Gentleman Jack (2019) s02e02 Episode Script
Two Jacks Don't Suit
1
I hope that we shall
get on well together.
Does Mariana know? "Dearest Fred, I have never loved any but you".
- A new will? How? - She likes me.
I won't be rushed.
Ben Sowden had written to them to say that he'd seen Sam.
Do you know that they had him in t'pigpen? Tib was going to be here.
Have you met her? Good Lord, no.
I wouldn't inflict Tib on her.
I'm taking my "little friend" to Paris.
Yes.
Yes.
Lord Stuart was very useful.
He was the British Ambassador here.
He used to invite me to balls and soirees, and so I invited Lady Stuart and the girls and their cousin, Miss Hobart, to Le Jardin des Plantes, where I was studying under Monsieur Cuvier.
It was a great privilege.
It wasn't really open to the public.
They were thrilled, not least when Monsieur Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire himself came along and gave an ad hoc lecture on la baleine.
We were inside the whale! There we were with one of the foremost thinkers of the day.
Sadly, he got called away and I had to - continue the lecture myself.
- four metres! Isn't Miss Lister fascinating? They must have been mesmerised.
Vere said the girls thought I explained it better than Monsieur Saint-Hilaire himself.
Now, he is a fascinating man, cleverer than Cuvier.
He describes himself as a deist, so believes in a god, but also in the natural law of the universe, so doesn't interpret the Bible as literal.
And neither should we.
My darling girl! They said you were here.
Little thingy doodah did, in reception at Meurice's.
And this must be Miss Walker.
Enchantee.
Miss Walker, Miss Norcliffe.
- Tib! - I've heard a lo - a lot about you.
- Good Lord! Can I sit down, before I fall over? I've been on the sauce.
Ha! - Madame? - Yes.
Hello.
Bonjour.
I would like, erm Vous restez pour ? Juste un petit aperitif, pas de diner.
I've left Charlotte and Mrs.
Milne asleep on the bed.
I think I've exhausted them! Je vais prendre un petit St-Raphael.
Merci.
So, why aren't you at Meurice's? He only had a fifth-floor apartment available, so we came here.
Well, it's very nice to see you.
Both of you.
Tell me all about yourself, Miss Walker.
Oh! Er Er Well, I You must go and see La Jeunesse d'Henri at the Palais-Royal.
We were there last night.
It's a riot.
We couldn't speak for hooting.
I fell off my chair.
We had a box.
We'll have to have a look and see what's on.
Have you met Mrs.
Milne, Miss Walker? You've met my sister Charlotte.
Yes, at Langton, and your mother and your brother, - but no, not Mrs - Mrs.
Milne is Mrs.
Lawton's rather wayward sister.
Is she? Made rather a fool of herself over an army officer some years ago, and Well, we're none of us perfect.
Er, who's Mrs.
Lawton? She's Dr.
Belcombe's sister.
A friend of ours from years ago.
Of course, you know Steph! Have you seen her lately? Mrs.
Lawton.
No.
Not since before I set off for Copenhagen.
We travelled up to London together.
- I didn't know he had sisters.
- Oh, yes.
A whole flock of them.
Mrs.
Lawton, Mrs.
Milne, Nantz, Louisa, Eliza.
Quite a list, eh? My gorgeous, lovely, sweet magnificence.
So, what are you doing tomorrow, Miss Walker? We're going to the Louvre.
Are you? Well, that's excellent.
In fact, it's perfect.
So are we.
Miss Walker! - How delightful.
How are you? - I'm very well, thank you.
She hasn't got a clue, has she, about the vast, rich tapestry of your fruity past? And it would be very nice if we could keep it that way.
Did you explain "tuft hunter" away as a sporting term, then? Oddly enough, it hasn't arisen.
Isn't she a bit insipid for you? She's not really one of your "sweet, interesting creatures", is she? There's more to her than meets the eye.
You mean in bed?! Not here, Tib.
Sorry! Just be happy for me.
I am! I'm always happy for you, my darling.
You know that.
But what about Mariana? Is she happy for you? Mariana's made her own choices.
Did Mariana ever really have choices, like we did? Until I inherited Shibden, I had nothing.
No, no.
You always had something that money could never buy, something that was always going to take you wherever you wanted to go! Not everyone's a force of nature like you are.
I don't know why I worry about Mariana.
She stole you from me.
Oh! Although if it hadn't been her, it would've been someone else, wouldn't it? After all, two jacks don't suit.
I'm going to have to whisk Miss Walker away.
We only came to see the Raphael and the Murillo.
I don't want her to strain her eyes over things of lesser value.
And I promised Madame de Bourke that I'd meet her at the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore at ten.
Of course.
Charlotte! Mrs.
Milne, how are you? Er, I'm afraid I have to steal her away.
It's time to go.
My aunt would have popped over herself, but she's lucky if she can get out into the garden these days, with her ulcers.
So No, so, she was anxious to know if you'd been receiving her notes my aunt.
Only with there being no reply, she wasn't sure one way or the other.
Miss Walker? Yes.
I have been receiving them.
Oh, good! Oh, she'll be relieved my aunt.
Oh, and she told me to assure you that Miss Walker will write to you herself from Paris, now that they've got there.
We had a letter just last night.
And the good news is that Anne, my Anne, our Anne is very much better.
She became ill with a fever just after they set off to London.
She was knocked up, - apparently.
- Oh, dear.
Oh, she's much better now.
But the net result is that Miss Walker felt that my sister has been working too hard, which of course she has, and so they've decided on another month.
They're going to the Alps.
- The Alps? - Well, Anne's always wanted to conquer Mont Blanc, and she thought the mountain air would do them both a world of good which it will.
You do know that no-one in Miss Walker's family knew anything about this jaunt until after they'd set off, don't you? I don't think that's true, Miss Walker.
Well, it's as true as I'm sitting here.
How dare you tell me it's not true! The trip was discussed for some time.
It was only the finer details - they hadn't - At Shibden Hall, maybe.
Not anywhere else.
And why am I being sent messages, anyway? Why is my niece not communicating with me herself? Well, I know you had had a bit of a spat with her.
So perhaps that was why.
My niece is a vulnerable young woman, Miss Lister.
If I had had a spat with her, it was only because I was trying to communicate to her how how worldly your sister is.
Yes, but surely wouldn't that make them ideal companions? Would you not be more worried if they were both vulnerable in the Alps? How can I put this? Your sister is very manipulative.
Well yes Certainly, she always gets what she wants.
But she's exceedingly fond of Miss Walker, as we all are at Shibden Hall, and Miss Walker seems exceedingly fond of her.
For two ladies disinclined to marry, I don't think they could do better.
Oh, Marian! You are naive.
Morning.
Oh, hello.
I thought I'd come and see if you need a hand.
Your mother's in t'kitchen.
Ah, good.
Somebody who isn't going to just muck about.
- I've done loads.
- Go and help your dad.
What do you want me to do? Well, if someone unpacked all these, we could clear a bit of space and I could start cooking a meal.
I wish I was moving in with you.
Is it no different? They're just uncivilised.
Not Not Thomas.
But it's like Amy.
Even Amy doesn't want to learn to read.
What? His uncle.
Making lewd comments all the time.
"You newlyweds I know what you newlyweds get up to".
And this smirk on his face, and I have to laugh like I think it's funny.
And And then this morning, Alf, who's thick, chased me with a pig's head, one they'd slaughtered yesterday, all round the house and upstairs.
And they were all laughing.
Not Not Thomas.
What? Hello? - Who's done that to you, lad? - Piss off, you.
Where's your mother? Where's your Uncle Ben? Not Thomas? Why did she even have to come here, your Suzannah? Stupid bitch.
'Ey, 'ey, 'ey! I thought he'd see t'funny side, our Thomas.
He allus used to see t'funny side, even when me dad were being a bastard.
Yeah, but it's not funny for our Suzannah, is it? You've grown up seeing pigs cut up.
She hasn't.
- Eh? - S'pose.
Right.
So think on.
Or else I'll be after you as well.
Do you know owt about this business about Thomas and Dick tying your dad up in t'pigpen? When did you last see him, your dad? Then.
We had to go into Halifax.
- Who did? - Me and Amy.
Wi' me mother.
Thomas was going to untie him so he could go and apologise to Miss Lister for being drunk.
But he never came back.
Well, he never did see Miss Lister.
She'd have said.
What do you think happened to him? He went to America.
Yeah Do you believe that? Yeah.
Oh! C'est parfait.
Merci.
Did you ever imagine you'd be sleeping between a cowhouse and a hayloft in the Alps? - I've never seen you like this.
- Like what? Just so happy.
So alive.
Elderly Miss Walker warned us.
She said, "She'll have her in Paris before we know it".
