Original subtitles

There's a letter for you.

From Germany.

From my father.

And they can never get better if you don't sit still.

Give it a chance.

Well, Vicki, I had a complaint from old Mrs. Cratchit.

She had a letter delivered with a duck's footprint on it.

A duck's footprint?

Really?

Yes, really.

Was it a wet foot?

I believe most ducks have them that way.

You sure it was a duck?

I'm happy to say when I delivered the mail, I never became an expert on muddy

footprints. Did it have a limp?

What do you mean?

Well, it could have been a lame duck.

Oh, um... It wasn't a duck at all.

It was a duckling.

Don't worry, I'll make sure it gets there.

Thanks, Ricky.

Daddy, can I have Piggy back?

All right, lazybones.

Jump up.

Ride a cock horse.

To see a fine lady upon a white horse.

Will we

go to

heaven? Animals don't. Where do they go?

Just to the bottom of the creek.

Let's get on with it.

What are you doing?

None of your business.

You're Vicky Deening, aren't you?

Everyone says you're a stuck -up pommy. Everyone hates you.

I'll take them.

I'll give them a good home.

They're ours.

And if we want to drown them, you're not going to stop us.

Afraid.

They were going to drown the puppy.

Emily?

Emily?

No, I'm not Emily.

I'm Vicky.

Vicky Denning.

Would you like a nice bowl of warm milk?

Come on, Beauty.

What's this?

Flower.

Flower? Yes.

Have you been carrying flower in the same bag as the king's mail?

No.

Puppies.

Oh.

Well, I suppose the puppies put the flower in the mail bag.

No, the puppies were put in the flower bag.

Did you put the puppies in the flower bag?

No, I put the puppies in the mail bag. I let them out of the flower bag.

Go.

The others, put them in the flower bag. Go!

I'm glad you sorted that out.

The only agreement was that I was going to fence half our boundary and your

husband was going to do the other half.

Didn't he tell you?

No, he didn't.

Well,

it doesn't really make any difference, though, because I've honoured my part of

the bargain.

I expected Denny to do the same.

Your husband was a man of his word.

Yes.

Yes, well, I'll look through Nigel's papers, Mr. Coates.

Good on you.

I'd rather stay on friendly terms, Mrs. Denning, wouldn't you?

Doctor?

I wonder why Nigel didn't mention it.

No doubt he would have done in due course.

Beautiful. They're absolutely splendid.

Jenny, look at them.

Oh, yes.

They're lovely.

What's wrong?

Oh, nothing.

Now, don't get too fond of them, because you won't be keeping them.

Oh!

Oh, well, maybe just these two, but no more.

I can't have the barn full of waifs and strays.

I met the strangest man today.

Down by Swampy Creek.

What was strange about him?

I don't know.

He was just odd.

He had a scar here.

That's Saunders.

He kept calling me Emily.

That was the name of his daughter.

It was?

Yes. Nothing before you came here.

It was a great... Pagically?

Pagity. Yes, pagity.

He was a laborer, doing small jobs.

He wanted to buy his own place up in the valley.

One night he came home, the house was on fire.

He tried to save him, but when he... Oh, well, that's how he got the scar.

Now he just wanders around here and there, sleeps in abandoned places and

looking for his wife and child.

You mean he lost his wits?

That means mad?

More or less.

No, he loses his memory.

I met him.

I don't think he's mad.

He's not mad.

He's got kind eyes.

Haunted.

Still, I think it's best if you keep your distance, Vicky. You never know.

I do know.

You wouldn't harm anyone.

Jenny's right, Vicky.

But what if father had lost his memory?

And no one helped him?

What if everyone kept their distance and didn't care?

What will become of him?

It's called the Boer War.

The Boers are the Africans?

No, the Boers are the Dutch.

And they're fighting the Africans?

No. They're fighting the British.

Us.

But what do the Africans say about it?

It's their country.

