"He seemed to think he was frully engaged to you and the letters were the only proofr he had." "I thi nk he loves you... in his way." "And do you think he'll return them now?" "I don't know." "I was so happy when I first came here." "(MRS GIBSON) There, just as I expected." "Your Uncle Kirkpatrick would like you to stay with them again." "Cheer up poor Helen." " Can you go directly?" " I should love to." "And you'll be ready to go by the bang-up tonight?" "I'm summoned to London myself, to attend Lady Cumnor." "She's worse, I'm afraid." "Oh, poor Lady Cumnor." "What a shock!" "Thank goodness I've had my breakfast." "I wouldn't have been able to eat a thing." " What about your gowns, Cynthia?" " Oh, they're all right, Mama." "I shall be quite ready by 4 o'clock." "I hope you don't think I was glad to leave you." "It's just such a relief to get away from that man for a little while." "What did Roger say in his letter?" " Is he well?" "Has he quite got over his fever?" " Yes, quite." "Yes, he writes in very good spirits." "A great deal about birds and beasts and the habits of natives." "I think most of it was meant for you, Molly." "He knows I don't care for spiders and things." "Here!" "I'll trust you with this." "Don't read between here and here." "That's the silly part." "Would you write back for me?" "I shan't have time." "And shall I say you'll write as soon as you get to London?" "Yes, of course." "Well, as soon as I've settled in." "You'll write a much better letter than I could." " Cynthia, he wants to hear from you." " Does he?" "Yes, I suppose he does." "(KNOCK ON DOOR)" " This packet came by hand, Miss Kirkpatrick." " Oh, thank you, Maria." "Molly, it's the letters." "Molly, you've saved my skin." "(HORSE WHINNIES)" "(CYNTHIA) There he goes." "He is better than I believed him to be." "Now, there is just one more thing to be done, and if you would be my angel" " and do it for me?" " I can't do any more!" "It's just a very tiny little thing." "Just to return to him his money. ￡23." "That's with 5% added in, so he can't complain about anything, and..." "It's all wrapped up ready." "Look!" "I hate having these underhand dealings with him." "Underhand?" "Why, you might meet him by chance in a shop or in the street." "If you had it in your pocket, nothing could be easier." "Molly, I could go off with such a light heart if only I knew you could get it safely to him." "(DR GIBSON) Goodbye, Molly." "Be a good girl." "Look after your mama." "Thank you, John." "(DRIVER) Go on there." "I expect Mr Henderson will be there again." "Do you know that he was head over heels in love with Cynthia?" "And Mrs Kirkpatrick told me that last summer the poor man went all the way to Switzerland" " to try and forget her." "Imagine that!" " Poor man, indeed." "It's a pity she didn't tell them all she was engaged." " It is not an engagement." " What is it, then?" "They're more to each other than I am to Osborne, for example." "Molly." "You must never couple your name with that of a young man." "I mean... how am I to teach you delicacy, my dear?" "And, you know, between ourselves..." "I sometimes think that it will come to nothing with Roger Hamley." "He's so long away." "And, privately, Cynthia is not very constant." "And I once knew her very taken before." "Not with such a pleasing young man as Mr Henderson." " I hope you won't find it too dull on your own." " No, not at all." "Yes, you're just like me." "Never less alone than when alone, as one of our great authors has so justly expressed it." " Oh!" " Don't get up, Molly." "This call's not on you." "Though I am very pleased to see you." "Hoped I'd find your father here at lunch time." "He's gone to London with Cynthia." "He'll be back tomorrow evening." "Oh, I should have liked to see her again." "I wish to God Roger were at home." " Do you really think you are very ill?" " I don't know." "Sometimes I do." "Then at other times I think it's half fancy." "But I should like your father to tell me so." "Well, as Roger is so far away..." "And as I still haven't been able to tell my father about Aimee." "I want somebody else to know where she is." "In case..." "You know, in case something should happen." "I know I can trust you, Molly." "As I trust Roger." "You're like one of us." "I've written her address here." "Keep it safe." "And keep it to yourself." "I pray you may never need it." "I feel better already... now someone else knows the whereabouts of my wife and child." "Child?" "(MARIA) Miss Phoebe Browning." "Ooh, Mr Hamley." "I'm so sorry." "I came to ask Molly if she cared to walk into town with me, seeing as she's all alone today." "But now I see she's not." "Oh, dear, I was always malapropos from a child." "Not at all, Miss Phoebe." "In fact, I was just about to leave." "Goodbye." "Miss Phoebe." "(PHOEBE) Such a nice suitable thing, and I came in the midst and spoilt it all." "Miss Phoebe, you didn't spoil anything." "If you're imagining a love affair between Mr Osborne Hamley and me, you were never more mistaken in your life." " Please, just believe me." " Yes, if you say so." "I shan't tell any secrets." "Dear, dear, somehow sister got it into her head it was Mr Preston." "One guess is just as wrong as the other, I assure you." "Well, if you say so, Molly." "I've so many errands, I'm sure I shall forget one." "I know sister wanted me to call in at Grinstead's to see if they have a new edition of Mrs Heman's poems." "I wanted to go to Grinstead's, too." "I've ordered a book about scarabs." " Scarabs, indeed." "What on earth are