Brief Encounter (1945) Full - Best of Old Movies
Brief Encounter (1945) Full - Best of Old Movies
At a café on a railway station, housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard). Although they are both already married, they gradually fall in love with each other. They continue to meet every Thursday in the small café, although they know that their love is impossible.
At a café on a railway station, housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard). Although they are both already married, they gradually fall in love with each other. They continue to meet every Thursday in the small café, although they know that their love is impossible.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00:00I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
00:00:30I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry
00:01:00I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I
00:01:30I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
00:01:47Evening, Mr. Croșby.
00:01:49Good.
00:01:51Hello, hello, hello.
00:01:52Quite a stranger, aren't you?
00:01:53I couldn't get in yesterday.
00:01:54I wondered what had happened to you?
00:01:56I had a bit of a dust-up.
00:01:57What about?
00:01:58I saw a chap getting out of a first-class compartment.
00:02:00When he came to give up his ticket, it was only third class.
00:02:02I told him he'd have to pay the excess, and then he turned nasty.
00:02:04And I had to send for Mr. Saunders.
00:02:05That's not a good idea.
00:02:06Oh, he ticked him off.
00:02:07Seeing's believing.
00:02:08I tell you, he ticked him off proper.
00:02:10You pay the balance at once, he says, or I'll hand you over to the police.
00:02:13You ought to have seen the look on the chap's face at the mention of the word police.
00:02:16Changed his tune, then he did, paid up like lightning.
00:02:19That's just what I mean.
00:02:20He didn't have the courage to handle it himself.
00:02:22He had to call in the police.
00:02:24Oh, he's not a bad lot, Mr. Saunders.
00:02:25After all, you can't expect much spirit from a man with only one lung and a wife with diabetes.
00:02:30I thought something must be wrong when you didn't come.
00:02:32Well, I'd have popped in to explain, but I had a date and had to run for it the moment I went off.
00:02:35Oh, indeed.
00:02:36The chap I know is getting married.
00:02:38Very interesting, I'm sure.
00:02:41What's up with you, anyway?
00:02:43I'm sure I don't know to what you're referring.
00:02:45You're a bit unfriendly all of a sudden.
00:02:47Barry, hurry up.
00:02:48Put some more coal in the stove while you're at it.
00:02:50Yes, Mrs. Baggett.
00:02:51I'm afraid I really can't stand here wasting my time in idle gossip, Mr. Godby.
00:02:54Well, aren't you going to offer me another cup?
00:02:56You can have another cup and welcome when you've finished that one.
00:02:58Barry will give it to you.
00:02:59I've got me accounts to do.
00:03:01I say, I'd rather you gave it to me.
00:03:03Tame and tamed, weak for no man, Mr. Godby.
00:03:08Laura, what a lovely surprise.
00:03:10Oh, darling.
00:03:11My dear, I've been shopping till I'm dropping.
00:03:13My feet are nearly off, my throat's parched.
00:03:15I thought of having tea at Spindle's, but I was terrified of losing the train.
00:03:19Oh, dear.
00:03:20Oh, this is Dr. Harvey.
00:03:22How do you do?
00:03:23Would you be a perfect day and get me my cup of tea?
00:03:25I really don't think I could drag my poor old bones over to the counter.
00:03:28No, please.
00:03:31My dear, what a nice-looking man.
00:03:33Who on earth is he, really?
00:03:34You're quite a dark horse.
00:03:35This will telephone Fred in the morning and make mischief.
00:03:38This is a bit of luck.
00:03:40I haven't seen you for ages.
00:03:42I've been meaning to pop in, but Tony's had measles, you know,
00:03:44and then I had all that awful fuss over Phyllis.
00:03:46But, of course, you don't know.
00:03:47My dear, she left me.
00:03:49Oh, how dreadful.
00:03:50Mind you, I never really cared for her much, but still Tony did.
00:03:52Tony adored her.
00:03:53And I'll tell you all about that later in the train.
00:03:55Thank you so very much.
00:03:57There's certainly enough milk in it, but still it'll be refreshing.
00:04:03Oh, dear, no sugar.
00:04:05It's in the spoon.
00:04:06Oh, of course. What a fool I am.
00:04:09Laura, you're looking frightfully well.
00:04:11I do wish I'd known you were coming in today.
00:04:13We could have come together and lunched and had a good gossip.
00:04:15I loathe shopping by myself, anyway.
00:04:20There's your train.
00:04:21Yes, I know.
00:04:22Oh, aren't you coming with us?
00:04:23No, I go in the opposite direction. My practice is in Churley.
00:04:25Oh, I see.
00:04:26I'm a general practitioner at the moment.
00:04:28Dr Harvey's going out to Africa next week.
00:04:30Oh, how thrilling.
00:04:36I must go.
00:04:37Yes, you must.
00:04:38Goodbye.
00:04:39Goodbye.
00:04:51He'll have to run or he'll miss it.
00:04:53He's got to get right over to the other platform.
00:04:55Talking of missing trains reminds me of that awful bridge at Broadham Junction.
00:04:59You've got to go traipsing all up one side, along the top and down the other.
00:05:02Well, the other day I'd been over to see Bob's solicitors about renewing the lease of the house.
00:05:06And I arrived at the station with exactly half a minute to spare.
00:05:10My dear, I flew.
00:05:12I got Tony with me.
00:05:13And like a fool, I just bought a new shade for the lamp in the drawing room.
00:05:16I could have got it just as easily here in Milford.
00:05:18Well, it's the most enormous thing.
00:05:21I could hardly see over it.
00:05:22I've never been into a prison all my life.
00:05:24I nearly knocked a woman down.
00:05:25Of course, by the time I got home, it was battered to bits.
00:05:30Oh, is that our train?
00:05:31Can you tell me, is that the Ketchworth train?
00:05:33No, it's the express, the boat train.
00:05:35Oh, of course, that doesn't stop, does it?
00:05:37I want some chocolate, please.
00:05:39Milk or plain?
00:05:40Plain, I think.
00:05:42No, perhaps milk would be nicer.
00:05:44Have you any McNuts in it?
00:05:45Nut milk, shelling on sixpence.
00:05:47I'll take one, please.
00:05:49Large or small?
00:05:50Large.
00:06:01Where is she?
00:06:04I never noticed her go.
00:06:08Oh, I couldn't think where you disappeared to.
00:06:11I just wanted to see the express go through.
00:06:14What on earth's the matter? Are you feeling ill?
00:06:17I feel a little sick.
00:06:18Oh, my dear, come and sit down.
00:06:23There's our train.
00:06:24That's all right.
00:06:25Have you any brandy?
00:06:26I'm afraid it's out of hours.
00:06:27Oh, surely, if somebody's feeling ill.
00:06:29I'm all right, really.
00:06:30Just a sip of brandy will buck you up.
00:06:32Please.
00:06:33Very well.
00:06:34Thank you. How much?
00:06:35Tenpence, please.
00:06:38The train for Ketchworth is now arriving at platform three.
00:06:42Don't you have to hurry?
00:06:54Oh, well, this is a bit of luck.
00:06:56This train's generally packed.
00:07:00I really am very worried about you, dear.
00:07:02You look terribly peaky.
00:07:03I'm all right, really, I am.
00:07:04I just felt faint for a minute, that's all.
00:07:06It often happens to me.
00:07:07I did it once in the middle of Bobby's school concert.
00:07:09I don't think he's ever forgiven me.
00:07:12Well, he certainly was very good-looking.
00:07:14Who?
00:07:15Well, your friend, Doctor whatever-his-name-was.
00:07:18Yes, he's a nice creature.
00:07:20Have you known him long?
00:07:21No, not very long.
00:07:24I hardly know him at all, really.
00:07:25Well, my dear, I've always had a passion for doctors.
00:07:28I can well understand how it is that women get neurotic.
00:07:33I wish I could trust you.
00:07:36I wish you were a wise, kind friend.
00:07:38Instead of a gossiping acquaintance I've known casually for years
00:07:41and never particularly cared for.
00:07:44I wish.
00:07:46I wish.
00:07:47Fancy him going all the way to Africa.
00:07:49Is he married?
00:07:50Yes.
00:07:51Any children?
00:07:52Yes, two boys.
00:07:53He's very proud of them.
00:07:54Is he taking them with him, his wife and children, I mean?
00:07:56Yes.
00:07:57Yes, he is.
00:07:58Oh, I suppose it's sensible in a way,
00:08:00rushing off to start life anew in the wide, open spaces
00:08:02and all that sort of thing,
00:08:03but wild horses wouldn't drag me away from England and home
00:08:06and all the things I'm used to.
00:08:07I mean, one has one's roots, after all, hasn't one?
00:08:10Oh, yes, one has one's roots.
00:08:12I knew a girl years ago who went to Africa.
00:08:14You know, her husband was something to do with engineering or something.
00:08:17And, my dear, she had the most dreadful time.
00:08:19She got some awful kind of turn through going out on a picnic
00:08:22and she was ill for months and months.
00:08:24I wish you'd stop talking.
00:08:26I wish you'd stop prying and trying to find things out.
00:08:29I wish you were dead.
00:08:30No, I don't mean that.
00:08:31That was silly and unkind.
00:08:33But I wish you'd stop talking.
00:08:34My dear, all her hair came out
00:08:36and she said the social life was quite, quite horrid.
00:08:39Provincial, you know, and very nouveau riche.
00:08:41Oh, Dolly.
00:08:42What's the matter, dear? Are you feeling ill again?
00:08:44No, not very ill. I feel a bit dizzy.
00:08:46I think I'll just close my eyes for a little.
00:08:47Oh, you poor darling.
00:08:48And here am I, chattering away 19 to the dozen.
00:08:50I won't say another word.
00:08:52Oh, and if you drop off,
00:08:53I'll wake you up when we get to the level crossing.
00:08:55That'll give you a chance to pull yourself together
00:08:57and powder your nose before we get out.
00:08:59Thanks, Dolly.
00:09:04This can't last.
00:09:08This misery can't last.
00:09:11I must remember that and try to control myself.
00:09:15Nothing lasts, really.
00:09:17Neither happiness nor despair.
