"'My Ma said that, of all the bonds that exist between people, 'perhaps the sweetest is the bond of friendship." "'For it is born not out of duty or blood ties, but out of sheer delight in another.'" "'How hard it must be to be friendless in our hour of need..." "'How bitter to be alone at the moment of reckoning..." "'And yet for some, it was friendship itself... 'the sharing of our deepest truths, and the trust in another's good will towards us...'" "Good morning Miss Pearl." "Good morning." "'that was the hardest path of all.'" "But, Mum, what's so special about it?" "It is a "Kitchen Delight"... and it is extremely appropriate, for I am thoroughly delighted." "It has a hot water boiler and two ovens... and these are the dampers and flues, for managing the temperature." "No, no!" "Don't touch it!" "No-one is to touch it." "I must learn its secrets first..." "SHE RINGS BELL Service!" "What are you all doing?" "I have been waiting here for minutes." " Is there anything for me?" " No, Miss Pratt, I'm very sorry." "No?" "You are mistaken..." "look again, please." "I have placed an advertisement for a seamstress of the highest order, and I am expecting a number of replies." "I have a very important commission to discharge for Lady Whiteleaf." "I am to make the trousseau for her niece." "It is a great quantity of work, and I must engage a seamstress tout de suite, tout de suite." "Well, go and look, girl!" "Blackberries!" "We must make the most of them, for soon it will be Michaelmas." "That's when the Archangel Michael and his Celestial Army did rout Lucifer from Heaven, he fell into a blackberry bush and was scratched to pieces." "So he widdled all over the brambles in revenge..." " that's what my Ma said." " He scorched them with his fiery breath... and every year he renews the curse at Michaelmas, the day of his fall, the day of St Michael's triumph." "What Thomas means, Sydney, is that the blackberries will soon go mouldy." "Because Satan has cursed them." " He wee'd on 'em!" " Because the weather has turned." "Thomas, please do not fill Sydney's head with talk of Satan." "He has been having his nightmares again." "We shall have a feast!" " A Michaelmas Feast!" " Goose and apples and all the trimmings!" "And a Michaelmas pudding?" "It's good luck to have a Michaelmas pudding." "Miss Timmins!" "I am still waiting!" "I am very sorry, but there are no letters for you this morning." "I see I shall have to look for myself." "Well, this is quite a scene." "Picnicking on blackberries whilst the customer remains ignored." "Miss Timmins tells me that there are no letters for me, but I say, Miss Lane, that this cannot be so." "I regret I cannot magic into existence letters that have not arrived for you." "Arrived and been lost, Miss Lane, I have no doubt of it." "Lost in this disorder, this...chaos." "I hope you do not accuse me or my staff of incompetence." "It is inconceivable that I should have had no replies to my advertisement." "And yet we have nothing for you." "Good day, Miss Pratt." "Good day indeed, Miss Lane." "But be under no illusion." "I am NOT satisfied." " Chaos!" " Hoity toity." "Well, let us get back to work." "Oh, Thomas, there is a parcel for Mrs Brown." "Thank you, thank you." "Oh!" " "It is inconceivable."" " Minnie, stop it at once." ""I am engaged to make a pair of purple silken bloomers for Lady Whiteleaf's cat..."" "Minnie, you will apologise at once." "No, Miss Lane, I do not wish to hear any protestations of remorse." "I see very well how I am regarded." "And it is of no concern to me," "SHE CLEARS THROAT I can assure you." "You will post this to Miss Ruby?" "Of course, Miss Pratt, there will be no charge." ""Six Beatrice chemises, three Alexandra chemises, four Alice nightdresses," ""all trimmed with work, six Paris long-cloth petticoats, two long cloth petticoats, trimmed," ""one dressing gown in fine cambric, worked, one in hair cord, plain..."" "it's too much, too much... it's impossible!" "How could you leave me, Ruby?" "Minnie, could you fetch some kindling from the forge?" "I didn't hardly sleep nary a wink last night." "I put an onion under my