Lark Rise to Candleford (2008–2011): Season 2, Episode 7 - Episode #2.7 - full transcript

LAURA: 'When I was young, sunlight
seemed to me a solid thing.

'The golden promise of
warmth and happiness.

'But where there is sunlight...
there must also be shadows.

'A reminder that night must
fall and the cold winter come.

'If not now...

Walk on!

'..then soon.'

Bunting. From rooftop to
rooftop and trestle tables

lining the high street on
which supper will be served.

And, after supper, the
band. And, after the band...

I cannot imagine what is left.



Fireworks. The sky will be ablaze.

Perhaps with all that bunting...

Oh! What a quantity of gold edging.

I have invited several
dignitaries. The Mayor of Ingleston.

Well, perhaps he will not come.

Oh! Well, if he refuses...

then you must march on Ingleston at the
head of the band and take him by force.

You are laughing at me,
Miss Lane. Teasing only.

In truth, I don't
believe any clock anywhere

will ever have a finer inauguration.

We await one final component.

When it arrives, I would be glad if it could
be delivered to Mr Bloom urgently. Of course.

And, Miss Lane, do not
forget your own invitation.

(BELL TINGLING)



Three new pairs of boots.

It truly is the most
beautiful sight in the world.

Since Mr Dowland's carved panels
is paying for treats all around...

..I thought we deserved one too.

Robert! Oh, come on, Emmy!

What's it for?

So I can sit in the sun on a hot day...

and buy my girl a drink. (GIGGLING)

Is there...somethin' in the window
that particularly takes your interest?

No.

That is to say...

teacups...will always
be useful to those...

planning a home...

together.

(INHALING)

(BELL TINGLING)

(LAUGHING)

Minnie! Got a message for you to deliver to that
daughter of mine, if she's not above such things.

Oh! And...

thought you might care for one yourself.

Thank you, sir! I'll give it to
her directly they're back, sir!

They?

Who's they?

Tell me a true thing.

I've five brothers...

and I love the youngest the best.

Now you.

I'm afraid of the dark.

The sea is the most wondrous
thing I've ever seen.

But I lose me insides
every time I ride on it.

(LAUGHING)

You have a freckle on
the back of your hand,

and each time I see it, I feel like
my heart's falling away from me.

Your turn!

The clock wants only one more part

and then it's finished.

Laura... I heard you.

I don't want to know
any more true things.

And I don't want to tell you lies.

There's so little time.

Shouldn't we make the
most of what we have?

(PANS CLATTERING)

(QUEENIE SHOUTING)

Alf gave it to us! He gave it to me!

Rent!

Queenie! You're looking
at this all wrong.

Oh, yes? James pays Robert handsome
for carvin' the panels of his clock.

So Robert gives Alf a little extra.

And Alf passes it on to us.

Everyone doin' their best to
spread joy and good fortune around.

Don't you think you
should be doin' the same?

So you can pour it down your
throat in a public house?

A man deserves respect in his
own home. A bit of consideration.

Yes, he does.

And he's gonna get it!

Oh, not you, you duffer.

Alf!

I've got plans.

Laura's ma and pa were
kissin', in the high street!

They must be the happiest
people I ever saw.

Theirs is certainly a special romance.

You must have heard their story.

Robert Timmins was only ever meant
to be passing through Lark Rise,

but the day he was due to leave,

his hammer went missing so
he stayed to look for it.

And before the day was
out, he had proposed to Emma

and before the year was out
Laura had come to join them.

But the very day after he proposed,

Queenie Turrill was picking
blackberries, when she found the hammer...

right in the middle of the
biggest bramble patch in Lark Rise.

How'd it get in a bramble patch?

No-one knows, but there
are those who believe

that Emma knew he was
teetering on the brink...

that he just needed a little more time
in her company to know his own heart.

Some people are lucky enough to be blessed with
more swift, more...certain powers of decision.

From your pa.

Miss Lane! My magazine. Is it come?

Oh...Laura, I've not had time to
sort the second post. Could you?

Course.

The Dungeons Of Malevolo. I've been
in such agonies of anticipation.

It's part two, you see.

The orphaned daughter of the murdered
countess just escaped from the convent!

Laura?

