"LAURA:" "It was said that one should never linger at a crossroads, for the spirits drawn to such places are restless and turbulent." "But there are also crossroads in life." "Turning points." "The day a boy-chap demanded a man's wage from his employer." "And got it." "The day a derelict house became a home once more." "But not all of life's turning points are so easily navigated." "And turbulent spirits can come in many guises." "Oh, Laura." "You look lovely." "And Minnie." "Perfect!" "I've never been to a house-warming before." "What do you suppose will happen?" "We don't know." "Anything could happen." "Isn't that why parties are fun?" "And perhaps it will!" "People will bring Alf coals for the hearth and gifts for the house." "And there'll be games and dancing..." "and everyone will be happy." "Because Alf's family have a home of their own again?" "Because it is a story that could have had a very different ending." "Now Laura, the second post has come." "So if there are any letters for Lark Rise we should take them with us." "One can only admire young Arless for eschewing so entirely the faults and failings of his parents." ""The son shall not bear punishment for the father's iniquity."" "I feel a sermon coming on." "Quick!" "Let us make our escape." "Thomas, I am leaving you in charge." "Yes, ma'am." "Laura?" "I've forgotten something, ma'am." "I shan't be a moment." "Laura, Miss Lane says could you..." "Is that another letter from Daniel?" "No!" "Then why are you hiding it?" "I am not hiding it." "I am forgetting to deliver it." "I am forgetful." "I forgot." "Tomorrow I will remember." "Do you understand?" "This letter is for Alf." "He has so many burdens, Minnie." "He carries them willingly, yet that doesn't mean they don't weigh heavy." "I always think Alf is like a great tree, but I suppose even trees get tired holding out their branches for other creatures to rest in." "He has worked so hard, and this is such a happy day for him." "Bad news can wait." "Just for a few hours." "Now come on!" "Or we'll miss the dancing." "UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING" "Couldn't have one without the other." "Matching pair there, look." "Oh, thank you." "Ain't you done well, Alf?" "It's a beautiful thing." "I know, you need a bird to put inside there." "Yeah." "What's that look on your face I've never seen there before?" "Pride." "If it is, it belongs there." "You have raised yourself so high, Alf." "So high." "Archie, come on." "If you already have a drink in your hands, be ready to raise it." "If you haven't, best get a move on before Twister drains the barrel!" "LAUGHTER" "Edmund." "No." "Everyone else is." "We said "no"." "Right here, right now, I am the happiest man in England." "I'm a Lark Riser!" "CHEERING" "And I'm an Arless!" "CHEERING" "I was born in this cottage." "And this rent book, and the man's wage in my pocket says I ain't never leaving it again!" "CHEERING" "And...and in exchange for all the gifts that you've brought me and the kindnesses that you've shown me..." "..I have a gift for you all in return." " Another keg o' beer?" " A song." "I had to give my luncheon in exchange for the learning of it, so I hope you think it's worth it." "PLAYING ACCORDION" "# A Gypsy came to the castle gate" "# He sang so sweet and wild" "# And with his song he stole away" "# The Master's only child" "# Oh, she cast away her silken gown" "# She cast away her pride" "# And ran with him into the night" "# Down to the sea so wild" "# Come home, come home my bonny little child" "# Come home again to me" "# Sit once more by your own fireside" "# With your head upon my knee" "# Oh, I'd rather live an hour here" "# Than seven long years with thee" "# And feel the salt spray on my cheek" "# And know that I am free" "# She danced in the wind and she danced in the rain" "# On the edge of the cliffs and the shore" "# And she tasted the salt upon her cheek" "# And never came home no more. #" "CHEERING AND APPLAUSE" "Again!" "Play it again!" "MUSIC PLAYING" "What a tune!" "I don't know when I've heard anything so catchy." "Might be catchy, but it ain't happy." ""She tasted the salt upon her