The Corn Is Green Page #9

Evans didn't come in on the last train?

No, I'm sorry. He didn't.

Is there not another train

from London?

No, Idwal. Not until tomorrow.

Squire...

How do you get from Oxford to Wales?

I don't. I know nothing about Oxford.

Well, no train till tomorrow.

I'm off. Good night, boys.

- Good night, Squire.

- Good night.

You would be the first

I would talk to, I said,

when I came back from Oxford.

Morgan.

I caught the early train.

I knew they'd all be watching for me.

So I got off at the last stop

before Glansarno

and got a lift from there.

- Does that mean...

- Oh, no. No news.

- Except that I am not hopeful.

- Why not?

They talked to me for

one hour at the Viva.

It doesn't mean anything. Go on.

They jumped on hard on the New Testament

questions as you said they would.

- You're very pale.

- Better than a raging fever.

Sit down.

I spent 5 minutes

explaining why Saint Paul

sailed from a town 300 miles inland.

- Oh, dear. Parnell?

- Parnell?

Oh, yes. I was going to stick up

for the old chap

but when they started off

with "that fellow Parnell",

I told the tale against him

for half an hour.

I wasn't born a Welshman for nothing.

- And the French?

- Oh, not good.

I said "naturellement" for everything.

But it didn't fit all the time.

- Did the Dean send for you?

- I had half an hour with him.

- Did you?

- Oh, yes, but

so did the other 9 candidates.

He was a very kind and

grand old gentleman

sitting in a drawing-room

the size of Town Hall.

I talked about religion

the same as you said.

- Just as you were advised.

- Just as you advised.

He asked me if I had ever

had strong drink.

I looked him straight in the eye

and said, "No".

Oh!

When shall we know?

The day after tomorrow.

They are writing to you.

The villagers are all in their best

talking about a holiday.

It's very stupid of them.

Because if you failed, it'll make you

all the more sick at heart.

If I failed?

-Don't speak about it.

- But we must speak about it, Morgan.

You faced that fact

the day you left for Oxford.

I know. But I've been to Oxford

and come back since then.

I have come back from the world.

Since the day I was born, I've been

a prisoner behind a stone wall.

And now somebody has given me a leg-up

to take a look at the other side.

They cannot drag me back again,

they cannot.

They must give me a push

and send me over!

I've never heard you talk

so much since I've known you.

That is just it. I can talk, now.

The three days I have been there,

I have been talking my head off.

If three days at Oxford

will do this to you,

think what you would be like

at the end of three years.

That's just it again. It would be

everything I need, everything!

I spent 3 hours discussing the law

with one of the other candidates,

the most brilliant one

of the lot he was.

The words came pouring out of me,

all the words that I had learnt

and written down and never spoken.

I suppose I was talking nonsense,

but I was at least holding

a conversation

I suddenly realized

that I'd never done it before.

I had never been able to do it.

Before it's always been like this:

"How are you, Morgan? Nice day,

Mr. Jones! Not bad for the harvest. "

A vocabulary of 20 words

and there I was with this other

candidate, the brilliant one,

and all the words you taught me

just came pouring out

like I'd always known them.

I came out of his rooms that night

and walked down the High.

That's their High Street, you know.

Yes, yes.

Everybody seemed

to be walking very fast,

with their gowns on, in the moonlight.

The bells were ringing,

and I was walking faster

than anybody and I felt...

well, the same as on

the rum in the old days.

Go on.

All of a sudden, with one big rush,

against that moon,

and against that High Street,

I saw this room.

You and me sitting here studying

and all those books

and everything I have learnt

from those books, and from you,

was lighted up, like a magic lantern.

Ancient Rome, Greece,

Shakespeare, Carlyle, Milton.

Everything had a meaning

because I was in a new world,

my world.

And so it came to me,

why you had worked like a slave

to make me ready for this scholarship.

I've finished.

I didn't want you to stop.

- I have not been drinking.

- I know.

I can talk to you now.

Yes, I'm glad.

No sign of the boy on that train.

Never seen such a crowd in my life.

The whole village was down

at the station.

- Squire.

- Yes?

Great Scot!

There you are, Evans.

- Good day, sir.

- Any news, my boy?

They're sending the result

through the post.

The devil, they are.

You know this waiting is

becoming a definite strain.

- Squire, sit down.

- Thank you, my dear.

- Morgan.

- How are you, Mr. Jones?

- Well?

- The day after tomorrow.

Why, Mr. Morgan. Well?

The day after tomorrow.

- How are you, Morgan, dear.

- Very well, thank you.

The suspense is killing me.

Mr. Jones, would you light

the lamp for me, please?

Even the little children are worried

about the result of the examination.

They couldn't wait

until school was dismissed.

Little Idwal was the first.

How did you find the examiners,

my boy?

- Rather sticky, sir.

- A lot of old fogies, I expect.

Keep the change.

Morgan, my boy,

are you not exhausted

after the journey?

Would you not like something to eat?

- Well, I...

- Of course, how stupid of me.

You must be very hungry.

- Watty will fix you something.

- Thank you. Excuse me.

You seemed very anxious

to get him out of the room.

The most terrible thing...

How do you do, everybody?

Still the same old place, ain't it?

- Look who's here. Hello, Squire.

- How do you do?

I do like this. Class, ain't it?

How are you? Blooming?

Yes, thank you.

- What is this?

- Hello, Miss Ronberry.

How's geography, the world's

still goin' round in circles?

And to what do we owe this honor?

Well, you see, it's like this...

Yesterday, after I had

received my usual check,

I was lucky enough to be glancing

through the Mid-Wales Gazette.

And I've come here to congratulate

a certain young gent.

Just in case he has won

that scholarship.

What has that got to do with you?

Well, you see, Miss. It's like this.

- Four...

- Don't say it!

Don't say it.

Four weeks ago yesterday,

I had a baby.

- You had a what?

- A baby. A little stranger.

7 pounds, 13 ounces.

Good Heavens! How ghastly!

Where's that luggage?

Any news, sir?

Bessie!

My, you do look a dollymop!

Oh... excuse me, sir.

Say anything you like.

Where d'you get them bracelets?

- A present.

- Oh, that's all right.

- And what have you been up to?

- Turning you into a granny.

Fancy that!

You could 'ave knocked me

down with a feather!

Watty. Have you tended

to Morgan's luggage?

Hello. I've just been telling 'em.

You know what.

Now I think it's high time

you told us who the fellow is.

- Yes, dear. Who is it?

- Well, as a matter of fact...

No!

I'll pay you anything. Anything!

It's no good, Miss.

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