Original subtitles

(gentle music)

(dramatic orchestral music)

(gentle orchestral music)

- Cass, Cass!

Hey Cass!

- Hm what is it?

Ann, what on earth's the matter?

- He has Cass he has!

- Has he indeed?

Well it's no more than you deserve

going out with strange men.

- Oh don't be so low.

He's asked me to marry him.

- Marry him?

But you don't know a thing about him.

You've only met him for five minutes.

- I know all about him.

He's a doctor and he comes from a place called Finchin

and he's got three aunts and...

- And?

- And I know he's the only man in the world for me.

- Well when's the wedding?

- Thursday.

- Are you mad?

- Delirious.

Well we couldn't make it Wednesday

because they have to have 24 hours notice.

- Well, thank goodness for that.

How many aunts, did you say?

- Three, but they never come up to London,

so I wondered if we could have

the reception here.

There's no one I'd want except you and Alec,

I'd feel happier here.

- Here it is then.

Bless you, darling.

Be happy, and congratulations.

- [In Unison] Congratulations!

Speech, speech.

- Come on, speech.

- Well, thank you, thank you very much.

Having only known Ann for a week,

I really haven't had time to prepare a speech

but, well, thank you very much.

- Oh, well. - Good.

- Have you got to find a house,

or are you moving in on the family mansion?

- No, we're going to live at Crow Hollow.

There's plenty of room, and the aunts

would never forgive us

if we didn't.

- Queer name, Crow Hollow.

It sounds like a quotation.

Crow Hollow, and unleash the dogs of war.

(laughing)

- No, it's not so queer.

It's built in a hollow, and there used

to be hundreds of crows.

- Not anymore?

- No, they suddenly disappeared about 50 years go.

Everybody was very pleased,

they were supposed to bring ill luck

to the house.

- Oh, you country doctors certainly move fast,

I suppose you're emulating Solomon Grundy,

born on Monday, christened on Tuesday-

- Met Ann on Wednesday.

- And married on Thursday.

- Honeymoon on Friday.

- Bushman's honeymoon at that,

he's got to go and have a look

at a patient.

- So have you, incidentally.

She's a very old friend of the family's,

and she insists on meeting the new bride.

- Oh, couldn't she wait?

- Well, she may not have another opportunity.

- Only a 10 percent chance.

There’s a pronounced aortal murmur,

and the surgical shock is bound to be considerable.

- Blood count?

- Ninety-one thousand.

- Would it be all right for my wife

to see her?

- Don't let her talk too much.

- How do you do, my dear?

- I'm sorry you're so ill.

- I asked Robert to tell you to come alone

so that I could talk to you.

I wanted to see what sort of a girl

he'd so suddenly decided to marry.

- Do you think I'll do?

- I think you should be just what he needs.

Poor Robert.

Love him a great deal, my dear.

- Why do you say "poor Robert"?

- Did I say that?

He's been very much alone.

He's an orphan, you know.

- So am I.

- Are you, my dear?

It hasn't hurt you, I can see that.

You had someone to love you

and take care of you.

- That's true, Daddy only died

two years ago.

- Poor Robert.

He's been alone ever since he was a child.

- There was his grandfather and then the

three aunts to look after him.

- Yes, yes, (shudders)

three of them, in that old house (gasps)

don't let him take you to Crow Hollow.

It's no good to either of you. (gasping)

- You must go now.

- There's something important she has to tell me.

- Please go.

Doctor, will you come please?

- I'm sorry, darling.

I shouldn't have brought you.

- Bob, she said,

- Yes?

- Nothing.

- Welcome home, darling.

- [Ann] Oh Bob, it's lovely.

- Hi, Aunt Judith!

She's a bit short-sighted.

- Back again, Robert?

- Hello, Aunt Judith.

- What a surprise, you gave us all.

- How do you do, Aunt Judith?

- How do you do, my dear.

I hope you'll be very happy at Crow Hollow.

Now, you must excuse me,

but I'm very excited.

You see, I'm a naturalist, and I just

received a rare specimen from Australia, a spider.

Such a beautiful creature.

A body like brown velvet and fully three inches long.

- Oh, how very interesting.

- You must see my laboratory, come any time.

I'll show you my specimens.

- You made a good impression.

- What nonsense, she was much more interested

in her spider.

(chuckles)

- Hello!

Aunt Hester.

Aunt Opal!

Hello!

- Robert, you're here, and I never heard you.

There was no one to welcome you.

- Aunt Opal, this is Ann.

- Robert, she's lovely.

Of course we expected Robert to

have good taste, but he's shown so little interest

in women, we weren't quite sure what his taste would be.

- It must have been quite a shock for you

to hear he was married.

- Not a shock dear, just a rather large surprise,

knowing Robert.

Well now you'd like to see your room,

come this way.

Hester's gone visiting with some of her soups,

she should be back at any time.

She's quite famous for her soup, Ann.

She works out all the ingredients and

the flavours herself.

It's quite wonderful, really,

but you'll be sampling it yourself.

- But Ann isn't going to be ill, Aunt Opal?

- No dear, of course not.

He means that Hester only makes her soup

for sick people, but I'm sure she'll be

delighted to make some for you.

- [Bob] Aunt Judith seems very taken up

with her new spider.

- Oh, those horrid spiders,

I hate them, and now a poisonous one.

It'll escape, and bite us all in our beds,

that's what I tell Judith,

but I believe she'd like us to be bitten.

Honestly, Robert, she's my own sister,

but I don't understand her.

Sometimes I think she must be a changeling.

Do you like spiders?

- They’re not my favourite insect.

- Oh, well there it is,

we all have our own peculiarities.

But I can understand Hester's soup better than

Judith's horrible specimens.

I've shifted you into the Chinese room, Robert.

There's more space in it than in your old room.

