All language subtitles for The pursuit of love E03

Coo-ee! Linda!

- Madame!
- Monsieur.

If you insist on going
back to the Gare du Nord,

let me drive you there at least.

I think you'll find it
quicker than walking.

Linda!

Linda?

Shush!

It's a shame.

- What's a shame?
- Hmm?

That you have to go before lunch.

My favourite brasserie
is on the next street.

One may as well go for lunch
if it's on the way, I suppose.

Ah!
Ah!

Leave it.
It was a terrible hat.

Shush!

Please stop screaming.
You're embarrassing me!

Come here.

What's all that about?
Ssh!

Now, madame, before I never
see you again, tell me the story.

What story?

Mm-mm, who left you to cry on
that little suitcase of yours?

I left him...

..my second husband, and I...

..I've left him forever because he's
fallen in love with another woman.

My dear, what a curious reason
for leaving your second husband.

Well, it was made so much worse
by her being a welfare worker.

- Why is that worse?
- Because she's such a good person.

Merci.

Surely with your experience
of husbands, you must have noticed

falling in love with other people
is one of the things they do, hmm?

Wives fall in love
with other people too.

Oui.

How many husbands
have you had?

Only two!

Combien?

In England,
I am considered a beauty!

Oui...

Linda was experiencing
an overwhelming physical sensation

like nothing
she'd known before.

I have certainly never seen anyone
so lovely climbing down a drainpipe.

She asked herself how, after only
five minutes of acquaintance,

she could yearn so desperately
to be in bed with this man.

Ah, it would be impossible
to be very unhappy here.

Come and see my apartment.

Oh, monsieur!

Eh?

Yes, well... I admit that
I have made great mistakes

but I see no reason for sliding
down the hill altogether.

Can you please just
take me to the station?

Oui, bien sur, but I fear you have
missed the last train for London.

Then, can... can you please
take me back to the hotel

and I will catch the first
London train tomorrow?

- To the hotel?
- Oui.

- Tres bien.
- Merci.

By all means.

She could see this man
was certain of the outcome

and so was she.

Perfectly certain.

Do you want to dance?

No, I want to keep chatting
and chatting and chatting.

- Chatting?
- Oui.

I adore chatting. It's one
of my favourite things to do.

Tell me a story.

I once read a story
about two English ladies seeing

the ghost of Marie Antoinette
sitting on a park bench.

- No?
- Yes, they saw her.

A ghost story made up by
some old, er, English virgins,

no, that's not interesting.

All right, thank you
very much!

- You tell me one then.
- Tr�s bien, and this is a true story.

Right.

My grandmother,
she was very beautiful

and she had many lovers
her whole life.

Just before she died,
she was in Venice with my mother,

floating up
some canal in a gondola,

when they saw an exquisite little
palazzo of pink marble.

- Mmm.
- An old servant showed them

into a salon with three windows

looking over the canal, but my
grandmother was strangely moved.

At last, she said,

- "If in the third drawer..."
- Mmm

"...of that bureau,
there is a filigree box..."

Right.

"containing a small gold key,
this house belongs to me."

Si, absolument.
And there it was.

One of my grandmother's lovers
had given it to her years before

and she had forgotten
all about it.

Oh, what fascinating lives
you foreigners do lead!

How badly your hair is done.

Oh!

- You don't like my clothes?
- No.

- Or my hair?
- No.

And you think
I'm bad at stories.

Oh, oui. Oui, madame.

So it's a very good thing I'm going
back to London tomorrow.

Oh, yes, I had forgotten.

What a pity.

She told herself again and again
that tomorrow after this,

she WOULD go back to London.

But she had no intention
of going back and she knew it.

Ah, thought I'd married
a bolter after all.

Alfred, no,
it's a terrible emergency!

Linda didn't come home
and I haven't seen her in so long

and I was so mean to her
when we argued and...

It wasn't actually anything about
her, it was all about me,

and now something awful's happened
to her and I might never see her again!

Oh, God!

Doesn't she have a habit
of falling on her feet?

No, we're best friends.