scarabs?" " Beetles." "Well, fancy anyone wanting to write a book about beetles, or read one." "The new Sir Walter Scott should arrive next week." " Should I put one aside for you, Miss Gibson?" " That would be very kind." "Thank you." "(DOORBELL)" "Will there be anything else, Miss Gibson?" "No, not today." "Thank you." "I'm just going over to Johnson's, Molly." "You can come and find me there." "Yes, I shan't be a minute." "Here we are, Miss Gibson." "All parcelled." "Miss Gibson?" " Thank you." " Thank you." "Mrs Goodwin, good day." "(This is for you.)" "Good afternoon." "No one can say I didn't please my husbands." "Both of them." "Poor Jeremy was tickler in his tastes than poor Harry Beaver." " There, ooh!" " Oh!" " I can't help it." "I've no more hearts." " Oh, never mind, Miss Phoebe." "And talking of marriage," "I could tell you of a girl we're all fond of who's on the high road to matrimony, going at dusk to meet her sweetheart just as if she was a scullery maid." "I suppose you mean Miss Gibson and Mr Preston." "Well, now, who told you that?" "You can't say as I did." "Oh, no, indeed!" "But my Uncle Sheepshanks came upon them at dawn in the park avenue." " Oooph." " Oh, well." "Now, there's no harm in saying that I saw her pass him a note in Grinstead's Bookshop." "Oh, he looked at me black as thunder as if to say, "You dare tell my secrets abroad"." " But I'm not afraid of him." " It looks very bad for Miss Gibson." "Not if the banns are read soon and all's done right and proper." "Some folk like to do their courting clandestine-like." "Though I'm surprised at it in Molly Gibson." "I would have thought it was more like that pretty piece Cynthia." "But I wouldn't want to do Mr Gibson's girl a bad turn, so I think we had better keep it a secret" " till we see how it turns out." " Oh, yes, indeed, Mrs Goodenough." "(MRS DAWES) I'm sure she's a good girl really." "Phoebe!" "Whatever's the matter?" "Oh, Sally." "Molly Gibson has lost her character." "And it is Mr Preston after all." "Molly Gibson has lost her character?" "Molly Gibson has done no such thing!" "How dare you repeat such stories?" "I can't help it." "Mrs Dawes says it's all over town that Molly and Mr Preston are keeping company as if she were a maidservant and he was a gardener, meeting at all different sorts of places, slipping letters into each other's hands!" " Control yourself, Phoebe!" " And the whole town is talking about it!" "And crying shame and saying they ought to be married..." "You shouldn't have done that, Sally." "If I ever hear you say such things again, I shall turn you out of the house." "(DR GIBSON) I don't believe it." "I won't believe it." "Not my little Molly." "(MISS BROWNING) But you must believe it, Mr Gibson." "It's sorely against my will that I have been convinced, but I have." " And I thought you should know." " As it was, I should thank you." "But I can't." "I don't want your thanks." "I just thought I should do what's right." "I only wish I could meet that man and whip him to within an inch of his life." "And that I had the doctoring of those slanderous gossips." "I'd make their tongues lie still awhile." "My little girl!" "What harm has she done them all that they should foul her good name?" "Whether the story be true or false, I shall always love Molly" " for her mother's sake." " You ought to love her for her own." "She's done nothing to disgrace herself." "I'm sure of it." "(DR GIBSON) Shut the door." "Come here." "What is it?" "Is it Osborne?" "Have you been keeping up a secret relationship with Mr Preston?" "Meeting him in out-of-the-way places?" "Exchanging letters?" " Answer me!" " Ow!" " Look!" " Never mind that." "Answer my question." " Have you met that man in private?" " Yes, I have, but I don't think it was wrong." "Not wrong?" "Well, I must bear it somehow." "It's true, then?" "Father, I can't tell you everything." "It's not my secret, or I'd tell you straight away." "You must trust me." "I've never deceived you, have I?" "How can I tell?" "The whole town is talking of you." " What business is it of theirs?" " Everyone makes it their business when a girl neglects the commonest rules of modesty." "But I haven't." "How can you believe that?" "I will tell you exactly what I have done." "I met Mr Preston once with another person." "I met him a second time, by appointment in the Towers park, and that is all." "And the letters?" "I gave him one letter, which I didn't write, in Grindstead's Bookshop." "And that is all!" "Truly!" "There was never anything between me and him, and I need never speak to him again." "Very well." "I believe you." "You imply that you were acting for another." "And, of course, I guess it was Cynthia." "You must tell me everything in full." "These rumours must be refuted point by point." "No!" "You mustn't." "I have told you all I can and it's all over and done with now." "Not your share in it, Molly." "You don't know how slight a thing can blacken a girl's reputation for life." "Am I to do nothing to contradict these slanders?" "Am I to go around smiling and content while people spread lies about me and mine..." "I'm afraid you must, Papa." "And it will die away after a time when nothing comes of it." "And, please, don't accuse Cynthia." "You'll drive her away." "Oh, Molly!" "Molly, how shall you bear it?" "I don't know." "It's like...tooth-drawing, I suppose." "It'll be over some time." "Oh, Papa, you're not angry with me now, are you?" "Oh, get out of my way." "If I'm not angry with you, I ought to be." "You caused a very great deal of worry, which won't be over