A Little Princess (1986–1987): Season 1, Episode 5 - Episode #1.5 - full transcript
(soft flute music)
(children laughing and shouting)
(soft flute music continues)
- [Girl In Black Coat] Are you hungry?
When did you last have something to eat?
- Can't remember.
- Today? You had something today?
- No. I've had nothing today.
Been round all the bakers. Threw me out.
- Wait here a minute.
- Yes, dear?
- I was just wondering,
have you by any chance
lost a four penny piece?
- Where'd you find it?
- Just outside in the gutter.
- It's yours, then. Finder's keepers.
- Thank you.
- Did you want to buy something?
- Yes, I'll have four penny buns please.
- Four buns. Right you are, dear.
- Oh! I said four. You put in six.
- Did I? Good heavens! So I did.
Oh I never was much good at arithmetic.
- I can only afford four.
That's all I've got, you see?
- Oh, I can't be bothered
to put the other two back.
It's a waste of energy.
- [Bakery Women] You can
have six for four pence.
That is if you didn't find a use for them.
- Well thank you! Thank you very much.
Would you like a bun? Nice and hot.
- What do I have to do?
- Nothing. Just eat it.
Here's four more.
- That little girl. How
many buns did she give you?
- Five.
- So she kept just one for herself.
- Will Moscow be caught in the snow, Papa?
Will you drive an Androsch.
- Probably, probably.
- Shall you meet the
Tsar? Shall you ask him to
help you look for the little girl?
- [Man In Black Suit] Well I
rather think the Tsar will have
more important things to do.
Will you send us pretty picture postcards
of the cathedral square?
- And Ivan The Terrible too?
- And the Great Kremlin Palace?
- I will send you cards
the very second I arrive.
Now run back in cause
you'll all catch cold.
- [Man In Black Suit]
Don't forget. I love you.
(all cheering goodbye together)
- Carmichael sire has driven away.
- May god go with him.
Did his children come out to see him off?
- Yes, seydi.
- He promised to ask them to visit me.
I didn't suppose they ever will.
- The spirits of the
lonely invalid appear to
be very low today.
- Yes. And talking of spirits
- Ah! No Seydi
- What do you mean no? You're my servant.
You'll do as you're told.
- No spirits. By order of the physician.
- I could dismiss you, you know.
- What other servant would
put up with your moods?
Your depressions?
- Am I so impossible to live with?
- Totally impossible, seydi.
And today, more than usual.
It's because I feel guilty
sending Carmichael off to Moscow.
- There is a verse in the Bhagavad Gita.
Krishna, in a sermon to
Agonath, advices that
when a goal is worthy,
action is always better than inaction.
Even if the consequences of
such action are to be regretted.
- You made that up?
- Yes, seydi.
- You're an old fraud Ramdas.
But I don't know what I'd do without you.
- [Ramdas] Ah! There's
the little servant girl.
The one who lives in the attic.
- What's she doing?
- Returning from the shops
with baskets that are too heavy for her.
- [Man Sitting In Chair] They
seem to work her very hard.
- [Ramdas] And she is not used to it.
Of that, I am sure.
She has not been a servant all her life.
- If only we could do
something to help her.
- You sure about this love.
I don't want to get you into trouble.
- Trouble? Over a couple meat
pies? Don't be daft, Pert.
- Well suppose your mistress finds out.
- She won't. She hardly
ever comes down here.
She did a monthly inventory a week ago.
Go on. Get stuck into it.
- Well, don't blame me if
she hands over to the law.
- I wouldn't mind.
Long as it was you.
- [Officer] Well it wouldn't be.
I'd be in the next cell charged
with receiving stolen goods.
I might have to turn Queen's evidence.
You couldn't do in Queens
evidence if we was married.
Now look, don't start that
again. I've already told you.
I can't think about marriage
until I get me Sergeant Stripe.
How long will that be? 10 years? 20?
- Maybe next year.
