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- That's the "before" picture. - Oh! Looks rather desolate.

- It's isolated, if that's what you mean. - And the "after"?

- What? - What it looks like after the work?

- I haven't taken an "after". - Oh

well it was Peter's camera.

Oh, my clear! You could always buy another one.

I've got very prickly, haven't I?

- Not really. - That means I have.

Well, I don't mean it, not with you.

Prickles are useful sometimes.

Now I'm a single woman, I'm always having to resist passes.

Lucky old you! I've been lusting after one of the window cleaners

never gives me a flick of his chamois.

I might make a pass at Norah next time you're out of the room.

I thought I might sidle over for a quick cuddle!

Go and get the coffee, you lecherous owl!

He already has, I take it?

Not really.

We were all single women once, love.

I know, madge, but it's different. When you and I were young...

- Thank you. - Younger?

People made passes, of course they did,

but we weren't fair game then.

An unattached woman of 35 is fair game.

If I go to the theater with someone and reject a heavy pass he feels cheated

because I know what I'm doing, you see.

I've just broken up with my fellow, so I'm expected to be Randy.

Which, god knows, I am often.

And then living with Peter, well... Naturally, I developed defenses.

- Yes. - They were only defenses against him.

Now we're broken up, I feel all... soft and exposed.

Like a little unshelled crab. Delicious!

You're really going to live in the cottage?

- I'm landed with it. - Sell it.

- I don't want to. - Then you're not landed with it.

I don't want it. I don't want to sell it. I'm sorry. I know that's silly.

- Why couldn't Peter have kept it...? - He didn't want it.

- Well, you said you didn't. - I hate waste.

That's what kept Peter and me going for so long. I wouldn't cut my losses

and say, "that's five years of my life down the drain."

So I kept working at it.

And after eight years...

He cut his losses.

And it's such a waste.

Oh, blast.

Oh, blast!

I'm sorry. I cry very easily nowadays.

But I stop very easily.

There. Now I've stopped.

Let's talk about... anything. The cottage.

I'm not sure what there is to say about it.

It's there, that's the most obvious thing.

Four miles from the village and a mile from the road.

I'm going to live in it for a while.

I've got to get used to living on my own, as it seems...

'..It's clearly a good place to start.

It's a waste disposal unit.

Wha' do you put in it, then?

Well, "not your hand" is the most important thing.

And it won't do bottles and cans, so we'll put those into a carrier bag

and I'll take them to evesham whenever I go and drop them in a litter bin.

- You reckon to live here, then? - Why not?

You thought I'd use it as a weekend cottage?

Oh, not for me to think. I mean, that's your affair.

Please, Mrs. Vigo, you're right. I don't mean to be rude.

I shall have to go back to London eventually and just come at weekends,

but for the time being, I do plan to live here.

So if you could come in...

- Two afternoons a week, say? - What job do you do, then?

I'm a script editor. I edit scripts for television, you know?

I don't know what that is. It's been happening lately.

Mice, isn't it?

- Is it? - Field mice.

They come in for the warm. No harm in that.

That's right. You left this out, I dare say.

You can see the droppings.

Well, so long as it's not rats! They're vicious!

Don't get company here, I reckon.

Doesn't get any company, as far as I can see.

- What does she do all day? - Sits about.

I hope she's not going to start drinking.

Hmm.

'No, I'm drinking much less than one does in London!

'Everything seems to be slowed down.

'I sleep late.

'I drift about the cottage.

'Did I tell you I have mice...

'...insects, everything?"

I wonder if I might hunt for sherds in your garden.

What?

One often finds them, you know, in freshly turned earth.

- Sherds? - I have an archaeological interest.

I'm a student at that, in my own time.

Old things, generally.

I don't think there are any old things in the garden,

but what the builders left - broken bottles and old beer cans, mainly.

- You're welcome to look. - You haven't noticed anything yourself

as you walked about?

Some small sherd or other?

I don't think I should recognise a sherd. If I were to see one!

Takes a trained eye.

I was watching a program on the television.

Mrs. Vigo tells me you have connections in that field.

- Yes. - It was about fishing for clams.

Documentary program.

They spot the whereabouts of the clam by a small blowhole in the sand.

They have an instinct.

Well it's the same with me.

Roman pottery, coins, sherds of all sorts.

I have that instinct.

And that is strange, Mrs. Palmer.

Miss!

Miss. Yes.

One likes to be sure.

That is strange, miss Palmer,

because my name is Fisher.

And yet I've never been to the seaside,

or any of my family.

Fishers have not been out of this village for hundreds of years.

'Cept in time of war.

I'm sorry.

And what of the birds, miss Palmer?

- Do they trouble you? - I, I don't understand.

Ah, you're confused!

Because of the rhyme - sherds and birds.

Huh! Very amusing.

Sherds in the garden, as we hope,

and birds in the house.

Trapped. The cottage had been empty so long before you came.

Women have always lived here, but not for some time, you see.

- I've frequently found birds inside. - You've been here before?

Oh, indeed. Yes.

I get about.

The birds would come in by the chimney and be unable to escape.

And then they'd...

Beat against the window and after a while

expue.

Most of the window panes were broken when we.

When I bought this cottage.

Exactly.

They should have known they had a way out,

but being birds, they didn't.

That's what it means in the old tongue.

Flaneathan - the place of birds.

That's its name.

Flaneathan farm.

Bird place or place of birds, as I prefer.

You don't speak the old tongue, I don't suppose?

If you mean anglo-Saxon, not since Oxford!