And anyway, the Chinese room is the best bedroom.

It's where our dear mother died.

- Quite 40 years ago,

do you like it, darling?

- The room?

Yes, of course.

- Oh, I'm so glad, we were up till

all hours, getting it ready for you.

Well, now I'll leave you to freshen up.

Tea will be ready in a few minutes.

Oh, yes a message from Doctor Herbert,

something about Abel Jackson's peculiar symptoms.

- Oh, well I'd better go down.

- Oh, well if you must be so conscientious.

Well, we'll look after Ann,

and I'll show her the house.

There's so much to tell her,

such an old place, such a lot of things

happening under its roof.

- Must you go?

- Well, I ought to.

- Are you a very conscientious doctor?

- Well, I try to be.

- More than you're a conscientious husband?

(bell ringing)

- Saved by the bell.

(crows cawing)

- I believe the crows are coming back.

I saw two of them in the elms yesterday

and there's another there now.

- Nonsense, Hester,

the crows haven't nested there for 20 years.

- There's still no reason why

they shouldn't come back.

- I told Dexter to set a trap,

maybe we could catch one of them.

- They'd be too quick for you.

- Why do you always have to kill everything, Judith?

- I don't have to kill anything.

But it's just that it makes

some things easier to study.

- Ah, the new bride,

I'm Hester, as I expect you'd guessed.

- How do you do, Aunt Hester.

- My word, you don't carry much flesh

on your bones.

- We must feed you up here,

now how do you like your tea?

- Oh, milk, no sugar, please.

- And how shall I find my patients, Aunt Hester?

How many of them have you killed off by

persuading them not to stick to their diets?

- Diets, if instead of dieting when you

give them a course of good meals,

you'll have no patients left,

they'd all be cured.

I don't hold with diet, starvation.

Nonsense, feed them, I say.

Don't you agree with me, Ann?

- Oh, well it would depend on the illness.

- Exactly, that's what I say.

You can do some parish work with me.

I've got the pony cart you know,

room for two.

It does a great deal more good than fussing

over dirty-minded insects or a house.

- Insects are not dirty-minded,

that's the last thing one could say of them.

- What about the female spider that consumes

her husband, if she gets half the chance?

- Oh, not spiders, please.

We've had quite enough of them today

with Judith's new specimen.

And dear, your tea.

Hester talks so much about the benefit of food,

but she's not giving any chance to eating it.

- It doesn't matter, I'm really not hungry.

- Robert, pass Ann the tomato sandwiches.

- I hope you'll like it here, Ann.

- Oh, I'm sure I shall.

- I hope you remembered to bring

Willow a present.

- Who?

- Oh, of course.

Where is she, by the way?

- Oh, she's gone to the cinema.

- Opal spoils that child disgracefully.

- We all do, come to that.

- Who's Willow?

- She's the aunts' little ray of sunshine.

- Now, Robert, drink your tea

and get away on your call.

The moment we finish, I'm going to show

Ann the house.

This was Robert's room, ever since he

was quite tiny.

- Oh, couldn't we be in here?

I'd love it.

- Oh no, dear.

You and Robert must have the best bedroom.

Now.

- Who is that?

- It's Marguerite.

- Marguerite?

Robert's mother.

Oh yes, I can see now.

She was lovely.

I think if I may, I'll hang it

in our room.

- But it wouldn't look anything against

the Chinese wallpaper.

- No, I suppose not.

- We thought of keeping this room just as it is,

for Robert's child, when he has one.

Now come with me, dear,

there's something else I want to show you.

This room is different, I wonder if

you'll like it.

- Oh, it's lovely, whose is it?

- [Aunt Opal] Willow's.

- Willow?

But who is Willow?

- Willow is our sort of companion,

but we always treat her more like

one of the family.

(sombre orchestral music)

- It was an awfully short honeymoon,

wasn't it?

Solomon Grundy.

- Try to be happy here.

- I'll always be happy where you are, Bob.

I know that.

What's the matter, darling?

You seem almost as if you were afraid of happiness.

- I just can't believe it.

You know the story of the children

who found the gold?

And it all turned to leaves.

- Oh, but I won't, Bob.

I hope I won't.

(soft knocking)

Come in.

Good morning, you must be Willow.

- Yes.

Do you take sugar in your coffee?

- No thank you.

I'm so glad to meet you, Willow.

Mr. Robert told me all about you.

Well I do believe he's brought you a present.

I wonder where he put it.

- He's already given it to me.

Pretty, isn't it?

- Oh yes, that looks very nice on you.

- Thank you, Miss.

- Did you enjoy the picture you saw last night?

- Yes, Miss.

- What is it?

You like my nightdress?

- It's beautiful.

- You like clothes, do you?

- I love them.

- Well you can have a look

in my wardrobe, if you'd like.

I didn't have time to buy much, but the suit

I got married in is there,

and one or two other things.

- Is that considered smart in London, Miss?

- Well it was made by a very good dressmaker.

It was expensive.

- Oh, I see.

- Next time I go shopping, I'll buy something

you really approve of.

- Yes, Miss.

Will that be all, Miss?

- Yes, thank you Willow.

Good morning.

- You've come to see my specimens?

Just take a look round.

Hester and Opal think they should be destroyed,

but I find them full of interest.

This one in an elephant hawk moth,

Dexter caught it for me.

He catches a great many of my specimens.

I give him a penny, or tuppence,

or thrippence, if the specimen's a particularly good one.

- How much was that one worth?

- Thrippence, it's not seen much

in these parts.

Are you going to like Crow Hollow?

- I'm sure I shall, I think the house is charming.

- And the inhabitants?

- I could ask if you like me.

- Before you came, we had a discussion as to

whether you would be better-looking than Willow.

- Tell me, Aunt Judith?