cheeks."" "That's the sea!" "Bitter tears, more like." "Whatever it is, it has put such an itch in my feet." "Well, I ain't the man to scratch it, Em." "Robert!" "How could you resist?" "You must have a heart of stone." "Feet of lead would be more like it." "And both of them left." "My pa does not care to dance." "Your pa does not care to do anything unless he can do it well." "He fears it will damage his dignity." "Well, you dance all you like, but I hold to what I said." "Sorrow and loss is what I'm hearing." "It ain't nothing about sorrow!" "It's about finding someone to love, who'll love you back and the two of you holding fast together all the days of your life." "What about you, Edmund?" "What does the song mean for you?" "Freedom." "Here's the man who'll sort it out!" "Alf, your song, what do you reckon it's all about?" "Well, I reckon it's about..." "time for another drink!" "LAUGHTER" "MUSIC PLAYING" "Ethel, Edmund, bed." "# And never came home no more. #" "Edmund." "You've got school in the morning." "No." "What?" "I'm not going back." "You failed?" "How could you fail?" " Perhaps I'm not as clever as you think." " Then take it again." "No!" "Edmund!" "How many times do I have to say it?" " I'm done with school!" " You can say what you like." "You need that exam and you won't leave school without it!" "I only need it to do the things that you want me to do." "Be a book-keeper, be a lawyer's clerk, be a...counter-jumper." " I don't need it to go on the land." " Oh, Edmund!" "Grow up and look around you." "A man's wage on the land is ten shillings." "That's half of what your father brings in, and God knows we struggle." "Poverty is no disgrace, but only a fool would choose it." "Then maybe I'm a fool." "No!" "You're just a silly little boy, trying to sound like a man!" "And you don't understand what you're talking about!" "All right." "That's enough." "Tomorrow, after you've been to school, we'll talk about this properly." "For now, you get to bed." "And you might want to consider that belittling a man, humiliating him, is not the best way to win him over." "He's not a man, he's a child." "And what about me?" ""My husband won't dance." ""My husband won't do anything that would dent his over-inflated sense of dignity," ""his foolish masculine pride."" "Robert... ..I was teasing." "It was a joke." "No, Emma." "I was the joke." "It's so quiet." "'Tis now the neighbours have stopped their rowing." " What do you suppose it was about?" " I don't know." "Raised voices ain't like Robert and Emma." "I meant it's quiet without Alfie and the little 'uns." "Now they're gone, p'raps we should be thinking about something to... give you a bit o' company." "Like what?" "I ain't really given it any consideration." "How about a nice little still?" "A still?" "How's that going to keep me company?" "Well, now we haven't got the Arlesses cluttering up the place, we could put the still in the house." "And if we put the still in the house, it naturally follows that I shall be in the house." "Keeping you company." " Brewing up moonshine, more like." " Both!" "It ain't all bad, is it?" "Us, having the place to ourselves again?" "HE CHUCKLES AND SIGHS" "It's been a long, weary while since I could lay my head on a soft bosom without finding some child's got there before me." "I reckon it was the master in that song" " was behind it all." " Mm?" "Crafty old bugger paid the Gypsy to come calling so's he could have the joy of the house to hisself again." "Think if I paid the Gypsies they might take you off my hands?" "HE SNORES" "Nah." "Gypsies wouldn't have you." "THOMAS SNIFFS" "MINNIE HUMS TUNE" "SYDNEY HUMS ALONG" "MINNIE CONTINUES HUMMING" "THOMAS SNIFFS" "You are sniffing, Thomas Brown." "I...believe a man is allowed to sniff when he has a head cold." "But perhaps not in time to the music." "My apologies." "I was not aware I was being so...percussive." "Margaret." "ACIDLY:" "Ma'am." "HE SNIFFS" "Safe round, Thomas." "I..." "I would not wish you to contract whatever contagion is causing me to sniff, so...displeasingly." "Thomas Brown!" "I put all the burnt pieces to one side so they're easy to avoid." "Thank