yet awhile, I can tell you." "Get away with you." "You'll see if I'm not right." "(MRS DAWES) I am surprised to see Molly Gibson here tonight." "(MISS HORNBLOWER) Indeed." "It does make it so awkward for everyone else." "How much is twice eighteen?" "Thirty?" " Thirty-six." " Ah!" "So!" "Molly Gibson is to marry Mr Preston." "(LADY CUMNOR) Is she, indeed?" "Are you sure you've got it right, Papa?" "Well, you know." "They've been caught meeting in the park." "And corresponding." "All sorts of things that are likely to end in marriage." "Molly Gibson?" "I don't believe it." "I wonder what Clare could be doing to allow such goings on." "I think it's more likely that Clare's own daughter is the real heroine of this story." "Really, Harriet." "I can't understand what makes you take such an interest in these petty Hollingford affairs." "Oh, Mama!" "It's only tit for tat." "They take the keenest interest in ours." "And I like Molly Gibson." "And I do not like Mr Preston." "And I shall be very glad indeed to find there's no truth in it." "(LORD CUMNOR) I'm sorry I said anything about it now." "I'll try and find a more agreeable piece of news." "Old Margery at the Lodge is dead." "(PRESTON) Good day, my Lord." "I wanted to ask you about that pasture land, Preston." "(PRESTON) If I might suggest, my Lord..." "Before you do that, Father, there is something I should like to ask Mr Preston about." "Of course, Lady Harriet." "I shall be happy to oblige you." "We have heard reports about Miss Gibson and you." " I ought to congratulate you on an engagement." " No." "No, I am not so fortunate." "Then, sir, are you aware of the injury you may do to a young lady's reputation if you meet her and detain her in conversation when she's unaccompanied?" "You give rise..." "You have given rise to scandal, sir." "I say, steady on, Harriet." "Let the man explain himself." "My Lord, Lady Harriet forces me to acknowledge - it's not pleasant to own it - that I am a jilted man, jilted by Miss Kirkpatrick after a long engagement." "Miss Gibson was, I believe, the instigator." "She was certainly the agent of this last step of Miss Kirkpatrick's." "I hope that satisfies your Ladyship's curiosity." "Harriet, my dear, we have no right to pry into Mr Preston's private affairs." "Indeed, we have not." "But he will understand that I was anxious for my friend Miss Gibson." "(LADY HARRIET) Thank you, Mr Preston." "You have set my mind at rest." " I'm truly obliged to you." " Thank you." "My Lady." "Now, let's see what we can do." "Oh, Lady Harriet!" " What a pleasant surprise!" " Clare." "Mother would like you to pay her a visit tomorrow." "And if Molly can be spared..." "Miss Gibson, would you be good enough to walk into town with me?" " My Lady!" " Lady Harriet!" "Good afternoon." "(LADY HARRIET) Good afternoon." "Not so chilly today." "Now, Miss Gibson, I need your advice on a little present for my brother." "Edward is so difficult to buy for, but I 'm sure you can help me." "He so admired you at the Hollingford Ball." "Said you were quite the best-read young woman he's met." "(LADY HARRIET) My compliments to the Miss Brownings." "But I never leave cards, Lady Harriet." "Never mind." "Today you shall do everything properly." "Now, Miss Gibson, you must come out to the Towers for a long day." "Papa will send the carriage for you whenever you wish." "Lady Harriet herself!" "Well, that was a good day's work, I think." "You're home!" " Did you do it?" " Yes, it's done." "Molly, look!" "Oh, they're lovely." "I think you should know we're not best pleased with Cynthia just now." "Why?" "What's the matter?" "Ooh, Mr Henderson offered to me while I was in London and, well, I refused him." "Such a fine young man and such a gentleman." "Do you forget I've promised to marry Roger Hamley?" "Yes, but you must have known that you might change your mind." "Yes, well, I haven't changed my mind." "I'm going to marry Roger and there's an end to it." "I shan't be spoken to about it any more." "Oh, marry Roger, yes, that's all very fine." "But who's going to guarantee his coming back alive?" "And what are they going to marry on?" "That's what I'd like to know." "Mr Henderson is a very suitable match for Cynthia." "And that is what I will say to Lady Cumnor tomorrow." "I don't think you should mention it to Lady Cumnor, Mama." "Molly, I know you mean it kindly, dear, but don't let one walk into town with Lady Harriet go to your head." "I think I'm quite capable of deciding what I should or shouldn't say to Lady Cumnor." "Now, Clare, when I think a thing, I say it out." "I don't beat about the bush." "You have spoiled that girl of yours until she does not know her own mind." "She has behaved abominably to Mr Preston." "And it is all in consequence of the faults in her education." "You have much to answer for." "Cynthia?" " And Mr Preston?" " What?" "Clare!" "Do you mean to say that you were not aware that your daughter has been engaged to Mr Preston for some time?" "Years, I believe." "(LADY HARRIET) Mr Preston did not want it spoken of." "And has at last chosen to break it off." "To be a "Jilting Jessy", as we used to say." "She has used the Gibson girl as a cat's-paw and made her and herself the butt of all the gossip in Hollingford." "Oh, Cynthia." "I little thought when you were born how I would have to bear to hear you spoken about." " What's the matter?" " You, you are the matter!" "I have just had to hear from Lady Cumnor, of all people, that you have gone and engaged yourself to Mr Preston and now refuse to marry him." "And they call