"I think it's OK." "They're giving him a ull examination now." "Good." "They're doing it now?" "." "How long before they tell us?" "." " Not long." " What happened?" "." " They think he's had a mild stroke." " Right." "Excuse me?" "." "We're ready for you now." "Just you." "Don't worry." "Your father's going to be all right." "There is this rather ancient coffee machine." "Do you want a cup?" "." " Right." "Yes." " Don't be silly." " I'm so sorry." " What about?" "." "That the banquet was interrupted." "I'm so sorry your big occasion..." "Thank God it was interrupted." "That family karaoke!" "." " Has anyone ever had a worse idea?" "." " Probably not." "Just when you'd given up hope." " Maybe not." " Daniel..." "Your father's obviously going to need time to recover and the best possible care." " Yes." "One of us can stop working..." " The family really want to help with this." "There is a flat very near here, which Ernest isn't currently using." "There's a staff there that could cook for him and an excellent family doctor." "Sounds perfect, but..." "Your father might feel...?" "." " Your father..." " Is a proud, obstinate old bastard, yes." "Daniel?" "." "He needs rest, somebody watching over him." "We'll take it in turns." "I'll do the first watch." "Is there anything I can do?" "." "Anyone need transport?" "." " He's going to be OK." " That's such good news." "Everybody's rampaging about looking for news, not knowing what to do." "It's a case of "banquet interruptus"." "Nobody wants to go to bed." "The mind boggles at what people will get up to." "If you feel like it, we could discuss a little business." "Good a time as any." " Not now, Irving." " By the way..." "Have you been invited to this country do?" "." "You don't know what I'm talking about." "Martina's engagement party in the country." "It's a very select list." "I'll see if I can get you an invitation." "It won't be easy." "Rebecca." "Daniel, I hear everything's OK." "That's great news." "I'm so glad." "Come in here." "Come on." "There's something I want you to see." "Charles has stolen this from Stephen's room." "It's really rather wonderful." "Have a look." "There's Gilbert, the patriarch - our great-grandfather." "Here's Henrietta, our grandmother." "She's the only one not wearing a ridiculous Ruritanian peasant outfit." "There was this compulsion for wearing awful fancy dress." "Amazing how you go through a whole series of faces and one suddenly leaps out at you." "Look at that." "This is a wonderful old thing." "It's like a 3D effect, isn't it?" "." "Draws you right in." "I wonder if the people will be looking at the banquet in a hundred years' time." "I know, but it's nearly over." "We're nearly through." "Is everything OK?" "." "Shall I go?" "." "There's no need to go." "We've just drunk too much." "Or maybe it's the chocolate." " I think I'd better." " Come back whenever you like." "Mum?" "." "Mum, is everything all right?" "." "I thought you were..." "He was fast asleep." "They told me to go." "I'll be there for when he wakes up." " I came looking for you." " Me?" "." "Is that so strange?" "." "I want you to come with me." " All right." " You never asked who was on my printout." "The person who requested to see me." "Well, now they want to see you." "We so wanted to meet you properly." "So wanted to catch up." " Sit down." "I'm sorry there's so little room." " No, it's fine." "Daniel, you sit there." "I've heard this already." "I thought it would be very interesting for you to meet Violet, Edith and Grace." "Oh, how can we live up to that?" "." "Oh, you can, and more." "Would you like a biscuit?" "." "We're never short of a good supply." " Chocolate or ginger?" "." " Oh, ginger." "Thank you." "Who are you going to see again?" "." "Who's got a ticket for the country event?" "." "Who's on the absolute A-list?" "." "Anyone coming for a swim?" "." "Oh, come on, everyone." "It'll be great to have you in there with me." "Hmm." "(RAYMOND) # Foolish, I was kind of foolish... #" " My father..." " Daniel..." " (KNOCKING)" " Daniel?" "." "Daniel." " Hi." "How's Dad?" "." " He's OK." "Fine." " I was there at six o'clock." " You can't have slept at all." "He seems much better." "You go to work and see him this evening." "Right." "Is he going to agree to staying up here?" "." "He's going to have to." "It's what's best." " So everything's all right with your Dad?" "." " I think so." "Good." "I was just going to give you this." " These