Upstairs, Downstairs (2010) s01e01 Episode Script

First-class passengers please make your way to gangplank A.
Gangplank A, please.
I'm sorry, Hallam, I had to go back for my flowers.
Do you really need them? They were a gift! From the Foreign Secretary.
I'm going to display them in our suite at the Dorchester.
With the card, where people can see.
King's condition grave! King's condition grave! He wasn't even ill when we left Washington.
They're saying it's bronchitis.
The Royal family have travelled up to Sandringham.
Oh, dear! If he dies, will it change things in Whitehall? It will change things almost everywhere.
Odd numbers are this side.
It must be further down.
It's been shut up so long I'm surprised the lock isn't full of cobwebs.
It's like a fairy tale.
Hallam! We're hardly newlyweds.
This is our first proper home.
Oh, my good Lord.
What a ghastly old mausoleum! I rather thought it might be.
Oh, I am so glad I booked the builders in advance.
Hallam? Hallam! I think the bulb's been broken.
It's as though the whole house is still sleeping.
This house is going to see such life.
There'll be lights at every window.
Bowls of lilies on every surface.
I want to sit and gaze at you each evening.
Sit, and listen to the wireless and not talk, because I know you so well we don't have to speak at all.
Thank you.
Sir Hallam is a diplomat.
We shall entertain a great deal.
We require a butler with sommelier experience, and a housekeeper, of course, to oil the wheels behind the scenes.
Then a parlourmaid, and chauffeur-cum-manservant, and absolutely the best cook you can find me.
Very well, my lady.
What a splendid teapot.
It was a gift, my lady, from my late employer, Lord Bellamy of Haversham.
Do you a budget in mind for staff? This is what my husband suggests.
I see.
Although, if you don't mind my saying so, with a professed cook you'll be wanting a kitchen maid as well, and a pantry boy who can double as a footman.
You'll need to account for a wage for them.
Yes, but they'd be very juvenile, and grateful for the experience, surely? There are several possibilities in Situations Wanted.
Perhaps you could arrange for us to meet them.
And is there a nursery to consider? I'm not entirely sure.
My husband inherited the house when we were abroad, and his father bought it when he was in India.
The poor chap died without ever having lived there, and it's been empty for six years.
What I was hoping to ascertain, Lady Agnes, was whether there were any children in the family? No.
No, I'm afraid there aren't.
The house is in Eaton Place.
Number 165, so not far to walk, when you come to carry out the interviews.
I usually do that here, my lady.
I'll be supervising builders, meeting at the house will be the most convenient thing.
May I assume this is all within your powers? Yes.
Splendid.
King's life draws to a close! King's life draws to a close! I should buy a black hat now he's definitely dead.
He was an exemplary monarch.
I cried on the train.
And in the street.
Of course, it's Queen Mary I'm on the rack about, being a widow myself.
It's distracting me from work.
Do you want this new position or don't you? I can't be making decisions when I'm all wrung out like this.
Besides, you said the money was no good.
The money's never any good these days.
But there's no-one to touch you for society cuisine.
No, I don't know, Miss Buck.
I'd have to give notice at Virginia Water.
You told me you couldn't stand Virginia Water! They're raincoat manufacturers.
And you knew that when you sent me there.
Not to mention I prefer a basement kitchen.
This one has a basement kitchen.
How do you know? It's in Eaton Place.
Number 165.
The Bellamy house? Yes.
Smart young couple, they want it all done up properly.
You ought to ask if they'll take you on.
Upstairs maid again.
You'll be more secure than you are running this place.
Mrs Thackeray, you can't turn back the clock.
Forty years I was in service to that family.
Staff were loyal, once upon a time.
Yeah, it was a one-way street.
I'll warrant you didn't get a pension, apart from your hallmarked pot.
We'll end up dead in harness, like the King.
Gangway! We discussed my plans for this bathtub! It's to be plumbed in on the attic floor to make a servant's bathroom! Beg your pardon, your ladyship.
I'm going to go to the stationer's to approve Sir Hallam's letterhead.
There are some things only I can do.
I'll join you this afternoon for the footman's interviews.
There's only one boy coming, my lady.
None of the others were keen on the terms.
Hands, please.
Hands, Ivy! It won't hold me back.
I've won prizes for my peeling.
Is that true, Matron? We gave her a packet of hairgrips for progress.
Everybody touch their toes.
And stand up again.
You may leave the room.