this jilting." "And they tell me that you are the talk of all Hollingford." "But do you wish me to marry Mr Preston, Mama?" "No, of course I don't." "But you have gone and entangled yourself with Roger Hamley, a very worthy young man, I dare say." "Entangled yourself with him and the same sort of thing with Mr Preston." "And got yourself into an imbroglio, and now I am being blamed for your misconduct." "And I find it very hard." "(DR GIBSON) Is this true, Cynthia?" " Molly knows it all." " Yes, I know that." "And that she has had to bear gossip and slander for your sake," " but she refused to tell me more." " She told you that much, did she?" " I couldn't help it." " Why did you have to speak of it at all?" "Because her reputation was attacked for your misconduct and I demanded an explanation." "There's no need to be ungenerous because you've been a flirt and a jilt." "You say that of me, Mr Gibson, not knowing what the circumstances are?" "!" "Papa, if you knew everything, you wouldn't speak so to Cynthia." "I wish you could hear all she has told me." "I am very ready to hear whatever she has to say." "No!" "No, you have prejudged me." "You've spoken to me as you had no right to speak." "I refuse to give you my confidence or accept your help." "People are very cruel to me." "I didn't think you would have been but I can bear it!" "Cynthia!" "Oh, Papa!" "I think you have been, Mr Gibson, very, very unkind to my poor, fatherless daughter." "(MRS GIBSON) And I only wish that her own father was alive, then none of this would have happened." "(DR GIBSON) Aye, very probably." "(MRS GIBSON SOBS)" "(DR GIBSON) I have sheltered Cynthia." "I have loved her almost as if she were my own." "(CYNTHIA) Oh, Molly, just go away and leave me alone!" "(MRS GIBSON) You don't treat her as though she's your own child." "(MRS GIBSON SOBS DRAMATICALLY)" "(DOOR OPENS)" "I wish you both to know that I've written to Roger to break off our engagement." "Oh, Cynthia." "It'll break his heart." "No, I don't think it will." "But...even if it did, I couldn't help it." "I don't think we could have made each other very happy." "I'm going to tell your father now." "I wanted you to know the truth because otherwise you might think the worse of me than I really deserve." "And I couldn't bear that." "And I couldn't bear Roger to know about me and Mr Preston and have to beg for his forgiveness." "Oh, come." "You've acted foolishly at first and perhaps wrongly afterwards, but you don't want your husband to find you faultless?" "Yes." "Yes, I do." "I won't stand before him like a child to be admonished and forgiven." "(DR GIBSON) But here you are in just such a position before me." "Oh, yes, well, I love you much more than I love Roger." "I've often told Molly so." "I have determined that I must go away and leave Hollingford forever, to be a governess." "In Russia, if it comes to that." "I can't bear knowing that everybody is talking about me and judging me." "Because they will." "I mean, even you and Molly." "You see, Mr Gibson, I will always want admiration and worship." "And men's good opinion." "Are you saying that you don't love Roger?" "No, I don't." "Well, not as I should." "Well, then I believe it is right that you break it off." "That poor lad." "(CYNTHIA) It's all done." "I told him everything." "Was it very bad?" "Uh, not in the end." "I think he understood." "Oh, dear." "I do think life is very dreary." "Oh, well." "Roger will marry you, Molly." "I mean, you'd suit him much better than I would." "Cynthia, don't." "Your husband this morning and mine tonight?" "What do you take him for?" "A man." "If you won't let me call him "changeable"," "I'll call him "consolable"." "Morning, Mr Osborne, sir." " Is the Master here?" " No." "He went out early." "Oh, dear." "There's a man come from Hamley Hall and he says Mr Osborne is dead." "The doctor's gone out." "He's dead?" "Agnes!" " Do you know where Papa is?" " What's the matter, dear?" " Agnes!" "Agnes!" " Don't shout, dear." "Ring the bell." " What is the matter, dear?" " Osborne Hamley is dead." "Oh, dear!" "Poor young man." "But why the fuss to fetch your father?" "It's not as if he can do anything if Osborne's dead." "I'm going there now." "I'll put the side-saddle on Nora." "I can't bear to think of the Squire there alone." "Molly, Molly, what are you about?" "The Squire won't want you there, dear." "(MOLLY) Go on!" "Go on!" "He's in the old nursery, miss." "(MOLLY) Won't you eat a little?" "He..will...never...eat again." "(SILENT WRACKING SOBS)" "(AGONISED WAIL)" "He's gone to bed." "He asked if I'd let you stay." "I should get you home." "You're done in." "I wish to stay." "Do you?" "How will you manage?" "I can manage, Papa." "You're a good girl." "I'll be back tomorrow." "Sleep now." "I beg your pardon." "I didn't see you there." " I broke your sleep?" " No, no, it doesn't matter." "Shall I ring for Robinson?" " You should take some breakfast." " I'm brought very low, Molly." "I suppose it's God's doing, but it comes down very hard upon me." "He was my first-born child, you know." "I do try to say "God's will be done", but it's harder to be resigned than happy people think." "But of late years we weren't..." "We weren't such good friends as we would wish to be and..." "I wasn't sure..." "I wasn't sure he knew that... how much I loved him." "There's something I know that I think I must tell you." "Osborne had a wife." "A wife?" "Osborne married...?" "Well, tell me everything." "He said his wife was a good woman and he loved her very dearly, but she was French