"I have relived this particular day many times." "The weather is always flawless, and so is Father's mood." "It is a golden memory, and I am suspicious of it." "I keep looking for one black cloud in the sky for some premonition of what was to come but I can't find anything, not a single clue." "Father had been let out, and Mother was laughing." "Perhaps it really was a happy day." "The vorpal blade did snicker-snack!" "He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back." "Would you like to live there?" "Can we?" "Dear God." "Dear God." "Mother, Mother, look at us." "Look at us." "Isn't it wonderful?" "I shall have this place if it costs me my last shilling." "I will write masterpieces here." "And we believed him." "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink." "I have a grandstand view of my relations and it depresses me." "Ten years on, nothing Father said would happen has and there have been other shocks." "My hands have gone green." "Don't you feel godlike turning things a different color?" "We have acquired a stepmother for a start, brackets, not wicked." "Nothing will get it off, nothing." "Have you tried the perfumes of Arabia?" " We can't get any credit at the stores." " Is it any wonder?" "I've been drawing up our accounts." "Income, nil." " Outgoings." "How much is the rent?" " He hasn't paid it for two years." "We'll end up living in a ditch." "At least the landlord's shuffled off this mortal coil." "It's not unmitigated gloom." "I was looking for my cardigan." "My love, I've got this sudden mania for dyeing." "It is going to look rather wonderful, a cross between sun-fire and lichen." "Don't let me interrupt the game." "Game?" "Game!" "There are droppings in this cupboard!" "I hate this place." "I'd burn it down if we had any matches." " Rose, where are you going?" " On the streets." "You can't go on the streets in the depths of Suffolk." " I could in London." " You haven't got the train fare." "I'm going to the vicarage to borrow from the poor box." "Prostitution is very hard work, Rose." "It wouldn't suit you at all." "You should know." "There's a picture of you in the Tate with nothing on." "It was an experiment in flesh tones." "If you want to make a fortune, choose a wealthy man and marry him." "Like you did with Father." "Oh, sorry." "I'm sorry." " You don't mean it, Rose." " Get off, Topaz." "You're not our mother." " I do my best." " Well, it's not good enough." "I thought about going to comfort them but it would only have inflamed the situation." "Someone has to keep a lid on things." "Mother always did when she was alive." "Rose I don't think you should start threatening to go on the streets." "Never be able to marry anyone after that." "Least of all a wealthy man." "I'll never meet any men locked up here beyond the reach of love, and it will kill me." "I would've thought that love was the murderous thing, not the lack of it." "I am never going to fall in love." "Life is dangerous enough." " Oh, thank God for that, at least." " What?" "The postman's coming up the drive." ""As manager for the Scoatney Hall estate this office begs to inform you," et cetera, et cetera." ""We respectfully request that the rent outstanding for the period June 1934" " March 1936 be forwarded to this office without delay."" "Wow." "Open the other one." "It's from the publisher." "The royalty check always comes in the spring." "Nothing this year." " Nothing?" " Are there any biscuits left?" "There's never been nothing before." "A first time for everything." "I brought a bucket for the leak in the roof." " Did I interrupt your work?" " No." "I was reading Death on the Nile." "Can I do anything to help?" "What makes you think I'm in need of assistance?" "Father, Jacob Wrestling was a wonderful, groundbreaking book." "There was never going to be a sequel overnight." "Meaning?" "Meaning it will come." "How old are you now?" "Seventeen." "And you still believe in fairy tales." "I will not give in to panic." "I'd be as mad as the rest of them if it wasn't for this diary." "Stephen is like a rock." "We haven't paid him for six months." "He could just pack his bags and go, but he says he'll never leave us." "Margarine." "Why must you be so monotonously grim, Rose?" "I feel grim." "Right now I'd sell my soul to the devil for a roast-beef dinner and a Tangee lipstick." "Why don't you wish on the gargoyle?" "You could pretend that was the devil." "Stephen, fetch a ladder that will reach." " We haven't got one, Miss Rose." " He's not a servant." "Blow the candles out, all except one." "Come on." "Higher." "Perhaps we could buy a pig on higher purchase." "We would have quite a lot of bacon eventually." "It's all right." "Rose is dabbling in the occult." "Higher." "Full marks for enterprise." "Be careful, Rose." "Careful." "I can't go on living like this." "Please." "I'll do anything." "It's whole nut." " Oh, Stephen, you shouldn't have." " Don't you like whole nut?" "I mean, you shouldn't have spent your money on me." "There isn't any food in the house." "Now, have you got everything you need?" "A roaring fire, concealing draperies." "What more could a lady want at bath time?" "Wireless would be nice." "Chocolate is luxury enough." "I could get you some without nuts next time." "Stephen." "Topaz has said that, viewed from a certain angle Stephen looks like all the Greek gods rolled into one." "I can't see it, and it's probably just as well." "I've known him since I was 7." "He's like a brother to me." "Anything else would be much too confusing." "Come in." " Hello?" "Hello, anybody home?" " Somebody said, "Come in."" "Can you believe this place?" " Looks like a storybook." " Yeah, The House of Usher." " Hello?" " We have a car stuck in the lane." " Do you have a horse or something?" " Actually, no." "Leave this to me." "We need a motor tractor and some heavy-gauge chains." "Come on, I'll show you the problem." "You stay here, soak up the atmosphere." "I should warn you, I'm having a bath behind here." "I'm sorry." " Is your mother at home?" " No." " Do you need this?" " Oh, thank you." " I'm Simon Cotton, by the way." " Cotton?" "We were on our way to Scoatney Hall." "Are you related to Sir William?" "He lived there until he died." "The kid's gone to a farm to fetch help." "Hi, is there a madhouse around here?" "We thought we saw an escapee up by the lane." "This is my brother, Neil." "We did see a strange woman." " She looked a bit disheveled." " She was stark-staring naked, Simon." "I can't