- Maybe never.
- Look, love. We just
gotta be patient, right?
Til I can afford to keep you in style.
- Look. We don't have to wait.
I've got some money put
by. I can carry on work.
- I'm not having my
wife going out to work.
After we are we'd, the only
cooking you'll be doing
is for me.
- Late again? What's the excuse this time?
Royal carriage got stuck
in the mud, did it?
Where's the change?
This all? What did you do?
Buy yourself another diamond mine?
I wrote down how much everything cost.
You can see for yourself.
Alright. You can knock off now.
Got to them books of yours.
- Can't I just have something to eat
There's some bread in the larder.
- Bread? But I've had nothing
but bread since yesterday.
I'm not cooking a hot
meal specially for you.
If you're too high and mighty to eat
with the rest of us, you can go without.
(sobbing loudly)
- Mama
- Yes, Donald.
- Did you see the little
girl was not a beggar?
She was standing on the
pavement when papa left.
Watching us. As if.
- As if what?
- As if there was a pane
of glass between us.
And she was on the outside looking in.
- She probably has no family
of her own. Poor child.
- Like the little girl
papa has gone to look for?
- Yes.
- Why should she be in Russia?
Because that's where
her foster parents live.
But, she's an English girl.
Her foster parents are
Russian and papa believes
they took her back to Moscow.
- From France?
- Yes. She was at school in Paris.
- Why couldn't she just
be in school in England?
- I don't know! Ask Mr. Carisford!
- Hello, Sarah! I brought you some books!
- Books.
- What's the matter?
- I feel a bit faint. That's all.
- You better sit down.
You do look tired these
days. So pale and thin.
Oh I know. It's all this rich prison food.
All the cakes and trifles in jellies.
- What?!
Nothing. Have a look at these books.
Carlisle's French Revolution?
I'd been wanting to read that!
Where did you get them.
Papa sent them to me.
And the trouble is he'd have expected me
to have read them by the summer.
So I was wondering if you could read them
and then tell me what they're about.
- Don't you think you ought
to read them yourself.
- I could never get through all that.
And you make history sounds so exciting.
I'd much rather hear about from you.
- All right.
- Thank you.
- But what about Miss Menchin?
You better make sure she doesn't
catch you up here in my cell.
- [Stern Voice] Missing?
Meat pies don't just
vanish into thin air.
How can they be missing?
- Dunno, mum.
- Well, when did you last see them?
Last night. They was definitely
the larder last night.
Then someone must have taken them.
- Yes, mum.
- The Bastille held
about 70 or 80 prisoners.
Some of them were up in the towers
but most of them underground
with wet slimy walls.
(giggling playfully)
And infested with rats.
- Rats?! Ugh!
I used to hate them too.
But they can really be quite friendly.
Would you like to meet one?
You mean there's one
up here? In this cell?
- Yes! His name's Mark Esrick
And don't worry. He's quite tame.
He's a perfect husband.
He eats the smaller crumbs
himself and takes the
bigger ones back to Mrs. Mark Esrick
so she can make a crumb stew.
(fearful scream)
- Someone's coming.
I have a good mind to turn
you over to the police.
- Wasn't me, mum. Honest! I
never touched them meat pies.
- Don't tell falsehoods.
Cooks said she's missed other things
from the larder recently.
You ought to go to prison.
- I never took nothing.
Not even when she sent me
to bed without no supper.
- [Rebecca] Please mum
you gotta believe me.
It's no use Rebecca, your
infamy has been discovered.
- Wicked! Cruel! It was cook
who stole those meat pies
for that policeman of hers.
I saw him eating them.
- Can't you say anything?
Gorger would never believe me.
It's so unfair
Becky is so hungry
sometimes she eats crust
out of the ash bough.
She'd never dream of stealing anything.
- Sarah.
Are you ever hungry?
Oh my gosh.
- What?
Oh I'm never not hungry.
So hungry now I could eat you.