are my numbers." " Oh." "Right." "Great." "Don't lose them." "Come on, come on." "Come on, you bastard." "Stop there." "Are you the bloody surveyor?" "." " I said, are you the bloody surveyor?" "." " I am the bloody surveyor." "I've been waiting hours to let you in." "Aren't any of you guys ever, ever on time?" "." "A punctual surveyor?" "." "That'll be the day!" "." "Rebecca, hello, it's me." "I'm alone in this huge, empty building and I'd thought I'd ring one of your numbers." "See if there's any possibility of seeing you again, like tonight...or even in 55 minutes." "(MOBILE RINGS)" " Hello?" "." " (RAYMOND) You bastard!" "Do you realise where I've been put?" "Hi." "I'm Daniel." "I think my father's here." " Yes." " Has something happened?" "." "Daniel!" "Daniel!" "Where have you been?" "You've taken hours." "Come on, Daniel!" "Did you walk here?" " Where the hell is he?" "." " Daniel!" "I 'll never forgive you for this!" "." "Never!" "." "Stuck in Ernest's flat." "Servants, nurses." "Absolute nightmare!" "." "Why can't I stay in my own bed?" "." "It's complete rubbish!" "You sound better." "Sidney, let me help you with those." "Really?" "." "Most kind." "I'm too mean to use a porter and I always regret it." "There are one or two things in there." " I want to kill myself." " You certainly are better." "I can't get that banquet out of my head." "All those people with the food halfway up to their mouths, frozen in astonishment." "I'm meant to be getting better here." "I'm being hammered..." "hammered by these really dark thoughts." "My health is getting worse - bits of my brain already going." " The future looks grim." " I think I can stop you killing yourself." " How?" "." " By telling you something very surprising." "What about?" "." "Why are you wearing that coat?" "." "It's meant to be summer." "Yeah." "There's a story behind this." "Oh, no." "He's going to save me with a coat anecdote." " No." "Something I learnt yesterday." " About whom?" "." "The sisters - the two jolly ones and the spooky one." "Nothing you could tell me about them could possibly be of interest." " No." "This is good." " If it isn't, you're fired." "Your father's brother, Maurice, left London and settled in Birmingham in the early '30s." "Yes." "There's nothing special there." "He was a gruff character." "A less confident version of your father, though a lot older." "Same nonconformity." "Same desire to get away from the family in London." "They were quite a taciturn couple, Maurice and Ruth." "This is ridiculous." "Look." "A strangely clumsy pair, not good at arranging their lives." "But they had their three children." "Two little ones" " Violet and Edith... ..and this glorious daughter - the older one, Grace." "Glorious?" "." "I doubt that." "How do you know she was glorious?" "." "The little ones called her Mary Grace because when Violet was small, she was trying to say, "My Grace", but it sounded like "Mary Grace"." "Mary Grace was fantastically good at everything." "She managed the house and her parents, and the two little ones worshipped her." "She told them stories, drew elaborate pictures for them on the walls." "You two help me with the last bit." "You can have this one." "Take that one." "Their love for her was exceptionally strong." "She was their whole world." " So she ran the house..." " The war comes." "The little ones are evacuated to Wales." "First row back!" "Second row forward!" " Not a story about them being tortured?" "." " No." "Not quite." "They'll bring you a cup of tea in the morning." "The couple were severe." "The children found them quite sinister." " The two girls had to do a lot of cleaning." " I bet they were good at that." " They're so rosy-cheeked." " Nothi ng horri ble happened." "This isn't about a gloomy Welsh household?" "." "You're fired." "No!" "Not yet." "The two sisters desperately missed their Mary Grace." "Just before they'd been evacuated, she'd been courted by this handsome RAF officer called William." "Sorry!" "They decided to walk home." "From Wales to Bi rmi ngham?" "." "I don't believe it." "They would have been picked up." "If they were stopped, they explained they were from the farm behind the hedge." "At night, they kept out of the way." "Except one night, they saw a truly extraordinary thing." "Armed soldiers collecting cobwebs." "Because of the scare that these cobwebs might be some form of German chemical warfare." "There'd been a lot of cobwebs that summer." "It