"LAURA:" "Hamlet folk often said that you could see gossip coming out of" "Mrs Mullins's mouth, like steam." "The local wives dreaded the sight of her keys on her finger, for if her door was locked, it meant she was all set for a morning's tittle-tattle." "Oh, Queenie." "If nothing worth reporting had happened," "Mrs Mullins was quite capable of inventing something." "Another one?" "Now keep your eyes on the button..." "The locals found gossip and scandal mostly to be harmless entertainment." "Where's it gone?" "Now..." "Emily, it comes back...as a shilling!" "Teach me that trick, Daniel." "I might never have to work again." "If I was 17, I'd be swooning with the rest of them." "Ain't I glad my swooning days are over!" "But sometimes it could spill over into something more dangerous." "I know it for a fact!" "Two boyfriends!" "Oh, Bessie!" "Lord Strumpshaw he might be, up in his big house, but he cusses like a ruffian." "I know it for a fact!" "He drinks like a ruffian an' all!" "Falling down drinking." "Bessie, you do like to exaggerate." "He treats his servants like they were slaves." "Shouting at 'em, cussing." "Poor Lord Strumpshaw." "I expect his gout is tormenting him again." "Miss Lane, I ain't one to gossip, but I heard they found him in the garden, nose in the flower beds." "I wonder what you say about me, Bessie, after you have been for a visit to the post office." "Do I gorge cake in the parlour?" "Am I cruel and unforgiving to my staff?" "I wouldn't say a word about you, Miss Lane, now, would I?" "Oh, you do look heavenly in white." "I always say to my Emily, don't Miss Lane look like the Angel Gabriel herself!" "Gabriel was a man." "Perhaps I meant his sister." "One of them angels." "Oh, Mr P!" "Oh, I have something you ought to know." "My Emily works up at the Strumpshaw house, and the things she tells me, the things that go on, you ought to put it in your paper." ""Sir" he might be, but he cusses like a ruffian." "Drinks like a ruffian an' all." "Mrs Mullins, I'm not sure that I can print hearsay about such a well-regarded local family." "Regarded?" "Oh, that's why you should print it." "There's poor scullery maids bawled at the day long." "Poor family, his wife and children." "Such a father." "Now, Bessie, I am heading over to the grocer's." "Walk with me and tell me all about Lord Strumpshaw." "Miss Lane, where you lead, I shall follow." "Ain't you at work today, Emily?" "I heard you'd found a daily place as a scullery maid up at the Strumpshaw house." "I been feeling out of sorts." "Oh, Emily, you ain't too out of sorts to admire your own reflection, are you?" "Your mother coddles you, child." "Can't you see she needs you to help her?" " Why, Emily, there's many a girl out there would jump at the chance of such a position." "Emma!" "When Mrs Herring comes by, you're not to say you've seen me." "I ain't asking you to lie -just don't tell her what you don't need to tell her." "Have you no rent money to give her, Queenie?" "Ssh, ssh!" "And no way of knowing where to find it neither." "Laura...what is an accountant?" "He's the man who comes in to look at Miss Lane's books to tell her how the post office is prospering." "Oh." "Only, Miss Lane do look fretted by what he is saying to her." "She does, doesn't she?" "If things is bad, we'll all be turned out and have nowhere to live." "Miss Lane might end up in the workhouse." "Oh, Minnie, really!" "Ask yourself, is that at all likely?" "And that Dorcas Lane..." "I know for a fact she's ordered another new outfit." "The life of cakes and gooses!" "She enjoys the luxuries and who is it does all the work?" "Oh, there's a sight." "Queenie Turrill toadying up to the tallyman." "Oh, she's likely just passing the time of day, is all." "Queenie ain't the sort to have dealings with the tallyman." "The need of a few pennies can make folks do things that ain't even in their own nature." "Our Emily!" "Look at you sitting there when there's tatties to scrub and floors to peel!" "Oh!" "How is it you're home so early?" "Has the old Lord been bawling at you?" "I'll soon set him to rights, Lord or no Lord." "I just been feeling out of sorts, that's all." "Then you have a lie down, my petal." "I'll fetch you some supper." "Minnie, why have you given me such a small portion?" "Oh, I see that we all have small slices." "It