Original subtitles

When Gabriel Cochrane of Fellwick

was evicted from his home and business,

it felt to the locals like a great injustice.

The cause of Gabriel's hardship was the merciless Mr. Steerforth,

for he was the cold hand and the calculating eye of the bank, who had foreclosed.

Expelled from the only life he had ever known,

rumour had it that Gabriel Cochrane took with him only two things...

A picture of his young wife, who had died only a year before,

and the keys to Fellwick Foundry.

Bereaved, homeless, penniless...

a man recently of wealth and standing was now cast adrift.

It must have felt like the end of his life.

In fact,

it was the beginning.

I heard that Mr. Steerforth has a tail and two horns.

- Does he really? - That's why he always wears a hat... and trousers.

Oh, Minnie, really.

That was merely a colourful turn of phrase.

Even the cruellest of financial institutions

does not commonly employ creatures from the netherworld. - Yes, Ma'am.

[SHE WHISPERS TO HIM]

Bankruptcy. Eviction. Ruin.

Quite a scandal.

His poor dear wife died so young.

So many sorrows in one short year.

We must consider how we might come to his aid.

I have always believed that an ounce of practical assistance

is worth a pound of sympathy.

Miss Ruby. Another letter from Pontefract.

Return to sender.

Miss Ruby, it has been some while now and, if I may say,

Mr. Dallas's persistence in writing to you perhaps shows...

What I mean is,

might it not be better to know what is in so many letters?

What I want, Miss Lane, is for you to return to Pontefr...

I mean, return to Lionel...

- Return to... - Sender?

Once again, Miss Lane, you have caused untold distress with your mission to meddle.

I only felt that I could help Miss Ruby.

Why do you suppose that every single soul who crosses your path

must be told how to live by the oracle that is Dorcas Lane?

Oh, Minnie, I fear I have made things worse for Miss Ruby.

Ma'am, you have. Ma'am, why do you meddle so?

Thieves!

Thieves! My chicken's been stole.

My best hen. You only have one hen, Twister.

Ain't that the creature there on the roof?

I have the courage to go up there after her,

but I don't have the courage to come back down.

She does this deliberate, to antagonise me.

She knows I can't abide rooftops.

- I'll fetch her for you, Twister. - Edmund... don't you go up there!

Suppose you fall. We need your wages.

His Pa ain't gone three weeks and that boy is off the leash.

He won't abide a word I say.

They call it "the awkward age".

Margaret and I have the self-same problem with Amelia-Cordelia.

Aren't you the mischievous one, aren't you?

Will that be my letter there, coming by special delivery?

That letter is for no-one.

She likes to be a part of things, so I write out a missive each morning

and put it in the Sorting Office to gratify her.

That's for you. Thank you. Come on, girl.

What news from Robert, Emma?

The best news.

Work's going well

and there's a Postal Order on its way to Candleford Post Office.

I shall bid them who is owed to form a line outside your door, Emma.

I will tell them not to bother.

Most of this will be going to Mrs. Herring, for rent arrears.

Tastes almost blessed after it's been raining, don't it?

Water is water.

A man who can't taste the rain in the well, tells you more about the man than it does the well.

That's perhaps understandable.

When there's circumstances such as yours, sir, word travels, even to Lark Rise.

People may know the circumstances, but do they know the cause?

Gabriel Cochrane.

I knew your pa,

back in the days when he was building up that Fellwick Foundry, from nought.

The sweat would shine on his brow.

And a righteous shine it were, an' all.

I honoured my father while he was alive, I will honour him again now.

I will be restored to my rightful place.

I ain't no more than a beekeeping wife, sir, but seems to me

taking on such as banks is like taking your fists against the sky.

I will not rest until justice has been done.

They've taken your home and your business, Mr. Cochrane.

Be careful they don't take your soul.

I am grateful for your water.

Ain't my water to give, sir.

Water is free on God's Earth, as long as the rain falls. Always will be.

Ladies, this is indeed most Christian of you.

"Little children, let us love, neither in word, nor with the tongue, but in deed and truth".

It is sincerely moving that you should devote your spare time to collecting for those in need.