Oh!

As she left, the gatekeeper
called out a warning, but,

having lost his tongue in the
Inquisition, the poor man was unable to...

(GASPING)

Is something wrong? The cloaked monk.

He's followed her. He
means to kill her, I'm sure!

That may be his intention but
I doubt it is the author's,

as there are a further
ten parts promised.

About the gown you ordered
for the inauguration.

Would a fitting tomorrow
at ten be convenient?

Yes, I...

Miss Lane?

Yes. Ten will suit me very well.

(GASPING)

He means to force her to the altar.

At the point of her
own death by the sword!

If the man had any consideration,

he'd run her through, and
put us all out of our misery.

Come along, Ruby.

(BELL TINGLING)

Come on, you. Hope
you're gonna eat your tea.

Straight to bed for you.

I'll take our William back to Mr Paxton.

My tool bag.

What about it?

I put it there, behind Frank.

It's gone.

QUEENIE: Come along, children, eat
up or you'll be late for school.

Where's Twister? Why ain't he
havin' breakfast? He's in disgrace.

Can't you stop them children
and their thundering talk?

You be as loud as you like, my chicks.

If a man spends the evening at
a public house in Candleford,

then a headache is
no more'n he deserves.

If a man can't find respect and
consideration under his own roof,

he's no choice but to look
elsewhere. I dropped a shilling!

Did it all go on beer? No!

There was this chap from
Oxford, selling stuff.

Thought it might come in useful.

Chances are it fell off
the wagon along the way...

or got left in Candleford.

Just a matter of looking.

How can it have got left in
Candleford if you put it in the wagon?

I know what you're thinking, Emma,
but the place was full of working men,

and a working man's not
gonna steal another's tools -

the means by which he feeds his family.

(KNOCKING)

I didn't know it was yours, I
wouldn't have bought it if I'd known.

I never realised a
machine could be beautiful.

And when I bring her to life and she starts
eating time, will you still think her beautiful?

Yes.

Because you made her.

I'm sorry about how I was yesterday.

You're right. We don't have much time.

Maybe only today.

We should make the most of it.

Come on.

There was folk from all over,

as far as Fordlow and beyond.

Everyone was buying 'em, so...I did too.

He says everything went,
right down to the masonry pins.

Sixpence I paid for that hammer. Not that
I'm asking for anything for it. Sixpence.

Sixpence! Robert. Do you know
how much these tools were worth?

A lifetime's work.

My life's work.

He was selling 'em cheap.

(DOOR OPENING)

(SIGHING)

Whoever did this, Emma, they knew.

They saw me on that
cart with my children...

and they took...

And other men, men like Twister...

bought them, and they
didn't ask where...

or how... They didn't
know they were yours.

They knew they were
someone's! Robert... Don't.

Look, there must be something we can do.
There is nothing! Don't you understand?

I can't shape the stone with my bare
hands, I can't score it with my nails.

There's nothing left!

No work...

no apprenticeship...

Nothing.

Farmer'll be hiring today, same
as he does every day. But...

But what, Emma?

Six of us to feed, and clothe and house.

The money from Dowland's panels
is spent, every last penny.

You tell me, what else should I do?

I don't know when I've experienced
more pleasure looking at tableware.

The pattern.

The shape.

The handles.

Just precisely where one would wish...

a handle...to be.

Yes.

The handles.

One could not desire them better placed.

Looking at such a cup,
I find I have a strong...

..almost overwhelming desire...

..to hold it in my hands.

Touch it to my lips. And yet...

..perhaps sampling the china
before its appointed time

might lead one to be tempted
towards the sampling of other...

..joys...equally premature.

Oh, Margaret!

Oh, Thomas!

Ooh, glory!

The boards must take the weight
of the clock once it is winched up,

so let me know when the
platform height is reached.

Ah, Miss Lane.

Has my clock part arrived yet?

I'm afraid not.

I have come to talk with you
on another, more private matter.

Please.

Mr Dowland, I would not want you to think I'm
unappreciative of the honour you have shown me

in asking me to cut the ribbon...

But you are going to refuse it?

It is too public a moment.

The attention is too marked.

Are you saying that because
you do not welcome the attention

or because you do not
wish it to be public?

