Original subtitles

Thank you, my boy.

Good job.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you,

sir.

A very important guest is arriving today from Boston. Mr. Samuel Bodden. The

Samuel Bodden?

The big retailer who... Who closed nearly half the North American

Yes, that Samuel bought it. And I want you in particular to take especially

care of him.

You can count on me, sir.

I've had a smoother ride in an ox cart.

May I help you, sir? Don't touch that. I'll carry it.

Yes, sir. What about the rest of your luggage? Take my bags to my room at

Sort of a primitive place have I come to.

Well, what are you standing around for? Help me in.

Yes, Mr. Bodden.

Hear you back, sir. Staple's out.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Keep your hands off that.

Yes, sir.

I'm Felix King. If there's anything I can do for you, anything at all, just

Pot of tea.

Strong. Yes, sir. I'll have it sent up right away. In the dining room.

Book me a table. Yes, sir. I'll see what I can do.

By the window.

Yes, sir.

I'm sorry, sir. We're all full up.

That's the summertime crowd.

I can teach in...

45 minutes.

45 minutes? Young man, that's absurd.

I'm sorry, ma 'am. We're fully booked.

Can you book room 12 with table for tea?

45 minutes.

45 minutes?

Surely there's something that can't be done. I'm a paying guest at this hotel.

I'm sorry, ma 'am. We're doing our very best. If you'd like to leave your room

number... Gus, I've got to have a table by the window now.

Felix, I couldn't fit a sardine in there. It's so packed.

Room 12 is Mr. Barton. He's rich.

He's got this release that he won't let anyone touch. I bet it's full of money.

Think of the debt.

Well, I can't boot people out of their tables.

What am I supposed to tell Mr. Barton?

Well, I'll do my best to have a table for you in half an hour.

By the window.

Don't push your luck.

30 minutes?

Preposterous. I can bring some tea up to your room if you like.

So this is the legendary White Sands Hospitality I've heard so much about,

which I'm paying a small fortune. Tea in an airless cubicle.

Actually, sir, it's more... I own and supervise more than 100 businesses, boy,

and not one of them is as poorly run as this.

Well, are there any other eating establishments in the area?

Well, sir, there's Peter's Tea Room up the coast, but, uh...

I wouldn't go there if I were you.

Around here we call it Poison Pete's.

Well, you can hardly send people to the competition now, can you?

Oh, just what I need.

A draft.

Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?

Yes.

You can get out.

You'll be careful. Yes, do be careful. There's delicate china in there.

It's come all the way from storage in Montreal without mishap. To be broken

would be tragic.

Oh, feels like a ton of bricks in here.

What was that, Alec? I said, where would you like it, dear? Well, somewhere

where I shan't be underfoot.

The kitchen, perhaps?

Oh, well, I'll be starting dinner, Aunt Eliza. Well, that's all right, dear. You

won't be in my way.

Oh, the kids.

Yeah, didn't do too bad myself.

Could have made double if I had not turned so many people away.

Yeah, the whole world wanted tea today. Mr. Tremaine should expand his dining

room. There ain't no room to expand.

Too bad for all those rich people.

All that money.

Oh, my gosh, it's fixed already?

I've got a million chores to do when I get home.

See ya.

See ya.

Does everything have to come out of this trunk?

Well, how do you expect me to sort it if I don't take everything out?

Oh, of course.

Oh, oh, oh, Cecily, don't let Daniel near that trunk.

Oh, look, dear, why don't you go out early and gather the eggs? That's a

Come on, Daniel.

Would you mind very much, Janet, if I left my samovar to Abigail?

After all, you will have my Limoges dinner set when I go.

Well, Aunt Eliza, you do whatever you think is fair. I have to set the table.

Oh, don't mix Abigail's things with yours, Janet.

I don't know how you can decipher that document, Eliza. It's been scribbled on

the chain so many times.

It's a terrible thing to leave this earth, but it's far worse to leave it

your affairs in a muddle.

I'd like to wager your own will isn't in order.

Oh!

I've been after Alec to change that will ever since Daniel was born.

Well, there's nothing to change. I'm leaving everything to you, Janet.

What if Janet goes first?

Eliza, please.

Sorry I'm late. It was really busy at the hotel.

Yes, and you haven't finished cleaning out the stalls.

I'll do it as soon as I change.

What if you go together?

You could both be hit by a train.

Somehow, I don't think that's too likely.

Oh, it can happen.

My cousin Freddy was hit by a train.

Or was it Reginald?

Who was hit by a train?