Becky gets less food than I do.
- How stupid of me. Oh I should've known.
- I didn't want you to know.
If you thought of me as a beggar girl
we couldn't stay friends.
Nobody could think of
you as a beggar girl.
You're wrong.
A little boy gave me this six pence
cause he thought I was in need of charity.
- I know!
One of my aunt's sent me
a hamper of food yesterday.
I'll bring it up tonight
while everyone's asleep.
And we'll have a banquet.
Can we invite the
prisoner in the next cell?
- Of course!
(calming harp music)
- Hello.
- Hello young master.
I'm Donald Carmichael.
Ah, the son of Carmichael Sahib.
Yes. I'd like to see Mr. Carrisford.
- Oh I am sorry. He's very ill.
- I know. I've come to cheer him up.
- So you've come to cheer me up, have you?
- That's right, sir.
- Would you care of some orange
cordial? Donald, isn't it?
- [Donald] Yes, sir.
Some orange cordial for
my young visitor, Ramdas.
- Seydi
- This statue. Whose it meant to be?
- Kali.
- [Man In the Chair] The
goddess of death and destruction
- Death and destruction?
I thought gods were only
supposed to do good.
- Well, she does good as well.
Suppose I to take you out this afternoon.
I could show you the park?
- That's very kind of you Donald.
I should like that very much.
(geese honking)
The little girl's father
had a friend, you see.
A friend who did him a great wrong.
And I want to make it up to him.
- What sort of wrong, sir?
- This friend persuaded
her father to give him
all of his money put into a diamond mine.
And then the father died
believing he'd lost it all.
And that the friend was really a thief.
- But he wasn't really a thief.
- No, no. The mine really
did have diamonds in it.
But he found out only
after the father had died.
So he never had a chance to prove
that he really wasn't a true friend.
- Poor man.
- Yes. Paul Richmond.
(feathered wings fluttering)
- What I don't understand
is why an English girl
should go to school in France.
- Cause her mother was French.
- But papa said she was dead.
So her father might have
sent her to England.
- Europe. He said Europe.
- England's in Europe.
You know there's a
school next to our house.
She might even be there.
- Oh Donald. If only life were that easy.
- Why shouldn't it be?
- Cause it never is.
God doesn't make it easy for
us to atone for our sins.
It's all part of the punishment.
- [Donald] But there's a girl
Who works at that school.
- Little servant girl? Yes.
Ramdas has talked to her.
- Couldn't she be the
one we're looking for?
- No. I'm afraid not.
No headmistress would
ever allow a captain's
daughter to become a servant.
- I don't believe Rebecca
stole those meat pies.
- And who else do you think it was?
Well I have no proof and I hate casting-
- Oh come along Amelia.
This is not a court of law.
Who is it do you suspect?
- Cook
- Cook?
- I've noticed that whenever
her policeman calls,
something disappears from the larder.
And he was here earlier today.
- Well why on earth didn't
you say something before.
- Well I
I didn't think it was all that important.
- Not important?
I suppose if you found out we were feeding
half the population of London,
you wouldn't consider
that important either.
Oh. Well it's only one man.
And it doesn't happen all that often.
- Well as you say, we have no proof.
And I don't intend to upset cook
by making unfounded allegations.
- You made founded
allegations against Rebecca.
- Very well. I shall withdraw them.
- I just hope your faith
in her is not misplaced.
- Right. It's time to set the table.
- Set the table? What with?
- Golden plates of Course.
A proper banquet always has golden plates.
- Handle them carefully, Becky.
They're extremely valuable.
If you break one,
the king and the queen will be very cross.
- Right, miss.
- Now we need a garland of fresh flowers
from the palace garden.
And bring that crystal
vase from the washstand.
It will do as a centerpiece.
- You mean this?
Oh really, Becky? Can't
you tell the difference
between a crystal vase.
And a silver flagon
encrusted with precious jewels?.
Yes, that's it.