Why does she call me "Miss",

and wear a cap and apron if she's here

as a companion?

- Companion, fiddlesticks.

It's Opal, she's positively silly about the girl.

- Oh, and what about the famous spider?

Aren't I going to be allowed to look at it?

- Of course, I didn't know you'd be interested.

A naturalist correspondent of mine in Australia

sent her to me, and he didn't know

whether she would survive the trip.

Oh, but spiders are amazing creatures,

practically indestructible.

(gasping)

You don't like her.

- I'm afraid I just don't like any spiders.

Thank you for showing me, I must.

- Come back if you want to.

- Oh, good morning, Mr. Dexter.

- Good morning, ma'am, good to see you here

- Thank you, it's good to be here.

- I always said the young master'd pick a good one.

And pick for himself, too.

And there we are, mum, rare pleased.

- That's really nice of you.

- Don't you let those three bully you.

- [Ann] What?

- They will, if they can.

- Why should they?

- That's as may be, but you stand up to them, dearie.

- There's noting like strychnine,

I've just been baiting the veggie garden.

Carrots, can't resist them in the ground or out.

Rabbits, terrible plague they are.

- You'll want to be careful with

that stuff, Miss Hester.

- Ah, it's the rabbits that want to be careful.

I always mark my carrots with a white tape.

I suppose it ought to be black.

- Doesn't do to interfere with nature.

- Well, what are you doing with yourself

this morning, my dear?

- Oh, I don't know.

I suppose I'm waiting for Robert to come home.

- Don't do that, might not be back

till the evening.

It's a day and night job, and you have to

get used to it.

You better come with me, I'm going down

to the village to deliver some soup.

Run up and get a coat, it'll be chilly in a clap,

I'll get you a harness.

- Thank you, I will.

Take it off.

Aren't you going to apologise?

- I'm sorry, but you said I could

look at your things.

- I didn't say you could try them on,

and you know that perfectly well.

- Were you telling me the truth, Miss,

when you say that thing's considered smart?

Seems kind of plain to me.

- I shall have to tell Miss Opal about this,

do you understand?

- [Aunt Hester] Ann, are you ready?

- Oh, do go away.

- Yes, Miss.

(cheerful orchestral music)

- You shouldn't come straight in here.

- I'm Mrs. Armour.

- Oh, I'm so sorry.

- Oh, hello, darling.

Why didn't you let me know you were coming?

- Because I didn't know, Aunt Hester never

gives one more than half a minute.

- How long is she staying in?

- Oh, I don't know.

I've come to have lunch with you.

- Oh, you'll have to let me finish

examining my patient first.

Oh, Nurse Baxter, this is my wife.

Ann, Nurse Baxter.

I'll be with you in a minute.

You don't eat like that at home.

- No, too many people watching.

- How do you mean, people?

- Well, there's Opal, wondering if I'm

despising her good food.

And then there's Hester, thinking I ought to

be fattened up on her soup.

And then there's Judith, inspecting me from

time to time, as if I were one of her specimens,

and not a particularly valuable one, at that.

- There, and what utter nonsense.

- It isn't nonsense, Bob,

it's absolutely true.

Just as it's true that I've hardly

seen you along since we came here.

- Do you mean that you're not happy at Crow Hollow?

- Sorry, but it's such a useless existence for me,

I'm not allowed to do anything.

I'm still being treated as a guest,

as if they didn't expect me to stay very long,

as if they wanted to show me that

I didn't belong there.

- Oh darling, it's just your imagination.

- I don't care if it is.

After all, I am your wife.

I want to make a home for you,

I want to get you your meals,

wait for you at nights.

Bob, couldn't we get a house in the village?

Couldn't we leave Crow Hollow?

- I've been neglecting you,

I ought to introduce you to people.

Diana Wilson, old Mrs. Wilson's daughter,

you ought to meet her,

and then perhaps we could do some horse riding,

try and...

- You mean we're not to leave Crow Hollow?

- But you're not really unhappy there?

I tell you what, next week is the golf club dance.

You'll meet everybody there, and we'll buy

you a new dress.

- I don't want a new dress.

- Oh, darling.

- I'm sorry, but I mean if we are going

to our first dance together,

I'd rather go in the one I wore

the night we got engaged, remember.

- I hope don't catch cold in that bare top.

(knocking)

- Oh, just like butterfly wings.

I have a new butterfly Dexter caught for me,

a blackened yellow swallowtail.

I think you'd like it, Ann.

- It's for Ann, gardenias.

Isn't that romantic?

Dear Robert, so thoughtful of him.

- The garden's full of flowers,

Robert could have saved his money.

- Shall I put them in water?

- No thank you, I'll leave them in the box.

- Very well then, Willow shall take them

up to your room.

Oh yes, Willow wondered whether she

might arrange your hair.

She's too shy to ask you herself,

the silly child, but she's very clever with hairdressing.

- Why of course she can do my hair.

- That's splendid, then.

Well now you must go and rest,

it'll never do for you to be tired tonight, would it?

- You might try Mr. Robert's gardenias

in your hair.

- Yes, perhaps I will,

so long as I don't look too Spanish.

- Oh no, I don't think so, Miss.

- Do you go to dances, Willow?

- Sometimes, Miss.

- Where, in the village?

- Yes.

- But you'd like to go to London?

- Maybe I would.

- Why don't you, then?

You could get a job there.

I don't mean we want you to go,

but you have to think of your future.

- I do think of it, Miss.

- And yet you're content to stay at Crow Hollow?

Then all I can think is that you

must have an interest here, someone in the village.

That's wonderful, Willow.

Now I'll try the gardenias.

(screams) (clanging)

The spider is on me!

- Mr. Robert!

Miss Opal!

Mr. Robert!

Miss Ann, quickly!

- Willow, get it off quickly, before it bites!