Was someone hit by a train? No one, dear. No one was hit by a train.

And what about the farm?

Oh, do we really have to discuss this? All this talk about death is so morbid.

It's not morbid.

It's realistic.

The only certain thing about life is that we must leave it. Well, the only

certain thing to me is that I have to have dinner on the table.

Look at all the tips I made.

Well, that's all well and good, Felix, but you do have chores to do.

I'll finish the stall store.

What about the farm?

Who will have the farm?

Well, that's obvious.

Felix is the eldest son. The eldest son always gets the farm. As I did, my

father before me, and the line will continue with Felix.

Now, that's a frightening thought.

Oh, Felicity, I made him feel bad.

You'd actually trust the farm to Felix?

He'll eat more than he can produce.

Felicity.

The chance of a lifetime.

Just think.

Tired of waiting for tea at the White Sands?

No problem. No need to wait.

Come to Felix's Tea Room.

Best view on the island.

Everyone will come.

I could rake in enough money to get my own carriage and driver.

No more biking to work.

Who knows?

I might even make enough money to buy an automobile.

Bring the motor car around, James.

No, not the black one today.

The new red one.

So how's it going?

Almost finished.

What about the cows?

I'll bring them in when I'm done here.

That's my son.

You know what happened at work today?

Mr. Tremaine told me I had a real feel for the hospitality business.

He even gave me sort of a promotion.

He put me in charge of someone real important.

Really?

Oh, that's good.

Felix, you know, your sister's remark about your taking over the farm being a

frightening thought, that was...

I'm called for it. No one really feels that.

Unless you feel that.

No. Where'd you get an idea like that?

I love the farm.

It's just that I don't really feel I'm capable of running it.

Good, good.

For a moment there, I thought you weren't interested.

Yeah, it's... It's quite a challenge, farming.

Deciding how many acres to...

Put into corn, and how many to wheat, how many pigs to keep for the winter,

what to do when the frost comes early or the winter stays too long.

It's always a struggle with nature.

A beautiful struggle. You've got to stay on your toes, be resourceful. That's

what makes it so rewarding.

I see what you mean.

Come over here.

I want to show you something.

You see that binder?

I'm saving up to buy one.

You better keep up with the times. I mean, that is the future of agriculture

right there.

Mechanization. Your future.

My future?

Felix, don't be overwhelmed at the thought of taking over. You just need a

little more experience.

When you get working with that land, you become part of it. It gets in your

blood.

Tomorrow?

I am going to give you more responsibility.

I'm going to put you in charge of fixing the fences now. You know, that's

important work. You've got to do it right. Do you feel up to it?

Sure.

Right, then.

And you'll remember our deal.

George, before the hotel, I know.

Good.

Now, that fence out in the eastern pasture needs fixing, will you?

Give it a look.

You can count on me.

That's my boy.

More tours.

Great.

Of course I know it will take a lot of money, but look at this place. It's full

of money. I can smell the tips from here.

I'm saving up.

You're dreaming.

I wonder how much a person like Mr. Bodden is worth.

Forget Bodden. He's a real tightwad. He never tips.

Last night at dinner, I waited on him hind and foot.

Nothing.

Bet you I could get a tip out of him.

Bet you can't.

How much?

One day's worth of tips.

It's a deal.

Easiest tip money I ever made.

Well, you haven't seen the King Charming action.

Can I take those for you?

About time somebody cleared the dishes.

I've had better service than the Australian outback.

Are you planning on seeing anything while you're on the island?

I know this place like the back of my hand.

The cliffs over by the lighthouse are particularly dramatic.

Or maybe fishing is your game. If so, I could take you to many lovely and

private spots where the fish are practically asking to be caught.

Or maybe you just want to sit back, relax, and enjoy a good book. But I'd be

more than happy to go over to Carmody and get you... I don't care about cliffs

or fishing holes or novels. I care about my breakfast.

Porridge tasted like dishwater, the egg was like a rock, and very soon this

coffee will be cold. But if you don't let me finish it in peace, I shall

complain to the management.

Please, go away.

That King Charm bowls them over every time, Felix.

have one tray this size.

Would you like it, Janet?

Oh, yes. It's lovely, isn't it, Felicity?

Yes, it's beautiful.

This trunk has got to be moved. This is a kitchen here, not your private

storeroom.

On second thought, I think Abigail could use it more.

We have this.

That looks like it's made of hair from the heads of the ward

ancestors.

Father used to call it the family heirloom.

It's a joke, you see.

Heirloom.

Lovely, isn't it?