and a Roman Catholic." "And she'd been a servant once." "And he gave me her address in case..." "He never told me." "Well, well, all that's past now." "All dead and gone." "We'll not blame him." "But I wish he had..." "He and I to live together, one of us holding such a secret." "There is something else you should know." " There's a child." " A child?" "!" "Husband and father and I didn't know." "God bless it." "God bless Osborne's child." "(SQUIRE HAMLEY) He had a wife, Gibson." "Osborne had a wife and child." "And he never told me." "(DR GIBSON) You're becoming a very surprising young woman." "Knowing so much and telling so little all this time." " I never wanted to have secrets from you." " I know that, Goosey." "Someone must write to the wife." "We shouldn't say that he's dead, just that he's very ill." " Let her get used to the idea gradually." " I 'll do it." "He confided in me." "Did the Squire say anything about Roger and Cynthia?" "No." "He doesn't know yet." "I saw her letter unopened in the hall." "I dare say he'll bear that a good deal better than Roger will." "He'll get the news about Osborne and Cynthia's letter at the same time." "To think of it all being so sudden at last, and so provoking." "Just as Cynthia had given up Roger." "If only you had waited one day, dear." "I'm not sure I know what you mean, Mama." " Why, that Roger is heir now, of course." " Oh, Mama, please!" "I hate to think of these things in a mercenary spirit, but it is so provocative." "I mean, to see you throwing over two good matches." "First Mr Henderson and now Roger Hamley." "(DR GIBSON) You are not in full possession of the facts." "It would appear that Osborne was secretly married, and had fathered a child." " Boy or girl?" " It's not yet known." "Oh, but Osborne married?" "But he was so young and boyish." "Oh, what a deceit!" "He might have broken your heart, or Molly's." "No, I'm sorry." "I can't forgive him even though he is dead, poor fellow." "I think it's possible that his marriage was not contracted with the express intention of deceiving either you or the girls, my dear." "But if there is a son then he'll be the heir." "So Roger will be just as poorly off as ever, so maybe it's just as well you did write to break it off, darling." "Though you can hardly take any credit for it." "It's true." "Osborne Hamley to Marie-Aimee Scherer." "Parish church and witnessed and..." "Oh, dear..." "He was afraid of me." "Afraid." "It made him keep it all to himself." "And care killed him." "Oh, my lad, my lad." "I know better now, but it's...all too late." "It's too late." "Look." "It's a baby's birth certificate." "Roger Stephen Osborne Hamley." "(SQUIRE HAMLEY) A boy, a boy." "Yes, that's it." "My little grandson I never knew about." "Roger." "No, he should be called Osborne." "There's a Roger already in the house." "Well, there's two, but one's a good-for-nothing old man." "No, we'll call him Osborne and we'll take him here, Molly." "And we'll get a nurse for him and we'll... make sure his mother's comfortable in her own country." "And this little lad shall never hear a cross word." "Osborne, Osborne..." "Do you know now how much I loved you, my boy?" "Squire Hamley..." "Do you not think that Osborne's widow would be very reluctant to part with her little boy?" "I never would...however poor I was." "That's you, you see." "She's a foreigner." "Better off with her own folk in her own country." "Lawyers will arrange it all." "I'll get someone to collect the lad and bring him back here." "I don't want to see the girl." "(MOLLY) "And he looks at your picture every day." ""Et il dit en anglais..." And he says in English..." ""'Papa come'." "Et 'J'espère' and..." ""And I hope, too, that Papa will come as soon as he can..." ""to see his loving Aimee."" "And that's where he was going." "And I never thought it." "(DOORBELL)" "Who's that now?" "Please, can I see Mr Osborne Hamley?" "He is ill, I know, but..." "I am his wife." "Ahh..." "Wait there a moment, miss." "(ROBINSON WHISPERS)" "What is it?" "What is it?" "Don't keep it from me." "I can bear it." "Is it Roger?" "You are Molly?" "You write me the letter?" "Can I see him?" "Well, is he very ill?" "There now, lad." "I've got you." "(DR GIBSON) S'il vous pla?" "t..." "She's not like a Frenchwoman, is she, Molly?" "I don't know." "I don't know what Frenchwomen are like." "Poor thing." "Looks like a gentlewoman." "All but her hands." " How do you think she is, Molly?" " I don't know." " I fear it's broken her heart." " Nay, nay." "It's not that easy to break your heart." "Sometimes I wish it were." "No, we have to go on living all the appointed days, as it says in the Bible." "He's a jolly little chap." "He's a proper hand, he is." "Now, shall we show the doctor, eh?" "We'll show the doctor how you smoke your grandad's pipe." "Oh, I hope very much that he will not!" "A little puff won't do him any harm." "Now, where's the nurse?" "Now, you go with your nurse and we'll have some rare fun when this gentleman's gone home, eh?" "There's me chappie." " Bye." " Bye bye." "Robinson, pour Gibson some more wine." "Robinson has to keep out of the way." "The little chap's taken a strong dislike to his big red nose." "So, how do you find her, Gibson?" "Getting stronger every day, I reckon." "She'll be able to leave here soon, eh?" " To go where?" " Well, back to her own people." "Molly tells me she has no family or friends left." "I dare say something can be arranged." "(DR GIBSON) I think if you want the child, you'll have to take the mother, too." " Wait and see what