you, Minnie, that was very considerate of you." "Thank you." "Ma'am?" "I was wondering, Minnie... what you would like to be when you are a woman grown." "Why, I shall be your housekeeper." "But is that what you want?" "Miss Lane, please don't turn me off!" "I don't burn the toast hardly at all now." "And Little Man, you tell her about your eggs." "The inside is cooked every day now." "Almost every day." "What is this nonsense about turning you off?" "I am merely asking how you see yourself in, say...five years." "Older?" "Ten years?" "With nicer clothes..." "and a bigger bosom." "HE CLEARS THROAT" "And maybe children." "Ah!" "And where will they live?" "Well, in my room with me." "I couldn't leave them in the street, could I?" "That's not the way things are done!" "Sydney, if a person were going to become a wife and a mother, what do you suppose they would need to know?" "Is the person Minnie?" "I didn't know it until last night, but she was born to it!" "To keep her here as a housekeeper all her days would be like..." "Locking up the girl in Alf's song, so she never met the Gypsy." "Exactly!" "I think perhaps she must learn to dance." "Properly." "So that she can meet a husband." "You are quite right." "She must be able to make cakes." "And...sew holes in trousers." "And never leave her children." "Little Man," "I believe we have a plan." "Edmund." "SHE SIGHS" "Edmund." "If you were to spend today on the land, watching, maybe even putting in a day's labour for the farmer, when we get to talk about this, this evening, you will understand what you're talking about." "So you think I'm right?" "No, I think you're wrong." "But I believe in a fair fight." "Thrupence a week on rose-water?" "What are you doing, drinking it?" "Bathing...my face." "A shilling a month!" "To subscribe to that ridiculous magazine." "I need my stories." "I must know how they end." "She marries him." "She always marries him." "There!" "A pound a year, saved." "We said we weren't going to criticise each other's expenses." "Three shillings on stamps?" "Good God in heaven, how often do you write to him?" " Sorry, to...?" " Monsieur Pontefract." "Every day." "Every post." " Every..." " It must stop!" "No." "We cannot afford it." "It's no more than taking tea at the hotel." "Tea at the hotel is a business expense." "We must be seen." "Our ensembles must be seen." "But this...!" "BELL RINGS" "Miss Pearl, Miss Ruby." "I have a favour to ask you." "You wish us to teach your maid the finer aspects of needlework?" "I would like Minnie to acquire the kind of skills that would stand her in good stead were she ever to leave my employ." "For example, to marry." "I would of course expect to pay you for your time and tuition." "We would need to see some samples of her work to assess her capabilities and...our fee." "I came prepared." "Darning." "I am not entirely clear which is the darn and which is the hole." "I think, Miss Lane, you must be prepared to view this as a long-term undertaking." "I'm sorry, Alf." "My ma." "She never changes." ""You must not worry about me." ""I have my food paid for...plentiful..." ""..and I'm going to smuggle out a little something for you," ""to soften the blow."" "How can she if she's in prison for debt?" "You know my ma." "She's probably got thrupence sewn in her bloomers where the bailiffs couldn't find it." "Why aren't you at school?" "!" "I'm not going to school." "Will you speak for me to the farmer?" "Ask if I can have a day's work?" "Edmund!" "Do Ma and Pa know about this?" "It was Pa's idea." "Will you?" "I want to do what you do." "I want to be like you." "Ain't such a bad life, though, is it?" "I got a Timmins lookin' up to me!" "Come on, boy-chap." "So I was wondering if you might be prepared to teach her." "I can pass on what I know about cakes." "But if she is to feed a family she must also be able to bake a loaf and turn a pie." "Little Minnie with a family?" "You been reading the tea leaves, Miss Lane?" "SHE CHUCKLES" "It was something she said about the song." "And something about the way she looked whilst she was dancing." "It certainly gets to you, that song." "Round and round in my mind like a