All language subtitles for Lark Rise to Candleford - 01x08 - Episode 8.DVDRip HAGGiS.English.orig.Addic7ed.com

♪ As sweet Polly Oliver ♪

♪ lay musing in bed ♪

♪ A sudden strange fancy ♪

♪ came into her head ♪

♪ Nor father nor mother ♪

♪ should make me fall through ♪

♪ I'll list for a soldier ♪

♪ and follow my love. ♪

They say a storm in Summer
clears the air.

And that may be so.

Sshh, it's only a storm.

Storms can't hurt you.

Maybe that wind's blowing
Pa's ship closer,

bringing him home
with a pocket full of gold

to fetch Ma out of prison.

You think of that
when you close your eyes.

But a real storm
can stir the world so about,

that even when it has passed,

things can't be set back as they were.

Can't sleep,

might as well work.

It's those gargoyles
for Reverend Ellison.

What?

The face you've given it.

That's Laura's Phillip!

That's... that's your imagination.

You know, there's nothing
gives a lad a glow

than being told he's all wrong for you.

Believe me.

He IS all wrong for her.

Then let her discover it for herself,

because if you start
laying down the law,

you're gonna

drive her to a place where she
might not find her way back.

Episode 8

Transcript: Evarin

Synch: Moochie

Why in heaven's name did

Thomas Brown put it all the way up here?

Ah! I have it!

I love the penny reading.

Sitting in the school after dark,
hearing stories read.

It's like being a child again.

I just hope the new schoolmistress
knows the proper way of doing things.

Miss Holmes was an excellent woman,

but rather too fond
of sentimental passages.

I'm afraid I need
a little grit in my literary diet.

Look! It's Sir Tim,
before he became a "sir".

He read one of Shakespeare's sonnets.

I can't imagine that.

Go carefully on your rounds, Laura.

There may be slates and branches
loose after the storm.

- Ladies.
- A large parcel.

- With a Paris postmark?
- What's that one? That's the one...

Ladies, I must ask...

Ladies. I must ask... Ladies!

Ladies! That's for the new teacher

- at the national school.
- New teacher?

The last one was
such a drab little thing.

What could such a person possibly
mean by having a parcel delivered?

Such a battered...!

Ladies, I must ask you...

Ladies, this is the property...

"Germinal".

"Un histoire par Emile Zola. "

"There is a spectre haunting Europe,"

"the spectre... of communism."

French romances,

horror stories...

What kind of person is this to have
the charge of young minds?

Thomas, I wondered if you could...

The damage to the parcel
was none of our doing,

but you let the contents become public!

They were on me before
I knew what they were doing.

I shall deliver this myself,
along with the

apologies of the Post office.

We shall have to hope...

Miss Delafield, chooses
not to take this matter any further.

If you had set out to earn
my displeasure, Thomas Brown,

you could not have done
a more thorough job.

I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to startle you... erm...

I... I have a parcel
for the new teacher.

Right.

I really should deliver it personally.

Post office regulations.

Be my guest.

I'm James Delafield, the new teacher.

But maybe you were expecting
somebody more genteel.

Actually, I was expecting
someone more female.

Erm, I'm afraid they've been somewhat...
damaged.

- on behalf of the Post office...
- There's an item missing.

A French to English dictionary.

Maybe you think somebody of my
kind should be seen and not heard

trying to master foreign tongues.

I'm sure my thoughts are
of no interest to someone so

satisfied with their own
moral superiority.

I shall make enquiries as to
the whereabouts of your dictionary.

That might be wise.

What with all those regulations.

Good day to you, sir.

And to you, madam.

You are not missing the first week of
school to go and work in the fields.

- Why not?
- Now sit down.

Everyone else will be.

The farmer's offering a shilling a day,

just to put right the storm damage.

When is this boy coming, again?
I don't know, Poppet.

I don't care what
everyone else is doing.

- What boy?
- Laura's friend. Phillip.

It looks nothing like Phillip.

It's a gargoyle!

What are you going to learn
in the fields? Nothing!