is half a portion of cake, ma'am, which means the cake will last twice as long, which means the ingredients will cost half as much, which means we'll be twice as well off." "Are we economising, Minnie?" "We are, ma'am." "And cutting our clothes as well." "Cutting our cloth." "But why are we?" "For the books, ma'am." "For the accountant." " So we don't land on the street." " Oh, Minnie." "I saw your face, ma'am, so full of worries at the numbers and the adding up." "Ma'am, if times are hard for the post office..." "Listen to the two of you!" "Times have never been better, which is what has so unsettled me." "I look around me and I see..." "such struggle everywhere." "Yet post offices up and down the country are thriving of late." "My problem is I have all I could wish for in this world." "So perhaps the best thing I can do is spread the boon around." "I have a small bonus here for each of you." "Thank you, ma'am." "I shall buy a hat and a ribbon and a frock and shoes and a petticoat." "I don't think it will go that far, Minnie." "Well, perhaps not the petticoat." "No-one will ever see the petticoat, only me." "Keep still, won't you?" "Now a bit of salt." "Look after your teeth, and they'll look after you." "What is it, my flower?" "Is it a fever coming?" "Or a pain or an ache or a sickness?" "I ain't never known you so quiet." "You're like your ma - talking makes the world go round." "Only time I ever went silent was when I found out I was pregnant with you!" "And I was in such a shock, I could hardly open my mouth to make any sense." "Tell me it ain't true." "How could you?" "!" "We can hardly afford to feed the four of us on what I make in the fields." "Having children with no man, it is hard." "Ain't your ma's own life enough to make you see?" " Well, he shall marry you, whoever he is." " He can't." "Can't?" "Can't, is it?" "Oh, is he married?" "Oh, Ma, stop this, please." " He ain't married." " Well, who is he, then?" " I can't say." " It can't be no hamlet boy." "There ain't one you so much as like the look of." "Oh, Ma, stop this, please!" "Don't ask me." "I saw the lights on and thought I'd find you here, toiling away into the night." "I left the light on to entice you." "Am I so easily hooked?" "I cannot shake off the fear that you will find Candleford too quiet, not exciting enough for you." "You will become restless and..." "When will you see what is right in front of you, Laura Timmins?" "I am here because I have found what I..." "Don't say it." "Show me." "(DOOR OPENS, CLOSES, LOCKS)" "My easy chair... it ain't there." "That's because it's gone." "The tallyman took it." "He gave me two pounds." " That'll see us through the winter." " But...that is the seat I sit on." " You can take my chair." " I had my own dear chair all my life." "My chair ain't worth no money, or I'd have sold that first." "We need food, Twister." "Winter is coming." "Look down the lane." "It's the old folk who can't pay the rent who get taken away to the workhouse." "Is that what you want?" "Your chair is all we have worth something." "We might have decided together." "You would have fought me, resisted." "It had to be done!" "Not even told." "Not even asked." "(DOOR OPENS, CLOSES)" "Daniel." "Daniel Parish." "Daniel?" "!" "Surely not!" "Bessie, you can't throw around such accusations." " I know it for a fact!" " But Daniel's our Laura's boy." "Edmund, Ethel, Frank - upstairs." " Go on with you." " That is why I am here to tell you the kind of man he is." "How can you stand there and say such things in front of my children?" "Is that all you can think of?" "!" "What about my girl?" "Her whole life is ruined!" "I will not have him getting away with this." "Ain't we all seen how he is such a charmer with all the girls?" " That means nothing." " Do we know him?" "Know him properly?" "He ain't a local boy." "And neither am I." "We cannot damn the man on the say of a girl like your Emily." "She hardly knows what day it is half the time." "See how you turn it back?" "!" "Blame us, blame Emily..." "There's something wrong here." "I cannot believe this is true." " But why would she say such a thing?" " Em..." "Why would she say his name unless...?" "Emma, hold your tongue." "You've said your piece." "I feel for you." "It must be a torment, your girl pregnant, but you be careful where