carousel and I can't get off." "Are you all right?" "Edmund has failed his exam." "Oh, Emma." "He's always been so clever." "I talk to him and I just marvel at the things he says." "Ever since he was tiny." "But maybe I deceive myself." "Maybe I think he can do anything just because I love him so much." "But I wanted better for him." "I wanted...more." "Ain't it a good life here, Em?" "Oh..." "Lark Rise folks would give each other the shirts off their backs and the food off their plates." "But I hate the fact that they have to!" "I don't want him poor, Queenie." "Ahem." "Not wishing to inconvenience anyone but...will you be crying here long?" "Only I was hoping to put up my still." "Thomas Brown, you are unfair." "You are unkind." "I am unkind?" ""To love and to cherish." ""In sickness and in health."" "I believe you spoke those words, did you not?" "And I do!" "I just...cannot abide the sniffing." "Last night, all night." "And to the rhythm of that confounded tune." "Your nose, Thomas." "It has taken on a most unfortunate scarlet hue." "Because, in an attempt to render my sufferings more acceptable to you," "I have been blowing it." "Seems I am damned if I sniff and damned if I don't!" "Oh, Thomas." "I only meant..." "Love does not alter where it alteration finds." "Perhaps you should ask yourself the true nature of your feelings towards me." "I got your hand on the Holy Bible, so don't you dare tell a lie, or you shall be struck down and...never have a boiled egg again." "Why am I being sent to the Pratts to learn to sew, and to Lark Rise to learn to bake?" "Am I to be found another position?" "No." "What, then?" "You are to learn how to be a wife and a mother." "Because you were born to it." "SHE EXHALES" "LAUGHTER" "Edmund Timmins." "To his first day on the land... and his first pay on the land!" "CHEERING" "Now, boy-chap... ..down in one!" "ALL CHANT:" "Boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap, boy-chap..." "CHEERING AND LAUGHTER" "Edmund." "Emma, women ain't really..." " I will not let you do this." " I've already done it." "I worked today, and I'm going back tomorrow." "Emma." "He lied." "He lied about the exam." ""We are pleased to inform you that you have achieved" ""the highest score in the county in your recent examination."" "The highest in the county!" "Is this true?" "You lied?" "Why?" "Cos I knew what you'd say!" "There's nothing wrong with the land." "It's what everyone else does." "You are not everyone else!" "You are clever!" "You have prospects!" "You don't have to settle for a life spent digging turnips and mucking out cows" " for ten miserable shillings a week!" " Emma!" "We will talk about this... in private." "At home." "So..." "I have raised myself so high, but to have what I have, your son would be settling for something so far beneath him." " Alf, no, I didn't mean..." " Yes, you did." "You just didn't mean to let it show." "Your ma's a big fat snob!" "That's right, Dorcasta, you dry them nice and carefully." "Thomasina!" "How many times have I told you?" "It ain't nice to do that with your fingers where folks can see!" "You all right there, Little Alf?" "KNOCK AT DOOR" "Play nicely." "I'll be right back." "BELL RINGS" "Did I hear the door?" "No, ma'am." "What were you thinking of there, Emma?" "In the Wagon and Horses." "Robert, he has just proved that he can be anything he wants to be." "So you tell every man in there that his job, his livelihood, his life...is worthless?" "Ten shillings a week!" "How often have I heard you curse the farmer for paying it or damn the men for letting themselves be exploited?" "In private!" "What am I supposed to do?" "Let him throw it all away?" "I want you to know your place!" "When has anyone ever spoken to you the way you spoke to them?" "She was speaking to me!" "I will deal with you and your dishonesty later." "Now you get to your bed." "No." "What did you say?" "I said no." "You are my son, and while you are under my roof you will do as I say." "Do you understand?" "Yes." "Edmund..." "DOOR CLOSES" "There you go, my lovely." "You... swallow that down." "KNOCK AT DOOR Come in!" "Edmund!" "What's this?" "Rent." "Whatever