pillow so's I'd dream of my Alfie, but instead I kept dreaming' of boiled beef." "Minnie." "Well, no wonder!" "It's not an onion you put under your pillow, it's three bay leaves sprinkled with rose water, and a sprig of rosemary wrapped in a dock leaf." "Then you dream of your true love's face and that's how you know he's your true love." "No, no, no." "You know your true love by sums." "You add up the letters in his name and you add up the letters in your name and then you add them up again, and then you times them," "'Tisn't sums, Minnie." "Sums and love don't go together." "Minnie... oh, never mind." "And Laura is right." "What can mathematics tell you of a person's heart that your own cannot?" "Can I help you?" "Oh..." "I was going to ask for the smith." "He is on an errand, I'm afraid." "Perhaps I can help?" "I own the Forge." " I am Miss Lane." " You own the Forge?" "Yes." "And the Post Office." "My boots..." "I have walked them almost to death." "They need a heel-iron." "Of course." "May I see?" "You have come far?" "From Oxford." "These are not walking boots." "These... these are very fine." "You have walked from Oxford in these?" "They were the only boots I had." "I hope I do not pry, but I fear you are in distress." "I assure you I am respectable." "I do not doubt it." "Please do not be alarmed." "You have nothing to fear from me." "We'll see what we can do." "Thank you, thank you so much." "It's just..." "I am so tired." "I feel like I have been walking forever." "Do you have much farther to go?" "I do not know." "I am seeking employment..." "I must go wherever I can work." "What is it that you do?" "I am a dressmaker." "My dear, I have something for you." "Thomas, you have bought me... underwear!" "It is German." "German wool." "It is Herr Dr Furtwangler's Sanitary Woollen System." "The good Herr Doktor believes that only the finest animal fibres should be worn against the skin for hygiene and for warmth." "And with the cold weather setting in..." "My dear, kind husband..." "I urge you to put it on at once, my dear." "A chill may strike at any moment." "What a beautiful shop." "I have never seen such a lovely shop." "Can I help you?" "My name is Enid Fairley, and I am a dressmaker." "You saw my advertisement?" "I have excellent references..." "I have been working with La Signora Gianni in Bristol." "La Signora Gianni!" "I am hard-working, reliable and diligent." "And I am fast." "In truth, Miss Fairley, you find me more a beggar, than a chooser." "Here, as you see, is all more work than you could wish for." "And this shop... my life's work is dependant on its completion." "Then I shall start at once." "Mr Brown!" "What news?" "Crime?" "Scandal?" "Politics?" "Events?" "You must have heard some news, something, on your rounds." "You must have something to report." " You, I think, do not?" " Well, it has been a slow week, it would seem." "I found this giant conker... but I can't in all conscience put it on the front page." "I can't even play conkers." "You cannot play conkers, Mr Parish?" "I never played as a boy." "I don't know the rules." "I wonder if Sydney would teach me." "Sydney does not care for conkers." "I however may be prevailed upon to give you instruction." " You play?" " Lord, forgive me my vaunting pride..." "I do play Sir." "I am, indeed, a Master." "A Master?" "Then you must choose your weapon, sir, for what I lack in experience, I make up for in ambition." "You find me armed and ready, Sir." "Miss Fairley... your work... it is sublime." "I am glad it meets with your approval." "My sister Ruby does all the embroidery...did, I mean to say... she is now living in Pontefract." "I do believe that yours is superior, even to hers." "You must feel her loss." "Pontefract is far away." "I do feel her loss," "I do." "Indeed, I miss her dearly." "I see you have found some help." "Yes." "She is a seamstress of the highest order." "She has come from the great Signora Gianni of Bristol." "She comes from Bristol?" " But I thought." " Did you want something, Miss Lane?" "No...yes..." "I will take a reel of blue thread, please." "Before we begin, we must take