00:09:19Not even life lasts very long.
00:09:23There'll come a time in the future
00:09:24when I shan't mind about this anymore.
00:09:27When I can look back and say quite peacefully and cheerfully
00:09:30how silly I was.
00:09:31No, no, I don't want that time to come ever.
00:09:35I want to remember every minute.
00:09:38Always.
00:09:41Always to the end of my days.
00:09:45Gertrude!
00:09:46Wake up, Laura. We're here.
00:09:48Gertrude!
00:09:50I can easily come to the house with you, dear.
00:09:52It isn't very much out of my way.
00:09:53Thank you.
00:09:54All I have to do is to walk down Elmore Lane
00:09:55past the Grandma's house.
00:09:57I'll be back.
00:09:58Thank you.
00:09:59All I have to do is to walk down Elmore Lane
00:10:00past the Grandma's school
00:10:01and I'll be home in two minutes.
00:10:02Oh, it's sweet of you, Dolly,
00:10:03but I'm perfectly all right now.
00:10:04Really, I am.
00:10:05Now, you're quite sure?
00:10:06Absolutely positive.
00:10:07Thank you for being so kind.
00:10:08Oh, nonsense, dear.
00:10:09Well, I shall telephone in the morning
00:10:11and see if you've had a relapse.
00:10:13I shall disappoint you.
00:10:14Good night.
00:10:15Good night.
00:10:16Oh, give my love to Fred and the children.
00:10:28Is that you, Laura?
00:10:30Yes, dear.
00:10:31Thank goodness you've come back.
00:10:33The place has been in an uproar.
00:10:34Why, what's the matter?
00:10:35Bobby and Margaret have been fighting again.
00:10:37They won't get asleep
00:10:38until you go in and talk to them about it.
00:10:40Mummy, is that you, Mummy?
00:10:42Yes, Margaret.
00:10:43Come upstairs at once, Mummy.
00:10:45I want to talk to you.
00:10:53You're both very naughty.
00:10:54You should have been asleep hours ago.
00:10:56Now, what is it, you two?
00:10:57Well, Mummy, tomorrow's my birthday,
00:10:59and I want to go to the circus,
00:11:01and tomorrow's not Margaret's birthday,
00:11:03and she wants to go to the pantomime.
00:11:05My birthday's in June,
00:11:06and there aren't any pantomimes in June.
00:11:08It's far too late to discuss it tonight,
00:11:10and if you don't go to sleep at once,
00:11:12I shall tell Daddy not to let you go to either.
00:11:14Oh, Mum.
00:11:16Well, why not take them to both?
00:11:17One in the afternoon, one in the evening.
00:11:19You know, that's impossible.
00:11:20We shouldn't get them to bed till all hours,
00:11:22and they'd be tired and fractious.
00:11:24Well, then, one on one day,
00:11:25and the other on the other.
00:11:27You're always accusing me of spoiling the children.
00:11:29Their characters would be ruined in a fortnight
00:11:31if I left them to your over-tender mercies.
00:11:33All right, have it your own way.
00:11:36Circus or pantomime?
00:11:38Neither.
00:11:39We'll thrash them both soundly,
00:11:40lock them up in the attic,
00:11:41and go to the pictures by ourselves.
00:11:48Oh, Fred.
00:11:51What on earth's the matter?
00:11:52Nothing, really, it's nothing.
00:11:55Darling, what's wrong?
00:11:57Tell me, please.
00:11:59Really and truly, it's nothing.
00:12:00I'm just a little run down, that's all.
00:12:03I had a sort of fainting spell
00:12:05at the refreshment room at Milford.
00:12:07Wasn't it idiotic?
00:12:09Darlene Messiter was with me,
00:12:10and she talked and talked and talked
00:12:11till I wanted to strangle her.
00:12:13Still, she meant to be kind.
00:12:15Isn't it awful about people meaning to be kind?
00:12:18Would you like to go to bed?
00:12:20No, Fred, really.
00:12:21Come and sit by the fire in the library and relax.
00:12:24You can help me with the Times Crossword.
00:12:26You have the most peculiar ideas of relaxation.
00:12:30That's better.
00:12:31There you are, darling.
00:12:35But why a fainting spell?
00:12:36I can't understand it.
00:12:37Don't be silly, darling.
00:12:38I've often had fainting spells, and you know it.
00:12:40Don't you remember Bobby's school concert?
00:12:42And Eileen's wedding?
00:12:44And that time you insisted on taking me
00:12:45to that symphony concert at the town hall.
00:12:47Go on, that was a nosebleed.
00:12:49I suppose I must be that type of woman.
00:12:51It's very humiliating.
00:12:53I still maintain there'd be no harm
00:12:54in you seeing Dr. Graves.
00:12:56It'd be a waste of time.
00:12:58Oh, listen.
00:12:59Oh, but do shut up about it, darling.
00:13:00You're making a fuss about nothing.
00:13:02I'd been shopping, and I was tired,
00:13:03and the refreshment room was very hot,
00:13:04and I suddenly felt sick.
00:13:06Nothing more than that.
00:13:08All right.
00:13:09Really nothing more than that.
00:13:11Now you get on with your old puzzle
00:13:12and leave me in peace.
00:13:13Have it your own way.
00:13:17You're a poetry addict.
00:13:18Let's see if you can help me over this.
00:13:19It's Keats.
00:13:21When I behold upon the night-starred face
00:13:22huge cloudy symbols of a high...
00:13:24something in seven letters.
00:13:27Romance, I think.
00:13:29I'm almost sure it is.
00:13:31Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance.
00:13:33It'll be in the Oxford Book of English first.
00:13:35No, that's right.
00:13:36I'm sure, because it fits in with
00:13:37delirium and belucastan.
00:13:43Put some music.
00:13:44Throw you off your stride.
00:13:45No, dear, I like it.
00:13:48I like it.
00:13:49I like it.
00:14:18I like it.
00:14:19I like it.
00:14:20I like it.
00:14:21I like it.
00:14:22I like it.
00:14:23I like it.
00:14:24I like it.
00:14:25I like it.
00:14:26I like it.
00:14:27I like it.
00:14:28I like it.
00:14:29I like it.
00:14:30I like it.
00:14:31I like it.
00:14:32I like it.
00:14:33I like it.
00:14:34I like it.
00:14:35I like it.
00:14:36I like it.
00:14:37I like it.
00:14:38I like it.
00:14:39I like it.
00:14:40I like it.
00:14:41I like it.
00:14:42I like it.
00:14:43I like it.
00:14:44I like it.
00:14:45I like it.
00:14:46I like it.
00:14:48Fred.
00:14:49Fred.
00:14:50Dear Fred, there's so much that I want to say to you.
00:14:59You're the only one in the world with enough wisdom and gentleness to understand.
00:15:04If only it were somebody else's story and not mine.
00:15:08As it is, you're the only one in the world that I can never tell.
00:15:13Never, never.
00:15:16Because even if I waited until we were old, old people and told you then, you'd be bound
00:15:21to look back over the years and be hurt.
00:15:24And don't worry, I don't want you to be hurt.
00:15:28You see, we're a happily married couple and must never forget that.
00:15:35This is my home.
00:15:38You're my husband and my children are upstairs in bed.
00:15:43I'm a happily married woman.
00:15:46Or rather, I was until a few weeks ago.
00:15:50This is my whole world and it's enough.
00:15:55Or rather, it was until a few weeks ago.
00:15:59But oh, Fred, I've been so foolish.
00:16:03I've fallen in love.
00:16:05I'm an ordinary woman.
00:16:08I didn't think such violent things could happen to ordinary people.
00:16:13It all started on an ordinary day in the most ordinary place in the world,
00:16:19the refreshment room at Milford Junction.
00:16:23I was having a cup of tea and reading a book that I'd got that morning from Boots.
00:16:28My train wasn't due for ten minutes.
00:16:31I looked up and saw a man come in from the platform.
00:16:35He had on an ordinary mack. His hat was turned down and I didn't even see his face.
00:16:40He got his tea at the counter and turned.
00:16:42Then I did see his face. It was rather a nice face.
00:16:45Any sugar?
00:16:46A spoon.
00:16:47He passed my table on the way to his.
00:16:50The woman at the counter was going on as usual.
00:16:53You know, I told you about her the other day, the one with the refined voice.
00:16:57Minnie hasn't touched her milk.
00:16:59Did you put it down for her?
00:17:00Yes, but she never came for it.
00:17:02Fond of animals?
00:17:04It's not their place.
00:17:05My landlady's got a positive mania for animals.
00:17:07She's got two cats, one manx, one ordinary, three rabbits and huts in the kitchen.
00:17:11They belong to a little boy, by rights.
00:17:13And one of those daft-looking dogs with hair over its eyes.
00:17:16I don't know to what breed you refer.
00:17:19I don't think it knows itself.
00:17:22Go and clean off number three, Beryl. I can see the crumbs on it from here.
00:17:25What about my other cup?
00:17:27I'll have to move him. The 5.40 will be in in a minute.
00:17:30Who's on the gate?
00:17:31Young William.
00:17:34Oh, please, could you give me a glass of water?
00:18:00I've got something in my eye and I want to bathe it.
00:18:03Would you like me to have a look?
00:18:05Oh, no, don't trouble. I expect the water will do.
00:18:07Thank you.
00:18:08A bit of coal dust, I expect.
00:18:09A man I knew lost the sight of one eye through getting a bit of grit in it.
00:18:13Nasty. Very nasty.
00:18:14Better?
00:18:15I'm afraid not.
00:18:16Can I help you?
00:18:18Oh, no, please. It's only something in my eye.
00:18:20Try pulling your eyelid down as far as it'll go.
00:18:23And then blowing your nose.
00:18:24Please let me look. I happen to be a doctor.
00:18:26That's very kind of you.
00:18:27Turn round to that, please.
00:18:29Now, look up.
00:18:32Now, look down.
00:18:36Keep still. That's it.
00:18:41There.
00:18:42Oh, what a relief. It was agonizing.
00:18:44Looks like a bit of grit.
00:18:45It was when the express went through. Thank you very much, indeed.
00:18:47There we go. I must run.