imagine who that was." " Oh, I thought you were a child." " No." " Are you here on holiday?" " I'm actually Sir William's grandson." "Our father died a little while ago in Montana and I seem to be in charge of the estate now." "Rose?" "Rose, dear?" "Careful." "Cassandra, put the kettle on for cocoa." "I must change." "More gas, Simon, more gas!" "Keep pushing at the back!" "Is there anything up there?" "I saw lights from the gatehouse." " Hey, guys, we got reinforcements!" " It's our father." " James Mortmain." " Yeah, Neil Cotton!" " Would you mind going to the back?" " Of course." "James Mortmain?" "Are you James Mortmain, the author of Jacob Wrestling?" "Well, yes, I am." "I wrote a dissertation on that in college." ""Polyphony in the Fragmentary Consciousness."" "I wondered what became of you." "Now you know." "Owning a place like the castle must be an amazing source of inspiration." "We don't own it, you do." "Do I?" "Do I?" "Do you hear that, Neil?" "I own the castle." "That's wonderful, Simon." "Could you go to the back and help push, sir?" " Yes." " We must talk more about your work." "Well, it would be my pleasure." "For crying out loud, will these bloody cataracts and hurricanes never stop?" "Are you ready, Neil?" "They didn't say anything about the rent." "Those boys are very taken with you, Rose." "How can you tell?" "I've always had antennae for the currents of attraction." "I shall have to clean the drawing room in case they call again." "Rose Cotton." "Mrs. Rose Cotton." "Mrs. Cotton." " Which one do you like?" " Simon, he's the eldest." "It's his estate now and his fortune." "Was Sir William a knight or baronet?" "If he was a baronet then Simon's "Sir Simon."" " I'd be Lady Cotton then." " Rose, you're making too much of it." "They might ask us to parties, and that would be wonderful but you couldn't marry that man with the beard." "I'd marry a chimpanzee if he had money." "Simon, you cannot stay in this country." "You'll either get washed away by the rain or sucked down into the mud and never seen again." "I don't want to buy a ranch in California." "Oranges are wonderful things." "I'm sure growing them is a very stimulating pursuit, but I'd go mad." "Oh, and you'll stay sane in that poky old mansion getting it cleaned and building bathrooms for Mother?" "How many mirrors does a dame with one face need?" "She's never stayed anywhere in Europe that wasn't a hotel before." "If I don't get the plumbing fixed, she'll take one look at the place head straight back to the Queen Mary." "I guess I don't know her quite as well as you do." "Rose?" "Rose?" "Don't start washing your hair." " Simon." " Thank you." "Neil." "Darling." "So who's the artist in the family?" "Her." "It's called War and Peace." "Based on the novel." "I think it might work better on a circular canvas." "Why are you all dressed in green?" "Simon, you may turn the pages for me." " I'm afraid I don't read music." " I don't either." "That need not detain us." "Come on." "Thank you." "I'll give you a nudge each time." "Christ." "You were lucky to get out alive." "Did I do something to encourage her?" "You own Scoatney Hall, 7000 acres and their house." " And they don't have a cent." " She can't help that." "She can help being so darn obvious." "If you want a pack of insane broads chasing you in theatrical costumes that's your choice." " One insane broad." "My God, I was embarrassed for that girl." "We're gonna have to drop them, Simon." "If we don't, you could end up in a very awkward situation." "He's dangerous." " I guess so." " It's a pity we didn't see that kid again." "The one with glasses or the one in the bathtub?" "The bathtub, quite funny." "A bit consciously naive, don't you think?" "I feel worse about dropping the old man." "I wanted to help him, but I guess he probably is a drunk like people say." "If we could afford to send her to the cinema she'd have a much better idea of how to behave." "It's too late." "I've got this brick-wall sort of feeling." "They won't come back." " Please don't, it's broad daylight." " It brings me release." "Do you want me to run mad?" "What did you think of them?" "The Americans?" "I don't know." "They weren't like anyone I've ever met before." " Did you think they were handsome?" " No." "They were incredibly well turned out but not naturally good-looking, like some people." " Miss Cassandra?" " Stop calling me "miss."" "It's just not the way things are anymore." "The first day we came here, my mother said you and Rose were ladies and I ought to address you respectfully." "You always did." "She said that I was never to presume." "Would I...?" "Would I be presuming if I asked you to come for a walk with me?" "When?" "When the bluebells are out." "No you wouldn't." "I'll practice this one for next time." "It uses the keys that don't stick." "Rose thinks she gave an irresistible performance." "I ought to tell her the truth, but I can't bear to." "She's the only woman in the house with a smile on her face." "Pass the salt, Rose." "Pass the salt." "Pass the salt, pass the salt, pass the salt." "Rose!" "Damn you, Rose!" "You know he's got a perforated eardrum!" "I suppose he'll go deaf and I'll be held responsible!" "Stop it!" "Stop it!" "When will you learn to control yourselves?" "!" "I haven't lost my temper for years!" "Just as well with what happened last time." "That's enough, Rose." "You don't think they found out about Father, do you?" "No, I'm sure they didn't." " How could they?" " So why didn't they come back?" "I went out of my way to be flirtatious and provocative." "That's what men are meant to like." "There's no way out now, is there, Cassie?" " Bloody..." " Calm down." "I'm quite calm." "I'm quite calm, thank you." "Please shut up!" "Just shut up!" " Sit down and stop all this noise!" " Stop it!" "Stop it!" "Stop it!" "And I put it to you, my lord that to kill one's wife with a cake knife would be an extraordinary, tedious business involving sawing her to death." "Take him down." "We've been living in a boarding house." "Only for four months." "It won't happen again." "Girls?" "Girls?" "Girls!" "Aunt Millicent is dead and she has left you a portion of her wardrobe." "I hope it's the door." "But furs?" "She hated fur things." "And what are they doing in a shop?" " They're not new." " The lawyers put them in cold storage." "I'd give up everything I have for a little black suit and suede accessories." "Come on." "I'd give up everything." "Oh, Rose, can you smell bluebells?" "I can