was an official, nationwide scare." " But secret." " Never heard that." "The army collected cobwebs to help beat the Germans and the girls saw that?" "." "They reached home and even your surly uncle - my great-uncle - welcomes them." "There we are." "Did you come on your own?" "." "But there is an even greater abstracted air about the house." "There is no mention of Mary" " Mary Grace." "When they go to see her, her door is locked." "She refuses to open it for a while." "Their parents are living in this filthy house." "The place had become squalid." " Things have been very..." " Difficult." "When they get Mary Grace to open the door, her room's even more shocking." "There's layers of dirt and grease and dust." "The sheets haven 't been changed for months and the walls are blackened." " Her lover is dead." " Missing." "She's in a state of grief." "Her body and mind consumed." "Her whole system's shut down." "For Violet and Edith, there seems not a trace left of their glorious sister." "The little ones start cleaning." "The atmosphere is rather hellish." "Their parents are like zombies - so reliant on their older daughter, now nothing works." "And Maurice is given to outbursts of temper and floods of irascible and slightly surreal tirades..." "Yes." "I get the reference." "Get on with it." "One day, finally, Mary Grace goes to do some shopping." "But she barely acknowledges them." "Violet and Edith decide to set off again, maybe to London." "They have family there, maybe a better family." " It could hardly be worse." " They're also grieving for their sister." "They only walk a few miles that first day and begin to have second thoughts." "In the distance, they can hear the drone of bombers." "It's one of the worst raids on Birmingham." " Thei r parents' house takes a di rect hit." " Yes, of course." "I knew they died in the war." "I never heard about the girls." "Mary Grace was caught in town and spent the night in a shelter." "When she gets back, the house is a hole in the ground - rubble, bits of bodies - and it's presumed that somewhere in the ruins are the little ones." "The children think, "We're here and nobody's come to look for us. "" "They don't think about the sound of the bombs because they think that everyone should be wondering where they are." "They decide to stay in the wood and see what happens." "But still nobody comes." "And somehow it turns into weeks." "Then months." "Violet and Edith lived i n the woods duri ng the war as some sort of wild children?" ".!" " That's what they told me." " I do not believe it." "Stole food from farms..." "No." "I'm calling a halt now." "This is fantasy." "They raided a network of farms - became expert at rooting around the countryside." "They knew where food was being stockpiled." "(DOG BARKS)" "They stole clothes from washing lines." "In the winter, they found this old canal building - long disused." "(ENGI NE CHUGS)" "Occasionally, barges full of munitions went past them." "In the midwinter, they were sometimes near starving." "Do you want a chocolate?" "." "We have absolutely loads." "They even inspired a search party because local farmers thought there must be a German airman in the woods." "(DOGS BARK)" "Sometimes, a dark piece of the war came very close." "Are you claiming they spent the whole war in the woods," "like the Japanese soldiers who thought the war was still going on?" "." "Violet and Edith?" "." "No." "Finally their luck ran out." "It was the women who didn't believe them." " We live just over there." " Where are your mum and dad?" "." " Um..." " It gets very dangerous out here." "This is wonderful twaddle." "I can just about believe their walk, but them living in the woods is rubbish." "Who'd have thought that old boot Grace had such passion?" "." "Their reunion must have been weird." "We're going to London." "The family there is going to see to us." "The best bit for me is them being taken to the studio for the pictures." "They were all got up for a society wedding after the war, and underneath there are these wild children staring up at all these upper-class girls." "(GIRLS GIGGLE)" "Those boots - those strange hobo boots in the picture, the society photo." "That's right." " You don't believe all this?" "." " Yes." "I think it's true." "It's a great story of sibling love and rejection by your parents." "And by your elder sister." "Children did live wild during the evacuation." "They roamed the streets in places and