a solemn oath." "To observe the first and only rule of conkers--no tampering." "No boiling, no roasting, no steeping in vinegar." "We must play them as you we find them...as God created them!" "As God created them." " Amen." " It is gentlemanly and sportsmanlike for the Master to allow the Novice the first strike." "Play." "Ha!" "Do you think it will be a happy marriage?" "Lady Whiteleaf's niece?" "I have no doubt." "He is of good blood with a grand estate, many thousands a year I believe." "And she?" "She is sweet-tempered." "Obliging, quiet, undemanding." "Obedient." "Docile." "All a husband could wish for." "SHOUTING OUTSIDE" "Excuse me, Miss Fairley." "Stampsies!" "No stampsies!" "Do you mind?" "How dare you cause such a rumpus right in front of my store." "I'm surprised at you, Thomas Brown." "Shame on you." "I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the stomach and heart of a king." "You didn't even have to raise your voice." "I do not ask for much, Miss Fairley, but I demand respect." "Indeed you do, Miss Pratt." "Indeed you do." "Laura, Laura!" "Can we do the sums?" "The love sums?" "Do me and Alfie." "Minnie, I told you, I don't believe in them." "Please...do me and Alfie." "I can't do numbers." "How much is it?" "Is it high?" "Shh!" "A hundred." "A hundred?" "A HUNDRED?" "!" "I never get a hundred in anything!" " Do you and Daniel!" " Oh, go on." "You might get a hundred too!" "And if I do, will you leave me in peace?" "Promise." "72." "72!" "Good night, Minnie..." "A hundred!" "72!" "Miss Fairley, you must be fatigued." "I have made a bed up for you in the attic." "I hope you will find the accommodation satisfactory." "Thank you, but I shall not sleep tonight." "I shall work on." "I love to work." "I live to work." "But I would be glad of some company, if you are not too tired." "I would like to know all about your wonderful shop." "It has always been my dream, to have a shop of my own." "Oh, beware of your dreams, Miss Fairley." "This wonderful shop has kept me awake on many a night." "Balance sheets that do not balance, outgoings with no incomings... it is a constant battle." "Then your achievement is all the greater." "Miss Fairley." "Enid, please." "Enid, would you care for some cocoa?" "I would, thank you." "I confess I have a terribly sweet tooth." "My sister Ruby has a sweet tooth." "THEY CHAT INAUDIBLY" "'Tis a hungry beast, to be sure, Mum, I already put in a scuttle-full." " Miss Lane..." " Yes, Thomas." "I wanted to make a contribution to our Michaelmas Feast." "Oh, that is very kind of you." "So I have brought you..." "The Michaelmas goose!" "Thomas, it is alive." "Goosey!" "A Michaelmas goose must be a green goose, Ma'am, young and fresh." "It cannot be a hung bird." "Can I look after him, Ma, can I?" "I'll take good care of him." "Yes, Sydney, you can look after him." "But you must keep him outside, in the yard." "SHE SCREAMS, GOOSE QUACKS" "Sydney!" "Come on, Goosey, come on." "Thomas, I do appreciate your gesture, but we cannot..." "No, Miss Lane, do not thank me, I beg you." "It is the very least I can do." "Margaret and I wish to make a gesture in recognition of your great generosity." "FRONT DOOR OPENS" "Good morning, Miss Pratt." "Good morning, Miss Lane, good morning to all." "Miss Pratt, you are." "Grinning!" "She's grinning." "What's wrong with her?" "My post, Miss Timmins, if you please." "Miss Lane, may I introduce you to Miss Enid Fairley?" "She is working with me on the trousseau." "Miss Fairley, this is Miss Lane." "Miss Lane is our Postmistress." "And this is your Post Office?" "It is so neat and orderly." "You have arranged it so well." "GOOSE SQUAWKS" "Sydney, you must keep the goose outside." " He is a sweet boy." " He is my son... not by blood, but I am raising him as my own." "On your own, Miss Lane?" "Why, yes." "I feel as if I have fallen into some kind of paradise... a charmed land where women are their own mistresses." "Here is Miss Pratt with her own establishment, and the Postmaster is a Postmistress." "I think I have found Heaven." "Lor, in't she lovely?" "Come along, Miss Enid, we must get on." "Miss Pearl, the