(BELLS RINGING)
Please?
Very well.
(DOORBELL RINGING)
Master Ronnie!
Hello, Violet.
Why, good gracious! We weren't expecting you back till Tuesday.
Yes, I know.
Why ever didn't you let us know you were coming, you silly boy?
Your mother should have been at the station to meet you.
Ooh, I'll get Cook to help me with this trunk.
How ever did you get it here?
The taxi-man carried it.
Taxi-man? You took a taxi?
-All by yourself? -Yes.
Well, I don't know what little boys are coming to, I'm sure.
What your father and mother will say, I don't know.
Where are they, Violet?
Why, church, of course.
(SOFTLY) Oh, yes.
It's Sunday, isn't it?
What's the matter with you?
What have they been doing to you at Osborne?
What do you mean?
Well, they seem to have made you a bit soft in the head, or something.
(BOTH CHUCKLING)
Well?
Yes?
Don't I get a kiss or are you too grown up for that now?
-Oh, sorry, Violet. -(CHUCKLING)
That's better.
My, what a big boy you're getting!
Quite a little naval officer, aren't you?
Yes, that's right.
Oh, well, I must be getting on.
ARTHUR: I thought it was a perfectly adequate sermon, Richard.
Not quite up to his usual standard.
He's so old, dear.
From the back of the church, you really can't hear a word he says.
ARTHUR: Well, he's a good man, Grace.
What's the use of being good if you're inaudible?
A problem in ethics for you, Father.
There's a draught, Grace.
Oh, dear.
I'm on Mother's side.
The old boy's so doddery now he can hardly finish the course at all.
It's coming on to rain.
I timed him today.
It took him 75 seconds dead from a flying start to reach the pulpit
and then he needed the whip coming around the bend.
I call that pretty bad going.
I'm afraid I don't think that's very funny, Richard.
Oh! Don't you, Father?
Doddery as Mr Jackson may seem now,
I very much doubt if, when he was at Oxford, he failed in his pass mods.
Dash it, Father. You promised not to mention that again this vac.
You did, you know, Arthur.
Yes, but there was a condition to my promise, if you remember.
Dickie should provide me with reasonable evidence of his intentions to work.
And to my certain knowledge,
you've not yet done one single stroke so far this vacation.
Oh.
Well, I do work awfully fast, you know, once I get down to it.
Oh, indeed? That assumption is hardly based on experience, I take it.
Dash it, Father! You are laying into me this morning.
If you are going into your room, I suggest you take that object with you.
Out of place in a drawing room.
(SIGHING)
It might help you to concentrate on the work you're going to do this afternoon.
That is out of the question, I'm afraid.
Oh. Indeed. Why?
I have an engagement with Ms Gardner.
On a Sunday afternoon?
You're escorting her to the National Gallery, no doubt.
No. The Victoria and Albert Museum, actually.
(RAIN PATTERING)
Oh, dear. It's simply pelting.
By the way, I've told John to come early for lunch
so that he can have a few words with Father first.
Good idea.
I hope you've been primed, have you, Father?
Hmm?
You do know what you're going to say to John, don't you?
(SIGHS) Oh.
I hope you're not going to let me down and forbid the match or anything,
because I warn you, if you do, I shall elope.
(SCOFFING)
Never fear, my dear.
I shall be only too glad to get you off our hands, at last.
I'm not sure I like that "at last."
Do you love him, dear?
John? Yes, I do.
You're such a funny girl. You don't behave as if you're in love.
How does one behave as if one's in love?
You don't talk about him very much, do you?
No, I suppose I don't.
I don't believe you modern girls have the feelings our generation did.
It's this New Woman attitude.
Very well, Mother.
I love John in every way that a woman can love a man,
and far, far more than he loves me.
-Does that satisfy you? -(STUTTERING)
I didn't ask for anything quite like that.
-What are you laughing at, Arthur? -(LAUGHING)
There's one up to the New Woman.
Nonsense, she misunderstood me. That's all.
Oh, dear, just look at the rain.
Oh, look! There's someone in our garden.
Over there, did you see?
No.
He's just gone behind that bush. It was a boy, I think.
Probably Mrs Williamson's awful, little Dennis.
Well, whoever it is must be getting terribly wet.
Why can't he stick to his own garden?
(DOORBELL RINGING)
(WHISPERING) Is that John?
(WHISPERING) Yes. It's John.
-Quick. Into the dining room. -(CLEARING THROAT)
(WHISPERING) Oh, here! You've forgotten your bag.
What on earth is going on?
We're leaving you alone for a few minutes with John.
When you're finished, cough or something.
What do you mean "or something?"
I know. You can knock on the floor with your stick three times.
Then we'll come in.
You don't think that might look a trifle coincidental?
(SHUSHING)
Mr Watherstone.
How do you do, John? Very glad to see you.
How do you do, sir?
Yes, forgive me for not getting up
but my arthritis has been troubling me rather a lot, lately.
I'm very sorry to hear that, sir. Catherine told me it was better.
Yes, it was, for a time. Now it's worse again.
Ah, thank you, sir.
Oh, do you... Do you smoke?
Yes, sir, I do.
Thank you.
In moderation, of course.
Yes, of course.
Ah! Thank you, sir.
Well, now, I understand you wish to marry my daughter.
Yes, sir. That is, I've proposed to her
and she's done me the honour of accepting me.
Oh, I see.
I trust, that when you corrected yourself,
that your second statement wasn't a denial of your first?
I mean, you really do wish to marry her?
Well, of course, sir.
Why, of course?
There are plenty of people about who don't wish to marry her.
Oh, I meant "of course" because I proposed to her.
Yes, well, that doesn't necessarily follow, either.
(SIGHING) However, we don't need to quibble.
We'll take the sentimental side of the project for granted.
As to the more practical aspects,
perhaps you won't mind if I ask you one or two rather personal questions?
Naturally not, sir. It's your duty.
Yes, quite so.
Now, your income. Are you able to live on it?
No, sir. I'm in the regular army.
Ah, yes, of course.
But my army pay is supplemented by an allowance from my father.
Ah, yes. So I understand.
Now, your father's allowance would be, I take it, about £24 a month?
Yes, sir, that's exactly right.
So that your total income, with your subaltern's pay and allowances,
plus your father's allowance, would be, I take it about £400 a year?
-Again, exactly the figure. -Hmm.
Well...
Well, it all seems perfectly satisfactory.
I really don't think I need delay my congratulations any longer.
Thank you, sir, very much.
Very good of you to be so frank and informative.
Not at all.
Your answers to my questions deserve an equal frankness from me
concerning Catherine's own affairs.
Oh! I'm afraid she's not, in case you thought otherwise,
the daughter of a rich man.
I didn't think otherwise, sir.
But I propose to settle on her one sixth of my total capital,
which worked out to the final fraction, is £833 6s 8d.
But let's deal in round figures, shall we, and say £850.
I call that very generous, sir.
Well,
it's not as generous as I would have liked to have been, I'm afraid
but as my wife would say, "Beggars can't be choosers."
Exactly, sir.
If you're agreeable to the arrangement,
I don't think we need discuss anything further.
-No, sir. -Well, splendid. (CHUCKLES)
Pretty ghastly, this weather, isn't it?
Oh, vile. Vile!
Excuse me. No, no, no, no.
Well, imagine that.
My wife and daughter are in here, of all places.
Come in, Grace. Come in, Catherine. John's here.
Why, John! How nice.
My, you do look swell!
Doesn't he, Kate, darling?
Yes. Quite one of the nuts.
Well?
Well, what?
How did your little talk go?
I understood that you weren't supposed to know we were having a little talk.
Oh, you are infuriating.
Is everything all right, John?
(SQUEALING) I'm so glad. I really am.
Thank you very much, Mrs Winslow.
May I kiss you? After all, I am practically your mother now.
Yes, of course.
Well, I, by the same token, am practically your father,
-but if you'll forgive me... -Certainly, sir.
Grace, I think we might allow ourselves a little modest celebration at luncheon?
Could you find me the keys of the cellar?
GRACE: Hmm?
Oh, yes, dear.
I don't suppose you two will mind
being left alone for a few minutes, will you?
Oh, was it an ordeal?
I was scared to death.
Oh, my poor darling.
The annoying thing was,
I had a whole lot of neatly-turned phrases ready for him,
and he wouldn't let me use them.
What about your father? How did he take it?
-All right. -Oh, I bet he didn't.
Oh, yes. He's been wanting me to get married for years.
Getting worried about grandchildren, I suppose.
He disapproves of me, doesn't he?
No. Whatever makes you think that?
He has a way of looking at me through his monocle that shrivels me up.
All colonels look at one like that, darling.
Anyway, what about the way your father looks at me?
Tell me, are all the family as scared of him as I am?
I'm not. Ever.
But you're not scared of anything, are you?
Oh, yes. Heaps of things.
Such as?
They're nearly all concerned with you.
Well, you might be a little more explicit.
RONNIE: Kate?
CATHERINE: Ronnie!
Ronnie, what on earth are you doing...
Where's Father?
-I'll go and tell him... -No, don't!
Kate, don't.
What's the trouble, Ronnie?
You're wet through. You'd better go and change.
No!
What's the trouble, darling? You can tell me.
You know John Watherstone. You met him last holidays, don't you remember?
I'll disappear.
In the dining room. Do you mind?
Now, tell me, darling, what is it?
-Have you run away? -No.
(CHUCKLING) What is it, then?
Oh, God!
I didn't do it, Kate. Really, I didn't.
No, darling.
This letter is addressed to Father. Did you open it?
Yes.
You shouldn't have done that, Ronnie.
I was going to tear it up.
-Kate, shall we tear it up, now? -No, darling.
We could tell Father term had ended two days sooner.
-No, darling! -I didn't do it, Kate.
Really, I didn't.
Oh, hello, Ronnie, old lad. How's everything?