Alf used to pay you, I'll pay the same." "But there ain't room!" "There's the still... er...me!" "Edmund, no." "This is..." "You can't leave your home." "If you don't take me in, I'll..." "I'll sleep in the fields!" "I'm not going back!" "Take him, Queenie." "Please." "DOOR CLOSES" "Will I have to move my still?" "STEPS CREAK" "Little Man!" "I couldn't sleep." "I was counting sheep, but they all started dancing to Alf's song." "SHE CHUCKLES" "What are you doing with the milk?" "Sydney, can you keep a secret?" "What do you think?" "Ain't he the beautifulest baby?" "He's very beautiful, but there is a bad smell coming from this end of him." "He needs a new napkin, is all." "I ain't going to keep him long... just to give Alf a rest." "He has so many burdens." "Just because he bears 'em willingly, it don't mean they don't weigh heavy." "Well, who'd have thought?" "!" "He's a girl!" "How can you tell?" "Their knees is different." "Shh, shh." "Mustn't wake Miss Lane, my poppet." "I think you'd make a very good mother." "And when you're busy, I should take care of her." "I should be her Uncle Sydney." "Here's your bread, boy-chap." "That'll keep you on the go." "Edmund, don't you think you should give this some more consideration?" "A boy's place is with his family." "But I want to work on the land." "I want to be like Alf." "Why?" "You heard what your ma said." "Cos you can make your own decisions." " You don't have to live the life that your parents made for you." " Don't I?" "SALLY:" "Give it back!" "LIZZIE:" "Finders, keepers." "It's mine!" "Give it back!" "I had it first!" "I had it first!" "Now it's mine!" "Now look what you've done!" "No!" "Give me it!" "It ain't much, is it, after all?" "A broken-down old shack, in a place God made with the bits left over when the rest of the world was done." "Don't speak of it like that!" "Don't see it through those eyes!" "I can't help it." "That's how it looks to me now." "Come on." "We draw the paper pattern." "We cut the paper pattern." "We pin the paper pattern to the cloth...never the other way around." "You cut the cloth." "You pin the cloth." "You sew the cloth." "Do you understand?" "I surely do, ma'am." "I surely will." "Soon." "MINNIE HUMS" "What's that tune you are humming, child?" "It's Alf's song." "The words are ever so romantical." "Would you like to hear them?" "It might...while away the time." "If you can sing and sew simultaneously." "I doubt if she can breathe and sew simultaneously." "# A Gypsy came to the castle gate He sang so sweet and wild" "# And with his song he stole away The Master's only child" "# Oh, she cast away her silken gown She cast away her pride" "# And ran with him into the night Down to the sea so wild" "# Oh, she cast away her silken gown She cast away her pride" "# And ran with him into the night Down to the sea so wild. #" "RIPPING Oh...!" "SHE SIGHS" "Ohhh..." "# I'd rather live an hour here" "# Than seven long years with thee" "# And feel the salt upon my cheek" "# And know that I am free. #" "Alf?" "My ma can't write more than her own name." "She got the prison chaplain to set down that letter for her." "But she knew you'd be able to read it." "Didn't need to, did I?" "You can tell the story just from lookin' at the envelope." "You can tell the story just from knowing my ma." "It never changes." "Yes, it does!" "You've changed it, Alfie." "I don't know anyone who's turned things around the way that you have." "Not just for yourself but for Archie and Lizzie and Sally." "All the time we were growing up, I thought we were the same." "Like brother and sister almost." "But we ain't." "I'm an Arless...and you're a Timmins." "We're as different as mud and marble." "Alf!" "HE SNIFFS" "BELL RINGS" "I'm sorry I'm late, ma'am." "I had to be unpicked." "Never mind, you're just in time." "Have you seen the milk?" "I used it." "To make a rice pudding." "There were four pints!" "It was a big 'un." "So where is the pudding?" "I ate it." "All of it?" "It was so tasty, I couldn't stop." "Well, as you've already eaten, I think perhaps you can miss lunch for today." "Yes." "And I should go to my room." "BABY GRIZZLES" "'Tis that cat