Will you kiss me now?
Will you marry me, Rose?
Kiss me.
Then I'll tell you.
You're all wet. You're all wet.
Say something, brother.
Rose, I'm sure you know everything I'm wishing you.
- Took me swimming deliberately. - Well, of course I did.
- You might try and be happy for them. - Just get out and let me get dressed.
Only if you tell me why you don't like Rose.
Because she's a gold digger.
- She is not. - She is, and you damn well know it.
And you're no better.
- How dare you. - How dare I do what? Tell the truth?
- Goodbye! - Goodbye!
- Farewell! - Bye!
See you soon!
This is such a relief.
I thought we'd never pull it off.
No, the relief is that I'm in love with him.
- Was it the kiss that did it? - A kiss can do a lot of things.
Oh, don't cry.
Please, don't cry.
I'm gonna take such good care of you all.
Well, now they've all gone to arrange a London wedding.
Father went too, to keep an eye on Rose.
And Topaz went to keep an eye on him.
I was miserable for a week.
I wondered if I envied Rose.
I scoured my innermost heart and realized...
...I just missed her.
She had gone from me for good.
And the thought of Neil despising her...
...was more than I could bear.
Dear Neil, Rose is in love with Simon.
She offered it up herself that night after he proposed.
She was once honest enough to admit...
...that she would have married him even if she'd hated him.
So I believe her.
I value her truthfulness. I hope you value mine.
And please, don't hold our having been so poor against her.
With love, your future sister-in-law, Cassandra.
Dear Cassandra...
...draw a picture of the bridesmaid's dress you want and send it by return.
Topaz keeps coming up with sketches.
You can imagine what they're like.
You won't recognize me soon. I've been taken in hand.
I have a permanent wave and my own account at Simpson's.
The shop smelled exactly the same, like heaven and bluebells.
And I saw the assistant who said they didn't deal in second-hand goods.
She was all smiles this time.
I've always wanted a daughter to dress.
I kept wishing you were here...
...or I was there.
By the time you get this, it will be Midsummer's Eve.
Will you do the pagan rites?
Will you do them one last time for my sake?
I was in no-man's land.
I knew that when dusk fell, I'd be doing something...
...childish for the final time.
Meanwhile, I told myself sunbathing naked was a prelude to the rites.
But I couldn't explain the thrill in the pit of my stomach.
The tight, coiled feeling.
Was I rehearsing something?
Don't go too close.
Hi. Flying visit. I have business on the estate.
Has Rose come home?
She had a fitting for her wedding dress.
Are you all alone too?
I did this with Rose every summer.
It started as a game...
...but after a while we really did think the gods could hear us.
We never dared not do it after that.
Of course, Mother panicked if we danced too near the flames.
And then she died.
And the next year we danced even nearer and went wild.
Rose told me.
- You miss her. - It seems wrong when she's so happy.
When I first saw Neil after Father's funeral, it was amazing.
We talked all the time.
We stayed up all night talking.
Now, sometimes we sit not saying anything at all.
Rose and I used to do that.
Did you?
I don't know, having someone else around is new to me.
I was pretty much an only child for years after the divorce.
So much was messed up.
I really wanna get it right this time.
Would you like to see how we finished...
...on a ceremonial cry?
Please.
Don't you dare laugh.
Never.
May I?
You!
I thought Rose would love Debussy.
But I took her to the Wigmore Hall last week, and she sat there looking...
...not bored exactly, just blank.
She seemed further away then than she does now.
Do you like it?
It's beautiful.
Makes me think of "Dover Beach."
We are here upon a darkling plain.
It's called "Au Clair de Lune," "By the Light of the Moon."
You're much, much more clever than such a pretty girl has a right to be.
I look a lot prettier when I'm not standing next to Rose.
We talk an awful lot about Rose, don't we?
I suppose she's the thing we have in common.
It's getting late.
I'll drive you home soon.
But would you dance with me first, Cassandra?
Please?
Does this have a name...
...this tune?
It's called "You and the Night and the Music."
I did...