00:18:48How lucky of me you happened to be here.
00:18:50Anybody could have done it.
00:18:51Never mind, you did, and I'm most grateful.
00:18:53There's my train. I must go. Goodbye.
00:18:54Goodbye.
00:18:55Goodbye.
00:19:01That's how it all began.
00:19:03Just through me getting a little piece of grit in my eye.
00:19:07I completely forgot the whole incident.
00:19:09It didn't mean anything to me at all.
00:19:12At least, I didn't think it did.
00:19:20The next Thursday, I went into Milford again, as usual.
00:19:26I had to go.
00:19:33I changed my book at Boots.
00:19:35Miss Lewis had at last managed to get the new Kate O'Brien for me.
00:19:38I believe she'd kept it hidden under the counter for two days.
00:19:41On the way out, I bought two new toothbrushes for the children.
00:19:44I like the smell of a chemist better than any other shop.
00:19:47It's such a mixture of nice things.
00:19:49Herbs and scent and soap.
00:19:51That awful Mrs. Leftwich was at the other end of the counter
00:19:54wearing one of the silliest hats I've ever seen.
00:19:56Fortunately, she didn't look up,
00:19:58so I got out without her button-holing me.
00:20:01Just as I stepped out onto the pavement...
00:20:03Good morning.
00:20:04Oh, good morning.
00:20:05How's the eye?
00:20:06Perfectly all right.
00:20:07How kind it was of you to take so much trouble.
00:20:09It was nothing at all.
00:20:10It's clearing up, I think.
00:20:11Yes, it's going to be nice.
00:20:13Well, I must be getting along to the hospital.
00:20:15No, I must be getting along to the grocers.
00:20:17What exciting lives we lead, don't we?
00:20:18Goodbye.
00:20:20That evening, I had to run nearly all the way to the station.
00:20:23I'd been to the Palladium as usual,
00:20:25but it was a terribly long film, and I was afraid I'd be late.
00:20:28As I came up onto the platform,
00:20:30the cherry train was just puffing out.
00:20:32I looked up idly as the windows of the carriages went by,
00:20:36wondering if he was there.
00:20:38I remember this crossing my mind, but it was quite unimportant.
00:20:41I was really thinking of other things.
00:20:43The present for your birthday was worrying me rather.
00:20:46It was terribly expensive, but I knew you wanted it,
00:20:49and I'd sort of half taken the plunge
00:20:51and left a deposit on it at Spink and Robson's
00:20:53until the next Thursday.
00:20:55The next Thursday.
00:20:58Well, I squared my conscience
00:21:00by thinking how pleased you'd be and bought it.
00:21:02Yes, I'll have it.
00:21:03Thank you, madam.
00:21:04It was wildly extravagant, I know,
00:21:06but having committed the crime, I suddenly felt reckless and gay.
00:21:09The sun was out,
00:21:11and everybody in the street looked more cheerful than usual,
00:21:14and there was a barrel organ at the corner by Harris's,
00:21:17and you know how I love barrel organs.
00:21:19It was playing Let the Great Big World Keep Turning,
00:21:22and I gave the man sixpence
00:21:24and went to the Cardoma for lunch.
00:21:26It was very full,
00:21:28but two people had got up from the table just as I'd come in.
00:21:31That was a bit of luck, wasn't it?
00:21:33Or was it?
00:21:34Just after I'd given my order, I saw him come in.
00:21:37He looked a little tired, I thought,
00:21:39and there was nowhere for him to sit,
00:21:41so I smiled and said,
00:21:43Good morning.
00:21:44Oh, good morning.
00:21:46Are you all alone?
00:21:47Yes, I am.
00:21:48Would you mind if I shared your table?
00:21:50It's very full, but it doesn't seem to be anywhere else.
00:21:52No, of course not.
00:21:56I'm afraid we haven't been introduced properly.
00:21:58My name's Alec Harvey.
00:21:59How do you do?
00:22:00Mine's Laura Jessen.
00:22:02Mrs. or Miss?
00:22:03Mrs.
00:22:04You're a doctor, aren't you?
00:22:05I remember you said so that day in the refreshment house.
00:22:07Yes.
00:22:08Not a very interesting one, just an ordinary GP.
00:22:10I practice this in Churley.
00:22:11Yes, sir.
00:22:12What did you plump for?
00:22:13Excuse me, sir.
00:22:14Um, the soup and fried sole.
00:22:17Yes, I'll have the same.
00:22:18Anything to drink?
00:22:19No, thank you.
00:22:20That is, would you like anything to drink?
00:22:22Uh, no, thank you, just plain water, please.
00:22:24Plain water, please.
00:22:34Oh, you just look at the chest.
00:22:43Oh, dear.
00:22:44It really is dreadful, isn't it?
00:22:46But we oughtn't to laugh.
00:22:47They might see.
00:22:48There should be a society for the prevention of cruelty
00:22:50to musical instruments.
00:22:51You don't play the piano, I hope.
00:22:53I was forced to as a child.
00:22:54You haven't kept it up?
00:22:55No.
00:22:56My husband isn't musical at all.
00:22:57Good for him.
00:22:58Well, for all you know,
00:22:59I might have a tremendous burning professional talent.
00:23:01Oh, dear, no.
00:23:02Why are you so sure?
00:23:04You're too sane and uncomplicated.
00:23:07I suppose it's a good thing to be uncomplicated,
00:23:09but it does sound a little dull.
00:23:10You can never be dull.
00:23:13Do you come here every Thursday?
00:23:15Yes, to spend a day at the hospital.
00:23:17Stephen Lynn, the chief physician here, graduated with me.
00:23:20I take over from him once a week.
00:23:22Gives him a chance to go up to London.
00:23:23Gives me a chance to study the hospital patients.
00:23:25I see.
00:23:26Do you?
00:23:27Do I what?
00:23:28Come here every Thursday.
00:23:30Oh, yes, I do the week's shopping, thank you.
00:23:33Change my library book, have lunch,
00:23:35and generally go to the pictures.
00:23:37Not a very exciting routine, but it makes a change.
00:23:41Are you going to pictures this afternoon?
00:23:43Yes.
00:23:45Extraordinary, so am I.
00:23:48I thought you had to spend all day at the hospital.
00:23:50Well, between ourselves,
00:23:51I killed two patients by accident this morning.
00:23:53The matron is very displeased with me.
00:23:55I simply can't go back.
00:23:57Can you be so silly?
00:23:59But seriously, I really did get through
00:24:00most of my work this morning.
00:24:01It wouldn't matter at all if I played truant.
00:24:03Would you mind very much if I came to pictures with you?
00:24:06Well...
00:24:07I could sit downstairs and you could sit upstairs.
00:24:09Upstairs is too expensive.
00:24:13The orchestra stopped as abruptly as it had started,
00:24:16and we began to laugh again.
00:24:18I had no premonitions,
00:24:19though I suppose I should have had.
00:24:21It all seemed so natural and so innocent.
00:24:24We finished lunch,
00:24:25and that idiot of a waitress had put the bill all on one.
00:24:28I really must insist.
00:24:29I couldn't possibly.
00:24:30Having forced my company on you,
00:24:31it's only fair that I should pay through the nose for it.
00:24:33Oh, please don't insist.
00:24:34I should so much rather we halved it.
00:24:35I would really please.
00:24:37I shall give in gracefully.
00:24:38We halved it meticulously.
00:24:41We even halved the tip.
00:24:53Thank you.
00:24:56We have two choices.
00:24:57The loves of Cardinal Richly at the palace,
00:24:59or love in the midst of the Palladium.
00:25:01You're very knowledgeable.
00:25:02And there must be no argument about buying the tickets.
00:25:04We each pay for ourselves.
00:25:05You must think me a very poor doctor
00:25:06if I can't afford a couple of one-and-nineties.
00:25:08I insist.
00:25:09I had hoped you were going to treat me.
00:25:10Which is it to be, palace or Palladium?
00:25:12Palladium.
00:25:13I was once very sick on a channel steamer
00:25:14called Cardinal Richly.
00:25:36Excuse me.
00:25:37I feel awfully grand perched up here.
00:26:02I was very extravagant of you.
00:26:03It was a famous victory.
00:26:04Do you feel guilty at all?
00:26:05I don't feel guilty at all, I do.
00:26:07You ought to more than me, really. You neglected your work this afternoon.
00:26:10I worked this morning. A little relaxation never did harm to anyone.
00:26:13Why should either of us feel guilty?
00:26:15I don't know.
00:26:17How awfully nice you are.
00:26:32It can't be.
00:26:35It is.
00:26:40We walked back to the station together.
00:26:43Just as we reached the gates, he put his hand under my arm.
00:26:46I didn't notice it then, but I remember it now.
00:26:50What's she like, your wife?
00:26:52Madeleine? Small, dark, rather delicate.
00:26:56How funny. I should have thought she would have been fair.
00:26:58And your husband, what's he like?
00:27:00Medium height, brown hair, kindly, unemotional, and not delicate at all.
00:27:05You said that proudly.
00:27:06Did I?
00:27:07Evening.
00:27:09We've just got time for a cup of tea before our trains go.
00:27:12And for the third time in one week, he brought that common man and his wife to the house
00:27:16without so much as a bye or leave.
00:27:18Two teas, please.
00:27:19Cake or pastry?
00:27:21Cake or pastry?
00:27:22No, thank you.
00:27:23Are those bath buns for us?
00:27:24Certainly. They are made this morning.
00:27:26Two, please.
00:27:29That'll be sevenpence.
00:27:32Take the tea to the table, Beryl.
00:27:34I'll carry the buns.
00:27:40You must eat one of these, fresh this morning.
00:27:42Very fattening.
00:27:43I don't hold to such foolishness.
00:27:45They do look good, I must say.
00:27:46One of my earliest passions in life. I've never outgrown it.
00:27:49What happened then, Mrs. Packard?
00:27:51Well, well, it's all very fine, I said, expecting me to do this, that, and the other,
00:27:56but what do I get out of it?
00:27:57You can't expect me to be a cook, housekeeper, and chai rolled into one during the day
00:28:01and a loving wife in the evening just because you feel like it.