you throw such charges, for your own sake, Bessie." "You don't want it to be true, that's what." "Well, I must do right by Emily." "And I intend to." "(DOOR OPENS, CLOSES)" "Em, I am sorry I snapped at you." "But we must stand together in this." "We cannot add our doubts to hers until we know more, until Daniel has had his chance to answer." "Our Laura... what will this do to her?" "Emily!" "Why?" "How could you say such a thing about Daniel?" "I ain't said nothing about Daniel." "But your ma came to our house last night." "My ma has decided." "I can't stop her, no matter what I say." "Where is she?" "Where is your ma?" "She's away to Candleford." "Nothing I say will hold her." "If you tell her, if you tell your ma who the boy is..." "Don't you see what you're doing to Daniel?" "To all of us." "Can you only ever think of Emily Mullins?" "It ain't your life in pieces, is it, Laura Timmins?" "Emily... please..." "Anyway, everything will be just right." "Why will it?" "I have an idea it will." "Emily, my dear, can you see?" "If you hold this a secret, then your ma is going to chase after her own notions." "It's the way your ma is." "She can't let something like this go." "Come on." "I must get back to Candleford." "Do you suppose Mr Paxton might let me have the loan of his cart?" "Did you hear what she said?" ""Everything will be just right."" "Whoever the father of her child is, she is in love with him." "She believes in him." "Mrs Mullins will be there by now." "I ain't accusing, I'm asking." "Did you do this to my daughter?" " Mrs Mullins, I..." " Answer me." "Is it your child?" "I have done nothing wrong." " I am not to blame for this." " I knew you would deny it." " That is the kind of man you are." " Bessie... wouldn't you rather come in off the street to discuss this?" "I wouldn't care if this was Candleford or Windsor Castle." " I shall stand here and say my piece!" " These are serious, damaging allegations." "If you make them before the whole town and you are wrong..." "Is this yours?" "I..." "It looks like..." "It could be." "How did our Emily come to have it, then?" "It means nothing." "It's not as though..." "I must have dropped it." "I use it in a silly trick I do sometimes." " A trick." " How can you stand there so heartless?" "It is you!" "I know it!" "I can see the guilt of it in your face!" "Do you not have a care for my Emily?" "How can you?" "How can any man?" "Bessie, come on, with me, inside." "(BESSIE GASPS)" "Alfie!" "You must store my banjo away for me, out of sight, hidden up." "Twister, there ain't no need for you to think like that." "Queenie would never sell your banjo." "Would she not?" "A woman who can do such a thing as she did?" "I've known her all these years, and now..." "I don't know her." "You'll see." "When the cold nights come in, you'll see she was right." "A man ought to be able to come home and find his easy chair where it should be." "Why must you make so much of it?" "Because, if your chair is gone... nothing is safe." "Queenie ain't doing this to hurt you, so why must you take it so hard?" "But that's just it, see." "She knew this would break my heart and she went and did it anyway." "If that ain't the betrayal of a man, then I don't know what is." "Betrayal is so...big." "I know." "I feel it." "But, Bessie, if Emily is telling you that it is not Daniel's..." "She is only saying that to protect him." "He has told her to deny it." "Emily will doubtless be afraid of what might happen, what you might say or do." "She is right to be anxious if your first reaction is to come to Candleford to confront Daniel on the street." "If you can make Emily feel safe..." "It is him." "I know it." "He will not get away with this, you will all see." "Bessie, please." "I have no vested interest in this matter." "Can you trust that all I want is to help you?" "Can you?" "Good." "That is a start." "This is a delicate situation, which requires delicate unpicking." "Would you agree?" "Miss Lane, where you lead, I shall follow." "Bessie, if you fix on the idea that Daniel is to blame, you might not..." "It might prevent you from seeing, well... your daughter's..." "How shall I put this?" "Emily is an attractive girl." "There may be many boys who take a fancy to her." "Didn't I know it!" "You are saying my Emily is a flirt and a harlot." "I am