Don't say anything.
I don't make a habit of this sort of thing.
Nor do I.
It was only a kiss, Cassandra.
It was my first kiss.
Oh, my God.
Well, if it fell short of your expectation in any way...
...then I apologize most sincerely.
I don't think I'm sophisticated enough for this.
I'll drive you home.
I kissed you, Cassandra...
...because you've been so sweet and funny all evening.
And I wanted to.
I kissed you, and that's all.
Don't tell Rose.
I'm in love with her.
She's my sister.
What does he mean, "funny"?
What does he mean, "I kissed you, and that's all"?
Do Americans kiss each other all the time?
Does he think I wanted him to kiss me?
He belongs to Rose.
Rose, who said a kiss can do a lot of things.
Not me. I said I'd never fall in love.
I said love was a murderous thing.
It is, and I'm walking on air.
I hate Rose like a poison in my fantasies.
Sometimes she comes into the room and sees us kissing.
And sometimes she doesn't.
I don't know which is worse.
- Father? - Came back on the milk train.
Saw Stephen at the station, jacket on, going somewhere.
We're supposed to be able to afford shop cake.
I thought I'd make an effort. It's my birthday.
Today? Seventeen?
Eighteen.
Can't see it somehow. I still remember you in that perambulator thing.
- Simon sent his regards. - Did he?
Said you kept him greatly entertained the other night.
Probably made a change from worshipping Rose.
No man on Earth should be so violently in love...
...puts him at such a disadvantage.
What are you looking for?
- The kippers from Saturday. - They've gone off.
Corporeal transition. I need something made of flesh.
I'm shaking and sick with the things I have imagined.
But dreams are like a drug.
The magic doesn't last...
...and then the pain is worse than knives.
- There she is! - Cassandra!
"The Molecular Evolution of the Cosmic Universe."
I've read half of it. It's quite good.
Rose remembered!
It's from Simpson's!
I had to go to King's Crypt to get it today.
I've been saving up.
It's a wireless!
Oh, Stephen!
Thank you. Oh, thank you!
It's battery powered.
Oh, Stephen!
This one's from Simon.
It's a sewing machine.
It's not.
It's a gramophone...
...with integral wireless.
It's probably mains dependent.
He'll have forgotten we don't have electricity.
It's battery powered too.
I'll go practice my bowling, then.
Poor Stephen. Be careful, will you?
Can I tell him the truth?
Will it hurt?
Stephen!
Simon didn't have to work to buy me a present.
No, that was my privilege.
We haven't got a lantern. It'll get dark.
You'll have to hold my hand.
No.
It'll make us both feel better!
This isn't why I came, Stephen.
We mustn't do this.
Please, don't let me do this.
I'm not coming after you, Cassandra!
I'm not coming after you!
Why did I let it happen?
Why did I want him to kiss me when my heart ached for someone else...
...when I went there to tell him how I felt?
I've been cruel to Stephen and betrayed myself.
The memory of Simon's kiss is ruined. My future is wretched.
- Yes? - I'm sorry.
It wasn't wrong if we love each other.
It's all right. You won't even have to see me for a bit.
I got a telegram from Leda.
I've got to go to London, see a producer about a film part.
I'm sorry about the kissing.
What are you doing?
There are 2000 characters in the Chinese alphabet.
Willow pattern distilled a sweeping saga of passion and betrayal...
...into one perfect elliptical pictogram.
I wanted to break it down at random...
...assess whether meaning would remain.
What are we going to do for plates?
He's getting worse.
He has asked for ink twice.
He's asked at the stores for colored chalk and the Dandy.
I got a letter from Rose yesterday.
You didn't say?
She said not to show you. She feels guilty...
...at having so much when you've got nothing.
Three pairs of three-quarter length, Hermes glaces kid gloves...
...at 12 guineas per pair.
One lavender, satin nightgown with marabou peignoir...
...from Rigby and Peller.
Three whole pages. Then she put a total at the bottom.
Added up wrong.
I had to look "marabou" up in the dictionary, and "peignoir."