stole things." "But not Violet and Edith." "It's an amazing idea." "It's an amazing and beautiful idea." "And so typical of my father that he never told me about any of this." "Come on, you bastard." "Let's have lunch." " Hello?" "." " Hello." "I thought you'd left." " Raymond." "Is he...?" "." " He's an encouragingly bad patient." "I wondered if you had a moment." "It depends for what." "I'm in the middle of researching something." "What is it?" "." "I wanted to see if you had time to glance through these." "I've been using the Internet - the International Genealogy Site - both before I came here and lots while I've been here, inspired by your talk." " And you have collected your results." " Yes." "My family name is Dent, which is not that common, which helps." "I just wanted your opinion on how to sift through these." "Sift?" "." "Well, yes." "Maybe." "I find it hard to resist a good sift." "I don't often say no." "Are you looking for anything in particular?" "." "Or should I say, what are you hoping for?" "." "Well, naturally, an interesting connection." "Not something incredible - a famous relation." "That's pretty rare, I expect." "I'm not putting this very well." "Anything that might set something off in my mind." " I've never seen the point of soup." " Sorry." "It's the doctor's orders." " It's fine." "We'll all eat soup." " It's not fine." "A diet of gruel while I'm stuck in Ernest's bloody gloomy flat is a recipe for disaster." "It is quite funny, you ending up here." "Everything you hate." "Surrounded by Ernest's things." "It's very bizarre, the decor." "He does have though, strangely enough, an interesting collection of videos." "All these old British films." "I remember them." "Jack Hawkins in..." " So glad to see you up and about." " Yes." "I'm in fighting mood." "So I hear from all the messages left for me by your son." " I brought you these." " Thank you." "Can I interest you in some murky vegetable soup?" "." "That's a tempting offer but I'll just put these in some water." " He seems much better." " He is." " Can I trust you, Daniel?" "." " Trust me?" "." "Sounds promising." "Yes, of course." "This seems a rather unconventional request, but I want you to take a message for me." " Take a message?" "." "Where to?" "." " Back to the hotel." "Right." "You can't fax it?" "." " It's a verbal message." " I see." "Sorry to be plodding, but why not use the phone?" "." "It has to be delivered by somebody else." " Who's the message for?" "." " Alice." " You don't look surprised." " No." "I had no idea who you'd say." "I didn't have a clue." "What is the message?" "." "Simply to tell her, "What you are asking is not possible." ""There's no way it can happen."" " That's the message." " Are you going to write it down?" "." " No." "You can remember it." " Right." "There's something else." "I want you to describe to me exactly Alice's response when you give her the message - how she looks, what happens." "I said it was an unconventional request." "I suppose you won't tell me why you can't do it." "Let's just say it's complicated and embarrassing." "Alice and I aren't talking." "That's why I need you." " It seems weird, but it's not that strange." " It is strange." " You won't do it?" "." " Of course I will." "Thank you." "She'll be in her suite between six and seven tonight." " Don't ring before." " Just appear." "And here's the trust part." "You mustn't tell anyone." "Nobody." "Especially not Charles." "I don't want him to know what you're doing." "Understand?" "." "Daniel!" "We're still here." "My useful cousin." "Come and join us." "We're having a farewell drink in these delightful surroundings." " I can't stay." " He's always got an appointment." " No." "I've just got to make a quick call." " I like your coat." "Then you must come back later." "Can't let you go without doing business." "I need to appraise you of the full operation." "I have my own international network." "You look surprised." "Yes, it's fully transglobal." "I could be in Japan at the end of this week or it could be Darlington." "I have information about properties - what properties are for sale all over the world." "I have scouts smelling out their condition and there could be an opening for you." " He's always on the move." " He never moves out of Shepherds Bush." "That's right." "Sedentary Sidney." " Well, mustn't be late." " Mustn't miss his call." " You and him have a lot in common." " Really?" "." " Could be." " Same