We are ever mindful of those heathens who run naked in foreign parts.

- Lark Rise? - Those heathens, Miss Pearl, at least show bodily modesty.

Thomas! Our neighbours are not heathens.

Faith abounds amongst their dirty faces.

Our cause, ladies,

was inspired by a picture we saw

in the Christian Herald.

It is deeply distressing that they have no garments whatsoever,

though one does admire their skin,

the very colour of liquorice.

Liquorice?

Er, imagine the gratitude of our distant brethren.

Oh, I am so sorry, Miss Pratt. I did not mean to add to your sister's woe.

Does Pontefract agonise her still?

Since the day of her return from Pontefract, the topic is forbidden.

I live in hope that it may pass, but that wretched man

persists in writing to her. Letters full of contrition, no doubt.

I do hope their return stings him as much as he deserves.

I've been thinking all day, do I love Alfie more than he loves me or does he love me more than I love him?

What does it matter, so long as we love each other?

Well, that's what I decided, only, it took me peeling three bowls of potatoes before I knew it.

There are regulations.

- I cannot disregard them simply because you are my brother. - What is the problem, Laura?

Little Annie is sick, Ma'am, so mama isn't able to come over to sign the Postal Order.

Oh. I see.

I have seen how worried your mother has been about money of late.

I expect more waiting will only add to her distress.

If we can find a way to provide now what is, after all, hers...

But, Ma'am, you've always taught me we must hold strictly to regulations.

Yes. It's true.

And they will be adhered to.

But suppose we simply shuffle the sequence of events,

in order to release the money tonight.

The order will be signed soon enough.

And no harm will be done.

Now, Edmund,

how would you like some gingerbread to fortify you for the journey home?

I don't like my pa being away.

I wish he would come back.

He will, Laura.

Of course he will, when there's work here for him again.

My ma ain't quite my ma without him. She...

I don't know how to describe it.

She falters.

Ah, course she does.

All women do without a man to steer them.

Daniel Parish!

Mr. Parish?

Gabriel Cochrane.

Mr. Cochrane, I was intending to seek you out today.

I am here to implore you to write about the injustice of my predicament.

Sir, forgive me.

You took out a loan from the bank and you failed to repay it.

You will have to explain the injustice to me.

Nicholas Steerforth came to me, sought me out, tempting me with a loan I did not want.

He insisted that expansion was the only means of survival.

His intention was to entice me...

Enticement is not a crime, sir.

- I understand your despair but... - I refused his oily offers.

But he returned when my wife was sick.

I was glad of the money then, it would tide us over, until she...

But Liza grew worse.

It was a struggle, I lost orders...

Surely, if you explained your circumstances to the bank?

When Liza died...

...I could not keep up the payments, so I asked the bank for a further loan.

Steerforth had led me to believe that I could borrow more in order to restore my fortunes. He refused.

Mr. Steerforth wished to benefit from your misfortune?

Are you claiming, sir, this man drew you into a trap?

Mr. Cochrane, you must appoint a solicitor.

I cannot afford one, yet.

So, first, I need the truth to be told.

Will you write it, Mr. Parish?

I am making a special effort with your collars, Daniel.

I was not satisfied with last week's efforts.

A crisp collar is the mark of a man of distinction, I always say.

Thank you, Miss Pearl.

Aren't you going out this evening, Mr. Parish?

Laura is writing to her pa.

I thought I might work on my article about the demise of the foundry.

A frightful business. What sort of world is it

when a handed-down concern is swallowed whole by the banks?

That is exactly the question my leader will ask.

Yes, well, admiring crisp collars will not get such a high-minded article written, will it?

My thoughts precisely, Miss Ruby.

Anyone would think

that a newspaper proprietor would reach beyond lodgings.

Daniel enjoys the company. We all do.

What he enjoys, it seems to me,

is an unceasing supply of steaming puddings and clean underwear.

Ruby, I do believe Pontefract has entirely poisoned your mind.

It occurred to me that, since you two have a family business,

I might prize a quotation from you to include in my article.

Dear boy, sit down, sit down.

Shall we have a tipple of sherry, as we discuss?

Ma'am, I thought you would wish to know right away.