You want a job with pay and prospects,
you need an education.

- Now who's laying down the law?
- You know I'm right.

If the farmer wants to use cheap labour,
he can take his own sons out of school.

I said no, Edmund.
Now come on, you'll be late.

- Bye.
- Bye.

Ethel!

Right then, my precious.

Annie?

Annie!

I grew up in the shadow
of this tree, Laura.

But now it's old and sick.

The storm has weakened it.

It must be felled.

But I wouldn't have lost it
for the world.

I love every stone of Lark Rise.

If I was to go back and find
some of it gone,

I think it might break
my heart a little.

And yet the world turns, Laura.

The world turns.

Thank you.

There are some letters
to be sent up at the house.

I'm sure the footman
will see you get them.

- Good day, sir.
- Yes, and you.

- Your Ladyship.
- Laura.

Not still in the doldrums
over your tree?

I've had a very pretty notion.

We shall cut the timber

and our little one shall have a rocking
horse

made from its stoutest branches.

What do you say?

Queenie, It's the baby, I've looked...

In't she just like
the baby Jesus, though?

I'nt she just like the baby Jesus?

It was in the second post.
C'est arrivé!

La ligne maternelle.

Oh dear, Lady Adelaide,
when she came to us

she was just a virginal lily,

but now she is a rose in full bloom.

Laura!

We are to make enquiries
for a French to English dictionary

that should have been in the parcel for
the new school teacher, Mr Delafield.

MR Delafield?

The new schoolmistress is a man?

Certainly, he is a man.

The most self-satisfied,

self-righteous, insufferable
specimen I have ever met.

In my life!

A new schoolmaster.

With an overbearing character.

And unsuitable books.

Well, I must confess,
I was expecting rather more of you.

The other boys are in the fields
clearing up after the storm.

It's a shilling a day.

But not you?

My mother says education
is important, sir.

Well, your mother's right.

Lizzie Arless, sir...

Her mother's away
and her father's at sea.

She's been teased about
going to the workhouse.

Sometimes he's himself and

sometimes he's like a child again.

But he would never have hurt her.

- He scared me, Queenie.
- Yeah.

Scared me too, at the start.

But now,

well, I tell you Emma,

he was a kinder, sweeter boy
than ever the man he grew into.

And sometimes...

if I had to choose between
Twister without his wits

and Twister with em...

Yes!

Drat the man!

We've searched the stores
and this place inside out

- There's no sign of his dictionary!
- It must be somewhere.

Indeed, but until it is found,
he has the moral victory.

But no dictionary.

A little comfort, I grant.

I cannot abide to be at fault.

And to be seen to be at fault
by such a one as Mr Delafield...

Mr Delafield!
We were just speaking of you.

- I'm afraid that your dictionary...
- No, I've come on another matter.

I'm told that you worked
very closely with my predecessor,

Miss Holmes, on the organisation
of the penny reading.

I was wondering whether you
might not perhaps consider

continuing that tradition.

Forgive the intrusion.

We have so wanted
to make your acquaintance.

- Those thrilling books!
- A man of letters.

- Yes, French!
- We have been in raptures.

Say you'll favour us with some
excerpts at the penny reading?

Is there anything
I can help you with, ladies?

Just a courtesy call.

A welcome to the bosom of Candleford...

Lady Adelaide!

- Lady Adelaide.
- How very well you are looking.

Oh, don't say so!

I shall grow fat and foul
and no-one shall bear to look at me.

Can you believe my foolishness?
I have erm, a letter for the physician

who is to attend my confinement and I
forgot to give it to Laura this morning.

The urgency is all
in Adelaide's mind, of course.

It could easily have waited
until tomorrow.

Tim would keep me at home
wrapped in cotton wool

if he could, but as you can see,
I am quite well.

I suppose you heard our misfortune?

A tree on Sir Timothy's estate
was weakened in the storm.

It has to be felled.

A beautiful old oak.

I am very sorry to hear that.

Perhaps I am not quite
as well as I thought after all.

I have a headache. I wish to go home.