You knew he was here?
Oh, yes. His trunk and things are all over our room.
-Trouble? -Yes.
I'm sorry.
No, look, you stay here with him. I'll find Mother.
All right.
What's up, old chap?
Nothing.
Come on, tell me.
It's all right.
Have you been sacked?
Oh, bad luck. What for?
-I didn't do it. -No, of course you didn't.
-Honestly, I didn't! -It's all right, old chap.
No need to go on about it. I believe you.
You don't!
Well, I don't know what it is they've sacked you for, yet.
Stealing.
Is that all? Good Lord, I didn't know they sacked chaps for that these days.
-Ronnie! -Mother!
There, darling. It's all right, now.
-(CRYING) I didn't do it, Mother. -No, darling, of course you didn't.
We'll go upstairs now, shall we, and get out of these nasty, wet things.
-Don't tell Father. -No, darling. Not yet, I promise.
Come along, now. Your new uniform, too. What a shame!
I'd better go and keep cavey for them.
Ward off the old man if he looks like going upstairs.
I say, who's going to break the news to him, eventually?
-Someone'll have to. -Don't let's worry about that now.
You can count me out.
In fact, I don't want to be within 1,000 miles of that explosion.
-Dickie, don't... -(SHUSHING)
Bad news?
Yes.
That's rotten for you. I'm awfully sorry.
-Expelled, I suppose? -Yes.
What's he supposed to have done?
-Stolen some money. -Oh.
How will your father take it?
It might kill him.
(DOORBELL RINGING)
Oh, Lord! It's Desmond. I'd completely forgotten.
-Who? -Desmond Curry, our family solicitor.
Darling, you will be nice to him, won't you?
Why? Am I usually so rude to your guests?
No. But... Well, he doesn't know about us yet.
Who does?
He's been in love with me for years. It's a family joke.
Mr Curry.
-Hello, Desmond. -Hello.
I don't think you know John Watherstone.
No, but I've heard a lot about him.
How do you do?
Well, I hope I'm not too early.
No, no, dead on time, as always, Desmond.
Capital, capital.
I hear I'm to congratulate you both.
-You know? -Violet told me just now in the hall.
Only this morning. Fancy.
Oh. Hello, Desmond, dear.
Hello, Mrs Winslow.
-I got him to bed. -Good.
-Nobody ill, I hope? -Oh, no, no. Nothing wrong at all.
Grace, dear. When did we last have the cellar seen to?
-I can't remember, dear. -Well, it's in a shocking condition.
Oh, hello, Desmond. How are you?
You're not looking well.
Am I not? I've strained my shoulder, you know.
Well, if you will play these ridiculous games of yours.
Resign yourself to the onrush of middle age
and abandon them, my dear Desmond.
I couldn't do that, not give up cricket. Not absolutely.
Are you any relation of D.W.H. Curry who used to play for Middlesex?
I am D.W.H. Curry.
Good Lord! Do you know you used to be a schoolboy hero of mine?
Did I?
You rang, sir?
Yes. Fetch some glasses, would you, Violet?
Very good, sir.
Absolutely extraordinary.
I should've recognised him when he came in.
Yes, I thought we'd try a little of the Madeira before luncheon.
Desmond, we were celebrating, you know.
Yes, indeed. Wonderful news, isn't it?
I would gladly drink a toast to the...
Happy pair, I think, is the phrase that is eluding you, Desmond.
As a matter of fact, I was looking for something new to say.
A forlorn quest, my dear Desmond.
Oh, really, Arthur, you mustn't be quite so rude.
I only meant, naturally, that no one,
with the possible exception of Voltaire,
could find anything new to say about an engaged couple.
Ah, Dickie, you're just in time for a glass of Madeira
in celebration of Kate's engagement to John.
Is that all finally spliced up, now? Kate definitely being withdrawn to stud?
-(VIOLET LAUGHING) -Dickie!
Yes, quite so. I should have added just now,
with the possible exception of Voltaire and Dickie Winslow.
There they are, Violet. Take those around.
Yes, sir.
I'll just take mine.
Thank you, Violet.
Are we allowed to drink our own healths?
ARTHUR: I think it's permissible.
GRACE: No. No, you mustn't. It's bad luck.
We defy augury. Don't we, Kate?
You mustn't say that, John, dear.
I know. You can drink each other's healths. That's all right.
Are my wife's superstitious terrors finally allayed?
Good. Catherine and John.
-Catherine and John. -Catherine and John.
Oh, we mustn't leave you out, Violet. No, you must join this toast.
Oh, well! Thank you, sir.
Not too much, sir, please. Just a sip.
Your reluctance would be more convincing
if I hadn't noticed that you brought an extra glass.
Oh, I didn't bring it for meself, sir.
I brought it for Master Ronnie.
Ms Kate and Mr John.
You brought an extra glass for Master Ronnie?
Well, I thought you might allow him just a sip, sir.
Just to drink the toast. He's that grown up these days.
Master Ronnie doesn't come back from Osborne until Tuesday, Violet.
Oh, no, sir. He's back already.
Come back unexpectedly this morning, all by himself.
No, that's not true, Violet. There must be some mistake.
Somebody's playing a joke.
I saw him with me own two eyes, sir, as large as life,
just before you come in from church.
And then I heard Mrs Winslow talking to him in his room.
Grace, what does this mean?
All right, Violet. You can go.
Yes, miss.
Did you know Ronnie was back?
Yes, Father.
And you, Dickie?
Yes, Father.
Grace?
We thought it best that you shouldn't know for the time being.
-Shouldn't? -Well, only for the time being, Arthur.
Is the boy ill?
Tell me, someone. Is the boy very ill?
Why must I be kept in the dark like this?
Surely, if he's ill, I must be with him.
No, Father, he's not ill.
Will someone please tell me what has happened?
He brought this letter for you, Arthur.
Read it to me.
-Arthur, not in front of... -Read it to me, please.
"Confidential.
"I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
"to inform you that they have received a communication
"from the Commanding Officer of the Royal Naval College at Osborne,
"reporting the theft of a five shilling postal order
"at the college on the 7th instant,
"which was afterwards cashed at the post office.
"Investigation of the circumstances of the case
"leaves no other conclusion possible than that the postal order
"was taken by your son, Cadet Ronald Arthur Winslow.
"My Lords deeply regret that they must therefore request you
"to withdraw your son from the college."
It's signed by someone. I can't quite read his name.
Desmond, would you be good enough to call Violet?
Violet, would you ask Master Ronnie to come down and see me?
Arthur, he's in bed.
You told me he wasn't ill.
He's not at all well.
-Do as I say, Violet. -Very good, sir.
Perhaps the others would like to go into luncheon?
Grace, would you take them in.
Arthur, don't you think you should leave it for the morning?
Dickie, would you decant the bottle of claret I brought up from the cellar?
Yes, Father.
Would you go in, Desmond? And John?
Arthur.
Yes, Grace.
Please don't...
What must I not do?
Please don't forget he's only a child.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Come in.
Come in, then shut the door.
Come over here.
Why aren't you in your uniform?
It got wet.
How did it get wet?
I was out in the garden in the rain.
Why?
I was hiding.
From me?
Do you remember once, you promised me
that if ever you were in any trouble, of any sort,
you would come to me first?
Yes, Father.
Why didn't you come to me now?
Why did you have to go and hide in the garden?
I don't know, Father.
Are you so frightened of me?
In this letter, it says you stole a postal order.
I don't want you to say anything until you've heard what I've got to say.
If you did it, you must tell me.
I shan't be angry with you, Ronnie, provided you tell me the truth.
But if you tell me a lie, I shall know it, Ronnie,
because a lie between you and me can't be hidden.
I shall know it, Ronnie, so remember that before you speak.
Now,
did you steal this postal order?
(SHUDDERING)
No, Father, I didn't.
Did you steal this postal order?
No, Father, I didn't.
Go on back to bed.
And I trust that, in future, a son of mine
will at least have enough sense to come in out of the rain.
Yes, Father.
(DOOR CLOSING)
-It's The Daily News, sir. -Um?
(INHALING SHARPLY)
-This way, please. -Oh.
Thank you.
The Daily News.
Ah! Mr Winslow.
So good of you to see me.
How do you do?
You're surprised to see a lady reporter. I know. Everyone is.
But after all, why not? What could be more natural?
What, indeed, yes.
-Pray, sit down. -Ah.
My paper usually sends me out on stories which have a special appeal to women.
Stories with a little heart, you know.
Like this one.
A father's fight for his little son's honour.
Yes, I venture to think this case has rather wider implications than that.
Oh, yes, the political angle, I know.
Very interesting, but not quite my line of country.
And, now, what I'd really like to do
is to get a picture of you and your little boy together.
I brought my assistant and camera, they're in the hall.
Um... Where is your little boy?
My son is arriving home from school in a few moments.
His mother has gone to the station to meet him.
From school? How interesting.
So you managed to get a school to take him?
I mean, they didn't mind the...unpleasantness?
No.
And why is he coming back this time?
He hasn't been expelled again, if that's what you're implying.
He's returning in order to be interviewed by Sir Robert Morton,
whom we are hoping to brief.
Sir Robert Morton?
Exactly.
But... Do you really think he'd take a little case like this?
It is not a little case, madam.
No, no, of course not.
But, still, Sir Robert Morton!
I understand he's the best advocate in the country.
Certainly the most expensive.
Oh, yes. I suppose if one's prepared to pay his fee,
one could get him for almost any case.
Once more, madam, this is not "almost any case".
Oh, no, no, of course not.
Well, I wonder if you'd mind giving me a few small details?
When did it all start?
Nine months ago.
The first I learned of the matter
was when my son arrived home with a letter from the Admiralty
informing me of his expulsion.
I telephoned Osborne to protest
and was referred by them to the Lords of the Admiralty.