I'll race you! Second on the left seems suitable enough.
Winnie? We're working on it, but she wets the bed.
The girl on the end looks nice and quiet.
Joyce? Nervous.
She's not ready to live in.
Puce dress? You'll be nailing your valuables down.
You haven't brought me four to pick from, you've brought me a choice of one! Up the West End That's the best end, Where the night clubs thrive Down into a dive you go Now there's a jazz queen She's an 'as been, 'As been lord knows what Every night she's there on show She dances underneath a magic spell She's full of charm and gin and scotch as well I think you'll find that according to Mr George Formby, Fanlight Fanny was full of charm and beer, and stout as well.
But they're men's drinks.
Fanlight Fanny was a woman.
It's a pun, child, on the word "stout".
The lady in question was clearly well upholstered.
Get out of there at once, you'll mark it with your shoes.
Go and wait in the kitchen, and take your friends.
Your plans for the plumbing are rather unique.
A bath in the hall will be quite an innovation.
Are you here with regard to the housekeeper's position? What's that? Mr Amanjit, come quickly, they're upsetting Solomon.
Stop screaming, you'll make him worse.
Oh, thank you, Mr Amanjit.
Poor Solomon.
He'll need sweet tea.
If there's nothing in the kitchen you must take him to a cabstand.
Very good, madam.
Every morning, as soon as he sees me open my eyes, he applauds me.
I can't tell you how that boosts one's confidence.
The monkey applauds you every morning? Well, I don't mean Mr Amanjit.
He's my secretary.
Hallam, dear.
Are we not to kiss? It's been quite some years.
Agnes.
I would like you to meet my mother, Maud.
Let's have no embarrassment.
You would get married just when Nehru had demanded independence.
And Hallam's father simply couldn't leave his desk for a wedding in Wales.
I always hoped I would know you from your letters when we met.
Mother, the last we heard you were going to Tangier.
Oh, I stayed for three days.
It was full of the British wintering, and that sours a place like nothing else.
You know, I haven't lived in England for over 30 years.
It was time to come home.
Now, where shall I put your father? The Sikhs refer to death as "passing through the fire".
The mantel shelf seems as good a place as any.
This will suit me very well as a study.
Please don't make hasty decisions.
There's nothing hasty about this decision, Hallam.
I always intended to write my memoirs when I had some time.
Now I have all the time in the world.
I know she'll never mention it, the clause in father's will, that said I must provide her with a home.
Hallam, you can provide her with a home without allowing her to commandeer whole rooms.
I was planning a cocktail party on the ground and first floors and we can't do that now.
Why didn't you stand up to her? I was brought up to be polite to strangers.
Besides, if I'd tried it would have proved my father right.
Proved he couldn't trust me to do the proper thing.
You always do the proper thing.
Lady Agnes? So, John, you were trained in domestic service by the Scouts? Yes, madam.
They ran a special camp near us, for the unemployed.
Table laying and napkin folding, although that got a bit entertaining in the wind! Is there no work in your own part of the world? There's the pit.
I want him to get on, sir.
I want him out of our village and somewhere mixing with a better class of person.
I'm sure all our servants will be respectable.
I've forbidden him to touch strong drink.
I happen to think that's very sensible.
This is a splendid chance for Johnny, Mrs Proude.
He'll receive superb training, and a chance to consolidate his references.
Oh, begging your pardon, my lady, he's only got the one.
One what? Reference, sir.
And I'm quite sure it's absolutely glowing.
Well, that's your fresh start organised.
Agnes, dear.
I'm glad you called by.
Mr Amanjit, will you bring out the Moroccan box? I've heard about the footman and I have serious misgivings.
I've never engaged a servant without two references, even in India where most of them are verbal.
The boy has never had a job.
I chose him because he ought to have a chance.
You chose him because he's cheap.
Now you're here, we should discuss the jewels.
You'll be glad to hear that all of this is at your disposal.
I have no use for it now.
My father had to let our family pieces go.
When I came out I used to look at all the other girls with their diamond clips and stars, and I knew I could never begin to compete.
Where one cannot compete, one must aspire.
Oh, I always aspired.
I'm going to treat my sister to a diamond star when she comes from Wales to do the season.
It's as well you're bringing her to London.
No girl gains perspective until she's transplanted, it's a universal law of life.
Now, you'd best try this on.
No good getting it out for the Coronation Ball and finding it doesn't fit.
It is all diamonds.
Hallam said he thought it was.