00:28:04Oh, dear me, no.
00:28:05There are just as good fish in the sea, I said, as ever came out of it.
00:28:09And I packed my boxes then and there and left him.
00:28:11Didn't you never go back?
00:28:13Never.
00:28:14I went to my sister's place at Folkestone for a bit.
00:28:17Then I went in with a friend of mine and we opened a tea shop in Hathe.
00:28:20What happened to him?
00:28:22Dead as a doornail inside three years.
00:28:24Well, I never.
00:28:27Is tea bad for one? Worse than coffee, I mean.
00:28:30If this is a professional interview, my fees are guinea.
00:28:33Why did you become a doctor?
00:28:35Oh, that's a long story.
00:28:37Perhaps because I'm a bit of an idealist.
00:28:39I think all doctors ought to have ideals, really.
00:28:41Otherwise their work would be unbearable.
00:28:43Surely you're not encouraging me to talk shop.
00:28:45Why shouldn't you talk shop? It's what interests you most, isn't it?
00:28:47Yes, it is.
00:28:48I'm terribly ambitious, really.
00:28:50Not ambitious for myself so much as for my special pigeon.
00:28:53What is your special pigeon?
00:28:55Preventive medicine.
00:28:57I see.
00:28:58I'm afraid you don't.
00:29:00I was trying to be intelligent.
00:29:02Most good doctors, especially when they're young, have private dreams.
00:29:05That's the best part of them.
00:29:07Sometimes, though, those get over-professionalised and strangulated.
00:29:09Am I boring you?
00:29:11No. I don't quite understand that you're not boring me.
00:29:13What I mean is this.
00:29:15All good doctors must primarily be enthusiasts.
00:29:18They must, like writers and painters and priests,
00:29:21they must have a sense of vocation.
00:29:23A deep-rooted, unsentimental desire to do good.
00:29:26Yes, I see that.
00:29:27Well, obviously, one way of preventing disease is worth 50 ways of curing it.
00:29:30That's where my ideal comes in.
00:29:32Preventive medicine isn't anything to do with medicine at all, really.
00:29:34It's concerned with conditions.
00:29:36Living conditions and hygiene and common sense.
00:29:39For instance, my speciality is pneumoconiosis.
00:29:41Oh, dear.
00:29:43Don't be alarmed. It's simpler than it sounds.
00:29:46It's nothing but a slow process of fibrosis of the lung
00:29:49due to the inhalation of particles of dust.
00:29:51In the hospital here, there are splendid opportunities for observing cures
00:29:54and making notes because of the coal mines.
00:29:56You suddenly look much younger.
00:29:58Do I?
00:30:00Almost like a little boy.
00:30:02What made you say that?
00:30:05I don't know.
00:30:07Yes, I do.
00:30:09Tell me.
00:30:11No, I couldn't really.
00:30:13You were saying about the coal mines.
00:30:16Oh, yes. The inhalation of coal dust.
00:30:20That's one specific form of the diseases.
00:30:22It's called anthracosis.
00:30:25What are the others?
00:30:27Chalicosis.
00:30:29That comes from metal dust.
00:30:31Steelworks, you know.
00:30:34Yes, of course, steelworks.
00:30:37And silicosis.
00:30:39That's stone dust.
00:30:42Coal mines.
00:30:44I see.
00:30:47There's your train.
00:30:49Yes.
00:30:50You mustn't miss it.
00:30:51No.
00:30:52What's the matter?
00:30:54Nothing. Nothing at all, really.
00:30:57It's been so very nice. I've enjoyed my afternoon enormously.
00:31:00I'm so glad. So have I.
00:31:01I apologize for boring you with long medical words.
00:31:03I feel dull and stupid not to be able to understand more.
00:31:07Shall I see you again?
00:31:09It's the other platform, isn't it? You have to run.
00:31:11Don't bother about me. Mine's not due for a few minutes.
00:31:13Shall I see you again?
00:31:15Yes, of course.
00:31:16Perhaps we'll come out to Ketchworth one Sunday.
00:31:18It's rather far, I know, but we should be delighted.
00:31:20Please. Please.
00:31:21What is it?
00:31:22Next Thursday, the same time.
00:31:24No, I couldn't possibly.
00:31:26Please.
00:31:27I ask you most humbly.
00:31:30You'll miss your train.
00:31:32All right.
00:31:34Run.
00:31:35Goodbye.
00:31:36I'll be there.
00:31:37Thank you, my dear.
00:31:45Goodbye.
00:32:07I stood there and watched his train draw out of the station.
00:32:12I stared after it until its taillight had vanished into the darkness.
00:32:20I imagined him getting out at Churley,
00:32:23giving up his ticket,
00:32:25walking back through the streets,
00:32:28letting himself into his house with his latchkey.
00:32:32His wife, Madeleine,
00:32:36would probably be in the hall to meet him.
00:32:40Or perhaps upstairs in her room, not feeling very well.
00:32:44Small, dark, and rather delicate.
00:32:48I wondered if he'd say,
00:32:50I met such a nice woman at the Cardoma.
00:32:53We had lunch and went to the pictures.
00:32:58And then suddenly I knew that he wouldn't.
00:33:00I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that he wouldn't say a word.
00:33:03And at that moment, the first awful feeling of danger swept over me.
00:33:10I got into the first compartment I saw.
00:33:12I wanted to get home as quickly as possible.
00:33:15I looked hurriedly round the carriage to see if anyone was looking at me,
00:33:19as if they could read my secret thoughts.
00:33:22No one was, except a clergyman in the opposite corner.
00:33:26I felt myself blushing
00:33:28and opened my library book and pretended to read.
00:33:33By the time I'd got to Cambridge,
00:33:36by the time I'd got to Ketchworth,
00:33:38I'd made up my mind definitely that I wasn't going to see Alec anymore.
00:33:41Good evening, Mrs. Jessen.
00:33:43The silly and undignified flirting like that was a complete stranger.
00:33:46Oh, good evening.
00:33:48I walked up to the house quite briskly and cheerfully.
00:33:51I'd been behaving like an idiot, admittedly,
00:33:53but after all, no harm had been done.
00:33:56You met me in the hall.
00:33:58Your face was strained and worried, and my heart sank.
00:34:01Fred, what's the matter?
00:34:04It's all right, old girl, but you must keep calm and not be upset.
00:34:06What is it? What's wrong?
00:34:07It's Bobby. He was knocked down by a car on the way home from school.
00:34:10Now, it's not serious.
00:34:11He was just grazed by the mudguard, but it knocked him against the curb
00:34:14and he's got slight concussion. The doctor's upstairs with him now.
00:34:23It's all right, Mrs. Jessen. Nothing to worry about.
00:34:26He'll be as right as rain in a few hours.
00:34:30You're sure? You're sure it's not serious?
00:34:32Quite sure, but it was certainly a very lucky escape.
00:34:36I've given him a little sedative,
00:34:38and I shall advise keeping him at home for a couple of days.
00:34:41It must have been a bit of a shock.
00:34:43I felt so dreadful, Fred, looking at him lying there with that bandage around his head.
00:34:47I tried not to show it, but I was quite hysterical inside,
00:34:50as though the whole thing were my fault,
00:34:52a sort of punishment, an awful, sinister warning.
00:34:58An hour or two later, of course, everything became quite normal again.
00:35:01He began to enjoy the whole thing thoroughly
00:35:03and revelled in the fact that he was the centre of attraction.
00:35:06Oh, God.
00:35:08Do you remember how he spent the whole evening planning his future?
00:35:12But he's much too young to decide, really.
00:35:15Good life. The boy has a feeling for it.
00:35:17Well, how can we possibly really know if he has a feeling for it?
00:35:20He'll probably want to be an engine driver next week.
00:35:22No, it was last week he wanted to be an engine driver.
00:35:25Seems so final, somehow, entering a child of that age for the Navy.
00:35:28A healthy life.
00:35:29Well, I know it's a good life, and I know it's a healthy life.
00:35:32And I know he'll be able to see the world and have a wife in every port
00:35:35and keep on calling everybody sir, but what about us?
00:35:38What do you mean, what about us?
00:35:40We shall hardly ever see him.
00:35:41Oh, nonsense.
00:35:42It isn't nonsense.
00:35:44He'll be sent away to sea as a smooth-faced boy,
00:35:46and the next thing we know he'll come walking in with a long beard and a parrot.
00:35:50I think you take rather a Victorian view of the Navy, my dear.
00:35:54He's our only son, and I should like to be there while he's growing up.
00:35:58All right, old girl.
00:35:59Then we'll put him into an office and you can see him off on the 850 every morning.
00:36:03You really are very annoying. You know perfectly well I should hate them.
00:36:06All right, have it your own way.
00:36:12Fred.
00:36:13Hmm?
00:36:16I had lunch with a strange man today, and he took me to the movies.
00:36:19Good for you.
00:36:21He's awfully nice. He's a doctor.
00:36:24A very noble profession.
00:36:28Oh, dear.
00:36:30It was Richard III who said,
00:36:32My kingdom for a horse, wasn't it?
00:36:34Yes, darling.
00:36:35Yes, well, I wish to goodness he hadn't, because it spoils everything.
00:36:39I thought perhaps we might ask him to dinner one night.
00:36:42By all means.
00:36:45Who?
00:36:47Dr. Harvey, the one I was telling you about.
00:36:50Must it be dinner?
00:36:51Well, you're never at home for lunch.
00:36:53Exactly.
00:36:55Oh, Fred.
00:36:59Now, what on earth's the matter?
00:37:02It's nothing. It's only...
00:37:04Oh, Fred.
00:37:06I really don't see what's so frightfully funny.
00:37:08Oh, I do.
00:37:09It's all right, darling. I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at me.
00:37:13I'm the one that's funny. I'm an absolute idiot.
00:37:15Worrying myself about things that don't exist
00:37:18and making mountains out of molehills.
00:37:21I told you when you came in that it was nothing serious.
00:37:24There was nothing to get into such a state about.
00:37:26I do see that now. I really do.
00:37:37When Thursday came, I went to meet Alec
00:37:40more as a matter of politeness than for any other reason.