Ma'am, it is Edmund. It is terrible.

- What is it, Laura? - Ma'am, Edmund's been robbed.

He was attacked as he was going out of the town. - Robbed?

The money from the Postal Order?

- They took all of it. - Oh, how dreadful.

We must call for the Constable.

Did you see your attackers, Edmund?

He was struck from behind. Two men.

Oh, well, I am relieved to see you're not cut or bruised, Edmund.

Laura, take my carriage.

You must get Edmund home.

And it will be better for your mother to hear this from you.

Oh, Emma.

I hardly dare consider what this might do to her.

Do you realise what this means?

- I will send a telegram to Pa in the morning. - You will do no such thing.

Robert has laboured near on a month to earn that money.

What would it do to him to know it's lost?

It ain't lost. It's took.

Your pa must never know about this.

Never.

I will not do that to him.

Neighbours won't see you go hungry, Emma. You know that.

Won't see you break your back in the field, while Annie's still a babe, neither.

There will always be food of sorts.

But didn't I borrow from the innkeeper, with the promise there was money on the way?

Ain't the landlady had enough of my empty purse? Let me see.

Get yourself to bed. You have work tomorrow.

Ma, Edmund feels so badly about what happened.

I ain't blaming Edmund.

The fault is mine, for sending the boy to collect the money.

The blame is Robert's, for being away.

Yet, who sent him to Oxford?

And what about Emma Timmins,

wanting to have children we can't afford to keep?

How far back do we go looking for the responsibility in this?

It ain't who's to blame will keep me awake tonight,

it's how we shall manage.

Ma'am, you aren't sleeping, are you?

No, Minnie. I can't even close my eyes tonight.

Ma'am, it's because you're afraid of robbers, ain't it? No, Minnie.

My anxieties lie closer to home.

If I had not insisted that Edmund take the money,

then none of this would have happened.

Miss Pearl is right when she says I cause untold distress with my mission to meddle.

It is time I put a stop to this, before I do even worse damage.

From now on,

I will live

and let live.

Minnie, you are my witness.

Whatever might befall my neighbours,

I will not interfere.

Ma'am, I think that will be ever so difficult. For you.

Alfie, what's going on?

Half the hamlet's going over to Candleford.

Lordy, what is the purpose of that? They reckon Candleford's to blame.

It was their robbers what took your hard-earned money. Can you stop them, Alfie?

Things is bad enough.

We should leave this to the Constable.

Emma, I was hoping you might let me speak to Edmund.

He's away to work early. Speak to him what about?

Perhaps just learn some more about, y'know, what happened.

We all know what happened.

He was pushed over.

We all respect Edmund, plenty enough. Of course we do.

Only... Two robbers?

Ain't got no faces to be seen?

I ain't never heard the likes of such bandits round here.

It sounds more like one of them adventure tales Edmund is so fond of...

Do you realise what you're saying? I ain't accusing no-one of nothing. I'm only wondering.

My boy knows well enough how hard his pa has worked

to earn that money.

He knows what it means to our house, to all of us. We need that money.

And you think he could what?

I ain't saying he took the money.

I always stood by your family.

Ain't it your ma who is in prison, Alf Arless?

We Timmins never once shunned you,

turned on you, blamed you.

Emma, I will head over to Candleford.

I will find who stole your money.

And I shan't rest until I do.

So he is intent on remaining in Candleford, until such a time

as he can mount a case against Steerforth and the bank.

It is a tragedy and a disgrace and a pitiable, piteous, pitiful deprivation.

Miss Lane, I have had the most splendid of notions.

You must offer Gabriel Cochrane work at the forge. I...

Perhaps on this occasion, it might not be in his best interest.

Mr. Cochrane is a man of such standing, it would be belittling to him for me to offer him employment.

When I spoke with him yesterday, he looked the very shadow of a man.

If ever a man deserved countenance.

Though it is not for me to say, Miss Lane, if you should...

or if you shouldn't.

Charity must be freely given.

Miss Lane has forsworn putting her nose in where it don't belong.

Thank you, Minnie(!)

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels

"and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal".