Alfred, she would have called me
if she were all right.

Oh, poor Linda,
she really is such an innocent.

Do you always laugh
when you make love?

- Don't most women?
- Ah, non, they do not.

More often they cry.

Hmm...

How extraordinary.

Don't they enjoy it?

While we're on the subject
of your private life...

Mmm.

- ..could one know your name?
- Haven't you discovered that?

Extraordinaire!

Well, my name is
Fabrice Sauveterre.

I'm happy to tell you
that I'm a very rich duke.

A most agreeable thing to be,
even in these days.

And are you married?

- Non.
- Why not?

My fiancee died.

Oh, how sad.

What was she like?

Very kind.

Kinder than me?

- Much kinder.
- Mmm.

Very correct.

More correct than me?

You, madame,
are not correct at all.

Hmm.

She was a very
virtuous woman.

Do you mean to say you never
went to bed with her?

Never.

Never would have crossed my mind
in a thousand years.

Goodness!

In England, we always do.

Ah, my dear, the animal side
of the English is well-known.

They are a drunken
and incontinent race.

Well, they say it's foreigners
who are all those things.

Are they?

French women are the most
virtuous in the world.

- Ah, non.
- Ah, si.

I must tell you that my mother
and one of my aunts

and one of my sisters and
my cousin are virtuous women,

so virtue is not
unknown in my family.

And anyway, Fabrice, what about your
grandmother and all those lovers?

Oh, yes, I admit,
she was a great sinner!

But she was also
a very great lady.

You can't be virtuous
and a sinner, I'm afraid.

Alfred, everything's always
one thing or the other with you!

You do? Where?

When? What time?

No, no, no, no,
Alfred can stay with the baby.

No, he won't mind
in the least.

Oh, dear God, David,
do you think she's all right?

Tres chic.

Merveilleuse!

We take it all, allez.

- You can't do that!
- Oui.

What would my mother say?

Oh, no, wait, it's perfect.

Even the swimming suit
which you won't be able to wear,

of course, because the beaches will
be battlegrounds, but we take it.

I prefer to sunbathe
naked anyway.

Linda wondered if
she was teetering on the edge

of being a kept woman...

..and decided she may as well
be hanged for a sheep as a lamb!

She was possessed by a calm
and happy fatalism.

The whole world was waiting
for the war to begin,

but this curious feeling did not
disturb her in the least.

She moved into an apartment
provided for her by Fabrice

and occupied the weeks
since she met him shopping,

lying in the sun and waiting
for him to come and visit her...

- Madame, voulez un masque?
- Bonjour, ca va?

We'll soon be at war,
madame.

Bonjour.

..which he did
every evening at seven.

Well, you DO look pretty!

Oh! Goodness!

Merlin... Davy...

..Fanny!

God, Linda, darling,
thank God you're still alive!

Well, of course
I'm still alive.

I've never seen anyone
more alive in my life.

Oh!

- Hello, darling.
- Hello.

- Are you in disguise?
- Oh, the spectacles?

I've got to wear them
when I go abroad.

I've got such kind eyes, you see,
beggars and things cluster round,

annoy me.

You don't seem
very pleased to see us.

How did you find out?

Do Ma and Fa know?

No, no, they still think
you're with Christian.

Oh, good.

You gave us a fright.

Another time,
you might send a postcard.

So wonderfully old-fashioned, the
parcels, the shopping, the flowers.

What an interest
you are in one's life!

Davy, don't tease!

The flat is a terrible joke.

I bet she's got a glass bath.

Yes.

I wouldn't be surprised
if she's got little goldfish

- swimming along the sides of it.
- You've looked!

The way Frenchmen keep
their mistresses

always follows
such a stereotypical plan.

There are a couple of things
that raise the level, though.

That Gauguin,
a couple of Cezannes.

Bit chintzy but, you know...

I suppose your protector
is very rich, is he?

Yes, he is.

Then might one ask
for a tiny cup of tea?

Well, come on then,
enlighten us.

Who is this
unimaginative Frenchman?

His name is Duc de Sauveterre.