00:37:43It didn't seem of any importance, but after all, I had promised.
00:37:48I managed to get the same table.
00:37:50I waited a bit, but he didn't come.
00:37:54The lady's orchestra was playing away as usual.
00:37:57I looked at the cellist. She'd seemed to be so funny last week.
00:38:01Today she didn't seem funny any more.
00:38:03She looked pathetic, poor thing.
00:38:07After lunch, I happened to pass by the hospital.
00:38:11I remember looking up at the windows and wondering if he were there
00:38:15or whether something awful had happened to prevent him turning up.
00:38:18I got to the station earlier than usual.
00:38:20I hadn't enjoyed the pictures much.
00:38:22It was one of those noisy musical things, and I'm so sick of them.
00:38:25I'd come out before it was over.
00:38:27As I took my tea to the table, I suddenly wondered if I'd made a mistake
00:38:32and he'd meant me to meet him there.
00:38:49Oh, for God's sake, how dare you?
00:38:51I couldn't resist it.
00:38:52I'll trouble you to keep your hands to yourself.
00:38:54Oh, you're blushing. Oh, you look wonderful when you're angry.
00:38:57Just like an avenging angel.
00:38:58I'll give you an avenging angel, coming in here taking liberties.
00:39:01I thought after what you said last Monday you wouldn't object to a friendly little slap.
00:39:05Have you mind about last Monday? I'm on duty now.
00:39:08Nice thing if Mr Saunders had happened to be looking through the window.
00:39:11Well, if Mr Saunders is in the habit of looking through windows,
00:39:13it's about time he saw something worth looking at.
00:39:15You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
00:39:16Oh, it's high spirits. Don't be mad at me.
00:39:19High spirits, indeed. Take your tea and be quiet.
00:39:22It's all your fault, really.
00:39:23You don't know to what you're referring.
00:39:25I was thinking of, um, tonight.
00:39:28If you don't learn to behave yourself, there won't be a tonight, or any other night either.
00:39:32Give us a kiss.
00:39:33Oh, do no such thing. The lady might see us.
00:39:35Come on, a quick one across the bar.
00:39:36Albert, stop it.
00:39:37Come on, there's a lot.
00:39:38Let go of me this minute.
00:39:39There's a lot.
00:39:40Albert! Now look at me banberries all over the floor.
00:39:44Just in time, all ball in the vestry.
00:39:47You shut your mouth and help Mr Cogby pick up them cakes.
00:39:51Come along now.
00:39:52What are you standing there gaping at?
00:40:13As I left the refreshment room, I saw a train coming in.
00:40:16His train.
00:40:18He wasn't on the platform.
00:40:20And I suddenly felt panic stricken at the thought of not seeing him again.
00:40:31I'm so sorry.
00:40:32I had no way of letting you know.
00:40:34You'll miss it.
00:40:35The house surgeon had to operate.
00:40:44I thought they might shout your name out in the back.
00:40:54Quickly, quickly, the whistle's gone.
00:41:00I'm so glad I had a chance to explain.
00:41:02I didn't think I'd see you again.
00:41:03I'm so sorry. Quickly, quickly.
00:41:07Next Thursday?
00:41:08Yes, next Thursday.
00:41:09Goodbye.
00:41:10Goodbye.
00:41:11Thursday.
00:41:12Bye.
00:41:14The train for Ketchworth is about to leave from platform three.
00:41:30The stars can change in their courses.
00:41:32The universe can go up in flames and the world crash around us,
00:41:35but there'll always be Donald Duck.
00:41:36I do love him, sir.
00:41:37His dreadful energy and his blind, frustrated rage.
00:41:41It's a big picture now.
00:41:42Here we go.
00:41:43No more laughter.
00:41:44Prepare for tears.
00:41:50It was a terribly bad picture.
00:41:52We crept out before the end, rather furtively,
00:41:55as though we were committing a crime.
00:41:58The usherette at the door looked at us with stony contempt.
00:42:02It was a lovely afternoon, and it was a relief to be in the fresh air.
00:42:06We decided we'd go to the botanical gardens.
00:42:08Do you know, I believe we should all behave quite differently
00:42:11if we lived in a warm, sunny climate all the time.
00:42:14We shouldn't be so withdrawn and shy and difficult.
00:42:18Oh, Fred, it really was a lovely afternoon.
00:42:20There were some little boys sailing their boats.
00:42:22One of them looked awfully like Bobby.
00:42:24That should have given me a pang of conscience, I know, but it didn't.
00:42:27I was enjoying myself, enjoying every single minute.
00:42:31Alex suddenly said that he was sick of staring at the water
00:42:34and that he wanted to be on it.
00:42:37All the boats were covered up,
00:42:39but we managed to persuade the old man to let us have one.
00:42:42He thought we were a raving mad.
00:42:45Perhaps he was right.
00:42:47Alec Rode offered a great rate, and I trailed my hand in the water.
00:42:51It was very cold, but a lovely feeling.
00:42:59You don't row very well, do you?
00:43:02I'm going to be perfectly honest with you. I don't row at all.
00:43:05And unless you want to go round and round in ever-narrowing circles,
00:43:08you'd better start steering.
00:43:12Oh, we had such fun, Fred.
00:43:14I felt gay and happy and sort of released.
00:43:17That's what's so shameful about it all.
00:43:20That's what would hurt you so much if you knew
00:43:23that I could feel as intensely as that, away from you,
00:43:27with a stranger.
00:43:31Oh, look out! We can't get through.
00:43:33Pull on your left.
00:43:40Oh, dear, I never could tell left from right.
00:43:43I'm most awfully sorry.
00:44:04You know, the British have always been nice to mad people.
00:44:07That boatman thinks we're quite dotted.
00:44:09Look how sweet he's been.
00:44:11Tea, milk, even sugar.
00:44:20Thank you.
00:44:34You know what's happened, don't you?
00:44:39Yes.
00:44:41Yes, I do.
00:44:44I've fallen in love with you.
00:44:48Yes, I know.
00:44:54Tell me honestly. Please tell me honestly if what I believe is true.
00:44:58What do you believe?
00:44:59That it's the same with you.
00:45:01That you've fallen in love, too.
00:45:05It sounds so silly.
00:45:06Why?
00:45:07I know you so little.
00:45:09It is true, though, isn't it?
00:45:13Yes, it's true.
00:45:14Laura.
00:45:15No, please.
00:45:16We must be sensible. Please help me to be sensible.
00:45:18We mustn't behave like this.
00:45:20We must forget that we've said what we've said.
00:45:22Not yet.
00:45:23Not yet.
00:45:25We must forget that we've said what we've said.
00:45:27Not yet. Not quite yet.
00:45:28But we must, don't you see?
00:45:32Listen.
00:45:34It's too late now to be as sensible as all that.
00:45:37It's too late to forget what we've said.
00:45:39And anyway, whether we'd said it or not couldn't have mattered.
00:45:42We know.
00:45:43We've both of us known for a long time.
00:45:46How can you say that?
00:45:48I've only known you for four weeks.
00:45:50We only talked for the first time last Thursday week.
00:45:53Last Thursday week.
00:45:55Has it been a long time for you since then?
00:45:58Answer me truly.
00:46:00Yes.
00:46:02How often did you decide that you were never going to see me again?
00:46:05Several times a day.
00:46:07No, I think...
00:46:08I love you.
00:46:10I love your wide eyes.
00:46:12The way you smile.
00:46:14And your shyness.
00:46:17And the way you laugh at my jokes.
00:46:19Please don't.
00:46:20I love you. I love you.
00:46:22You love me too.
00:46:23It's no use pretending it hasn't happened.
00:46:25Because it has.
00:46:26Yes, it has.
00:46:28I don't want to pretend anything either to you or to anyone else.
00:46:31But from now on, I shall have to.
00:46:33That's what's wrong, don't you see?
00:46:35That's what spoils everything.
00:46:37That's why we must stop here and now talking like this.
00:46:40When neither of us is free to love each other, there's too much in the way.
00:46:44There's still time.
00:46:47If we control ourselves,
00:46:49if we behave like sensible human beings,
00:46:52there's still time.
00:46:57There's no time at all.
00:47:02There's your train.
00:47:03Yes.
00:47:05I'll come over to the platform with you.
00:47:20Oh, no, Alec. Not here. Someone will see.
00:47:23I love you, Sam.
00:47:36Do you think we might have that doubt of it, darling?
00:47:39I don't know.
00:47:41I don't know.
00:47:43I don't know.
00:47:45I don't know.
00:47:47I don't know, darling.
00:47:49Hi, Laura.
00:47:52Yes, dear?
00:47:54You were miles away.
00:47:57Was I? Yes, I suppose I was.
00:47:59Do you mind if we turn that down a little?
00:48:01It really is deafening.
00:48:02No, of course not.
00:48:12It shan't be long after this, darling, then we'll go up to bed.
00:48:15You look a bit tired, you know.
00:48:17Don't hurry. I'm perfectly happy.
00:48:28How can I possibly say that?
00:48:31Don't hurry. I'm perfectly happy.
00:48:34If only it were true.
00:48:37Not, I suppose, that anybody's ever perfectly happy, really,
00:48:40but just to be ordinarily contented,
00:48:43to be at peace.
00:48:46It's such a little while ago, really,
00:48:48but it seems an eternity since that train went out of the station,
00:48:52taking him away into the darkness.
00:48:55I was happy then.
00:48:57As I went back through the subway to my own platform,
00:49:00I was walking on air.
00:49:02And when I got into the train,
00:49:04I didn't even pretend to read.
00:49:06I didn't care whether people were looking at me or not.
00:49:08I had to think.
00:49:10I should have been utterly wretched and ashamed.
00:49:12I know I should, but I wasn't.
00:49:14I felt suddenly quite wildly happy.
00:49:17Like a romantic schoolgirl.
00:49:19Like a romantic fool.
00:49:21You see, he'd said he loved me.
00:49:25And I'd said I loved him.
00:49:27And it was true. It was true.
00:49:31I imagined him holding me in his arms.
00:49:34I imagined being with him in all sorts of glamorous circumstances.