smell heaven." "I'll take a dozen pairs, please." "Rose." "Come on." "I look like a bear." "It is bear, madam." "And young madam's is monkey." "How much do you think they're worth?" "If I might point out, madam, this is a high-class department store." "We do not deal in secondhand goods." "We only refrigerate the furs of favored clients." "Aunt Millicent had a house full of beautiful things." "Why did she leave us these?" "She was never the same after Father married Topaz." "When they were cutting the cake, she said to me:" ""They have married for love, and one can only pray for them."" "I'm not..." "No, I'm not coming back." "No, Simon..." "My God, Neil and Simon Cotton are standing on the platform." "I look a sight." "You look a sight." "We've got two bags of leftovers from a line's corner house." "I'm going to die of shame." " Help me, help me, help me." " Through the bushes." " My darlings." " Mother." "How are you?" "Simon, dear, was that supposed to be first class?" "The seating was covered in the most..." "Mind the milk churns." "Oh, my God." "What was that?" "I've seen what it is." "Ladies and gentlemen it's a bear, and it's been scavenging for food." "Neil, we are in Suffolk, England." "Ever go hunting in Yellowstone Park?" "Ever see a grizzly hug a guy to death?" " No, dear." " Neil." "I'm telling you, I've seen a bear." "The circus has just arrived." "It must have escaped." "It'll be heading towards the village." "Come on, do something." "Listen, everybody, in the waiting room now." "Come along!" "Madam, into the waiting room." " Quickly, come along." " Miss Cassandra." "Miss Rose." "Bears are very cunning creatures." "Don't let the dog go until I say." "Okay." "He will try to head away from the railway line." "Simon, lead your party over to the right and fan out in the direction of that church." "Come on." "Get moving." "Go." "I'll go this way." "Rose?" "Run!" " Wait, my sister!" " Go back to the station." "Go back to the station." "Wait for me there." " Rose." " Stand back, let her get some air." " Is she all right?" " In a state of shock." " You must take her home in our car." " What happened to the bear?" "Killed it." "It was thrashing and rolling in the river, trying to get out." "So I took the pitchfork and shoved it in its neck." "Right in the jugular, first time." "Then it twitched all over and foamed a little at the mouth." "Then it groaned and it died." "She had a very lucky escape." "Neil, be careful with her." "Stephen, what happened to her?" "My lantern went out." "I'm taking you home." "So he grabbed my arm and said, "Why are you running away?"" "And I said, "Because I didn't want to see you or your stupid bearded brother either." "In fact, you can both go to hell."" "And I slapped his face." " Oh, Rose, what have you done?" " I'll tell you what I've done." "I've got us an invitation to dinner at Scoatney." "Mrs. Cotton invited us all." "One week today." "And so it was all hands to the pump." "Topaz, haunted by the thought of Rose's slaps and insults has decreed she will dress like a doll and behave like a lady." "You'll need to learn a slow fox, a quickstep, a tango and how to smoke." " Can't I just do something with a fan?" " No." "I'm already regretting the crinoline." "One can't overdue Victorian charm." "I keep picturing us walking." "I put bluebells in to get myself in practice." "Then I add twilight and give us things to say." "It's getting dark." "I won't let the flame go out." "Can you smell bluebells?" "I can smell heaven." "And there my imagination always fails completely." "I obviously don't want to kiss him at all." " Or do I?" " Your face has gone really, really red." "Come on then." "I'm sorry." "I've changed my mind." "Anyway, it's rubbish about him looking like a Greek god." "From now on, I'm going to concentrate on Rose's quest for love." "We have put the rumba into our repertoire, just to be on the safe side." "I was too forthcoming when they came to call." "I think the problem was mostly the tea gown." "What do you mean the problem's mostly the tea gown?" "I heard Neil talking to Simon that day." "I was in the hayloft." "What did he say?" "What did he say?" "He called you an insane broad in theatrical costume." "He wanted Simon to drop us." "He did, did he?" "Well I shan't forth come again." " Hold still." " I'm holding still." "I thought we'd sold these." "They were only pawned." "I got them back." "Are you wearing lipstick and powder and rouge?" " It makes you look ordinary." " I mean it to." "I want us to look like a viable family, Mortmain, for Rose's sake." " I don't want to look exceptional." " Lf you do, I look like someone too." "You are someone." "Wash your face, please." "Unpin your hair." "Give me something to be proud of." " May I take your coat, sir?" " Thank you." "Welcome." "It was a highly intellectual gathering." "Aubrey Fox-Cotton is a cousin and an architect." "They recognized Topaz at once from a series of avant-garde etchings she once modeled for." "She was glad she had taken her disguise off." "I take it you've tasted your first champagne this evening." "One of life's nicer rites of passage." "What do you think?" "It reminds me of very good ginger beer without the ginger." " Sweet." " His wife is called Leda." "She wears too much lipstick." "Are you appalled by my table manners?" "I couldn't get the hang of using this cutlery the English way." "Of course, Mother and Simon find the whole thing divinely elegant." "I tried it, but I thought I'd starve." "When this hall was first built, they ate with daggers in their fingers." "It'll probably last until the days when men dine on capsules." "Fancy asking friends over for capsules." "No, the capsules would be taken in private." "Well, by that time, eating will become unmentionable." "Pictures of food will be considered rare and curious and only collected by rude old gentlemen." "When I was in the United States on my second lecture tour they held a banquet for me in a place called Boulder." "Mr. Mortmain, how long is it since you actually published anything?" "Twelve years." "Is it drink?" "Or do you have psychological problems?" " Mother!" " Well, he didn't run out of the room or attack me with a knife." "Malicious wounding." "Not quite a capital offense." "If your assault was more competent, I would've been obliged to bar my door." "Or send your youngest son after me with a pitchfork." "I always employ shock tactics with men of genius." "One has to employ them in public or the men of genius bolt." "Are you unique, or have all American women become more menacing?" "You find me as menacing as I need to be, Mr. Mortmain." "Your voice has been silenced long enough." "Well, that's because there can be no creativity without stimulus." "I'm glad we're of the same opinion." "You're treading on my feet." " So stop making up your own steps." " I didn't ask to dance with you." "Could've refused me." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Would you like to come out to the terrace?" "Get some air." "I'm not hot." "Besides, it's a slow dance next." "It is not." "It's a rumba." "And I've promised it to Simon." "I have to ask you to rein me in on this." "I've been told I rumba like a rubber ball." "You're much better at leading than your brother." "Am I?" "That's a really unusual dress you have on." "You mean, you think it's theatrical?" "Oh, no, no, no." "Picturesque and original, certainly, but not theatrical at all." "Get down." "Go home." "Rose!" "Rose!" "Stephen?" "Thomas!" " You all right?" " Sure, I'll be fine." " Come along with me." " She'll get you patched up." "Thank you." "Do they make you nervous?" " My ancestors?" " My family." "I think they're a very charming highly individual bunch of individuals." "They make me nervous." "Would you like to try it?" "Go right ahead." "I don't suppose I'd have much of an appetite if I was actually concussed." "Where have you been?" "We were in the long gallery looking at pictures." "Never mind all that tedious ancestor worship." "I'm gonna photograph this." "Stephen, this is my card." "Five guineas a pop." "I'd like you to consider it." "Thank you." "I will." "You aren't going to go." " Are you?" " It's just, I mean..." "Five guineas." "That will buy a fair few bars of whole nut." "Stephen, can I get you anything else?" "Sir William always used to send us a ham at Christmas." " It was great." "You missed last year." " Thomas!" "Here." "Rose hasn't said a word since we got in." "I'm going to pretend I don't care what she's thinking." "Can I tell you something?" "When we got back to the dining room, I imagined being in bed with Simon." "You didn't!" "You wouldn't understand." "No." " What was it like?" " It was peculiar, but bearable." " Even with the beard?" " I sort of skirted around it." "If only I could get him to shave." "Wouldn't you rather have Neil?" "He's got a nice, clean face." "No, I wouldn't rather have Neil." "You can have Neil." "I'd marry Simon even if I hated him." "Oh, God." "I've never seen anything more beautiful than Mrs. Cotton's bathroom." "Peach-colored towels." "Rose, there isn't a towel on Earth that could make up for marrying a bearded man that you hate." " But I don't hate him." " You're not in love with him." "I want to be." "You have no idea how much I want to be." "I don't know why I'm excited, what it is I really feel." "Perhaps if you kissed or something." "I'm not gonna let him until after he's proposed." "Otherwise, he might just kiss me and run and not propose at all." "Why would he do that?" "I wish we knew more about men." "I keep trying to imagine what Mother would say." "There must be signs you can study, signals you can read." "I think I realized then how little we have to go on how desperate we are." "And that the thing we know least about of all is being women." "Three teas two luncheons and..." "It's only been five days since we went for dinner." "I wish you'd tell me what you and Mrs. Cotton talk about." "We do not talk about anything." "We converse and that's different." "Elizabeth is an extremely stimulating woman." "Oh, that bloody hound!" "Clothes brush is on the dresser." "Is there nowhere a man in dark trousers can sit in this house?" " Why wear your London suit?" " Because I'm going London." "Do you want me to start writing again, or don't you?" "I knew it." "She's inspiring him." "His temper has been getting worse." "God, I'd let him tear me limb from limb if I thought it would unleash him." "I hope I'm not tempting fate." "I keep imagining Rose's honeymoon in Paris." "I put flowers by the bed and think about her waiting." "I can't decide between a pink negligee with swan's-down trim or duchess satin in classic eau du Nil." "But she's always just a tiny bit afraid." "Is this your playhouse?" "It's..." "It's where I come to write." "Like father, like daughter." "Except I've written a 147 pages." "It can't help him that rain pours through his study roof." "I'm suspending the rent until I've had it repaired." "Is Rose at home today?" "She's gone to the village to buy soap." "Shall we walk over there?" "He wasn't going to stab Mother, but it looked bad to the neighbor because he jumped the fence and tried to grab the knife from Father." "The neighbor got punched in the stomach and Father got four months." " And then he stopped writing." " And started reading detective novels." "Well, I can't work it out." "He's a complete mystery all on his own:" "The Case of the Buried Talent." "You know, he should really see an analyst." " An analyst?" " Yes." "The right person could take him back to his time in jail and find out why there's still a part of him imprisoned, locked up." "He'd never agree to that." "Father says all psychiatrists are con men." "Besides, it would mean he'd actually have to talk to someone." "Well, doesn't this make the perfect picture." "Feel like I'm painted on the lid of a candy box." " Did you get the soap?" " They'd run out." "Neil was buying cigarettes." "Would you like a lemonade?" "Can't I have the same as Rose?" "Creme de menthe." "Of course." "I think your sister chose it for the contrast with her hair." "No, no." "Just there, dear." "The colors look so pretty." "Simon!" "Don't get the beer with the hen on it." "It's disgusting." "You pick it, I'll buy it." "Neil hates me." "He thinks I'm going to take Simon away from him." "Do you know their parents kept them apart for 14 years." "Did they?" "I shan't let him interfere." "I don't care what he wants." "Remember that picnic with Mother and Pa when they forgot the food?" "Yeah, and we had to buy it in a shop." "And Mother had to cut the bread with a nail file." "That was a funny day." "They took us out to tell us they were divorcing." "They couldn't in the end because everything hadn't been packed." "And they were at a loss as to how to be civilized." "We never found out how they decided which would take which one of us." "Who would you have picked, Rose?" "I'd have put you both in a home or sold you to a chimney sweep." "I