- What the matter, darling,

what's wrong?

- The spider!

- The poisonous spider, it came out of

the box and ran down her back,

she thinks it's still on her dress.

- Quickly.

- Stand still.

Don't move.

(gasping)

Look out!

(clacking)

- My spider?

It can't be, it's safely in its box.

- Poor Ann, she's had such a fright.

- Aunt Judith, come here.

- How can it be?

- That's what I'd like to know.

- Where was it?

In the flowers?

The box had a lid.

- Yes, the box had a lid.

- Then, oh Judith, stop fussing over

the horrible thing.

Thank heaven it's dead.

- It was my most valuable specimen.

How could it have got here?

- Obviously the brute escaped and

and found its way up here.

Mercifully, nobody's been bitten.

- Ann might have been bitten,

she's had a terrible fright.

- But how did the spider get out?

That box can't open by itself.

Someone must have let it out.

- Now, who would let it out?

Who'd go near it, except you?

- I didn't let it out,

I didn't plan to kill anybody.

- Kill anybody?

Oh Judith, what a shocking thing to suggest.

- That's what could have happened.

- Ann needs a good brandy,

go down and get the bottle from

the sideboard, Willow.

- I think Willow needs one too,

she looks quite white.

- Dash it all, I think we could all do with a nip.

Let's go downstairs.

Ann, get on your dress and come down.

- Don't touch me.

- Oh, Ann, Willow isn't going to hurt you,

pull yourself together.

- It wasn't an accident, it couldn't have been.

I might have pinned the flowers on me,

and it would have been crushed and bitten me.

- Now would you all go, please?

We'll be down presently.

Ann will be all right in a moment.

- It wasn't an accident.

- Darling, what else could it have been?

- Someone put the spider there.

It may have been meant just to frighten me,

it may have been.

- Oh, darling, what possible reason

can you have for thinking that?

- No reason, just intuition.

They don't want me here,

I've always known it.

- Darling, you're hysterical now.

You don't know what you're saying.

- You think it was an accident too, don't you?

- Because it couldn't conceivably

have been anything else.

Honestly, Ann, you must believe that.

Who would be fooling around with

a deadly poisonous spider for a joke?

- All right, Bob, the joke's

on the spider.

- Well, put your dress on, there's a dear.

- Do we have to go to the dance?

- Well after you've had some dinner,

you'll be all right.

- Will I?

But not that dress, Bob,

I couldn't wear it now.

Give me my black one out of the wardrobe,

but I don't feel like dancing.

- You'll be all right in a couple of hours.

(cheerful jazz band music)

(applauding)

- [Diana] Robert.

- Hello, Diana.

Ann, this is Diana Wilson,

you met her mother before, at the hospital.

- How do you do?

- You stay here, Robert.

I want to have a private chat

with your wife.

Come on.

- You women.

All right, but 10 minutes, no more.

- Well it was pretty sudden

for both of us, we just knew.

- How lucky you are.

- Miss Wilson,

- Oh please, call me Diana.

- Thank you.

Can you tell me why your mother

warned me not to come to Crow Hollow?

- Did she?

Well Mother loved to be melodramatic, poor darling.

I can't think why she should say that.

Did she scare you?

- Well, I was pretty nervous anyway.

Robert has so many aunts.

- There is only one reason I can think of,

that's a pretty feeble one for

a person of my mother's intellect.

- Robert said she was wandering that night.

- That might explain it.

You see, she wasn't to pleased with Robert's aunts,

they'd more or less stolen her maid.

- Not Willow?

- Yes, the beautiful Willow.

Not that I had much affection for her, myself.

But mother had trained her from

a little scrap of a thing.

She wasn't a bit pleased when the aunts

bribed her to go to Crow Hollow.

- Bribed her?

- Mother said they did, that Willow was

to get all sorts of wonderful things.

Tell me, did she?

- Well, she certainly isn't treated like

an ordinary maid, she's more like the

daughter of the house.

Incidentally, who are her parents?

Is she a local?

- Well she's got a family over in Dorchester,

but it's a bit of a mystery about her.

I believe she was adopted, her mother came

from a good family and managed to

conceal her arrival.

Do you like her?

- I really can't tell whether she's very simple

or very deep.

Either way, it's too much.

- That's exactly how I feel about her,

although she's decorative, all right.

Mother used to say the aunts had better watch out,

or the next thing, Robert would.

But he wasn't that sort.

- Let's go back.

- I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your evening.

- I'm sorry I was such a bore.

- Oh, darling Ann.

You couldn't be a bore if you tried.

- I seemed to have bored someone at Crow Hollow

enough for them to want to kill me.

- Darling, it was an accident.

You mustn't let your imagination run away with you.

- Why won't you understand?

- But I do understand.

You've had a dreadful experience, I know that.

- No, not about the spider.

All right, it was an accident if you like,

and no one is trying to get rid of me.

But I still don't want to go on

living a Crow Hollow.

- Darling, we've had all this before.

- I don't want to be unreasonable.

I'm not asking you to send your aunts away,

although I think as your wife, I should have

the right to.

All I'm asking for is a home of my own.

- But Crow Hollow is my home.

It's right that I should bring you here

as mistress of it.

- Mistress?

When I can't plan a menu, change a picture,

or even darn one of your socks?

- Well, I think I think Aunt Opal might

let you darn a sock occasionally.

- It's not a joke, Bob!

- I know it's not.

But you see, I can't leave Crow Hollow.

Grandfather left it to me on condition

that I should provide a home for his three daughters.

He was devoted to them, and very worried

about their futures.

Before he died, I promised that as long as they lived,

I would make a home for them here.

I must do as he wanted, can't you see that?

Ann, won't help me?

- If it means so much to you, of course, my darling.

I'll try to be happy here.