00:49:37It was one of those absurd fantasies,
00:49:39just like one has when one is a girl being wooed and married
00:49:41by the ideal of one's dreams.
00:49:48I stared out of that railway carriage window into the dark
00:49:52and watched the dim trees and the telegraph posts slipping by.
00:49:56And through them I saw Alec and me.
00:50:00Alec and me.
00:50:03Perhaps a little younger than we are now,
00:50:05but just as much in love
00:50:07with nothing in the way.
00:50:14I saw us in Paris, in a box at the opera.
00:50:17The orchestra was tuning up.
00:50:24Then we were in Venice,
00:50:26drifting along the Grand Canal in a gondola
00:50:28with the sound of mandolins coming to us over the water.
00:50:31I saw us travelling far away together,
00:50:34all the places I've always longed to go.
00:50:39I saw us leaning on the rail of a ship,
00:50:41looking at the sea and the stars,
00:50:45standing on a tropical beach in the moonlight
00:50:47with the palm trees sighing above us.
00:50:50Then the palm trees changed into those pollarded willows
00:50:53by the canal just before the level crossing.
00:50:56And all the silly dreams disappeared.
00:51:00Then I got out at Ketchworth and gave up my ticket
00:51:03and walked home as usual,
00:51:05quite soberly and without wings,
00:51:08without any wings at all.
00:51:10When I changed for dinner and was doing my face a bit,
00:51:13do you remember?
00:51:14I don't suppose you do, but I do.
00:51:16You see, you didn't know that that was the first time in our life together
00:51:19that I'd ever lied to you.
00:51:21It started then.
00:51:23The shame of the whole thing.
00:51:25The guiltiness.
00:51:27The fear.
00:51:29Good evening, Mrs. Jesson.
00:51:31Hello, dear.
00:51:33Had a good day, eh?
00:51:34Yes, lovely.
00:51:36What did you do?
00:51:38Well, I shopped and had lunch and went to the pictures.
00:51:41All by yourself?
00:51:42Yes.
00:51:43No, not exactly.
00:51:45What do you mean, not exactly?
00:51:48Well, I went to the pictures by myself,
00:51:50but I had lunch with Mary Norton.
00:51:52She couldn't come to the pictures with me
00:51:54because she had to go and see her in-laws.
00:51:56They lived just outside Milford, you know.
00:51:58So I walked with her to the bus and then came home on my own.
00:52:01Haven't seen Mary Norton for ages.
00:52:03How's she looking?
00:52:04Very well, really. A little fatter, I thought.
00:52:06Hurry up with all this beautifying.
00:52:08I want my dinner.
00:52:09You go on down. I won't be five minutes.
00:52:29Number, please.
00:52:30Head to a 3-7, please.
00:52:32Head to a 3-7.
00:52:41Hello?
00:52:42Hello, is Mrs. Norton there, please?
00:52:44Yes. Will you hold on?
00:52:45Yes, I'll hold on.
00:52:48Hello?
00:52:49Hello. Is that you, Mary?
00:52:51Oh, Laura!
00:52:52Fancy hearing from you. I thought you were dead.
00:52:55No, I haven't seen you for ages.
00:52:57Listen, my dear, will you be a saint
00:53:00and back me up in the most appalling domestic lie?
00:53:02As bad as all that.
00:53:04My life depends on it.
00:53:06Well, today I went into Milford as usual to do my shopping
00:53:09with the special intention of buying a far too expensive present
00:53:12for Fred's birthday.
00:53:13Uh-huh.
00:53:14Well, Bink and Robson's hadn't got what I wanted,
00:53:16which was one of those clocks with barometers and everything in one,
00:53:19but they rang up their branch at broad daylight
00:53:21and I thought I'd give it a try.
00:53:23Well, this is where the black lie comes in.
00:53:26Fred asked me if I'd had a good day, and I said yes,
00:53:30and that you and I had lunch together
00:53:32and that you'd gone to see your in-laws and I'd gone to the pictures.
00:53:35So if you run into him, don't let me down, will you?
00:53:37Oh, darling, of course not.
00:53:39I'll do as much for you, I promise.
00:53:41Well, let's really lunch one day.
00:53:43Yes, that'd be lovely.
00:53:44What about next Thursday?
00:53:46Oh, I'm afraid I can't.
00:53:48I'm afraid I can't.
00:53:50Yes, that'd be lovely.
00:53:51What about next Thursday?
00:53:53No, I can't on Thursday. That's my Milford day.
00:53:56What about Friday?
00:53:57Fine. Better make it here.
00:53:59All right, perfect.
00:54:01You know what my cook's like.
00:54:03It'll have to be early.
00:54:04Yes. All right.
00:54:06Goodbye.
00:54:07Goodbye.
00:54:21That week was misery.
00:54:25I went through it in a sort of trance.
00:54:29How odd of you not to have noticed
00:54:31that you were living with a stranger in the house.
00:54:36Thursday came at last.
00:54:38I'd arranged to meet Alec outside the hospital at 12.30.
00:54:51Hello.
00:54:52Hello.
00:54:53I thought you wouldn't come.
00:54:55I'd been thinking all the week that you wouldn't come.
00:54:57I didn't mean to, really, but here I am.
00:55:06Do you know I hadn't been inside the Royal
00:55:08since Violet's wedding reception?
00:55:10It all seemed very grand.
00:55:12He actually ordered a bottle of champagne,
00:55:14and when I protested, he said that we were only middle-aged once.
00:55:17We were very gay during lunch and talked about quite ordinary things.
00:55:20Oh, Freddie really was charming.
00:55:22I know you'd have liked him if only things had been different.
00:55:25As we were going out, he said that he had a surprise for me
00:55:28and that if I would wait in the lounge for five minutes,
00:55:30he'd show me what it was.
00:55:32He went out and down the steps at a run,
00:55:34more like an excited schoolboy than a respectable doctor.
00:55:37Suddenly, out of the dining room came Mary Norton
00:55:40and that rich, over-made-up cousin of hers.
00:55:43They must have been in the dining room all the time
00:55:45with me and the champagne and everything.
00:55:47Laura! So it was you, after all.
00:55:50Come on, you said it was. How are you?
00:55:52Do you know how short-sighted I am?
00:55:54I peered and peered and still couldn't be sure.
00:55:56I never saw you at all. How awful of me.
00:55:58I expected it was the champagne. I'm not used to champagne for lunch.
00:56:01Or for dinner, either, for that matter, but Alec insisted.
00:56:04Alec? Alec who, dear?
00:56:06Alec Harvey, of course. Surely you remember the Harveys.
00:56:08I've known them for years. No, I don't think I...
00:56:11He'll be back in a minute. You'll probably recognize him
00:56:13when you peer very closely.
00:56:15He looks very charming and very attentive.
00:56:17Oh, he's a dear. One of the nicest people in the world
00:56:19and a wonderful doctor.
00:56:23Oh, Alec, you remember Mrs. Norton, don't you?
00:56:26I'm afraid I don't. It's no use, Laura.
00:56:29We've never seen each other before in our lives.
00:56:31I'm quite sure we haven't. How absurd.
00:56:33I made certain he and Madeline were there when you dined with us
00:56:35just before Christmas last year.
00:56:37Alec, this is Mrs. Rowlands. How do you do?
00:56:39How do you do? Horrid weather, isn't it? Yes.
00:56:41Of course, one can't really expect spring at this time of the year, can one?
00:56:47Well, we must be going.
00:56:49I'm taking Hermione with me to see the in-laws as moral support.
00:56:52Goodbye, Dr. Harvey. Goodbye.
00:56:54Goodbye, my dear. I do so envy you, your champagne.
00:56:58Goodbye. Goodbye.
00:57:05It was awful. Never mind.
00:57:07They'd been watching us all through lunch. Oh, dear.
00:57:10Forget it. Come out and look at the surprise.
00:57:14There at the foot of the steps was a little two-seater car.
00:57:17Alec had borrowed it from Stephen Lynn for the afternoon.
00:57:20I tried so hard to look pleased, but it wasn't any good.
00:57:24I kept thinking of those two, laughing and talking,
00:57:28laughing and talking about us, and I couldn't get them out of my mind.
00:57:32When we were out in the real country,
00:57:34I think it was a few miles beyond Brayfield,
00:57:37we stopped the car just outside a village and got out.
00:57:40There was a little bridge and a stream,
00:57:42and the sun was making an effort to come out but really not succeeding very well.
00:57:46We leaned on the parapet of the bridge and looked down into the water.
00:57:50I shivered, and Alec put his arm round me.
00:57:53Cold? No, not really.
00:57:55Happy?
00:58:00No, not really.
00:58:03I know exactly what you're going to say,
00:58:06that it isn't worth it,
00:58:09that the furtiveness and lying
00:58:11outweigh the happiness we might have together.
00:58:14Isn't that it?
00:58:16Something like that.
00:58:21I want to ask you something, just to reassure myself.
00:58:25What is it?
00:58:28It is true for you, isn't it?
00:58:30This overwhelming feeling we have for each other,
00:58:32it's as true for you as it is for me, isn't it?
00:58:36Yes, it's true.
00:58:44We must have stayed on that bridge for a long time,
00:58:48because when we got back to Steve and Lynne's garage, it was getting dark.
00:58:53I remember feeling as if I was on the edge of a precipice.
00:58:56I think Alec felt that too.
00:58:58You see, we both knew how desperately we loved each other.
00:59:03Alec said that he had to leave the keys of the car in Steve and Lynne's flat,
00:59:07and suggested that I came up with him.
00:59:09I refused rather too vehemently.
00:59:11Alec reminded me that Steve wasn't coming back till late,
00:59:14but I still refused.
00:59:25I'm going back. I'm going to miss my train.
00:59:28Back where?
00:59:30Back where?
00:59:31To Steve and Lynne's flat.
00:59:33Oh, Alec.
00:59:49Alec, I must go home now. I really must go home.
01:00:00I'm sorry.
01:00:15A cup of tea, please.
01:00:26Good afternoon.
01:00:27Afternoon, lady.
01:00:28Afternoon.
01:00:29Very sorry, it's out of hours.
01:00:31Well, just sneak them to us under the cupboard of them poor old sandwiches.