No, it's not much spoken.

Never written, of course.

Well, I'll just take a look round, then.

With your permission.

Mind the nettles!

- Who's that? - That's Fisher, ain't it?

Is he off his head?

No! He works for council over to evesham.

So you've brought it inside the house, then?

Yes what is it?

Half a marble, isn't it? A glass marble cut in half,

rather large for a marble.

They am large that size.

That's right. You hold it.

Keep it warm. Them like jewels. They like the body warmth.

I'll be on my way, then.

Ay, you won't find anything in that garden earlier than 17th century, civil war.

Mr. Fisher, the garden is overgrown with nettles, dock, elder and convolvulus.

- You cannot possibly... - I've got the instinct, haven't I?

That's Fisher, isn't it? He got the instinct. Known for it.

You brought it inside the house, then?

- How did you know it was outside? - You won't find that inside!

- Has to be brought in. - Has to be?

Looks like an eye, don't it?

It's only a marble cut in half.

Ay, I heard you had vermin.

If I was you, I should take a walk through the woods.

Up the bridle path, to the right and back by the gamekeeper's cottage.

That's where I should go if I was troubled with vermin.

Used to be all oak round here, you know.

But the forestry, they don't like the old trees.

They cut 'em down, burn 'em up, turn 'em into paper and plant conifers.

That's the forestry way.

Go a long way in them woods before you come across an oak nowadays.

- What does he mean by that? - Oh, him a learned fellow, Fisher.

You can't tell what he means.

Doing his exercises, wasn't he?

- I don't know, Mrs. Vigo. Was he? - That's Rob. He's known for it.

- Karate! - Does he have to be naked?

Naked. Was he?

- Well, he had something on, but... - What did you think of him?

- I hope I don't understand you! - It stands to reason.

If you've got vermin, Rob's the man.

"Take the path by the gamekeeper's cottage," Fisher said.

That's Rob's job. That's what he's trained for.

Rats, rabbits, foxes - that am skilled work, controlling them.

- You've not controlled them. - They're only mice.

That's right - vermin.

Well, I've been meaning to put poison down, as you know.

I'm sure that man's mental!

Really, I think Mr. Fisher might have...

There must be easier ways to get rid of...

One can hardly walk up to a naked man and say, "please get rid of my mice."

- Isn't he employed by somebody? - He works for the estate, don't he?

I suppose I'd better get in touch with the estate office.

It's quite a good idea to get a professional.

That's right.

You're quite an educated woman, aren't you?

Yes. Yes, I am.

There's nobody educated round 'ere.

I was the only boy in the whole village to go to grammar school.

The first in eight years.

It's all in-breeding and inter-marriage round 'ere. They're stupid.

- You don't have many friends? - I don't have any friends.

- But at the agricultural col... - I've left there, haven't I?

- Wouldn't make any friends round 'ere. - Why did you come back?

- You go where there's a job offered. - One doesn't choose?

Can't one go anywhere in england, abroad, somewhere underdeveloped?

I would have gone to Canada but I didn't have the fare. I'm saving for it.

Don't they have assisted passages for qualified people?

I don't think you'll have any more trouble.

You could put the poison down yourself.

I've offended you. How?

It's harmless to human beings. They won't die in the wall.

- They come out to die. - It's asking questions, isn't it?

- I've been impertinent. - You should have your pipes lagged

properly if you get more mice.

- Rob, please. - That's not my name.

I'm sorry. They didn't give me any name but Rob.

They call me Rob in the village. I answer to it to save trouble.

Please sit down.

I haven't any friends, either.

My name's Edgar.

I'm not qualified.

I failed the finals.

- Let me give you some more coffee. - Thank you.

I do have friends in London, of course.

I don't like them very much.

My own life is in rather a mess, edgan

that matters at my age. It's not really disastrous. I shall start again.

It won't take you long before you save up for Canada.

What happened?

Oh, you don't have to tell me.

I was... living with someone for eight years.

- It broke up. - Divorced?

We weren't married. You don't approve?

Perhaps you're right.

Seemed the best thing to us, but... clearly, it's ended badly.

- It's not my business. - What I'm trying to say is, because...

I felt I'd failed at something and didn't know how to face people.

Because, in my own case, I felt that people were either...

Over-sympathetic or...

Really rather unscrupulous.

Or just simply uncomfortable at being with me.

Or I felt so, which probably made them so.

Anyway, I gave up my job and I came to live here!

But I shall go back and start again. I shan't waste the rest of my life.

I finished the course, you know. I wasn't thrown out.

- Can't you take the exam again? - I don't want to.

They had no right to fail me.

I don't mind if you call me Rob.

- Everyone else does. - Why?

I don't know. I can't remember. I was only six when I was adopted.

Then when I applied to go to agriculture college,

they wanted my birth certificate and I found out what my name was.

- Who adopted you? - Auntie vigo.

- What? My Mrs...? - She got six of her own.

I suppose the orphanage thought that made her suitable. She got paid for it.

It's not like being really adopted.

I never called her mum or anything like that.

- Just auntie vigo? - She didn't stint me.

Not for food or anything, or the uniform for the grammar.

It all cost money.

She's all right. I don't remember my real mother.

- You don't live with her? - No.

I'm on my own now. I prefer that.

But she comes in and cleans, like she does for you.

More like a servant, in a way, than my auntie.

I don't belong down there, you see?

Not in the village.

Now that I've gone to college, it's raised me.

I'm more like you, aren't I?

Yes.