saying no such thing." "I am asking you..." "He is a charmer." "He's charmed you, same as he's charmed all the girls." "But I ain't fooled by him." "I will hound him till he admits it, till he is shamed and ruined and made to pay!" "You are determined to make things worse." "I am alone." "I always have been." "I always will be." "But that ain't going to stop me." " It ain't true, is it, Daniel?" " No, Minnie, it isn't true." " I believe you, don't I?" " Thank you, Minnie." "No-one could do such a thing to Laura, could they?" " Then why's she saying it?" " She's upset." "Mrs Mullins is the kind of woman who needs to lash out." "But why is she saying it's you?" "It's a mistake." "That is all." "It was kind of you to come, Minnie." "You know that no part of me believes this, don't you, Daniel?" "Yes, I see it." "But the whole town will be doubting me." "Daniel!" "You're a journalist, ain't you?" "So you could find out who the true pa is, and no-one will blame you any more." "How could I do that?" "Only one person knows" " Emily." "Two persons knows." "The pa knows." "You're right, Minnie." "We must discover who it is." "Someone might have seen Emily with a boy." "If Emily won't say, then all we would achieve would be to make accusations." " We'd be no better than Mrs Mullins." " But if this foolish girl won't help you by telling the truth, then you have every right to try and clear your name." "Yes." "Perhaps that's true." "Someone always knows something." "Then, of course, we must." "ROBERT:" "You read it, Frank." "Everyone at work knows about Emily Mullins." "They're all talking, saying it must be Daniel." "Is that so?" "And what do you believe..." "Edmund?" "I don't know." " I want to believe...him, but..." " Look at me." "We must decide who we trust and who we don't." "And once we have made that decision, we must live by that until we know different." "Life will bring along things that will make us doubt." "But if we let our faith in each other slip away, then we are no more than weaklings." "Trust someone, hold on to it, and it will give you peace." "Now, about Daniel... you must decide." "Pa... if you believe that... don't you have to do something about it?" "(KNOCKING)" "EMMA:" "Queenie!" "What's happened?" "There is such a look in Twister's face." "I ain't never seen the like in him before." "I'm a stranger to my own husband." "Twister will come back to you." "He always does." "I can't bear what I see in his eyes." "It ain't anger, Emma." "It is such hurt." "I don't know how I shall ever win his trust again." "I know Twister." "If he could get his chair back, he would forget his ill feelings the second his behind hit the cushion." "I was told that Emily was friendly with one of the footmen up at the Strumpshaw house." "And the baker boy's been flirting with her for months." "It's all hearsay." "We might never know." "Ma says whoever it is, she's still in love with him, so likely she'll go to see him or make some contact." "We can't have folks go on wondering about you, Daniel." "I have you, Laura." "You believe me." "That is all I need." "Alfie!" "I have an envelope." "So I see." "No." "What I mean is, the envelope is for you." "What I mean is, there is money in it." " For you." " What money?" "It is mine." "Now it is yours." "Minnie, you ain't making no sense." "The post office is rich." "So Miss Lane give some money to me, because I am deserving." "And I'm giving it to you, because you're poor, and I don't need a petticoat." "Who do you think you are to pity me, to give me money?" "!" "Yes, I am poor." "I am sick of being poor." "And I am sick of people barging into my life as if they have the right!" "You look as if you have had a shock, Laura." "A shock?" "No, ma'am." "I saw you on the street with Daniel." "I was very proud of you." "Has something happened?" "No, ma'am." "If you'll excuse me..." "First I thought I'd buy a petticoat." "Then I thought, but I do love the one Laura gave me for my best." "So then I decided I would buy a dress and I would go over to Lark Rise, and Alfie would see me in the prettiest dress." "But then I started to think, what if he thinks I'm all hoity in new clothes and he's so poor?" "So I took up the idea that I might give the money to him." "That seemed like the best notion, because he has such a need with his sisters and