Fabrice de Sauveterre?

Yes. You know him?

One forgets, under that look
of great sophistication,

what a little provincial
you really are.

Of course we know him
and all about him.

And what's more,
so does everyone else except you.

Fabrice de Sauveterre is
undoubtedly one of the most

wicked men in Europe!

Ha!

Do you remember in Venice one used
to see him out at work on that

gondola, one after another, bowling
the ladies over like rabbits!

- Fabrice de Sauveterre!
- Wow!

Please remember that you are
drinking his tea at the moment.

I know my pancreas
will pay for this,

but one's not in Paris
every day.

I think Fabrice has been shot at
more than any bachelor alive!

Oh, do shut up!

Come on, Mer, it's time the little
lady got into her negligee.

Goodbye, Linda. We're off to meet
our intellectual friends.

Do give our love to Fabrice.

I'll see you later, Fanny, dear.

Oh, darling!

Oh, no, gosh! Oh, no, I forgot to
call and tell you I was all right!

I'm so sorry.

Darling, I haven't slept for days.

That's not important now.

Let's just get you safe and home
and please, do not be scared.

Fanny, no, come and sit down,
let me explain.

Um... I don't want to be rescued.

I...

Oh, Fanny, I have been forced to the
conclusion that all Englishmen...

..are hopeless lovers.

Not at all. Alfred is wonderful.

Yes, of course.

Twice in my life I have mistaken
something else for love.

It's like seeing somebody
in the street you think is a friend

and you smile and wave and run after
them, but it's not the friend...

It's not even very like them.

And then, a few minutes later,
the real friend appears and...

What happened to
saving the world, Linda?

Because I must say, you got
very easily distracted.

I thought that you were
renouncing men forever?

I know, but I've never felt
anything like this before.

Yes, you have.

Linda, you might have called.

It's been heaven to see you,
darling, but...

..Fabrice is going to
be here any minute.

Could we chat all about it
at lunch tomorrow?

Oh...

Yes, of course.

Darling, I'm sorry.

I love you, Fanny.

Merlin was just here
with Fanny and Uncle Davey.

They say they know you.

Merlin, bien sur.

Oh...

Never let me go back to them!

But, my darling,
you love them.

Fran, Fanny, Jassy, Matt.

You're Fa's little favourite.

Fa is exactly the reason
why we all ran away.

He is so loathed abroad.

Matt and Jassy and I were all
hellbent on going there,

and then, of course,
it was enchanting

and full of people who don't look
and think like us.

Full of you.

Please never let me leave you
or Paris as long as I live.

The war is coming.
You will have to soon.

Couldn't I stay?

You may stay here for a time, but
when I ask you to leave, you must.

Even if you see no reason
for doing so.

All right.

Bien.

Bien.

Bon. Where will you go?

Home to the English lord
who loathes abroad?

No. No.

No, I shall go to my little
house in Chelsea.

And wait for you.

Ah, oui?

It might be months or years.

I shall wait.

I shall wait.

Sorry.

Davey and Merlin
stayed up too late.

I'm beginning to become aware
of the cruel pangs of dyspepsia.

I'm suffering from an ordinary,
straightforward hangover,

and so is Davey.

His eyes are not at all
kind today.

Not for a few days.
I returned from Biarritz.

You have seen Fabrice at all?

Well, I see him quite often
in Madame de Sauveterre's.

And when does the beautiful
Jacqueline return?

Oh, she's still in England.

She misses him dearly, but they
talk every day on the phone.

Who would have thought Fabrice
of all people would be so faithful?

I know!

My darling,
thank goodness I came.

Now, tell me,
where does he live?

Erm, with... with his
mother somewhere.

I don't know.

- Excuse me, sir.
- Madame.

I'm looking for the Duke de
Sauveterre's mother's apartment.

- Can you help? This is most urgent.
- Absolument. Je vais le chercher.

We'd better go in and find
Davey and Merlin. Let's go.

What?
No!

Can we just forget
that we ever heard this?

Don't be absurd. You have
to break it off with this man.