And has a truer word ever been spoken? And who knows where they are now! Geneva, apparently.
Halfway up Mont Blanc, according to Marian.
Who we encountered in Halifax last week.
And, you see, what must she think? It's the dereliction of duty that bewilders me, on top of what on earth people will think.
Her aunt did everything for her.
Everything.
And now she's getting on and can't get out so much and needs companionship and a helping hand, she's abandoned.
She's ignored, she's She's humiliated, as we all are, because people will talk.
Of course they'll talk! What Captain Lister and elderly Miss Lister are thinking I cannot begin to fathom.
When have they ever had any say in the matter? Well, you'd think, you'd hope, they'd have some say in the matter of Miss Walker moving in with them all at Shibden Hall.
- Oh, really? - When? When they return.
Oh, yes, that's the plan.
We were up at Cliffe Hill a month, six weeks ago, and she turned up.
We don't socialise with her any more, just to be clear.
But, yes, she turned up.
It makes me shudder, Mrs.
Priestley, the idea of being in the same room as her, as sitting on the same sofa she's sat on.
So they're going to live together? At Shibden? With Anne Lister's wit and your cousin's money, she could run the whole of Halifax.
You'd better do something about it, Priestley.
Do you imagine I haven't tried? She needs to feel the consequences of what could happen.
She needs a husband.
Yes.
Who? - Well, I liked Mr.
Ainsw - Not Mr.
Ainsworth.
There must be someone.
She must be very eligible with all that money, despite her that that health.
We've been through every possible What about Mr.
James Ingham of Blake Hall in Mirfield? She visits them from time to time.
She used to.
Doesn't she? Catherine, were they not friends of her parents? Did she and Elizabeth not used to go visiting? The Inghams! Of Blake Hall.
In Mirfield.
Oh, James.
Yes, she's always mentioned him fondly enough.
But And as for elderly Miss Walker up at Cliffe Hill needing a companion and helper, perhaps one of the younger cousins might be called upon to move in with her.
We shouldn't do that.
It's wrong.
Is it hell! It's natural.
A fine woman like you I've got this thing bothering me.
You know at t'wedding, when we were coming out of t'church? Suzannah's dad said this thing.
He said He said, "It's a shame your Sam's not here".
And I said, "Well, you could've knocked me down with a feather when they said he'd gone to America", and he goes, "But you were the one that wrote and told them" which has mystified me, Mary cos I didn't.
Well, I don't know where he's got that from.
Well, someone here.
Presumably you.
Or Thomas.
- Or one of t'kids.
- No.
It was just an assumption that he'd gone to America.
No, he wasn't making it up.
Somebody here made it up.
So what worries me is that somebody's hiding summat.
And then this - worries me as well.
- What? I don't think you'd be bothering wi' me or anyone else if you thought there were the slightest chance of him walking through that door.
He's dead, in't he? "For the first time in my life, Fred, I know not where to find you.
I'm sending this via your sister at Shibden in the hope that she at least will know where to reach you.
I can coax neither rest nor appetite.
I am reduced to little more than skin and bone.
You would not recognise me.
Your happiness and comfort are very dear to me, and I will not be the last of your friends to rejoice if, in Miss Walker, all you desire has truly come.
I will never rob your little friend of her due, but I am by no means sure that I could ever be an impartial judge".
Tell me about Mrs.
Lawton.
You looked so sad looking over the letter you got from her in Geneva.
She has a lot to deal with, that's all.
What saddens my friends saddens me.
What sort of things? Well, she's not been very well, and, erm it's made her rather low.
Do you remember in Paris, at the Louvre ? Mrs.
Milne said a curious thing.
She laughed, and she turned to Charlotte, and she said "Mariana would not be too pleased if she saw her successor".
I do wish you'd tell me things, Anne otherwise I just look foolish.
All right.
Look what you have to understand is that I'm older than you and I've hada life.
But you said you'd never done this with anyone before.
I barely knew you when I said that.
I was terrified of what you might think of me.
There has been another.
And And Charlotte and Mrs.
Milne know? Because if they know about that, they'll make assumptions about me.
No, no, no, no, no.
Not about that.
This No, they only know that Mariana and I were devoted.
For a time.
Don't be jealous.
I'm so much happier now.
Happier than I've ever been.
Firm but fair, I'd say.
Fair when it suits her.
Either that or she'll jump through hoops explaining why something is fair when you both know it isn't.
When she interviewed me in York, I was shaking.
She grows on you.
- Well, you get used to her.
- Mm.
- Is she ? - What, love? A man? Ooh! Ah! The new lad.
Is it Ma ? - Matthew.
- Matthew.
I'm Mr.
Sunderland.
"At Saint-Etienne we visited the Cote Thiolliere coalpit.
Rapid descent.
Adney looked frightened, so I sent her back up to the top".
She calls Miss Walker Adney now.
- Andy? - Adney.
- "Monsieur Vachier" - Why? " the chief engineer" No idea.
- " very civil" - She didn't take Miss Walker - down a pit?! - You know what she's like.
You could never accuse her of not knowing how to show someone a good time.
"Then at Firminy, Monsieur Morello showed me how his 24-horsepower steam-engine pump works.
I have learned a great deal.
It was here we heard the unfortunate news that Melbourne has become Prime Minister.
Not for long, I trust, or where will it end? We travelled through the night and arrived back in Paris on Wednesday, and neither of us were the worse for it.
My intention, if my carriage doesn't collapse, is to be back with you all at Shibden no later than Saturday next".
Oh! "Mine and your new niece's best love to you all".
I ought to get out more.
I think I might buy myself a little gig.
Eh, Mr.
Sunderland? First thing in the morning, we should go over to Cliffe Hill and see my aunt, take her presents, let her see how well I am, not take any nonsense from her and put everything right.
She's here.
She's here! - She's here? - Come on! - You made it! - Of course we made it.
I meant the carriage made it.
We were changing horses in Leicester at two o'clock this morning.
Cordingley, Hemingway.
- Ma'am.
- You remember Matthew? Ah! Matthew.
- Ma'am.
- How have you settled in? Very well, thank you, ma'am.
- Hmm - Matthew, I'm George.
What's this "George"? Why are we calling him George? It's his middle name.
We found out when we applied for his passport, and Adney and I agreed it was a much better sort of name for a footman.
Oh! Look at you! Eh? You've grown.
He's grown.
'Ey, look at this.
Miss Lister bought me a gold watch in London.
She said I left the realm a boy and came back a man.
How do you do? Bonjour.
No, no.
This was as we were going over the border from Switzerland into Italy, before we got to Mont Blanc.
I'd bought Adney some lace handkerchiefs, and then we were told at the hotel that they'd be confiscated by the customs house, which vexed me, because they were expensive.
- So - You didn't smuggle them? - I had to! - She pinned them - inside her, erm - Drawers! I had to! There was no other way.
That's contraband! In the event, I needn't have bothered.
The Sardinian carabinieri asked if there was anything "a declarer", and I just said, "Non", and that was it.
What if they'd searched you? - They didn't.
- But what if they had? - They didn't.
- But if they had? Which they didn't.
- I've ordered a gig.
- You have? A britzka.
Did she tell you? - You have? - Brand-new.
I've ordered it from Mr.
Piercy in Halifax.
100 guineas.
Says he can deliver it within a fortnight.
You do know those things go very fast, don't you? Oh, yes.
But like Mr.
Abbott says, you can't hang about when you get to my age.
Sorry, Mr ? - Abbott.
- We bumped into him in Halifax.
Turns out he's not engaged to Miss Greenwood of Field House.
Mr.
Rawson lied.
Or at least got the wrong end of the stick or something.
He doesn't even know her.
That'll be the man from Pickfords.
- Who? - I'm sending the carriage up to Baxters in London to get repaired and refurbished.
And then we should get over to Lightcliffe.
And then I have a thousand other things I need to do today.
Ben? Oh, hello! I was just talking to t'pigs.
Have they said owt interesting? They're better listeners than talkers, I find.
I was thinking, wondering if, er if it's time you moved on.
When you came, at t'beginning, it were never meant to be permanent.
Me and Suzannah, we'll be starting a family soon.
I had this interesting conversation with your mother about your dad.
What? What about me dad? Well, first off, there's this rubbish about me writing to say that he'd gone to America, which I didn't.
And then, second, when I said to her, "He's dead, in't he, or else why lie about a letter?" well, she's just a bit shit at lying, in't she? So, when she goes, "We don't know, nobody knows what happened to him", well, I just didn't believe her.
See, I think somebody here knows more than what they're saying.
Or else why lie in t'first place? Don't you be bullying me mother.
No, I didn't.
I didn't.
I said to her, "I do know what a bastard he was".