This isn't like her.
It isn't like an engaged person.
She doesn't mention Simon once, not once.
Our wicketkeeper's sister's getting married...
...and it's "Gerald, Gerald, Gerald" every other word.
She promised me she was in love with him...
...the night they got engaged.
I can't let her sacrifice herself.
Your stop, miss.
There's going to be a mezzanine floor with a circular aperture...
...giving way to the entrance hall, all glass brick.
This is the best thing Aubrey's done in years.
- Where's Rose? - Matinee, all of them.
Apart from Neil. He's moved into a hotel.
I've had matters to attend to.
What sort of matters?
I've been looking for rooms.
I can't flourish here, Cassandra.
In this flat?
In this family.
I thought I could move your father to great things, stir the genius.
But I couldn't, and it's paralyzing me.
He's been terribly feverish lately.
Imagine if he wrote something and you weren't there to read it.
Elizabeth Cotton can read it. He'll show her first.
I'm going to get cards printed, put myself about.
You mean with Aubrey?
Not exclusively, no.
Try to understand. I need to be in touch with artists.
- Father's an artist. - Not because of me.
London used to be my world, but I'm nearly 30.
Flesh fades. I'll lose my place in life if I don't apply myself.
Is that all you think you've got to offer?
It's the only way I have to make my mark.
You've made your mark with us.
Thomas and Rose and me.
But I'm not your mother.
Cassandra!
What a wonderful surprise!
I thought I'd go insane!
- Why? - Oh, chatter, chatter, chatter.
You've no idea. And always, always about the wedding.
Dorchester tonight to dine and dance.
This should fit you.
I don't wear it anymore. We bought it off the peg.
You're looking very grown-up tonight. I'm not sure that I approve.
Rose lent it to me.
Ginger ale without the ginger?
Did you leave your father some food, dear?
I shall telephone the kitchens at Scoatney.
They'll send him a cold cut of beef.
Thank you. He can get quite ravenous when he's writing.
You don't really believe he's gonna achieve anything, do you, dear?
We've been expecting a breakthrough every day.
You're his daughter. That's your prerogative.
James Mortmain has done his work, my dear. The well is dry.
Of course, it doesn't matter two pins now. Rose will marry into money.
The audacity!
Just seen Neil.
You are honored.
Simon, you know I love that song. Get them to play it again.
Sorry. Sorry.
Sorry. Excuse me. Sorry.
There you are.
Now, why aren't you dancing?
My shoes don't fit.
Thank you for your letter. You did a very necessary thing.
Come on.
I suppose we should get in practice for the wedding.
A best man, a bridesmaid.
I'm not going to the wedding.
Neil.
Been offered a partnership on a ranch in California.
Have to be there to sign the papers, next week.
Nobody said.
Nobody knows, yet.
Do you hate England, Neil?
Do you hate us?
England's okay.
You're okay.
It's me. Just all wrong here.
Put those flowers in the bathroom for the night, will you?
And put that card in the bedside drawer.
He sulks if I don't keep every single one.
You don't love him at all, Rose, do you?
No, I don't believe I do.
It's a shame, really.
He wears me out.
Every second of every minute of every hour together...
...he wants and wants and wants to be loved with every fiber of his being.
I can't explain it.
You explain it very well.
Do you want me to tell him for you?
Tell him what?
I'm still going to marry him.
That's a wicked, wicked, wicked thing to do!
More wicked than helping me make that ludicrous crinoline dress?
More wicked than taking Neil for a swim so Simon could propose?
It was like something in a book, a game. It wasn't real!
Oh, grow up, Cassandra.
You've had meat on the table every day for weeks. That's real.
You've got silk stockings and French perfume...
...should you get the nerve to use them.
Use them? For what?
To trap a kind, good, sensitive man into marriage and destroy him?
Cassandra.
You're in love with him.
- With who? - Simon.
My fiance.
That is all we need.
Do you think I wouldn't give him up?
Do you think I wouldn't throw it in his face if he'd have you instead?
- I know you wouldn't. - I know he wouldn't.