But I've never been
happier in my life.

We're all going to die
soon anyway.

Poor Merlin has the wrong kind.

Wrong kind of what?

Pill to take
when the Germans come.

He's got the sort
you give to dogs.

You really should go
to my doctor.

You take the white one first,
then you take the black one.

I must say, Linda's finally
fulfilled the promise of her youth.

Her reward for getting older
is a magical, haunting sadness

of which she is unaware, but which
speaks straight to the heart

and is the completion
of her beauty.

She's living as
a high class prostitute,

and damn the consequences.

Well, she's just his bit
on the side. She's sunk so low.

She thinks she's happy now, but
she's going to end up miserable.

One has to live
in the world as it is,

because society really
makes things beastly

for those
who disobey the rules.

Fanny, you really are most
dreadfully conventional.

We can't all experience the same
sort of domestic bliss

that you and...

You and...

- Alfred.
- Alfred.

..Alfred have achieved.

Some of us must protect
bohemia, irreverence.

Good on her.

The baby missed you terribly.

What about you?

What do you mean?

You go to work. Sometimes he
doesn't see you for days at a time.

Don't you worry he misses you
when you go to work?

I work, yes,
to provide for my family.

Oh, to provide for people.

To go off every day, read books,
write about them,

and then talk to other clever
people about them.

You're not making any sense.

I have to endure this endless
drudgery of housekeeping,

then getting overlooked at your
intellectual dinner parties.

The boring and repetitive
conversation of small children,

their absolute incapacity to
amuse themselves,

the sudden
terrifying illnesses.

Your not infrequent bouts
of moodiness,

your invariable complaints
at meals about the pudding...

Where has all this
come from?

- Are you happy?
- What do you mean?

Well, isn't that the point,
to be happy?

To be in love
and to be one's best self,

and then to be really
marvellously happy?

Well, when I married you, this
seemed to be the life you wanted.

- Well, this life was the only option.
- What?

Happily married
or unhappily married.

That's it, that's the choice
if you're a woman.

Or I suppose
you could be a bolter.

At least bolters
get to see the world.

- Are you losing your mind, Fanny?
- Yes!

Yes, Alfred. Yes.

Yes.

Joyeux anniversaire,
madame.

Wow.

No!

Not a French bulldog!

Hello.

Plon-Plon.

Plon-Plon? Oui, Plon-Plon.

Non, pour moi.

Pour moi.

My hat.

And my French bulldog.

Bien. The thing I feared
would happen has happened.

We must move very quickly.

Linda did not fully understand
that she was leaving

her happy life
behind her forever.

None of us fully understood.

At least you won't have to suffer
my complaints about the pudding.

Maybe the puddings will be
better in France.

Linda had gone back
to Cheney Walk to wait,

as she promised she would,
for a sign of Fabrice.

Month after endless month
she waited.

But no sign came.

I was very little in touch
with Linda during that time.

I had wanted to call her often, but
I hadn't quite known what to say.

Darling, I'm in agony
waiting for a sign of him.

She finally asked me
to come and see her.

She was desperate
about Fabrice,

who hadn't called or
written to her since Paris.

Franny, darling.

'Allo, 'allo.

I have been waiting
for you so long.

How nice, then.

Can I come
and see you now?

I have a taxi outside,
I shall be with you in two minutes.

Oui.

Did you come to join
General de Gaulle?

Oui.

I shall see him, of course.

But I came
on a private mission.

I came to tell you I love you.

You...

You never said that
to me in Paris.

I had said it
so often in my life.

I never said it
to you because...

..from the first moment...

..I knew this was as real
as the others were false.

It was like
recognising somebody.

Just...

I can't explain it,
I'm sorry.

I suppose religious people
sometimes feel like this.

Darling Linda, everything's
going to be all right.

I promise.

I figured it all out
on the train.

Obviously men
are a bit useless.

They'll never understand us,

and they'll never think
that they have to.

Luckily they're probably about to
get shot or bombed or something.

And then you can come
and live with me,

and we'll chat
and we'll have baths,

and we'll be our best selves
like we used to.