It might have been made for you.
I always feared I hadn't the face for a tiara.
Greville knew.
He never failed to compliment me.
I hope it doesn't shut before we get to view him.
It's a Lying In State! Open till the small hours, Lady Agnes says.
I wish you'd say yes to her.
The trouble with aristocrats is they want Savoy-style food from a Stone Age kitchen.
They wouldn't care if you cooked it in a cauldron, so long as it's dished up under a silver dome.
As a matter of fact, they've got a new world gas range.
And I thought you liked aristocrats.
I like proper ones.
It's a very new baronetcy, they're practically self made.
I'll still warrant there won't be refrigeration.
Coldspot Super Six, coming from Harrods tomorrow.
Believe me, Hallam, old chap, I would like nothing more than to sink into a chair in glorious oblivion in the fug of that enthralling bar, but I swear to God, every petty princeling in Europe has fetched up here, expecting ringside seats for my father's funeral, while I, of course, am now the king's brother.
Still the youngest, still merely Duke of Kent .
.
but everyone assumes I have increased influence.
Will that be all, your Royal Highness? Yes, thank you.
Very good, sir.
Old man look after you in his will? Yes, he owned some mines in Udaipur.
Diamonds? Asbestos.
Deadly dull.
I sold them, advantageously.
And, of course, he managed to leave me Mother as a makeweight.
It's a rum sort of chapter, all of this.
Fathers shuffling off this mortal coil.
Babies appearing.
Or not appearing.
We're old men, old chap.
Splendidly married and gainfully employed.
One does rather wonder how it came to this.
Hallam, have you been briefed on Joachim von Ribbentrop? Engineered the Anglo-German naval agreement last year.
Not briefed as such.
I understand Mr Eden isn't keen.
Eden hopes we've seen the back of him.
Ribbentrop has no fixed portfolio.
He signs himself Ambassador Extraordinary, but he answers directly to Hitler.
He may approach you socially.
Is that not good? Remains to be seen.
You look tired.
Bone tired.
It's been one absurd row after another, and it's all been David's doing.
Now he's king, he does whatever he likes.
Have you heard about his Yankee woman? Mrs Simpson? Oh, yes.
Much discussed in Washington.
She's even in the papers over there.
She isn't in London, it's all been stifled.
I've tried talking to him, but the monarchal drawbridge has gone up.
I do love him, you know.
It is not a help.
Love.
It is such a bugger of a thing.
Did anybody see you? No, my lady.
Cod and two penneth, as you asked.
No salt, plenty of vinegar.
It's the vinegar smell that was driving me wild.
The builders seem to have them every day.
Shall I fetch a plate for you, my lady? Nobody's looking.
Can I tempt you? No, thank you, my lady.
Now, Miss Buck, I know I gave you clear instructions about staff I am making enquiries, my lady.
And you must find me a successor to Mr Hudson.
He used to be the butler here, his name's on the cellar key.
But I've realised that I don't need a housekeeper.
I'm finding all of this the most enormous fun.
I see.
As you wish.
Though I shall need your help, naturally, until we're settled in.
Ohh! Excuse me? Is summat amiss? Who are you? I'm Johnny Proude.
I'm the footman in training.
I'm Ivy Morris, and I'm all at sea.
Miss Buck said I had to make it up myself, but this mattress weighs a tone.
In Barnardo's we practise on a modern bed.
It takes two, that's all.
Now grab your side and pull it as tight as you can.
There, look at that.
Smooth as an iced cake.
We aren't supposed to go in the other servants' rooms.
Not supposed to lock our doors neither.
You reckon they come snooping? I put that there deliberate, in case they think they've got me beat.
One foot in front of the other, Johnny! Left, right, left How many times have I told you? Left, right.
You should be able to balance the tray with one hand whilst you open the door with the other.
No.
No, no The pathless gorges of Baluchistan are described by the warriors of that region as their friends.
As a bride of three months carried on a swaying litter .
.
I was unable to embrace that sentiment.
Lady Holland, there's a bird's nest in the grate.
It must have fallen down the chimney.
But it's got an egg in! Then you must get rid of it.
It's probably cracked, and if Solomon finds it, he'll eat it, and he shouldn't eat eggs unless they're hard boiled.
Is it cracked? I see no crack.
I see a perfect egg, and that egg may yet become a life.
Now, go and lay a fire for Lady Holland.
She feels the cold, and it will warm her bones.