Laura...

will you tell Zillah
that Mr Delafield and I

are going to take tea in the parlour...

with Banbury cake?

Last night, in the storm,
the little 'uns were crying.

I went to them,
but it weren't me they wanted.

When your mum was took,

there were plenty of folk saying
it was only a matter of time

before you ended up in a workhouse.

There is no-one saying that now.

Stir that.

Ask me, you're a natural.

Born to raise a family.

Ever had any thoughts in that direction?

Well, I have sometimes wondered if...

one day me and Laura might...

But she's got that Phillip now,
in't she?

Maybe.

Or maybe she just needs to
be shown there's an alternative.

Supposing someone wanted
to read something in the penny reading.

Something that would
really speak to Laura.

What would they choose?

Her favourite poem's
"Ode To A Nightingale", I think.

The first line...

"My heart aches".

- "My heart aches."
- Alf...

you do know that...

Laura will likely be going
to the penny reading with Phillip?

Maybe so, Mrs Timmins.

Or maybe she just needs to know
there's an alternative.

Oh, come on!

What's wrong with a bit of competition?

Alf's trying to keep his
family out of the workhouse.

He's no time for wooing!

Besides,

he can't read more than his own name,
how's he going to do at a penny reading?

If he can learn a song,
he can learn a poem.

He may not have his letters, but he's
a better man than you take him for.

He's a better man than
almost anyone I know!

But Laura's got choices
what to do with her life.

Alf hasn't.

We keep this ledger on the counter...

And those wanting to take part
enter their names

and the texts from which
they wish to read.

It is then your task to

arrange the various passages into

a pleasing bill of fare.

You are staring, Mr Delafield.

Do you mind?

I think I've offended your housekeeper.

Include a murder in the penny reading
and you will be forgiven anything.

Zillah loves a good, bloody death scene.

Unfortunately, your predecessor's
tastes ran to the more romantic.

And you?

Where do your tastes run, Miss Lane?

Do you take sugar?

You're a great reader.

My father was.

I never knew MY father.

Nor did my mother, which
is probably more of the moment.

Are you trying to shock me,
Mr Delafield?

No, I'm being honest with you.

I'd not have you think me
other than I am.

Not if we're to work together.

When we met earlier...

I thought you were not -

could not - be the new teacher.

That assumption was
based wholly on prejudice

and I am very sorry for it.

Am I redeemed?

only I do like to
think well of myself.

It's my one weakness.

Come, let us start again as friends.

Static electricity.

The air is charged.

Perhaps we should
expect another storm.

Half a Best, please, friend.

- You visiting these parts, are you?
- Oh, no, no, no.

I'm the new teacher at the
National School. First day today.

Class was a bit thinner than expected.

Well, if you're here to tell them

that their sons shouldn't have been
kept out of school, then don't.

Lark Rise folk
don't take kindly to lectures.

Well, who does?

And who'd blame a man for

putting his boy in the fields when
there's extra money to be got?

Poverty,

it's no disgrace.

But it's a great inconvenience.

My question is this -
without an education,

how do you ever expect your sons
to stand up and fight for more?

So, I've a proposal for you.

If you'll hear it.

An after hours school,
here in the Wagon and Horses.

You make sure your boys
attend, make sure of it.

And I'll not report this mass truancy
to the school board.

What do you say?

I say...

I say we should buy this man a drink.

I don't believe you. That's ridiculous.

An evening school?

In the Wagon and Horses?

Then I can do it! Farm work
in the day, school at night.

- No.
- But...

I said no!

A couple of hours in the Wagon
and Horses might be good enough

for boys who are gonna end up
on the land, but not for you.

What's wrong with the land?
Somebody's got to grow the food.

I want more for you!

- I want better!
- What if I don't?

You will go to school in the proper way

and you will pass your standard
four exam, and you will stop arguing!

Very well, Mother.

I'll stay in school, I'll pass my exams

and I'll be the best damn
qualified ploughboy in England!

I'll make him pay
for using language to you,

but by Christ, Emma, you deserve it.

You tell me I can't have an opinion
on Laura's life and then...