I am resolute in this, I will not consider even speaking

with Mr. Cochrane.

Miss Lane.

Mr. Cochrane.

I am sorry to hear of your current misfortune.

Your sympathy is appreciated.

Your consideration would benefit me better. I am seeking employment.

It's been some while since I worked with my hands,

but I do believe that I have not forgot the skills that my father taught me.

[BROWN COUGHS KNOWINGLY]

Postman Brown, I am sure there are tasks waiting for you in the Sorting Office. Yes, Ma'am.

I trust you mean for me to take you on on a temporary basis?

You must hope to be restored to your rightful position?

I do not hope, Miss Lane. I intend to.

Well...my apprentices have made little progress since Matthew left us.

Perhaps your main task might be to teach the boys some of your renowned gifts?

I will be glad to pass on what I know.

There is accommodation over the forge.

Mr. Cochrane, I feel I must make you aware...

..Mr. Steerforth is residing at the Golden Lion Hotel, which is right at the bottom of the street.

You might pay him the regard of warning him that he will be best served by staying away from me.

You look to me like a man in need of a hearty meal.

We are about to breakfast, which is just about the most important business we do at the Post Office.

Please...join us.

Sir, may I be the first to offer you...

well, perhaps not the first, but one of the first...

May we all here offer you our sincerest sympathies in these times of cruel fortune.

May we say, your fortitude is most lionhearted.

Everyone is aware, sir, how cruelly and unjustly you've been treated

at...such a time.

If ever there was an ungodly institution, it is the bank.

How is your herrings, sir?

I don't believe I've ever tasted better.

You deserve the best, sir, because even though you are nobody now, like the rest of us, you were somebody.

Not all of us are nobody. Miss Lane is still somebody. She has the Post Office. Thank you, Minnie(!)

Please do not stare so, Sydney.

My son is not used to a man at our table.

Apart from Thomas Brown, of course,

except that you don't count, Thomas, because you are familiar to us.

Sir, what is it like when your wife dies?

(Minnie!)

It's, erm, like a dream.

It's not real, it can't possibly be happening.

A great, empty numbness takes hold of you and when that passes and the realisation comes it is...

..too much.

I believed that we were at the beginning of our lives together.

To think we are at the end...

..I cannot accept that.

Thank you for asking, Minnie.

No-one has ever asked me.

It feels good, saying it.

You must have loved her truly, sir.

I still do.

Let me tell you,

what you have - each other -

never let a day pass when you don't cherish it.

I used to sit like you are now, watching my father working.

You can learn by watching.

I was hypnotised by his hands. Big, scarred, burned,

he could never get them clean.

My pa could make a piece of metal do whatever he wanted it to.

It was like alchemy.

You know what alchemy is?

It's a kind of magic,

changing one thing into another.

He knew he was gifted,

but he also knew that that was not enough.

He worked hard, harder than any man I know.

That was the true alchemy.

He started with nothing,

but his tools, his talents

and his efforts.

And he created Cochrane and Son.

He put that sign up, "...and Son"

before I was born.

He had faith that life would go as he planned.

Think you can hold this still, while I show it who is master?

Yes.

Come on, do it.

Bash that. Watch your eyes.

Ma'am, he is a man man, isn't he?

If by that you mean Mr. Cochrane is manly,

yes, he has a certain presence about him.

Men are better when they're men, aren't they, ma'am?

There is an advantage to a woman's eye when a man has a certain...

potency about him, yes.

Do you like men who are men, ma'am?

I am a woman. Do you like Mr. Cochrane, ma'am?

This conversation has gone far enough.

Sometimes you forget the bounds of your station.

But don't you think he'll want a new wife, ma'am? Minnie, that is enough.

Mr. Cochrane is still grieving his loss.

You must not think such thoughts and you must certainly never mention such insensitivities.

Keep to your place, girl.

Yes, ma'am.

Miss Lane. Mr. Steerforth. I wish to send a telegram.

That is what we are here for, sir.

But first, I wish to ascertain that you can be trusted in this matter.

Sir, I am employed by Her Majesty the Queen.

She seems to trust me.

I have signed the pledge before our Squire

and he seemed to find me honourable enough.