interests." "Must be in the genes." "First man to introduce road humps to London, Sidney was." "Road planner extraordinaire." "Napoleon III of Inner London." "Hidden talents - well hidden - but they're there somewhere." " (MOBILE RINGS)" " Is this Tokyo or is this Darlington?" "." "Hello." "What?" "." "It's Darlington." "Don't forget to return for the offer you will not be able to refuse." "Nothing like having a surveyor in the family." " Hi." " Charles." "I'm just breaking into Stephen's computer." "So I see." "No." "Keep it open." "If Stephen appears, I want him to see." " What are you doing here?" "." " Doing someone a favour." " Who might that be?" "." " Just family business." "You can keep me company." "Take that coat off!" "I oughtn't to." "I haven't really slept for two days." "I'm stoned from lack of sleep." "I ran into Irving." "He's finally got round to it - he's about to offer me a job." "I'll show you what you can do on Stephen's machine." "There he is." "Look at this." "There's fleshy old Irving." "Look at some of the people he's descended from." "His grandmother." "Her sister." "His mother." "All these glorious, delicate creatures... ..begetting Irving." "(DANIEL) If you look at him carefully, in a funny way he is rather beautiful." "The Japanese Buddhists keep a permanent altar to their ancestors in their house." "It's a tablet with names carved on it." "What do you think would happen if we did the same?" "." " No." "I've got to go." " No." "I want you to see this." "Steven did lots of different designs and drafts of the tree - you've one there." "He experimented with different layouts." "He had so many goes at it." "I have an appointment." "I really have to go." "Keep the door open." "No!" "Open it!" "Further." "Thank you." "I left the coat." " Hello, Alice." " Daniel." "That's a nice surprise." "We always seem to meet when I'm getting ready." "We're all about to go to a restaurant Martina has found." "You should have let me know you were coming." " I was in the hotel, so..." " You thought you'd drop by?" "." "And how is your father?" "." " Much better." " And he's all right in the flat?" "." "Yes." "I think he's enjoying it now, through gritted teeth." "(SHE CHATS IN FRENCH)" " I'm here for a rather odd reason." " Which is?" "." "Daniel, you can't start a sentence like that and then not finish it." "Yes." "I mean, no." " I have a message for you from Rebecca." " A message?" "." " You know, Alice, I still can't find it." " Forget about it, Ernest." "Stephen gave it to me right here and said, "Give that to Alice."" " I put it down for..." "Oh, hello." " Hello." " I put it down for a moment and it's gone." " Ernest, it really doesn't matter." " It does." " Can I help look for it?" "." "It's a stupid thing that Stephen unearthed." "He produces the most surprising things." " It's from when I worked in advertising..." " Advertising?" "." "That's the last thing I thought you would have done." "I did a whole campaign for milk." "It was rather charming and foolish and suddenly it was everywhere." "This is so many years ago." "Before you were born." "A huge milk bottle on wheels, like a cannon... ..besieging a town full of coughs and sneezes and jabs." "We were trying to make milk dangerous and masculine." "Go on." "Give the message." "(ERNEST) It doesn't seem to be around." " Are you all right?" "." " Yeah." "I've just had a lot of whisky." "Rebecca said, "What you are asking is not possible." ""There is no way it can happen."" "Or maybe it was the other way round." ""No way it can happen." "What you want isn't possible."" " And?" "." " There isn't an and." "Alice, we really must go." "Martina is in the restaurant and she's starving." "When that happens, nobody is safe!" "I'll be right down." "I'll catch you up." "And, Daniel." "Tell me what else she said." "I was to watch exactly how you received the message and then tell her." " And what will you tell her?" "." " That you minded a lot." "Will you take a message back to her when you see her?" "." "A message back?" "." "Become a go-between?" "." "Oh..." "I don't know." "I don't know." "Not without knowing more - like why two such amazing women are not talking to each other." "Right now..." "Right this moment..." "I've a terrible fear I'm going to throw up, and I'd like to avoid that if I possibly can." "First my father, then me, wouldn't make for a great show from the Hillingdon contingent." "Don't worry." "It wouldn't be the end