Miss Lane...

...everything I have contributed to
Candleford until now has been for profit.

This is for the pure pleasure of giving.

I wonder if you
appreciate how important...

how very much I... Mr
Dowland, believe me...

I am looking forward to the
inauguration with the greatest pleasure.

I've even ordered a new gown.

But I do think the Mayor of Ingleston

would be a more fitting
choice to cut the ribbon.

The Mayor of Ingleston is
no doubt an estimable man,

but I have no wish to spend
the evening with him on my arm.

I did not realise the
invitation extended so far.

Miss Lane...

I think you are being disingenuous.

I think you know perfectly well
how far the invitation extends.

Edmund?

Edmund, what...?

See the nest? It's in the bank.

They've got little ones in there.
Been taking turns feeding them.

The mother and father both?

My ma says people could
learn a lot from kingfishers.

(WINGS FLAPPING)

That's him! Did you see him?

I think the sky in heaven will be
the colour of a kingfisher's tail.

Today I'm gonna show you
every beautiful thing I know.

A perfect day.

My goodbye present to you.

Laura!

Queenie!

You've been shopping? Oh, Laura...

you haven't heard, have you?

Heard what?

I could perhaps find it in myself
to forgive the tools, perhaps...

..but they've taken his faith from him.

And his trust and his hope.

And that I can never forgive.

Thank you for bringing Edmund home.

Oh, I couldn't let him
walk the distance barefoot.

Three shillings, for boots
that cost ten not two days ago.

He would not let me redeem them.

No.

He has his father's pride.

Edmund?

I can't let you. Don't
tell me we don't need it.

I know what it means, my
father losing his tools.

I know what it means for him
and I know what it means for us.

When you've more experience, they'll most
likely let you join one of the field gangs.

Until then? Pickin' stones.

What does pickin' stones pay? A
shilling a day. Five shillings a week.

Five?!

That's a quarter of
what I'm used to. Less!

(HOOTER)

Miss Lane. I've been
putting money aside.

It's only a little, but if you just
give me permission to go home...

Laura, whatever you have
will be a drop in the ocean.

You cannot maintain a family
of six on your savings.

Besides, your father is a proud man.

What you would call a gift,
he would see as charity.

And that is something
he will never accept.

It's not money he needs,
Laura, but the means to earn it.

Robert Timmins is a master craftsman.

Far more skilled than a town of
this size has any right to expect.

There are many in Candleford who
have cause to value his ability...

Mr Dowland? And others.

All of whom would I'm sure be
only too happy to contribute.

Contribute to what?

A tool fund.

To replace what was stolen.

It is no small task.

It will take hard work and time.

I know Mr Bloom is leaving soon, and that you
must have had plans to spend this time with him.

No plans that can't be given up.

He is my pa.

Where's Twister?

He thought you were Mr Timmins.

You can't hide for ever.

You didn't see the way he looked at me.

Come and give me a hand.
Take your mind off things.

I ain't got the heart.

What are you doing?

Making a bedroom for your brother.

He ain't a boy-chap
no more, he's a man.

And we must pay that some mind.

So come on, clear away.

You can give me a hand...

to sew these sheets together

to make a bedroom wall.

How are you gonna hang 'em?

I thought a few nails.

(LAUGHING) This old
cottage won't take 'em.

Knock a nail in that, it'll come
down like the walls of Jericho!

What you want with a job like
this is hooks in the beams.

Well, why don't you come and show us?

(COUGHING)

(BELL TINKLES)

Ah, Miss Lane, we were about to
close. We were expecting you at...

Oh, please, I have to
know what happened to her.

To...Miss Lane? To the girl.

With the count and the monk and her dead
father's sword. What happened to the girl?

Watch and pray, so that ye
may not fall into temptation.

The spirit is willing...

but the body is weak.

(LAUGHING AND CHATTERING)

Ah, my clock part, I take it.

I'm sure it will be here tomorrow. I have
come on a matter of far greater urgency.

Greater urgency?

Yes.

Miss Lane, perhaps
you do not understand.

Until I receive the part,
the clock cannot be finished.

The urgency, believe
me, is great enough.

Mr Dowland, perhaps it is
you who do not understand.