made a mistake with Rose." "I thought she was affected when I first met her." "Artificial and maybe mannered or something." "She's not." "She's natural and spontaneous quite unlike anyone I've ever met before." "I suppose she is." "And so are you." " No." " I'm really glad that we met you all." "I'm glad that we came." "Look out." "Have you seen Rose doing cartwheels?" "Have you ever seen such a change in a girl?" "This must be her fresh-air personality." "Yeah, the question is how many Roses are there?" "How could you?" "It's a simple gesture of social intercourse." " What are we going to feed them?" " They gave us that ham." "We haven't got a decent table to eat it off." "There are doors, they can be taken off their hinges." " What's the matter?" " He's invited the Cottons to dinner." " All of them?" " And the Fox-Cottons and the vicar." "He's been in London with her, Elizabeth." "They've had an assignation at the British Museum." "Elizabeth is my patroness." "We were doing some research." "People use that place for nothing but assignations." "I used to meet you there myself when I was married to Eduardo." "In the mummy room!" "It can't be done, and we're so close to the only thing that's going to save us." " Should we try to cancel dinner?" " No." "Don't you see?" "Simon has to propose to me now before he meets somebody else or gets to know me better." "If only I could get him on his own again." "You will." "I promise you, you will." "They didn't seem to notice it was their ham we were serving or that they got the biggest portions." "James, did our visit to the mummy room provide much inspiration?" "Would you believe it, Mrs. Mortmain, we came across two mummies in separate cases, who were actually husband and wife." "Meticulous hieroglyphs told the whole story." "They were on opposite sides of the room, gazing mutely at each other with their barriers of glass." "I've known marriages like that." "See, the pity of it is, Mrs. Mortmain, I haven't designed a building that's satisfied me in 15 years." "I'm hoping to persuade Simon to let me remodel Scoatney or this place." "You know, I've never even seen beyond the ground floor here." " I've been waiting for a guided tour." " I'll show you around." "Let's go up in the battlements." " That is a great idea." " Do let me join you." "It's a cloudless night, and I haven't seen the Pleiades in ages." "Oh, such a soft, little constellation." "I prefer something much more angular." "Something is dampening your fire, Mrs. Mortmain." "My fire dies when it is not required Aubrey." "The besieging forts would have a great big sling known as a trebuchet, and they used it to fire rocks over the ramparts." "This isn't what he meant when he wanted a tour." "Trip over your skirt." "He'll grab your arm to steady you." " It'll be a start." " You promised me we'd be alone." " But it's out of my hands." " You promised!" " Gave the inhabitants of the castle the advantage..." "Would anybody like to bathe?" " Bathe?" " In the moat." "It'll be like being disemboweled with an ice ax." "Rubbish." "We keep them up here to stop the drafts." "There's only one pair unfortunately." "Why don't you wait here for your turn." "Come on." " I don't know if these are gonna fit." " Oh, stop worrying, they'll be fine." " Stand by for beautiful accompaniment." " Whoa!" "This is like Alaska." "Well, I wanna see you suffer too, or I'm going straight back inside." "Well done." "Now that really is romantic." "It's a shame we're not in love and that it's so darn cold." " It's fine if you keep moving." "Are you okay?" "It's a bit weedy just here, that's all." "Oh, for chrissake, Cassandra." " Can we please go inside now?" " No, I'm really enjoying it." "Look at the moon." "Come on before we catch pneumonia." "The towels are upstairs." "Wait for me in the kitchen." "Will you kiss me now?" "Will you marry me, Rose?" "Kiss me." "Then I'll tell you." "You're all wet." "You're all wet." "Say something, brother." "Rose, I'm sure you know everything I'm wishing you." " Took me swimming deliberately." " Well, of course I did." " You might try and be happy for them." " Just get out and let me get dressed." "Only if you tell me why you don't like Rose." "Because she's a gold digger." " She is not." " She is, and you damn well know it." "And you're no better." " How dare you." " How dare I do what?" "Tell the truth?" " Goodbye!" " Goodbye!" " Farewell!" " Bye!" "See you soon!" "This is such a relief." "I thought we'd never pull it off." "No, the relief is that I'm in love with him." " Was it the kiss that did it?" " A kiss can do a lot of things." "Oh, don't cry." "Please, don't cry." "I'm gonna take such good care of you all." "Well, now they've all gone to arrange a London wedding." "Father went too, to keep an eye on Rose." "And Topaz went to keep an eye on him." "I was miserable for a week." "I wondered if I envied Rose." "I scoured my innermost heart and realized I just missed her." "She had gone from me for good." "And the thought of Neil despising her was more than I could bear." "Dear Neil, Rose is in love with Simon." "She offered it up herself that night after he proposed." "She was once honest enough to admit that she would have married him even if she'd hated him." "So I believe her." "I value her truthfulness." "I hope you value mine." "And please, don't hold our having been so poor against her." "With love, your future sister-in-law, Cassandra." "Dear Cassandra draw a picture of the bridesmaid's dress you want and send it by return." "Topaz keeps coming up with sketches." "You can imagine what they're like." "You won't recognize me soon." "I've been taken in hand." "I have a permanent wave and my own account at Simpson's." "The shop smelled exactly the same, like heaven and bluebells." "And I saw the assistant who said they didn't deal in second-hand goods." "She was all smiles this time." "I've always wanted a daughter to dress." "I kept wishing you were here or I was there." "By the time you get this, it will be Midsummer's Eve." "Will you do the pagan rites?" "Will you do them one last time for my sake?" "I was in no-man's land." "I knew that when dusk fell, I'd be doing something childish for the final time." "Meanwhile, I told myself sunbathing naked was a prelude to the rites." "But I couldn't explain the thrill in the pit of my stomach." "The tight, coiled feeling." "Was I rehearsing something?" "Don't go too close." "Hi." "Flying visit." "I have business on the estate." "Has Rose come home?" "She