I know he was handy with his fists.
He knocked me about enough when we were lads.
It wouldn't surprise me if tempers'd got frayed and one thing led to another.
Y'know, the great thing about a pig is it'll eat anything.
I grew up wi' pigs, same as your dad.
Same as you.
I know all about 'em.
I don't know what you're talking about.
I'm not here to rock the boat, lad.
I couldn't care less.
But I don't really want to have to move on.
I'm happy here.
I belong.
I'm family.
Eh? I'm on your side.
Best foot forward.
Miss Walker and Miss Lister.
Aunt! Oh, Miss Rawson! I didn't know you visited here.
How are you, Aunt? Well, I trust.
I hope.
And I hope you'll be pleased to know that I'm well too.
I'm better than I've been for a long time.
Miss Lister was right the mountain air agreed with us both considerably, and I feel changed.
- How do you do, Miss Rawson? - Miss Walker.
Miss Lister, do you know my cousin Mary? - Miss Rawson.
- Miss Lister.
We think we shall go back there.
Its recuperative properties were so beneficial to us.
And soon.
Miss Walker.
We've brought you some gifts back from our travels.
Adney chose them in Paris.
Her taste is impeccable, much like your own, Miss Walker.
I can't imagine you won't be delighted with them.
Should I sit with you, Miss Rawson? What an exquisite dress.
Oh, thank you.
I bought it in Huddersfield.
Incandescent.
The colour suits you no end.
Good Lord, it matches your eyes, the colour.
Your cousin, Miss Rawson, believe it or not, less than a few short weeks ago came this on the map, at least, close to reaching the summit of Mont Blanc and was only defeated by the most atrocious weather.
We were hugely unlucky and terribly disappointed, but, as she says, we will go back.
I can't begin to tell you the adventures we've had, Aunt - the breathtaking views we've seen, things that really lift the soul.
We waded knee-deep in alpine snow.
Are you going to sit down? Please sit down.
Picture us, Miss Walker, if you can, being carried on the shoulders of our guides, David and Michel, who were waist-deep in water because the bridge we had to cross otherwise we'd have been lost to the elements - collapsed in the storm.
- Oh, you've never seen rain like it.
And the thunder and the lightning! Miss Lister lost all her travel notes.
Gone in the deluge! Fortunately for me, I'd left my journal proper back at Sallanches with Eugenie, my lady's maid.
Mr.
and Mrs.
Edwards were here last week.
Ah! Local news.
And they were telling me that in York, Miss Lister, you are reported to have said that you would never have anything to do with Miss Walker's "troublesome friends" ever again.
- Aunt! - I assume that you count me as one of my niece's "troublesome friends".
And in that capacity I'm afraid you've been sadly misinformed, Miss Walker.
- And in that capacity - Aunt I've never said anything of the sort.
Nor would I.
- And in that capacity - It's not in my nature.
I'm confident Miss Walker knows that much about me.
And in that capacity I can assure you, Ann, that your friends, bothersome or otherwise, will not bother you much at Shibden.
Aunt, you've you've got to One day, these words will make sense to you, they will sink in.
And when they do, perhaps you'll realise who your true friends are.
Or were, if they still exist.
We're here to be friends, Aunt.
All this unpleasantness is so tiresome, and I'd like to put it behind us.
Can you not rejoice at how well I am and be happy for me? Miss Rawson isn't here on a visit.
She has kindly moved in with me permanently as my companion and help-meet.
I offered to come here two years ago to look after you.
- That offer was rejected.
- You were ill.
I'd have been the one looking after you.
No, that wasn't why I wanted Now would have been the time for you to step up to the mark.
But since you saw fit to absent yourself abroad and now put yourself at arm's length by moving into Shibden Hall, I have, in consultation with your aunts and uncles and cousins, all of whom are as bewildered as I am by the present situation, made alternative arrangements.
Oh! Mr.
Priestley, Mrs.
Priestley! How delightful.
I'm sorry, I was just outside.
I was just We've come to pay a visit on our cousin Miss Walker.
Oh, she's not here.
She's gone over to Lightcliffe with my sister to pay a call on your aunt and then to pop in at Crow Nest, I believe.
Can I offer you some tea? - Er, no.
- Thank you.
Not if she's not here.
A glass of Madeira? Well, if she's not here, we ought to just My father's out too.
And my aunt's indisposed.
She's expecting Mr.
Sunderland.
But I can always see if she'd like to try - and come down - Please don't trouble her.
She'd be so pleased to see you.
As I say, our call was on Miss Walker.
If you could let her know - Of course.
- But you may give our compliments to your aunt and your father, of course.
Well, it's a shame you've missed them.
Her.
They both have a wealth of anecdotes about their tour, as you might imagine! And it sounds as though it was most beneficial health-wise and stimulating for them both.
And it was Miss Walker's first time abroad! Yes.
So And yes, they've gone over to Crow Nest, I believe, to assess what Miss Walker wants to leave over there and what she wants to bring over here, now she's Miss Walker being here and how long she will remain are two very different things, Miss Lister.
Please be in no doubt that no-one in her family - and perhaps you could tell this to your father and your aunt as well - no-one is happy about any of this.
And the sooner it is sorted out, the better! Matthew, could you show Mr.
and Mrs.
Priestley out, please? Miss Lister.
Poor Marian.
I do wonder how much and how little she understands.
The whole thing's sickening for everyone concerned, isn't it? I sometimes wonder why we troubled ourselves to rescue her from Scotland.
I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't have been better for all concerned if she What? Had cut her wrist and succeeded.
- Eliza! - I know.
I know! But surely it cannot be a worse sin than what she's doing now.
What's happening with Mr.
Ingham? A negotiation with his family has begun.
Is that someone outside? Go and see who it is, Jane.
She's determined to humiliate me.
She's determined to make me look selfish and stupid.
I didn't offer to go and live with her because I was ill.
The old woman's head is crammed full of pother and untruths.
I should've guessed she'd try and blindside us with some nonsense, but that's just so cruel.
And poor Mary's being used.
She barely knew where to look.
That's my house! I own that house.
She's only there because she was left a right to live in it by my father, and then she goes and humiliates me like this.
And it's to your great credit you're not simply laughing it off, but at the same time it's a great shame you can't do precisely that, because, really It's a man and a lady and a horse.
really, you ought to see it for well, you said it the nonsense that it is.
Well, I do! But other people won't.
It's her they'll listen to, not me.
Yes, well, then, that's something we need to change, isn't it? Ah, Mrs.
Washington.
How do you do? Have you settled in? I think so, thank you, Miss Walker.
Good.
Miss Lister and I are here to make an inventory of items to be taken over to Shibden Hall.
Of course.
- We'll only be an hour or so.
- Yes, ma'am.
Where's Eliza? Are you sure it's all right for us to be in here? - Liza? - Yeah.
Do you want to see the Japanese room? The thing is The thing that nobody understands is, apart from the fact that yet again the whole family's been consulted and I'm reduced to nothing but a difficult invalid who can't do anything useful or proper, is the effect this all has on me.
- Hide.
- You said we were allowed in here! - Hide! - It's like I sabotage my own head with a thousand angry thoughts that eat into my brain and then they won't go away.
Well, that's because you're very sensitive and very thoughtful.
She's been like a parent to you and now she's lashing out, and it's hurtful as well as shameful, especially when you've done so much for her in the past.
You're not listening! Of course I'm listening.
It doesn't matter how much you try and rationalise it, it doesn't go away.
It just goes round and round.
I was so determined when we went there to make friends and rise above any unpleasantness.
Which is such a big step, and to your immense credit.
And the important thing is that in the heat of the moment, you kept your temper beautifully.
And when she sees that her words and actions have no effect, then, over time, even if they do in private and I know that's another matter she'll be forced to behave more and more reasonably and all of this will stop.
The antidote to other people's nasty nonsense is to rise above it and keep busy.
I've lived steadfastly by that tenet my whole life.
Come here.
The greatest thing that we can do in the time it takes her and all the rest to accept things as they are is to keep our dignity keep our nerve and keep busy just like you've been advised by Dr.
Belcombe.
What are you doing? I'm trying to take your mind off things.
It isn't just Mr.
and Mrs.
Priestley being odd.
It was When I went over to see Miss Walker, elderly Miss Walker, at Cliffe Hill earlier in the summer to see if she was receiving the messages you'd sent, she said something that bothered me, and I've never told anyone.
I don't want to upset you.
You won't upset me.
Well, she was being difficult and unpleasant, saying that Anne was manipulative.
But then she said, "Your sister is unnatural".
And I said, "Yes, I know she likes anything to do with medicine or mining or mathematics and all the things women aren't supposed to be interested in".
And she said, "No! Not that".