all." "So I did try to give it to Alfie." "But he was... like he'd been struck." "Minnie..." "I'm sure Alf knew you meant well." "Perhaps, for a working man, the idea of charity from..." "Ma'am, I am decided I must give this money back to you." "Don't rush to such a decision." " Consider..." " I'm afraid of it, ma'am." " What are you doing out here, Emily?" " Alfie..." "You love Patience, don't you?" "Patience is the best thing that's ever happened in my life." " But taking care of a baby's hard." " I have my ma." "You do." "But still I have a man's wages, and it's hard enough to keep us going." "People think I'm a foolish, silly girl, but I ain't." "I don't think you're foolish, Emily." "I think you're afraid." "I'm thinking, but I ain't going to tell anyone what I'm thinking." "And I'm waiting." "We're all waiting." "But what comes along ain't usually what you're waiting for, that's all." "Emily, girl, you are the talk on every gossip's tongue." "And it is thanks to your ma." "There ain't a soul I passed all day wants to hear about my easy chair." "Ain't you going home to sit down?" "A log is only a log." "Ain't no-one going to wait till my back is turned and give no lump of wood to no tallyman." "This ain't one of your tales to take from door to door to prove you are right." "I might expect such talk from Candleford, but even in Lark Rise I am alone." "Soft words ain't no good to you, Bessie." "I'll tell you what I see." "You have no proof of anything, no real cause, but you go at it like you've been bitten by the Devil himself." "Why is that, do you suppose?" "I have three children, and each man has left me to struggle." "All I have is their sweet words ringing in my ears - promises." "I have had enough of believing men." "But not this time." "You might not admit it, Bessie, but you are so angry." "A whole history of men, and now you have someone to point your anger at." "Daniel Parish, a charmer." "Handsome, a man life has been kind to." "The injustice of it, in your mind, makes you blind to what is true." "And you know what is true, do you, Robert Timmins Almighty?" "I know reason." "When I met Daniel Parish, I doubted him." "But as I got to know him, I believe him." "Let me ask you this - did your Emma ever doubt you?" " The very man you are?" " Why?" "Ain't a true man always a true man?" "Ain't there a reason we have doubts?" "Suppose you let go of your own fixed ideas?" "Suppose you took in the possibility?" "I'll tell you why you are so determined to prove me wrong." "Because if you stand still for long enough, you will have to admit it." "You doubt." "Alfie," "I'll tell you what I know." "Emily Mullins ain't no more than a foolish, feather-haired girl!" "(BABY CRIES)" "Let me tell you what I know - she was waiting." "Gentlemen." "Emily, you might think you have to protect him, but you don't." "Whoever the man is, you owe it to yourself, you owe it to your ma, to speak out." "You are young." "Your whole life hangs on this moment." " You must find the courage to speak." " You think it will help." "You all think it will mend everything if I say." "It won't." "I know what this means." "I know what I am doing to my ma, the pain I've caused." "Emily, you were seen waiting up by the spinney." "Who were you waiting for?" "I will never say who the pa is, do you hear me?" "I cannot!" "And if you want me to leave, I will." "I will go." "No, my darling." "No." "This is your home." "EMMA:" "What are you doing out here at this time, Queenie?" "I might ask you the same question." "Robert is turning in his bed like a two-year-old." "I know I did the right thing, selling that chair." "I had no choice." "But still I doubt myself." "When that tallyman comes by again, I shall buy it back from him." "What about the rent?" "What is she up to now?" "I shall tell her ma she is skulking about at night." "I shall go after her." "No, Emma." "Emily is beyond reaching." "Only she herself can undo this business." "Leave her be." " Money?" " I saw him give it Emily." "Ma'am, I asked Daniel, and he promised me it weren't him, and I believed him." "It seems we have no choice but to accept that Daniel has a charge to answer." "I ain't never going to believe no-one ever again." "But it still doesn't make sense to me." "It isn't quite clear." "Ma'am, if I may, it can't be much clearer