I'll really try.

(sombre orchestral music) (crows cawing)

- Tea's ready, Miss.

- [Aunt Judith] It was really too bad about it.

- [Aunt Hester] She knew how much it meant to him,

and then to throw it away deliberately.

- [Aunt Opal] I never liked her,

she had a shift look from the first.

- [Aunt Hester] I'm surprised he recovered at all.

- [Aunt Judith] They've all got the constitution

of water rats.

It would take more than Marguerite to finish him.

- What did Marguerite do that was so terrible?

- Threw away the soup that I'd made her own father

when was too weak to stop her.

- Do you know the Potters, I didn't think

that you'd met them.

- No, I don't think that I have, I thought...

- Good thing too, I shouldn't go out of

your way to meet them as I view.

- What did you think?

- I thought you were talking about Marguerite.

- We were.

- Robert's mother.

- Whatever made you think of her?

- We don't talk about Marguerite anymore.

- No, of course not, it was silly of me,

but I've been thinking about her lately.

- How do you think about someone

you've never known?

- It's a kind of fellow feeling.

She was a stranger here too.

- You mustn't think of yourself as a stranger here, Ann.

- Did she like Crow Hollow?

- No, she didn't.

- She wasn't one of us, you see.

- But Aunt Opal, I'm not one of you, either.

- My dear, you're Robert's wife.

- But she was your brother's wife.

- Half-brother, Ann.

- A very different thing.

- We had nothing in common, at all.

I'm sorry to say, but Robert's father

was not at all of a satisfactory character.

So of course, we didn't feel bound to

take to his wife.

- Poor Marguerite.

- Tomorrow's my night to go to Dorchester,

is that all right?

- Yes.

You know Ann, once a month,

Willow goes to spend the night with her parents.

She returns the following night,

Robert has always driven her to the station

and met her again, do you think he'll

be able to tomorrow?

- Well of course, unless someone's having a baby,

or something awkward like that.

- Then that's all right then, Willow.

- Thank you.

- Robert's always been so good to Willow,

he looks upon her more as a friend,

such a nice attitude.

- Robert never was a snob,

but then Willow is no ordinary servant.

- She walks like a cat, have you ever

noticed that rhythmic grace?

She's a very sensuous creature.

- Oh, don't use those queer adjectives, Judith.

She's a very good-looking girl.

I'm sure I don't know what

we should do without her.

- [Dexter] Is Miss Judith in there?

- Oh, it's you, Dexter.

Yes, she's just finished tea.

- It's a beauty, isn't it?

Amanita folloides.

- Yes, it's very beautiful.

It's for Miss Judith, is it?

- Deadly poisonous, animals won't go near it.

Nor insects, only fovicular oviculae.

- Hmm?

- Earwigs, Miss, they don't mind.

- Oh, I see.

- They've been at you?

I told you, you've got to stand up to them.

- But so far they've been very nice to me.

I don't see why they should want

to bully me.

- Excuse me, Miss.

- Come into the kitchen.

Well, they were none to pleased

to his going and marrying a stranger.

- Who would they have liked him to marry?

- Someone from these parts, I reckon.

But you don't want to take no notice on them.

They weren't none to pleased when his father

married, neither, and she were as pretty

a young maid as you could wish.

- Did you know her?

- Of course I did, I lived here,

a man and boy, 57 years.

- And she lived in this same house with

the three of them, just like me?

- Aye, she lived here.

And she died here, her grave's just yonder

in the old graveyard.

That used to be part of the farm,

but they sold it, 1840, I think it were.

- Well surely, you don't remember that?

- No, my father told me.

- What did she die of, Dexter?

- Ah, that's a mystery, Miss.

Nobody seemed to know,

not even old Doctor Armour.

They said it was some kind of low fever

she picked up in foreign parts.

(thunder crashing)

- [Ann Voiceover] Marguerite, widow of Douglas Armour.

Departed this life June 23rd, 1925 in

the 26th year of her life, to her rightful home.

Her rightful home?

- Hello, darling.

What happened to you?

- I got wet.

- Were you liking all that rain?

Should have taken shelter,

can't have you laid up.

- Bob.

What did your mother die of?

- Oh darling, that was 25 years ago,

why do you ask?

- I want to know.

- Well, it was a fever of some kind.

Nothing hereditary, if that's what

you're worried about.

- Was she very unhappy?

- Oh darling, I don't know.

But why this sudden interest,

are you going to write a story?

Wait just a minute, let me look at you.

You're shivering.

- Oh, it's nothing.

- Does your head ache?

- Not badly.

- You sit down for a minute.

- But I'm perfectly all right,

I just got wet.

- Open your mouth.

I'll tell you in half a second

whether you're all right or not,

but by the look of you, I'd say you had a chill.

You've been out walking?

No, don't try and speak,

just nod your head.

Where did you go, the river?

Fry's woods.

Shopping.

- What do you want, Willow?

- Miss Opal asked me to see

if Mr. Robert had come in.

- Well you can see that he has, can't you?

- Just a minute, Willow.

Get me some hot water bottles ready,

and light a fire in our bedroom.

- Are you ill?

- Quickly, off you go.

- Well of course I'm not ill,

I just got wet.

- You've got a temperature, and I'm packing

you right off to bed.

- To bed, oh Bob.

- Doctor's orders.

- But I...

- If you resist, I'll carry you.

I'm not so sure that I shouldn't

carry you anyway.

(ominous orchestral music)

(bell rings)

(gasps)

- What is it, dear, do you want something?

- It's nothing, Aunt Opal.

I wondered if Robert were here.

- He had to go out, he was dreadfully sorry,

but he got word that that pneumonia case was worse.

He said he might be some time,

but you were not to worry.

You feeling a little better, dear?

- Well I thought I was, but.

- Oh, I know what the trouble is exactly.