Robert Timmins' tools
have been stolen and sold.

I am sorry to hear it.

Without them, he has neither the means to
practise his trade nor support his family.

Indeed. I am very sorry to hear it.

But I fail to see what this
has to do with the clock.

Mr Dowland, the world does not
begin and end with your clock.

I understand it is a great thing to you,

but surely you can see how trivial it is

compared with the matter in hand.

We are speaking of a man's
pride and self-respect.

Are we?

Are we indeed?

I take it you intend to buy
new tools for Mr Timmins.

Then it will be my great
privilege to contribute.

But...as YOUR pride is so
deeply founded on the service

you and your post office offer this
community, I suggest you look to yourself.

The part was ordered and the
part has not been delivered to me,

and I am not satisfied.

(BELL TINKLES)

Ruby?

I have the trimming
for Mrs Gladbourne's...

Ruby?

"Drawing his rapier, the silver
blade flashing in the moonlight,

"he threw aside the curtain

"behind which the evil monk..."

Ruby? (BOTH SHRIEK)

Oh, please don't scold! I begged her so.

Minnie was concerned for her heroine.

Mercifully, it transpired that
one of the flagstones was loose

and when the monk trod upon it, he
was pitched into the very dungeon

in which he murdered her father.

At which point, of course,
the young chevalier returned.

It's even more romantical
than Mr and Mrs Timmins.

You must have heard the
story about Mrs Timmins?

And the hammer in the bramble patch?

A day's wages.

You must be hungry. Sit down and eat.

Have you been baking?

There's plenty of flour yet.

Not the last time I looked.

Ethel and Frank have had a slice.

Where did you get it then?

I told you, I... Please, don't.

All right, but what a fuss over nothing.

I borrowed a bit off Queenie, is all.

Lord knows I lent it often enough!

Robert...

(DOOR SLAMS)

Is everybody ready?

One, two, three...

Up she goes!

Whoo-oo!

(CHEERING)

There's a hole.

Well...it ain't a hole, it's a window,

so Alf can see what's for breakfast
before he decides whether to get up.

(LAUGHTER)

I thank you for your goodwill, Queenie.

I'm not wishing to cause
offence, but we don't need help...

or charity.

So there'll be no more lending of
flour or anything else to my wife.

I don't know what you're talking about.

I never lent no flour to Emma.

Up you go. Go on, go up. No.

Edmund, I said go.

No.

Where did you get this flour, Emma?

I know you didn't get
it from Queenie, so...

Robert, don't...

I don't need boots around the house.

And Edmund has to walk to school.

Robert...

Robert, please.

What would you have me do? Sit
back and let them go hungry?

You lied to me! Because
I knew how you'd be.

What do you expect?

Christ above, woman, I may not have
my tools, I may not have my trade,

but I've still got my pride!

Your pride.

You're going to tell
ME about your pride?

Dear God in heaven, Robert,

there is nothing about your
pride that I don't know.

It's like an extra child in our house.

Always in need of my
care, my protection.

How dare you?!

How dare YOU put me in this position?!

Asking me to choose between
your pride and my children!

Well, I did.

I chose.

I chose them.

And don't you make me pay for it now.

Don't you dare make me pay when
you would have done the same.

You know you would have done the same.

Your feet...

Your poor feet.

(SHE SOBS)

I don't have the experience to earn more
than five shillings a week on the land.

It's not enough.

There's building work in Oxford.

No... It's not skilled, but
it pays better than the fields.

I could be sending money back,
maybe even putting a bit by.

In time, buy some new tools.

Oh, please, Robert...

I'm looking after you all.

Providing. That is my purpose,
Emma, that's what I'm for.

But we need you here.

I need you here.

Emma, if I stay here, like
this, it is going to kill me.

(BELL TINKLES)

Well, the shopkeepers of
Candleford have been very generous.

Very generous indeed.

I have looked, as you asked, Miss Lane.

Mr Downing's clock part is not in the
morning delivery. I expect it's plain lost.

Are the breakfast things cleared away?

They surely will be, ma'am. I only came cos
when the door went I thought it might be Fisher.

I like looking at him and Laura together.
And Thomas and Miss Ellison. And you and...