Just a minute.

What do you make of this?

Oh, it's a marble, cut in half.

One of they... one of the large size.

You don't see them often.

If you found it on your window sill, would you bring it indoors?

Idunno.

It's pretty, I suppose... The colours.

There was a girl I once went out with used to read "house & garden"

an ornament?

- Would you? - What?

If you found it on your window sill, would you bring it inside?

- Why would I? - I don't know. If you did.

- I'd want to know how it got there. - But would you bring it indoors?

I'd throw it away, wouldn't I? I mean, it's no use to anyone.

But then, I'm not a woman.

No, you're not.

He's quite extraordinarily dishy.

I go round like lady chatterley all the time, having to hold myself in.

- Why bother, if you fancy him? - Really, Jake!

- You're a free woman. - People would talk, for one thing.

As far as I can see, there's no privacy at all in the country.

Whatever you do, wherever you go, everybody knows.

If you're going to be like lady chatterley, the woods are traditional.

A mossy glade where you can feel the rough touch of earth on your backside.

Rough touch of the nettles, more likely.

Far too many people in the woods.

People?

One gets that feeling, like being watched.

Well, there are people, bound to be!

Forestry people.

Rob himself, he's got a cottage there.

It's not exactly a desert.

It's not exactly charing cross station, either.

I can't explain it. It's just a feeling.

Yes, I understand. Pity. It's nice here.

- Oh, Jake! - I do! I know exactly, love.

You've begun to get that feeling and it's no good. You'll have to sell up.

- Eh? - I expect there's some medical term.

Something or other phobia. I'd lie awake listening to the voices.

- What voices? - In the wind, dear.

It wasn't windy last night. How do you know there's a wind?

- There is, though? - Sometimes.

It comes down the hill through the trees.

Comes down that nasty private road of yours,

whipping in and out of the potholes.

And you hear the voices - drunken voices, singing.

Shouting things.

Frightened women. A child.

If

I don't hear any such thing.

I'll get some more of this.

That wasn't very clever.

- Yes, it was. - What are you up to?

- Good works. - What good works?

It's not right Norah vegetating in the country like this.

She should be back in town, getting on with the business of living.

I want her to go off this place, the sooner the better. Sell it

or, if she doesn't want to, keep it for weekends and ask people to stay.

- Well, we're here! - And whom else has she asked?

Ever?

I don't like being Norah's only friends. It's too much of a responsibility.

Here's lady chatterley, with a foaming jug.

I put rather more lemonade in it this time.

When are we going to see this... gamekeeper of yours?

I keep telling you, we're not on social terms.

Keeps him to herself! Won't show him to her friends!!

We're not on social terms!

Then I'd get some more mice, darling, if I were you.

Harrods' pet department might send some up!

- He has borrowed a couple of books. - Ooh!

Blast that Jake!

You've not seen his weapons, then?

No.

- Souvenirs. - Of what?

Gestapo, storm trooper.

Surely Rob's too young to know about the gestapo.

He writes away for them, don't he?

He writes to the body magazines.

Them full of adverts for that trash

- can't a butcher do that? - Didn't come from the butcher.

It's one of mine. Been hanging upside down all night.

Oh, foul and fleas go together.

When I asked you to bring a chicken, I didn't mean you to kill one specially.

Oh, she'm broody. No use for laying.

Wring her neck, slit her throat, that's all'm she good for.

- They're back again. - Bound to be.

Why? Rob put poison down.

Peter.

Peter?

Got no teeth. Him all gummy, Peter. Known for it.

What's that to do with the mice?

Eats his sandwiches in your shed, don't he?

He can't manage the crust. He leaves them lay.

Encouragement to mice, that am. Bound to be.

Well, I'd better ask Rob to have another go at them.

Him coming to supper, as I hear.

- From whom? - Pardon?

From whom do you hear this?

Nobody.

- From Rob? - No!

Why would Rob tell me? That's private affairs.

- Somebody told you. - You did.

Asking me to get a chicken.

You wouldn't cook a chicken for yourself.

- Anybody might have been coming! - That's right!

He bought some gentleman's Cologne, gun smoke.

Wilf bulmore brought it in on the bus 12 and 6.

Why do you call him Rob when his name's Edgar?

- Answers to it. - Not his name.

- Short for Robin. - You don't like Edgar?

- As a name? - Got nothing against it.

You ask Fisher. He'll tell you all about the names, the old names.

He's noted for learning.

There's always one young man answers to the name of Robin in these parts.

Has to be.

Really! This is ridiculous!

Well, why not, if one fancies him?

Better to be safe than... thing.

Is that you, Rob?

Yeah. You said a quarter to eight.

You're very punctual. It's an admirable habit.

I thought we'd have a drink on the patio, if it's not too cold.

That was the waffen-ss. They weren't police, you see.

They were soldiers, only they weren't part of the army.

They still wore the ss uniform, you know, black with a death's head badge.

- Mm. - They had this independent discipline.

Quite separate from the army because of being an elite, you see?

A lot of the guards in the concentration camps were waffen-ss.

- They had the toughness for it. - Isn't it "waffen"?

Isn't that how it's pronounced, 'waffen s.S.'?

I dunno. I never heard it pronounced. I just read about it.

Maybe we'd better go into the other room. It's more comfortable.

You can tell they were different from the army because of the ranks.

They were all called fuhrer, right down to the corporal.

- That means "leader" in German. - I know.

The corporal was a rottenfihrer. The sergeant was a unterscharfihrer.