You need something to eat,

you must be quite starved.

Hester was making you some soup.

I'll just pop down and see

if it's ready.

- Just on my way up, it must have been telepathy.

Invalid feeling a little better, eh?

Now just sit up a little.

There, that's.

Now, I shall put the cup there,

and mind you, eat up the soup, every drop.

- Thank you, Aunt Hester.

Looks delicious.

- It is delicious, there are eight different

vegetables in it.

I experimented a great deal with

different blends to get just the right flavour.

- Isn't it a little bitter?

- Bitter?

Nonsense, it's a very bland soup.

I expect your palate's a bit off.

- I expect so.

- Well I'll leave you to eat

at your leisure.

I'll come back later.

(crash)

- Bob.

(clinking)

Bob.

(crying)

(gasping)

The toadstool, Bob.

The soup.

They poisoned it.

They want to kill me.

Don't let them, Bob.

(ominous orchestral music)

(eerie echo)

- We shall live at Crow Hollow,

there used to be hundreds of crows there.

They were supposed to bring ill luck

to the house.

- Don't let him take you to Crow Hollow,

it's no good to either of you. (gasping)

- [Aunt Opal] Why do you always have to

kill things, Judith?

It's Marguerite, Robert's mother.

(screaming)

(crash)

- The spider is is on me!

- Mr. Robert!

- [Ann Voiceover] To her rightful home.

- Mind you, eat that soup up, every drop.

Bitter?

Nonsense, it's a very bland soup.

- Bob, Bob.

Am I better?

- Much better, thank goodness.

Do feel any pain?

- Not exactly, a little tender.

I do feel so weak.

- And you will for a few days.

- A few days?

- It was my fault, I should have

realised that that chill might upset your stomach.

- Oh, but you couldn't know, Bob.

- Why not?

- You couldn't know I was going

to be poisoned.

- Oh now, darling.

- It was the soup, immediately after

I had eaten it.

- Now, darling.

You mustn't talk any more.

I'm going to warm you up some milk.

And after you'd had that,

you might sleep again.

- It was the soup!

- All right, darling, it was the soup.

But you mustn't worry about it now.

We'll talk about that when you're stronger.

- Who is it, Willow?

- Yes, Miss.

- You slink about like a snake.

A very pretty snake.

- Have you lost something, Miss?

- No, not lost, mislaid.

My new toadstool.

I remember I had it in the drawing room,

and then I came in here.

I can't remember if I brought it with me.

- Was it a spotted one?

- Yes, have you seen it?

- I thought I noticed it

on the dresser yesterday.

But it's not there now.

- Perhaps it's fallen down.

Now, it's not here.

This is one of Hester's isn't it?

- That's right, Miss.

Dangerous thing to leave laying about, isn't it?

You never know what it might get into.

(crows cawing)

- Feeling better after that nice long sleep?

Oh, you'll be coming on nicely, now.

- Did my husband find out about

the soup, nurse?

- Well, you see the trouble was,

it was made in a little dish,

only just enough for one.

The bowl had been washed when

Doctor came home.

- [Ann] Well then there's no proof?

- The doctor says not.

Your aunt is pretty indignant too,

at aspersions being cast on her soup.

- Do you think I was poisoned, nurse?

- Well, now if you were,

being sick like that so quickly would

save you from any serious consequences.

No, the doctor says it was most likely

the result of your chill.

- I keep hearing a noise outside,

a harsh sort of noise.

- Oh, that's those crows.

Been a lot of them about today,

since the rain.

This place used to be infested with crows,

it was before my time, though.

But it almost looks as if they were coming back.

Good evening, Doctor.

- Good evening, Nurse.

And how's our patient?

- Coming along splendidly.

- I expect you'd like a rest.

- Thank you, Doctor, I'll be in the kitchen

if you need me.

- Have a busy day, darling?

- Pretty hectic.

- How's the pneumonia case?

- He'll pull through.

- I'm glad.

Thank you for sending Nurse Baxter.

- Well, you needed a nurse.

I thought it better to have somebody you knew,

are you feeling more comfortable now?

- I'm feeling fine.

How long can Nurse Baxter stay?

- Oh, a few days.

You'll be up and about by then.

- Bob, that soup.

- Darling, there's absolutely no proof

about the soup.

- I know there's no proof,

that's all part of the cleverness,

only you refuse to see it.

Someday you'll know I was right,

if it's not too late.

- You stop worrying, it's bad for you.

- Don't worry, as long as Nurse Baxter

cooks my meals.

- It's all right, then.

- How many crows are there in the elms now?

- Oh, I don't know, quite a lot.

It's extraordinary, the way they've come back.

- Laying here listening to them,

I think I'll go mad.

(laughs)

- Darling, it's not as bad as that.

- It's not the noise they make,

it's what they mean.

- Now you're just being plain superstitious.

- I keep thinking about your mother.

What made her die?

- Nothing remotely connected with

what's wrong with you.

- Bob, I promise not to worry you anymore,

but couldn't we go away from here?

There's something about this house,

and now the crows have come back.

- You concentrate on getting well.

We'll talk about it then.

- But we won't, you'll always evade it.

You'll never leave Crow Hollow, will you?

(crows cawing)

(knocking)

Come in.

I'm going away, Willow.

- For long, Miss?

- Quite a time, I think.

I've decided to tell you because

I want you to do one small favour for me.

- Yes, Miss?

- When there's no one about,

telephone Joe Higgins to wait at the

main gates at half past five.

The train goes at six,

so that should be plenty of time.

- [Willow] So you're not telling

them you're going?

- Not at the moment.

I don't want a fuss.

- They do fuss, don't they?

- They've all been very kind to me,

but I feel I want to get away

for a bit.

- I like the other dress best.

The one you wore the night

you got the spider on you.