of the world." "We have two huge bathrooms here anyway." "Maybe you should use Ernest's." "They've relegated theirs to the bathroom." "There's not much difference." "They've just squeezed it." " What happened to Richard?" "." " He's dead." "Yes." "Why?" "." "What happened to him?" "." "He was killed in an accident." "Nobody told me they had a brother." "All this time, nobody told me." "They've only known you for a few days, Daniel." "Think about it." "It's not the first thing you say when you meet a new relation." "Of course there were three of them." "I always felt something, you know." "Like there was a space there, around them." "Something incomplete when you saw them." "I sensed something." "Of course." " This is them." "Must be." " Yes." " Do you have any more pictures with you?" "." " A few." "I knew you'd have them with you." "My husband's brother, their father Louis, bought a house near us in Buckinghamshire." "They were away a lot, Louis and Margaret, so I saw a great deal of the children." "I used to have them at weekends when they were at boarding school and they stayed a lot in the holidays." "It was easy for us because we had no children." "You were a great surrogate mother, I'm sure." " How can you be certain of that?" "." " Anybody could tell that." "(PHONE RINGS)" "Yes, Ernest." "I've just go to..." "You go ahead to the restaurant." "No." "You go ahead now." " I'll see you there." " How did the accident happen?" "." "He was rather drunk - he'd been to a party in the country." "He wandered away from the party to a railway line and he was hit by an Intercity train." "Hit by a train?" "." "That's terrible." "No warning." "A voice on the phone and you're just too shocked to take it in." "He was very interesting." "A very intelligent young man." "I don't know why I'm getting tearful." "I've no right to." "I didn't even know him." " Am I like him?" "." " I don't know yet." "Maybe." " So why isn't he on the family tree?" "." " I have no idea." " What?" "." " I really have no idea." "He must have been removed for a reason." "It's totally inexplicable to me." "Stephen wouldn't have left him off on purpose, nor would anybody have asked for him to be removed." "Why would anybody do that?" "." "It's just an accident." "A very bad mistake." "It looks like he's been airbrushed out of the family." "I know what it looks like." "That's what I want you to tell Charles and Rebecca." "The explanation is that it was a mistake." "A horrible clerical error." "Why aren't you talking to each other?" "." "It's idiotic." "Charles is down the passage." "I'll fetch him." " No." " I can't believe you'd send messages." "As you know, in all families, things happen." "From the outside, they may not seem too impossible to solve, but inside the family they have huge significance and if mishandled can cause real ruptures." "You mean I might muck it up?" "." "No." "I just think it's best to do it my way." "Will you take the message to Rebecca?" "." "That it was a mistake." "It was just that." "And ask her to reconsider my request." "Please." " I must go." "It's getting late." " Yes." "I must get back to Raymond." "Daniel's with him, but I ought to take over." "On your website, you've got all these pictures of gardens." " Is that of special significance?" "." " It's all the same garden - my garden." "I kept experimenting with it." "A few wild ideas." "It was just a hunch in case any of these Dents shared the same passion." "I know that doesn't mean we're related, and it's such a universal passion..." " Was it a crazy thing to do?" "." " No." "No particularly scientific, but neither is it crazy." "Blimey." "I thought you were my wife for a minute." "What are you doing here?" "." "It's good of you to stop by." "It's just..." " I'm not at my absolute best." " I thought I could visit you." " You missed our appointment." " Yes, I'm sorry." "I got unwell." " As people at the banquet may have noticed." " I thought you made a wonderful speech." "Really?" "." "I'm not sure that's the universal opinion, but thanks." "Hedgehog up my jumper." "I liked that." "I thought since I know my way around the kitchen, I might cook you supper." " Are you sure?" "." " I am sure, yes." "Why not?" "." "It's got to be better than vegetable gruel." "I have to be here." "Do you like the look of it so far?" "." "I hope you'll say, "This is a truly great omelette."" "Yes." "I like eggs." "I grew up in the big house in Grosvenor Street." "You