goose has given me a wonderful idea... for the camisoles, what do you think to a feather motif?" " Feathers worked as angels' wings." " Yes!" "In plain stitch, I think, don't you?" "Good day, Mrs Hester..." "Miss Norrish," "Mrs Foster, may I introduce Miss Enid Fairley." "Miss Foster is one of our very best customers." " Good day, Mrs Foster." " Good day." "That's it, goosey, eat up." "Get yourself all fat and juicy." "Juicy?" "Little Man, he isn't a pet, is he?" "We're going to eat him, aren't we, for Michaelmas." "But Ma said I could keep him." "Yes." "Until we roast him." "I have brought you peppermint creams." "Thank you, thank you so much." "Please come in and sit down." "Thank you." "Miss Pearl has..." "Gone out." "We know." "We hope you find Candleford a welcoming place, Miss Enid." "Indeed, I do." "Everyone is so nice." "And Miss Pearl..." "Miss Pearl is my saviour." "She is so generous and encouraging and dear and kind." "THIS Miss Pearl?" "Yes." "This Miss Pearl, here?" "My admiration for her knows no bounds." "Truly, she is an inspiration." "Independent, the queen of her own destiny." "Is it not what we all dream of?" "To be free, to live our lives as we see fit... to work, not in drudgery, but to achieve, to nurture our gifts, to express our talents... to be of use on God's Earth." "This Miss Pearl, here, of Candleford?" "Who makes the dresses?" "Are you unwell?" "Forgive me, I beg you." "I fear..." "I am at the mercy...of my... undergarments." "My dear lady, we are all at the mercy of our undergarments." "Eh?" "I wanted to tell Ruby all about Miss Enid." "I feel I have known her all my life." "We are like two peas in a pod." "It is most curious, is it not, Miss Lane, how one can find immediate, mutual sympathy with someone one has known for days, while acquaintances of years' long-standing are never anything more than mere acquaintances." "I do believe, Miss Enid is an angel, and has fallen from Heaven... straight into my parlour." " Miss Pratt, I must ask you..." " I sincerely hope, Miss Lane, that you are not about to dispense any wisdom." "I only wonder at such unguarded enthusiasm for someone you know so little." "I would ask you save your concern for those who... care for it." "My dear, behold... my triumph." " Thomas, your face!" " Yes, I did joust with the Devil for him, Margaret!" "Deep in a thicket of brambles he was, deep in the clutches of Satan's thorny fingers." "I shall perhaps rub some vinegar into him, to bring up the shine." "Might that not be construed as tampering?" "You are as always correct... and indeed he does not need anything to enhance his natural winning beauty." "And you, my dear?" "You have been warm today, and comfortable?" "I have certainly been warm, Thomas." "Too warm... indeed, I think I shall forego Dr Furtwangler tomorrow." "Oh, but Margaret, the fluctuating temperatures of Autumn can be hazardous to the delicate constitution." " Very well then." " Just a quick wipe with a cloth, that's all it needs..." "No!" "I am no cheat!" "Lord, give me strength." "I do believe I shall take me to bed, Thomas." "I am tired and I seem to have lost my appetite." "Yes, my dear, good night." "Do not tempt me!" "Do not look at me." "No... boil it.. no, no!" "Vinegar.." "NO!" " Oh, Margaret!" " Oh, what?" "What is it?" "!" "The Devil came to me, he told me to boil it, boil the conker in vinegar!" "The Devil... is in that conker!" "Margaret!" "No!" "No, no." "Shh, shh." "Oh, my Sydney, what is it that troubles you so?" "You are so cold." "Enid, my dear, I have been summoned to Whiteleaf Hall to show Lady Whiteleaf the work so far." "Look at me, I am all a-twitter." "Kitchen Delight?" "Truly you have become my Kitchen Torment." "I will master you, if it is the last thing I do." "Now then, look who I found on the Ingleston Road." "Sydney, you left the gate open." "Ah!" "A-HA!" "Ha ha!" "I am going to eat BOTH your legs when we roast you, you naughty goose!" "Out you go, stay with her, Sydney." "Good boy." "Miss Lane, a Missing Persons notice... shall I put it in the window?" ""Husband seeks errant wife." "Thirty years of age." "Brown hair, pale complexion, of slim figure." ""Reward 500 pounds." ""Contact Mr Richard Dempster, Esquire, Oxford."" "Oxford... 