She said She said she had a reputation in York, and soon everyone in Halifax would know about it too, and that she couldn't care less, except for Miss Walker's reputation.
Nonsense.
Is it? You've no idea how many tears I've shed over Anne over the years.
It's not because I'm ashamed of her not once, not for a moment, but because I love her, and I could never stand the thought of anything nasty being said about her.
And when I hear things like that, I think, "Shame on them.
Shame on anyone who says it or thinks it or listens to it".
Do you? If these people, if any of these people, had a fraction of her talent for happiness, for friendship, her passion for life, for people and the world and everything in it, then they'd have something else to talk about.
But they don't.
Most people are mundane and narrow.
And Anne she's just got too much about her for this world.
I've known it since she was 11.
They can't put her into a neat little box, and because that makes her seem different, they say hateful things to try to belittle her.
It used to upset her when she was younger, but now she's strong and she's clever, and they can't touch her.
And what harm does she do? You look at Miss Walker's face.
Could she be any happier? We shouldn't do this not here, not now.
No.
You're right.
So what have we got? I don't want to take anything from here.
I never liked this room.
It always gave me the creeps.
Let's start upstairs.
Oh, you've weed! They can't do anything, can they, my family? Do anything how? I used to worry that they might try and have me put away, if they could after my brother died, because of my problems, so they could get their hands on my money.
And now if they're all so angry about me being here with you They couldn't have done it then and they certainly can't do it now.
You have taken control of your own destiny.
Are you coming to bed? Just give me a few minutes.
If you give me your watch.
I know how long your "few minutes" are when you're writing your journal.
I, er I found this letter waiting for me when we got back.
It's from Mrs.
Lawton.
She's in Scarborough.
She She's not been too well.
Could I read it to you? Ahem.
"Dearest Fred" That's me.
" your pages crowd so many thoughts upon my mind that I almost seem deprived of the power of arranging my ideas.
As all is now decided, with you and Miss Walker living at Shibden, I realise that if I cannot make you happy I ought to rejoice that another can.
If my love has sometimes perplexed you, it has been more from the waywardness of circumstances than inconstancy in my nature.
I do lament the past and regret its consequences".
And then she asks "if we may at least now and then enjoy the comfort of meeting".
She often - well, invariably - calls here when she crosses the Pennines on her way back to Cheshire from York or wherever, and I wondered how you'd feel if she did.
Erm, I can ask her not to, of course, but On the other hand It might be too soon, but it would make me very happy, the thought that the three of us could all get on and be friends.
Yes, of course.
I'd be pleased to meet her.
I can do this tomorrow.
Do you know what we should do once you're all settled and our wing is sorted out? Visit all of your relatives.
A Grand Tour! They've heard one side of the thing from your aunt and the Priestleys.
Let them hear another side from us.
And you did say to remind you, when we got back, to write to your sister about the division of the estate.
I don't want to put you under any undue pressure, but if we are to sort out our wills in one another's favour, it does need doing.
First thing in the morning.
You can help me compose it.
Goodnight Fred.
Well, she seems very happy.
It sounds like the trip was a great success.
Not that bit! You are being deliberately obtuse.
Perhaps not.
She has smuggled it in rather artlessly at the end of the third paragraph.
- Oh, this, asking about the division of the estate? - Mm.
What about it? Well, isn't it rather odd? It's probably something we should have done before now.
Except there's never been any reason to.
I suppose we didn't want to address it when John died.
But it's been four years.
- Is it not sensible? - But why's she asking now? If she never marries, which she seems to have little inclination to do, especially now she's settling at Shibden Hall with Miss Lister, then the entire estate will come to Sackville ultimately.
So what would be the point unless she is intending to marry? Well, I hope we'd know about it if she was.
Someone must have put an idea in her head.
Probably that floppy cousin of yours, Mr.
Priestley.
What would it have to do with him? Nothing! Except they all prey on her.
And that might make it easier for them.
Well, I'm sure Miss Lister will take care of anything like that.
I have no doubt Miss Lister is a very good thing and will no doubt protect her against fortune hunters significantly more effectively than your cousin would.
But it would still seem to be a waste of time and money spent on lawyers if it's all going to come to Sackville at the end of it all anyway.
Well, how should I reply, then? Don't yet.
I think we should dwell on it.
Anyway, you have enough to think about at the moment.
I'm just intrigued to know what's behind it.
Don't say I never bring you owt.
- What's that? - Fell off t'back of a wagon.
What? No, it did! William Hardcastle, carting a load of stuff along t'valley road.
All sorts - furniture, paintings, crates full of booze, Eh? He's been at it since last week.
- They won't miss one.
- You stole it? No! As if I'd do summat like that.
I Oh, don't be so soft.
Fuck's sake.
- Here.
- Our Thomas is about.
Well, get it down yer, then! - He'll go mad if he sees it.
- Yeah? Where is he, eh? Upstairs? - Giving her one, is he, eh? - Shush.
'Ey, shall I give you one? - No! - Come here.
- Don't! - Eh? They're all about somewhere.
'Ey, and put that away! Hide it where nobody'll see it.
Come on.
Just a nip.
Huh? You know you want to.
Eh? Go on.
Just a taste.
- What's going on? - Oops.
Just, er, nothing.
You've been drinking.
What? I haven't! All right, just a little.
I was just saying to your mother, it fell off t'back of a wagon.
Destiny, eh? Can't fight it.
I told you when you came here we don't have alcohol in this house.
- Knock-off or otherwise.
- No, I know, as a rule.
Yeah.
Ever.
- No harm done.
- No harm done? Huh! Look at you.
And what were going on? Your mum likes a drink.
It's only one bottle.
Can't we enjoy it? Enjoy it? After t'misery it's caused? I'm not like your dad.
You know that.
How long have I been here? You know I'm not a violent man.
- You were touching her.
- No, I don't think I was! You're going to have to go.
Well, no, I think I've explained to you - why I'm not.
- I've asked you to go nicely - and now you're going.
- Leave him alone! I'm not going anywhere, lad! - I tell thee! - Leave him alone! What are you sticking up for him for? Your mother, she likes me being here.
Don't you, love? Eh? No.
That's right.
You're not the only lovebirds in the house.
Does your Suzannah know about what happened to Sam? Aye.
You'll want to keep it that way, won't you? That's right.
That's right.
I'm on your side! I told you.
Whoa! Whoa! Hey, whoa! - Oh, good Lord.
- Slow down! - Whoa! - Oh! Eugh.
Look at that, eh? Anne! Come here.
Where did you get those horses from? They came with it, all in with the hundred guineas.
Smiler's a rather giddier than expected four-year-old.
- Are you all right, Father? - Yes.
Yes.
Yes You going to be all right, getting on and off that, Captain Lister? He can't control it.
He's dangerous.
He clipped the wheel of another carriage coming down Horton Street and he nearly knocked one old woman over coming up the Old Bank.
You'll be getting complaints.
It certainly is very shiny.
- You've shaken Marian up, Father.
- Oh, she'll be all right.
- How does it handle? - Well, it's, er - it's lively.
- Could I, erm ? No! No.
You keep your hands off it.
I don't want you damaging it.
Where's Joseph? Joseph! - Captain Lister.
- George.
We call him George now.
- Just see to the horses.
- Sir.
Oh, and we collected the postbag from Mrs.
Bagnall at the post office.
I think there's one - for you from Mrs.
Lawton.
- It's a wonderful thing, Captain Lister.
- Hardcastle! - Ma'am? There's one less bottle of Madeira in the back there than when this cart left Crow Nest.
I've not had it, Miss Lister.
You're responsible for the load.
"Dear Freddy, we left Scarborough earlier than anticipated, as the sea bathing did little for me and my eyes are no better.
It was a week ago that I passed within 100 yards of your door at Shibden, and for the first time in my life, you knew it not.
That I knew it and felt it as I passed, you will not doubt.
I now know it is my duty to dote on you less.
Heaven bless you, my Fred, and make you as happy as your own Mary ever did.
I'm satisfied that for the future you shall be spared any annoyance originating from me.
Mary has loved you dearly, fondly and faithfully, and she loves you no less at present.
But she loves you too well to be a source of discomfort to you.
Though we should never meet again, my wishes and prayers for you will not cease.
Entirely and affectionately yours, Mariana".
No No! Behind her back she's Gentleman Jack ♪ A Yorkshire lady of renown ♪ Ever so fine won't toe the line ♪ Speak her name, gentlemen frown ♪ At Shibden Hall she had them all ♪ The fairer sex fell under her spell ♪ Dapper and bright she held them tight ♪ Handsome Anne seduced them well ♪ Jack-the-lass, Jack-the-lass no-one likes a Jack-the-lass ♪ The code is cracked your bags are packed ♪ The knives are out for Gentleman Jack.