- I'll just nip upstairs... - The general was a gruppenfihrer.

- And the major general was... - I shan't be a moment.

There's one through that door. You could always pee in the garden.

- There's nobody about. - I'm all right.

Thank you very much.

Dear god! To think I said I fancied him!

You're middle aged, Norah Palmer.

Two more hours' chat about the ss and you'll be an old woman.

- Ah! You, er... - No, I wasn't.

I thought I heard a motor or something up on your hill.

- It's stopped now. - The tractor comes down sometimes.

Not at this time of night it doesn't. I couldn't see anything, though.

- Yes, well, I'll get you a drink. - Not for me, thanks.

I mean, I have to keep myself in condition.

Of course.

If two people are having an interesting conversation, you don't need drink.

I think I do need a drink.

Well, what it was, you see, the ss, it was like an order of chivalry,

like king Arthur and the round table.

Nightingale.

The sd was the security service.

They were merged with the ordinary security in 1939, to form the rsha...

I thought it was military history you were interested in.

I wouldn't have bothered to get you the book on the Franco-prussian war

if I thought it was only the ss.

- I'm expanding my interests all time. - Ah!

- Anyway. - I'm so sorry.

- That's all right. - I expect it's the air.

What is?

Country air makes one sleepy. Known for it, as Mrs. Vigo would say.

She's right. It does.

I expect we're both ready for bed.

Yes I am.

Well, if you're sure you won't have another drink before you go...

No. I mean, yes, thank you. I am sure. I don't drink much.

We'll say good night, then. Thank you for coming over.

I'm not a lonely person, but it makes a pleasant change

cooking for someone else - besides the mice!

You won't have any more trouble with the mice.

I've never been upstairs in your house.

- I can't see anything. - There are always noises at night.

- Yeah. - They don't mean anything.

I should have thought you'd have been used to them.

- You could do with a bit of protection. - No.

- What? - No, I don't need any protection.

Rob, it's very flattering that you should think of kissing me good night.

- We don't know each other well enough. - But I thought...

That was not the idea

Rob, my dear, I'm not a baby-snatcher.

I must be at least ten years older than you are.

- I'm not a baby. - Of course not!

You're a very good-looking young man. Plenty of girls in the village...

I don't have anything to do with them.

I don't keep my body at its peak for them.

Or for me, Rob.

For yourself, perhaps?

Good night. Thank you for supper.

Oh! Dear, oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear!

She

gone to bed? All right.

Turn the Van round, ready to go.

It's all right. It's all right, miss Palmer.

- It's gone now. - What was it?

Only a bird. They come down the chimney then they get frightened.

- They do? - You thought it'd get in your hair?

- I've often heard it. - I don't know what I thought.

There's no need to be scared, miss Palmer.

Fisher told me about the birds.

- What were you doing out there? - I heard you scream.

- You'd been gone an hour, at least. - That's right.

- Somebody hit me over the head. - What?

Poachers, I expect. Nothing to worry about.

Harvest festival tomorrow.

What it was, you see, I couldn't think of anything to say.

I always wanted to be able to hold a conversation.

I couldn't find anybody to hold a conversation with till I got to college.

What about that girl you went out with who used to read house & garden?

Only went out with her twice.

It's the most I went out with any of 'em.

I mean, just because I keep myself in condition and all that

- at your peak. - It's not enough, though, is it?

Rob, my dear. You're a very good-looking young man.

I said so and I meant it

it's not much use if you can't think of anything to say.

I mean, I have had girls, course I have.

But it... It was like being collected.

I read this article in the reader's digest

about how you should specialize in one subject

because experts are always interesting.

I noticed these adverts in my bodybuilding magazines

for ss uniforms and weapons.

And I thought, "I'll specialize in that.

"Because obviously a lot of people are interested in it."

Did it work?

You're the first person I've been out with since.

And we did hold a conversation, didn't we?

Except at the end.

When you wanted to get rid of me.

Never mind.

I thought you wanted me to seduce you, you see.

Well, I did, in a way.

I expect I missed a psychological moment

to move things to a more physical plane.

Bloody birds!

I've come to take you to church.

But I... I'm an agnostic.

Jewish? You didn't say you were Jewish.

No, Mrs. Vigo. Agnostic means...

One isn't religious, one doesn't go to church.

Well, you can't, can you? Parson only comes over one Sunday in four.

- He rides his cycle from painsbury. - No, Mrs. Vigo...

Fisher said, "if you don't come to harvest festival,

"you're getting no welcome here at all and I'll do lay reading."

Consequently, harvest festival, we always has him.

- He has dinner with major grange. - I'm not religious.

Easter's the same. We reckon to have him over then.

Christmas is another matter. We don't take much account of it.

- Mrs. Vigo... - You'll need a hat.

I brought one.

Decorations can't be missed. We're known for them.

Sheaves, apples, pumpkins big as your ass!

I came to fetch you. I came out to fetch you.

And it'd not be thought kindly if you'm seen to spurn the decorations.

Don't I need a dress?

So long as you're not in trousers they won't reckon to put you out.

Oh!

What's the matter?

The drainpipe's come away from the wall.

Careless!

- Careless? - Come away, that has.

Why? It was all right yesterday.

That's right. Come away in the night.

Must have.

You can hear the bells.

Twice a year them gets rung.

Rope broke last year.

- Don't want to be late. - No, all right.

Er... there's something I wanted to ask you about, Mrs. Vigo.

Something seems to be missing from the bathroom.

- I wondered if you'd moved it. - What's that?