Don't ever try and tell a man how
to live, not under his own roof.

Not him and not me.

♪ So early next morning ♪

♪ she softly arose ♪

♪ And dressed herself up ♪

♪ in her dead brother's clothes ♪

♪ She cut her hair close ♪

♪ and she stained her face brown ♪

♪ And went for a soldier ♪

♪ in fair London town. ♪

Lizzie Arless was very young

and what little she knew of
the world came from stories,

and the ballads Alf sang.

And who knows?

Perhaps her plan might have worked,
had she not been distracted

by a display of nautical finery
in the window of Pratt's Store.

That's a new frock.

And?

Get out of here!

- Go, how dare you steal...
- Get off me!

Your parents should be ashamed,
you little wretch!

- Hey, stop it! Stop it!
- Don't you ever...!

Enough! Enough!

You thieving...! Get out of my way!

Come on.

It's Lizzie, isn't it?
Can you walk, do you think?

I think you should both
come with me.

Get off!

- Did you mean to take the hat, Lizzie?
- It was just a borrow!

To be like Polly Oliver in the song.

Polly Oliver?

You were going to dress
as a boy and run away?

No!

Not run away.

It was a sailor's hat that Lizzie took.

Her father's at sea.

She was going to fetch him,
weren't you, Lizzie?

So he can get my ma out of prison

and we don't have to worry
about the workhouse no more.

You will not get to school
on time walking at Lizzie's pace.

Matthew is readying the trap.

Mr Delafield?

I'm sorry.

You're very kind, Miss Lane.

I am very practical.

And...

my name is Dorcas.

Alf!

I've come to put my name in the book.
For the penny reading.

- Alf, you can't...
- I can't read and that's a fact.

But there's always other ways
of doing things, Laura.

Alternatives.

You want to bear that in mind.

You have to write
what you're reading from as well.

Well, I shan't, cos I'm not telling.

We wish to bring charges.

For criminal damage,
battery and assault!

Mr Delafield pulled Pearl off the child,

and he broke the stick with which
she was beating her.

That is all.

Was he angry?

I would say rather upset.

Both sisters are calling it an assault.

If there was an assault,

Mr Delafield was not the perpetrator.

I see.

Well, thank you.

- You've been very clear.
- My regards to Lady Adelaide.

I'm not sure I'm the person
to convey those good wishes at present.

Adelaide is

angry with me. Or...

disappointed, I'm not quite sure which.

Well, perhaps I've been negligent.

My mind has been elsewhere

We felled the tree today

It is natural to mourn
the loss of an old friend.

Perhaps I fear that

all it has meant to me
has been lost with it.

Timothy.

I kissed you under that tree
so many times.

We parted under that tree.

Maybe this

loss is for the best.

We have both lived
too long surrounded by...

monuments of what might have been.

And you are soon to be a father

and I...

I have a life.

Perhaps it's time I started living it.

Phillip!

You're not wearing it.

I can't.

- I'm sorry.
- I thought you liked it.

Rings, they mean something,
you know.

If I was wearing it
people might think...

What? That I like you? I do!

That I belong to you.

Don't be silly!

Look.

What if I were...

to take this...

and do this?

And now, no-one will know.

Except me.

- So you didn't strike her?
- No.

They say the child was stealing.

I believe there was
a genuine misunderstanding.

Lizzie was guilty of
foolishness, nothing else.

Your account of this incident
tallies with that of Miss Lane's.

I shan't be taking
the matter any further.

- And her word's sufficient?
- Always.

Sir, Sir, come push her higher!

Sir, push me higher! Excuse me.

Sir, I've won.

Goodbye, Mrs Grundy.

There are insufficient grounds
to proceed

with charges of any sort
against Mr Delafield.

But I am bruised from head to toe!

Well, if you would care to present
your own person as evidence then...

Modesty forbids.

In that case, I think
it would be best for all concerned

if we put this unfortunate
incident behind us.

He is unfit to have charge
of young children!

You have no evidence.

Sister!

It will take more than a death scene
to appease her now.