My solicitors then took the matter up
and demanded, from the Admiralty, the fullest possible enquiry.
Well, for weeks we were ignored. Then met with a blank refusal.
And only finally
got reluctant permission to view the evidence.
-Really? -Hmm.
Now, it happens that I have a plan...
Oh, what charming curtains. What are they made of?
Madam, I fear I have no idea.
-(DOOR BANGS) -(RONNIE CHATTERING DISTANTLY)
Do I hear the poor, little chap himself?
Hello, Father!
ARTHUR: Hello, Ronnie!
Mr Moore says I can stay till Monday if you like.
So that gives me three whole days.
-Yes, well mind my leg. -Oh, sorry, Father.
-How are you, my boy? -I'm absolutely top-hole!
Mama says I've grown an inch.
Ah, now that's exactly the way I'd like to take my picture.
Would you hold it, Mr Winslow?
All right, Fred, you can come in now, will you?
Who's she?
-Their time is valuable. -All right, all right.
-Good afternoon, all. -Now, that is the pose that I suggest.
FRED: Yes, it'll do.
Oh, Grace, dear, this lady is from the Daily News.
And she's extremely interested in your curtains.
-Oh, really, how nice. -BARNES: Yes, indeed.
I was wondering what they were made of?
Well, it's an entirely new material, you know.
I'm afraid I don't know what it...
Are we going to be in the Daily News?
It appears so.
(BOTH CHATTERING)
RONNIE: We get the Daily News in the school library
and everyone is bound to see it.
Keep quite still please.
That'll do, Miss Barnes.
BARNES: Thank you, Fred.
Well, goodbye, Mr Winslow.
And the very best of good fortune in your inspiring fight.
Goodbye, little chap.
Remember, the darkest hour is just before the dawn.
-Your bag. -Oh, silly me. Thank you so much.
And thank you so much for telling me all that, Mrs Winslow.
What is she talking about?
-Oh, the case, I imagine. -Oh, the case.
Well, Ronnie, I've had your half-term report.
Oh, yes.
Yes, on the whole it was, uh,
oh, pretty fair.
Oh, good. I say, Father, would it be all right for me to stay till Monday?
I mean, I won't be missing any work. Only divinity and...
Yes, mind my leg.
Oh. Sorry, Father. Is it bad?
Yes, it is.
Why don't you go upstairs and get yourself washed, eh?
Sir Robert will be here in a few minutes.
All right.
I say, Father, do you know how long the train took?
A hundred and twenty three miles in two hours, fifty two minutes.
Violet! Violet, I'm back!
What a charming woman, Arthur.
Yes, charming.
Did the doctor say anything to you?
A great deal.
And very little to the purpose.
Violet says he left an ointment for your back.
Four massages a day, is that right?
Yes, something of the kind.
I think you'd better have one now, hadn't you, Arthur?
No.
Oh, but, dear, you've got plenty of time before Sir Robert comes.
And if you don't have one now, you won't be able to have another one
before you go to bed.
Yes, precisely.
Oh, really, Arthur. What is the point of spending all this money on doctors
-if you won't do a thing they say? -(SIGHING)
-After all, how can you... -All right, Grace. All right, all right.
Thank you, dear.
(RONNIE SHOUTING)
Ronnie's back, judging by the noise.
I must say that old frock has come up very well.
John will never know it isn't brand new.
Hmm, he's late, curse him.
Grace, dear, you go on up and deal with Ronnie and prepare
the witch's brew for me. I'll come up when you're ready.
Very well, dear.
Oh, yes, that does look good. I must say, Madame Dupont is a treasure.
Oh, Kate, Kate.
Are we both mad, you and I?
What's the matter, Father?
Oh, I don't know, I suddenly feel suicidaly inclined.
A father's fight for his little boy's honour.
Of special interest to women. And a photo inset of Mrs Winslow's curtains.
Is there any hope for the world?
-I think there is, Father. -Hmm.
Should we drop the whole thing, Kate?
I don't consider that a serious question, Father.
You realise if we go on, your marriage settlement must go.
Oh, yes. I gave that up for lost weeks ago.
But things are all right between you and John, aren't they?
Yes, yes, everything's perfect.
I mean, this won't make any difference between you, will it?
No, no, everything's fine.
Very well then, we must pin our faith to Sir Robert Morton.
As I see I'm speaking only for myself in saying that.
You know what I think of Sir Robert Morton, Father.
Don't let's go into it again.
Anyway, it's too late.
It's not too late. He hasn't accepted the brief yet.
And I'm rather afraid I hope he never does.
And that has nothing to do with my marriage settlement either.
Well, I had enquiries about that chap you suggested,
and I'm told he's not nearly as good an advocate as Morton.
He's not nearly so fashionable, no.
But I want the best.
The best in this case certainly isn't Morton.
Then why does everyone say he is?
Because if one happens to be a large monopoly attacking a trade union
or a Tory paper libelling a Labour leader, he is the best.
But it utterly defeats me how you or anyone else
can expect a man of his record to have even a tenth of his heart in the case
where the boot is entirely on the other foot.
Well, if his heart isn't in it, he won't accept the brief.
It depends what there is in it for him. Luckily, there isn't much.
There's a fairly substantial cheque.
He doesn't want money. He must be a very rich man.
Well, then what does he want?
Anything that advances his interests.
I believe you're prejudiced against him because he spoke
against women's suffrage.
I am. I am prejudiced because he is always speaking against
what is right and just.
Did you read his speech in the House on the Trades Union Dispute Bill?
-Mmm-hmm. -Hmm.
GRACE: Arthur? Arthur?
Oh, well, in the words of the Prime Minister,
we must just wait and see.
You know, Kate, you're my only ally.
And without you, I think I'd have given up long ago.
-Nonsense. -No, it's true.
Still, you must sometimes allow me to make my own decisions.
I've got an instinct about Morton.
I'll just have to wait and see who's right.
My instinct or your reason. Hmm?
I'm rather afraid we will.
-Hello, Father. -Dickie.
Hello, Kate.
Hello, Dickie.
I say, you look a treat. New dress?
Is it likely? No, it's an old one I've had done up.
Where are you going to?
Bailey's. Dinner first at The Cri.
Nice. You, uh, wouldn't care to take me along with you, I suppose?
You suppose quite correctly.
Well, John wouldn't mind.
No, I dare say he wouldn't. But I would.
What's the matter?
Edwina jilted you or something?
-Haven't you heard? -No.
I'm being scratched from the Oxford stakes at the end of the year.
Oh, Dickie, I'm awfully sorry.
Did you know this was in the wind?
I knew there was a risk.
Well, you might have warned a fellow.
My gosh, I could just about murder that little brother of mine.
Why does he have to go about pinching postal orders for?
And why the hell does he have to get himself nabbed doing it,
-silly, little blighter. -Dickie.
(DOORBELL RINGING)
That'll be John.
Don't worry. I'll disappear.
It's all right, Violet. It's only Mr Watherstone.
-Hello. -Catherine.
Catherine Winslow, Sir Robert Morton.
Won't you come into the drawing room?
I'm sorry, I was expecting a friend.
Won't you sit down, Sir Robert? My father won't be long.
Won't you sit here, Sir Robert? It's much more comfortable.
No, thank you.
Sir Robert has an important dinner engagement so we came a little early.
-I see. -I'm afraid he can only spare us
a very few minutes of his most valuable time this evening.
It's a long way for him to come, so far from his chambers,
and very good of him to do it too, if I may say so.
Mmm, I can assure you we're all very conscious of it.
Well, perhaps you'd better advise your father of our presence then.
Yes, please do, Desmond. You'll find him in his bedroom having his leg rubbed.
Can I get you anything, Sir Robert?
A whisky and soda or a brandy?
No, thank you.
I hope you don't mind me smoking?
Why should I?
Some people find it shocking.
A young lady in her own house is surely entitled to behave as she chooses.
Won't you take your coat off?
No, thank you.
You find it cold in here. I'm sorry.
It's perfectly all right.
What time are you dining?
Eight o'clock..
Far from here?
Devonshire House.
Oh, I see. Then of course on no account must you be late.
No.
Sir Robert, my husband's so sorry to have kept you
but he is just coming.
That's perfectly all right. How do you do?
Sir Robert is dining at Devonshire House, Mother.
Oh, really? Oh, well, then you do have to be punctual, of course, I see that.
It is the politeness of princes, isn't it?
So they say.
In this case, the other way around, of course.
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)
Ah, I think I hear my husband on the stairs.
-Mmm. -I do hope Catherine entertained you.
Very well, thank you.
Ah, Sir Robert. I'm Arthur Winslow.
How do you do?
I understand you're rather pressed for time.
Yes, he's dining at Devonshire House.
Oh, are you indeed? Well, my son will be down in a few minutes.
I expect you'll wish to examine him?
Just a few questions.
I fear that's all I shall have time for this evening.
Well, I'm sorry to hear that.
My son's made the journey especially from school for this interview.
I had hoped that, by the end of it, I should know definitely yes or no
if you will accept the brief.
Well, perhaps Sir Robert will consent to finish the examination some other time.
-It might be arranged. -Oh, tomorrow.
Tomorrow's impossible. I'm in court all morning
then the House of Commons for the rest of the day.
If a further examination should prove necessary,
it will have to be sometime next week.
I see.
Will you excuse me if I sit down?
Curry has been telling me that you think it might be possible
to proceed by Petition of Right?
What's a Petition of Right?
Well, granting the assumption
that the Admiralty, as the Crown, can do no wrong...
I thought that was exactly the assumption we refuse to grant.
No, in law I mean. Now a subject can sue the Crown, nevertheless,
by Petition of Right.
Redress being granted as a matter of grace.
The custom is for the Attorney General, on behalf of the King,
to endorse the petition and allow the case to come to court.
It's interesting to note
that the exact words that he uses on such occasions are,
"Let right be done."