500 pounds!" " He wants her back soon." " Miss Lane?" "I have a most strange presentiment." "I think it may be Miss Enid." "She was in distress when we first met... and there are things that simply do not square..." "Put it on the fire, Laura." "And say nothing to anyone." "We will hear what she has to say before we do anything." "Oh, Miss Lane!" "Oh, Miss Lane," "Miss Lane." "You find me in a state of extreme happiness." "I am come from Whiteleaf Hall..." "Lady Whiteleaf has invited Miss Enid and myself to dine!" "She is so thrilled with our work." "To dine, Miss Lane!" "I have been invited to sit at her table, as her honoured guest." "You have never been to Whiteleaf Hall, I believe..." "I must tell Enid at once... oh, Enid!" "Enid!" "Oh, Enid!" "Oh, Pearl!" "She really liked our work!" " What shall we wear?" " I see us in midnight blue..." "Would it be inappropriate to take a Michaelmas pudding?" "Or would it be a marvellous gesture?" "Well, it doesn't matter now." "The important thing is that we should look extraordinary." "Oh, Enid, this is our chance to show Lady Whiteleaf and her guests... to show the great and good our work." "Oh, yes!" "To show that we are the future of fashion." " The future of clothes!" " The future of clothes..." "Oh, Enid, I cannot thank you enough." "When you came to me, you found me half-broken... lost and alone." "You have... restored me to myself." "Why do you smile?" "Am I?" "I am ridiculous." "No, Pearl, no." "I smile because... because in describing yourself, you could not more exactly have described me." "I feel that I am my own person again... that here I can, at last, be fully and perfectly myself." "Oh, Enid," "Miss Enid," "I offer you this ribbon as a token of my esteem." "A symbol of our friendship." "Our friendship." "SHE GIGGLES" "Your strike I believe, Mr Parish." "Play." "Oh, Thomas." "I almost pity you." "Bad luck, sir." "Ha-ha-ha!" "The Lord does love a righteous man." "One moment, Thomas, I will take a look at that conker, if you please." "What do you imply, sir?" "I hope I do not smell vinegar, Mr Brown." "Daniel!" "Thomas is not a cheat." "You will take your defeat like a gentleman." "What is going on out here?" "Mr Parish has thrown heavy words, Ma'am." "Daniel, you will apologise to Thomas." "Very well, we shall have no more conkers here." "Thomas..." "Daniel..." "A fine example you both are, I must say." "Miss Enid." "We are treating ourselves, Miss Lane." "To afternoon tea at the Golden Lion." "Tea for two!" "Ow!" "Minnie, I could pinch you... you've got me doing sums in my head day and night, every time I see Daniel." "And I don't even believe them!" "Then why are you doing them?" "Ow!" "You've got me doubting... and now I don't know if it's the sums that are making me feel teasy, or if feeling teasy is making me do the sums." "You see..." "Daniel, he has two halves." "He is gentle and loving and dear, and he is fierce and proud and a sore loser." "And I don't know which is the truest half... which is the master." "It is a little frightening, to think you know so little of someone, when you have trusted them with so much." "Ow!" "Good morning, Pearl." "Good morning, E..." "Miss Enid, you appear to be wearing... an un-skirted garment." "Yes, Pearl, I am wearing trousers." "Or more properly, they are a type of breeches." "You must know of The Dress Reform Movement?" "The Rational Dress Society?" "Oh, Pearl," "I want you to join us!" "The Rational Dress Society protests against any fashion in dress that deforms the figure or impedes the movements of the body." "Join us, Pearl!" "We are the future of clothes." "Oh, dear God." "Clothes which are healthful and comfortable... and beautiful, Miss Pearl." "Clothes in which a woman may be elegant and industrious, active and sophisticated." "Give up your corset." "Oh!" "You are a radical!" "A seditionary!" " Give up your petticoats." " You are a communist!" "And an anarchist!" "Oh!" "Let us wear our trousers to Lady Whiteleaf's dinner and start a revolution!" "Indeed