Well um... it's a...

It's a small

well, a cap.

No, not a hat, you know. A contraceptive cap, in fact.

A du-

I mean, one uses it...

Never mind. It doesn't matter. I must have mislaid it somehow.

And so, at this time of fulfillment of the country year,

let our thoughts return to that one source

from which all good gifts come from

and be we wise or foolish virgins,

let us say, "we shall keep our oil for thee, lord,

"guarding and holding our precious seed

"even in the dark days of winter,

"to bring it forth once more in the spring

"when the green shoots Pierce the earth

"in praise of the only begetter of all our goodness."

And now to god the father, god the son and god the holy ghost...

Mending your drainpipe, which has come away.

- Last night. - As I heard

- from whom? - Hm?

Never mind. Peter's excused harvest festival, I suppose.

Unlike me, he isn't expected to admire the decorations.

Oh, he took part in the worship, but he did not remain for the sermon.

- And you? - Oh, I'm the lay reader, miss Palmer.

Is that an answer?

Our parson is not an educated man.

Merest brummie, to tell the truth.

He takes his sermons out of a book

"holy thoughts for a holy year", Evangelical press, 12 and sixpence.

But in rural areas the church puts up with what it can afford.

- We don't complain. - You feel you could do better?

Just as, perhaps, you could tell me how on a quiet September night

the drainpipe came away from the wall.

We should say it was someone on your roof.

Some man?

He'd find it easier than a lady.

Some lurker.

- Why? - Up to no good.

- Burglar? That's ridiculous. - Perhaps you heard something.

- In the night? - Nothing happened last night exc...

Nothing happened.

- A bird came down the chimney. - Ah!

I said it was a place of birds.

Must have been a very large bird, miss Palmer,

to have dislodged your drainpipe.

It wasn't. Just an ordinary frightened bird.

A nightingale, perhaps?

Or an owl, at that time of night?

Nothing was taken? Nothing missing at all?

Nothing. Excuse me.

- Something boring has happened. - Yes?

I appear to be pregnant.

- Appear to be? - Am.

You've been having it off with that young man!

- Yes. - Norah! How could you possibly...?

- I don't understand it myself. - Forgot?

Hm. Disappeared.

For one night and reappeared the next day.

- What does she mean? - Precautions, Jake.

Oh! Ah! But why sh...

I don't know why anyone should do such a thing.

The only possible reason is that somebody wanted me pregnant,

which is too stupid to consider seriously.

- Norah, dear! - You didn't have to?

I didn't have to, Jake. I didn't intend to. It happened.

May one ask how?

I was frightened by a bird that came down the chimney.

- And fell into his arms? - He had. In fact, left an hour before.

I'd gone to bed.

I heard a strange noise and went downstairs.

The bird was trapped. It flew at me. I screamed.

He happened to be outside and heard me.

"Happened to be"?

A passing poacher had hit him on the head and knocked him out.

Of course.

It also seems likely that somebody may have been on the roof.

The bird may actually have been put down the chimney.

- You think that he, thing...? - Rob.

- Thank you. You mean he did it? - I don't know what to think.

- It's too fantastic to bear thought. - You think about it, though.

- And you are pregnant? - I said so.

You'd like us to... do something about“?

Thank you, madge, I'm quite capable of finding an abortionist myself!

Sorry. Sorry.

Does he know?

You think he may have planned...?

I don't know what to think. Maybe he's telling the truth.

I can't remember if he had a bump on his head.

The bird may have come down the chimney on its own.

I didn't hear anybody on the roof, except the drainpipe had come away.

Rob's not bright. It's such a complicated plot, if it is a plot.

Anyway, could he have got in to ste...?

How would he know where to look?

How would he know I wasn't on the pill?

Yes, you're right. It's mad, the whole thing. There's no reason for it.

He thought I wanted to be seduced. "I thought you wanted me to!"

So why? Why? Anyway, I've gone right off him.

'And you won't go back?

'Ooh, some time. In the spring.

'At the moment, it's more important to find a job and somewhere to live.

- You mustn't... mustn't... - What are you doing here?

I came to tell you. I got the day off because it's Christmas.

- I came up by train. - You'd better come in.

- Do you want tea or anything? - You mustn't kill.

- Now, Rob. Sit down. - Don't kill my son!

- Oh, is that it? - Don't do it

- and how did you find out? - Auntie vigo.

No point in asking how she knew, since she knows everything.

Did she also tell you I was thinking of an abortion?

She said you were modern in your thoughts.

- I'll make some tea. - No! I only got a day return.

- I had to find the way. - Ataxi would have known it.

I've no money for taxis. The train goes back in 40 minutes.

You won't kill him, will you?

Rob

are you asking me to marry you?

No? Well, I wouldn't, even if you did.

So what you're asking me to do is to bear the child and then rear it?

All on my own, an unmarried mother?

That's what you took a day return to ask me?

- I'd help. - Support it?

When you can't even afford a taxi?

Or would you send me the money from Canada when you get there?

You're the mother. Don't you want him?

“It”? No.

- I'll take him, then. - Why do you want "him"?

It's my seed, isn't it?

How dare you!

How dare you talk to me aboutyourseed,

like something out of one of your ss textbooks.

Do you think I want an abortion?

I've never wanted a child, but that's different to killing one!

Scraping one out, curetting it, all those words!

What's inside me may look like a tadpole, it may not feel or breathe,

but it's alive to me, it's part of me!

I don't want it killed any more than you do.