Minnie, out of my sight!

It's my belief, ma'am, that the
shame of a man being robbed among us

awakens in all of us a memory
of our own original sin.

And prompts in us a desire to atone.

Or perhaps, Thomas, Robert
Timmins is simply a man

who inspires affection and respect.

He made my father's headstone.
It is a thing of beauty

and a comfort to me still.
These things matter to people.

(BELL TINKLES)

Mama.

I came to ask if Laura
might come home this evening.

Robert is leaving in
the morning to find work.

He's going to Oxford.

Perhaps not.

Voila les petits drapeaux.

The bunting.

We have tested it. On our washing line.

It flutters most pleasingly.

We have used only fabrics which drape.

Excellent.

Very good.

Is there a problem, Mr JD? Not at all.

It will, as you say, flutter, I'm sure.

Only you seem...

tres occupe.

A clock part, the last clock
part, appears to be delayed.

Excuse me, I must call
in at the post office.

Am I right in thinking
that Miss Lane's post girl

is keeping company with
your journeyman clockmaker?

And when the clock is
finished, he will move on?

Yes? And...?

Like mother, like daughter.

The part is not delayed, Mr Dowland.

It is sabotaged.

(MOUTHS)

Surely you've heard the
story of Emma Timmins

and the hammer in the bramble patch?

Eight, nine, ten...

11 pounds 10 shillings and sixpence.

But that's three months' wages.

Is it enough to replace the tools?

It's more than enough to make a start.

Folk have been so generous,
Ma, you wouldn't believe it.

That's because they believe in a
man's right to provide for his family.

Perhaps that will go some
way to restoring his faith?

As well as his tools?

Dorcas...

thank you.

Well now, you should
take this and go shopping.

Laura, would you like
to help your mother?

Perhaps if there were
something very small,

you might let Mr Timmins know it was
from Minnie, particularly from Minnie,

to say thank you for
the toffee apple. Oh.

(BELL TINKLES)

Miss Lane, I wish to speak
with you...in private.

Mr Dowland, are you seriously suggesting

that on the basis of a piece
of idle, vicious gossip,

I should search the premises
and personal effects of my staff?

I'm not suggesting, I'm demanding.

The date of the inauguration
is set. Everything is set.

I'm well aware of your plans, sir.

Then you will see to it that no
action on the part of one of your staff

is allowed to sabotage them.

Mr Dowland, do not presume to
tell me how to run my post office.

Miss Lane...

I only wish I didn't have to.

Dorcas Lane bought these?

Not Dorcas...Candleford.

I don't understand.

All those people you've worked for
over the years, they wanted to help.

Are you saying Dorcas Lane made
it her business to go and ask them?

Robert, no, it wasn't...

What did she do
- go around with a collecting box?

Dear God!

Robert... And you...

you who have nothing
to learn about my pride,

you thought I would welcome this?
You thought I would thank her

for turning me and my
family into a public charity?

Where are you going? Where
do you think I'm going?

Earlier today, I...

I believe it possible that
someone in this room may have acted

in a manner unbefitting
of a post office employee.

If there is anything
anyone wishes to tell me...

..I shall be in my private parlour.

That is all.

Come in.

Thomas?

Laura?

Fisher, I have to talk to you.

All right, but not here.

It's my room, Laura...

you'd be ruined.

I'm ruined already.

I should have confessed all when the...

incident occurred.

I hope you'll believe
that my failure to do so

was born out of my desire to protect the character
of a young lady for whom I have a great...

a very great...

regard.

You wish to protect Laura?

Laura?

I never... I wouldn't dream...

No, 'twas...

Miss Ellison...ma'am.

Thomas, I'm afraid we
are at cross-purposes.

To what exactly are you confessing?

An embrace, ma'am.

In Her Majesty's post office...

..whilst in uniform.

Thomas...

..if you feel that you have dishonoured
your uniform by kissing Miss Ellison,

I suggest that next time
you intend to kiss her,

you take it off.

(SIGHS)

(KNOCK AT DOOR) Yes, what is it now?

Minnie?

Minnie?

I just wanted a little more
time with you. One more day.

And then my pa's tools were stolen

and our day along with them.

I knew there was no getting it back.