I like that phrase, sir.
It has a certain ring about it, has it not?
Hmm.
"Let right be done."
Oh, this is my son Ronald.
Ronnie, this is Sir Robert Morton.
How do you do, sir?
Sir Robert's going to ask you a few questions.
You must answer them all truthfully, as you always have.
I expect you'll want us to leave.
No. Provided, of course, you don't interrupt.
Ms Winslow, would you sit down, please?
Will you stand at the table?
Facing. That's right.
How old are you?
Fourteen and seven months.
You were then 13 and 10 months old when you left Osborne, is that right?
Yes, sir.
I want you to cast your mind back to the 7th of July of last year.
Will you tell me in your own words
exactly what happened to you on that day?
All right. Well, it was a half holiday,
so we didn't have any work after dinner.
Dinner?
Yes, at one o'clock. Until prep at seven.
Prep at seven?
-Yes. -(SIR MORTON CLEARING THROAT)
Just before dinner, I went to the Chief Petty Officer
and asked him to let me have 15 and 6.
And why did you do that?
I wanted to buy an air pistol.
Which cost 15 and 6?
Yes.
And how much money did you have in the college bank at that time?
Two pounds, three shillings.
So you see, sir, what possible incentive could there be
for stealing five shillings?
I must ask you to be good enough not to interrupt me, sir.
After you'd withdrawn the 15 and 6, what did you do?
I had dinner.
Then?
I went to the locker room and put the 15 and 6 away in my locker.
Yes, and then?
I went to get permission to go down to the post office.
Then I went to the locker room again, got out my money
and went down to the post office.
I see. Go on.
I bought my postal order.
For 15 and 6?
Yes. Then I went back to college and I met Elliot Minor.
And he said, "I say, isn't it rot, someone's broken into my locker
"and pinched a postal order. I've reported it to the P.O."
Those were Elliot Minor's exact words?
Well, he might have used another word for rot.
Oh, I see.
Carry on.
Well, then I was told to go along and see Commander Flower.
The woman from the post office was there.
The commander said, "Is this the boy?"
And she said, "It might be. I can't be sure.
"They all look so much alike."
She says she couldn't identify him.
Go on.
Well, then she said, "I only know that the boy who bought a postal order
"for 15 and 6 was the same boy that cashed one for five shillings."
So the commander said, "Did you buy a postal order for 15 and 6?"
And I said, "Yes." And they made me write Elliot Minor's name
on an envelope and compared it to the signature on the postal order.
Then they sent me to the sanatorium. And 10 days later, I was sacked.
I mean, expelled.
I see. (SIGHING)
Did you cash a postal order belonging to Elliot Minor for five shillings?
No, sir.
Did you break into his locker and steal it?
No, sir.
And that is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Right.
When the commander asked you to write Elliot's name on an envelope,
uh, how did you write it?
Christian name or initials?
Oh, I wrote Charles K. Elliot.
Charles K. Elliot?
Did you happen to see the forged postal order in the commander's office?
Oh, yes, the commander showed it to me.
Before or after you had written Elliot's name on the envelope?
After.
After?
And did you happen to notice how Elliot's name was signed
on the postal order?
Yes, sir, the same.
The same? Charles K. Elliot?
Yes, sir.
When you wrote on the envelope,
what made you choose that particular form?
That was the way he usually signed his name.
How did you know?
Well, he was a friend of mine.
That's no answer. How did you know?
I'd seen him sign things.
-What things? -Well, ordinary things.
I repeat, what things?
-Bits of paper. -Bits of paper?
Why would he sign his name on bits of paper?
-I don't know. -You do know.
Why did he sign his name on bits of paper?
He was practising his signature.
And you saw him?
Yes.
And he knew that you saw him?
Well, yes.
In other words, he showed you exactly how he signed his signature?
Yes, I suppose he did.
And did you practise writing it yourself?
-I might have done. -What do you mean, you might have done?
-Did you or did you not? -Yes.
-Ronnie, you never told me that. -It was only for a joke!
Never mind whether it was for a joke or not,
the fact remains that you practised forging Elliot's signature.
-It wasn't forging! -Well, what do you call it?
Writing.
Very well. Writing.
And whoever stole that postal order and cashed it
also wrote Elliot's signature, didn't he?
Well, yes.
And, oddly enough, in the exact form
in which you had earlier been practising writing his signature.
I say, which side are you on?
Don't be impertinent.
Are you aware that the Admiralty sent the forged postal order
up to Mr Rigley Pierce,
the greatest handwriting expert in England?
Yes.
And you know that Mr Rigley Pierce
affirmed beyond any doubt that the signature
you wrote on the envelope and the signature on the postal order
were by one and the same hand?
Yes.
And you still deny that you forged that signature?
Yes, I do.
In other words, Mr Rigley Pierce doesn't know his job?
Well, he's wrong, anyway.
(SIGHING)
When you went to the locker room, were you alone?
-I don't remember. -Oh, I think you do.
Were you alone in the locker room?
Yes, I think so.
And you knew which was Elliot's locker?
Yes, of course.
Why did you go there at all?
I've told you, to put the 15 and 6 away.
Why?
-I thought it would be safer. -Why safer than in your pocket?
I don't know.
Why this sudden concern for its safety?
I tell you, I don't know!
Surely, it was a very odd thing to do, wasn't it?
It would be perfectly safe in your pocket.
Why did you suddenly feel impelled to go and put it in your locker?
I don't know!
Was it because you knew you'd be alone in the locker room at that time?
No!
Where was Elliot's locker in relation to yours?
Next to it but one.
Next but one.
And what time did Elliot put his postal order in his locker?
I don't know. I didn't even know he had a postal order in his locker.
I didn't know he had a postal order at all.
And yet you say he was a great friend of yours?
Well, he didn't tell me he had one.
How very secretive of him.
What time did you go down to the locker room?
I don't remember.
Was is directly after dinner?
Yes, I...I think so.
And, uh, what did you do after you left the locker room?
I've told you. I went to get permission to go down to the post office.
Ah, what time was that?
About a quarter past two.
Dinner finishes at quarter to two.
That means you were alone in the locker room for half an hour?
-I wasn't there all that time. -How long were you there?
About five minutes.
Where were you for the other 25?
I don't remember.
It's odd that your memory is so very good about some things
and so very bad about others.
Perhaps, I waited outside the C.O.'s office.
Perhaps I waited outside the C.O.'s office,
and perhaps nobody saw you there either.
No, I don't think they did.
What were you doing outside the C.O.'s office for 25 minutes?
I don't even know if I was there. I can't remember.
Perhaps, I wasn't there at all.
No, perhaps you were still in the locker room, rifling Elliot's locker.
-Please, sir, I must protest. -Quiet!
I remember now.
I remember someone did see me outside the C.O.'s office.
A chap called Casey.
I remember I spoke to him.
What did you say to him?
I said, "Come down to the post office with me,
" I'm going to cash a postal order."
-Cash a postal order? -I mean get!
You said cash. Why did you say cash if you meant get?
I don't know.
-I suggest that cash is the truth. -You're muddling me!
You're very easily muddled.
How many other lies have you told?
None, really, I haven't!
I suggest that your whole testimony is a lie.
No, it's the truth!
I suggest that there is scarcely one word of truth in anything you've said.
-No! -Either to me, or the judge advocate,
or to the commander.
I suggest that you broke into Elliot's locker...
RONNIE: I didn't! It's not true.
...that you stole the postal order
belonging to Elliot for five shillings and that you cashed it by means
of forging his signature.
It's not true!
-I suggest you did it for a joke. -No!
Meaning to give the money back to Elliot, but then when you met him
and he told you that he already reported the matter, you got frightened
-and you decided to keep quiet. -No, it's not true!
I suggest that by continuing to deny your guilt,
you're causing great unhappiness to your family
and considerable inconvenience to high
and important people in this country. I suggest that the time has come for you,
at last, to undo a little of the misery that you have caused,
by confessing to us all, here and now...
No, it's not true!
...that you are a forger, a liar, and a thief!
-I'm not, I'm not, I'm not! -ARTHUR: This is outrageous, sir!
Darling, I'm late, I'm frightfully...
Can I drop you anywhere? My car's at the door.
-(RONNIE SOBBING) -No, I think.
Well, uh, send all this stuff around to my chambers tomorrow morning, will you?
But will you be needing it now?
Oh, yes. The boy is plainly innocent. I accept the brief.
Read all about five bob postal order case in the House of Commons.
Five bob postal order case in the House of Commons.
The chief point of criticism against the Admiralty
appears to centre in the purely legal question of the Petition of Right
brought by Mr Arthur Winslow and the Admiralty's demurrer thereto.
Sir Robert Morton has made great play with his eloquent reference
to the liberty of the individual menaced, as he puts it,
by the new despotism of bureaucracy.
And I was as moved as any honourable member opposite
by his resonant use of the words, "Let right be done."
Well, why don't you do it?
(CLAMOURING)
With which, in his opinion,
Attorney General should, without question,
have endorsed Mr Winslow's Petition of Right.
But the matter is not nearly as simple as he appears to imagine.
Cadet Ronald Winslow was a servant of the Crown
and therefore has no more right
than any other members of His Majesty's forces
to sue the Crown in open court.
MEN: Hear. Hear.
Allowing him to do so would undoubtedly raise the most dangerous precedence.
There's no doubt whatever in my mind that, in certain cases, private rights
may have to be sacrificed for the public good.
(CHEERING)
My poor, sleepy, little lamb.
It's long past his bedtime, Arthur.
Grace, dear, your poor, sleepy, little lamb is at this very moment
the subject of a very violent and heated discussion in the House of Commons.
So, I should have thought that under the circumstances he might have contrived
to have stayed awake a few minutes past his bedtime.
There's three more reporters in the hall, sir.
Want to see you very urgently. Shall I let them in?