I notice that you have Mr. Cochrane in your employ.

And I am glad of it.

He is a fine craftsman.

I sincerely hope you do not have cause to regret your generosity.

Of course, if you would prefer to travel to Inglestone,

I can assure you their Post Office is without blemish.

These are vital matters of banking business.

And they will be treated with the same respect

that is shown to a message sent from a house maid

telling her mother she will soon be home. That is - utmost respect.

Three and sixpence... Please.

As soon as you receive a reply, I can be found at the Golden Lion.

Good day to you, sir.

Ma'am, did you notice how he kept his hat on. And how baggy his trousers were!

And he had cold eyes.

Unhumanly eyes. I seen 'em myself.

What did Mr. Steerforth say?

Oh, Ma'am, he had such a voice, horrid as an undertaker.

Oh, undertaker. Did I say undertaker? I didn't mean undertaker.

Minnie. I would never say undertaker to you, Miss Ruby.

We all know it was an undertaker who cast you aside so cruelly.

SHE BURSTS INTO TEARS

Mr. Pontefract must have hurt your sister terrible, Miss Pearl.

Minnie. Leave now. And do not return until you can manage your tongue.

Tell your sister I will never say undertaker again.

MELODRAMATIC SOBS >

Minnie. Go.

But, ma'am, when Miss Ruby went to Pontefract, she was happy ever after. She was.

But, if her undertaker was in love with her,

then...how can it stop?

Human frailty. What is that?

We all want life to be simple,

relationships to be enchanted.

But then along comes human frailty and,

before we know it, all is lost.

Ma'am, where does human frailty come from?

Who knows. The past?

The darkest corners of the human soul?

It simply creeps up on us.

Minnie, is there any water in that kettle?

Oh. I did pour it in there. I don't know where it's gone.

What are you all doing here? That's Candleford thieves robbed young Edmund.

Candleford must answer for the doing of it.

We know that Cabbage Patterson ain't minded to do much,

so we thought we might ask who might have seen something,

or perhaps heard a tale of who might be spending too much.

We just want to find the money.

Perhaps put a notice in the Post Office,

explaining that it was a man's wages and his family needs it.

Alfie, I have a question for you. How many hours in a day?

24.

So how many hours is one and a half days?

It's 39 - I asked Miss Lane this morning.

So that's 39 since I last kissed you. No, since you kissed me.

Minnie, there's more to this world than romance and kisses and 39.

I know there is. There is human frailty. Is that what you have?

Human what? It creeps up on us and all is lost.

Emma, I spoke to the Constable myself first thing this morning and there is no news, I'm afraid.

I ain't come to see the Constable. I'm here to sign the Postal Order you cashed. Oh, yes. Of course.

Where is it?

Thomas? I left a Postal Order here.

All Postal Orders, Ma'am, are dispatched daily,

as per Headquarters Commandments, as per I always do.

But this one was not signed.

That is not possible, Miss Lane.

All Postal Orders are signed as they are cashed.

This one was an exception -

under my own personal instructions.

You have sent it off?

Oh, heavens. Unsigned?

I have never known such reckless disregard...

Will you be in terrible trouble, Dorcas? I am the cause of this.

Headquarters are notoriously unforgiving in all matters of transgression.

The Post Office is the guardian of vast sums of money,

so every outpost must be impeccably innocent.

It is a mistake. No more.

I volunteered to cash the Postal Order.

I am responsible.

Edmund.

Come and sit with me.

Look at me.

Head up, come on, look at your ma.

Edmund, I cannot bear doubting my own son...

..especially in a matter such as this.

I push the thought of it away.

Just the possibility of it pains me.

But the uncertainty keeps returning...

..so I must put it to rest.

You would not lie to me. I know it.

You would not put your family through such torment...would you?

It was an accident.

I'm sorry, Ma.

Tell me what happened.

CHURCH BELLS CHIME

You're setting out early this morning, Miss Lane.

Whenever I have unpleasant business to do, I try to go to it, before resistance sets in.

And yet, I see that you are hesitating.

Oh... Am I so obvious?

It's true, Mr Cochrane.

I am full of trepidation.