01:00:34Them sandwiches were fresh this morning, and I shall do no such thing.
01:00:37Come on, be a sport.
01:00:38You can have as much as you want to after six o'clock.
01:00:41My throat's like a parrot's cage. Listen.
01:00:45I'm sorry, my license does not permit me to serve alcohol out of hours.
01:00:48That's final.
01:00:49You wouldn't want to get me into trouble, would you?
01:00:51Just give us the chance, lady. That's all we ask.
01:00:53Just give us the chance.
01:00:56Devil!
01:01:00Ask Mr. Godby to come here for a moment, will you?
01:01:02Yes, Mr. Beckett.
01:01:03How does he when he's at home?
01:01:05You'll soon see. Coming in here, cheeking me.
01:01:07Jive of it, mother. Be a pal.
01:01:09I'll give you mother, you saucy upstart.
01:01:11Oh, you're you. You call in an upstart.
01:01:13You, and I'll trouble you to get out of here double quick.
01:01:15Disturbing the customers and making a nuisance of yourselves.
01:01:18Here, where's the fire? Where's the fire?
01:01:20What's going on in here?
01:01:21Mr. Godby, these gentlemen are annoying me.
01:01:23What? We haven't done nothing, have we, Johnny?
01:01:25All we did was ask a couple of drinks, that's all.
01:01:27They insulted me, Mr. Godby.
01:01:29We never did anything of the kind.
01:01:31Just having a little joke, that's all.
01:01:33Op it, both of you.
01:01:34We've got a right to stay here as long as we like.
01:01:36You heard what I said. Op it.
01:01:37Now, look here. What is this, a free country or a blooming Sunday school?
01:01:40I checked your warrants at the gate.
01:01:41Your train's due in one minute, number two platform.
01:01:43Op it.
01:01:44Now, look here.
01:01:45Ah, come on, Johnny, come on.
01:01:46Don't argue with the poor basket.
01:01:48Op it.
01:01:54Cheerio, mother.
01:01:57And if them sandwiches are made this morning, you're sure to tipple.
01:02:03Thank you, Albert.
01:02:04What a nerve, talking to you like that, Mrs. Bagot.
01:02:07Be quiet, Beryl.
01:02:08Pour me out a nip of three star. I'm feeling quite upset.
01:02:11Let's get back to the gate.
01:02:12I'll be seeing you later, Albert.
01:02:15Okay.
01:02:17The train now arriving at platform three is the 543 from Ketchworth.
01:02:27I really must go home.
01:02:28I'm going back to the flat.
01:02:30I must go home.
01:02:32I really must go home.
01:02:33I'm going back to the flat.
01:02:38I'm going home.
01:02:40I'm going home.
01:02:42I'm going home.
01:02:44I'm going home.
01:03:09Excuse me, I've forgotten something.
01:03:14Excuse me.
01:03:44Excuse me, I've forgotten something.
01:04:15Darling.
01:04:24It's raining.
01:04:26It started just as I turned out of the high street.
01:04:29You had no umbrella and your coat's wet.
01:04:31You mustn't catch cold. That would never do.
01:04:38I've an absolute fright.
01:04:40Let me put that down for you.
01:04:42Thank you.
01:04:45I hope the fire will perk up in a few minutes.
01:04:49I expect the wood was damp.
01:04:51Yes, I expect it was.
01:04:55Do sit down, darling.
01:05:03I got right into the train then got out again.
01:05:05Wasn't it idiotic?
01:05:07We're both very, very foolish.
01:05:15Eric, I can't stay, you know, really, I can't.
01:05:17Just a little while.
01:05:19Just a little while.
01:05:23Quickly, quickly, I must go.
01:05:25Here, through the kitchen.
01:05:26There's a tray in the staircase.
01:05:38Is that you, Eric?
01:05:40Yes.
01:05:45You're back early.
01:05:47Yes, I found a cold coming on,
01:05:48so I denied myself the always questionable pleasure
01:05:50of dining with that arch-arguer, Roger Hinchley.
01:05:52Decided to come back to bed.
01:05:54Inflamed membranes are unsympathetic to dialectic.
01:05:57What'll you do about food?
01:05:59I can always ring down to the restaurant if I want any later on.
01:06:02We live in a modern age and this is a service fare.
01:06:05Yes, yes, of course.
01:06:06It caters for all tastes.
01:06:15You know, my dear Alec,
01:06:16you have hidden depths which I never even suspected.
01:06:18Look here, Stephen, I really...
01:06:19For heaven's sake, Alec, no explanations or apologies.
01:06:22I'm the one who should apologize for returning so inopportunely.
01:06:25It's quite obvious to me
01:06:27that you were interviewing a patient privately.
01:06:29Women are frequently rather neurotic creatures
01:06:31and the hospital atmosphere is upsetting to them.
01:06:34By the rather undignified scuffling
01:06:36which I heard when I came into the hall,
01:06:38I gather that she beat a hasty retreat down the back stairs.
01:06:41I'm surprised at this farcical streak in your nature, Alec.
01:06:44Such carryings on are quite unnecessary.
01:06:46After all, we've been friends for years
01:06:48and I am the most broad-minded of men.
01:06:51I'm really very sorry, Stephen.
01:06:53I'm sure that the whole situation
01:06:55must seem inexpressibly vulgar to you.
01:06:57Actually, it isn't in the least.
01:06:59However, you're perfectly right, explanations are unnecessary,
01:07:02particularly between old friends.
01:07:04I must go now.
01:07:05Very well.
01:07:06I'll collect my hat and coat. Goodbye.
01:07:07Perhaps you'll let me have my latchkey back.
01:07:09I only have two and I'm so afraid of losing them.
01:07:11You know how absent-minded I am.
01:07:15You're very angry, aren't you?
01:07:17No, Alec, not angry, just disappointed.
01:07:40I ran until I couldn't run any longer.
01:07:43I leaned against a lamppost to try and get my breath.
01:07:46I was in one of those side roads that lead out of the high street.
01:07:49I know it was stupid to run, but I couldn't help myself.
01:07:52I felt so utterly humiliated and defeated
01:07:55and so dreadfully, dreadfully ashamed.
01:08:00After a moment or two, I pulled myself together
01:08:03and walked on in the direction of the street.
01:08:07And walked on in the direction of the station.
01:08:10It was still raining, but not very much.
01:08:13I suddenly realized that I couldn't go home.
01:08:15Not until I got myself more under control
01:08:17and had a little time to think.
01:08:19Then I thought of you waiting at home and the dinner being spoiled.
01:08:22So I went into the high street and found a tobacconist
01:08:24and telephoned to you.
01:08:26Do you remember?
01:08:36No.
01:08:53Hello, Fred, is that you?
01:08:55Yes, dear, it's me, Laura.
01:08:58Yes, everything's perfectly all right, but I shall be home to dinner.
01:09:01I'm with Miss Lewis.
01:09:03Miss Lewis, dear, you know, the librarian.
01:09:05I told you about her boots.
01:09:07Yes, I can't explain in any detail because she's outside the box now.
01:09:11Well, I met her in the high street a little while ago
01:09:14in a terrible state.
01:09:16Her mother's been taken ill and I've promised to stay with her
01:09:18until the doctor comes.
01:09:20Yes, I know, but she's always been awfully kind to me
01:09:23and I feel so sorry for her.
01:09:25No, I'll get a sandwich.
01:09:27But ask Ethel to leave me some soup in a saucepan in the kitchen.
01:09:31Yes, of course, as soon as I can.
01:09:34All right, good-bye.
01:09:37It's awfully easy to lie when you know that you're trusted implicitly.
01:09:41So very easy and so very degrading.
01:09:45I started walking without much purpose.
01:09:47I turned out of the high street almost immediately.
01:09:50I was terrified that I might run into Alec.
01:09:53I was pretty certain that he'd come after me to the station.
01:09:56I walked for a long while.
01:09:58Finally, I found myself at the war memorial.
01:10:00You know, it's right at the other side of the town.
01:10:03It stopped raining altogether and I felt stiflingly hot.
01:10:07So I sat down on one of the seats.
01:10:10There was nobody about and I lit a cigarette.
01:10:12I know how you disapprove of women smoking in the street.
01:10:15I do too, really, but I wanted to calm my nerves
01:10:18and I thought it might help.
01:10:21I sat there for ages.
01:10:23I sat there for ages.
01:10:25I don't know how long.
01:10:28Then I noticed a policeman walking up and down a little way off.
01:10:32He was looking at me rather suspiciously.
01:10:35Presently, he came up to me.
01:10:38Feeling all right, miss?
01:10:40Yes, thank you.
01:10:42Waiting for someone?
01:10:44No. No, I'm not waiting for anybody.
01:10:46Don't go and catch cold now.
01:10:48It's a damp night to sitting about on seats.
01:10:50I'm going now. Anyhow, I've got to catch a train.
01:10:52Are you sure you feel quite all right?
01:10:54Quite, thank you.
01:10:56Good night.
01:10:58Good night, miss.
01:11:00I walked away, trying to look casual,
01:11:02knowing that he was watching me.
01:11:04I felt like a criminal.
01:11:07I walked rather quickly back in the direction of the High Street.
01:11:11I got to the station 15 minutes before the last train to Ketchworth
01:11:15and then I realised that I'd been wandering about for over three hours
01:11:18but it didn't seem to be any time at all.
01:11:21Stan, you are awful.
01:11:23See you in the yard.
01:11:25All right.
01:11:28A light glass of brandy, please.
01:11:30We're just closing.
01:11:32Yes, I see you are, but you're not quite closed yet, are you?
01:11:34Three star.
01:11:36That'll do.
01:11:41Oh, and have you got a piece of paper and an envelope?
01:11:44I'm afraid you'll have to get that at the bookstall.
01:11:46Well, the bookstall's closed.
01:11:48Please, it's very important. I should be so much obliged.
01:11:51All right, just a minute.
01:12:10Thank you very much.
01:12:12We close in a few minutes, you know.
01:12:14Yes, I know.
01:12:18Thank you.
01:12:48I've been looking for you everywhere.
01:12:50Please go away. Please don't send me.
01:12:51I've watched every train.