than money in the night, in secret, from him to her, in secret." "I think it could be clearer." "Something is missing... still." "(DOOR OPENS)" "Laura." "What are you doing up?" "I can't seem to sleep, ma'am." "I thought I might take a walk." "There is such a chill in the air, I will not permit you to go out." "Sit with us and have some toast with lashings of hot butter." "Why are you two up at this hour?" "The money." "I mean, my money." "It has been keeping me awake what I should do about it." "So I am going to keep it until I am more wise." "Is it the shovel that's vexed you or is it the earth?" "I'd as well be on my own today, Twister." "I've been thinking, a person betrays you, the reason it hurts so bad is because... you love them...perhaps." "Twister, I ain't in the mood for you to stand there and tell me every little twitch of a thought you might have about feelings or love or..." "I ain't in the mood." "Ain't the shovel or the earth that's nettled you, is it?" "A kindness." "A simple, well-meant kindness from a kind person." "I snapped and I snarled." "Why is that?" "So much emotion, and I have no notion where it come from." "(TWISTER CHUCKLES)" "What?" "Would it be a girl?" "Daniel, I have always considered myself a good judge of character... mostly." "Where my daughter is concerned, I am so protective, my wife says I am impossible to please." "Is that the reason for your visit, Mr Timmins?" "Emily Mullins was seen waiting in a quiet spot until she was disturbed." "Seems like she was...waiting for someone." "Then you came along." "Well, I can understand how people might make something of a coincidence like that, under the circumstances." "Are you saying you were not there to meet with her?" "If I were meeting Emily, would I arrange a spot where we could be so easily found by Twister and Alf?" "That sounds to me like the answer of a man who can turn a button into a shilling." "I'm asking you to accept that I am honourable in this, Mr Timmins." "Interesting word - honourable." "Not quite the same as innocent." "If you were the father of Emily Mullins's child, you would not sit before me now without every bone in your body shaking with fear." "You would not dare look me in the eye as you do now." "But you do hold a secret about you." "So I decided..." "it must be something else." " Am I right?" " I cannot say." "You must." "I cannot say." "Let me warn you " "I know my daughter." "If you lose her trust, you will not get it back." "I realise how this must feel, our Laura." "No matter how much you believe in Daniel, it creeps in - fear and doubt..." "Ma, I have no doubts about Daniel." "I know, I know that." "But still, it can haunt the best of us." "It can be so disturbing." "I can see it in your face." "Ma, please, stop." "Stop talking." "Stop saying, "Daniel, Daniel, Daniel"." "I cannot bear it." "This is not about Daniel." "This is not what you think." "You all suppose you know me." "You do not know me." "I am more than Daniel's girl." "I am more than your daughter." "I am more than Miss Lane's assistant." "I have my own life." "My own emotions." "I cannot abide one more day with you supposing that..." "Well!" "Where did that come from?" "I received a letter." "From Fisher." "Fisher Bloom." "I know which Fisher." "There aren't many Fishers out there." "What did he say?" "Oh, lordy!" "Ah!" "Lord and Lady Strumpshaw have received a telegram." "Shall I fetch Laura, ma'am?" "I believe I will deliver it myself, Minnie." "Laura, your pa seems to think that I am at risk of losing your trust in me." "I would never do anything..." "I hope that you see that." "I don't know what your pa might have said to you." "Has he said anything to you?" "Because there is nothing I cannot explain." "Laura, you have no reason to doubt me." "I don't doubt you, Daniel." "I can feel something." "You're not the same." "Has your pa spoken to you about this?" "It might be that you are concerned..." "Why must it be?" "Why must everything I feel be about you?" "I am only trying to impress upon you that whatever you might hear, I am true to you in this." "Do you see?" "In all of this, I am always true to you." "I..." "I must get back." "Please, tell me what is troubling you and I promise you, whatever it is, I can answer it." "You are wrong, Daniel." "You cannot answer it." "Master Raymond