Roger says." " Yes, he'll know what to do." " Meanwhile, I need my own child at home." " Why, what's the matter?" "I just want her at home under my own eye." "She's been overtaxing her strength here, I think." "She needs a bit of cossetting herself." "Aye, I think on her like a child of mine, not a stranger." "I dare say I have come hard upon her." "Aye, let her go home." "My Roger'll be home soon." "Ah!" "Now, where's that little chap of mine?" "I'm coming to get you." "Where is he?" "What lovely flowers!" "Yes, aren't they?" "They came from the Hall this morning." " The Hall?" " Yes." "Roger is home." "Roger is home?" "Have you seen him?" "(DR GIBSON) Yes, late last evening." " How does he look?" " Very well." "Brown as a berry and with a fine growth of a beard." "A beard?" "Oh, I do so dislike that sort of affectation in a young man." "I would never permit Mr Kirkpatrick to grow one." "Did he say anything about coming to see us?" "Well, I think he might find that a little awkward just now." "But I hope he'll find his way here in time." "Now, I must be off." "Good day to you." "Well, I don't see there need be any awkwardness on my account." "I do hope he doesn't choose tomorrow to pay his respects, though." "I 've had a letter from Mr Henderson." "He says he's visiting this part of the country" " and hopes to pass through here tomorrow." " Mr Henderson?" "Oh, precious child, are we to congratulate you?" " Oh, no." " But he has offered?" "Or he intends to offer at least, I am sure." "Well, yes, I suppose he has offered." "Oh, and shall you accept?" "Oh, Cynthia, darling." "Do say yes." "Say yes and make me happy." "And Lady Cumnor, she will view the match most favourably, I am sure." "I haven't made my mind up yet." "And I shan't say yes to please anybody but myself." "(INAUDIBLE)" "Molly." " This is Mr Henderson." " How do you do." "I've heard a great deal about you, Miss Gibson, and I hope we shall be very good friends." "Thank you." "Well, you go on." "I want to speak to Molly just now, not you." "So, what do you think?" "Well, do you really like him enough to marry him?" "I think so." "I told him I wasn't very constant and he said he liked me just the way I was, so..." "You see, he's been fairly warned." "I think he's a little bit afraid, though." "He wants us to be married very soon." "I'm very pleased, Miss Kirkpatrick, that you are going to make a creditable marriage." "I hope it will efface your former errors of conduct, and that you will live to be a comfort to your mother." " I understand that Mr Anderson..." " Er, Henderson." "..is in the law." "Although there is a general prejudice against attorneys," "I have known of two or three who were very respectable men, and it may well be that your Mr..." "Henderson is one of them." "Well, he is a barrister, not an attorney." "Yes, yes, there is no need for you to speak so loud, my dear." "And when you have been a little in society, you will understand that it is bad manners to interrupt." "(LADY CUMNOR) Now..." " What was I going to say, Harriet?" " About the house party." "Oh, yes, that was it." "Hollingford has invited half the Geographical Society and I don't know who else besides to the Towers." "I've never known him to take any interest in party-giving before." "The house will be quite full." " Mmm, how delightful!" " It's all in honour of Mr Roger Hamley, the famous traveller and man of science." "It seems the whole world wants to meet him." "I was wondering if you could spare Miss Gibson." "Harriet has a great fancy to have her there, too." "Yes." " Yes, yes, I suppose so, yes." " Good." "So, that's settled, then." "Engaged to a lawyer now." "Little baggage." "Like or not she'll jilt him, too." "You're well out of that, my boy." "Don't say anything against her, Father." " Don't forget how once I loved her." " Once?" "Not any more?" "I could tell from her letters her heart wasn't really in it." "But I wouldn't let myself believe in it." "It wasn't really her I loved, I think." "It was a notion of her I dreamed up myself." " A kind of hypothetical Cynthia that never was." " Hmm." "It's a bit deep for me, that." "Pretty little thing, though." "No denying it." "There'll be fine ladies enough at the Towers, no doubt." "You know what I think was a strange thing?" "How both you boys picked out girls below you in rank and family, yet neither of you set your fancies on little Molly Gibson." "Now, there's a lassie who's found a way to my heart." "Molly's like a sister to me." "Now, Molly, as you are far and away the prettiest girl of the party," "I'm afraid you might be pestered, so I've detailed my cousin Charles to act as your sheepdog and stand guard over you." "(LADY HARRIET) Mama, I'm sure you remember Miss Gibson." "Miss Gibson." "How charming you look." "(LADY CUMNOR) Are you going to be dancing this evening?" "I hope you enjoy yourself." "Now, let me introduce you to my cousin Charles Morton." "(LADY HARRIET) Miss Gibson." "Excuse me." "Do you know our guest of honour, Miss Gibson?" "Yes, he's a very old friend." " Really." "Is he very awe-inspiring?" " No, not at all." "He's very kind and not at all like anyone else I know." "He gave me a wasps' nest as a present once." "Miss Gibson, you astonish me." " Here we are." " Thank you." " How are you, Molly?" " I'm very well." "I wondered if I'd recognise you." "Papa said you had a beard." "Oh, no, I don't." " Mr Hamley." " Yes?" "Were the natives not dangerous?" "One hears such stories." "Do they really eat each other?" "Only rarely." "The flesh of the European is considered