I'm 35. Soon I shall be past the age to bear a child.

I didn't think I'd mind that. I'd make a terrible mother, anyway.

But now I find I do mind. I do care I do feel

I do want this child, almost as much as I don't want it, maybe more.

I'm mixed up and really rather unhappy about it.

So don't tell me what to do, Rob.

Because it may be your child but it's certainly not your business.

You brought that with you, then?

I found it in my suitcase when I unpacked.

No doubt your auntie vigo put it there.

She's a strange woman. Known for it.

Just tell me one thing, Rob.

That bird that came down the chimney and frightened me.

Did you...?

No?

Well, I didn't expect you to tell me, even if you had.

Anyway, I want it clearly understood. Rob,

when I come down to the cottage again,

whatever I decide to do about the child, I don't want to see you.

Seed is just seed, Rob.

Doesn't give you any rights.

I brought you a present.

You don't have to keep the baby. Nobody's suggesting that.

You'm a busy woman, not given to motherhood.

- Indeed. - You can have him looked after.

His father came from the orphanage, as you know.

- Aren't you being rather impertinent? - Good advice, that am.

Not cheeky. There's a difference.

Mrs. Vigo, has it occurred to you that I don't have to employ you?

You can't do the cleaning, not by yourself.

First, you're not used to the work, and second, you're too heavy.

And you won't get nobody else come from the village.

Because I'm a fallen woman?

Because I cleans here.

I come up special to give you a good welcome.

So if you're feeling like a cup, I'll make some tea.

I'll come up daily. You'll be needing to take things easy.

No need to pay.

I don't know that I shall be staying all that long.

Oh, you're here for the rest.

For the weekend. I have a job again now.

Ah, never work an' seven months gone!

It's only brain work.

- That can be done anywhere. - Indeed, yes.

Therefore, not necessarily here.

Easter am in two weeks

yes?

Here am your place, miss.

Come the winter, the dark days, you go where you will.

Am no objection or effort made to keep you.

But now.

Come easter

here am your place.

- The car won't start! - We could hear you had difficulty.

I suppose the petrol pump in the village doesn't run to a mechanic.

Have you flooded the engine?

The plugs would not be wet, since the car is under cover.

Perhaps you'd like to try, Mr. Fisher. You know a lot about it

oh, I'm not mechanical, miss Palmer.

I understand the language of machinery, not the practice.

Fisher don't do driving. He leaves that to others.

Mr. Wellbeloved, the butcher, is our mechanic.

With your permission, I'll ask him to step over.

- His wife can look after the shop. - Thank you.

It's a long way, I'm afraid.

Oh, luckily, I have my bicycle.

Fisher don't drive. Him known for learning, not for driving cars.

Crack in the distributor rotor, isn't there?

I shouldn't know a distributor rotor if I saw one, cracked or not.

- The point is, can you fix it? - You can't fix it.

- Am cracked. - You would have to replace the part.

All right, replace it.

Miss Palmer wishes you to replace the part.

- How long will it take? - No time.

- Good. - When I has the rotor.

- I suppose a garage would have one. - Could drive to evesham.

You'd better use my phone. Try as many garages as you like.

Phone the garage, Henry. We must help all we can.

- Allow me to assist you, miss Palmer. - I don't know what you're doing here.

Mr. Wellbeloved is phoning the garage.

Why should it suddenly go, this distributor thing?

Most things in cars go suddenly.

An unconsidered crack in metal, a weakness in a belt,

a sharp stone in a tire, a loose wire -

all unnoticed for mile after mile,

approaching ever nearer the point of no return.

And then breakdown.

It's the same with bicycles, to tell you the truth.

Yes. It er... couldn't be... induced?

I never lock my garage. If there were somebody hanging around.

- Why should anyone do such a thing? - I don't know why.

- Could it be done? - Bound to be noticed.

To crack the rotor from the outside, as it were?

With scissors, say?

Be immediately noticeable to a skilled mechanic.

Shall I just take this up?

He reads a lot, Fisher. Books of all sorts.

- What does the garage say? - Can't get it to evesham.

- I'm have to go to coventry. - That's not far.

Two weeks delivery.

I suppose I... I could take a train.

It's ludicrous. There isn't a station nearer than evesham.

- The bus only goes twice a week! - Taxi?

There isn't a taxi.

When I tried to get some people in evesham the number didn't reply.

- What's wrong with the car? - Immobilized.

They took the distributor thing. Why they bothered when it isn't any good?

- Surely you can work. Come back to London. - I can work perfectly well from here.

There's no reason to come back to London. That's not the point.

- I feel such a prisoner without the car. - She feels a prisoner without the car.

She wants you to fetch her, isuppose.

What I was wondering, Jake my dear,

if you and madge would like a day in the country on Sunday...

I said if you and madge would like...

- I can't hear. - She's working up to it.

Hello, Norah? That's better. There were 97 Nigerians on the line.

Hello? Hello, Norah?

- Oh, blast! - Cut off?

Yes. I'll try the exchange.

I shouldn't bother. She's bound to ring again.

Hello?

Hello? Hello? Exchange?

Hello?

I see.

Thank you.

Out of order.

There you are. I told you Norah would ring if she could.

What do you think? She obviously wants us to go and get her.

Yes, but she didn't say so.

Jake, love, when you consider how much bother the telephone causes,

why be ungrateful when it does something convenient for a change?

I mean, she isn't really a prisoner. This is 1970.

If she wants to get away badly enough, she will.

My phone's out of order.

That's right.

You knew?

