Original subtitles

Good afternoon.

I'm told you have rooms here.

Rooms? Yes.

In the village, Dr McKinnon said you might have accommodation.

This is the Falshaw house?

This is the house.

And do you have rooms?

I don't know, I'm sure.

Then could you please find out from someone who does know?

Uncle's in the shed.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr. Falshaw.

I'm told that you might have some rooms to spare.

ruins your village.

yes I know I've been staying in the village but well the fact is that I

can't stand the sound of children.

I'm a writer do you see?

that's my reason for being in the area to write a book.

I'm working on a county history and it's become quite difficult to get on with my

writing because my room in the village overlooks the school and

Well, the children make such a noise, it's become quite impossible to work.

I don't read many books.

I mentioned my problem to Dr. McKinnon.

Oh, aye.

We know a doctor.

And he told me that you had rooms and no children.

No children, that's right.

My name's Garvin.

Depends on whether the missus will pour up with you.

And then I'll roam in the village.

As I explained to your husband, I don't want to be bothered by children.

No fear of that here.

All I want is a little peace and quiet so I can get on with my work.

Peace and quiet. Quiet.

If it's inconvenient in any way, please, do say so.

Rachel?

Your uncle's room.

Me and me auntie.

And this is my room, is it? No.

Me aunt's yours.

I beg your pardon.

This one's yours.

Seems a little chilly.

It's only a bedroom.

Well, that all seems fine.

I'll have to go back to the village to collect my bags and baggage.

I have rather a lot of books.

You'll be all right.

Rachel? Yes Mr. Garvin?

Why doesn't anyone keep that child quiet?

You've heard her?

Well yes of course I've heard her.

You don't look as if you aren't.

You needn't worry.

She won't hurt you.

Dr. McKinnon.

Hello there, Mr. Garvin.

Are you settling in all right with these good people?

It's not as quiet as I expected.

I'm not sleeping well.

It must be your South Country nervous system.

Call up the surgery.

I'll invent you a soothing tonic.

Excuse me, I have a patient to attend to.

A patient?

Is someone ill?

Mrs. Falshaw.

Her day of judgment draweth nigh.

A medical condition known as pregnancy.

Oh, yes, of course.

Forgive me.

Your head's full of history and you haven't been sleeping.

Shut up. They won't hurt you.

Don't forget, call and see me.

Who?

I must tell him. All right, woman. I'll tell him.

Mr. Garvin, I've something to say.

Then you'd better come in and say it.

That's concerning.

Well, that's fair.

I see.

Now, if I doesn't like what I've found, I'd better go.

I don't know how much you know.

And I don't know what it is that's on your mind.

But I can put up with it.

I'd rather fear it.

No more than you are.

Hey.

I've no cause to be afraid.

I know now.

Good.

Good.

But it was best talked to you about it, wasn't it?

What's the right thing?

Oh, yes.

Yes, it was the right thing to do.

I'm not afraid.

Tell Mrs. Fulshaw.

Rachel says they wanted something, Mr Garvin.

A small favour, if it's possible, Mr Falshaw.

You seem to have hit upon the problem.

Big one.

I was wondering whether I might keep some of my books in that room upstairs.

What room?

The one at the end of the corridor.

I assume that it's not used for anything.

I kept that locked.

Yes, I know.

I'll carry them upstairs for you.

Leave them on the landing.

Get your key and you can organise it all to suit yourself.

You're taking a stroll, Mr Garvin?

Yes.

We'll have some rain later, I fancy.

I'll go straight to the Fartholme house.

Tell me, Mr Falshaw, how long has the house been in your family?

Seven generations.

The eight is soon enough.

All goes well.

Why shouldn't it go well?

No reason.

I keep telling Mrs.

What? Who's been in a dark state ever since.

Sometimes I think he's more than I can bear.

The doctor tries to cheer him up, but there's nothing he can do.

What does the doctor think about her dark state?

Think? I don't think.

They used to give us doctor talk about it being natural to her condition.

I wonder if I ought to stay.

Perhaps she's doing too much.

Would it help if I were to leave?

I mustn't go thinking that, Mr. Garfin.

But to be putting you to trouble at a time like this. Trouble? I cause that

trouble. Well, I... I'll bring trouble only if there goes.

Now, if she can see that I can put her up with it without that being a fear,

maybe she'll think that things can't be so bad.

What things?

I don't know exactly.

I only know what I've heard.

Or you've heard in other accounts.

What they say.

Myself, I've heard now.

It's all what people say.

These things, how long have they been said?

Long enough.

Since before your time?