You bore witness for me today.

It seems your word carries
great weight with Sir Timothy.

My father's dictionary.

I thought you might like to borrow it
until yours has been found.

You put me in your debt.

Again.

Well, as to that,
I merely told Sir Timothy what I saw.

This morning with Lizzie.

This... this idea held by some
that mistreatment is somehow

character building.

But in my experience, if a person
is brutalised, he breaks

or becomes a brute himself.

I can't see children beaten.

You...

steadied me.

When I first came here

about the penny reading,
you didn't want to see me.

- What made you change your mind?
- A-a whim.

And this morning
when you told me your name.

Why?

I wished you to know
what my friends call me.

Am I your friend then?

Are you not?

Miss Lane,

Dorcas, forgive me if I'm
speaking out of turn,

but you seem to me
to be a woman holding her breath.

And I cannot tell if that's because
you're waiting for something to end,

or for something to begin.

Dorcas?

Yes.

Such a wicked little
child and he's so brutal.

And so strong. He just wrenched me off
and flung me aside!

She might have been dashed
to pieces for all he cared.

He should be prosecuted,
but without the...

- proper evidence...
- I thought Miss Lane had witnessed all?

Miss Lane seems only to see
as she chooses.

They do say love is blind.

Love?

Miss Lane and the schoolmaster?

Well, why not, after all?

I hear he's a handsome fellow.

And I suppose even
spinsters have hearts.

As for his being handsome,

I really cannot say,

but he is a menace to society.

Well, I've heard nothing
but good about the man!

He's got the Lark Rise children fair
burstin' with learning,

and he's running extra classes
in the Wagon and Horses

in his own time and without charge!

Here is the lace trimming you ordered.

I shall collect payment
next time I am passing.

I bid you all good day.

You were right all along, Thomas Brown!
About Mr Delafield!

The man is stewing in corruption!

He is teaching children
in a public house!

And there's nothing we can do to
prevent him from tainting,

perhaps forever...

the young minds in his care.

Nothing, that is,

without evidence.

If I paid for ten tuppenny stamps

with half a guinea,

how much change might I then expect?

Depends on the post mistress!

I don't allow for calling out in class.

You have to raise your hand, Mr Twister,
like all the other boys.

Learnin', learnin', learnin'.

Too much damn learning
going on these days!

You're entitled to your opinion, but I'd
say that an uneducated working man

is a gift to those
who hang onto their privilege.

Whereas an educated working man
is a threat to their comfort,

is a challenge to their status.
I know which I'd rather be.

Let's not have this turning political!

There was a tankard broken last time.
That's cos I missed his head!

Each to his own estate,

- and leave be!
- Right. Here's a question about estate.

When Adam delved and Eve span,
who was then the gentleman?

You site the scriptures, Sir,
in defence of revolution!

Why not? They're recruited often enough
in favour of the other side.

The scriptures are the word of God!

They are not to be bent
to the will of man!

I dispute that.

You dispute the word of the Almighty?

A man's faith, or lack of it,
is a matter for his own conscience.

I'm saying that if the word of the
Almighty seems always to be

used in support of one,
privileged class,

it must be worth asking

if someone's putting
those words in his mouth.

I saw the Sisters Pratt today.

They are most disappointed

that the feral school teacher is to
escape the long arm of the law.

There is no evidence against him.

So I gathered.

Women scorned are nasty,
vengeful creatures.

In what way are they scorned?

By the schoolmaster seeming to prefer
Dorcas Lane to them, I imagine.

They were suggesting that

she had been rather partial
in her defence of him.

Did you find her so?

I found her to be as she always is.

Nothing but gossip
and idle tittle tattle then.

But it does make me think I would
like to attend this penny reading.

You would be bored to death.

On the contrary.

I think I shall find it
vastly illuminating.

The penny reading was
not just entertainment.

It was a place to be seen.

And when the good people
of Candleford heard

what Mr Delafield
had done to Pearl Pratt,

the tide of public
opinion turned against him.

A fact which Dorcas
was all too well aware.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you would
like to take your seats, please.