Used the box in the village this morning, didn't you?

To report it. Yes. I also tried the exchange to get me a taxi in evesham

but the number didn't reply.

That's right. Mrs. Gibbons said you had trouble - at the post office.

It's Mrs. Gibbons who's been trying to get me the evesham number?

That's right.

Does it seem odd to you, Mrs. Vigo, that for five days

I have been frying without any success to get away from here?

It seems odd to me. I looked in at the butcher this morning.

Apparently, the rotor hasn't arrived from coventry.

My car doesn't work, Mrs. Vigo. My phone doesn't work.

People put live birds down my chimney.

I can't look out the window at night without seeing Rob hanging around.

I've begun to feel trapped and decidedly nervous.

- Him hanging about, then? - Don't you know he is?

I don't reckon to know every bloody thing, miss.

But will you tell me why I'm being kept in this cottage

waiting for something alone?

If you're lonely, you could ask Rob in.

Since him hanging about outside.

Don't bother to come here any more, Mrs. Vigo.

I can manage the cleaning for the short time I'm here.

'I'm sorry if I sound hysterical.

I'm alone here

I keep telling myself it's only imagination, but I've had proof now.

Yesterday was one of those days the bus comes.

I packed a case and carried it a mile across the fields '

I waited by the stop.

There were a couple of village women there already.

But they moved up the street.

I don't know why. I was at the shelter.

Then the bus arrived. It stopped up the street where the women were.

They got in!

I ran towards it.

It passed me without stopping.

There's something wrong, Jake. I don't know what it is.

They're keeping me here, making sure I can't get away before easter.

I'm afraid.

Please, both of you, don't be rational about it

make allowances and come and get me as soon as you can.

We should be very careful with this one, grace.

Just hang on to it for a few days, so it doesn't get lost in the post.

'The panel consists of Malcolm muggeridge,

"lord longford,

'the very reverend, the suffragan bishop of eatanswill,

'the right honourable Justin de villeneuve

'and a doctor'

no, I don't think so.

Hello.

Hello?

- 'Can I help you?' -Yes I want to make a London call.

Hello?

Hello, exchange?

"That Jesus Christ, if there was such a person,

'actually Rose from the dead.

'So that, when tomorrow morning we give the traditional easter greeting,

"Christ is risen", what we're really saying is...

Not even a good night for television!

Don't be stupid! There's nothing to be frightened of.

Stop talking to yourself! You're making me nervous!

- I know you're in! - Who is it?

Rob!

I'm sorry. You can't come in.

It's no good trying the door. It's locked.

- Please! - I'll put the outside light on.

Let me in. Let me in, please.

I told you I didn't want to see you. Why have you come?

There wasn't anywhere else for me to go.

Please let me in.

- I've got nothing to do with it. - With what?

With any of it.

Ihletyouin.

I'm a pregnant woman, you shouldn't be bothering me.

- I got nervous. - You got nervous!

It gets lonely where I live.

You start imagining things. I wanted somebody to talk to.

- You could have gone to the pub. - Don't go to the pub.

I'm sorry, but I'm not one of them. You know that.

You'd better come in.

I knew you'd be here, but I telephoned first anyway.

That was you on the phone? Why didn't you speak?

I couldn't think what to say.

Isn't that for me to do?

- What? - Lock the door. It's my house.

- Yes, if you like. - Why did you do it?

Well, you had it locked before.

Yes, well, you'd better come in and sit down.

- Well, you aren't sitting down. - I shall when I want to.

- I feel rather restless at the moment. - Nervous?

- I said "restless". - You said you were nervous earlier.

I feel better now.

I hope you don't think I'll ask you to stay the night. Just because...

That doesn't give you any rights here, don't think that.

I'm going to Canada next week. I thought you'd like to know.

- How did you get the money? - Loaned it. Ticket bought for me.

- By whom? - Fisher.

- Why? - I don't know.

- I think you do. - No.

Something you've done? Some... service rendered?

I'm paying it back. It was a single fare. £60. I'll pay all the money back.

What had you done for Fisher to induce him to lend it to you?

Nothing, I told you.

How did you know my phone would work when you rang?

- Why shouldn't it work? - It's out of order.

- How should I know that? - Everybody in the village knows.

Then you want to phone - and it works.

Then it goes out of order again!

- It's out of order now. - I don't go to the village.

You know them well enough to borrow £60.

I didn't borrow. It was loaned. Didn't ask it was offered.

I want to know why.

Makes no difference.

It was that night, you and me.

- When the bird came down the chimney? - That's right.

£60? Rather a lot for a one-night stand.

Especially when you...

Was he watching? Listening? Getting his kicks that way?

- That's not why. It can't be. - I don't know what you'm on about.

- You'm? - You are on about.

Mustn't pick up bad habits from auntie vigo, who knows everything.

I'm trying to tell you, if you want to know.

The poachers that night, the ones that knocked me out,

that was Fisher!

He said he had to attack me, compelled to do it.

He's respectable is Fisher. Known for it. He's a lay reader.

If it was to come out he'd been poaching,

his reputation would be besmirched he said.

- You believe that? - Why else...?

- You expect me to believe it? - It's the truth.

If he hadn't told you he was a poacher how the hell would you have known?

Are you asking me to believe that seven months later,

when you hadn't the least suspicion,

he came to you and confessed and paid you £60...

- Loaned! - To keep your mouth shut.

Are you asking me to believe that?

He's a funny fellow. He's got his own ways.

- Why did you come here tonight? - I told you.