♪
Does Mariana know? "Dearest Fred, I have never loved any but you".
- A new will? How? - She likes me.
I won't be rushed.
Ben Sowden had written to them to say that he'd seen Sam.
Do you know that they had him in t'pigpen? Tib was going to be here.
Have you met her? Good Lord, no.
I wouldn't inflict Tib on her.
I'm taking my "little friend" to Paris.
Yes.
Yes.
Lord Stuart was very useful.
He was the British Ambassador here.
He used to invite me to balls and soirees, and so I invited Lady Stuart and the girls and their cousin, Miss Hobart, to Le Jardin des Plantes, where I was studying under Monsieur Cuvier.
It was a great privilege.
It wasn't really open to the public.
They were thrilled, not least when Monsieur Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire himself came along and gave an ad hoc lecture on la baleine.
We were inside the whale! There we were with one of the foremost thinkers of the day.
Sadly, he got called away and I had to - continue the lecture myself.
- four metres! Isn't Miss Lister fascinating? They must have been mesmerised.
Vere said the girls thought I explained it better than Monsieur Saint-Hilaire himself.
Now, he is a fascinating man, cleverer than Cuvier.
He describes himself as a deist, so believes in a god, but also in the natural law of the universe, so doesn't interpret the Bible as literal.
And neither should we.
My darling girl! They said you were here.
Little thingy doodah did, in reception at Meurice's.
And this must be Miss Walker.
Enchantee.
Miss Walker, Miss Norcliffe.
- Tib! - I've heard a lo - a lot about you.
- Good Lord! Can I sit down, before I fall over? I've been on the sauce.
Ha! - Madame? - Yes.
Hello.
Bonjour.
I would like, erm Vous restez pour ? Juste un petit aperitif, pas de diner.
I've left Charlotte and Mrs.
Milne asleep on the bed.
I think I've exhausted them! Je vais prendre un petit St-Raphael.
Merci.
So, why aren't you at Meurice's? He only had a fifth-floor apartment available, so we came here.
Well, it's very nice to see you.
Both of you.
Tell me all about yourself, Miss Walker.
Oh! Er Er Well, I You must go and see La Jeunesse d'Henri at the Palais-Royal.
We were there last night.
It's a riot.
We couldn't speak for hooting.
I fell off my chair.
We had a box.
We'll have to have a look and see what's on.
Have you met Mrs.
Milne, Miss Walker? You've met my sister Charlotte.
Yes, at Langton, and your mother and your brother, - but no, not Mrs - Mrs.
Milne is Mrs.
Lawton's rather wayward sister.
Is she? Made rather a fool of herself over an army officer some years ago, and Well, we're none of us perfect.
Er, who's Mrs.
Lawton? She's Dr.
Belcombe's sister.
A friend of ours from years ago.
Of course, you know Steph! Have you seen her lately? Mrs.
Lawton.
No.
Not since before I set off for Copenhagen.
We travelled up to London together.
- I didn't know he had sisters.
- Oh, yes.
A whole flock of them.
Mrs.
Lawton, Mrs.
Milne, Nantz, Louisa, Eliza.
Quite a list, eh? My gorgeous, lovely, sweet magnificence.
So, what are you doing tomorrow, Miss Walker? We're going to the Louvre.
Are you? Well, that's excellent.
In fact, it's perfect.
So are we.
Miss Walker! - How delightful.
How are you? - I'm very well, thank you.
She hasn't got a clue, has she, about the vast, rich tapestry of your fruity past? And it would be very nice if we could keep it that way.
Did you explain "tuft hunter" away as a sporting term, then? Oddly enough, it hasn't arisen.
Isn't she a bit insipid for you? She's not really one of your "sweet, interesting creatures", is she? There's more to her than meets the eye.
You mean in bed?! Not here, Tib.
Sorry! Just be happy for me.
I am! I'm always happy for you, my darling.
You know that.
But what about Mariana? Is she happy for you? Mariana's made her own choices.
Did Mariana ever really have choices, like we did? Until I inherited Shibden, I had nothing.
No, no.
You always had something that money could never buy, something that was always going to take you wherever you wanted to go! Not everyone's a force of nature like you are.
I don't know why I worry about Mariana.
She stole you from me.
Oh! Although if it hadn't been her, it would've been someone else, wouldn't it? After all, two jacks don't suit.
I'm going to have to whisk Miss Walker away.
We only came to see the Raphael and the Murillo.
I don't want her to strain her eyes over things of lesser value.
And I promised Madame de Bourke that I'd meet her at the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore at ten.
Of course.
Charlotte! Mrs.
Milne, how are you? Er, I'm afraid I have to steal her away.
It's time to go.
My aunt would have popped over herself, but she's lucky if she can get out into the garden these days, with her ulcers.
So No, so, she was anxious to know if you'd been receiving her notes my aunt.
Only with there being no reply, she wasn't sure one way or the other.
Miss Walker? Yes.
I have been receiving them.
Oh, good! Oh, she'll be relieved my aunt.
Oh, and she told me to assure you that Miss Walker will write to you herself from Paris, now that they've got there.
We had a letter just last night.
And the good news is that Anne, my Anne, our Anne is very much better.
She became ill with a fever just after they set off to London.
She was knocked up, - apparently.
- Oh, dear.
Oh, she's much better now.
But the net result is that Miss Walker felt that my sister has been working too hard, which of course she has, and so they've decided on another month.
They're going to the Alps.
- The Alps? - Well, Anne's always wanted to conquer Mont Blanc, and she thought the mountain air would do them both a world of good which it will.
You do know that no-one in Miss Walker's family knew anything about this jaunt until after they'd set off, don't you? I don't think that's true, Miss Walker.
Well, it's as true as I'm sitting here.
How dare you tell me it's not true! The trip was discussed for some time.
It was only the finer details - they hadn't - At Shibden Hall, maybe.
Not anywhere else.
And why am I being sent messages, anyway? Why is my niece not communicating with me herself? Well, I know you had had a bit of a spat with her.
So perhaps that was why.
My niece is a vulnerable young woman, Miss Lister.
If I had had a spat with her, it was only because I was trying to communicate to her how how worldly your sister is.
Yes, but surely wouldn't that make them ideal companions? Would you not be more worried if they were both vulnerable in the Alps? How can I put this? Your sister is very manipulative.
Well yes Certainly, she always gets what she wants.
But she's exceedingly fond of Miss Walker, as we all are at Shibden Hall, and Miss Walker seems exceedingly fond of her.
For two ladies disinclined to marry, I don't think they could do better.
Oh, Marian! You are naive.
Morning.
Oh, hello.
I thought I'd come and see if you need a hand.
Your mother's in t'kitchen.
Ah, good.
Somebody who isn't going to just muck about.
- I've done loads.
- Go and help your dad.
What do you want me to do? Well, if someone unpacked all these, we could clear a bit of space and I could start cooking a meal.
I wish I was moving in with you.
Is it no different? They're just uncivilised.
Not Not Thomas.
But it's like Amy.
Even Amy doesn't want to learn to read.
What? His uncle.
Making lewd comments all the time.
"You newlyweds I know what you newlyweds get up to".
And this smirk on his face, and I have to laugh like I think it's funny.
And And then this morning, Alf, who's thick, chased me with a pig's head, one they'd slaughtered yesterday, all round the house and upstairs.
And they were all laughing.
Not Not Thomas.
What? Hello? - Who's done that to you, lad? - Piss off, you.
Where's your mother? Where's your Uncle Ben? Not Thomas? Why did she even have to come here, your Suzannah? Stupid bitch.
'Ey, 'ey, 'ey! I thought he'd see t'funny side, our Thomas.
He allus used to see t'funny side, even when me dad were being a bastard.
Yeah, but it's not funny for our Suzannah, is it? You've grown up seeing pigs cut up.
She hasn't.
- Eh? - S'pose.
Right.
So think on.
Or else I'll be after you as well.
Do you know owt about this business about Thomas and Dick tying your dad up in t'pigpen? When did you last see him, your dad? Then.
We had to go into Halifax.
- Who did? - Me and Amy.
Wi' me mother.
Thomas was going to untie him so he could go and apologise to Miss Lister for being drunk.
But he never came back.
Well, he never did see Miss Lister.
She'd have said.
What do you think happened to him? He went to America.
Yeah Do you believe that? Yeah.
Oh! C'est parfait.
Merci.
Did you ever imagine you'd be sleeping between a cowhouse and a hayloft in the Alps? - I've never seen you like this.
- Like what? Just so happy.
So alive.
Elderly Miss Walker warned us.
She said, "She'll have her in Paris before we know it".
And has a truer word ever been spoken? And who knows where they are now! Geneva, apparently.
