An Education Page #3

- You're late.

We now turn to lot 41.

"The Tree of Forgiveness"

by Sir Edward Burne-Jones.

This is a rare opportunity to purchase

a key work of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.

- Who will start me off at 100 guineas?

- Is it that one?

Yes, that's the one.

Fifty guineas?

Twenty guineas?

Thank you.

Forty?

Thank you.

Do I hear sixty?

Eighty guineas?

Thank you, sir.

Another one, one hundred guineas?

One hundred and twenty?

No further bids?

Your turn.

- What?

- Any further bids?

- Any more?

- Quick!

One hundred and twenty guineas from

the very eager new bidder.

One hundred and forty, madam?

Thank you.

One hundred and sixty.

One hundred and eighty.

Thank you.

Two hundred guineas?

Two hundred and twenty?

Another one, madam?

Sold for two hundred guineas.

Thank you.

Your name, please?

Mellor.

Now we move on to lot 42.

Thank you very much.

I couldn't have possibly

bought it without you.

Just a couple of years ago, you'd

pick one of them for fifty quid.

- No one was interested.

- Oh, I'd have been so interested.

As you can see,

I just love things.

That's not a Lockey-Hill!

There aren't many people

who come in here and say that.

- Certainly not me.

- Oh, it's beautiful.

- Do you play?

- I used to.

I vowed to myself that

one day I'd own one of these.

And now I do,

I want to never touch it.

It's vulgar really,

putting it on display.

- Give it to Jenny.

- Huh?

- I think that would be even more vulgar.

- Play for us, Jenny.

No. I mean, one day.

When I'm good enough.

- Oh, she's good enough now.

- David, you've never seen me play.

I can come and hear you in Oxford,

when you get there.

We should all go and spend

a weekend in Oxford.

Straw boaters...

- punting, cream teas, anti...

- Boats?

...quarian bookshops.

Bit of business, if we can find it.

What about next weekend?

Yes.

I wouldn't be allowed to do that.

I'll talk to them.

You're going to ask my father...

...if you can take me away

for the weekend?

- He'd have you arrested.

- We'll see.

- I bet you can't.

- How much?

I'd be careful, if I were you, Jenny.

You don't know

who you're dealing with.

Half-a-crown.

You're on.

How do you know Danny?

Oh, you know.

We kept bumping into each other,

...and we became pals,

...ended up doing a bit of business

together, when it suits us.

What kind of business?

Property. A bit of art dealing.

Some buying and selling.

This and that...

Alright, just be two ticks.

- Okay.

Mr. Goldman,

good to see you.

Madam. Alright.

- Alright, I got this one. And, um...

- Put me down.

Go on, then.

Sorry about that.

- How do you know those Negro people?

- They're clients.

Clients?

Schwarzers have to live somewhere.

It's not as if they can rent off

their own kind, is it?

Test results for the Virgil translation.

We'll start from the bottom...

Patricia.

Absent.

Margaret.

Jenny.

That would just about scrape

a pass in the exam proper.

Not good enough for

Oxford candidates.

It's her Latin, isn't it?

Everyone's doing their best, Jack.

But what if everyone's best

isn't good enough?

What do we do then? Hm?

Well, perhaps the whole thing's

been a waste of money anyway.

You don't mean that.

Well, what's she going to do with

an English degree?

And if she's going to spend three years

playing that bloody cello...

...talking in French

to a bunch of... beatniks,

Well, I'm... I'm just throwing

good money after bad.

I wish she might meet

a nice lawyer.

But she could do that

at a dinner dance tomorrow.

Oh, that's the point of

an Oxford education. Isn't it, Dad?

It's the expensive alternative

to a dinner dance.

What about private tuition?

Can anybody hear me?

How much this is going to cost me?

Five shillings an hour.

Maybe a little more for A-level.

Five bob! We'll spend five bob here,

we'll spend five bob there,

...and next thing we know that's

our savings down the drain.

And what else are we spending

five bob on?

What else are we

spending six pence on?

Oh, nothing? No, nothing!

All of this is free.

This vase... is free.

It was, actually.

It was a present from Auntie Vi.

That chair, this sofa...

it's all free.

We don't have to pay for

any of it.

You see, that's

the beauty of life, Jenny.

You don't have to pay for anything.

You know, there's a lovely

Oxford tree growing in the garden.

Lucky for you, because

that's Oxford taken care of.

And there's a whole orchard

of school trees.

So that school is free.

And I think there's even a

private tuition tree in there.

- I'll just go and check, shall I?

- Jack?

Oh, that's alright, Marjorie.

Don't worry, I'll be in a second.

Because I think

there's a whole clump of them...

...surrounding the pocket

money tree.

I'll just go and make sure

they're all nice and safe, shall I?

Oh, by the way,

you might be lucky.

There might be a man

with deep pockets growing out there.

Because God know

you gonna need one.

Well, you can always go to

secretarial college with Hattie.

- Oh, thanks.

- Charming!

- Oh, God, no.

- Hello.

Hello... Graham.

I haven't seen you in ages.

It all went wrong, didn't it?

The, uh...

The tea-party, I mean.

Was it because of the

year off thing?

- Because I...

- No.

I just have so much work to do...

...if I'm gonna get the grades

I need.

Yeah. She doesn't have time for boys.

- Bye, Graham.

- Bye.

- Oh, he does all the Goons.

- No, my Eccles is no good.

- Oh, no, you've got him.

- No, no...

Hello?

Oh, Jenny...

...David does the most

fantastic Bluebottle.

You came to see my parents?

Oh, why is that so hard to imagine?

Why are you drinking?

It's not Christmas!

Well, there's a lot you don't know

about us, young lady.

- We had a life before you came along.

- Hm, that's true.

I'm only going on what I've seen

over the last sixteen years.

I'm trying to think what you missed.

Nothing much comes to mind.

Anyway, I've got a huge pile

of Latin translation to do.

You didn't tell us

David went to Oxford.

No... I didn't.

For all the good it did me.

- Isn't that funny?

- Extraordinary!

I was just telling Jack that

I'm going back next weekend.

I go and visit my old English professor

every now and again.

See, that's what you need, Jenny.

Someone on the inside track.

It's not always what you know,

is it, David?

Too true.

- Have you ever come across Clive Lewis?

- Dad's never come across anyone.

He wrote a children's book called...

"The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe"

that did very well, I believe.

C. S. Lewis?

Well, to us he was just the old codger

who taught Medieval literature.

But I came to know him very well.

We just... got along.

Jenny used to devour those books.

I'd love to meet him.

I'm sorry.

Am I being slow on the uptake?

Would Jenny like to come

with me at the weekend?

No, not this weekend.

But sometimes, perhaps.

Yes.

How often do you see him?

Not very often,

every couple of years.

- Maybe next time.

- Huh...

Well, I suppose...

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