is gone, Emily." "His parents have sent him abroad." "The carriage has taken him to London." "He boards a ship tomorrow." "Raymond is hardly more than a boy." "He must do as his parents say." "It is him, isn't it?" "I do not know why you cannot tell your mother." "But it is not for anyone else, certainly not for me to tell her." "Can't you speak with her about it?" "What is Daniel's part in this, Emily?" "Why would you go to see him in the night?" "Child, the only way to mend this is to talk." "Let those around you help." "(DOOR OPENS)" "Mrs Mullins, excuse me intruding, but I wanted to see how Emily was faring." "Is that so?" "Well, you ain't never called in before to see how we was faring, has you?" "It occurred to me if there was anything I could do to help." "Why do you suppose we would want your help?" "Sitting here in my cottage like you own the place." "Mrs Mullins..." "Bessie." "It's all very well for the likes of Dorcas Lane." "The life you live." "And you sit in judgement on us." "You have no idea what it means." "My wish to help is genuine." "But I cannot tell you what is the truth of all this." "Only your daughter can do that." "You know something, don't you?" "You know it is him." "Is that why you're here?" "Did he send you?" "No-one sent me." "You know, I can see it!" "Ma, stop this, please." "I hope your conscience torments you." "I can only repeat..." "My wish to help is genuine." "How many years have I done right by you?" "Now I make one mistake." "I am 'uman." "I have failings." "I never intended to hurt you." "The tallyman will come back this way and we will get your chair returned to you." "Then perhaps I can have your head where it ought to be." "Next to mine." "MRS MULLINS:" "Emily?" "What are you doing, our Emily?" "Show me." "You show me, girl!" "I know what this is." "So-called help." " What is it, ma'am?" " A savings book, and it is yours." "And is my money in it?" "It is." "Ma'am, a savings book is more exciting than a petticoat, ain't it?" "I wouldn't go that far, Minnie." "And I kept a little aside so you might buy yourself some toffee." "Savings AND toffees?" "!" "(BELL TINKLES)" "We don't want your money." "I don't quite follow." "This is not my money." "It ain't for the likes of you to meddle in my business." "It isn't money that we want." "It is a bit of justice." "Believe me, much as it might make me feel a little better to use my own good fortune to try to ease your burden, giving money is not what I meant by help." "It ain't from you?" "I promise you it is not." "But this money might tell us something." "How many people could afford to do this?" "Not Daniel Parish." "Consider..." "Who could afford this kind of money?" "Someone who has been in contact with Emily these past months?" "(GASPS)" "Oh." "Oh!" "Twister, it's the tallyman." "Not gone once, but twice." "But you know I'd have bought it back for you." "You do know that now?" "Twister is hurting so much because I didn't tell him what I was planning." "I kept him in the dark till it was too late for him to do anything." "I felt I had to or he would stop me from doing what was needed, because of how he is." "I was right." "He would." "(DOOR OPENS)" "Then we'd have no money to pay the rent." "And I was wrong, because if you can't be true to the one you live with, and the one you love, your ma, if you keep this hid from her, she will be tormented." "And how she is... she will never let it be." "You could give her some peace by telling her, whoever the boy is." "There's no shame in this, Emily." "How could I say... it were Master Raymond?" "My ma would charge up to the big house, rail at the gates, cussing." "Did you tell Master Raymond about this?" "There was such fear in his eyes when I told him." "Truly terrified." "He said he would come meet with me the next day, but he didn't come." "I had to tell someone, ask where Raymond was." "I knew Daniel was a friend of his." "He said he would speak with him." "But the message he came back with... (SOBS)" "...it was impossible." "His family insisted... on denying everything." "So I realised if I said that Master Raymond were the pa and no-one believed me, what would that be like for this child, to live their whole life with that?" "I couldn't let you do that to the child, Ma." "If everyone knew, I'd have had to run away." "I had