He thinks you're just a funny little girl.
I am not greedy, Cassandra. I am not selfish!
I'm not just doing this for myself!
Don't go. You mustn't go.
What will I tell everyone in the morning when you aren't here?
You're already living a lie.
Tell them what the bloody hell you like, then go into your bathroom...
...and count your peach-colored towels.
We have played too many games with love.
And I don't know any of the rules.
I wanted Rose to marry into money.
I willed her to fall in love with Simon, and then wanted it all undone...
...because I was jealous.
I have betrayed her, and I hate myself...
...because I love my sister.
That'll be 3 and 11 plus sixpence for admittance of dog.
Sixpence?
They're banned. It's a fine.
I've lost my purse.
You should've thought about that before you ordered cutlets.
I'll be waiting by the door.
And I want my pencil back.
Will you let me help you?
Could you just lend me twopence for the telephone?
- Hello? - Can I speak to Stephen Colly?
It's Cassandra here.
Do you know what time it is?
I was offered that part in the film.
Will you take it?
Haven't decided.
Are you unhappy with me?
I'm unhappy with myself and Rose.
Rose is a bad girl.
In what way?
She's just a bad girl. A lot of women are.
Sometimes we're bad without meaning to be.
You're not a woman yet.
Unlike Leda.
She's been very good to me...
...but I don't love her.
I love you.
I know.
When we were in the woods, I wondered if you loved me too.
I'm really sorry.
Is it Neil or Simon?
Which one are you in love with?
Simon.
Cassandra.
And it really, really hurts.
Marry me.
I can make it hurt less. I can earn good money now.
I don't love you, Stephen.
I don't love you.
It's like some hideous party game.
Everybody's dancing, and nobody's getting the prize they want...
...because it's all thirdhand and second best.
I can't bear it.
Father?
You've seen enough.
What is all this about, Father?
Elizabeth believes that an author must allow his material to marinate...
...to become seasoned and tempered before it can be worked with.
Elizabeth Cotton doesn't believe you'll ever write another word.
No, you don't believe. I've been working very hard.
You've hypnotized us all into turning a blind eye, Father.
We accepted everything you did. We let you lock yourself away.
For me, secrecy has been the essence of creation.
And what have you created, Father?
In the last 12 years, what have you created beyond poverty and despair?
I'm the head of this household. I'm entitled to respect.
You aren't respected, you're indulged.
Why don't you just write something?
I lost my temper. I'm not myself.
This is yourself. This is why you went to prison.
- This is what you did to Mother. - No, Cassandra, it is not.
Do you think we can't remember because we never talk about it?
I'm not gonna discuss it with you.
We need Topaz.
You've driven her away.
You've driven everyone away.
Except you.
I'm staying here.
I'm going to sit in this chair and watch you...
...and wait until you've written something down.
Your mother used to do that.
Oh, Father.
This is worse than prison, and it might go on forever.
I have to talk to you, Mr. Cotton, before it's too late.
Writing somewhere new can be inspiring.
Come on.
Where are you going?
I think this might unlock you.
Supplies.
What?
We'll let you out when you've finished 50 pages.
Fifty pages? It took me a year to write 50 pages of Jacob Wrestling.
It's really good that you're feeling so angry. Harness the rage.
Just write, "The cat sat on the mat." Lt'll be a start.
What the bloody hell do you think you're...?
Don't you dare leave me here, you bastard rats.
Come back here.
Come back here, I tell you.
Listen to him. Can you hear him?
Yes.
I have done a terrible thing.
I have put my father back in prison.
It may be the end of him.
- Is Rose here? - No.
She's run away.
Do you know where she might've gone?
"I love you. Stop. Don't hate me. Stop. Rose."
It's from Walberswick.
Let's go.
We had a fight the night I was in London.
I said some terrible things to her.
Not everything in the world is your fault, Cassandra.
Not everything in the world is your responsibility.
I would've liked for you to have seen a proper sunrise.
This is a crisis, Simon, not a treat.
It's where we had the barbecue...