Well, yes.

Very interesting.

Look at all those different...

Coloured. Felicity, there's one very similar to your shade.

A little bit more sheen to it, of course, but... You shall have it, Janet.

I'll find a safe place to put it away and keep it for you.

Thank you.

Mother, it's horrible.

There is no room in this house for that piece of... Oh, now, just pretend you

like it.

I mean, by the time we get it, the old dear will be... Well, you know, I

We'll never have to hang it.

What she doesn't know won't hurt her.

Mother, why can't you just tell Great Aunt Eliza which things you want and

things you don't want?

Not the way these things are done, Felicity.

Well, maybe it's the way they should be done.

Helig?

Here I am.

Ready to work.

Well, I hope you're ready to do a better job than you did this morning.

What do you mean? I found a whole bag of chicken feed out.

I know I put it on the shelf. Well, I found it on the floor. I suppose you

know that you milked all the cows?

Of course I did. Well, you didn't. You missed one.

And that cow was in a lot of pain.

I'm sorry.

Running a farm takes your full attention.

You've got to use your head.

Yes, sir. I know that. I'm not going to be around forever. You've got to learn

to take over.

I know.

If your farm work suffers, you've got to give up that hotel.

I can do both jobs.

Don't worry.

That's all very well and good. But I'd like to know where my bags are, then.

They're not here.

Felix, didn't you get Mrs. Trilby's bags?

Mrs. Trilby, roommate.

Yes, they're right here. They aren't mine. Young man, I was in room 10.

Incompetence. Pure incompetence. I'm sorry.

My luggage has been stolen. Stolen? It was in my room when I came down for

lunch. Excuse me?

Roommate? Yes?

I'll take it right up.

where I will check to make sure that nothing is missing. And don't forget my

luggage while you're up there. My train departs in an hour. I can't afford to

miss it, or I won't make the ferry at Summerside.

Oh, but it's pure incompetence.

He looks dear.

Wake up. Paul, don't. Be there in a minute.

Not morning? No.

You go to bed now.

Go to bed.

Good night, Mother.

Good night.

Why didn't you wake me? I'm going to be late.

I thought I'd let you sleep in. You seemed so tired last night.

Oh, look, the cows.

That post on the east pasture still needs fixing.

I'll do it.

The hat you were talking about?

Yes.

Try it on.

If you like it, you may have it.

I love it.

Belonged to my dear cousin Margaret.

A beautiful girl.

Though in the end, she went quite bald, poor dear.

Some sort of scalp fungus, they said.

Whatever are they doing in the yard?

Good yard.

Come on, girl.

Come on.

Oh, my goodness.

Come on.

Get that one. Get that one.

What do you want?

The church already, sir.

Ah, about time.

There's starch in them.

You asked for starch. I distinctly said no starch.

I'm sorry, Mr. Barton, but I know you said starch.

Oh, you do, do you? Do you think I like my shirts stiff as boards?

Look here.

A broken button.

This is precisely why I didn't want starch in my shirts, to avoid this rough

handling. It's ruined.

Completely ruined.

We'll replace the button.

You'll never match these buttons.

We'll replace all the buttons.

Oh, I'm sure you will. With cheap, ordinary buttons.

You'll pay for this.

Is anything wrong, sir? Yes.

This hotel employs cretins.

A slower, more incompetent worker I have never seen.

Get this babbling numbskull out of my sight. I want to speak to the manager.

Get me the manager!

But it wasn't my fault. It wasn't. No, he did ask for starch.

Some people are unreasonable.

Unfortunately, that's a fact of life. Unreasonable? He's impossible.

Part of running a hotel is dealing with the impossible.

Perhaps we should let someone else care for Mr. Bodden.

No, it's all right. I'll do it.

I'm sorry, Felix, but I must insist that someone else tend to him.

I'm highly disappointed, Felix.

I spent the whole day rounding up cows.

One of them got in the corn crib. She could have bloated and died.

Did you nail in that fence support?

No. Why not?

I didn't think it was necessary.

Well, of course it was necessary. I fixed it myself.

Now, when I ask you to do something, I expect it to be done properly, not

slapdash. I can't do everything.

I'm not asking you to do everything.

You gave me too much.

You agreed to take on more responsibility.

There's not enough time to do it all.

Well, if that's the case, you're going to have to give up that job at the

Why?

This farm is where you are going to earn your livelihood, not that hotel. Your

first responsibility is here.

I'm doing the best I can.

Well, you can do better.

It's that hotel.

I'm not going to give up the White Sands.