But as this is a very special banquet,
you better bring them both.
There. There's only one thing missing.
- The food!
The food is not our responsibility.
It's being prepared by the royal chef down
in the kitchen.
No. A banquet is not a
banquet without damask napkins
embroidered by Spanish nuns.
As it happens, I have just three left.
- Lovely! Must've taken them
ages to embroider these.
- Five years each. That's
why they're so expensive.
But in this palace, we don't
worry about the expense.
- Palace, miss? I thought it was a cell.
Oh no. Not tonight,
Becky. Just for tonight,
it's a huge banqueting hall.
See the high-vaulted roof
and the minstrels gallery?
The log fire blazing in the open grate?
The flaming torches casting shadows
over the long oak dining table.
You can't have cheap napkins
at a place like this.
- No, I suppose not.
But you know what I wish?
- What?
- I wish the royal chef
would get a move on.
(ominous harp music)
- Jesse.
Jesse wake up.
- What's the matter?
Omeka took the hamper.
And I bet I know where.
- Up to Sarah?
- Yes
- I'm just going to make sure.
Then tell Menchin all of it.
- Do you really think you ought to?
You know what will happen
to Sarah, don't you?
- She'll be thrown out in
the gutter where she belongs.
- You really hate her. That much?
- I hate anybody who pretends
to be what she isn't.
She still walks around
with her nose in the air.
As if she's too good for the rest of us.
Well, it won't be in the air much longer.
(ominous music continues)
Welcome monsieur chef.
And what have we on
the menu tonight, pray?
A suckling pig, a haunch of venison.
Or mayhap, a serpent of lamprey.
(excited chanting)
Bring forth thy succulent
viccors, my good man.
(girls conversing quietly)
- Oh I just love it when
she talks like that.
This is the blanket here we see, miss.
Vaulting roof, and Spanish napkins.
And a blazing fire!
- Blazing fire? I can
pretend the rest of it.
But I don't think I can pretend that.
It's absolutely freezing.
We could have a real one I suppose.
It'll only be a short blaze.
But when it's gone out, we
can pretend it's still there.
There.
- Oh, Sarah! You are clever!
You can always make
something out of nothing.
- When you have nothing,
it's all you can do.
And now fair damsels, let us commence.
- I'm not a damsel! I'm a royal chef.
- Nonsense. You're the
Princess Almagard of Aquitaine
And this is Rebecca, Duchess of Castile
I bid you both welcome to
the palace of my noble father
the King, who is abroad
at present on a crusade.
but has commanded me to provide you
with this sumptuous feast.
- Bless you, your highness!
You're a real tough.
- What ho there, minstrels.
Strike up the violas and basoons.
Make the rafters ring with music.
And pray you honored guests, begin!
(footsteps approaching)
- It's the mistress. She's found us out!
- Oh no! We'll really get it now!
- What is the meaning of this?
It's my fault Miss Menchin.
My aunt sent me a hamper of food you see?
So I suggested we
- You suggested nothing
Almagard. You're far too stupid.
I know whose suggestion this was.
- We was only having a party.
- Silence! You will leave my service
at the end of the month.
Now go to your room.
Are these the books your
father sent you, Almagard?
- Yes, Miss Menchin. I lent them to
- I wonder what he would say if
he knew you left them
in this filthy attic.
Take them away and go to bed.
I shall write to your
father in the morning
informing him of your misconduct.
As for you, Sarah.
- [Miss Menchin] Don't
look at me like that.
- Like what, mum?
As if I were the one
who committed the crime.
What've you to say for yourself?
- Nothing.
- Nothing?
- Not even an apology?
- I apologize for getting Becky
and Almagard into trouble.
It's your own behavior you should be
apologizing for your insolent child.
For repaying me generosity with
solemness and disobedience.
Stay in your room tomorrow.
And you will have no supper and no dinner.
And unless you feel some remorse,
I shall throw you out in the street.