again!" "What cat?" "The one...that cries all the time!" "I shall go and shoo it!" "Laura, is something the matter?" "I'm not sure, ma'am." "It's Alf." "He..." "THOMAS BLOWS NOSE VERY LOUDLY" "Thomas, your nose..." "Well, since it is the cause of such offence to so many," "I will remove it." "Good day." "BELL CHIMES" "Ruby!" "Luncheon is over!" "It's time!" "RUBY HUMS TUNE" "She cast away her silken gown, she cast away her pride!" "What?" "Three shillings a week may be saved in more ways than one." "Our laundry bill, for example." "Pas de vetements, pas de lavage!" "Ruby...your modesty." "Your reputation!" "I would sooner give up both than my correspondence with Lionel!" "So which is it to be, Pearl?" "Moi, deshabillee or shall we talk about stamps?" "The flour first." "Then we turn it round, tuck it under... ..turn it round...tuck it under." "That way it'll rise evenly and we'll be able to see when it's time to knock it back." "Dorcas thought Minnie might like to learn a bit of baking." "I am to be a wife and mother." "Oh, but it's supposed to be a secret!" "I see." "And who is to be your husband?" "Or is that also a secret?" "I don't know." "I'm not sure Miss Lane has decided yet." "I spoke to Queenie today." "She reckons we should give Edmund a week." "And then what?" "And then... ..he might be ready to come home." "Ethel, Frank, would you go out and play for a minute?" "Minnie, perhaps you might... keep an eye on them." "Emma, Edmund lied to us." "He manipulated us." "And that means you don't want him back?" "It means I will not be subject to blackmail." " I want my son home." " I won't be dictated to in my own home." "Not by you, and most certainly not by my children." "CHILDREN SCREECHING" "Get her!" "Stop it!" "Get away from her!" "Stop it!" "You're a pig!" "You're a snob and so's your ma!" "At least I have a ma!" "Archie!" "CHILDREN CHANT:" "Fight!" "Fight!" "Fight!" "Fight!" "Fight!" "Fight!" "Fight!" "Fight!" "Fight!" "Fight!" "Fight!" "Fight!" "Fight!" "Stop that right now!" "Please, stop it!" "Archie!" "#...and the shore" "# And she tasted the salt upon her... #" "What is happening to us all?" "I'll tell you what's happenin'!" "It's that blamed song, puttin' ideas in people's heads, creating upset and bother till a man can't get a moment's peace, even under his own roof!" "A song?" "You think a song did all this?" "It's just showing us what's really there, underneath it all." "That's it!" "Somebody's got to take this thing by the horns." "And... ..if you ain't man enough to do it..." "I'm going to find somebody who... who will." "You say all this is down to Alf's song?" "It's like... it's a story, driven to make itself happen over and over, and it's doing it through Laura's pa and young Edmund." "That girl only leaves her father's house because the old fool lays down the law." "If he'd just throwed open the gates and asked the Gypsy in, she'd have no cause to go bolting off." "Your pa might do well to learn from that." "If that is your conviction, Mr Turrill, then you must tell him." "Thing is, er, I ain't the interfering' type." "I ain't got the taste for it." "I..." "I don't have the talent." "You, on the other hand, Miss Lane... your reputation in that department stretches as far afield as Fordlow." "Maybe even Oxford." "And you needn't be fearful." "Robert Timmins may be many things but he would never raise his hand against a woman." "Are you suggesting my pa would strike you?" "He..." "He do get a look in his eye sometimes." "Mind you...so do a lot of people!" "But...what do you wish me to say?" "I've heard Edmund talking, and it's not about the land for him, no more than it's about the sea for the girl in the song." "It's the principal of the thing." "He wants to choose his own life." "And now he's digging his heels in, and Robert's digging his heels in." "Way it's going, there'll be no peace to be had in Lark Rise till... the peace of the grave." "I don't believe what Twister said." "It's a beautiful song." "And everything's been good ever since I heard it." "Not for me." "I thought I had something." "Turns out I don't." "What's that?" "Respect." "I feel like the Gypsy at the