Halfway up Mont Blanc, according to Marian.
Who we encountered in Halifax last week.
And, you see, what must she think? It's the dereliction of duty that bewilders me, on top of what on earth people will think.
Her aunt did everything for her.
Everything.
And now she's getting on and can't get out so much and needs companionship and a helping hand, she's abandoned.
She's ignored, she's She's humiliated, as we all are, because people will talk.
Of course they'll talk! What Captain Lister and elderly Miss Lister are thinking I cannot begin to fathom.
When have they ever had any say in the matter? Well, you'd think, you'd hope, they'd have some say in the matter of Miss Walker moving in with them all at Shibden Hall.
- Oh, really? - When? When they return.
Oh, yes, that's the plan.
We were up at Cliffe Hill a month, six weeks ago, and she turned up.
We don't socialise with her any more, just to be clear.
But, yes, she turned up.
It makes me shudder, Mrs.
Priestley, the idea of being in the same room as her, as sitting on the same sofa she's sat on.
So they're going to live together? At Shibden? With Anne Lister's wit and your cousin's money, she could run the whole of Halifax.
You'd better do something about it, Priestley.
Do you imagine I haven't tried? She needs to feel the consequences of what could happen.
She needs a husband.
Yes.
Who? - Well, I liked Mr.
Ainsw - Not Mr.
Ainsworth.
There must be someone.
She must be very eligible with all that money, despite her that that health.
We've been through every possible What about Mr.
James Ingham of Blake Hall in Mirfield? She visits them from time to time.
She used to.
Doesn't she? Catherine, were they not friends of her parents? Did she and Elizabeth not used to go visiting? The Inghams! Of Blake Hall.
In Mirfield.
Oh, James.
Yes, she's always mentioned him fondly enough.
But And as for elderly Miss Walker up at Cliffe Hill needing a companion and helper, perhaps one of the younger cousins might be called upon to move in with her.
We shouldn't do that.
It's wrong.
Is it hell! It's natural.
A fine woman like you I've got this thing bothering me.
You know at t'wedding, when we were coming out of t'church? Suzannah's dad said this thing.
He said He said, "It's a shame your Sam's not here".
And I said, "Well, you could've knocked me down with a feather when they said he'd gone to America", and he goes, "But you were the one that wrote and told them" which has mystified me, Mary cos I didn't.
Well, I don't know where he's got that from.
Well, someone here.
Presumably you.
Or Thomas.
- Or one of t'kids.
- No.
It was just an assumption that he'd gone to America.
No, he wasn't making it up.
Somebody here made it up.
So what worries me is that somebody's hiding summat.
And then this - worries me as well.
- What? I don't think you'd be bothering wi' me or anyone else if you thought there were the slightest chance of him walking through that door.
He's dead, in't he? "For the first time in my life, Fred, I know not where to find you.
I'm sending this via your sister at Shibden in the hope that she at least will know where to reach you.
I can coax neither rest nor appetite.
I am reduced to little more than skin and bone.
You would not recognise me.
Your happiness and comfort are very dear to me, and I will not be the last of your friends to rejoice if, in Miss Walker, all you desire has truly come.
I will never rob your little friend of her due, but I am by no means sure that I could ever be an impartial judge".
Tell me about Mrs.
Lawton.
You looked so sad looking over the letter you got from her in Geneva.
She has a lot to deal with, that's all.
What saddens my friends saddens me.
What sort of things? Well, she's not been very well, and, erm it's made her rather low.
Do you remember in Paris, at the Louvre ? Mrs.
Milne said a curious thing.
She laughed, and she turned to Charlotte, and she said "Mariana would not be too pleased if she saw her successor".
I do wish you'd tell me things, Anne otherwise I just look foolish.
All right.
Look what you have to understand is that I'm older than you and I've hada life.
But you said you'd never done this with anyone before.
I barely knew you when I said that.
I was terrified of what you might think of me.
There has been another.
And And Charlotte and Mrs.
Milne know? Because if they know about that, they'll make assumptions about me.
No, no, no, no, no.
Not about that.
This No, they only know that Mariana and I were devoted.
For a time.
Don't be jealous.
I'm so much happier now.
Happier than I've ever been.
Firm but fair, I'd say.
Fair when it suits her.
Either that or she'll jump through hoops explaining why something is fair when you both know it isn't.
When she interviewed me in York, I was shaking.
She grows on you.
- Well, you get used to her.
- Mm.
- Is she ? - What, love? A man? Ooh! Ah! The new lad.
Is it Ma ? - Matthew.
- Matthew.
I'm Mr.
Sunderland.
"At Saint-Etienne we visited the Cote Thiolliere coalpit.
Rapid descent.
Adney looked frightened, so I sent her back up to the top".
She calls Miss Walker Adney now.
- Andy? - Adney.
- "Monsieur Vachier" - Why? " the chief engineer" No idea.
- " very civil" - She didn't take Miss Walker - down a pit?! - You know what she's like.
You could never accuse her of not knowing how to show someone a good time.
"Then at Firminy, Monsieur Morello showed me how his 24-horsepower steam-engine pump works.
I have learned a great deal.
It was here we heard the unfortunate news that Melbourne has become Prime Minister.
Not for long, I trust, or where will it end? We travelled through the night and arrived back in Paris on Wednesday, and neither of us were the worse for it.
My intention, if my carriage doesn't collapse, is to be back with you all at Shibden no later than Saturday next".
Oh! "Mine and your new niece's best love to you all".
I ought to get out more.
I think I might buy myself a little gig.
Eh, Mr.
Sunderland? First thing in the morning, we should go over to Cliffe Hill and see my aunt, take her presents, let her see how well I am, not take any nonsense from her and put everything right.
She's here.
She's here! - She's here? - Come on! - You made it! - Of course we made it.
I meant the carriage made it.
We were changing horses in Leicester at two o'clock this morning.
Cordingley, Hemingway.
- Ma'am.
- You remember Matthew? Ah! Matthew.
- Ma'am.
- How have you settled in? Very well, thank you, ma'am.
- Hmm - Matthew, I'm George.
What's this "George"? Why are we calling him George? It's his middle name.
We found out when we applied for his passport, and Adney and I agreed it was a much better sort of name for a footman.
Oh! Look at you! Eh? You've grown.
He's grown.
'Ey, look at this.
Miss Lister bought me a gold watch in London.
She said I left the realm a boy and came back a man.
How do you do? Bonjour.
No, no.
This was as we were going over the border from Switzerland into Italy, before we got to Mont Blanc.
I'd bought Adney some lace handkerchiefs, and then we were told at the hotel that they'd be confiscated by the customs house, which vexed me, because they were expensive.
- So - You didn't smuggle them? - I had to! - She pinned them - inside her, erm - Drawers! I had to! There was no other way.
That's contraband! In the event, I needn't have bothered.
The Sardinian carabinieri asked if there was anything "a declarer", and I just said, "Non", and that was it.
What if they'd searched you? - They didn't.
- But what if they had? - They didn't.
- But if they had? Which they didn't.
- I've ordered a gig.
- You have? A britzka.
Did she tell you? - You have? - Brand-new.
I've ordered it from Mr.
Piercy in Halifax.
100 guineas.
Says he can deliver it within a fortnight.
You do know those things go very fast, don't you? Oh, yes.
But like Mr.
Abbott says, you can't hang about when you get to my age.
Sorry, Mr ? - Abbott.
- We bumped into him in Halifax.
Turns out he's not engaged to Miss Greenwood of Field House.
Mr.
Rawson lied.
Or at least got the wrong end of the stick or something.
He doesn't even know her.
That'll be the man from Pickfords.
- Who? - I'm sending the carriage up to Baxters in London to get repaired and refurbished.
And then we should get over to Lightcliffe.
And then I have a thousand other things I need to do today.
Ben? Oh, hello! I was just talking to t'pigs.
Have they said owt interesting? They're better listeners than talkers, I find.
I was thinking, wondering if, er if it's time you moved on.
When you came, at t'beginning, it were never meant to be permanent.
Me and Suzannah, we'll be starting a family soon.
I had this interesting conversation with your mother about your dad.
What? What about me dad? Well, first off, there's this rubbish about me writing to say that he'd gone to America, which I didn't.
And then, second, when I said to her, "He's dead, in't he, or else why lie about a letter?" well, she's just a bit shit at lying, in't she? So, when she goes, "We don't know, nobody knows what happened to him", well, I just didn't believe her.
See, I think somebody here knows more than what they're saying.
Or else why lie in t'first place? Don't you be bullying me mother.
No, I didn't.
I didn't.
I said to her, "I do know what a bastard he was".
I know he was handy with his fists.
He knocked me about enough when we were lads.