So I went back to restore the parcel...

It was gone.

I've searched for it everywhere
and it's just not there.

I think that Miss Lane knows.

I don't know what to do.

All that...

for one more day with me?

I thought that, if
we had one more day...

..I could make you love me.

But I do!

I do love you.

How could I not?

And then I pulled back the flagstone,
ma'am, and there it was. My suspicions is

the flagstone being loose, somehow
the parcel must have fallen beneath.

Minnie...

Yes, ma'am?

Are you being honest with me?

No, ma'am.

Well...

..how did you find this package?

I loved the story you told about Mrs
Timmins and the hammer in the brambles.

And I love the look on Laura's
face when she sees Fisher.

And I just...

sort of put 'em together, ma'am.

I have to go.

What are you gonna do?

I don't know.

Tell Miss Lane.

I'm not scared of anything now.

I'll tell you a true thing.

I can't remember what
my life was before you.

I can't remember what any of it meant.

Maybe we were just waiting.

Maybe we both were.

You seem very friendly
with my daughter, Mr Bloom.

Perhaps it's time you and
I got to know each other.

BUTLER: Miss Lane, sir.

Your clock part, Mr Dowland.

And I offer you my apologies.

We were at fault, but not
in the way you imagined.

Then I accept your apology.

Will you also accept my request that you
never set foot into my post office again?

You came to me, into my home,
making threats and demands.

You consistently failed to treat this
matter with the urgency it warranted!

I have treated this matter
with every seriousness.

No, madam, you have not!

On the contrary.

You have been at great
pains to point out to me

that the world does not
begin and end with my clock.

That while it may be a great thing to
me, it is of little moment to others.

"Trivial" was the
word, I think, you used.

Is that the real cause of all this?

That I piqued your pride?

That I had the audacity to suggest

that a poor man's
self-respect mattered more

than your public display
of wealth and influence?

What would you know of a
poor man's self-respect?

You, whose father tossed silver thrupenny
bits to ragged boys in the street.

And who bequeathed to his daughter
a life of privilege and entitlement.

How could you ever understand?

Yes, the clock matters to me.

The display of wealth and influence,
the fact that I, who had nothing

but what was thrown to me in the
street, am now a public benefactor.

But none of it... God
help me, none of it matters

so much as YOU seeing it.

And knowing what it meant.

Mr Dowland, I...

When I am in your presence,
it is all too easy...

..to think myself still the ragged boy.

I had not realised that you
too are so shaped by your past,

that you are, and always will be,

the indulged child of a
prosperous father. And that,

Dorcas, that makes you blind.

Minnie, where is Miss Lane?

She has taken the clock
part to Mr Dowland.

It's all right... I told her it was me.

I saw you hide it,
so I hid it some more,

so Fisher would stay, like your pa.

Oh, Minnie!

He IS going to stay.

He loves me and he's going to stay.

Laura...

I was looking for your pa.

Oh, Mrs Timmins, Laura's got such news!

You say you love her?

I've been the old man since I
was 15, Mr Timmins. I know I do.

And what does that mean,
exactly, that you love her?

It means I don't wanna leave her.

It's not just the girl you
have to want, Fisher Bloom,

it's the life you'd have with her.

The home.

The children.

It's all too easy to
make someone else pay

when all the art and the
beauty is gone from your craft

and it's just about
putting food on the table.

That can make a man more cruel than
he thought he had it in him to be.

Not wanting to leave.

It's not the same as wanting to stay.

If there's any doubt in your mind...

..go.

Break her heart now.

No.

Tell her that and stay.

Break her spirit over years.

Or leave anyway, a few years, a
clutch of children down the line.

With kisses like that, believe me,
children will come sooner than you think.

They say you're a truth-teller.

So tell me now...

truthfully...

Imagine you live here,

with my daughter.

You have Laura, but the rest?

The road, the life that goes with it.

The working at your craft.

The freedom...

has gone.

How does that make you feel?

I said, "How does that
make you feel?" Trapped.

(LAURA SOBS)

Laura...

Ah, Mr Bloom!

The final clock part.

I'm sorry.

(SIGHING)

(SOBBING)

You are so much more
to us than you know.