Yes, well, perhaps it's a little complicated for you at the moment,

you're a little older.

That man you met yesterday, his mind is...

Twisted with grief.

He could hurt you.

No.

He's the one that's been hurt.

He wouldn't hurt anybody else.

I like the look of this.

There's shelter here.

I'll go and see how Mr. Saunders is.

You'll be alright, dear.

Is this the one then?

It's me again.

Emily?

No, Vicky.

The girl from yesterday.

I've come back to see if you need anything.

I have all I need.

I know what it's like when somebody dies.

My mother died two years ago.

Now my father's gone missing.

But you must try and live as best you can and be happy.

It's what they would want.

I've got a new mother now who loves me, and I love her.

As time goes by, the hurt gets less.

I hate fire, but please, you must help me.

What's your name?

Vicky.

Victoria Denning.

My wife and daughter, they... They died in a fire.

Emily was about your age.

They're with God now.

Of course they are.

Dr. Gordon will fix your head.

You can ride on beauty.

One day, your luck is going to run out, young lady.

He just wanted someone to talk to. Well, Miss Lovett says he's as mad as a

hatter. Miss Lovett.

She can't talk. Vicky.

Well, gentlemen, dear, I'm afraid my diagnosis agrees with Vicky's.

Mr. Saunders is lucid and seems to have accepted the death of his family quite

rationally. Apart from a nasty bump on the head.

He's as fit as a flea. But everyone I've spoken to say that he's lost his

reason. Oh, perhaps he had.

I've seen a case like this once before.

It is sometimes a sharp bang on the head can restore a person's reason.

The human mind is something we know very little about at the moment, I'm afraid.

Well, it seems your intuition was correct this time.

He'll be up and about in a day or two.

He just wanted a bit of looking after.

Vicky, I do hope you haven't tired of bringing home injured animals and

out into people as well.

Well, you're improving.

No footprints, webbed or otherwise.

And it's practically dry.

However...

This smells as if it's been dragged through a bushfire.

It was a fire in a shed.

Well, I hope Mr Ronald Bond of Sydney doesn't mind his powerful smoke.

The best thing for that is lavender.

Lavender?

That's right, dear.

You mean just tear open the king's mail and pop in some lavender?

Well, you can do it that way.

Or you can soak the string in lavender water and retie it.

Really?

I'll do it if you like.

Goodbye.

Mr Burton?

Goodbye.

But... Goodbye.

But... I can't find anything among his papers.

Well, down here we don't put a lot of store by things in writing.

We trust each other with a handshake.

Might be different in England, I don't know.

Look, if you could just give me a little time to make some inquiries.

Inquiries?

That's just great, isn't it?

Now you're calling me a liar.

No, no, it's just that I need to... Yes, you are.

I'm telling you that I paid for the fencing and you're doubting my word.

Maybe I was a fool to trust your husband.

Maybe he was a liar.

Are you talking about the fence that I put up, Mr Coates?

No.

Because it was Mr Denning who paid for that.

I remember because he gave me half a crown extra for Christmas.

as well as payment for the fence.

Are you sure?

I'll go and check my books.

Thank you, Mr Saunders.

They're very handsome.

You've made an extremely quick recovery, Mr Saunders.

I've got your daughter to thank for that, Mrs Denning.

I didn't do much.

It's what you said that counted.

What did she say?

She was talking about you.

I'd only ever thought about the past and what I'd lost.

Vicky showed me that there is a future.

As long as you don't give up hope.

That's right.

We must never give up hope.

I'd like to keep them, Vicky.

They'll be good company.

I'll call one black and one beauty, if you don't mind. Of course not.

Well, I'll be on my way.

Thank you for patching me up, Doctor. And thanks for your hospitality, Mrs.

Denning.

And thank you, young lady.

I was finished until you came along.

Beauty did all the work.

But you saved me from something worse than fire.

Much worse.

Bye.

Bye.