You will if I tell you to. I hate this stupid farm! Felix, I do not want to be

farmer. That was your idea, not mine.

I am not interested.

And if you are going to give this place to me when you die, the first thing I am

going to do is steal it!

So if you don't want to be a farmer, well, what do you want to do?

A tea room?

There are more and more tourists on the island.

Rich people from Toronto, Maine, Boston, New York.

They have to eat, right?

Well, they can go to the White Sand.

Not all of them.

Mr. Tremaine has to turn some guests away. Oh, and you think they're going to

come to Felix's Tea Room?

They will if it's good.

It's going to be good.

Well, the tea room's just the beginning.

Later I'll expand and have a restaurant.

The best down the island.

I'll have to turn people away, just like the white sand. I have never heard a

more ridiculous idea in all my life.

Not ridiculous?

Working at that hotel has filled your head with nonsense. I don't understand

this obsession you have with money.

We make a good living from the farm. You never want for anything.

It's not the money.

I love the hotel.

I love working there, and I'm good at it.

Well, mostly.

I want to stay and run the business.

Someday I'll have a place to run of my own.

You'll have a farm to run.

I don't want the farm.

I want something... something exciting.

You're too young to know what you want.

Enough of this nonsense. Let's go.

Are you coming?

I'll be along with you.

We won't be needing that much firewood for several months.

Where have you been?

Letting off a little steam.

Where's Felix?

Probably doing the same.

You know what your stubborn fool of a son wants to do?

Open up a tea room.

A tea room? I mean, it's for old biddies. It's something I'd expect your

Eliza to dream up. Where does he come up with these crazy notions?

Well, he's always had a mind of his own.

I can understand him wanting to leave the farm to study, to be a veterinarian,

go to university, but something serious, or at least practical, but a tea room,

Janet. You worry too much.

You know, Felix.

Changes mind seven days a week about what he wants to do.

Well, this farm is what we kings stand for. It's our history. You can't just

walk away from something like this.

You can't.

Apparently, Felix can.

Oh, that was his age.

There's nothing I like better than swinging a scythe working alongside my

father. You know, I think if you push a child too hard in one direction, he'll

just run as fast as he can in the other.

Alec, if I'd done everything my father wanted me to do, I never would have

married you.

The hotel is a dream.

Boys have to dream.

Yes, well, fathers have dreams, too.

Boy, you can't get enough of this place.

It's not even your shift.

I'm not here to work. I need a place to sleep.

What's wrong with your bed at home?

Hmm?

What happened?

Do you know how lucky you are?

You are so lucky.

I've been called lots of things.

Lucky ain't one of them.

You're lucky all right.

You're independent.

No one tells you what to do.

Well, many's a time I've wished I did have someone to guide me.

You don't have your father that expects you to do everything he's planned for

you.

Whatever the problem is, Felix, you ought to talk it out with him.

There's no talking to my father.

Well, run away is not going to solve anything.

Neither is going back.

Now, I'm willing to pay my hard -earned tip money for a room.

Well, there aren't any. We're all full up.

There's got to be someplace.

can't be choosers.

Felicity, would you stop by Olivia's when you're out and see if she has a

of black thread?

Why can't Felix go?

Felix is not back yet.

Don't you think you should go look for him?

Where do you suggest I start?

Oh, he'll be all right. You know.

I mean, well,

he knows how to look after himself.

I've never been one to interfere, Alec. But why are you working that boy so

hard?

When I was his age, I was a fancy tree, going to dance classes, rolling hoops,

feeding the pigeons in the park.

I'm just trying to say that you're only young once.

And you're old for a long time.

Felix.

Why would he knock?

It's probably Gus.

Good evening to you, Mr. King.

Come inside, Gus.

Thank you.

Here's your coke.

Ready to go, Felicity?

I'm on.

You haven't seen Felix this evening, have you?

Yes, I have.

He's down at the hotel.

What's he doing at the hotel?

Planning to spend the night, I reckon. I fixed him up a cot.

I'll go get him.

I'd leave him be if you don't mind me saying.

He's pretty teft.

You got yourself a real independent thinker there, Mr. Kang.

Oh, he knows his own mind, all right.

Unfortunately, it's in the wrong direction most of the time.

Oh, perhaps.

But I don't ever recollect seeing him like this before.

Oh, well.

Oh, this trunk is everywhere I go.

You said you wanted to take it out of the kitchen. I want it out of the house.

Now, don't get everyone to dither.

Well, tell Felix that. He's at the root of the problem. He's off sulking

somewhere because we want to hand over the best piece of property on the

We want to give him the farm.