...the day when Neil said, "Have you ever seen such a change in a girl?"
She was being herself, that was the only difference.
She was happy here.
That's what brought her back.
There's a light on at the inn now.
Neil's here too.
They haven't had time to get married.
They hate each other.
We're going for a swim.
And I knew then that this was love...
...because my heart was breaking for him.
- The rest will come. - What if it never does?
I don't know.
- You look so tired. - Do I?
Do you think I don't notice things?
You never say.
I'm not as articulate as I pretend.
For a while, the whole world thought otherwise, and I was ashamed...
...to be so mute in things that mattered and to be called a genius.
You are a genius.
I'm an ordinary man, and I'm not invincible.
- You haven't failed. - I failed your mother.
I knew she was ill, Cassandra.
I knew when I went for her with the cake knife, and so did she.
Don't tell me.
She had said...
She had said I didn't care.
She accused me of lacking tenderness.
And she was right.
I couldn't make her secure.
I couldn't make her feel loved.
Even when she was dying.
Don't cry. Don't cry.
What good are words on a page?
What good is anything if a man can't open his heart and let himself out?
I would give every word I ever wrote to have this moment with her.
She would like that.
Would she forgive me?
She would say she understood.
Have I failed you, Cassandra?
I'm 18.
I can't see it somehow.
I don't expect you to forgive me.
I know that.
I thought I was gonna lose you again.
I wouldn't let that happen.
It's good we can be civilized.
Yes, Mother's pleased about that.
You see, I saw Neil kissing her the night he lied about the bear.
I saw Rose kiss him back too.
Was that before she slapped his face or after?
She never slapped his face.
I went to his hotel because I believed things would come right...
...if just one person told the truth.
Rose has never been so happy in her life.
I didn't do it for Rose.
I did it for you...
...so you could have Simon.
Can we get a move on, please?
This way, everyone. Come along.
See you in the cab.
I'm scared, Cassie.
You're in love.
You know I'm telling the truth this time, don't you?
I know.
I want you to be this happy, Cassandra.
I want you to know what this feels like.
I know I'm supposed to throw it...
...but it's only got a bit of ribbon. I'm afraid it might fall apart.
Or you'll miss, and Mrs. Cotton will catch it.
And so my sister departed for the New World.
Just knock.
Read this.
You don't need me.
I do.
Come home.
And now our lives seem full of possibility.
Work on the novel continues.
Passages are being published in a highbrow magazine.
Topaz, get yourself up here, woman. Now.
"The cat sat on the mat" was not a nonsense.
It concerns a child who is learning to read...
...and is symbolic of a journey towards understanding.
The key to all knowledge comes in words of just one syllable...
...apparently.
Hello? Hello, anybody home?
I'm planning an essay on your father's work after the excerpts are published.
The whole novel could take time. Things have to be kept alive.
I suppose you mean Father's reputation.
I mean everything I've come to love here.
England matters too much. I'll never give it up.
Even if you go back to America?
Even when.
I wish I could take you with me.
Would you come?
Would you?
Not if you're still in love with Rose.
How can you be, Simon, after everything she did?
Because I don't have a choice. Love is like that.
Do you think I don't know love is like that?
I'm sorry.
We could be good companions, Cassandra.
We could read poetry together...
...I could play you music...
...you'd make me laugh.
Wouldn't that be a nice little life?
It wouldn't be enough.
- I don't ask for ecstasy. - I mean, enough for me.
Simon, I don't want to go through life like my mother...
...afraid that I'm not really loved.
Even if it meant I could go through life with you.
I can understand that.
You know...
...l'd love to see America one day...
...should circumstances ever prove favorable.
I will come back.
They're just not favorable now.
You were always wise beyond your years.
No, I wasn't.
I used to be consciously naive.
Perhaps he meant it. Perhaps he will come back.
But everything feels fractured, and my heart is bruised.
Still, better all that hurt than to have known no pain...
...learnt nothing.
There's only the last page left to write on.
I'll fill it with words of just one syllable.
I love.
I have loved.
I will love.