No, not before my time.

It's all in my time.

In your time?

I mean, like I say, I've heard enough.

About what you've heard and such like.

Mr. Falshaw.

It's not only what I've heard.

It's what I've seen.

And what I've touched.

God in heaven.

I'll tell you this, though.

I think I know what I've seen.

I tell you now, there's no cause to be afeard.

It won't harm thee.

Yes, I know that.

It won't do thee no harm.

There's a sort of pity in them things.

A sort of pity?

They won't show themselves to them that they're afeard.

They're no harm afeard.

Anna, Mrs. Rachel.

Oh, my God. Yes, we're a family.

But now... She knows that I'm not afraid.

It's a pity it was.

Rachel, last evening when I was out walking, why didn't you go up to my room

and close my window?

The rain got in and ruined some of my books.

Because I'm afeard, sir.

But you make the beds every day.

When you're out of the house, I'm afeard.

And you're not afraid when I'm here?

Not as much.

Why?

Because she's chosen you.

Who has chosen me?

Little Effie.

Little Effie?

Tell me about her.

I mustn't.

Why not?

You said she wouldn't harm me. Why not tell me about her?

I promised Uncle. He made me promise.

I see.

Does she really come to you in the night?

Yes. And you're not afraid of her?

No.

God bless you, Mr Garvin.

A soothing tonic, Mr. Garvin, as promised.

Whiskey.

Water of life.

I rarely drink it.

Perseverance. The answer to most things.

And you strike me as a very tenacious young man.

Yes, I am.

I need to know about the Falshaws.

All of them?

The girl.

Rachel!

She's a niece of some kind.

Lost her parents.

Fairly stupid, but kind-hearted.

No, not her.

The girl I've been seeing ever since I moved in.

Describe her.

About seven years old.

Dark eyes.

Long hair.

It looks almost bleached.

Go on.

The crying came first. I heard it in the night.

And then I saw her.

Beating on the bedroom door.

Tell me what happened after the child beat the door with her hands.

She... She came into my room.

And climbed into my bed.

This happens regularly?

I see her during the day as well.

In the garden, carrying water.

In a little cup?

Yes.

Like that.

I found that in the garden.

Her garden.

Did you find these experiences frightening?

No.

I wasn't frightened by the little girl.

One cannot be frightened by innocence.

But I'm frightened by what lies beyond all this.

There is equality in the house and in the family.

A sense of evil and guilt.

Corruption, if that isn't too strong a word.

No, Mr Garvin.

That isn't too star-ward.

What frightened you today?

Is it so obvious?

Yes.

When you came to my door, I saw a frightened man.

It's true.

Two things I saw.

The body of the child floating in a water tank.

And the other?

Fallshore, in my bedroom.

Well, that shouldn't frighten anybody, Mr. Garvin.

He... He wasn't alone.

Describe the woman.

Fair-haired.

Young. Younger than Falshaw.

Though he looked younger, too.

And happier.

Finish your drink, Mr. Carvin.

See anybody you know?

I don't know anyone in these parts.

I'm a South Country gentleman, as you said yourself.

Look again.

That's the woman I saw in my bedroom.

With Falshaw?

Yes.

She looks older now.

I guess, Mr. Garvey, we're all older now than we were then.

You must tell me what's happening at the Falshaws.

What happened?

Take your time with your drink, and then I have something else to show you.

There.

I think that's your nocturnal visitor.

How did she die?

She drowned in that water tank.

That woman you saw in the pub, Rhoda Webster, Chief Hunter.

Was she living at the house?

At the time, yes.

The more you tell me, the less I understand.

How old do you think Falshaw is?

He looks about 50.

38.

His wife's a little older.

That's what people do to each other.

What did the Falshaws do to each other?

They married.

Marriage doesn't have to be like that.

Sarah Falshaw has a harsh and bitter tongue and a temper, and he took it.

Falshaw, the younger Falshaw, was just a big, strong, cheerful young animal.

He'd chuckle and say, she'll settle down when there's a baby in the house.

Effie.

Effie.

It was a very difficult pregnancy, like this one.

Falshaw took to going to the pub, met Rhoda.

I don't think any of us begrudged him a little spot of immorality to lighten his

darkness, though I realise it isn't the Christian view.

The day he was born, Rhoda moved in to help with the cooking and cleaning.

So it went on, till eventually Sarah found them.

Much as you found them, I suppose.

Sarah was a good mother until she discovered what was going on between

Farshaw and Rhoda.

Then she turned against the child.

But why blame the child?

Well, see it from Sarah's point of view.