castle gate." "Locked out." "But you are like the Gypsy." "You make such music, Alf." "It stirs my heart about till I can't hardly breathe for the excitement of it!" "Excitement?" "Of life!" "My whole life waiting to happen." "And I don't know what my story will be but it feels, if I listen to you long enough," "I might find out." "Stories." "They're just stories!" "And I'm the man who changes stories." "I'm the man who turns things around, you ask Laura!" "Ain't you troubled no more, Alf?" "Ain't you burdened?" "I ain't troubled." "I ain't burdened!" "I'm the Gypsy!" "MINNIE LAUGHS" "All this upset and bother, no wonder you ain't feeling yourself, my poor sweetheart." "Twister!" "You were right, what you said about the song." "I sung up trouble and I'm going to lay it to rest." "Will you help me?" "# She danced in the wind She danced in the rain" "# On the edge of the cliffs and the shore" "# And tasted the salt upon her cheeks... # BELL RINGS" "Thomas Brown." "Thomas Brown!" "You have been avoiding me all day and you shall do so no longer." "I will seek you out wherever you are!" "Margaret..." "I was just, I was..." "HE GASPS FOR AIR" "Oh!" "KNOCK AT DOOR" "Laura, Dorcas..." "Emma isn't here at the moment, she's..." "Actually, Robert, it was you I came to see." "As Edmund is my godson, I just thought - hoped there was something I could do to help?" "I'll make some tea." "Please." "All this aside, you must be very proud of him." "The highest exam pass in the county!" "I'd be prouder if he didn't lie about it." "Perhaps he feared it would seal his fate." "Emma has always wanted him to use his mind rather than his hands, and even if Edmund might be brought round to such a prospect... none of us like to feel our lives have been mapped out for us by others." "Dorcas, if you have something to say," "I would thank you for saying it straight." "I just wonder if perhaps it is not the land Edmund wants, so much as the chance to make his own decisions?" "Or at least to be consulted." "And did you consult Minnie before you started arranging her future for her?" "I was merely giving her the opportunity to..." "You are playing with her as if you were a child and she your doll." "Having the power to indulge your whims can be very dangerous, Dorcas, it borders on tyranny." "You accuse me of tyranny?" "Yet you lay down the law, brooking no argument, no protest." "Miss Lane, I don't think..." "You set yourself up as absolute ruler." "If Edmund does not want to remain always under your dominion, what choice does he have but to try and topple you, or to escape from you?" "Have you said your piece?" "No." "I have a warning for you." "Bend, Robert, or you will lose him." "Do you wish to know your one weakness, Dorcas?" "You are without doubt the most self-righteous, arrogant, opinionated..." "Pa!" "..autocrat I have ever encountered." "That is four weaknesses." "All of which could be applied to you." "I'm sorry, Laura." "Good day." "DOOR CLOSES" "Little Man, Alf ain't troubled no more, so it's time..." "Little Man?" "BELL RINGS" "Oh, ma'am, they're gone!" "Little Man and the baby." "Baby?" "What baby?" "Alf's baby!" "The one that was left on the doorstep." "BOTH: # A Gypsy came to the castle gate" "# He sang so sweet and wild" "# And with his song he stole away the Master's only child. #" "So I thought if I delayed delivering her, the way Laura delayed the letter," "I could help Alf and practise being a wife and mother." "Oh, Minnie." "And now Little Man is gone and she is gone and it will break Alf's heart." "It's breaking mine!" "Little Man is a child himself, he can't have got very far carrying a baby." "Come along!" "# She danced in the wind and she danced in the rain" "# On the edge of the cliffs and the shore" "# And she tasted the salt upon her cheeks" "# And never came home no more." "# Not that old song again!" "Till... # A babe was born on a summer's morn" "# He was his parents' joy" "# His mother held him to her heart" "# Her precious Gypsy boy" "# She took him to her father's house" "# She beat upon the gate" "# Crying, "Come and see my darling babe, we named him for your sake." "# "Come home, come home, my