I got nervous. As if... people were watching me.

- What people? - I don't know.

- Village people? - Could be.

You know what you said when you arrived?

"I've got nothing to do with it," you said.

- With what? - I don't know.

They haven't told you much, just enough to get you indoors.

They?

- People. - You are nervous!

Why are they keeping me here until after easter?

Why did the house have mice and has again?

Because I would need you, Rob, to get rid of them.

You're a very good-looking young man. Known for it.

And I'm a woman without a man, sex-starved, as they say.

And when I ask you round for the evening, Rob, why is it I am robbed?

Ha! What a jolly pun that is! I was robbed, in every way.

- I don't know what you mean! - No means of contraception.

It disappeared and reappeared the next day but the night intervened!

- You intervened. - We made love.

No, we had sex. Rather arranged sex.

The bull was brought to the cow. That happens in the country.

It took a lot of arranging because I went off you as you were boring me silly!

So I put you out and I went alone to bed.

But a bird came down the chimney and I was frightened

and you were conveniently nearby to rescue me.

After that, what could be more convenient and romantic?

Except someone had been on the roof to arrange that romantic rescue.

- Not me! - That wasn't your part.

- I was hit on the head by Fisher. - What's your part now, Rob?

- You're being funny with me. - I don't know what's in your mind.

I've heard of things. Every now and then there's a song and dance in the papers.

Devil worship. Graves dug up. Churches desecrated.

Blood, stories of blood.

Always rather vague. I never believed it happened seriously.

- You're being funny. - Why are you keeping me here?

- You're being funny... - Yes, I'm being funny.

This is very sharp.

Your auntie vigo uses it to cut the heads off chickens.

You're off your chump.

- Your friends are outside. - I've got no friends.

So that was your part, Rob, to get in and then let them in!

I don't know why. It's easy to break a window.

Perhaps an act of betrayal is part of the ritual.

- Don't turn that key. - Please!

Come away from that door.

I don't know much about killing people,

but I do know where the most delicate hurtful parts are!

Tell your friends if anyone tries to get into this room,

I'll make a mess of their prize bull!

I don't understand any of this.

Look, I'm on your side.

I don't know what's happening, but I'm on your side.

I can protect you. I know karate.

We can't stay stood here for ever.

Only till morning.

By the rules of the game, as I understand them,

it'll be easter Sunday and I shall be free.

See? I'm right.

Please believe me.

I don't know who's out there.

I'm not one of them.

You're terrified!

You're as frightened as I am!

Come on, Rob, boy.

What are you doing here?

Come to take you to church, haven't I?

- Like before? - I brought a hat.

What happened last night?

Nothing to remember. Just a game we're about sometimes.

I was.

I was... very frightened.

Stupid!

- I thought... - No call for that.

Stupid thinking that!

What good would a woman's blood be for the land?

We bear, my dear. Women give birth.

That am our work.

Takes a man for the other.

The spare part for your car come yesterday. Fisher's bringing it up.

All right then, grace.

There'll be no more trouble with that.

I'm time for a bath before church.

Where's Rob?

Gone to Canada, miss Palmer.

Not till next week

oh, dear me, no, I'm sure you're mistaken.

He was to leave today, easter Sunday. A most appropriate start to a new life.

By train to liverpool, then by boat. An assisted passage.

- Assisted by you? - As it happens.

He came round last night, as I understand it, to take his leave.

You'll be selling the house, I imagine.

- Yes. - Country life cannot suit us all.

I mean... Yes, he came round last night.

Ay, I heard so. We must all wish him luck in his new venture.

What was Peter doing here last night?

Peter too? But there would be no occasion for him to say farewell.

The village is his home.

Yes, well, that was very naughty of him.

Did anyone else see him?

- Only Rob. - Who is no longer with us.

Why are you letting me leave when I could go to the police?

About what, miss Palmer?

Mrs. Vigo... said something rather curious to me this morning.

She said, "what good would a woman's blood be for the land?"

No good at all.

- "It takes a man." - Indeed, yes.

You understand it, then?

Study of religions is one of my many interests. I am a reading man.

Known for it

the goddess of fertility in the old legends

was, in some ways, like yourself, miss Palmer.

Not a married lady but nevertheless, if you'll excuse the freedom,

not a virgin, either.

In the Autumn, she would couple with the young king.

- King? - He'd be treated like a king.

Served and... pampered, you might say.

- And then, of course... - Killed.

He would pass away, yes.

Assisted to it, you might say.

And from his blood, the crops would spring.

Agreek legend, Mr. Fisher.

And Egyptian, Mexican, many places.

You must read a book by sir James frazer.

- The golden bough in seven volumes. - But not an English legend?

Robin hood. Robin of the Dale.

Even Robin redbreast, one of the very birds in your garden.

The male Robin only lives a year.

The female has many partners.

Always Robin.

Such a bounty there was, such fruitfulness, miss Palmer,

from the blood that drained from Robin hood, so the old stories say.

But they are only stories, of course.

And if that's all one had to say to the police...

How very foolish they would think one.

Your car's ready now.

Thank you.

Oh, there's just one other small matter.

You'll forgive me if... I offend you.

Your, er... little one,

the expected little bundle.

Mrs. Vigo was afraid you might be modern in your thoughts,

but I was sure you would not wish to take a life.

What are you saying, Mr. Fisher?

I have very good friends, miss Palmer, at a local orphanage.

And in

- 20 years? - It would not concern you.

No.

No,

I don't think so.

Thank you.