01:12:52Please go away.
01:12:53I can't leave you like this.
01:12:54You must. It'll be better. Really, it will.
01:12:56You're being dreadfully cruel.
01:12:58It was just an accident that he came back early.
01:13:00He doesn't know who you are. He never even saw you.
01:13:02I suppose he laughed, didn't he?
01:13:03I suppose you spoke of me together as men of the world.
01:13:05We didn't speak of you.
01:13:06We spoke of some nameless creature who has no reality at all.
01:13:08Why didn't you tell him who I was?
01:13:09Why didn't you say we were cheap and low and without courage?
01:13:11Stop it, Laura. Pull yourself together.
01:13:12But it's true, isn't it? It's true.
01:13:13It's nothing of the sort.
01:13:15We really love each other. That's true.
01:13:16That's all that really matters.
01:13:17It isn't all that really matters.
01:13:18Other things matter, too.
01:13:20Self-respect matters and decency.
01:13:22I can't go on any longer.
01:13:26Could you really say goodbye?
01:13:28Never see me again?
01:13:31Yes, if you'd help me.
01:13:34I love you, Laura.
01:13:36I shall love you always, until the end of my life.
01:13:41I can't look at you now because I know something.
01:13:44I know that this is the beginning of the end.
01:13:46Not the end of my loving you,
01:13:48but the end of our being together.
01:13:50But not quite yet, darling. Please, not quite yet.
01:13:53I love you, Laura.
01:13:55I shall love you always, until the end of my life.
01:13:58I can't look at you now because I know something.
01:14:01Please, not quite yet.
01:14:04Very well, not quite yet.
01:14:07I know what you feel about this evening.
01:14:09I mean about the sordidness of it.
01:14:12I know about the strain of our different lives,
01:14:14our lives apart from each other.
01:14:17The feeling of guilt, of doing wrong, is too strong, isn't it?
01:14:21Too great a price to pay for the happiness we have together.
01:14:26I know all this because it's the same for me, too.
01:14:32You can look at me now. I'm all right.
01:14:40Let's be very careful.
01:14:42Let's prepare ourselves.
01:14:45A sudden break now, however brave and admirable, would be too cruel.
01:14:49We can't do such violence to our hearts and minds.
01:14:53Very well.
01:14:57I'm going away.
01:15:01I see.
01:15:02But not quite yet.
01:15:03Please, not quite yet.
01:15:07That's for 10.10. It's after closing time.
01:15:09I know, is it?
01:15:10I shall have to lock up.
01:15:11All right.
01:15:24I want you to promise me something.
01:15:26What is it?
01:15:28Promise me that however unhappy you are,
01:15:30and however much you think things over,
01:15:32that you'll meet me again next Thursday.
01:15:34Where?
01:15:35Outside the hospital at 12.30.
01:15:38All right, I promise.
01:15:39I've got to talk to you. I've got to explain.
01:15:41About going away?
01:15:42Yes.
01:15:43Where will you go? Where can you go? You can't give up your practice.
01:15:47I've had a job offered me. I wasn't going to tell you.
01:15:50I wasn't going to take it.
01:15:52But I know now it's the only way out.
01:15:55Where?
01:15:56A long way away. Johannesburg.
01:16:00Oh, Eric.
01:16:02My brother's out there.
01:16:03They're opening a new hospital. They want me in it.
01:16:07It's a fine opportunity, really.
01:16:09I'll take Madeline and the boys.
01:16:11It's been torturing me, the necessity of making a decision one way or the other.
01:16:15I haven't told anybody, not even Madeline.
01:16:19I couldn't bear the thought of leaving you.
01:16:22But now I see it's got to happen soon anyway.
01:16:27It's almost happening already.
01:16:31Stanley!
01:16:37When will you go?
01:16:40Almost immediately.
01:16:42In about two weeks' time.
01:16:45Quite near, isn't it?
01:16:47Do you want me to stay? Do you want me to turn down the offer?
01:16:50Oh, don't be foolish, Eric.
01:16:52I'll do whatever you say.
01:16:55That's unkind of you, my darling.
01:16:57The train for Ketchworth is now arriving at platform three.
01:17:19You're not angry with me, are you?
01:17:21No, I'm not angry.
01:17:23I don't think I'm anything, really. I just feel tired.
01:17:26Forgive me.
01:17:28Forgive you for what?
01:17:30For everything.
01:17:31For meeting you in the first place.
01:17:34For taking a piece of grit out of your eye.
01:17:37For loving you.
01:17:38For bringing you so much misery.
01:17:43I'll forgive you if you'll forgive me.
01:17:54Thursday.
01:17:57All that was a week ago.
01:17:59It's hardly credible that it should be so short a time.
01:18:04Today was our last day together.
01:18:06Our very last together in all our lives.
01:18:10I met him outside the hospital as I'd promised at 12.30.
01:18:13At 12.30 this morning.
01:18:16That was only this morning.
01:18:19We drove into the country again, but this time he hired a car.
01:18:22I lit cigarettes for him every now and then as we went along.
01:18:25We didn't talk much.
01:18:27I felt numbed and hardly alive at all.
01:18:30We had lunch in a village pub.
01:18:34Afterwards we went to the same bridge over the stream.
01:18:38The bridge that we'd been to before.
01:18:42Those last few hours went by so quickly.
01:18:56As we walked through the station I remember thinking...
01:19:00This is the last time with Alec.
01:19:03I shall see all this again but without Alec.
01:19:07I tried not to think of it.
01:19:09Not to let it spoil our last moments together.
01:19:26THE END
01:19:39Are you all right, darling?
01:19:41Yes, I'm all right.
01:19:44I wish I could think of something to say.
01:19:47It doesn't matter. Not saying anything, I mean.
01:19:49I'll miss my train and wait to see you in Paris.
01:19:51No, please don't. I'll come over with you to your platform, I'd rather.
01:19:54Well...
01:19:58Do you think we shall ever see each other again?
01:20:02I don't know. Not for years, anyway.
01:20:06The children will all be grown up.
01:20:09I wonder if they'll ever meet and know each other.
01:20:11Couldn't I write to you just once in a while?
01:20:14No, Alec, please. You know we promised.
01:20:17Oh, my dear.
01:20:19I do love you so very much.
01:20:22I love you with all my heart and soul.
01:20:27I want to die.
01:20:30If only I could die.
01:20:32If you died, you'd forget me.
01:20:34I want to be remembered.
01:20:37Yes, I know I do, too.
01:20:43We've still got a few minutes.
01:20:45Laura! What a lovely surprise!
01:20:48My dear, I've been shopping till I am dropping.
01:20:50My feet are nearly falling off, my throat's parched.
01:20:52I thought of having tea at Spindle's, but I was terrified of losing the train.
01:20:55Oh, dear.
01:20:57Oh, this is Dr. Harvey.
01:20:58How do you do?
01:20:59Oh, how do you do? Would you be a perfect day and get me a cup of tea?
01:21:01I really don't think I could drag my poor old bones over to the counter.
01:21:04No, please.
01:21:05It was cruel of fate to be against us right up to the very last minute.
01:21:09Dolly Messitter.
01:21:10Poor, well-meaning, irritating Dolly Messitter.
01:21:14Crashing into those last few precious minutes we had together.
01:21:18She chattered and fussed, but I didn't hear what she said.
01:21:21I felt dazed and bewildered.
01:21:23Oh, dear, no sugar.
01:21:24It's in the spoon.
01:21:25Alec behaved so beautifully.
01:21:27With such perfect politeness.
01:21:29No one could have guessed what he was really feeling.
01:21:32And then...
01:21:36There's your train.
01:21:37Yes, I know.
01:21:38Oh, aren't you coming with us?
01:21:39No, I go in the opposite direction. My practice is in Churley.
01:21:42Oh, I see.
01:21:43I'm a general practitioner at the moment.
01:21:44Dr. Harvey's going out to Africa next week.
01:21:46Oh, how thrilling.
01:21:48The train now arriving at Platform Four is the 540
01:21:53for Churley, Lee Green and Langley.
01:21:56I must go.
01:21:57Yes, you must.
01:21:58Goodbye.
01:21:59Goodbye.
01:22:04I felt the touch of his hand on my shoulder for a moment.
01:22:08And then he walked away.
01:22:11Away, out of my life forever.
01:22:14He's got to get right up to the other platform.
01:22:17The idea of missing trains reminds me of that awful bridge at Broadham Junction.
01:22:20Dolly still went on talking, but I wasn't listening to her.
01:22:24I was listening for the sound of his train starting.
01:22:29Then it did.
01:22:33I said to myself, he didn't go.
01:22:35The last minute his courage failed him, he couldn't have gone.
01:22:39Any minute now he'll come back into the refreshment room
01:22:41pretending he's forgotten something.
01:22:43I prayed for him to do that.
01:22:45Just so that I could see him again for an instant.
01:22:51But the minutes went by.
01:22:55Is that the train?
01:22:56Oh, can you tell me, is that the Ketchworth train?
01:22:58No, it's the express.
01:22:59The boat train.
01:23:00Of course, that doesn't stop, does it?
01:23:03I want some chocolate, please.
01:23:04No complaint.
01:23:15I'm sorry.
01:23:36I meant to do it, Fred.
01:23:37I really meant to do it.
01:23:40I stood there trembling right on the edge.
01:23:43But I couldn't.
01:23:46I wasn't brave enough.
01:23:49I should like to be able to say that it was the thought of you
01:23:51and the children that prevented me, but it wasn't.
01:23:55I had no thoughts at all.
01:23:59Only an overwhelming desire not to feel anything ever again.
01:24:04Not to be unhappy anymore.
01:24:06I turned.
01:24:07I went.
01:24:10I went back into the refreshment room.
01:24:20That's when I nearly fainted.
01:24:37Laura.
01:25:01Laura.
01:25:05Yes, John.
01:25:07Whatever your dream was,
01:25:09it wasn't a very happy one, was it?
01:25:14No.
01:25:16Is there anything I can do to help?
01:25:21Yes, Fred, you always help.
01:25:24You've been a long way away.
01:25:30Thank you for coming back to me.
01:25:37I love you.