I am beginning to think this war's
such a wonderful opportunity

- for women like us.
- Bonjour, madame.

Ooh.

Finally, the brilliant Fanny
I've heard so much about.

It's Fabrice.

Hello.

My dear, tell me everything
about your life.

Will you please be so good
as to start with the Hans Cupboard?

- Hons' Cupboard.
- Hons' Cupboard.

S'il vous plait.

He's wonderful!

Isn't he?

Wonderful.

And he loves to chat!

He actually listens.

And he doesn't bore on about
making money or politics.

In books, girls like you will
always end up dead, Linda.

I was so worried.

Hello.

But you're not Madame Bovary
or Anna Karenina.

No.

Life isn't books.

In fact, you are the most incredibly
alive person I've ever met.

Oh, well, you know,
Fanny, I mean...

..someone should write
a book about me.

And give it the most
tremendously happy ending.

That's a good idea.

You shouldn't have.

I love Paris.

- Are you all right?
- Should we get out?

I think it's a siren.

Oh, no. No!

Bloody Germans.

The cloud of war that seemed
so little at first grew and grew

until it became a thick grey
blanket smothering the horizon.

That funny face you make
when you tie your tie.

Do you think we shall ever
live together again?

Of course we shall.

For years and years,
until I'm 90.

I have a very faithful nature.

But you weren't very faithful
to Jacqueline.

You know about her?

Mm-hm.

She was lovely.

I was immensely faithful to her,
and it lasted five years.

It always does with me, but...

..as I love you ten times more
than the others,

that will bring me to 90,

and by then, mon Dieu,
it will have become such a habit.

And when shall I
see you again?

I'll be back and forth.

I thought I heard a car.

Oui.

I must go.

Madame.

Au revoir.

The bad news got worse.

The cloud was now
a great horror of steel

rolling over France
towards England.

We all took refuge at Alconleigh
without Linda,

who hadn't been back
there for two years now,

and whose return
was much longed for.

The more the merrier.

It is so lovely...

Prepared for the invasion?
Ready to slay some Huns?

..Louisa's children.
It's like the old days.

The bombs were dropping thick
and fast on London now.

And Sadie begged me to try to fetch
Linda, who was worrying us all

by refusing to leave
Cheney Walk,

even for a breath of air,
in case Fabrice called again.

Gosh. Hello, Moira.

Goodness, you've grown up.

She's in the bathroom
being sick.

Oh, dear.

What's the puppy's name?

Plon-Plon, I think.

Is that French?

Daddy says the French
are terrible.

I expect he does.

Moira's going to America
this afternoon.

She's come to say goodbye.

I am her mother after all.

Daddy says we ought to fight with
the Germans, not against them.

Hm.

Daddy doesn't seem to be fighting
very much with anybody,

or against anybody, or at all,
as far as I can see.

Can you just stop playing
with the puppy for a minute

and just listen carefully
to what I'm saying?

I want you to know...

..that I don't approve of you
running away like this from England,

just as soon
as it's in trouble.

I think it most
dreadfully wrong.

I have to do
as I'm told, don't I?

But you'd much rather stay,
wouldn't you?

Oh, I don't think so.
There are air raids.

I'm in such a temper.

What do your children
think of air raids, Fanny?

I have to say,
they simply long for them.

Oh, that's a relief.

I thought perhaps it was
the whole generation.

Of course, it's not Moira's
fault entirely.

Pixie and Tony are frightened to
death. They're using her to escape.

You're only allowed
on those boats to America

if you've got a child in tow,
you know?

Fabrice bought this for me.

I was going to give it
to Moira.

Oh, but I can't bear to waste
anything so pretty

on the little coward.

I think I'll give her
that dreadful sports wristwatch

I got when I married
Tony instead.

Why are you always
so beastly to Moira?

Oh.

This baby won't be
in the least like Moira.

You'll see.

I thought you weren't supposed
to have another one.

Doctors, what do they know?
Of course I can.

I'm simply longing for it.

Oh, God.

This is ridiculous.