(stomping down stairs loudly)
(fluttering flute music)
(children laughing and shouting)
(soft flute music continues)
- [Girl In Black Coat] Are you hungry?
When did you last have something to eat?
- Can't remember.
- Today? You had something today?
- No. I've had nothing today.
Been round all the bakers. Threw me out.
- Wait here a minute.
- Yes, dear?
- I was just wondering,
have you by any chance
lost a four penny piece?
- Where'd you find it?
- Just outside in the gutter.
- It's yours, then. Finder's keepers.
- Thank you.
- Did you want to buy something?
- Yes, I'll have four penny buns please.
- Four buns. Right you are, dear.
- Oh! I said four. You put in six.
- Did I? Good heavens! So I did.
Oh I never was much good at arithmetic.
- I can only afford four.
That's all I've got, you see?
- Oh, I can't be bothered
to put the other two back.
It's a waste of energy.
- [Bakery Women] You can
have six for four pence.
That is if you didn't find a use for them.
- Well thank you! Thank you very much.
Would you like a bun? Nice and hot.
- What do I have to do?
- Nothing. Just eat it.
Here's four more.
- That little girl. How
many buns did she give you?
- Five.
- So she kept just one for herself.
- Will Moscow be caught in the snow, Papa?
Will you drive an Androsch.
- Probably, probably.
- Shall you meet the
Tsar? Shall you ask him to
help you look for the little girl?
- [Man In Black Suit] Well I
rather think the Tsar will have
more important things to do.
Will you send us pretty picture postcards
of the cathedral square?
- And Ivan The Terrible too?
- And the Great Kremlin Palace?
- I will send you cards
the very second I arrive.
Now run back in cause
you'll all catch cold.
- [Man In Black Suit]
Don't forget. I love you.
(all cheering goodbye together)
- Carmichael sire has driven away.
- May god go with him.
Did his children come out to see him off?
- Yes, seydi.
- He promised to ask them to visit me.
I didn't suppose they ever will.
- The spirits of the
lonely invalid appear to
be very low today.
- Yes. And talking of spirits
- Ah! No Seydi
- What do you mean no? You're my servant.
You'll do as you're told.
- No spirits. By order of the physician.
- I could dismiss you, you know.
- What other servant would
put up with your moods?
Your depressions?
- Am I so impossible to live with?
- Totally impossible, seydi.
And today, more than usual.
It's because I feel guilty
sending Carmichael off to Moscow.
- There is a verse in the Bhagavad Gita.
Krishna, in a sermon to
Agonath, advices that
when a goal is worthy,
action is always better than inaction.
Even if the consequences of
such action are to be regretted.
- You made that up?
- Yes, seydi.
- You're an old fraud Ramdas.
But I don't know what I'd do without you.
- [Ramdas] Ah! There's
the little servant girl.
The one who lives in the attic.
- What's she doing?
- Returning from the shops
with baskets that are too heavy for her.
- [Man Sitting In Chair] They
seem to work her very hard.
- [Ramdas] And she is not used to it.
Of that, I am sure.
She has not been a servant all her life.
- If only we could do
something to help her.
- You sure about this love.
I don't want to get you into trouble.
- Trouble? Over a couple meat
pies? Don't be daft, Pert.
- Well suppose your mistress finds out.
- She won't. She hardly
ever comes down here.
She did a monthly inventory a week ago.
Go on. Get stuck into it.
- Well, don't blame me if
she hands over to the law.
- I wouldn't mind.
Long as it was you.
- [Officer] Well it wouldn't be.
I'd be in the next cell charged
with receiving stolen goods.
I might have to turn Queen's evidence.
You couldn't do in Queens
evidence if we was married.
Now look, don't start that
again. I've already told you.
I can't think about marriage
until I get me Sergeant Stripe.
How long will that be? 10 years? 20?
- Maybe next year.
- Maybe never.
- Look, love. We just
gotta be patient, right?