- Do you, Willow?

If it's any use to you, you can have it.

- Oh, can I really?

Oh thank you.

What's that?

- It's a cocktail hat.

Quite useless, really.

- It's pretty.

I think you're very wise, Miss.

- Wise?

- To go away.

- Do you?

- Funny things happen in this house, don't they?

- What kind of things do you mean?

- You ought to know, Miss.

- Do you know anything about them, Willow?

- Oh no, but I think you're very wise.

Well, I'll telephone now.

Wouldn't do to miss your train, would it?

Extension two-three, please.

Yes, that's right.

(bell ringing)

All ready, Miss.

The coast's clear now, if you want to slip out.

Miss Opal's laying down, Miss Hester's in the

greenhouse, and Miss Judith's in her laboratory.

- Thank you, Willow.

You've done very well.

(car engine starting)

- Ann, are you all right?

Here, come and sit down for a while.

You know, you're in no fit state to travel.

I think you better come back with me.

- No, I must go, I've got to catch the train.

- Nonsense, you can get the next one,

if it's so important.

Come on back to my place for a rest.

Look, I'll tell you all I know,

which isn't very much,

and which I think is fantastic.

You see, Mother had the fixed idea that

ever since Robert's aunts were so

insistent about getting Willow,

that they hoped Robert would marry her.

- I wonder why.

She's very lovely, I know,

but hardly a good match for him,

and even a particularly suitable wife,

for that matter.

- Maybe they weren't thinking so much of Robert.

Perhaps it had something to do

with Willow's parentage.

Her mother might have been a

great friend of theirs, or one of them.

- One of the aunts Willow's mother, surely not.

- Well, I'm only supposing.

- But surely, a mother couldn't live in

the same house and not treat

her as a daughter.

- Well you once said they did.

- But I mean openly,

I'm sure I couldn't.

- This isn't London.

You have no idea how strong prejudices are

in the country are against affairs of that kind.

Well anyway, whether they had any

matrimonial plans or not, the important thing

is that Robert obviously wasn't having any.

- I suppose not.

- You're the only woman he's

ever really cared for.

You can take that from me.

- Yes, I think that's true.

I'll just slip in quietly, if I can,

and thank you for everything.

- Take care of yourself.

Oh, don't these crows give you the willies?

- Oh, they did at first,

but I'm getting used to them now.

- Good luck.

(ominous orchestral music)

(screams)

- It was meant to be me.

- When did you find her?

- Just now, when I came in.

- I would say the death took place

during the last half an hour.

She had face cream on her hands,

as though she was making up.

Do the aunts know?

- One of the aunts must know.

- Am I going to be late for dinner?

I was so anxious to finish taking chrysanthemums.

I got a rabbit this evening,

fine big buck, there he lay,

stretched out stiff, with his nose still

on the nibbled carrot...

- Aunt Hester.

- Willow, Willow, Willow,

oh Robert, have you seen Willow?

Well, what's the matter?

- I've got something to tell you.

Willow's in our bedroom, dead.

With a knife in her back.

- Not Willow.

- And had you observed anything significant

between your husband and the diseased?

- But I tell you, it wasn't Willow

who was meant to be killed, it was me.

Whoever did it mistook her for me,

she was in my room, sitting at my dressing table,

wearing my dress.

- With fair hair, while as yours is dark.

They'd need to be extremely short-sighted

to mistake her hair for yours,

whatever she was wearing.

- Why should anyone want to kill Willow?

She was valued a great deal here,

and I wasn't.

- That could be a reason too.

- I don't understand what you mean.

- Do you recognise this?

The deceased was wearing it.

Do you know where she got it?

- Yes, my husband gave it to her.

- Was your husband in the habit

of giving her presents?

- From time to time,

they all were.

She was always treated as a

member of the family.

- And do you know why?

It's hardly usual for a maid, is it?

- She wasn't a usual kind of maid.

I believe it was something to do

with her parentage.

- She was adopted, wasn't she?

By a couple in Dorchester.

Do you know anything about the, Sergeant?

- No, there was a rumour that the father

used to be a gardener up here in the

old doctor's time, a Jed Dawson,

I don't suppose you remember him, sir.

- A gardener?

- And the mother?

- I don't know, sir,

that was kept very dark.

- Well Miss Wilson said that the mother

came from a good family, that she might

have been a friend of the Armours.

- Oh, we'll go into that.

- I shall think Miss Wilson might

know about it, sir.

Dawson went to Mrs. Wilson's after

he left Crow Hollow.

- That'll be all for now, Mrs. Armour.

- Ann, what a terrible thing.

I heard from Jenkins, I called over to

see whether there was anything

I could do to help

- That's very nice of you.

- What did he say?

- He wouldn't believe that Willow was killed

in mistake for me.

- Is that what you think?

- [Bob] And she was in our room,

wearing Ann's dress, and with her

back to the door.

- [Ann] He said no one could mistake

Willow's hair for mine, but in a bad light?

- [Bob] No, the sun was shining.

- [Ann] There must be an explanation,

I know I'm right.

- [Bob] Darling, Diana thought you might

like to spend a few days with her, until?

- [Diana] Yes, won't you?

You look so terribly tired,

and you might sleep better away from here.

- That's very kind of you,

but they said no one was to leave the house.

- But that doesn't apply to you, darling.

- Of course it does, I'm their principal suspect.

- Oh, no.

- Nonsense darling, what did he say?

- They know who Willow's father is.

- Who is it?

- Jed Dawson, I think they said.

- I've never heard of him.

- Do they think he did it?

- I told you, they think I did it.

- Of course they don't.

- Who is he, Dawson?

- He was a gardener who worked here,

who left to go to your mother.

- My mother?

I don't remember anyone of that name.