My wish is to go to headquarters

and admit to an unsigned Postal Order before they even discover it.

Yet I fear if there is a fuss about this,

if this business of the robbery comes to light in Oxford,

then Mr Timmins will learn of his family's plight, and...

they do not wish that to happen.

Well, then wait.

Wait for what? Headquarters might not be as diligent as you suppose.

The unsigned Order might not be noticed.

But I will be covering over a wrong, and that does not sit easily with my conscience.

You knew that the mere bending of procedures was the morally proper thing to do.

Why must such a well-meant kindness gnaw so fiercely at your conscience now?

I take it you have an answer to your own question.

I suspect everyone at headquarters knows

what an honourable and trustworthy postmistress Dorcas Lane is.

You will not need to prove your innocence to them.

It is as though you must prove it to yourself.

As though you must punish yourself for the good you have done.

Shall I stand down the horse?

Please. Yes.

Thank you, Mr Cochrane.

Gabriel, please.

Gabriel. And...

may I thank you for showing such kindness to my son?

Especially given your loss.

I know how it feels to believe that all hope of a family is gone.

Alfie!

I cannot fathom it. Mrs Herring has walked right passed my door without asking for the rent.

I brought you some potatoes, Emma.

Nothing fills a belly like 'em.

Alf Arless, what have you done?

Your rent is paid, Emma.

Least, some of the arrears is.

Where can you find the money to pay my rent?

You can hardly afford your own.

Oh, Lord... You've given her your own rent money, haven't you?

Mrs Herring has allowed me to have some arrears.

Least you have some time before Robert can send some more money.

I will not let you. Bread, Emma.

Twister is fetching coals.

I can't let you.

The likes of robbers and ne'er-do-wells in't going to see

good folks brought down by their greed and selfishness.

That's kind of you. I am grateful.

Thank you.

Human frailty?

Alfie has it. It crept up on him.

He snapped at me and he looked at me sorely.

You have to help me stop it or all will be lost.

What has put such ideas into your head?

Miss Lane said folks in love can be overtook then hearts is broke and...

return to senderer. Oh, you know such things, Queenie.

What should I say, or do, or...?

Should I see him more? Or should I see him less?

Should I declare how much I love him, or will that make things worse?

Child, hold hard.

Courtships are full of snapping and sore looks.

It don't mean that love is lost. No,

Alfie has human frailty. I saw it.

I'm going to lose him.

Well, now, as it happens, I do have a remedy for human frailty.

You get Alfie to drink some of this.

I knew you would save me, Queenie.

DOOR OPENS AND SHUTS

That weren't nothing than a drop of leftover mead.

I know it. You know it.

She don't know it.

Some folks got neither logic, nor reason, nor sense, nor sanity.

DOOR OPENS

Who goes there? No-one goes there.

Twister, come to bed.

You'll wake the whole hamlet with your, "Who goes there?" Who goes there?

Twister, you can't stand out here all night.

What are you thinking?

If they can rob a boy on the lane, who knows what they might do?

There in't a home that's safe unguarded.

I have tried telling him, Emma.

But he has it fixed in his mind there is danger lurking.

His whole body is infected with the fear of it.

I in't afraid.

Them robbers only need so much as peep from the shadows

and I'll pike their bellies wide open.

Please, it's raining.

Can't you go back to bed?

I can't bear the thought of fear keeping you from your sleep. TWIGS CRACK

Who goes there? It's only me, Twister.

- God, there in't a dog that'll get so much as a minute's sleep tonight.

- Emma! - Sssh!

I thought I might take my shovel to your garden tomorrow.

Edmund will tend the garden while his pa is away.

I'm only offering. I don't want your help.

None of you.

Why can't you leave us be?

That's only what neighbours do, Emma.

We don't need your kindness.

We are Timminses. We will outlive these difficulties by our own means.

THUNDER RUMBLES Let us be.

Do you hear me? Let us alone.

Mr Steerforth, you asked me to deliver your telegram as soon as it arrived.

Are you aware of what is in here?

It is written in my own hand.

How could I not be?

Have you told Mr Cochrane that I intend to put his property up for auction?