no!" "There will be no trouser-wearing here." "There will be no revolution!" "Have you taken leave of your senses, woman?" "But...you are my inspiration..." " the queen of your own destiny..." " The queen?" "Do you think I have chosen this life..." "this life of solitary labour and toil?" "But...you have the heart and stomach of a king." "You are quite... mistaken in me." "So I see." "Then I must share my gospel with the good women of Candleford." "If you will not hear it, they will... and they will rejoice in it!" "You are not going out there looking like that." "But if I cannot preach Rational Dress here, I cannot preach it anywhere." "What will people say?" "What will people think?" "What if Lady Whiteleaf hears?" "Mum..." "The range..." "Do not tell me that it has died, Minnie." "It has died, Mum." "Do you think perhaps we should ask Mr Kelly the ironmonger to come and fix it?" "No, Laura." "I shoed my first horse when I was eight years old." "I will not be beaten by a range." "Ladies!" "Good women of Candleford!" "Hear my gospel!" "I am come to free you!" "To free you from the madness of corsets!" "Let us consider our linen..." "Ah!" "There it is... the duct is blocked!" "That is why it won't draw." "Oh!" "Oh, I could...!" "Oh, I could spit nails!" "Thomas!" " Where is Thomas?" " Mum, Thomas didn't put it in there... that'd be cheating." "He wouldn't cheat, not Thomas." "And so you're accusing Daniel?" "!" " It can't be Daniel's!" " How do you know?" "Oh!" "I have wrestled with that range for days now!" "I have been on my knees all these hours, so that we could have our Michaelmas feast... and this is how I am repaid!" "Is it not enough that I must do everything?" "Can I expect no help, only hindrance?" "APPLAUSE OUTSIDE" "Dear ladies, let me ask you one question." "Are you comfortable?" "Or are you constrained?" "Tied up in your corsets, trussed up in your undergarments." "How is a woman to achieve?" "Women must be free to do, to do what they will!" "Do not fear me, ladies!" "I do not ask for revolution." "I ask only for what is reasonable in our dress." "I ask only for rational dress, rational undergarments." "Comfortable undergarments." "I have some leaflets, if you are at all interested, we meet every week in every major city." "No, Thomas, no!" "I beg you." "Do not say a word." "I will not be oppressed for another moment by this wretched German wool!" "I am not a child, or an invalid." "I will not be struck down by a slightly chilly wind!" "I wished to be a loving husband." "To relieve you of all care and suffering, if only I could." "Oh, Thomas." "You are the dearest husband I could wish for, but you cannot protect me from everything." "No, indeed." "I cannot." "And be reassured I am stronger than you imagine." "Could you... please... undo the buttons for me?" "Miss Enid...what have you done?" "Tell me not that I am mistaken in you as well." "We received a Missing Persons notice, a husband seeking his wife." "A Mr Richard Dempster." "Of course, I knew he would come after me." "I am to blame, I should have warned you sooner." "I now fear you have drawn fatal attention to yourself." "He is offering a reward for your return." "Everyone said it was a good marriage." "He was above me... of great wealth." "He offered me everything I could ever have wished for... until he had me." "I had been a daily dressmaker." "I made clothes for his mother and sisters." "They took a fancy to me." "They wanted to make me one of them, to dress me up like a doll." "Dresses that suffocate you... hobble you." "I had been saving towards my own establishment, but he forbade it." "It was beneath the family's dignity, to be in trade, to work." "I barely knew him when I married him..." "I knew his standing, but not his heart." "I could not have known how he would govern my life." "And so I did nothing all the day, but sit, idle, hour after empty hour, while my talent withered within me and died." "And my hope and purpose with it." "But I have substituted one living death for another." "Always afraid, always hiding." "I cannot live in such a way any more." "I will not." "LAUGHTER" "Truly, the