It wouldn't surprise me if tempers'd got frayed and one thing led to another.
Y'know, the great thing about a pig is it'll eat anything.
I grew up wi' pigs, same as your dad.
Same as you.
I know all about 'em.
I don't know what you're talking about.
I'm not here to rock the boat, lad.
I couldn't care less.
But I don't really want to have to move on.
I'm happy here.
I belong.
I'm family.
Eh? I'm on your side.
Best foot forward.
Miss Walker and Miss Lister.
Aunt! Oh, Miss Rawson! I didn't know you visited here.
How are you, Aunt? Well, I trust.
I hope.
And I hope you'll be pleased to know that I'm well too.
I'm better than I've been for a long time.
Miss Lister was right the mountain air agreed with us both considerably, and I feel changed.
- How do you do, Miss Rawson? - Miss Walker.
Miss Lister, do you know my cousin Mary? - Miss Rawson.
- Miss Lister.
We think we shall go back there.
Its recuperative properties were so beneficial to us.
And soon.
Miss Walker.
We've brought you some gifts back from our travels.
Adney chose them in Paris.
Her taste is impeccable, much like your own, Miss Walker.
I can't imagine you won't be delighted with them.
Should I sit with you, Miss Rawson? What an exquisite dress.
Oh, thank you.
I bought it in Huddersfield.
Incandescent.
The colour suits you no end.
Good Lord, it matches your eyes, the colour.
Your cousin, Miss Rawson, believe it or not, less than a few short weeks ago came this on the map, at least, close to reaching the summit of Mont Blanc and was only defeated by the most atrocious weather.
We were hugely unlucky and terribly disappointed, but, as she says, we will go back.
I can't begin to tell you the adventures we've had, Aunt - the breathtaking views we've seen, things that really lift the soul.
We waded knee-deep in alpine snow.
Are you going to sit down? Please sit down.
Picture us, Miss Walker, if you can, being carried on the shoulders of our guides, David and Michel, who were waist-deep in water because the bridge we had to cross otherwise we'd have been lost to the elements - collapsed in the storm.
- Oh, you've never seen rain like it.
And the thunder and the lightning! Miss Lister lost all her travel notes.
Gone in the deluge! Fortunately for me, I'd left my journal proper back at Sallanches with Eugenie, my lady's maid.
Mr.
and Mrs.
Edwards were here last week.
Ah! Local news.
And they were telling me that in York, Miss Lister, you are reported to have said that you would never have anything to do with Miss Walker's "troublesome friends" ever again.
- Aunt! - I assume that you count me as one of my niece's "troublesome friends".
And in that capacity I'm afraid you've been sadly misinformed, Miss Walker.
- And in that capacity - Aunt I've never said anything of the sort.
Nor would I.
- And in that capacity - It's not in my nature.
I'm confident Miss Walker knows that much about me.
And in that capacity I can assure you, Ann, that your friends, bothersome or otherwise, will not bother you much at Shibden.
Aunt, you've you've got to One day, these words will make sense to you, they will sink in.
And when they do, perhaps you'll realise who your true friends are.
Or were, if they still exist.
We're here to be friends, Aunt.
All this unpleasantness is so tiresome, and I'd like to put it behind us.
Can you not rejoice at how well I am and be happy for me? Miss Rawson isn't here on a visit.
She has kindly moved in with me permanently as my companion and help-meet.
I offered to come here two years ago to look after you.
- That offer was rejected.
- You were ill.
I'd have been the one looking after you.
No, that wasn't why I wanted Now would have been the time for you to step up to the mark.
But since you saw fit to absent yourself abroad and now put yourself at arm's length by moving into Shibden Hall, I have, in consultation with your aunts and uncles and cousins, all of whom are as bewildered as I am by the present situation, made alternative arrangements.
Oh! Mr.
Priestley, Mrs.
Priestley! How delightful.
I'm sorry, I was just outside.
I was just We've come to pay a visit on our cousin Miss Walker.
Oh, she's not here.
She's gone over to Lightcliffe with my sister to pay a call on your aunt and then to pop in at Crow Nest, I believe.
Can I offer you some tea? - Er, no.
- Thank you.
Not if she's not here.
A glass of Madeira? Well, if she's not here, we ought to just My father's out too.
And my aunt's indisposed.
She's expecting Mr.
Sunderland.
But I can always see if she'd like to try - and come down - Please don't trouble her.
She'd be so pleased to see you.
As I say, our call was on Miss Walker.
If you could let her know - Of course.
- But you may give our compliments to your aunt and your father, of course.
Well, it's a shame you've missed them.
Her.
They both have a wealth of anecdotes about their tour, as you might imagine! And it sounds as though it was most beneficial health-wise and stimulating for them both.
And it was Miss Walker's first time abroad! Yes.
So And yes, they've gone over to Crow Nest, I believe, to assess what Miss Walker wants to leave over there and what she wants to bring over here, now she's Miss Walker being here and how long she will remain are two very different things, Miss Lister.
Please be in no doubt that no-one in her family - and perhaps you could tell this to your father and your aunt as well - no-one is happy about any of this.
And the sooner it is sorted out, the better! Matthew, could you show Mr.
and Mrs.
Priestley out, please? Miss Lister.
Poor Marian.
I do wonder how much and how little she understands.
The whole thing's sickening for everyone concerned, isn't it? I sometimes wonder why we troubled ourselves to rescue her from Scotland.
I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't have been better for all concerned if she What? Had cut her wrist and succeeded.
- Eliza! - I know.
I know! But surely it cannot be a worse sin than what she's doing now.
What's happening with Mr.
Ingham? A negotiation with his family has begun.
Is that someone outside? Go and see who it is, Jane.
She's determined to humiliate me.
She's determined to make me look selfish and stupid.
I didn't offer to go and live with her because I was ill.
The old woman's head is crammed full of pother and untruths.
I should've guessed she'd try and blindside us with some nonsense, but that's just so cruel.
And poor Mary's being used.
She barely knew where to look.
That's my house! I own that house.
She's only there because she was left a right to live in it by my father, and then she goes and humiliates me like this.
And it's to your great credit you're not simply laughing it off, but at the same time it's a great shame you can't do precisely that, because, really It's a man and a lady and a horse.
really, you ought to see it for well, you said it the nonsense that it is.
Well, I do! But other people won't.
It's her they'll listen to, not me.
Yes, well, then, that's something we need to change, isn't it? Ah, Mrs.
Washington.
How do you do? Have you settled in? I think so, thank you, Miss Walker.
Good.
Miss Lister and I are here to make an inventory of items to be taken over to Shibden Hall.
Of course.
- We'll only be an hour or so.
- Yes, ma'am.
Where's Eliza? Are you sure it's all right for us to be in here? - Liza? - Yeah.
Do you want to see the Japanese room? The thing is The thing that nobody understands is, apart from the fact that yet again the whole family's been consulted and I'm reduced to nothing but a difficult invalid who can't do anything useful or proper, is the effect this all has on me.
- Hide.
- You said we were allowed in here! - Hide! - It's like I sabotage my own head with a thousand angry thoughts that eat into my brain and then they won't go away.
Well, that's because you're very sensitive and very thoughtful.
She's been like a parent to you and now she's lashing out, and it's hurtful as well as shameful, especially when you've done so much for her in the past.
You're not listening! Of course I'm listening.
It doesn't matter how much you try and rationalise it, it doesn't go away.
It just goes round and round.
I was so determined when we went there to make friends and rise above any unpleasantness.
Which is such a big step, and to your immense credit.
And the important thing is that in the heat of the moment, you kept your temper beautifully.
And when she sees that her words and actions have no effect, then, over time, even if they do in private and I know that's another matter she'll be forced to behave more and more reasonably and all of this will stop.
The antidote to other people's nasty nonsense is to rise above it and keep busy.
I've lived steadfastly by that tenet my whole life.
Come here.
The greatest thing that we can do in the time it takes her and all the rest to accept things as they are is to keep our dignity keep our nerve and keep busy just like you've been advised by Dr.
Belcombe.
What are you doing? I'm trying to take your mind off things.
It isn't just Mr.
and Mrs.
Priestley being odd.
It was When I went over to see Miss Walker, elderly Miss Walker, at Cliffe Hill earlier in the summer to see if she was receiving the messages you'd sent, she said something that bothered me, and I've never told anyone.
I don't want to upset you.
You won't upset me.
Well, she was being difficult and unpleasant, saying that Anne was manipulative.
But then she said, "Your sister is unnatural".
And I said, "Yes, I know she likes anything to do with medicine or mining or mathematics and all the things women aren't supposed to be interested in".
And she said, "No! Not that".
She said She said she had a reputation in York, and soon everyone in Halifax would know about it too, and that she couldn't care less, except for Miss Walker's reputation.