Sadie and Matthew
want you home, Linda.

Come back to Alconleigh.
You're ill.

No.

I'm having another one, too,
and so is Louisa.

Oh, I do call that nice.

They can be Hons together.

He knows to find me here.

You'll be killed, Linda!

And then he won't know
where to find you!

Or do you want to actually
die for love?

Maybe you think that's
romantic or something.

There are seven million
people in London, Fanny.

Do you really imagine they're all
killed every night?

Fetch me a glass of water,
please.

Can you just
open the door, Linda?

Not if you're going to try
and make me leave.

Why have I spent my whole life
worrying about you?

You are so incredibly selfish!

I do know I've been beastly
to Moira.

I think it was always
in the back of my mind

that I'd have to leave Tony
sooner or later.

I didn't want to get
too fond of Moira.

Or make her too fond of me.

She might become an anchor.

And I didn't dare let myself get
anchored to the Kroesigs.

Fanny...

..sometimes I don't think we're
born women at all.

It's like...

..your wings get clipped.

And then everyone's so surprised
when you don't know how to fly.

Fanny.

So I went back
to Alconleigh alone

to wait out the months
in the freezing countryside.

It was a time made infinitely
more difficult

by the surprise arrival
of my mother.

It was with incredible adventures
that we escaped the Riviera.

Thank God for Juan here,

my ruffian Spaniard,

without whom
I'd never have got out

of that ghastly
prison camp in Spain.

He's morose but ravishing,
don't you think?

He's sitting right next to you.
Don't worry about that, darling,

he doesn't understand
a word of English.

Oh, that's good.
Because I must tell you, Bolter,

I can't have a lot of
Dagos staying in the house.

You can stay as long as you like,
of course,

but I really
do draw the line at...

..Juan.

Can't turn him out
to starve, darling.

One must have human feeling.

Not towards Dagos.

You sure he can't
understand us?

He looks very unhappy.

Oh, quite sure.
And I speak no Spanish.

We are incapable
of verbal exchange.

- Why are you with him, then?
- Because we're engaged.

I thought you were still
married to the Major?

Do you know, I honestly
can't remember.

You all right, darling?

I just don't really approve of
people getting engaged

- when they're married.
- No, I know.

It's always good to line
yourself up with the next one

before you've got rid of the one
before, don't you think?

That's more
Linda's philosophy.

Is he all right?

The food, Sadie, it's the food.
The food is poisonous.

That's very rude,
given you've only just arrived.

Somebody had to say it.

I know it's the war, Sadie, but
I was sick for hours last night.

The day before,
Emily had frightful diarrhoea.

Fanny has that great big
spot on her nose.

Bolter's entirely right,
we're all being poisoned.

Bolter, please be more
ration conscious!

Darling, I'm going up to London
next week to get my wiggy washed

and I'll bring back a big huge
slab of it, I swear.

Don't pity me, Fanny.

I've had five months of perfect,
unalloyed happiness.

Very few people can say that in the
course of long lives, I imagine.

At ease. At ease.

I reckon we'll be able to hold
the Germans off for two hours,

possibly three,
before we're all killed.

Not bad for such
a little squad.

You look like a miller.

Why are you all
covered in... dust?

Did you get bombed?

Yes, I did, Fa.

And it's done me
no end of good.

Davey went into the business
room with Juan

and the Spanish dictionary, and our
whole lives have changed forever.

It turns out he was the cook
for some cardinal

before the civil war.
And he's been out in the woods

with a catapult, pickling
and preserving.

And already the store cupboard
is Aladdin's cave.

If I were the Bolter,
I should definitely marry him.

Well, knowing the Bolter,
I've no doubt she will.

You can talk.

At least Linda's doing her
bit for the war in Paris.

All you ever do is comfort crying
children, Fanny.

Did you get those lovely furs

when you were doing your bit
in Paris, Linda?

Isn't it wonderful what you can get
there on no money if you're clever?

What sort of war work
was it again, Linda?

She was providing comforts
for the French army.

Sometimes all night long.

Oh, that's exhausting.