Til I can afford to keep you in style.
- Look. We don't have to wait.
I've got some money put
by. I can carry on work.
- I'm not having my
wife going out to work.
After we are we'd, the only
cooking you'll be doing
is for me.
- Late again? What's the excuse this time?
Royal carriage got stuck
in the mud, did it?
Where's the change?
This all? What did you do?
Buy yourself another diamond mine?
I wrote down how much everything cost.
You can see for yourself.
Alright. You can knock off now.
Got to them books of yours.
- Can't I just have something to eat
There's some bread in the larder.
- Bread? But I've had nothing
but bread since yesterday.
I'm not cooking a hot
meal specially for you.
If you're too high and mighty to eat
with the rest of us, you can go without.
(sobbing loudly)
- Mama
- Yes, Donald.
- Did you see the little
girl was not a beggar?
She was standing on the
pavement when papa left.
Watching us. As if.
- As if what?
- As if there was a pane
of glass between us.
And she was on the outside looking in.
- She probably has no family
of her own. Poor child.
- Like the little girl
papa has gone to look for?
- Yes.
- Why should she be in Russia?
Because that's where
her foster parents live.
But, she's an English girl.
Her foster parents are
Russian and papa believes
they took her back to Moscow.
- From France?
- Yes. She was at school in Paris.
- Why couldn't she just
be in school in England?
- I don't know! Ask Mr. Carisford!
- Hello, Sarah! I brought you some books!
- Books.
- What's the matter?
- I feel a bit faint. That's all.
- You better sit down.
You do look tired these
days. So pale and thin.
Oh I know. It's all this rich prison food.
All the cakes and trifles in jellies.
- What?!
Nothing. Have a look at these books.
Carlisle's French Revolution?
I'd been wanting to read that!
Where did you get them.
Papa sent them to me.
And the trouble is he'd have expected me
to have read them by the summer.
So I was wondering if you could read them
and then tell me what they're about.
- Don't you think you ought
to read them yourself.
- I could never get through all that.
And you make history sounds so exciting.
I'd much rather hear about from you.
- All right.
- Thank you.
- But what about Miss Menchin?
You better make sure she doesn't
catch you up here in my cell.
- [Stern Voice] Missing?
Meat pies don't just
vanish into thin air.
How can they be missing?
- Dunno, mum.
- Well, when did you last see them?
Last night. They was definitely
the larder last night.
Then someone must have taken them.
- Yes, mum.
- The Bastille held
about 70 or 80 prisoners.
Some of them were up in the towers
but most of them underground
with wet slimy walls.
(giggling playfully)
And infested with rats.
- Rats?! Ugh!
I used to hate them too.
But they can really be quite friendly.
Would you like to meet one?
You mean there's one
up here? In this cell?
- Yes! His name's Mark Esrick
And don't worry. He's quite tame.
He's a perfect husband.
He eats the smaller crumbs
himself and takes the
bigger ones back to Mrs. Mark Esrick
so she can make a crumb stew.
(fearful scream)
- Someone's coming.
I have a good mind to turn
you over to the police.
- Wasn't me, mum. Honest! I
never touched them meat pies.
- Don't tell falsehoods.
Cooks said she's missed other things
from the larder recently.
You ought to go to prison.
- I never took nothing.
Not even when she sent me
to bed without no supper.
- [Rebecca] Please mum
you gotta believe me.
It's no use Rebecca, your
infamy has been discovered.
- Wicked! Cruel! It was cook
who stole those meat pies
for that policeman of hers.
I saw him eating them.
- Can't you say anything?
Gorger would never believe me.
It's so unfair
Becky is so hungry
sometimes she eats crust
out of the ash bough.
She'd never dream of stealing anything.
- Sarah.
Are you ever hungry?
Oh my gosh.
- What?
Oh I'm never not hungry.
So hungry now I could eat you.
Becky gets less food than I do.
- How stupid of me. Oh I should've known.