It's the King's first broadcast to the Empire, why won't it come on? Because you value looks above efficiency.
That wireless is all facade and no substance.
The one in the kitchen is much more practical.
'May the future bring peace 'and understanding throughout the world, 'prosperity and happiness to British people, 'and may we be worthy 'of the heritage which is ours.
' 'God save our gracious King 'Long live our noble King 'God save our King 'Send him victorious 'Happy and glorious 'Long to reign to over us Oh, do open the door, somebody! 'God save the King!' I've just come all the way from Wales! Persie? Hello, sister, darling.
I haven't any money for my cab.
But Spargo was meant to meet you from the station! I got an earlier train.
I don't want anyone touching my things! It's bad enough being told to dress for dinner without having some grimy brat diving into my suitcase.
It's only Ivy! I'm choosy about who gets to touch my underwear.
What on earth is happening? I thought I was in the bazaar at Bangalore.
Lady Persephone walloped me! Maud, there is no need for you to involve yourself! I was defending my right to privacy! Is that a crime? Persephone.
In the space of 40 minutes, you have slapped a servant, distressed your sister and, by delaying dinner, caused the cook to ruin a marron souffle.
If you wish to eat while you're here, I would suggest that you open this door.
There's almost nothing in it.
A sponge bag.
No sponge.
Two blouses, one of which belonged to Agnes.
Three pairs of knickers, none with lace.
And a brassiere mended with a safety pin.
The Towyns are old money, Lady Holland.
And that means there's none.
This can all be changed.
What if I don't want it changed? You're just being contrary.
Do you smoke? No.
I shall teach you.
But not tonight, you have behaved too badly.
When I was your age, I threw all my drawers out of a port hole in Port Said.
Why? I was on my way to India, to teach in Jaipur.
They were so old and shabby, I was ashamed to give them to the stewardess to wash.
So I took advantage of the port hole, and bought cheap silk ones when we went ashore.
These are from home.
They smell of St Cadog.
That's a castle, isn't it? Yes.
Damp.
Agnes thinks she's rescued me.
But I don't want to be rescued.
The minute I say, "Hurrah! I'm saved!" I admit how very horrible my life so far has been.
I were just walking passed the airing cupboard and I heard it cheeping.
Urgh.
It's horrible.
What's it going to eat? It will require live food.
You will need to gather gnats and spiders.
There's plenty of them out the back, in my garage.
Seeing how Ivy never comes round there with her mop! In Wales, they believe birds in houses are unlucky.
Do you want to see it, Miss? Not especially.
I'm to meet Lady Holland at the British Museum.
I want Spargo, and the car.
Um.
You're meant to wait out the front of the house.
And get in the back.
Please, madam.
My sister says you're all to call me Lady Persie, if that's what I want.
And I do.
I won't call you lady anything if you don't act like one.
The thing is, Lady Persie, there are rules.
And you have to stick to them, just as much as us.
I'll get you! Agnes, dear, do speak to Mrs Thackeray about the marmalade.
She only sends up thin-cut, and Solomon likes thick.
I thought we'd agreed that you should breakfast in the morning room.
Mr Amanjit breakfasts in there on a tray.
I gave instructions to Miss Buck.
Did Persie tell you who we met at the Picasso private view? Mrs Ernest Simpson! I believe she's rather chic.
She is certainly relentlessly well dressed.
I understand she's a favourite of the King.
I think you'll find that she's his mistress.
I know what "favourite" means, dear.
Tommy Lascelles introduced us.
She knew all about you, and your position with Mr Eden.
She might be worth cultivating.
Absolutely not! Her power won't last, the King will have to marry.
What if he marries her? He can't.
And don't talk with your mouth full.
Which reminds me, I've just booked you into charm academy.
Can she start before the party? The party? We're giving cocktails and canapes for 40 guests mainly connected to the Foreign Office.
Next Thursday, five until eight.
Is that wise, when you still don't have a butler? It's not good enough, Miss Buck.
You've had weeks, and we're still waiting! With respect, you said you wouldn't accept second best, and every single applicant has been exactly that! Very well.
We shall have to compromise.
There are a lot of Portuguese about Absolutely not.
And I'm not having any drunks! I can't abide the smell of spirits on a man.
You may sit, Mr Pritchard.
So this is the butler's pantry? I'm accustomed to small spaces.
It's a legacy from being on board ship.
Were you ever in the actual Navy, Mr Pritchard? Or have you always been on the cruise ships? I worked for Cunard for 27 years.