No. I made a statement yesterday. Until the debate is over,
I have nothing more to say.
Well, yes, sir, that's what I told them but they won't go.
Well, make them. Use force, if necessary.
Yes, sir. And shall I cut some sandwiches for Miss Catherine?
She's missed her dinner.
Oh, yes, Violet. Good idea.
Yes, Ma'am.
(REPORTERS CLAMOURING)
No. No! No more statements.
REPORTER: We would like to enquire what has happened.
-Grace, dear? -Yes.
I fancy this might be a good opportunity of talking to Violet.
No, dear.
What? Meaning that you don't think it's a good opportunity?
Or that you have no intention of ever talking to Violet?
No, I'll do it one day, Arthur. Tomorrow, perhaps. Not now.
I believe you'll do better to grasp the nettle.
Delay only adds to your worries.
My worries? What do you know about my worries?
A great deal, Grace.
I feel there would be a lot lessened if you faced the situation squarely.
It's easy for you to talk, Arthur. You don't have to do it.
-Well, I will if you like. -No, dear.
Look, if you were to explain the dilemma to her carefully,
if you were even to show her those figures I jotted down for you yesterday,
I venture to think you won't find her unreasonable.
It won't be easy for her to find another job.
Oh, we'll give her an excellent reference.
Oh, that still won't alter the fact that she's never been properly trained
as a parlour maid.
And you know yourself how we're always having to explain her to people.
No, Arthur. I don't care what figures she's shown, it's a brutal thing to do.
Well, facts are brutal things.
Facts? I don't think I know what facts are any more.
Well, the facts at the moment are these.
We have half of the income we had a year ago
and we are living at approximately the same rate.
Now, whichever way you look at it, that's bad economics.
Oh, I'm not talking about economics, Arthur.
I'm talking about ordinary common or garden facts.
Things that we took for granted a year ago,
and which now just don't seem to matter any more.
Such as?
Ronnie's perfectly happy at a good school, doing very well.
No one need ever have known about Osborne, if you hadn't gone
and shouted it out to the whole world.
As it is, whatever happens now, he'll go the rest of his life as
the boy in the Winslow Case. The boy who stole the postal order.
The boy didn't steal the postal order.
Well, what's the difference?
When millions are talking and gossiping about him,
a did or didn't hardly matters.
The Winslow boy is bad enough.
You talk about sacrificing everything for him, Arthur,
but when he's grown up, he won't thank you for it.
Even though you've given your life to publish his innocence...
-Oh, is this... -Yes, Arthur, your life!
You talk daily about arthritis
and old age and a touch of gout and all the rest of it.
But you know as well as any of the doctors what really
is the matter with you.
You're destroying yourself, Arthur.
And me and the rest of the family besides.
And for what, I'd like to know?
I've asked you and Kate to tell me 100 times but you never can.
For what, Arthur?
For justice, Grace.
Well, that sounds very noble. Are you sure it's true?
Are you sure it isn't just plain pride
and self-importance and shear, brute stubbornness?
No, Grace, I don't think it is.
-I really don't think it is. -No.
This time I'm not going to cry and say I'm sorry and make it up again.
I can stand anything if there's a reason for it, Arthur.
But for no reason at all! It's unfair to ask it of me, Arthur.
-I... -It's unfair.
What's the matter, Father?
Oh, your mother's upset, that's all.
Why? Aren't things going well?
Oh, yes, yes. Yes, very well.
Very well indeed.
Ronnie, you'd better go up to bed. You'll feel more comfortable.
Sir.
Oh, thank you, Violet.
Violet?
Yes, sir?
How long have you been with us?
Oh, 24 years come April, sir.
As long as that?
Yes, sir. Miss Kate was that high when I first come
and Mr Dickie hadn't even been thought of.
I remember you coming to us, now.
(CHUCKLING) Yes, I remember it well.
Hmm.
Well...
What do you think of this case?
Oh, a fine, old rumpus that is, sir, and no mistake.
Yes, it is, isn't it? A fine, old rumpus.
When you think it's all because of our Master Ronnie.
Oh, I have to laugh about it sometimes. Really, I do.
(GIGGLES)
Wasting the government's time at his age, I never did. (GIGGLING)
Oh, well. Wonders will never cease.
Yes, wonders will never cease.
Well, will that be all, sir?
Yes, Violet, that'll be all. Thank you.
-Good evening, Violet. -Good evening, miss.
-Hello, Father. -Catherine.
An honourable member described that this evening
as a piteous little figure crying out to humanity for justice and redress.
(BOTH CHUCKLING)
I wish he could see him now.
It's long past his bedtime.
Well, what about the debate, hmm? Is it over?
As good as.
The First Lord gave an assurance
that, in future, there would be no inquiry at Osborne or Dartmouth
without informing the parents first.
And that seemed to satisfy most members.
What about our case? Are they going to give us a fair trial?
Apparently not.
But that's iniquitous! I thought he'd be forced to.
Well, I would've thought so, too,
but evidently the House thought otherwise.
-Will there be a division? -There may be.
But, if there is, the government will win.
What's the motion?
To reduce the First Lord's salary by £100.
And, naturally, nobody really wants to do that.
-Oh, are these for me? -Yes.
So we're back to where we started.
Seems like it.
The debate has done us no good at all.
Oh, I don't know. I think it's aired the case a little.
A few more thousand people will say to each other over breakfast,
"The boy ought to have been allowed a fair trial."
What's the good of that if they can't make themselves heard?
Oh, I think they can, given time.
Oh, yes, given time.
But didn't Sir Robert make any protest when the First Lord refused the trial?
Not a verbal protest, no.
No, something far more spectacular and dramatic.
-Oh? -He'd had his feet
on the Treasury table with his hat over his eyes
during most of the First Lord's speech.
Then, quite suddenly, he got to his feet very deliberately,
glared at the First Lord and threw a whole bundle of notes on the floor,
and stalked out of the House.
Oh, it made a magnificent effect.
If I hadn't have known, I would've thought he was genuinely indignant.
Of course, he was genuinely indignant. Any man of feeling would be.
Sir Robert is not a man of feeling.
I don't think any emotion at all can stir that fishy heart.
Except possibly a single-minded love of justice.
Nonsense. A single-minded love of Sir Robert Morton.
The man is a fish.
A cold-blooded, supercilious, sneering fish.
VIOLET: Sir Robert Morton.
Oh dear, something go down the wrong way?
May I assist?
Thank you.
Good evening, sir.
I thought I would call and give you an account of the day's proceedings,
but I see that your daughter's forestalled me.
You knew I was in the gallery?
In such a charming hat, how could I have possible missed you?
Oh, it was very good of you to call, nevertheless.
Oh, the case is belie, dormant.
-Ronnie, Ronnie... -No, no, no, no, no.
Pray do not disturb his innocent slumbers.
Innocent slumbers?
Exactly.
Besides, I feel that since our first encounter
he is rather pardonably a trifle nervous of me.
Would you betray a technical secret to me, Sir Robert?
What happened in that first cross-examination
that made you so sure of his innocence?
Three things.
First, he made far too many damaging admissions.
The guilty person would've been much more careful,
oh, very much more on his guard.
Secondly, I'd laid a trap for him.
And, thirdly, I gave him a loophole.
Anyone who was guilty would've fallen in the one,
and darted through the other. He did neither.
The trap was to ask him suddenly what time
Elliot put his postal order in the locker, wasn't it?
Yes.
And the, uh, loophole?
I then suggested to him
that he had stolen the postal order for a joke.
Which, had he been guilty,
he would surely have admitted as being the lesser of two evils.
ARTHUR: Ah!
Very cleverly thought out.
Thank you.
Well, can we offer you some refreshments, Sir Robert?
A whisky and soda?
No, thank you. Nothing at all, thank you.
My daughter's told me of your, uh, protest during the First Lord's speech.
She described it as magnificent.
Oh, did she?
That's very good of her.
Was the First Lord at all put out by it, did you notice?
Oh, how could he have failed to have been?
I wish you could've seen it, Father.
(CHUCKLING) It was quite...
When did this come?
Oh, a few minutes ago.
Why? Do you know the writing?
Yes.
Whose is it?
I shouldn't bother to open it, if I were you.
Will you forgive me?
Well, what do you think the next step should be, Sir Robert?
I've already been considering that, Miss Winslow.
And I think that, perhaps,
our best plan would be to renew our efforts
to get the Director of Public Prosecutions to act.
And do you think there's any chance of that?
Oh, yes.
It will chiefly be a question of making ourselves a considerable nuisance.
Well, we...seem to have done that
quite successfully so far, thanks to you.
That is perhaps the only quality that I was born with.
The ability to make a confounded nuisance of myself.
Father?
What?
We were discussing how to proceed with the case.
I'm afraid I think that, all things considered,
that really not very much purpose will be served by going on.
Of course we must go on!
It's not for you to choose, sir. The choice is mine.
-It would be insane to give up now. -Insane?
My sanity's already been called in question once this evening
for taking the case as far as I have.
Whatever the contents of that letter,
whatever has happened to have caused you to lose heart,
I insist that we continue the fight!
Oh, insist.
We...
It's my fight, sir.
My fight alone.
And it is for me to judge when the time has come to give up.
Give up? Why give up?
In heaven's name, man, why?
I've made many sacrifices for this case, Sir Robert.
Some of them I should not have made, but I made them nonetheless.
But there is a limit
and I've reached it.
I'm sorry, Sir Robert.
More sorry possibly than you.
The Winslow Case is now closed.
Balderdash!
My father doesn't mean what he says, Sir Robert.
I'm glad to hear it.
Perhaps, I should explain that this letter...
No, Kate.
Oh, Father, Sir Robert knows so much about our family affairs.
I'm sure it won't matter if he learns a little more.
This letter is from a certain Colonel Watherstone,
who is the father of the man I am engaged to.