Nonsense.
Is it? You've no idea how many tears I've shed over Anne over the years.
It's not because I'm ashamed of her not once, not for a moment, but because I love her, and I could never stand the thought of anything nasty being said about her.
And when I hear things like that, I think, "Shame on them.
Shame on anyone who says it or thinks it or listens to it".
Do you? If these people, if any of these people, had a fraction of her talent for happiness, for friendship, her passion for life, for people and the world and everything in it, then they'd have something else to talk about.
But they don't.
Most people are mundane and narrow.
And Anne she's just got too much about her for this world.
I've known it since she was 11.
They can't put her into a neat little box, and because that makes her seem different, they say hateful things to try to belittle her.
It used to upset her when she was younger, but now she's strong and she's clever, and they can't touch her.
And what harm does she do? You look at Miss Walker's face.
Could she be any happier? We shouldn't do this not here, not now.
No.
You're right.
So what have we got? I don't want to take anything from here.
I never liked this room.
It always gave me the creeps.
Let's start upstairs.
Oh, you've weed! They can't do anything, can they, my family? Do anything how? I used to worry that they might try and have me put away, if they could after my brother died, because of my problems, so they could get their hands on my money.
And now if they're all so angry about me being here with you They couldn't have done it then and they certainly can't do it now.
You have taken control of your own destiny.
Are you coming to bed? Just give me a few minutes.
If you give me your watch.
I know how long your "few minutes" are when you're writing your journal.
I, er I found this letter waiting for me when we got back.
It's from Mrs.
Lawton.
She's in Scarborough.
She She's not been too well.
Could I read it to you? Ahem.
"Dearest Fred" That's me.
" your pages crowd so many thoughts upon my mind that I almost seem deprived of the power of arranging my ideas.
As all is now decided, with you and Miss Walker living at Shibden, I realise that if I cannot make you happy I ought to rejoice that another can.
If my love has sometimes perplexed you, it has been more from the waywardness of circumstances than inconstancy in my nature.
I do lament the past and regret its consequences".
And then she asks "if we may at least now and then enjoy the comfort of meeting".
She often - well, invariably - calls here when she crosses the Pennines on her way back to Cheshire from York or wherever, and I wondered how you'd feel if she did.
Erm, I can ask her not to, of course, but On the other hand It might be too soon, but it would make me very happy, the thought that the three of us could all get on and be friends.
Yes, of course.
I'd be pleased to meet her.
I can do this tomorrow.
Do you know what we should do once you're all settled and our wing is sorted out? Visit all of your relatives.
A Grand Tour! They've heard one side of the thing from your aunt and the Priestleys.
Let them hear another side from us.
And you did say to remind you, when we got back, to write to your sister about the division of the estate.
I don't want to put you under any undue pressure, but if we are to sort out our wills in one another's favour, it does need doing.
First thing in the morning.
You can help me compose it.
Goodnight Fred.
Well, she seems very happy.
It sounds like the trip was a great success.
Not that bit! You are being deliberately obtuse.
Perhaps not.
She has smuggled it in rather artlessly at the end of the third paragraph.
- Oh, this, asking about the division of the estate? - Mm.
What about it? Well, isn't it rather odd? It's probably something we should have done before now.
Except there's never been any reason to.
I suppose we didn't want to address it when John died.
But it's been four years.
- Is it not sensible? - But why's she asking now? If she never marries, which she seems to have little inclination to do, especially now she's settling at Shibden Hall with Miss Lister, then the entire estate will come to Sackville ultimately.
So what would be the point unless she is intending to marry? Well, I hope we'd know about it if she was.
Someone must have put an idea in her head.
Probably that floppy cousin of yours, Mr.
Priestley.
What would it have to do with him? Nothing! Except they all prey on her.
And that might make it easier for them.
Well, I'm sure Miss Lister will take care of anything like that.
I have no doubt Miss Lister is a very good thing and will no doubt protect her against fortune hunters significantly more effectively than your cousin would.
But it would still seem to be a waste of time and money spent on lawyers if it's all going to come to Sackville at the end of it all anyway.
Well, how should I reply, then? Don't yet.
I think we should dwell on it.
Anyway, you have enough to think about at the moment.
I'm just intrigued to know what's behind it.
Don't say I never bring you owt.
- What's that? - Fell off t'back of a wagon.
What? No, it did! William Hardcastle, carting a load of stuff along t'valley road.
All sorts - furniture, paintings, crates full of booze, Eh? He's been at it since last week.
- They won't miss one.
- You stole it? No! As if I'd do summat like that.
I Oh, don't be so soft.
Fuck's sake.
- Here.
- Our Thomas is about.
Well, get it down yer, then! - He'll go mad if he sees it.
- Yeah? Where is he, eh? Upstairs? - Giving her one, is he, eh? - Shush.
'Ey, shall I give you one? - No! - Come here.
- Don't! - Eh? They're all about somewhere.
'Ey, and put that away! Hide it where nobody'll see it.
Come on.
Just a nip.
Huh? You know you want to.
Eh? Go on.
Just a taste.
- What's going on? - Oops.
Just, er, nothing.
You've been drinking.
What? I haven't! All right, just a little.
I was just saying to your mother, it fell off t'back of a wagon.
Destiny, eh? Can't fight it.
I told you when you came here we don't have alcohol in this house.
- Knock-off or otherwise.
- No, I know, as a rule.
Yeah.
Ever.
- No harm done.
- No harm done? Huh! Look at you.
And what were going on? Your mum likes a drink.
It's only one bottle.
Can't we enjoy it? Enjoy it? After t'misery it's caused? I'm not like your dad.
You know that.
How long have I been here? You know I'm not a violent man.
- You were touching her.
- No, I don't think I was! You're going to have to go.
Well, no, I think I've explained to you - why I'm not.
- I've asked you to go nicely - and now you're going.
- Leave him alone! I'm not going anywhere, lad! - I tell thee! - Leave him alone! What are you sticking up for him for? Your mother, she likes me being here.
Don't you, love? Eh? No.
That's right.
You're not the only lovebirds in the house.
Does your Suzannah know about what happened to Sam? Aye.
You'll want to keep it that way, won't you? That's right.
That's right.
I'm on your side! I told you.
Whoa! Whoa! Hey, whoa! - Oh, good Lord.
- Slow down! - Whoa! - Oh! Eugh.
Look at that, eh? Anne! Come here.
Where did you get those horses from? They came with it, all in with the hundred guineas.
Smiler's a rather giddier than expected four-year-old.
- Are you all right, Father? - Yes.
Yes.
Yes You going to be all right, getting on and off that, Captain Lister? He can't control it.
He's dangerous.
He clipped the wheel of another carriage coming down Horton Street and he nearly knocked one old woman over coming up the Old Bank.
You'll be getting complaints.
It certainly is very shiny.
- You've shaken Marian up, Father.
- Oh, she'll be all right.
- How does it handle? - Well, it's, er - it's lively.
- Could I, erm ? No! No.
You keep your hands off it.
I don't want you damaging it.
Where's Joseph? Joseph! - Captain Lister.
- George.
We call him George now.
- Just see to the horses.
- Sir.
Oh, and we collected the postbag from Mrs.
Bagnall at the post office.
I think there's one - for you from Mrs.
Lawton.
- It's a wonderful thing, Captain Lister.
- Hardcastle! - Ma'am? There's one less bottle of Madeira in the back there than when this cart left Crow Nest.
I've not had it, Miss Lister.
You're responsible for the load.
"Dear Freddy, we left Scarborough earlier than anticipated, as the sea bathing did little for me and my eyes are no better.
It was a week ago that I passed within 100 yards of your door at Shibden, and for the first time in my life, you knew it not.
That I knew it and felt it as I passed, you will not doubt.
I now know it is my duty to dote on you less.
Heaven bless you, my Fred, and make you as happy as your own Mary ever did.
I'm satisfied that for the future you shall be spared any annoyance originating from me.
Mary has loved you dearly, fondly and faithfully, and she loves you no less at present.
But she loves you too well to be a source of discomfort to you.
Though we should never meet again, my wishes and prayers for you will not cease.
Entirely and affectionately yours, Mariana".
No No! Behind her back she's Gentleman Jack ♪ A Yorkshire lady of renown ♪ Ever so fine won't toe the line ♪ Speak her name, gentlemen frown ♪ At Shibden Hall she had them all ♪ The fairer sex fell under her spell ♪ Dapper and bright she held them tight ♪ Handsome Anne seduced them well ♪ Jack-the-lass, Jack-the-lass no-one likes a Jack-the-lass ♪ The code is cracked your bags are packed ♪ The knives are out for Gentleman Jack.
♪