- I didn't want you to know.
If you thought of me as a beggar girl
we couldn't stay friends.
Nobody could think of
you as a beggar girl.
You're wrong.
A little boy gave me this six pence
cause he thought I was in need of charity.
- I know!
One of my aunt's sent me
a hamper of food yesterday.
I'll bring it up tonight
while everyone's asleep.
And we'll have a banquet.
Can we invite the
prisoner in the next cell?
- Of course!
(calming harp music)
- Hello.
- Hello young master.
I'm Donald Carmichael.
Ah, the son of Carmichael Sahib.
Yes. I'd like to see Mr. Carrisford.
- Oh I am sorry. He's very ill.
- I know. I've come to cheer him up.
- So you've come to cheer me up, have you?
- That's right, sir.
- Would you care of some orange
cordial? Donald, isn't it?
- [Donald] Yes, sir.
Some orange cordial for
my young visitor, Ramdas.
- Seydi
- This statue. Whose it meant to be?
- Kali.
- [Man In the Chair] The
goddess of death and destruction
- Death and destruction?
I thought gods were only
supposed to do good.
- Well, she does good as well.
Suppose I to take you out this afternoon.
I could show you the park?
- That's very kind of you Donald.
I should like that very much.
(geese honking)
The little girl's father
had a friend, you see.
A friend who did him a great wrong.
And I want to make it up to him.
- What sort of wrong, sir?
- This friend persuaded
her father to give him
all of his money put into a diamond mine.
And then the father died
believing he'd lost it all.
And that the friend was really a thief.
- But he wasn't really a thief.
- No, no. The mine really
did have diamonds in it.
But he found out only
after the father had died.
So he never had a chance to prove
that he really wasn't a true friend.
- Poor man.
- Yes. Paul Richmond.
(feathered wings fluttering)
- What I don't understand
is why an English girl
should go to school in France.
- Cause her mother was French.
- But papa said she was dead.
So her father might have
sent her to England.
- Europe. He said Europe.
- England's in Europe.
You know there's a
school next to our house.
She might even be there.
- Oh Donald. If only life were that easy.
- Why shouldn't it be?
- Cause it never is.
God doesn't make it easy for
us to atone for our sins.
It's all part of the punishment.
- [Donald] But there's a girl
Who works at that school.
- Little servant girl? Yes.
Ramdas has talked to her.
- Couldn't she be the
one we're looking for?
- No. I'm afraid not.
No headmistress would
ever allow a captain's
daughter to become a servant.
- I don't believe Rebecca
stole those meat pies.
- And who else do you think it was?
Well I have no proof and I hate casting-
- Oh come along Amelia.
This is not a court of law.
Who is it do you suspect?
- Cook
- Cook?
- I've noticed that whenever
her policeman calls,
something disappears from the larder.
And he was here earlier today.
- Well why on earth didn't
you say something before.
- Well I
I didn't think it was all that important.
- Not important?
I suppose if you found out we were feeding
half the population of London,
you wouldn't consider
that important either.
Oh. Well it's only one man.
And it doesn't happen all that often.
- Well as you say, we have no proof.
And I don't intend to upset cook
by making unfounded allegations.
- You made founded
allegations against Rebecca.
- Very well. I shall withdraw them.
- I just hope your faith
in her is not misplaced.
- Right. It's time to set the table.
- Set the table? What with?
- Golden plates of Course.
A proper banquet always has golden plates.
- Handle them carefully, Becky.
They're extremely valuable.
If you break one,
the king and the queen will be very cross.
- Right, miss.
- Now we need a garland of fresh flowers
from the palace garden.
And bring that crystal
vase from the washstand.
It will do as a centerpiece.
- You mean this?
Oh really, Becky? Can't
you tell the difference
between a crystal vase.
And a silver flagon
encrusted with precious jewels?.
Yes, that's it.
But as this is a very special banquet,
you better bring them both.