- That might have given her an entire different reason

for warning me not to come to Crow Hollow.

- Oh Ann, no, that's not possible.

- [Sergeant] Would you come in a moment please, Doctor?

- Oh yes of course, by the way, Sergeant,

would it be all right for my wife

to spend a couple of days with Miss Wilson,

she could come over again whenever

you wanted her.

- Not yet, sir.

Sorry, but no one must leave until

we get this matter cleared up,

except for any professional calls for yourself.

- Yes, but look here

- I'm sorry, sir.

You can ask the Inspector, but I know

what he'll say.

- Did you say Jed Dawson was Willow's father?

- So Sergeant Jenkins says.

- Opal, you remember that gardener Father sacked?

He was a bad lot, right enough.

- Fancy that, I suppose Father found out

and then trumped up that excuse about

the plants being stolen.

- So that's where Willow got her looks.

He was a handsome devil.

- Oh, he was a fine-looking chap.

Masses of fair, curly hair,

but he was vain of it, wouldn't wear cap,

rain or shine, for fear of hiding

his pretty hair.

- A cap, that's how Willow was mistaken for me.

I left a hat on my bed today,

a silly, extravagant thing, all flowers.

Just the sort of thing that Willow would

want to try on, and with her hair up,

it would have been completely hidden

by the hat, don't you see?

(creak)

- Now are you convinced, Inspector?

- It's a possibility, certainly.

- It's more than that, it's obvious,

can't you see that?

- Doctor, do you ever make a

diagnosis without considering all the symptoms?

- Well, no, but...

- But neither do I allow myself to be

convinced without taking into consideration

all the facts.

- But you've got all the facts.

- Some of them.

The rest is supposition.

- And meanwhile, my wife's life is in danger.

- Do you think they'll try again?

- Well, how on earth should I know?

But the danger's there.

This is the third attempt.

- I'm averse to leaving a man here.

And if you've got another spare room,

I should suggest Miss Wilson stayed here,

so that she could keep an eye

on Mrs. Armour if you were called out on a case.

- Well, there's only Willow's room.

Would you mind, Diana?

- No, of course not.

- Thank you, I should feel a lot happier.

- All right.

(crows cawing)

(knocking)

- Who is it?

- It's for Robert, dear.

The telephone, Robert's wanted.

- Who is it?

- Mrs. Matthews, dear,

the baby you delivered yesterday?

- Well, what's wrong with it?

- Not the baby, the mother,

she's running a high temperature.

Come into the kitchen before you go out

and have a cup of coffee.

It's already made, I'm just going down,

and I'll have it ready for you.

- Oh, Bob.

Must you go?

- I'll be as quick as I can.

You go into Diana's room.

Wake her, and stay with her

all the time I'm away.

Promise?

- I promise, but.

- But what?

- Oh, I don't know, it's just well,

I can't explain it, Bob.

- It's this ungodly hour, darling.

You've had a disturbed night.

- Yes, I suppose that's it.

- Come on.

I'll take you to Diana's room.

I'll be back just as soon

as I possibly can, before you and Diana

have woken up again.

- I'm sorry, Bob, but I've got

the jitters, I guess it's the early morning.

(knocking)

- [Diana] What is it?

- I've had a telephone message to go

out to a case.

May I leave Ann with you?

- [Diana] Yes, of course.

Come on in, won't you?

I was awake, anyway.

Those crows are enough to wake the dead.

- I shan't be long, bye bye darling.

And don't worry.

(crows cawing)

- [Diana] Did you sleep?

- On and off, you?

- Like a log, till those damn birds

started caterwauling.

- The telephone.

- What about it, what's the matter?

- Did you hear it?

- No, now that you mention it, I didn't.

Who brought in the message?

- Bob, Bob!

Bob!

Bob, it's a trick,

the telephone didn't ring, you mustn't go.

- A trick?

- They want to get you out of the way,

so they can kill me.

- Oh, what an extraordinary thing to say?

- Is it true?

- I'll find out, Robert.

It was Judith who answered the telephone.

She called out to me

that you were wanted urgently.

Perhaps I misunderstood,

I'll go and ask her.

First let me pour Ann a cup of coffee,

she looks frozen.

You drink yours, Robert,

before it gets cold.

- Bob, don't believe it, they want to kill me.

- Now sit down, Ann, and have some coffee,

as Aunt Opal says.

We'll get to the bottom of this

in a moment.

- Silly child,

who wants to kill you now?

- Bob, don't drink it!

- Are you going to listen

to a hysterical girl?

- Certainly I am.

Ann's intuitions are pretty sound.

I should have listened to her

a long time ago.

- Don't be such a fool, Robert.

What do you think is in the coffee?

Toadstool poisoning?

Judith...

- You can't put this on Judith, Aunt Opal.

It was Judith's spider and

Hester's soup, but it's your coffee, entirely yours.

Except that it has some of

Aunt Hester's strychnine in it.

Why should you want to kill me, Aunt Opal?

- Why shouldn't I?

Why should either of you live,

now that Willow's dead?

I always intended you to marry Willow,

so that she should be

mistress of Crow Hollow, not her.

Yes I tried to kill her too,

so that you should be free again,

free to marry Willow.

But instead, I killed my own daughter.

My daughter, Willow.

- I think I shall have to

call the police, Aunt Opal.

(crack) (splash)

(thud)

It's better like this.

Don't go back, darling.

What are you writing, darling?

- Oh, Diana's coming to dinner tomorrow,

I'm planning a menu.

What are you writing?

- Oh, this is an application for

a post at the Middlesex,

junior house surgeon.

You'd be glad to get away, wouldn't you.

- Let me see.

(ripping)

- Ann.

- I don't think Grandfather

would have approved, do you?

- Are you sure?

Quite sure?

- Quite sure, darling.

(optimistic orchestral music)