Hence my reference from Mr Errol Flynn.
Why dry land, after all this time? I developed a mastoid disorder.
It causes nausea, in a heavy swell.
Have you ever been in service in a private home? My challenge, Miss Buck, was to make a dining room that sat 300 feel like a private home.
This was my secret weapon.
I could line up a four-course setting to within an eighth of an inch.
And do you have sommelier experience? Of course.
But the liners incline towards the fashion, and Champagne and spirits were more popular than wine.
Not that I ever understood the fascination, I am teetotal myself.
This is the key to the wine cellar, Mr Pritchard.
Make sure you guard it well.
Could you bear to lend me your typewriter for an hour? I need to finish the canape menu.
Mr Amanjit has typed it up.
And he's agreed to play piano at the party.
Has he really? Here.
I wasn't convinced by the Dixie chicken wings.
I replaced them with diced egg in aspic.
When I was hostess for Sir Greville, I always included a jellied canape.
And made sure that some witty women were invited.
Bureaucrats relish an entertaining female, and there were scarcely any on your list.
So, I asked the Hope girls, and the Simpson woman.
Oh, dear.
I do believe you think I'm interfering.
I believe you were a fine wife to Sir Greville.
And now I'm trying to be a fine wife to his son.
I chose our guests with care.
You must telephone them, and say an error has been made.
I shall put off the Hope girls, if I must.
But Mrs Simpson asked to bring a "particular friend".
I imagine it's the King, so I said he'd be welcome.
Turn right, please, and into the cellar.
His Majesty the King! It was the way Lady Agnes said it.
Reverent, but not in any way intimidated.
I shall be hand-crimping every vol-au-vent.
You stay in that nest now.
You want to see the King, don't you? You want to come for canapes.
Champagne to the refrigerator.
These were supposed to have come in vases! I'm here to organise staff, not flowers! Give them here! He's perspiring, and I heard him belch.
Are you sure it was his mastoid? I shouldn't wonder if it was nerves.
We're all nervous.
Speak for yourself! And pass the cheddar straws.
Down into a dive you go There's a jazz queen, she's a has-been, has been Lord knows what! Every night she's there on show.
I can't believe they've let you have a bath in the afternoon.
I was sweating bricks.
Miss Buck had to have a word with me about personal daintiness.
I can see your feet.
What can you see now, Johnny? Not much.
Open the door.
Not yet.
Not this door.
Maybe tonight.
When we've finished work.
Maybe I'll come to you.
Promise? You'll have to have a cocktail.
Get your courage up.
This is it then.
We really do have everything.
We even have the King.
All guests are to be addressed as sir or madam, with the exception of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, who are both to be addressed as Your Royal Highness in the first instance, and sir and ma'am, to rhyme with ham, thereafter.
The King will be addressed as Your Majesty, then sir.
And I want my duxelles milles-feuilles held back till he arrives.
He's partial to mushrooms, according to The Tatler.
You've had your orders.
Now make this household proud.
Left, right, left, right, one foot in front of the other, Johnny.
Are you all right, Mr Pritchard? My stomach's on a knife edge.
I was like this at Jimmy Cagney's 21st.
It didn't end well.
Agnes, my dear, may I introduce Mr Eden? Lady Agnes.
My wife sends her apologies.
Another time, perhaps.
It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm still living off the memory of those exquisite roses.
Mrs Simpson! What a pleasure this is! Lady Holland.
What a wonderful vestibule! You must tell me the name of your decorator.
Where is that man? May I introduce you to a friend, Herr Ribbentrop? How do you do? You were expecting someone else perhaps? But, Your Royal Highness, why has Mrs Simpson come with him? Why not with His Majesty? Mrs Simpson and Ribbentrop are lovers.
Half of London knows it.
The remaining half suspects.
But she's the King's companion! Quite.
One rather suspects there'll be tears before bedtime.
What the deuce is he doing here, Holland? He's the guest of a guest, sir.
Rather drifted in.
Joachim von Ribbentrop doesn't drift anywhere.
He's out to solicit the British establishment.
He wants solid, upper class support for Hitler and his Nazi party.
I see.
I hope so.
A word, darling.
Now.
This is your mother's fault! I don't care whose fault it is.
This is our home! And my reputation.
You're the hostess.
I need you to take charge.
Now, Miss Buck.
I have to ask Herr Ribbentrop to leave.