We've always known he was opposed to the case.
So it really comes as no surprise.
In it, he says that our efforts
to discredit the Admiralty in the House of Commons today
have merely resulted in making the name Winslow a nationwide laughing stock.
I think that's the phrase he uses.
Yes, "A nationwide laughing stock..."
I don't care for his English.
No, it's not very good, is it?
He goes on to say that unless my father can give him an assurance to drop this
"whining and reckless agitation",
I suppose he means the case,
he will exert every bit of influence
he has over his son to prevent him marrying me.
I see.
An ultimatum.
Yes, but a pointless one.
He has no influence over his son?
Yes, but his son is of age and his own master.
Is he dependent on his father for money?
He has an allowance, but he can manage perfectly well.
We both can manage perfectly well without it.
Well, sir?
I'm afraid I can't go back on what I've already said.
Your daughter seems prepared to take the risk.
I am not, sir.
Not, at least, until I know how great a risk it is.
How do you estimate the risk, Miss Winslow?
Negligible.
I see.
May I have a cigarette too?
Yes, of course. I didn't think you smoked.
Thank you. Only occasionally.
I really must apologise for speaking to you as I did just now, sir.
It's quite unforgiveable.
Oh, no, not at all.
No, you were upset at giving up the case.
To be frank, I rather liked you for it.
It's been a rather trying day.
The House of Commons is a peculiarly exhausting kind of place, you know?
Too little ventilation and far too much hot air.
I really am most truly sorry.
Oh, please, please.
Of course, you must decide about the case as you wish.
That really is a most charming hat, Miss Winslow.
I'm glad you like it.
It seems decidedly wrong to me
that a young lady of your political persuasion
should be allowed to adorn herself with such a very feminine allurement.
It really does seem awfully like trying to have the best of both worlds.
I am not a militant, you know, Sir Robert.
I don't go around smashing shop windows with a hammer
or pouring acid down pillar boxes.
I'm glad to hear it.
Both those activities would be very unsuitable
in that hat.
Mr Watherstone's in the hall, miss.
He says he'd like to have a word with you in private.
(WHISPERING) Most particular.
Very well, I'll come out to him.
No, no.
See him in here.
I'm sure Sir Robert won't mind coming into the dining room for a few moments.
Not in the least.
All right, Violet.
Will you come in, sir?
-Hello, John. -Hello.
-Good evening, sir. -Good evening.
I don't think you know Sir Robert Morton.
No, I don't. How do you do, sir?
How do you do?
I think you offered me a whisky and soda?
Yes, indeed.
This way.
May I offer my very belated congratulations?
Congratulations?
Oh, yes. Thank you.
Is he asleep?
Yes.
Sure he's not shamming?
Yes.
My father's written your father a letter. I don't know...
Yes, I know. I've read it.
Oh.
Have you?
Yes. He showed it to me.
Well, what's his answer?
My father?
I don't suppose he'll send one.
You think he'll ignore it?
Well, isn't that the best way to answer blackmail?
Well, it was damned high-handed of the old man, I admit.
High-handed?
I tried to get him not to send it.
I'm glad.
The trouble is, he's perfectly serious.
I never had thought he wasn't.
If your father does decide to go on with the case,
I'm very much afraid he'll do everything he threatens.
Forbid the match?
Yes.
Isn't that rather an empty threat, John?
Well, there's always the allowance.
I see.
Yes, there's always the allowance.
I tell you, Kate, darling, this is going to need damned careful handling,
otherwise we're going to find ourselves in the soup.
And without your allowance, would we be in the soup?
And without your settlement?
Well, my dear old girl, of course we would!
Dash it all, I can't even live on my pay as it is, but with two of us.
I've heard it said that two can live as cheaply as one.
Don't you believe it!
Two can live as cheaply as two and that's all there is to it!
I see.
I didn't know.
Unlike you, Kate, I have a practical mind.
It is no use dashing blindly ahead without thinking of these things.
The problem has got to be faced.
I'm ready to face it, John.
What do you suggest?
Well, I think you should consider very carefully
before you take the next step.
I can assure you we will.
The question is, what is the next step.
Well, this is the way I look at it.
Now, I'm going to be honest, now. I hope you don't mind.
No, I would welcome it.
Your young brother there pinches or doesn't pinch
a five bob postal order.
For over a year, you and your father fight a magnificent fight on his behalf.
And I'm sure everyone admires you for it.
-But... -Uh, your father hardly seems to.
(SIGHS)
Well, he's a diehard, like all these old admirals you've been up against.
I meant ordinary, reasonable people, like myself.
But now, look, you've had two inquiries, the Petition of Right case,
which the Admiralty had thrown out of court, and the appeal.
And now, good heavens, you've had the entire House of Commons
getting themselves worked up into frenzy about it.
Surely that's enough for you?
My God, surely the case can end there?
Yes, yes, the case can end there.
He won't mind.
CATHERINE: No, I suppose he won't.
JOHN: Look at him. Perfectly happy and content, not a care in the world.
How do you know what's going on in his mind?
How can you be so sure he didn't do it?
I'm not so sure he didn't do it.
What? Then why, in heaven's name,
have you and your father spent all this time and money
trying to prove his innocence?
His innocence or guilt aren't important to me, John.
They are to my father, but not to me.
I believe he didn't do it, but I may be wrong.
All that I care about is that people should know
that a government department have ignored a fundamental human right
and that it should be forced to acknowledge it.
That's all that's important to me, John.
But it is terribly important.
But, darling, after all those long, noble words,
it does really resolve itself to a question
of a 14-year-old boy and a five bob postal order.
Doesn't it?
I suppose it does.
Well, now, look,
there's an European war blowing up,
there's a coal strike on,
there's a fair chance of civil war in Ireland,
and there's 101 other things on the horizon
that I think you could genuinely call important.
And yet, with all that on its menu, the House of Commons takes an entire day
to discuss him and his bally postal order.
Now, surely you must see that that's a little out of proportion.
If the time comes when the House of Commons
has got so much on its mind
that it hasn't got time to discuss a Ronnie Winslow
and his bally postal order,
this country will be a far poorer place than it is now.
But you needn't go on.
You've said enough. I quite see your point of view.
I don't know whether you realise that all this publicity you're getting
is making the name of Winslow
a bit of a...
"Nationwide laughing stock," I think your father said.
Well, that's a bit steep,
but people do find the case a bit ridiculous, you know.
I mean, I get chaps coming up to me in the mess all the time
and saying, "Is it true you're going to marry the Winslow girl?
"You better watch out, otherwise you'll find yourself
"up in front of the House of Lords for stealing the adjutant's baton."
Things like that. Not awfully funny.
No.
Do you want to marry me, John?
Well, of course I do.
You know I do. We've been engaged for over a year now.
-Have I ever wavered before? -No! Never before.
Well, I'm not wavering now, not a bit.
I'm just telling you what I think
is the best course of action for us to take.
But isn't it already too late?
I mean, even if we gave up the case,
would you still want to marry the Winslow girl?
All that would blow over in no time.
And we'd have the allowance?
Yes, we would.
And that's so important?
It is, Kate, darling.
I'm sorry, but you can't shame me into saying it isn't.
I...I didn't mean to shame you.
Oh, yes, you did.
I know that tone of voice.
Oh. Sorry.
Well, what's the answer?
I love you, John.
I want to be your wife.
Well, that's all I wanted to know.
Oh, darling.
I was sure nothing so stupid and trivial could possibly come between us.
(PHONE RINGING)
Hello?
Yes. Would you wait a minute?
Sir Robert, you're wanted on the telephone.
SIR ROBERT: Oh, thank you.
-Excuse me. -ARTHUR: Oh, yes.
I'm so sorry to interrupt.
CATHERINE: No, you didn't. We'd finished our talk.
Oh, how delicious. May I help myself?
CATHERINE: Yes, please do.
Hello?
Yes, Michael.
F.E.?
I didn't know that he was going to speak.
I see.
Thank you, Michael.
There's been the most interesting development in the House.
Oh, what?
My secretary has just told me that a barrister friend of mine,
who quite unknown to me was interested in the case,
got on his feet shortly after 9:30
and delivered one of the most scathing denunciations
of a government department ever heard in the House of Commons.
What a shame we missed it.
His style is quite superb.
What happened?
The debate revived, of course.
And the First Lord, who must have thought himself fairly safe,
suddenly found himself under attack from all parts of the House.
And it appears that rather than risk a division,
(CLEARING THROAT) he has, as of this moment, given an undertaking
to instruct the Attorney General to endorse our Petition of Right.
The case of Winslow v Rex can, therefore, now come to court.
Well, sir, what are my instructions?
(SIGHS)
The decision is no longer mine.
You must ask my daughter.
What are my instructions, Miss Winslow?
Do you need my instructions, Sir Robert?
Aren't they already on the petition?
Doesn't it say, "Let right be done"?
Kate!
JOHN: Good night.
Then we must endeavour to see that it is.
(CLAMOURING)
-All right, Ronnie? -Yes, Mother.
Come on then.
Oh, Mother, can't you get rid of those reporters?
-Hello, Dickie. -Hello, Kate.
Come to be in at the death?
(LAUGHING) Well, is that what it's going to be?
It seems like it.
Oh, Mother, I could cheerfully strangle that old brute of a judge.
He's dead against us.
-Oh, dear! -Where's Father?
He's having lunch.
-Hello, Father. -Mmm, Catherine, my dear, you're late.
I know. There was such a huge crowd
outside as well as inside the court.
I couldn't get a cab!
And I stayed to talk to Sir Robert.
Is there an even bigger crowd than yesterday, Kate?
Yes, Mother. Far bigger.
Well, how did it all go this morning?
Well, Sir Robert finished his cross-examination of the postmistress.
I thought he'd demolish her completely.
She admitted she couldn't identify Ronnie in the commander's office.