Providing, bread-winning,

that's not what you're for,
Robert. That's just what you do.

THAT is why we need you here.

That's why you can't leave us.

I couldn't have done it.

I don't have the strength.

The job's only half done, Emma.

The boy can't go until he
finishes what he came here to do.

How can he finish when he can't
bear the thought of leaving

any more than he can live with the prospect
of staying? Maybe he needs some help?

(TOOLS CLATTERING)

I was coming here to throw
these back at Dorcas Lane.

I know.

There are good tools in 'em.

You chose well.

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

(SIGHING)

Fisher's leaving.

Oh...

Laura.

I'm going to her now, but...

..I don't know how it feels, Dorcas.

Robert stayed.

Imagine if he hadn't.

(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)

You know,

the funny thing about clocks...

..is the moment before
you bring them to life.

It's like time standing still.

Like you can hold everything...

where it is

just a little longer.

This moment isn't gonna get
any easier for waiting on it.

You ready?

(TAPPING)

Gently! Gently!

There, me lad! Up!

Looks splendid. Yes.

MAN: Heave! That's it! Higher!

(STEADY TICKING)

(BELL CHIMING)

(BAND PLAYING JAUNTY TUNE)

(CHILDREN SHOUTING EXCITEDLY)

Laura.

There is someone here to see you.

He didn't have to go.

He didn't have to stay.

It's the same boat
for both of you, Laura.

Would you have given up this, your job,

the life you're making for
yourself, Lark Rise, for him?

And if you had, wouldn't
you be craving for it?

Yearning for it when it went away?

He loves his life, Laura.

The same way you love yours.

That feeling you get when
you stand on the Rise,

and look over fields of gold, that's
what he feels about the road he's on.

Whatever he feels for you.

I hid the last clock part, Pa.

Minnie told Miss Lane that it
was her, but I did it first.

I thought it would work
for me like it did for Ma,

dropping your hammer in the brambles.

A little more time for
him to know his own heart.

Oh, Laura...

It weren't your ma who dropped
that damn hammer in the brambles.

It was me.

I knew my own heart well enough.

I just needed more time. Work
up the courage to tell her.

Everyone thinks it was her.

Because she lets them.

Protecting my pride.

It's her life's work, apparently.

It's like an extra child
- always needing her attention.

Pa, she never said that.

She'll tell you she was provoked.

(SNIFFLES)

I've been standing
close to him for so long.

Now that he's gone, it feels
like something's been torn away.

It hurts so much.

(SOBBING)

(CLOCK CHIMES)

(BRASS BAND STRIKES UP)

Mr Dowland...

What you said to me earlier...

I had no right to speak to you as I did.

You were right.

I have been blind. But to
myself, if anything else.

You are a man used to risk.

I, on the other hand, have always
chosen comfort and security.

My privilege has enabled that.

I see now that...

what begins as caution...

..may become cowardice,
without one realising.

If you are about to claim cowardice
as your one weakness, I must tell you,

I've always found you rather
alarmingly prepared to do battle.

Perhaps that's just with me.

Perhaps it is because in
crossing swords with you,

I have never really
risked losing what matters.

Or revealing what that might be.

Even to myself.

And what is it that...
"matters" to you, Miss Lane?

Laura is in her room at the moment,

sobbing for what she has lost.

It makes me see that there are things...

..I would also find
it very hard to lose...

..your friendship.

Your good opinion,

your company...

You.

(FIREWORKS EXPLODING)

(EXCITED GASPS)

(APPLAUSE)

LAURA: 'When I was young,

' I knew that sunlight and shadow
were part of a natural rhythm,

'the heartbeat of the world.

'But experience taught me that
life can also be filled with light,

'because another person makes it so.

'And that the darkness that
follows when they have gone

'is the deepest and the hardest of all.'

Ma'am, I have just seen a very
la-di-da carriage come from the hotel.

Oh, I wonder who it contained.

Celestia! What an...

When did you arrive? Pleased to see me?

Of course.

Laura, come and give
your old grandpa a hug.

But you have hopes of marriage?
Oh, it's not for me to...

Then I must tell you a
little about James Dowland.

When he and I first met, we
came to an agreeable arrangement.

Marry me.