It's not fair.

What isn't fair?

I can tell you.

We call this the king farm, which means it ought to belong to all of us.

Now, I may never run this farm, and I'm not saying that I want to, but I can't

for the life of me imagine why you'd want to leave the workings of it to

who doesn't care a lick about it.

That's your father you're talking to. Well, what are you trying to say?

Look how often you have to remind Felix to do things around here.

But have you ever noticed that when you ask Cecily to do a chore, you never have

to tell her twice?

It's because Cecily loves this farm.

She should be the one who inherits it.

That's not the way things are done, Felicity.

Why do things always have to be done the way they used to be?

Because there are certain traditions.

Well, why can't we start new traditions?

I'm ready, Gus. Let's go.

Mr. Barton?

Do you need help?

Go away.

Can't you see I've been ill?

Can I call a doctor?

Just leave me alone.

Here we go.

All ready?

Let me get these out of your way and... No, no, even though you were sick.

Here, let me help you.

Thank you, young man.

I think I may just survive.

Food poisoning.

That's what it was.

Not the food at our hotel.

No, I had luncheon up the coast.

Poison feeds?

I got tired of all the lineups here.

I guess that'll teach me.

I'll put in a word for you with Mr. Tremaine.

Thanks, but it doesn't matter.

I'm quitting the hotel.

My father's making me work at the farm.

Probably for the rest of my life.

You don't want to do that?

No.

Have you told him?

He doesn't listen.

So you and your father don't see eye to eye, huh?

Hand me my valise.

This is my beloved wife and son.

I lost Vanessa 12 years ago.

12 years, 2 months, 7 days.

I'm sorry.

All I had left was my son.

My only son.

He was 6 months old when that picture was taken.

Went on to graduate at the top of his class at the university.

We had our differences.

I naturally assumed he'd join the family business, carry on the Borden name.

He wanted to be a missionary in China.

I told him it was out of the question.

He left.

We never settled our quarrel.

Why don't you try to find him now?

Because he died in China three years ago during a cholera epidemic.

I'm sorry.

I can't tell you what to do. What I can tell you is...

All the money in the world won't make you happy if there's a rift between

and son.

Now, you go back to bed.

I'll be all right.

I'll just stay here a while.

Make sure you're all right.

What is this?

Resignation.

Resignation?

Look, Felix, if this is about all that foolishness with Mr. Bodden... It's not

just that.

I've spent the past week trying to please everyone and ending up pleasing

one.

I wish I could stay, but I don't see how I can.

I understand.

I hate to lose you.

I hate to go.

Goodbye.

Mother.

Felix, are you all right?

I'm fine.

I quit my job at the hotel.

I'll get to my chores.

Daniel and I are feeding the chickens for you.

Thanks.

I want you to have this.

It's my final wages.

You can put it towards the binder.

I should be happy, shouldn't I?

Doing exactly what I wanted them to.

Why don't I feel better about it?

Remember to spread the feed around, Daniel.

That's the way.

If you put it all in a pile, the chickens will fight with each other.

Last night, I sat up thinking about this farm and all my years on it.

Well, at least I tried to think about that, but for some odd reason, all I

think about was the first time I left the farm.

I was about your age, and they'd just finished putting in the track for the

first train on the island.

I begged my father to take me, and he did.

Did you like it?

I like it. I loved it.

It was the most exciting adventure of my young life. But my father, he hated it.

Oh, he couldn't stand all the noise and the swaying and how fast it went. The

very things that I loved about it.

I can still hear him.

Trapped him my whole life with a horse and buggy. Got me where I wanted to go,

didn't I? What do we need with this infernal contraption?

He, uh, he put a damper on my good time, that's certain.

Things change, Felix.

Not always the way you want them to, but I suppose it's my turn

to learn how to enjoy the ride.

Here, you take this money. It's yours.

No. Yes.

You worked mighty hard for it, and I'm proud of you.

So here's what I want you to do.

You keep working hard, and you save your money.

And when you're 18, you can buy anything you want with it.

Trip around the world, or stable a race horses, or maybe

a binder, or even property there.

Build a tea room on it, if that's what you want.

Thank you.

And I'll, uh... I'll give you more time off from your chores.

What?

Well, you want to do a good job at the hotel, don't you?

If you think Mr. Tremaine will have you back.

I haven't given up on him, you know.

Eighteen's a long way off.

Maybe he'll have had his fill of the hotel business by then.

Or... Maybe we'll

start a new tradition.