Do stop it!

Oh, poor thing. You can see she
misses Christian terribly.

Where is he now? Cairo?

It does seem unfair.

Linda has this glorious
time in Paris

and comes back
with all these furs.

What do you and I get
for sticking our whole lives

with the same
dreary old husbands?

Three-quarter length
shorn lamb.

Don't be mean about husbands.

Feeling awfully guilty
about mine.

Who's going to look after
that baby, Fanny?

It's obvious you and I
will have to do it.

She'll forget about it
the moment it's born.

Psst!

Darling.

Darling, Fanny.

Psst.

What are you doing?

Hiding.

Of course, wild horses wouldn't
make me tell Sadie about Linda

and Sauveterre, but I do think when
we're all together

Linda might be a tiny bit jolly
and I'll keep running off.

We could be great friends,
she and I.

Well, there is
a selfishness to her.

I sometimes think I was made for
another planet altogether

and mistook the way.

Linda and I are greedy,
of course, darling,

but it is rotten to find yourself
involved with a fellow for life

just because he was the one
you met when you were 19.

Yes, but if you have a child
with that fellow,

don't you have a certain
responsibility to that child?

You can't bolt and keep hold
of the child.

Well, then,
shouldn't you stay?

Oh, darling Fanny.

Please don't never be greedy.

Don't think you have to be
good all the time.

Sometimes
being good kills you

just as painfully
as being bad can.

Oh, my goodness, they found me!
You found me!

You got me! Ow!

- We saw you from over there.
- No, you didn't.

- Yeah.
- I was hiding perfectly.

Oh, my goodness...

Oh, darling.

This letter came from Fabrice,
I think. I...

I've been looking and looking,
and I can't decipher a single word.

Isn't it torture?

Never mind.

Oh.

One day the telephone bell
will ring...

..and he'll be there.

I'm certain of it.

Why does your mother keep
winking at me?

And saying things like,

"Let's face it, dear, we're just
a couple of fallen women"?

I'm sorry, Fanny,
but I can't bear her.

Well, yes, but of everybody,
doesn't she seem happiest, though?

Maybe it's not all that terrible
to be a bolter in the end.

No, but, Fanny, she's ghastly
and ridiculous.

And I'm not a bolter!

No, of course not.

In fact, I've always thought of you
as an innocent.

Really?

Mm.

Thank you.

And I've always thought of you
as the most daring.

Yes.

Yes, yes.

Because I... I always ran away,
and you didn't.

It was the bravest thing
in the world to stay put.

And...

..I am lost without you.

I really am.

Fanny, it's... it's not here
that's home.

It's always been you.

Oh, and I need to go
and be sick.

I'm sorry, darling. I love sitting
here chatting with you.

Promise to still be here
when I get back!

Oh.

Alfred.

What are you doing here?

I had a day's leave and
I've come to see my wife.

Well, I was told
I would find her in a cupboard.

Yes.

Here I am.

- I'll get out, it's...
- No.

I'll join you.

What's this?

Oh. It's a diary I used
to keep when I was young.

May I?

You spent the whole time
ogling Linda?

Do you wish
you were Linda?

Because I for one am
very pleased you're not.

You see, that's just
not helpful.

I have this great need to be thought
of as sympathetic and pleasing.

I'm also this selfish person with
selfish thoughts and... desires.

Are you saying you want
to have an affair?

I know I can be preoccupied.
Truth is, I...

..sometimes feel I have to work
very hard to prove my value...

No, I don't want to have an affair.
I want to have...

Be a good wife to you, and a good
mother, and a good friend.

It's just hard when you feel
all twisted up, and jealous,

and scared, and resentful
all the time.

Because I know that I'm
a shy person,

but I've got this lion
inside of me.

Do you understand?

I'm trying very hard to.

God, I don't know.

I'm so very pleased
that you're not dead.

Sorry.

Ooh.

Alfred, you're so...

Oh.

Alfred, you couldn't do
that before.

- Alfred, your glasses are steamed up.
- Doesn't matter.

All this tweed.

