the day." "You ever been to London, Miss Luckhurst?" "No." "But I've been to Maidstone, so I know what it's like." "What am I going to wear anyhow?" "If that's what worries you, why not take Jo into Folkestöne and choose something?" "Jo?" "Ha." "Her taste in clothes went out with the penny-farthing bicycle." "Well, I must be off." "Goodbye." "Now, what about the linen?" "Well, what about it?" "I'm going out." "Hello, Ellen." "─ Oh." "Mister Trevor." "Deep, deep in thought, eh?" "─ You made me jump." "You look extraordinarily troubled for one so young, and on such a nice day." "I'm trying to work something out." "Something I can help with?" "I'm rather good at arithmetic." "I'll find the answer." "─ I see." "Cheer up." "It may never happen." "I'm afraid it has happened." "─ Oh dear me." "What's the appropriate proverb then?" "Every cloud has a silver lining." "Ha, that's better." "Now tell me." "Can you ride a horse, Ellen?" "It's really much easier than cycling." "Well, I've ridden old Punch on the farm." "Ah, but we can't compare Punch with a hunter .. can we." "I never learned to ride .." "─ It's high time you began." "Why don't you come riding with me one day and try it out?" "Oh, I'd love to." "Oh, I've no riding habit." "A pity .. you'd look charming in one." "Ellen, where have you been?" "I've been looking for you everywhere." "Is anything wrong?" "─ Yes." "Why Arthur, what's the matter?" "Bad news I'm afraid." "Wilson sent for the vet this morning." "He says there is no doubt about it." "We've got foot and mouth on the farm." "Oh, is that all?" "─ All?" "Perhaps you don't realize how serious this is." "Well, how serious is it?" "Flock wiped out." "Next year's lambs gone." "Not a single sheep left on the whole farm." "It's going to make a difference." "But the government pay you compensation, don't they." "Yes." "On what they decide is a fair price." "But mine is a pedigree flock." "They don't take that into account at all." "It's taken a couple of generations to build up that strain." "Once they slaughter them the blood is gone." "And no amount of compensation is going to bring that back." "You mean we'll be poor." "Is that it?" "Well, half-poor at any rate." "Sheep only lamb once a year, you know." "It will take time to pull back." "I see." "Well, it's no good in crying about it." "We've just got to get over a thing like this." "The two of us pulling together." "There is no bounds to what we can do" "It ain't no use going up there." "She ain't been here all afternoon." "Not been here?" "Well, that's funny." "What's funny about it?" "You ain't been her all afternoon, either." "Where has she gone then?" "─ Ha." "I ain't her keeper." "Do you know where she's gone or not?" "All I know is she ain't been here since 3 o'clock." "She ain't had no tea and don't look like she's going to have no supper neither." "Where's Ellen?" "She hasn't been home all afternoon." "Is she here?" "─ No, Arthur." "She's gone away." "With Harry Trevor." "Is that from her?" "Let me see it." "─ No Arthur." "It won't do any good." "She doesn't make bones about it, does she." "Oh, it's all my fault." "It has been right from the start." "I should have listened." "I've messed up Ellen's life." "And yours." "My own, too." "If I hadn't been so stubborn, I .." "Too late now." "There is nothing to be done." "Oh yes there is." "I'll teach Harry Trevor a thing or two." "But we don't know where they've gone." "I'll find them." "─ Arthur." "What about Ellen?" "Do you want her back?" "[ Ellen's voice ] "You mean we will be poor." "Is that it?"" ""Nice things."" ""Oh lots, and lots and lots of things."" ""Would you give them to me, Arthur?"" "Giddup." "Come on." "Giddup." "Never mind about supper, Miss Luckhurst." "I don't want any." "I had to come." "I heard you were still here." "Yes, I .." "I changed my mind." "I've been thinking, Arthur." "A sheep farm without any sheep is no use to anyone." "They want let you graze your own land until next year." "There is no reason why you shouldn't start a flock on mine." "I can let you have 50 new ewes straight away that even you won't be ashamed of." "In a few years' time .." "There is no bounds to what we can do." "T-G"