Apart from the fact that I am bound by Post Office regulations,

I have learned at some cost

that it does not always pay to interfere in the affairs of others.

He will know soon enough, I suppose.

I know what you think of me, Miss Lane.

That I'm a cruel, heartless moneylender,

cunning and devious to the core.

A loan was provided to Mr Cochrane strictly for the purpose of improving his business.

How did he spend it? On his wife.

Champagne in Paris.

The most expensive clothes emporiums Rome could offer.

Sampling the finest food of Venice.

There was a reason for this.

I don't doubt that you know it.

His testimony to the bank was that he wanted the money for his business.

He also claimed that was how he spent the borrowed funds.

He jeopardised his own enterprise.

Can you not pity the man?

He has my pity.

I recognise his distress.

My own wife died.

And it took its toll.

But then I turned my attention to my duties and my responsibilities.

I imagine that you have suffered loss, Miss Lane.

Did you let it ruin you?

It did not drive you to...

The bank cannot place its trust in a man of unsound mind.

The foundry has a future.

Gabriel Cochrane does not.

You are a sterling example to us all, Mr Cochrane.

If one of us can be bullied by the coupon clippers, then we are all at risk.

You are daily in our prayers, sir.

If you could pass on the nature of my predicament to your customers,

your neighbours, I would be in your debt.

We are by your side, sir. We are your foot soldiers as you champion the moral cause of the wronged.

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

Ma'am.

I would like to withdraw my savings.

All of it?

I understand, Laura. Leave the book with me.

KNOCK ON DOOR

DOOR OPENS

Miss Lane.

It seems that I have offended you.

Did I overstep the mark?

I would not wish to take for granted your kindness.

Can I tempt you to try some smoked salmon, Mr Cochrane?

It comes all the way from Scotland.

I have a terrible weakness for indulgences.

I have to be careful not to overdo it.

What is it, Dorcas?

What is troubling you?

I delivered a message to Mr Steerforth today

and he told me that the signs will be going up this morning.

Your home and business are to be auctioned.

When? Immediately.

His haste only proves his guilt.

He is determined to allow me no time to mount a case against him.

That is not all that Steerforth told you.

Ma'am, I have a remedy for human frailty. Mrs Turrill has a cure for everything.

Minnie, go up and make my bed. I've already made up your bed today, ma'am.

Then go and make it up again.

May I ask what you intend to do?

If there is to be an auction, then I will turn it to my advantage.

I will encourage everyone hereabouts to attend,

and I will use it as a platform to expose Steerforth as the crook that he is.

You believe that I am wrong to do so.

BELL OVER DOOR JANGLES

I am not sure that it is wise or helpful

for me to have an opinion.

But you do. I can see it in your face. KNOCK ON DOOR

Miss Lane, can you come into the Post Office, please?

Surely whatever it is can wait, Laura?

Miss Ruby's received another letter... Miss Lane...

I cannot bear it for one more day.

I must...divest myself.

I have broken his heart into a thousand little pieces.

I wanted...

to be grateful, but...

I would find fault where there was none,

punish him with stinging looks, cut him off for days.

But there must have been a reason.

If you missed your home... Perhaps if you had come for a visit?

No, I knew that if I came back here at all I would not have returned.

And so I felt trapped.

I saw his face...

..crushed by every blow I inflicted upon him, and it made me shrink from him all the more.

You cannot make yourself love someone.

I did want...to love him.

Perhaps your behaviour towards Mr Dallas was because

you could not bear to admit it even to yourself.

Miss Lane...

..there are times when I feel you know me better than I know myself.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate your willingness to... To meddle?

RUBY LAUGHS

And I cannot begin to tell you how you have helped me, Miss Ruby.

Why not open the letter? I cannot face his suffering.

But you already torment yourself with it every day.

Isn't it time you let him have his day?

Mmm.

I came home because I so longed for the comfort I know best.

I will open it with my sister.

Of course.

DOOR OPENS

Oh, Daniel, dear boy, you work too hard.

What you need is to soak your feet and soothe your brow.

Pearl, I've been waiting...

Can it wait, dear Ruby? As you can see, I'm ensconced.