Mr Delafield.

How kind of you to save me a place.

See? I'm enjoying myself already.

Well, I shall tell Alf
you're fit to dine

with the Queen of England.

Now,

how about a little honeycomb treat
from Queenie's bees?

Yes, please.

You mind Twister
while I go and fetch it.

And you mind your language
in front of 'em.

Do you know any games?

Songs?

I know a story.

About a family

that was froze to death.

Every last one.

Shall I tell ye.

Goodbye. Drive on, coachman.
God bless you.

"And the kind creature retreated into
the garden, overcome with emotions."

That was Master Edmund Timmins reading
from Vanity Fair. Thank you, Edmund.

And now in a last minute addition to
the programme we have Mr Phillip White,

who will be reading from...

Game Birds And Their Habits.

"It is said that the guinea-hen
makes a remarkably poor mother."

"For though prolific in her laying,"

"she is prone to forget or abandon
whole clutches of eggs."

And that's how they found 'em
in the morning.

Frozen solid.

The little baby still clamped
to its mother,

her milk turned to ice in her breast.

It happened right here,

in Lark Rise.

Year the old King died.

Bitterest winter I've ever known.

Colder than the grave, it was.

Colder than the grave.

She's been gone a while, ain't she?

And it's turning chill.

Don't you feel it mortal chill?

"Thus the provident game-keeper"

"must find a foster mother
to keep the abandoned eggs warm,"

"ensuring the survival of the clutch,"

"good sport for his master's gun"

"and plentiful fowl for his table."

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

It wasn't my intention to read
to you this evening, but

in the light of certain recent events,
I've changed my mind.

This is from Charles Dickens'
oliver Twist.

I've always had a certain fondness
for Oliver, because

like him, I was born in the workhouse.

But unlike him, I managed to

get away before I was apprenticed
to a coffin-maker,

as happens in this following passage.

'Ere we are, my lovelies.

Twister?

Twister?!

Children?

"Oh, you little wretch!,
screamed Charlotte,"

"seizing Oliver with her utmost force,"

"which was about equal to that
of a moderately strong man"

"in particularly good training."

"You ungrateful,
murderous, horrid villain!"

"and between every syllable, Charlotte
gave Oliver a blow with all her might."

"Poor Noah! He was all
but killed when I come in."

"Noah, whose top waistcoat button
might have been somewhere on a level"

"with the crown of Oliver's head,"

"rubbed his eyes
with the insides of his wrists"

"and performed some
affecting tears and sniffs."

Well, we're gonna have to leave
Oliver there, I'm afraid, which

is just as well as I don't
think any of us

like to hear of such a small boy
being so ill-treated,

however affecting the tears
and sniffs of their abuser.

And now we'll hear from
Mr Alfred Arless who will

recite John Keat's
Ode To A Nightingale.

"My heart aches,"

"and a drowsy numbness pains my sense,
as though of hemlock I have drunk."

"or emptied some dull opiate
to the drains one minute past..."

Please! I need your help.

It's the children. They're gone!

- Come! Quickly. Bring lanterns!
- Don't speak to me!

I have it!

Have what, Thomas Brown?

I have your evidence.

Don't worry, they can't have gone far.

Alf and I will take the ditches.

Mr Paxton, you and the others
take the farms and the... Shhhh.

You must be frozen to the bone!

Come 'ere.

Is that my brandy?

Nip of spirit to keep out the cold.

Are they my curtains?

That old winter ain't going to get them.
Not with Twister in charge.

Too damn clever for it,
just too damn clever.

Are they in their beds?

Alf's scared to shut his eyes...

in case they're gone again
when he opens them.

Laura up to bed?

You should go to bed yourself.

Annie will be awake soon
ready for her feed.

I just want Edmund to have more.

And I want Laura to have as much.

She will! She's got prospects.

That is not what I am talking about!

You and me, Emma.

This!

This is what I want for her.

Haven't we had enough? Haven't we had

so much more than we ever thought?

Mr Delafied holds strong opinions.