She admitted she couldn't be sure what time he came in.
She admitted she was called away to the telephone
whilst he was buying the 15 and 6 postal order,
and that all Osbourne cadets look alike in their uniforms,
so it might easily have been another cadet
who cashed the five shillings one.
Well, then!
He was brilliant.
He was so gentle and quiet.
He didn't bully her or frighten her.
He just coaxed her into tying herself into knots.
But, then, when she'd finished,
the Attorney General asked her once more
if she was absolutely certain
that the same boy who bought the 15 and 6 postal order
also cashed the five shillings one.
And she said yes.
She was absolutely certain
because Ronnie was such a good-looking boy
she'd specially noticed him.
(SIGHS)
I could see those 12 good men and true nodding to each other.
I believe it entirely undid
the whole of that magnificent cross-examination.
If she thought him so especially good-looking,
well, why couldn't she identify him later the same evening?
Well, don't ask me, Father. Ask the Attorney General.
I'm sure he has a beautiful, reasonable answer.
Ronnie good-looking? What utter rot!
She must be lying, that woman!
Oh, nonsense, Dickie.
I thought he looked very well in the box yesterday.
-Didn't you, Kate? -Oh, yes, Mother.
Did you see anybody interesting in court today, dear?
Yes, Mother. John Watherstone.
John?
I hope you didn't speak to him, Kate.
-Of course I did. -Oh, Kate, how could you?
What did he say?
-He wished us luck. -Oh, what impertinence!
The idea of John Watherstone coming calmly up in court to wish you luck.
I think it's the most disgraceful...
Grace, dear, you're going to be late for resumption.
Oh, will I? Come on, Dickie.
Oh, you don't think that that nice, grey suit that you paid so much money for...
Mother, this is perfectly all right. What's wrong with it?
What time are they going to resume, Catherine?
Two o'clock.
-It's twenty past two now. -Oh, dear. We'll be terribly late.
Kate, that's your fault.
-Arthur. -Hmm?
-You must finish your lunch. -Yes, dear.
-Promise now. -I promise.
I wonder if Violet will remember to get those onions.
Perhaps I better pick them up on the way back from court.
Now, Dickie, when you get to the front door,
you put your head down like me and just charge through them all.
Why don't you go out through the garden?
Oh, no. I wouldn't like to risk tearing this dress
getting through that hedge. Come on, Dickie.
I always shout, "I'm the maid and don't know nothing."
-Don't be surprised. -Righto, Mother.
(CROWD CLAMOURING)
They're going to lose this case, Kate?
It's our last chance.
I know.
We've got to win it.
What does Sir Robert think?
He seems very worried.
I wonder if you were right.
I wonder if we could have found a better man.
No, Father, we couldn't have found a better man.
You admit that now?
Only that he is the best advocate in England.
And for some reason, prestige, I suppose,
he seems genuinely anxious to win this case.
I don't go back on anything else I've ever said about him.
Well, it said in the paper this morning that he started off today
by telling the judge he felt ill
and might have to ask for an adjournment.
-I do hope he won't collapse. -Oh, he won't.
It's just another one of those brilliant tricks he's always up to.
It got him the sympathy of the court and possibly...
-Hmm? -No, I won't say that.
Go on, say it.
Possibly provides him with an excuse if he's beaten.
Yes, you don't like him, do you?
There's nothing to like or dislike in him, Father.
I admire him.
Uh, I hope you'll forgive this rather furtive entry,
the crowds outside the front door are most alarming.
-So, I came through the garden. -Hello, Desmond.
-Why have you left the court? -My partner will be holding the fort.
He is perfectly competent, I promise you.
ARTHUR: I'm glad to hear it.
I wonder if I might speak to Catherine alone.
I have a matter of some urgency to communicate to her.
Oh?
You wish to hear this matter of urgency?
Yes, Father.
Very well, I'll go and finish my lunch.
I feel I should have warned you of my visit.
Perhaps I have interrupted.
No, Desmond, no. Please, sit down.
Thank you. I've only a very short time,
I have to get back to the court for the cross-examination
-of Judge advocate. -Yes, of course.
I have a taxicab waiting at the end of the street.
How very extravagant of you, Desmond.
Yes. Shows how rushed this visit must necessarily be.
The fact of the matter is that
it suddenly occurred to me during the lunch adjournment
that I ought to see you today.
Why?
I have a question to put to you, Kate,
which, if I postponed putting until after the verdict,
you might, who knows, have thought was prompted by pity, if we'd lost.
Or if we'd won, your reply might,
again who knows, have been influenced by gratitude.
Do you follow me, Kate?
-Yes, Desmond, I think I do. -Ah.
Then perhaps you have some inkling of the question I want to put to you?
Yes, I think I have.
Oh.
Oh, I'm sorry, Desmond.
I know, I should have followed the usual practice in such cases
and say I had no inkling whatsoever.
No, no. Your directness and honesty
are two of the qualities I so much admire in you.
I am glad you have guessed it. It makes my task the easier.
Will you give me a few days to think it over?
Of course. Of course.
I need hardly say how grateful I am, Desmond.
There is no need, Kate. No need at all.
Well, you mustn't keep your taxi waiting.
Oh, bother the taxi!
Forgive me, Kate, but...
You see, I know very well what your feelings for me really are.
You do, Desmond?
Yes, Kate. I know very well they've...
They've never amounted to much more than sort of...
What shall we say?
Friendliness?
Of course, the thing is that even if I proved to be the most devoted
and adoring husband that ever lived,
which I may say, if you give the chance, I intend to be,
your feelings for me would never,
could never mount to more than that.
When I was younger perhaps, it might have been a different story,
when I played cricket for England.
Of course, perhaps, even that would not have made so much difference.
Perhaps you feel I cling too much to my past athletic prowess.
I feel it myself sometimes, but
the truth is, I've nothing much else to cling to, save that,
and my love for you.
The athletic prowess is fading, I'm afraid, with the years
and the stiffening of the muscles.
But my love for you will never fade.
That's very charmingly said.
Oh, don't make fun of me, Kate.
Please, I meant it. Every word.
However, let's take a more mundane approach
and examine the facts.
Fact one, you don't love me and never can.
Fact two, I love you, always have, always will.
That's the situation, and it's a situation
which I'm fully prepared to accept.
I came to this decision some months ago,
and thought it first it better to wait until this case,
which is so much on all our minds, would be over.
Then at lunch today, I determined to anticipate the verdict
and tell you what was in my mind at once.
Whatever you feel, or don't feel for me,
whatever you feel for anyone else,
I want you to be my wife.
Thank you, Desmond.
That makes everything very much clearer.
There is a lot more that I had meant to say,
but I'll put that in a letter.
Yes, please do.
Then may I expect your reply in a few days?
Yes.
Well, I better be getting back to court.
How did you think it went this morning?
I thought the postmistress
restored the Admiralty's case with that point about Ronnie's looks.
Oh, not at all.
There is still the overwhelming evidence that she couldn't identify him.
What a brilliant cross-examination, was it not?
Yes, yes, brilliant.
But he's a strange man, Sir Robert.
At times, so cold and distant and...
-Fish-like? -Fish-like, exactly.
Yet he has a real passion about this case. A real passion.
I happen to know...
Of course this must, on no account, go any further.
But I happen to know that he has made
a very, very great personal sacrifice in order to bring this case to court.
Sacrifice? What, of another brief?
No. That would be no sacrifice.
No. He was offered...
Do you really promise to keep this to yourself?
My dear Desmond, whatever he was offered
can't be as startling as all that.
As a matter of fact, it was startling
and a very graceful compliment, if I may say so,
to his performance as Attorney General under the last government.
What was he offered?
The appointment of Lord Chief Justice.
He turned it down
simply in order to be able to carry on with the case of Winslow v Rex.
Strange are the ways of men, are they not?
Goodbye, my dear.
Goodbye, Desmond.
May I come in now?
Yes, Father. We've finished our talk.
I'm rather tired of being gazed at through the window
while I'm eating my mutton, like an animal at the zoo.
I've been a fool, Father.
Oh, have you, my dear?
An utter fool.
Well, in default of further information, I can only repeat,
have you, my dear?
There is no further information. I'm pledged to secrecy.
Oh.
What did Desmond want?
To marry me.
I trust that the folly you were referring to
wasn't your acceptance of him?
(SCOFFS) No.
-Would it be such folly, though? -Oh, lunacy.
Oh, I don't know. He's a nice man and
he's doing very well as a solicitor.
Those are neither very compelling reasons for marrying him.
Seriously though, I shall have to think it over.
Think it over by all means, but decide against it.
I'm nearly 30, you know.
Well, 30 isn't the end of life.
It might be for an unmarried woman with not much looks.
Rubbish.
Better far to live and die an old maid than marry Desmond.
Even an old maid has to eat.
I'm leaving you and your mother everything, you know.
-Everything? -Well, there's still a little left.
Did you take my suggestion about that suffrage movement?
-Yes, Father. -You demanded a salary?
I asked for one.
And they're going to give it to you, I hope.
Mmm, £2 a week.
-Oh, that's insulting. -No.
Not at all. It's very generous.
We're not a very rich organisation, you know.
Well, you just have to find something else to do.
What else? Darning socks?
That's about my only other accomplishment.
There must be something useful you can do.
You don't think the work I'm doing at the WSA is useful?
No, perhaps you are right.
Still, it's the only work I'm fitted for, all the same.
No, the choice is quite simple, really.
Either I marry Desmond and settle down
to a nice, not really useless existence,
or I spend for the rest of my life earning £2 a week
in the service of a hopeless cause.
A hopeless cause. I've never heard you say that before.
I've never felt it before.
John's getting married next month.
-Did he tell you? -Mmm.
He was very apologetic.
(SIGHING) Apologetic!
He needn't be. It's a girl I know slightly.
She'll make him a very good wife.