can get lost in there." "Now they're selling this place too." "I won't be able to cook here much more." "My father doesn't let me cook for him much." "Been thinking about my father." "Can't get that picture out of my head that Stephen found - my father dancing." "He was always so in control, my dad." "Serious and gruff." "Grouchy, but in a powerful way." "But to see him doing that." "Dancing like a pixie." "He wanted his workforce to call him by his Christian name, but behind his back people were terrified of him." "I was." "Sometimes I still wake up to him shouting at me." "My mother wasn't terrified of him." "He married a calm woman - still and peaceful." "Maybe I did the same." "At least, I thought I did!" "48 hours ago, people thought I was dying." "Now there's no sign of my wife, no sign of my son." "Don't know why I'm telling you this." "This is my own composition, this omelette." " It's a "Midsummer Night's Omelette"." " Wow." "(BUZZER)" "(REBECCA) Yes?" " Rebecca, hi." "It's your messenger." " I'm just coming down." "Hi." "Blimey." "Doesn't anyone in this family live in a nice normal cramped flat?" "." " Yes, I do." "This isn't my flat." " It isn't?" "." "I'm flat-sitting for a friend, Sal." "She's in Hong Kong for six months." "None of this is mine." "All the decor, everything here - somebody else's." "None of this is yours?" "." "I don't believe there isn't something here that's yours." "A few tiny things." "It's not as big as it looks, especially the bits one needs most - as you'll see when you use the loo." "Right." " Did you see Alice?" "." " Oh, yes." " Did you give her the message?" "." " Yes." "What did she say?" "." "How did she receive it?" "." "Tell me exactly." " I think she was saddened by it." " Right." "I don't forgive her." "I also saw some pictures of Richard." "You did?" "." " Wasn't he beautiful, my brother?" "." " Yes." "Yes, he was." "Alice wants you to know the reason he's not on the family tree is..." "If she says it's a mistake, a simple mistake, that is just not true." " It can't be Alice's fault." " You think that's so?" "." "You really think that's so?" "." "Isn't it incredible?" "." "This whole fucking event is staged, this whole fucking reunion, and there's no mention, no sign of my brother!" " He's been dead for less than three years!" " Rebecca." "It's the most unbelievable, inept, cruel, stupid thing." "Sshh." "The whole weekend I've had to play at being up, being a good guest." "Don't spoil the fucking party!" "I'm damned if I was going to be blamed for making a fuss and ruining everything." "That way it would become all about me." "They would have just said, "She's never got over it, poor girl."" "But it wasn't a mistake and that's not nothing and it matters more than anything!" "I can't bear it..." "I can't bear it." "Not that, please." "Just hold me." "That's not just holding me." " It's getting dark in here." " Yes." "There's a light switch here somewhere." "I've only been here six weeks." "Clever thinking." "I'll show you the rest of this spotless flat." "I see what you mean." "This is what Sal calls "the garden."" " 35 by 25." " You can do it just like that?" "." " Have you got your gizmo with you?" "." " Oh, yes." "My gizmo." "Here is my gizmo." "And yes... ..it's 25 by 35 exactly." " I don't think this is a good idea." " Why not?" "." "Because I'm in a highly-emotional whatever-you-call-it now and you've been drinking - whisky by the taste of things." " And we don't know each other." " We do." "We knew each other from the first minute we saw each other." " You don't know that." " Yes, I do." "This is what Sal calls "the gallery room" - her own private art gallery." " Where are the pictures?" "." " I took them down." "They were depressing." "Please." "Shouldn't you be being all aggrieved?" "." "That would be more normal." " You should be outraged." " Why?" "." " You know why." " Being a go-between?" "." "A cousin from the suburbs carrying messages?" "." "Never going to tell him why?" "." "Something like that." " Dressing him up in Richard's old clothes." " We thought you would like the coat." "And you were right, so I'm not outraged." "You knew I wouldn't be like that." " You're not worried, then?" "." " No." "Dead brother who you are like doesn't bother you?" "." "No." " Not at all?" "." " Not at the moment." " Used to be very common, I believe." " What?" "." "Kissing cousins." "I'm the elder cousin." "I should know better and stop this."