the real delicacy." " Oh." " Especially the females." "(LORD CUMNOR) Open season all year round on missionaries, eh, Hamley?" "(INAUDIBLE CONVERSATION)" "Sir Charles, excuse me." "How do you think my little protegee is getting on, Mr Hamley?" "Very well." "She seems just the same." "And yet completely different somehow." "Good." "I've hardly had a chance to speak to her." "I didn't realise she was going to be here." "Who's the gentleman with her?" "Sir Charles Morton, my cousin." " Oh." " Ah, Hamley, I need you over here." "Molly..." "Roger." "How nice." "(ROGER) I've been trying to get to talk to you." "(MOLLY) I know." "(ROGER) I've been unlucky." "Sir Charles Morton..." "Have you known him long?" "No, not long at all." "Lady Harriet told him to take care of me, and... he does everything she tells him." "Oh, I see." "It seems so long since I saw you." "Yes." "I know how deeply we are indebted to you." "My father told me you were like a true daughter to him at that worst time." "You helped him to bear it more than anyone else could have." "I can't tell you how good it is to see you again, Molly." "Yes." "Your letters meant so much to me when I was in Africa." "I think you took much more pains with them than Cynthia did with hers." "It's all right." "I can speak of her, Molly." "It's over." "For me as well." "We both made a mistake, I think." "My father's very angry with you." "Angry with me?" "Only because you came here instead of to us at Hamley." "Oh, well, Lady Harriet wanted me, and..." "I don't quite know why, but there's no refusing her." "Then will you come and stay at the Hall before I go away to Africa again?" "Aimee has been asking for you, too." "May I tell my father you'll come next week?" "Yes, I should like to very much." "Thank you." "You don't know what a pleasure it will give him." "Give us." "(ROGER) Will I see you later?" "(MOLLY) Yes." "Of course." "Very satisfactory." " Sorry, Harriet, don't follow." " Don't you think that your protege and my favourite young woman are finding out each other's good qualities?" "Roger Hamley has more to think about." "Molly Gibson's a very pretty, good little country girl, but Roger Hamley has a glittering career ahead of him." "If she's trying to trap him into marriage, it'll be a disaster." "I'm surprised you invited her if that's her game." "(MRS GIBSON) But ofr course you must go to Hamley Hall." "As I shall be in London choosing Cynthia's trousseau, it's a very convenient opportunity to have you out of the house for a few days." "Of course, Molly, I do understand your reservations." " Of course I do." " Do you?" "Well, yes, of course I do." "I mean, you don't feel comfortable associating with a Frenchwoman of doubtful rank" " and, well, I think you're quite right." " Oh, it isn't that." "Well, what is it, then, I pray?" "Mrs Goodenough may say you're setting your cap at Roger Hamley, but what business is it of hers or, indeed, of anyone else's?" "You know how to conduct yourself with propriety, even if others don't, and I have never had the slightest concern about you on that score." "Though if you were a little more forthcoming, it might not be a bad thing." "It didn't do Cynthia any harm in the end, did it, dear?" "Molly..." "It's so good to have you back here." "Aimee!" " You look so well now." " I'm so happy to see you." "And I you." "(SQUIRE HAMLEY) So you can come a-visiting, though you've been up with the grand frolks." "We thought you was going to cut us, Miss Molly, now you was up at the Towers." "They asked me and I went." "And now you've asked me and I 've come here." " Oh, and which do you prefer, then?" " I don't think I should answer that." " Hoity-toity, eh?" " Here, of course." "What's the matter, little chap?" "You off your food?" "Come here." "Ah, now, sit here." "Sit on your grandad's lap." "Don't you like Roger?" "He's so good and kind to me." "Yes, he's always been good and kind to me as well." "I think he likes you very much." "We used to be like brother and sister." "No, I don't think so." "Oh, no, you don't understand." "He was engaged to my sister - my step-sister." "He made a mistake, I think." "No." "I wish you wouldn't speak about it any more, Aimee." "Molly!" "It's the new stuff I had sent on from Africa." "Why don't you come and have a look?" " I thought you'd be interested." " I am interested." " Of course I am." " Come on, then." "(MOLLY) That's the one you did a drawing of." "(ROGER) You remembered it?" "Of course I remembered it." "I remember everything you wrote in your letters." "How could you think I wouldn't?" "Then..." "I've hurt you." "Tell me what the matter is." "You're ill, aren't you?" " Have I upset you?" " No..." "No." "You don't understand..." "I don't see why you don't put up for her still." "Don't you think you could like her if you tried?" "No need for trying to love her." "That's already done." "But it's too late." "It's too late." "She's as good as told me so." "It's my own fault." "There's nothing to be done." "That's nonsense, my lad." "That's not the way to go about it." "You made a mistake before." "She won't hold it against you forever." "Just tell her you love her." "If she won't have you now, then wait a while and ask her again." "And don't give up trying till you've made her safe." " You don't understand, Father." " I understand a deal more than you think I understand." "So, how's my little chap, then?" "Not well, I'm afraid." "scarlet fever." "Molly will have to leave the house at once." " She hasn't had it, you see." " Mummy." "I gathered these for you to take