Well, is he in love with her?
No more than he was with me.
Perhaps, even a little less.
Why does he want to go and marry so soon after he...
After jilting me?
Well, he thinks there's going to be a war
and, if there is, his regiment will be one the first to be posted overseas.
Besides, his father approves strongly.
She's a general's daughter.
Very, very suitable.
Oh, my poor, dear Kate.
How I've messed everything up.
No, Father.
Any messing up that's been done has been done by me.
I'm sorry, my dear.
-I'm so sorry. -Don't be, Father.
We both knew what we were doing.
Did we?
I think we did.
NEWSBOY: Winslow case! Winslow case latest.
Winslow case!
What's that boy shouting?
Oh, only "Winslow case latest".
Yeah.
-Father? -Mmm?
If you could go back and choose again,
would your choice be different?
Perhaps.
I don't think so.
No, I don't think so, either.
I still say we both knew
what we were doing and we were right to do it.
Thank you, Kate. Thank you.
Now, you are not going to marry Desmond, are you?
In the words of the Prime Minister, "Wait and see."
(LAUGHING)
NEWSBOY: Winslow case result! Winslow case result!
It didn't sound like "latest" to me.
Result?
There must be some mistake.
Oh, sir! Oh, sir!
-Oh, Miss Kate... -What is it, Violet?
-What a shame you missed it! -What happened?
Just after they come back from lunch,
and Mrs Winslow, she wasn't there neither,
nor Master Ronnie.
Oh, the cheering and the shouting and the carrying on.
You've never heard anything like it in all your life.
And Sir Robert standing there at the table
with his wig on crooked and the tears running down his face...
Running down his face they was.
And not able to speak because of the noise.
Oh, Cook and me, we did a bit of crying, too.
Oh, you just couldn't help it. You couldn't, you know.
Oh, it was lovely.
(SNIFFLING) We did enjoy ourselves.
(LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY)
Cook had her hat knocked over her eyes by the man behind
who was cheering and waving his arms about something chronic.
And shouting about liberty.
Oh, you would have laughed, miss, to have seen it.
She was that cross.
Well, she didn't mind really, she was only pretending.
Oh, we kept on cheering
and the judge kept on shouting.
But it wasn't any good because even the jury joined in.
And some of them climbed out of the box to shake hands with Sir Robert.
And then, outside in the street it was just the same.
You couldn't move for the crowd.
You'd think they'd all gone mad the way they was carrying on.
Some of them were shouting, "Good old Winslow!"
and singing For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.
(LAUGHING) And then Cook got her hat knocked off again.
Oh, it was lovely.
Well, sir, you must be feeling nice and pleased,
now it's all over.
-Yes, Violet. I am. -That's right.
I always said it would come all right in the end, didn't I?
Yes, Violet. You did.
Two years all but one month it's been now
since Master Ronnie come back that day.
Yes.
I don't mind telling you, sir.
I wondered sometimes whether you and Miss Kate weren't just wasting your time
carrying on the way you were.
Still, you couldn't have felt that if you've been in court today.
Oh, sir.
Mrs Winslow asked me to remember most particular
to pick up some onions from the greengrocer,
-and in the excitement, I... -It's all right, Violet.
I think Mrs Winslow is picking them up herself on her way back.
Oh, I see, miss. Poor madam!
What a sell for her when she gets to the court and finds it's all over.
Well, sir, congratulations, I'm sure.
Thank you, Violet.
(DOORBELL RINGING)
It would appear, then, that we've won.
Yes, Father.
(CRYING) We have won.
Oh, I would have liked to have been there.
Sir Robert Morton.
I thought you might like to hear
the actual terms of the Attorney General's statement,
so I jotted it down for you.
"I say now, on behalf of the Admiralty,
"that I accept the declaration of Ronald Arthur Winslow
"that he did not write the name on the postal order,
"that he did not take it and that he did not cash it,
"and that, consequently,
"he was innocent of the charge which was brought against him two years ago.
"I make that statement without any reservation of any description,
"intending it to be a complete acceptance of the boy's statements."
I find it hard to find the words that I should speak to you, sir.
Pray do not bother yourself to search for them.
Let us take these rather trivial and conventional expressions of gratitude
for granted, shall we?
Now, for the question of damages and costs...
Oh, I fear that we shall find the Admiralty rather niggardly.
You will still find yourself rather out of pocket, I'm afraid.
However, doubtless we can still apply a slight spur
to the First Lord's posterior in the House of Commons.
No, sir. No more trouble, I beg you please.
Let the matter rest here. That is all I ever asked for.
Pity you were not in court, Miss Winslow.
The verdict appeared to cause quite a stir.
So I heard.
Why did the Admiralty throw up the case?
Oh, it was a foregone conclusion,
once the hand-writing expert has been discredited,
not for the first time in legal history, I knew we had a sporting chance.
But no jury in the world would have convicted
on the postmistress's evidence.
But this morning, you seemed so depressed.
Oh, did I?
Well, the heat in the courtroom was rather trying, you know.
Perhaps I was a little fatigued.
Oh, sir,
the gentlemen at the front door say, "Please would you make a statement?"
They say they won't go away until you do.
-Yes, Violet. Thank you. -Oh, yes, sir.
-Oh... What shall I say? -I hardly think it matters.
Whatever you say will have very little bearing on what they write.
What shall I say, Kate?
-You'll think of something, Father. -Hmm.
No!
I decline to meet the press in this ridiculous chariot.
Get me my stick.
No, Father, you know what the doctor...
Get me my stick.
(ARTHUR GRUNTING)
I know, I could say
I am glad to have lived long enough to have seen justice done to my son.
Isn't that a little gloomy, Father? You're going to live for ages yet.
Oh, am I?
Yes, well, wait and see.
Ah. I could say,
"This victory is not mine,
"it belongs to the people who have triumphed,
"as they always will triumph, over despotism."
No, it's a trifle pretentious, don't you think?
Perhaps. I should say it nonetheless, it will be very popular.
No.
Perhaps I'd better say what I really feel,
which is thank God we beat 'em.
Miss Winslow,
might I be rude enough to ask you for a little of your excellent whisky?
Yes, of course.
(CROWD SINGING HE'S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW)
How very kind of you.
Perhaps you will forgive me for not getting up.
The heat in that courtroom really was so infernal.
Are you all right, Sir Robert?
Oh, just a slight nervous reaction, that's all.
Besides, I've not been feeling myself all day.
I told the judge so this morning but I don't think that he believed me.
He thought it was a trick.
What suspicious minds people have, have they not?
-Yes. -Thank you.
(CROWD CHEERING)
Sir Robert,
I have a confession and an apology to make.
Oh, my dear young lady,
I'm sure the one is rash and the other is superfluous.
-I would far rather hear neither. -No, I'm afraid you must.
This is probably the last time I shall see you
and it's a better penance for me to say this than to write it.
I have entirely misjudged your attitude to this case
and if, in doing so, I have either appeared rude or ungrateful,
I am most humbly sorry.
My dear Miss Winslow, you've never seemed to me either rude or ungrateful.
My attitude to the case has been the same as yours,
a determination to win at all costs.
But when you speak of gratitude, you must remember
that those costs were not mine but yours.
Weren't they your costs also, Sir Robert?
I beg your pardon?
Haven't you too made a very special sacrifice for the case?
The robes of that office would not have suited me.
Wouldn't they?
And, furthermore, I have every intention of reporting Curry to the Law Society.
No. No, please don't.
He did a very great service by telling me.
Well, you must give me your word to never reveal it to a living soul.
And even to forget it yourself.
I will never reveal it to another soul
but I cannot promise to forget it myself.
Very well.
If you choose to endow an unimportant incident
with a romantic significance,
you are entirely at liberty to do so.
I must go now.
Why are you always at such pains
to prevent people knowing the truth about you, Sir Robert?
-Am I indeed? -You know you are. Why?
Perhaps because I do not know the truth about myself.
That's no answer.
Are you cross-examining me, Miss Winslow?
On this point, yes.
Why are you so ashamed of your emotions?
Because, as a lawyer, I must necessarily distrust them.
Why?
To fight a case on emotional grounds is the surest way of losing it.
Emotions muddy the issue.
Cold, clear logic and buckets of it should be a lawyer's only equipment.
And was it cold, clear logic
that made you weep today at the verdict?
Your maid, I suppose, told you that.
Very well.
If you must have it, here it is.
I wept today because right had been done.
-Not justice? -No, not justice.
Right. It is not very hard to do justice.
Very hard to do right.
Unfortunately, while the appeal of justice is intellectual,
for, some very odd reason, the appeal of right
induces tears in court.
That is my answer and my excuse.
So, now may I please leave the witness box?
No. One last question.
How can you reconcile your support for Winslow against the Crown
with your political beliefs?
Very easily.
No one party has a monopoly of concern for individual liberty.
On that issue, all parties united.
I don't think so.
-You don't? -No, not all parties.
Some people in all parties.
That is a very wise remark.
Then let us hope that those some people will always prove enough people.
You'd have made a very good advocate.
Would I?
Why do you not canalise your feministic impulses
towards the law courts, Miss Winslow,
and abandon the lost cause of woman suffrage?
Because I don't believe it is a lost cause.
No? You intend to continue to pursue it?
Certainly.
-You'll be wasting your time. -I don't think so.
Pity.
In the House of Commons in the days to come,
I shall make a point of looking up at the gallery
in the hope of catching a glimpse of you
in that provocative hat.
I say, Sir Robert, I'm most awfully sorry.
I didn't know anything was going to happen.
Where were you?
At the pictures.
I'm most awfully sorry.
I say, we've won, haven't we?
Yes, we won.
Oh, good.
Well...
Goodbye, Miss Winslow.
Shall I see you one day in the House of Commons, then?
One day, perhaps.
But not in the gallery.
Across the floor.
Perhaps.
Goodbye.