had a fitting for her wedding dress." "Are you all alone too?" "I did this with Rose every summer." "It started as a game but after a while we really did think the gods could hear us." "We never dared not do it after that." "Of course, Mother panicked if we danced too near the flames." "And then she died." "And the next year we danced even nearer and went wild." "Rose told me." " You miss her." " It seems wrong when she's so happy." "When I first saw Neil after Father's funeral, it was amazing." "We talked all the time." "We stayed up all night talking." "Now, sometimes we sit not saying anything at all." "Rose and I used to do that." "Did you?" "I don't know, having someone else around is new to me." "I was pretty much an only child for years after the divorce." "So much was messed up." "I really wanna get it right this time." "Would you like to see how we finished on a ceremonial cry?" "Please." "Don't you dare laugh." "Never." "May I?" "You!" "I thought Rose would love Debussy." "But I took her to the Wigmore Hall last week, and she sat there looking not bored exactly, just blank." "She seemed further away then than she does now." "Do you like it?" "It's beautiful." "Makes me think of "Dover Beach."" "We are here upon a darkling plain." "It's called "Au Clair de Lune," "By the Light of the Moon."" "You're much, much more clever than such a pretty girl has a right to be." "I look a lot prettier when I'm not standing next to Rose." "We talk an awful lot about Rose, don't we?" "I suppose she's the thing we have in common." "It's getting late." "I'll drive you home soon." "But would you dance with me first, Cassandra?" "Please?" "Does this have a name this tune?" "It's called "You and the Night and the Music."" "I did..." "Don't say anything." "I don't make a habit of this sort of thing." "Nor do I." "It was only a kiss, Cassandra." "It was my first kiss." "Oh, my God." "Well, if it fell short of your expectation in any way then I apologize most sincerely." "I don't think I'm sophisticated enough for this." "I'll drive you home." "I kissed you, Cassandra because you've been so sweet and funny all evening." "And I wanted to." "I kissed you, and that's all." "Don't tell Rose." "I'm in love with her." "She's my sister." "What does he mean, "funny"?" "What does he mean, "I kissed you, and that's all"?" "Do Americans kiss each other all the time?" "Does he think I wanted him to kiss me?" "He belongs to Rose." "Rose, who said a kiss can do a lot of things." "Not me." "I said I'd never fall in love." "I said love was a murderous thing." "It is, and I'm walking on air." "I hate Rose like a poison in my fantasies." "Sometimes she comes into the room and sees us kissing." "And sometimes she doesn't." "I don't know which is worse." " Father?" " Came back on the milk train." "Saw Stephen at the station, jacket on, going somewhere." "We're supposed to be able to afford shop cake." "I thought I'd make an effort." "It's my birthday." "Today?" "Seventeen?" "Eighteen." "Can't see it somehow." "I still remember you in that perambulator thing." " Simon sent his regards." " Did he?" "Said you kept him greatly entertained the other night." "Probably made a change from worshipping Rose." "No man on Earth should be so violently in love puts him at such a disadvantage." "What are you looking for?" " The kippers from Saturday." " They've gone off." "Corporeal transition." "I need something made of flesh." "I'm shaking and sick with the things I have imagined." "But dreams are like a drug." "The magic doesn't last and then the pain is worse than knives." " There she is!" " Cassandra!" ""The Molecular Evolution of the Cosmic Universe."" "I've read half of it." "It's quite good." "Rose remembered!" "It's from Simpson's!" "I had to go to King's Crypt to get it today." "I've been saving up." "It's a wireless!" "Oh, Stephen!" "Thank you." "Oh, thank you!" "It's battery powered." "Oh, Stephen!" "This one's from Simon." "It's a sewing machine." "It's not." "It's a gramophone with integral wireless." "It's probably mains dependent." "He'll have forgotten we don't have electricity." "It's battery powered too." "I'll go practice my bowling, then." "Poor Stephen." "Be careful, will you?" "Can I tell him the truth?" "Will it hurt?" "Stephen!" "Simon didn't have to work to buy me a present." "No, that was my privilege." "We haven't got a lantern." "It'll get dark." "You'll have to hold my hand." "No." "It'll make us both feel better!" "This isn't why I came, Stephen." "We mustn't do this." "Please, don't let me do this." "I'm not coming after you, Cassandra!" "I'm not coming after you!" "Why did I let it happen?" "Why did I want him to kiss me when my heart ached for someone else when I went there to tell him how I felt?" "I've been cruel to Stephen and betrayed myself." "The memory of Simon's kiss is ruined." "My future is wretched." " Yes?" " I'm sorry." "It wasn't wrong if we love each other." "It's all right." "You won't even have to see me for a bit." "I got a telegram from Leda." "I've got to go to London, see a producer about a film part." "I'm sorry about the kissing." "What are you doing?" "There are 2000 characters in the Chinese alphabet." "Willow pattern distilled a sweeping saga of passion and betrayal into one perfect elliptical pictogram." "I wanted to break it down at random assess whether meaning would remain." "What are we going to do for plates?" "He's getting worse." "He has asked for ink twice." "He's asked at the stores for colored chalk and the Dandy." "I got a letter from Rose yesterday." "You didn't say?" "She said not to show you." "She feels guilty at having so much when you've got nothing." "Three pairs of three-quarter length, Hermes glaces kid gloves at 12 guineas per pair." "One lavender, satin nightgown with marabou peignoir from Rigby and Peller." "Three whole pages." "Then she put a total at the bottom." "Added up wrong." "I had to look "marabou" up in the dictionary, and "peignoir."" "This isn't like her." "It isn't like an engaged person." "She doesn't mention Simon once, not once." "Our wicketkeeper's sister's getting married and it's "Gerald, Gerald, Gerald" every other word." "She promised me she was in love with him the night they got engaged." "I can't let her sacrifice herself." "Your stop, miss." "There's going to be a mezzanine floor with a circular aperture giving way to the entrance hall, all glass brick." "This is the best thing Aubrey's done in years." " Where's Rose?" " Matinee, all of