Suet, Daniel, or Pearl's pearl barley broth?

Erm... Suet. I knew it.

Let us continue our discussion while I chop the kidneys. It matters not...

Nothing's so very important.

Not at all.

I shan't take it.

I don't want my daughter's savings.

It makes no sense. I cannot bear the kindness, do you hear me?

It's too much.

All of it.

I don't deserve...

I mean, I do not want folks to...

Edmund was not robbed.

You knew that. Oh, Laura.

The boy had a pocket full of money

and it went to his head.

He said he felt like a man.

Kind of a giddy feeling that the sight of money can give you.

He lost his bearings,

went into the inn. Two beers,

came home through the woods.

By the time he reached the lane he realised the money was no longer in his pocket.

I have deceived every one of those whose only wish was to stand by me.

I've no more than stolen their money,

their food, their coals...

Whatever shall I do?

I found a scrap of brass.

I hope you don't mind. It will make quite a sound.

It is beautiful.

My father used to get me to make them when I was a boy, to practise my skills.

And what has inspired you to make one now?

Most people believe that a bell is a religious instrument to call the congregation.

My family have made many bells for farmers.

They would stand over the barn to call the workers from the fields.

But the first bells...

the very first bells...

they were to ward off evil spirits.

A bell is a weapon.

I take it then that you are intent on...

using this weapon?

I shall be heard.

Gabriel,

what can be gained by disrupting the auction?

I realise my cause is lost.

I have no case in law.

If I cannot regain what has been taken from me,

then Steerforth shall at least be publicly disgraced.

Gabriel, I plead with you to consider.

I have nothing more to lose.

But your good name, your reputation!

The bank has taken away your position and your home.

If you go through with this,

you will be throwing away your whole life. My life...

..is gone.

Gabriel, why did your business collapse?

What happened to the money that the bank loaned to you?

You are not angry at Mr Steerforth.

You are angry at yourself.

You are hell-bent on ruin. Why? BELL JANGLES

Gabriel, you spent the money on your wife.

That is understandable.

Please, listen to me!

RINGING STOPS

Your wife...

..that is the real loss.

That is what you want to rail against.

Your wife is gone.

And you cannot have her back.

Why can you not admit that?

Ma, he's gone, Mr Cochrane has gone.

Gentlemen. Thank you for coming today.

Please take as long as you need to examine the premises.

We will begin only when you are ready.

It was as though I was possessed by my own shadow.

My thinking was not my own. I knew only one thing - blame.

Blame Steerforth. Blame the bank.

Blame the brutal fall of fate.

It was as though this thinking had a life of its own.

The only relief from this torment of rage was vengeance.

I was unreachable, I know that now.

But you stepped back from the precipice.

Perhaps at heart you always wanted to survive.

To recover.

For all your clanging of the bell, some part of you heard a human plea.

I am grateful for your intervention, Dorcas.

But your words were not what pulled me back from self-ruin.

It was coming back here,

seeing my home.

It was as though my wife spoke to me.

Soothing me, telling me..

to live...

to surrender.

None of this matters.

All that endures is my love for Liza.

Your dedication to love is...

most moving, Mr Cochrane.

Gabriel.

What...

What will you do now?

I need employment.

And I can think of no better place to begin my life again

than the Candleford Forge.

Will you have me?

'Human frailty, the locals claimed,

'could make the best of us do things that were out of character.

'However well-intentioned, we might deceive our neighbours.

'Or we might deceive our family.'

'My darling Robert, thank you for the money you've sent.

'It has lifted our spirits here in the End House.

'We are truly grateful,

'and appreciate the sacrifice you are making for us.'

'Gabriel Cochrane came to Candleford to start a new life.

'But the ghosts of his old life

'were not done with him yet.'

Kind friends, the time has come for our Candleford Poetry Competition.

Daniel says almost every girl is writing feverishly.

Everyone knows Laura will walk away with the prize.

You're going to win because Daniel loves you.

All I have heard you talk of this past week is winning.

Where's the poetry in that?

Miss Lane. Certain of your staff have been noticed indulging in uncalled-for intimacies.

There is something untoward about that man

and I intend to unravel him.

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