Spring came with
extraordinary beauty,

and we waited impatiently
for our babies to be born.

The days and hours dragged by
again, like they used to

when we were young girls
waiting for our lives to begin.

What's the time,
darling?

Guess.

Half past twelve.

Better than that.
It's quarter to one.

Do you think if Fa had allowed us
to go to school, be clever

and accomplished like Fanny,
we'd have been quite

so desperate to escape
his clutches?

No. As it is, we're all good for
exactly nothing.

And if I hadn't run far away...

..I'd have never met Fabrice,

had my happy ending.

You should be the one to write
the love story, Fanny.

The one
with the happy ending.

And it'll sell millions of copies,
and I'll get filthy rich.

And Alfred will have to suffer
the indignity

of me paying for him
in restaurants.

If anything
should happen to me,

you will look after Plon-Plon,
won't you?

Such a comfort
to me all this time.

But she spoke idly,

as one who knows she will
live forever.

Louisa's baby, her sixth child,
was born in May, and we envied her

from the bottom of our hearts
for having got it over with.

I have an announcement
to make

regarding how we are to respond
to the imminent German invasion.

In the...

..inevitable event of my death,

there is one very, very
important job to be done.

Davey, I would like you to blow up
Juan's store cupboard, Aladdin.

What?

Now, I would ask Juan to
do it himself,

but the fact is, though I rather
like old Juan now,

once a foreigner,
always a foreigner.

Are you seriously asking me
to blow up Aladdin?

Matthew, you must be mad.

We can't reward the Germans
by feeding them from Aladdin!

Well, in my opinion, and speaking
on behalf of my absent siblings,

happiness only begins the day
one leaves this icy dark well

of a country and steps foot
on foreign soil,

and foreigners
are to be adored.

However, in this instance,
Fa is right.

We must stop at nothing to
defeat the Germans.

Fa...

..show me
how to blow up Aladdin.

That's my girl, Linda.
That's my girl!

And when you've
blown up Aladdin,

I want you to take down the
entrenching tool.

Like this, I'll show you.

You'll be well looked after, Linda.
Pregnant women always are.

I'll never be able to make them
understand about my insides.

I know Germans.

Will you stop talking about
your insides for once, Davey?

- I've wanted to use this for years.
- I must say, mine are feeling

- frightfully peculiar all of a sudden.
- Mine too.

Juan's poisoned us!

I always knew he would, all along.
He's turned against us.

Don't touch the food,
he's poisoned the lot of us.

Don't ruin my knickers!

Funny, I remember feeling just like
that every time the babies came.

On the 28th of May,
both our babies were born.

Both boys.

The doctors who said that Linda
ought never to have another child

were not such idiots after all.

It killed her.

She died, I think,
completely happy

and without having suffered
very much.

But for us at Alconleigh,
for her father and mother,

brothers and sisters,
for Davey and for Lord Merlin,

a light went out.

A great deal of joy
that could never be replaced.

At the same time
as Linda's death,

Fabrice was caught by the Gestapo
and subsequently shot.

He was a hero
of the Resistance,

and his name has become
a legend in France.

I have adopted little Fabrice
with the consent of Christian,

his legal father.

His eyes are the same as Linda's,
and he's a most beautiful

and enchanting child.

I love him quite as much and
perhaps more than I do my own.

Have you any interest
in seeing a witch?

I've brought one in my bag,
all the way from London.

Witchy-witchy-woo.

Witchy-witchy-woo.

Don't look scared at all.

You don't have to stand here
and humour me.

Beautiful child.

Poor Linda.

Poor little thing.

It's desperately sad.

But, Fanny, darling,
don't you think it's just as well?

The lives of women like Linda
and me aren't so much fun

when one begins
to get older.

Well, let's hope that in years to
come, these boys' granddaughters

can be more than just a bolter or a
sticker, or a Linda or a Fanny,

and decide who they are
irrespective of who they marry.

I do think that Linda
would've been happy with Fabrice.

He was the love of her life,
you know.

Darling,
one always thinks that.

Every, every time.

Well, one does.