them." "Apart from Neil." "He's moved into a hotel." "I've had matters to attend to." "What sort of matters?" "I've been looking for rooms." "I can't flourish here, Cassandra." "In this flat?" "In this family." "I thought I could move your father to great things, stir the genius." "But I couldn't, and it's paralyzing me." "He's been terribly feverish lately." "Imagine if he wrote something and you weren't there to read it." "Elizabeth Cotton can read it." "He'll show her first." "I'm going to get cards printed, put myself about." "You mean with Aubrey?" "Not exclusively, no." "Try to understand." "I need to be in touch with artists." " Father's an artist." " Not because of me." "London used to be my world, but I'm nearly 30." "Flesh fades." "I'll lose my place in life if I don't apply myself." "Is that all you think you've got to offer?" "It's the only way I have to make my mark." "You've made your mark with us." "Thomas and Rose and me." "But I'm not your mother." "Cassandra!" "What a wonderful surprise!" "I thought I'd go insane!" " Why?" " Oh, chatter, chatter, chatter." "You've no idea." "And always, always about the wedding." "Dorchester tonight to dine and dance." "This should fit you." "I don't wear it anymore." "We bought it off the peg." "You're looking very grown-up tonight." "I'm not sure that I approve." "Rose lent it to me." "Ginger ale without the ginger?" "Did you leave your father some food, dear?" "I shall telephone the kitchens at Scoatney." "They'll send him a cold cut of beef." "Thank you." "He can get quite ravenous when he's writing." "You don't really believe he's gonna achieve anything, do you, dear?" "We've been expecting a breakthrough every day." "You're his daughter." "That's your prerogative." "James Mortmain has done his work, my dear." "The well is dry." "Of course, it doesn't matter two pins now." "Rose will marry into money." "The audacity!" "Just seen Neil." "You are honored." "Simon, you know I love that song." "Get them to play it again." "Sorry." "Sorry." "Sorry." "Excuse me." "Sorry." "There you are." "Now, why aren't you dancing?" "My shoes don't fit." "Thank you for your letter." "You did a very necessary thing." "Come on." "I suppose we should get in practice for the wedding." "A best man, a bridesmaid." "I'm not going to the wedding." "Neil." "Been offered a partnership on a ranch in California." "Have to be there to sign the papers, next week." "Nobody said." "Nobody knows, yet." "Do you hate England, Neil?" "Do you hate us?" "England's okay." "You're okay." "It's me." "Just all wrong here." "Put those flowers in the bathroom for the night, will you?" "Put those flowers in the bathroom for the night, will you?" "And put that card in the bedside drawer." "He sulks if I don't keep every single one." "You don't love him at all, Rose, do you?" "No, I don't believe I do." "It's a shame, really." "He wears me out." "Every second of every minute of every hour together he wants and wants and wants to be loved with every fiber of his being." "I can't explain it." "You explain it very well." "Do you want me to tell him for you?" "Tell him what?" "I'm still going to marry him." "That's a wicked, wicked, wicked thing to do!" "More wicked than helping me make that ludicrous crinoline dress?" "More wicked than taking Neil for a swim so Simon could propose?" "It was like something in a book, a game." "It wasn't real!" "Oh, grow up, Cassandra." "You've had meat on the table every day for weeks." "That's real." "You've got silk stockings and French perfume should you get the nerve to use them." "Use them?" "For what?" "To trap a kind, good, sensitive man into marriage and destroy him?" "Cassandra." "You're in love with him." " With who?" " Simon." "My fiance." "That is all we need." "Do you think I wouldn't give him up?" "Do you think I wouldn't throw it in his face if he'd have you instead?" " I know you wouldn't." " I know he wouldn't." "He thinks you're just a funny little girl." "I am not greedy, Cassandra." "I am not selfish!" "I'm not just doing this for myself!" "Don't go." "You mustn't go." "What will I tell everyone in the morning when you aren't here?" "You're already living a lie." "Tell them what the bloody hell you like, then go into your bathroom and count your peach-colored towels." "We have played too many games with love." "And I don't know any of the rules." "I wanted Rose to marry into money." "I willed her to fall in love with Simon, and then wanted it all undone because I was jealous." "I have betrayed her, and I hate myself because I love my sister." "That'll be 3 and 11 plus sixpence for admittance of dog." "Sixpence?" "They're banned." "It's a fine." "I've lost my purse." "You should've thought about that before you ordered cutlets." "I'll be waiting by the door." "And I want my pencil back." "Will you let me help you?" "Could you just lend me twopence for the telephone?" " Hello?" " Can I speak to Stephen Colly?" "It's Cassandra here." "Do you know what time it is?" "I was offered that part in the film." "Will you take it?" "Haven't decided." "Are you unhappy with me?" "I'm unhappy with myself and Rose." "Rose is a bad girl." "In what way?" "She's just a bad girl." "A lot of women are." "Sometimes we're bad without meaning to be." "You're not a woman yet." "Unlike Leda." "She's been very good to me but I don't love her." "I love you." "I know." "When we were in the woods, I wondered if you loved me too." "I'm really sorry." "Is it Neil or Simon?" "Which one are you in love with?" "Simon." "Cassandra." "And it really, really hurts." "Marry me." "I can make it hurt less." "I can earn good money now." "I don't love you, Stephen." "I don't love you." "It's like some hideous party game." "Everybody's dancing, and nobody's getting the prize they want because it's all thirdhand and second best." "I can't bear it." "Father?" "You've seen enough." "What is all this about, Father?" "Elizabeth believes that an author must allow his material to marinate to become seasoned and tempered before it can be worked with." "Elizabeth Cotton doesn't believe you'll ever write another word." "No, you don't believe." "I've been working very hard." "You've hypnotized us all into turning a blind eye, Father." "We accepted everything you did." "We let you lock yourself away." "For me, secrecy has been the essence of creation." "And what have you created, Father?" "In the last 12 years, what have you created beyond poverty and despair?" "I'm the head of this household." "I'm