home with you." "Thank you." "You are kind." "Molly, tell me." "Have I done something to vex you?" "Since you were so happy at the Towers." "No." "No, you never vexed me in my whole life, Roger." "Then, will you give me back one of those flowers?" "As a pledge of what you've just said?" "Of course." "You take whichever you like." "No." "You must choose." "Please, Squire Hamley, do you know which is Roger's favourite flower?" "No." "A rose, I dare say." "You'll come back directly, won't you, Gibson?" "Certainly." "Here, Roger." "Goodbye, Molly." "We must stop up all intercourse with the Hall for a time." "If there's one illness I dread, it's this." "(DR GIBSON) That's right, little chap." "Yes, he'll do." " I apprehend no immediate anxiety." " Mama." "Oh, thank you, Mr Gibson." "But it's still highly contagious, even to adults." "Don't come in here without me until I tell you that it's safe to do so." "You know I set off on Tuesday, Mr Gibson." "As soon as that?" "May I come to the house before I go?" "I won't run the risk of infection, if you don't mind." "Then I won't see Molly again." "So that's how it is." "Yes." "I know what you must be thinking." "I only wish you could know what a different feeling this is to my boyish love for Cynthia." "I could beat myself for having been such a blind fool." "Come, come, Cynthia wasn't that bad." "I dare say Molly despises me, but I must ask for a chance." "Do you think she could be brought to listen to me?" "I don't know." "I can't tell." "Women are queer, unreasoning creatures, and just as likely as not to love a man who's been throwing his affection away." "Thank you, sir." "I see you mean to give me encouragement." "My encouragement is neither here nor there, but if she can stomach you, I dare say I can." "Then may I see her just once before I go?" "No, decidedly not." "And there I come in as a doctor as well as a father." "No." "Very well." "Then, if I don't come back, I shall haunt you for having been so cruel." "Come, I like that." "Give me a wise man of science in love." "No one to beat him for folly." "Goodbye, now." "(DR GIBSON) Lover versus father." "Lover wins." "Oh, such a gloomy day." "I really do think that Cynthia should have written to me first after all the trouble that I took over her trousseau." "Molly." "Molly, look." "Who's that man wrapped in a cloak there?" "By the park wall, under the beech tree." "He's been there for half an hour." "He's been looking at this house all the time." "I think it's very suspicious." "(MOLLY) Why, it's Roger." "Look, he's waving." "He's kissing his hand to us." "He's saying goodbye." "Oh, how romantic." "It reminds me of my former days." "Goodbye, goodbye." "(CHURCH BELL TOLLS)" "Oh, he'll be late for the coach." "I must send him on his way." "(MRS GIBSON RAPS ON WINDOW)" "Upon my word, this little attention of Roger's has reminded me most forcibly of a very charming young man I used to know:" "Lieutenant Harper." "He was devoted to me when I was 17 and at Mrs Duncombe's." "And when the regiment was ordered to another town, poor Lieutenant Harper, do you know... he came and stood opposite the schoolroom window for nearly half an hour." "Molly?" "Where are you going?" "(WOMAN) Oh, I say, you'll be wet up there." "(ROGER) I couldn't go." "I couldn't go without..." "Molly, do I still have any chance with you?" "Yes." "I've been such a fool... ..Yes?" "Yes." "There was so much I'd prepared to say to you." "How I should have seen it was you that I truly loved even before..." " You mean it?" " Yes." "I mustn't come any closer." "I promised your father." "Yes, I know." "Molly." "Dear Molly." "Will you be my wife?" "Yes." "Yes, I will." "Yes." "(MRS GOODENOUGH) I'd hoped to see her dressed a bit grander now she's a fine lady and mistress of Hamley Hall." "Our Molly looks nice in whatever she puts on, and there's no airs and graces about her." "(MISS BROWNING) Not like some." "We always knew Roger Hamley loved our Molly." "We knew no such thing, Phoebe." "Well, he rode seven miles to bring her a wasps' nest and you don't do that for no reason." "(SQUIRE HAMLEY) Lady Cumnor, this is the young master." "Oh, he's a fine boy." "Quite a credit to his mother." "Come say hello to Uncle Roger." "Where is he?" "There's Roger." " Hey!" " Hurrah!" "Hurrah!" "Hurrah!" "Bravo!" "Comment ca va, mon brave?" "So, off to Africa again, Hollingford tells me." "Must be pretty good at the lingo by now, what?" "(ROGER SPEAKS AMHARIC)" "And what does that mean when it's at home?" ""Man learns what he needs to know."" "Really?" "Oh, well, that's very edifying." "I can't help but think it was such a pity I was born when I was." "I should like to belong to this generation." "I sometimes feel like that myself." "So many advances in science." "I'd like to see where they all lead." "And to be in Roger's shoes, that would be something." "To tell the truth, I was thinking of Cynthia." "I was quite as pretty as she as a girl and now look at the difference." "I have to live in a small country town with only five servants, while she lives in Sussex Place, keeps a brougham and I don't know what." "I only hope she won't be spoilt by it." "Riches are a great snare, you know." "Be thankful you are spared temptation, my dear." "Well, what do you say now?" " Was I not right?" " Absolutely right." "(LORD HOLLINGFORD) And I was absolutely wrong." "(LORD HOLLINGFORD) Remarkable." "(LADY HARRIET) Oh, it's not remarkable at all." "You men concern yourselves with the eternal verities." "We women are content to ponder the petty things in life."