If she hadn't had the child, Rhoda would never have set foot in the house.

If she hadn't had the child, she'd have kept her strength and her good looks.

And it's so unfair.

When was passion fair?

I'll tell you this, Mr. Garvin.

That woman showed me the ugliest thing on God's earth.

Frustration that seeks revenge on its own offspring.

As she couldn't have her husband, she wouldn't have the child.

So when I saw the little girl beating on the bedroom door... It happened.

And coming to my room?

It happened.

Rhoda used to sleep in your room.

The child used to go to her for comfort.

I see.

And the little garden.

Falshaw made that for her.

The three of them were playing it together.

Falshaw, Rhoda, Effie.

Until Sarah found them one day.

Then she broke the cup.

Stamped on the garden, destroyed everything.

Every time I see her in the garden, she seems happy.

It's only at night.

At night, she cries like no child I ever heard.

What happened when she died?

She'd been having fits.

The inquest verdict was that she fell in the tank while having a fit. Otherwise,

she could have climbed out.

And Rhoda?

When the child died, she left.

I suspect Fowlshaw told her to go.

Ever since, he's been a good and faithful husband.

In a lifeless sort of way.

Though he still has hope.

Hope?

The next generation.

Oh, yes.

He spoke to me of that.

Falshaw sees the unborn child as his last chance. Their last chance.

Or as his wife.

Sarah Falshaw is determined that the child shall be born dead.

Rachel said to me that the child had chosen me.

Yes, no doubt.

To do what?

I believe Effie sees you as the agent of her love.

She's chosen you to save her mother.

To save Mrs. Fulshaw?

Yes.

You mean to save the new baby?

More than that.

You have to preserve Sarah Falshaw's sanity.

I was planning to leave at the end of the week.

But is it in your hands?

I think you must stay until the baby is born.

And you must talk to Sarah Falshaw.

as you've spoken to me, with the innocence.

It's a month tomorrow you've been here.

I didn't think you'd stay so long.

You've all been very good to me.

You must be a good man, Mr. Galvin.

Or you'd have took and run like all the rest of them.

I can't blame him.

He frightens me as well.

There's no need, Mrs. Fulshaw.

It's not a thing to be afraid of.

It's a thing to pity and to love.

It's true, then.

You've heard it.

And seen it.

Tell me, Mr. Garvin.

Tell me true.

Is that what you've seen?

Yes.

But when I see her, she's paler and thinner.

Ever so much thinner.

She were seven when she died.

She'd have been ten year old.

The day.

And she comes here in the night.

Do you let her in?

Do you let her...

Stay with you.

Yes.

It's when I'm afraid of seeing her in the night.

I'm not fit to have a child.

I shan't have a child.

And I'll live him one.

For your husband's sake, you mustn't. Well, sure.

He thinks childbearing's the only cure for a woman's suffering.

I think that he has suffered in his own way, too.

He thinks if there's a child about the place, there'll be an end to all the

trouble.

But I'd tell him, if Effie's here and she sees me

taken up with another baby, it'd be worse trouble than ever.

No, you're wrong, Mrs. Fulshaw.

It's the pity in the lass.

You know, at this moment, in this room...

There is nothing that stands between you and Effie but your fear.

I know I'd see her if I weren't afeard.

I know I wouldn't be afeard if I were a good woman.

Don't send her away.

Your wife's fine, Mr. Farshall.

She's always a horse.

And little and... dead.

I suggest you come and stay with me for a couple of days until... She... The

nurse will stay with her.

But...

Come in.

You have a visitor, Mr. Garvin.

How is Mrs. Fulshaw?

She keeps crying for this.

But Dr. McKinnon... I don't want a doctor.

That's how she's crying for.

Then you must answer the call, Mr. Garvin.

It's little Effie, Mr. Garvin.

She's afeard to soak.

She's afeard of me.

Afeard of her mother.

You speak to her, Mr. Garvin.

Tell her not to be afeard.

Tell him it's little Effie.

Here she is now.

My dear Garvin, I realise with a shock that it is

almost a year since you stayed at the Foulshaw's house.

Mrs Foulshaw often talks about you.

She asks to be remembered and insists that you are a good man.

I see no reason to disagree.

She is, I ought to tell you, absolutely sane.

One small detail that will interest you.

In the bedroom they've made a shelf where Mrs. Falshaw has put the

photograph of Effie together with some of her things.

A pair of shoes, toys and the like.

They suggest votive offerings on the altar of the dead.

What does it mean?

Just remembrance?

Or some idea of forgiveness and redemption?

You ought to know the answer.

Yes, I do.