bonny little child" "# "Come home again to me." "# "And the father of that darling babe" "# "Shall be a son to me"" "BOTH: # They danced all they day and they danced all the night" "# And they danced on the cliffs and the shore" "# And the Master held his grandchild tight" "# And ne'er was alone no more. #" "Whoo!" "Oh, Mr Timmins, you have to help us." "We have lost Little Man and Alf's baby sister, and it's all my fault!" "The blame lies with me." "I led Minnie to believe that she must practise to be a wife and mother and as result..." "They can only have gone two ways." "Towards Fordlow or Lark Rise." "Minnie, you go with Miss Lane." "Laura, you come with me." "I..." "I assure you, Margaret, there is no cause for alarm." "It is merely that my congested condition rendered the taking of a breath through my nose an impossibility." "And since, at the time, I was also unable to breathe through my mouth..." "I am so sorry." "The sensation, I must report, was far from unpleasant... ..though the bump on my head does...throb... rather." "# "Oh, come home, my bonny little child, come home again to me" "# "And the father of that darling babe shall be a son to me."" "# And they danced all the day and they danced all the night" "# And they danced on the cliffs and the shore" "# And the Master held his grandchild tight" "# And ne'er was alone no more. #" "I told you, didn't I?" "I told you!" "Alf, what I said in the Wagon and Horses." "It wasn't about you, it was about me." "There is so much about this life that I would want to pass on to my children." "The love, the warmth, the people." "But not the hardships." "I don't think you can have one without the other." "That's my grief." "And I made it yours." "For which I am truly sorry." "Alf?" "Seems your ma had more in mind to send you than the thrupence from her bloomers." "It's your baby sister." "Edmund, a man has to love his work, sometimes even as much as he loves his wife." "Because he will spend more with the former than he will with the latter." "Is there any job you can think of that will make you feel that way?" "Not a lawyer's clerk, like Ma wants." "What then?" "What must an estate manager know?" "Besides the land?" "I suppose he must have a basic idea of book-keeping... ..land tenancy law, livestock management." "Edmund, a man can educate himself to these things." "If he has the will, the application." "But..." "I could talk to your mother." "If that's what you choose." "ROBERT LAUGHS" "Highest pass marks in the county, eh?" "Now, that deserves a half in the Wagon and Horses." "I shall be needing someone to look after her, while I'm in the fields." "It'd be my privilege." "Don't suppose she's showed any interest in brewing, has she?" "Alf, I got to tell you." "I..." "Minnie has been caring for your sister ever since she arrived at the Post Office." "I think she wants to tell you that she will miss her very much." "Thank you." "From the bottom of my heart, thank you." "Alf, would you allow me the very great pleasure of holding your sister for a while?" "Dance with me!" "BAND RESUMES PLAYING" "Are you going to ask me to dance?" "Oh, I've learnt my place, Robert." "Have no fear." "Can a man not say one foolish thing in his life without it haunting him for the rest of his days?" "Foolish?" "Unforgivable." "Dance with me." "I could take the lead..." "You could stop pushing your luck." "LAURA:" "There are many crossroads in life." "Turning points, transitions." "And some are made more easily than others." "Some require long, hard work." "And others seem as natural as breathing." "But they all remind us that though life sometimes seems to stand still... the future is always coming." "The king of the mow has never stood before finer men." "There are measles in Lark Rise?" "Archie and Patience." "I can't look after them and bring the harvest home." "What can I do?" "The people of Lark Rise need your help now to salvage something." "If you don't help them, you'll have to watch them starve this winter." "Measles is a common thing in families." "Some families are left very reduced by it." "I have been given so much and I cannot bear to have it taken now."