That is not, however, against the law.

He preaches atheism,

revolution

and the overthrow
of the natural social order!

Well, if I were in his shoes,
perhaps I would do the same.

I doubt that the other members
of the school board

will share your tolerance.

No, you're right. they won't.

And it is precisely for that reason

that I would ask you
to examine your motives.

Do you truly wish for a man to lose
his position over an incident which,

after all, reflects badly
upon everyone involved?

Duty is a stern taskmaster.

And now that Miss Lane's testimony
is thrown into doubt...

How is it thrown into doubt?

Due to the intimacy of her
relationship with Mr Delafield.

I will see myself out.

Pearl and Ruby Pratt have a dossier

detailing certain statements
made by Mr Delafield.

His religious and political opinions
are of a radical bent.

And when the school board hears of this,
it will cost him his job.

He must mount a defence.

He will lose.

Not only this position, but any hope

of gaining a teaching post
in the future.

They also seek to re-investigate
the incident with the Arless child.

I don't understand.

They suggest that the nature
of you relationship with him

render you an unreliable witness.

They will not be believed,
but the public anatomising

of your relationship will not help him.

I say...

I have a friend...

in... Manchester.

He is founding a school
for the children of mill workers

and is looking for a teacher.
He would take my recommendation.

Why do you come to me with this?

So that you may do
what you think is best.

- I must go.
- Mr Delafiedl is a good man. I...

Well, as you said, I think it is

time we both moved on with our lives.

I saw Queenie this morning.

Says Twister don't remember
nothing about it.

Well, the children don't
look any the worse for it.

I'm sorry you had to suffer so.

I'm not. If it brought you here.

Don't say that!

Why not? It's true.

You don't know
how I feel for you, Laura.

I don't want you to feel for me.

I can't help it.

It's like breathing to me.

Well, then you must stop.

Stop breathing?

- I've a suspicion I'd die.
- Don't joke about it!

Please.

But you came back.

I'm your friend.

Only that?

Only?

Alf, I've known you longer
than I've known myself.

And you being my friend...

it's everything to me.

Not quite everything, eh?

I've got to go.

Dorcas!

How long have you been standing there?

When I sat next to you at the
penny reading, I thought to help,

to show that you had friends,
supporters.

But I have done you so much
more harm than good!

The gossip-mongers say that

I bore false witness on your
behalf because I...

- because of a fondness between us.
- They're right about half of that.

Tomorrow the Pratt sisters
will give me a letter

addressed to the school board.

It contains statements
that you have made.

Political statements.

It will cost you your job

and, if you fight it, your reputation.

Now there is another position,

teaching the children of
factory workers in Manchester.

- It's yours if you want it.
- By whose agency?

Sir Timothy was never one to stand by

- while spite carries the day.
- Sir Timothy?

You don't think
I've got the stomach for a fight?

I think you have no idea what
that fight would mean.

The spite of two bitter women.
Why should I care?

Why should you?!

Our affections do not exist in a vacuum!

The censure, the disgust
of those around us,

however undeserved,

will wear the best of us
down in the end.

So that's why it never happened
between you and him,

because he was too afraid
to marry below his class?

- You make it all sound very simple.
- It is simple.

I'm gonna stay. And I'm gonna fight.

But you will lose everything!

Your vocation, your passion,

- your purpose...
- I'd have you!

You will wake up one morning and

you will no longer recognise yourself.

And I would hate myself for it.

I can't... I can't presume to understand

the nature of the ties
that bind you here,

but I know that you of all people,
you deserve more than this!

You deserve more than what's left over!

You deserve everything.

You've held your breath long enough.

Burn this one.

I've come to say goodbye.

But I can't.

I mean, I go because you ask it of me.

But I would return for the same reason.

- Good day to you.
- Good morning.

A delivery has arrived
for Miss Midwinter.

I think she has another admirer.

They say a storm in Summer
clears the air

and leaves the world peaceful.

But there are some storms
that stir the world so about,

that when they have passed,

things can never be set back
quite as they were.

Thank you.

How can I help you?