emperor of all conkers." "It is mine." "I saw it first." "But you must get it, my friend." "Whoever gets it, keeps it." "I shall wait for it to fall." "I warn you, Mr Parish, I have the patience of a saint." "Thomas, only a stone can endure longer than I." "We shall see." "You lied to me." "Yes." "Out of necessity." "I was afraid of being discovered." "And then you offered me such tender friendship, and I felt safe." "I have so longed to feel safe, all these weeks." "But I should have confided in you." "My real name is Mrs Richard Dempster," "I came from Oxford, and I am a runaway." "You pretended to be my friend, to win my protection." "I did not pretend, never for a minute." "I hold you in the highest esteem." "And yet you have brought shame upon me." "You have made me an object of ridicule." "How?" "Look at yourself!" "What will people think of me, to have associated with you?" "I flaunted our friendship with no idea whom, what," "I had befriended." "Why should you care what people think?" "You are your own person." "With your own style." "You are mighty." "You care nothing for fashion, you follow your own unique vision, not the whims of Paris." "I care nothing for fashion?" "!" "Evidently you do not follow it." "Oh!" "You are wicked!" "You are cruel!" "Then I have no scruple in turning you in." "Miss Pearl!" "Miss Pearl." "I wish to send a telegram, Miss Timmins." "To a Mr Richard Dempster of Oxford." " Miss Lane!" " Wronged husband, abandoned by his wife, Enid." " Dear Pearl, I beg your forgiveness." "I would not hurt you for the world." "I owe you so much." "I was at my very limits when I came here." "I was dying of loneliness." "Miss Lane sent me to you for work, but I found in you something even greater." "Miss Lane sent you to me?" "But you answered my advertisement." "Miss Enid came to the forge in trouble." "She needed work, and you needed help." "You knew all about her, all along?" "How you must have laughed at me." "How you all must have laughed at me." "No, no." "I wish to send a telegram." "Miss Pratt, I beg you to reconsider, you are better than this." "Of course, you will take a stranger's part over mine." "Even though I have lived amongst you all these years." "Very well." "I shall go to Ingleston, to the Post Office there." "And furthermore, I shall tell them that the Post Mistress in Candleford has failed to discharge her duty." "Ma'am, where is Sydney?" " Do you not have a newspaper to print?" " Do you not have letters to deliver?" "My posterior portions they are benumbed." "I have lost all feeling in my legs." "Shall we come to a gentleman's agreement, Thomas?" "Shall we leave the Emperor to the grass?" " Ow!" " Oh, my head!" "Oh, my knee!" "LAUGHTER" "GOOSE HONKS" "Sydney?" "Sydney?" " Sydney." " Sydney, where are you going?" "I do not know." "I broke the range... and Ma was on her knees with it for days, and she got soot all over her nice dress... but I don't want to eat my goose!" "Oh, Sydney..." "Now, you come and sit here with us, and calm yourself down, and then we shall see what to do." "Sydney!" "Thing is, Mum, I do believe he was afraid of his goose getting roasted." "Oh!" "He is gone to set it free." "I think Thomas once brought it back from the Ingleston Road." "We have lost Sydney." "Miss Pearl?" "Miss Pearl, you are crying." "Where are you going, Miss Pearl?" "I'm going to the Post Office at Ingleston." "Post Office?" "Ingleston?" "Why do you want to go there?" "I do not want to go there." "Not really." "I wanted to punish someone who has already been punished enough." "Now I fear I cannot go back." "In truth, Mr Brown, you find me somewhat...distrait." " Miss Pearl..." " Miss Pearl, what has happened?" "Oh, nothing, Daniel." "Nothing out of the ordinary, that is." "I have done what I always do." "I have driven everyone away from me." "Miss Pearl, come and sit down with Sydney." "I cannot sit down." "This is silk taffeta at seven shillings a yard." "You should not be here Sydney, why are you so far from home?" "I don't want to eat my goose." "He's my friend." "Then you should not be so ridiculous as to be friends with a