to hide it from you in order to stay here, to be with you." "Oh, my petal." "Look what I have done to you... with my need to take on the whole world." "Mr Parish." "I want to apologise to you for saying the things that I said, accusing you here on the street." "I know better now." "All you ever wanted to do was help my daughter and I caused you nothing but woe and trouble." "And other folks too." "So, Daniel, it seems Master Raymond has gone away." "Abroad, on a boat, I hear." "Quite...sudden, like." "I believe it is considered good for his education." "You gave that money to Emily from the Strumpshaws, didn't you?" "The family wanted to help." "Without admitting responsibility, that is usually the way." "It is something." "Yes, I can see that." "Daniel, come for a meal at the End House." "Our children are keen to learn that trick with the button and the shilling." "For once in my life I have come to ask advice... before I do what my temper is telling me to do." "And what is your temper telling you to do?" "To take this money up to the big house, and throw it through those gates." " And why would you do such a thing?" " Because I feel bought." "My whole family, bought." "Nothing more than..." "slop to be disposed of." "You'd be right." "You are being bought." "That's the way of things, no denying it." "Come here." "Sit." "Listen..." "If you decide to throw that money back at them, Bessie," "I will stand beside you and I will shout louder than you do of all the wrongs in this." "Then what?" "You've had your moment's glory." "What about Emily?" "What about that child?" "That little one's life, their needs, what about that?" "You keep the money or you throw it back, it won't make any difference to them up in the big house." "It might..." "stir their conscience for a while." "But their actions will remain the same." "Swallow your pride, Bessie." "Hold your tongue." "Take the injustice and don't let it taint your love for that little one, one ounce." "If it helps, think of it as the child's money, not yours." "Twister, your chair is gone." "The whys and hows of it might be right and might be wrong, but for now... it just is." "You ain't still angry with me, is you, Alfie?" "I only meant to interfere." "I mean, not to interfere." "I mean, to interfere but not mean to interfere." "Minnie..." "I'm sorry... for saying what I said." "What..." "What I want to say is... why did I speak so to you?" "It was like my feelings..." "was more than my reason." "Am I making sense?" "No." "Because... looking at you..." " Minnie..." " DORCAS:" "Minnie?" "(KNOCK AT DOOR)" "Laura..." "Laura?" "Minnie, are you in there?" "(KNOCK AT DOOR) Goodness!" "Laura, aren't you supposed to be going over to Lark Rise for lunch?" "I thought that I could do it, but I can't." "Daniel is knocking at the door for you." "I cannot face it." "To walk over there with him, to sit with him and my family." "I feel dishonest." "I am in such a confusion of feelings." "And I am right to imagine it has nothing to do with Emily Mullins?" ""It seems Inglestone have lived too long in the shadow of Candleford." ""They have decided they want a town clock."" "Oh." "(RAP ON DOOR)" "Oh, dear." ""They so admire the Candleford clock" ""that they insist on employing the same clockmaker." "Fisher Bloom?" "When?" "He is on his way." "You know something about this, don't you?" "I wish I didn't." "LAURA:" "Hamlet folk often said that you could see gossip coming out of Mrs Mullins's mouth like steam." "Her own troubles weren't to stop her from doing what she did best." "And she only went and sold his easy chair without so much as asking him." "I know if for a fact!" "Candleford was a small town." "In a small town, the slightest of disturbances does not go unnoticed, and this little world of ours had surely been disturbed." "Hello, Fisher." "Laura." "She's the reason you came back." " Nothing matters more to Fisher than the road." " Some things matter more." " A challenge." "The railway on our doorstep?" "I seen what happens to a town when it gets a railway, Miss Lane." "I seen post offices die." "Miss Lane says Mischief Night is when we should cast off all our cares," " and enjoy some milk refreshments." " Is that so?" "Show me the world, Laura Timmins ain't buttoned up." "Can you not see what Fisher coming here has done to us?"