There. There's only one thing missing.
- The food!
The food is not our responsibility.
It's being prepared by the royal chef down
in the kitchen.
No. A banquet is not a
banquet without damask napkins
embroidered by Spanish nuns.
As it happens, I have just three left.
- Lovely! Must've taken them
ages to embroider these.
- Five years each. That's
why they're so expensive.
But in this palace, we don't
worry about the expense.
- Palace, miss? I thought it was a cell.
Oh no. Not tonight,
Becky. Just for tonight,
it's a huge banqueting hall.
See the high-vaulted roof
and the minstrels gallery?
The log fire blazing in the open grate?
The flaming torches casting shadows
over the long oak dining table.
You can't have cheap napkins
at a place like this.
- No, I suppose not.
But you know what I wish?
- What?
- I wish the royal chef
would get a move on.
(ominous harp music)
- Jesse.
Jesse wake up.
- What's the matter?
Omeka took the hamper.
And I bet I know where.
- Up to Sarah?
- Yes
- I'm just going to make sure.
Then tell Menchin all of it.
- Do you really think you ought to?
You know what will happen
to Sarah, don't you?
- She'll be thrown out in
the gutter where she belongs.
- You really hate her. That much?
- I hate anybody who pretends
to be what she isn't.
She still walks around
with her nose in the air.
As if she's too good for the rest of us.
Well, it won't be in the air much longer.
(ominous music continues)
Welcome monsieur chef.
And what have we on
the menu tonight, pray?
A suckling pig, a haunch of venison.
Or mayhap, a serpent of lamprey.
(excited chanting)
Bring forth thy succulent
viccors, my good man.
(girls conversing quietly)
- Oh I just love it when
she talks like that.
This is the blanket here we see, miss.
Vaulting roof, and Spanish napkins.
And a blazing fire!
- Blazing fire? I can
pretend the rest of it.
But I don't think I can pretend that.
It's absolutely freezing.
We could have a real one I suppose.
It'll only be a short blaze.
But when it's gone out, we
can pretend it's still there.
There.
- Oh, Sarah! You are clever!
You can always make
something out of nothing.
- When you have nothing,
it's all you can do.
And now fair damsels, let us commence.
- I'm not a damsel! I'm a royal chef.
- Nonsense. You're the
Princess Almagard of Aquitaine
And this is Rebecca, Duchess of Castile
I bid you both welcome to
the palace of my noble father
the King, who is abroad
at present on a crusade.
but has commanded me to provide you
with this sumptuous feast.
- Bless you, your highness!
You're a real tough.
- What ho there, minstrels.
Strike up the violas and basoons.
Make the rafters ring with music.
And pray you honored guests, begin!
(footsteps approaching)
- It's the mistress. She's found us out!
- Oh no! We'll really get it now!
- What is the meaning of this?
It's my fault Miss Menchin.
My aunt sent me a hamper of food you see?
So I suggested we
- You suggested nothing
Almagard. You're far too stupid.
I know whose suggestion this was.
- We was only having a party.
- Silence! You will leave my service
at the end of the month.
Now go to your room.
Are these the books your
father sent you, Almagard?
- Yes, Miss Menchin. I lent them to
- I wonder what he would say if
he knew you left them
in this filthy attic.
Take them away and go to bed.
I shall write to your
father in the morning
informing him of your misconduct.
As for you, Sarah.
- [Miss Menchin] Don't
look at me like that.
- Like what, mum?
As if I were the one
who committed the crime.
What've you to say for yourself?
- Nothing.
- Nothing?
- Not even an apology?
- I apologize for getting Becky
and Almagard into trouble.
It's your own behavior you should be
apologizing for your insolent child.
For repaying me generosity with
solemness and disobedience.
Stay in your room tomorrow.
And you will have no supper and no dinner.
And unless you feel some remorse,
I shall throw you out in the street.
(stomping down stairs loudly)
(fluttering flute music)