entitled to respect." "You aren't respected, you're indulged." "Why don't you just write something?" "I lost my temper." "I'm not myself." "This is yourself." "This is why you went to prison." " This is what you did to Mother." " No, Cassandra, it is not." "Do you think we can't remember because we never talk about it?" "I'm not gonna discuss it with you." "We need Topaz." "You've driven her away." "You've driven everyone away." "Except you." "I'm staying here." "I'm going to sit in this chair and watch you and wait until you've written something down." "Your mother used to do that." "Oh, Father." "This is worse than prison, and it might go on forever." "I have to talk to you, Mr. Cotton, before it's too late." "Writing somewhere new can be inspiring." "Come on." "Where are you going?" "I think this might unlock you." "Supplies." "What?" "We'll let you out when you've finished 50 pages." "Fifty pages?" "It took me a year to write 50 pages of Jacob Wrestling." "It's really good that you're feeling so angry." "Harness the rage." "Just write, "The cat sat on the mat." Lt'll be a start." "What the bloody hell do you think you're...?" "Don't you dare leave me here, you bastard rats." "Come back here." "Come back here, I tell you." "Listen to him." "Can you hear him?" "Yes." "I have done a terrible thing." "I have put my father back in prison." "It may be the end of him." " Is Rose here?" " No." "She's run away." "Do you know where she might've gone?" ""I love you." "Stop." "Don't hate me." "Stop." "Rose."" "It's from Walberswick." "Let's go." "We had a fight the night I was in London." "I said some terrible things to her." "Not everything in the world is your fault, Cassandra." "Not everything in the world is your responsibility." "I would've liked for you to have seen a proper sunrise." "This is a crisis, Simon, not a treat." "It's where we had the barbecue the day when Neil said, "Have you ever seen such a change in a girl?"" "She was being herself, that was the only difference." "She was happy here." "That's what brought her back." "There's a light on at the inn now." "Neil's here too." "They haven't had time to get married." "They hate each other." "We're going for a swim." "And I knew then that this was love because my heart was breaking for him." " The rest will come." " What if it never does?" "I don't know." "I don't know." " You look so tired." " Do I?" "Do you think I don't notice things?" "You never say." "I'm not as articulate as I pretend." "For a while, the whole world thought otherwise, and I was ashamed to be so mute in things that mattered and to be called a genius." "You are a genius." "I'm an ordinary man, and I'm not invincible." " You haven't failed." " I failed your mother." "I knew she was ill, Cassandra." "I knew when I went for her with the cake knife, and so did she." "Don't tell me." "She had said..." "She had said I didn't care." "She accused me of lacking tenderness." "And she was right." "I couldn't make her secure." "I couldn't make her feel loved." "Even when she was dying." "Don't cry." "Don't cry." "What good are words on a page?" "What good is anything if a man can't open his heart and let himself out?" "I would give every word I ever wrote to have this moment with her." "She would like that." "Would she forgive me?" "She would say she understood." "Have I failed you, Cassandra?" "I'm 18." "I can't see it somehow." "I don't expect you to forgive me." "I know that." "I thought I was gonna lose you again." "I wouldn't let that happen." "It's good we can be civilized." "Yes, Mother's pleased about that." "You see, I saw Neil kissing her the night he lied about the bear." "I saw Rose kiss him back too." "Was that before she slapped his face or after?" "She never slapped his face." "I went to his hotel because I believed things would come right if just one person told the truth." "Rose has never been so happy in her life." "I didn't do it for Rose." "I did it for you so you could have Simon." "Can we get a move on, please?" "This way, everyone." "Come along." "See you in the cab." "I'm scared, Cassie." "You're in love." "You know I'm telling the truth this time, don't you?" "I know." "I want you to be this happy, Cassandra." "I want you to know what this feels like." "I know I'm supposed to throw it but it's only got a bit of ribbon." "I'm afraid it might fall apart." "Or you'll miss, and Mrs. Cotton will catch it." "And so my sister departed for the New World." "Just knock." "Read this." "You don't need me." "I do." "Come home." "And now our lives seem full of possibility." "Work on the novel continues." "Passages are being published in a highbrow magazine." "Topaz, get yourself up here, woman." "Now." ""The cat sat on the mat" was not a nonsense." "It concerns a child who is learning to read and is symbolic of a journey towards understanding." "The key to all knowledge comes in words of just one syllable apparently." "Hello?" "Hello, anybody home?" "I'm planning an essay on your father's work after the excerpts are published." "The whole novel could take time." "Things have to be kept alive." "I suppose you mean Father's reputation." "I mean everything I've come to love here." "England matters too much." "I'll never give it up." "Even if you go back to America?" "Even when." "I wish I could take you with me." "Would you come?" "Would you?" "Not if you're still in love with Rose." "How can you be, Simon, after everything she did?" "Because I don't have a choice." "Love is like that." "Do you think I don't know love is like that?" "I'm sorry." "We could be good companions, Cassandra." "We could read poetry together I could play you music you'd make me laugh." "Wouldn't that be a nice little life?" "It wouldn't be enough." " I don't ask for ecstasy." " I mean, enough for me." "Simon, I don't want to go through life like my mother afraid that I'm not really loved." "Even if it meant I could go through life with you." "I can understand that." "You know I'd love to see America one day should circumstances ever prove favorable." "I will come back." "They're just not favorable now." "You were always wise beyond your years." "No, I wasn't." "I used to be consciously naive." "Perhaps he meant it." "Perhaps he will come back." "But everything feels fractured, and my heart is bruised." "Still, better all that hurt than to have known no pain learnt nothing." "There's only the last page left to write on." "I'll fill it with words of just one syllable." "I love." "I have loved." "I will love."