goose." " You should be friends with people." " You're not friends with people." "No, indeed." "They do not often seem to like me." "They've always liked Ruby the most." "But they do respect me." "I am...respected." "Am I not?" "Dear Pearl, I wonder, perhaps, if people respected you a little less, they might like you more." "Enid, won't you come rest yourself?" " I was never going to roast the goose!" "I wanted Sydney to keep him." "I thought it would help his nightmares if he had something to look after." "I don't know how else to comfort him." "That is why I bought the range..." "I just thought if I could just keep him warm, he would not be haunted by those terrible winters at the orphanage." "Mum, when I first come to you, I had nightmares, didn't I?" "Yes, yes, Minnie, you did." "And you used to come to me and say, "Do not be afeard, Minnie, they will pass." "Let them pass." And they did." "And I don't have them no more, do I?" "I think they were leftovers from before, when I was truly afeard, and they had to work their way out one by one, until they were all gone." "Well, now, here you all are." "Ma!" "Oh, Sydney..." " Thomas, you are bleeding!" "Your head." "Ma, it was me, I broke the range," "I put Thomas' conker in there to block it all up but only cos I didn't want to eat my goose." "I'm so sorry, Ma, I'm so sorry!" "Sydney, we will not roast your goose, nor any other of your friends." "Can we set him free, to be with the other geese?" "Thomas, he was your gift, and I am so grateful for the gesture." "I don't suppose any of us could enjoy him now, Ma'am." "I could." "We must chase him away, or he will stay with me." "Halllloooooo!" "SHE LAUGHS" "Is that Miss Pearl?" "Miss Pearl from The Stores?" "Our Miss Pearl?" "It is." "It is our Miss Pearl." "Farewell, goosey." "Where is she going?" "APPLAUSE" "Shall we go home then, Pearl?" "Shall we go home to Candleford?" " So we ain't going to have a feast at all?" "Only I've been dreaming of roast goose for days now." "The range will never be hot in time." "You could, perhaps, come to The Stores." "If you wanted to." "I would be honoured if you did." "But what about Lady Whiteleaf's dinner?" "I believe I would be happier... if I may, I would be happier with my friends." "Then we should be delighted to accept your kind invitation." "Thank you." "Thank you, Dorcas." "I've been doing love sums for you all week, and I hate doing sums." "I don't even believe in them...but they all came out lower and lower." "Oh." "And I thought they were telling me that my Daniel was a bad loser and an arrogant turnip." "Yes." "I don't always like me either." "I like myself most when I'm with you." "You are my better half." "Thomas?" "Do you know how to play marbles?" "Marbles?" "Do I know?" "Forgive me, Heavenly Father, my overweening pride..." "I am a Master of Marbles." " What will you do?" "I will go to America." "I have cousins in New York." "I will start my own business." "I will make beautiful clothes for adventurous women." "I will build myself a life there..." "My own life." "As you have done." "And when my courage fails me," "I shall think of you, and hold fast." "'In years past, at the Great Feast of Michaelmas, 'the people would give thanks to their Heavenly Friend and Protector, 'the Archangel Michael," "'for banishing the darkness and bringing the light." "'But we gave thanks to friends nearer at hand.'" "'And I saw that the sweetest friendships of all are the unlikeliest." "'For they are founded on something even more precious than delight." "'They are founded on nothing less than the complete 'and perfect acceptance of one by another.'" "You're thinking of going back into the school?" "This way of writing has been handed down through generations." "You can't imagine being the teacher," " you are a mother, you have chosen this life." " Did I?" "One day in Oxford and you have your head turned." "It is my own head to turn." "I do like being resistible." "Irresistible, Minnie." "If you do demand to relate to me only as your employer then I can play that game too." "The time has for us to let go." "Suddenly our hopes are to be deserted."