Immediately.
Sir Hallam insists, and I don't know what to do.
I will inform Mr Pritchard.
I had a governess from Hamburg for a while.
Fraulein Schneider.
She could sing just like Marlene Dietrich, though she wouldn't do it often.
One imagines such things could be quite educational.
Oh, she made me sing every line right back to her in German.
Ich bin sicher das ihr Deutsch ziemlich entzuckend ist.
I can't bear to look.
(He's approaching the sofa.
) I do hope you're right about this.
Perhaps you'll let me choose my own guests next time? I wouldn't have bothered with crimped edges, if I'd known some German was going to eat them all.
The Duke went berserk for your anchovy pinwheels.
He's hardly the King though, is he? I mean, I've seen him coming out the bank.
I wish you'd both stop fretting about the guests! From a service point of view, the evening was a triumph.
Is that really a trick off the liners, Mr P? Spilling drinks on an unwelcome guest? It might be.
You want to get some bread and dripping down you.
I am off down the Crown And Anchor.
Would you care to join me, Mr Pritchard? It's only round the corner, it's where all the servants go.
Thank you - I'll stick with the cup that cheers but does not inebriate.
And so will Johnny.
He's been working since dawn.
Let the lad have a treat.
I'm all right.
I've got things to do.
You taste like Champagne.
What are you playing at, Ivy? You're not being a gentleman! And you're not being a lady neither, ladies keep their promises.
Where you going? He signed with an agency that rents out footmen for the white-tie balls.
15 bob a night, some of them'll pay.
Look who's come calling.
Yes, Miss? I'll have a creme de menthe, please.
In a lady's glass.
Tell you what, Johnny, someone's making sheep's eyes.
We had plans.
I stood her up.
Stood her up? Where? Round the alleyway, up against the wall? Orphanage girls, they like a bit of loving.
Speak from knowledge, do you? I'll tell you what, the girl looks game enough.
Johnny, what's got into you? Don't move, don't move.
Get a cloth, someone.
I got it, mate, you'll be all right, I got it.
Johnny? Johnny, you're making matters worse.
I've been sick, Miss Buck.
Pull the chain on it.
You don't want it looking at you.
Johnny.
You're going to have to come out.
I can't come out.
Can you come in? I'm on probation, Miss Buck.
On probation here? On probation from the courts.
I was done for brawling in the village.
I'm like that when I'm in drink.
They bound me over to keep the peace.
They said I had to live away from home.
I've been seeing my probation officer every week.
Why was nothing said? This was my fresh start.
My clean sheet.
I had no past in this house.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, Miss Buck.
Come on, Johnny.
One foot in front of the other.
Left, right, left, right.
Johnny has been remanded in custody.
He will be charged with wounding with intent.
Well, it's almost unfortunate.
You'll have to pour your own coffee.
Miss Buck hasn't been in to reorganise the servants, and Agnes seems incapable of doing so herself.
Agnes is occupied writing to John's mother.
Rearrange the words in this sentence - door, stable, bolted, after, horse.
I will not have Agnes blamed for last night's horrible fiasco! She's not the one who invited bloody Ribbentrop! I didn't invite Ribbentrop.
I did invite Mrs Simpson, and she clearly used me.
But neither of them brought the police force to your door.
What would Father have done in a situation of this nature? He was never in a situation of this nature.
Your father, Hallam, left everything to me.
I find it such a help to gaze on water during awkward conversations.
I had a lily pond made behind our house in Delhi.
My marriage endured as a direct consequence.
I hope I haven't embarrassed you.
I do realise I've been extremely complimentary.
You caught me unawares, Lady Holland.
My ends are entirely selfish.
Sir Hallam needs you to stay on at Eaton Place to ensure the proper running of his home.
I told him I would arrange it, and no mother likes to disappoint her only child.
Lady Agnes didn't want a housekeeper, and certainly not me.
She doubtless thought you were ready to be put out to grass.
I daresay she thinks the same of me.
But we have experience, you and I.
We are what that house requires.
I should have asked more questions.
I wanted instant staff at an ideal price, and never once stopped to think where that might lead us.
It's not just the staff who need training, Miss Buck.
Please don't get up and make tea! If you make tea, you'll have time to think.
And I don't want you to think.
I just want you to say yes.
Begging your pardon, my lady, I can't accept your offer.
It's already been made to me .
.
by Lady Holland.
Come now, we have cried enough.
This is for you.
Welcome home.