The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister Page #5

with the means to take care of you.

I spend each day working

to make Shibden a home for us.

I can no longer wait

for the death of Charles to release you.

You are my wife, in honour and in love.

Come now,

and we shall plan a way to be together.

Openly and at once.

I am in mourning for your uncle.

As a tribute to you, Fred,

I will be passing through Halifax next month

en route to York.

Meet me at the coaching inn

and we will decide what is to be done.

When is the coach to York due?

Same time it were last time you asked.

Do you have any biscuits?

Gee up there! Ha!

- Stop! Stop!

- Whoa! Whoa there!

I've come to join your precious load.

Mariana, I walked...

I walked all the way from Shibden to meet you.

Get in.

Ha! Go on now!

What were you thinking?

A fine story you've given the coachman,

and everyone he carries for the next week.

Miss Lister marching across the moors

like a madwoman.

No, please, I'm sorry.

Just come home with me, Mariana.

Come home to Shibden with me.

- You know I can't.

- Why can't you?

Just come.

- Leave Charles, you don't need him any more.

- What would I tell him?

- It doesn't matter!

- People would say things.

You must understand that I would rather die

than our connection be known.

Ashamed.

You're ashamed of me.

Why must you...

draw attention to yourself so?

How can you be my wife

if you're ashamed to be seen with me?

Do we have to keep playing this game?

Women can't marry!

We could have a good life, see each other often,

if only you wouldn't insist on us living together.

- That's no life!

- You live in a girlish dream!

Yes, we might live as companions,

but the way you are with me...

Think! People would smoke us in days.

We'd be ruined, ridiculed, cut by all society!

Then why have you said

you would live with me for so long?

- Because I love you!

- A coward love!

The world is the way it is

and we cannot change it!

Then I see you are not

the woman of all hours for me.

I crave a stronger character.

Only in bed are you excellent!

You cannot live without me.

Oh, but I do.

And I cannot bear it any longer.

I want to share my life with someone.

I want that.

Or nothing at all.

I can't.

We need a trip. A long one.

I've always enjoyed the lakes.

I was thinking Paris.

For a year.

- Maybe two.

- Two years?

Well, Halifax is so vulgar and stifling.

There's no suitable society.

Well, what about Shibden,

and all the improvements you've set in motion?

Poor old Shibden.

Will work make a difference?

Perhaps we should just pull it down

and start again.

You're right. You do need a trip.

Mr Rawson downstairs for you, miss.

Miss Lister, I've come on business.

Stay there, Aunt.

You going abroad?

What do you want, Mr Rawson?

Ten acres of land up near Connery,

neighbouring my pit.

I'd like to lease it from you and mine it.

More coal for me,

bit of useful cash for you on your journey.

What price do you propose?

A hundred an acre.

- 120.

- Do you think I'm a soft touch

because I'm a female?

You, Miss Lister? Hardly.

Save your breath, Mr Rawson.

I won't be leasing it to you.

Well, are you just going to let it sit there

and grow daisies

while you run up debts on the continent?

I know we've had our differences,

but this is business.

Ooh, you sound earnest.

Must be a lot of coal down there.

There is.

- Well, perhaps I'll mine it myself.

- With what? A knife and a fork?

Do you know how much it costs

to sink a mine?

No. I will find out.

When you do, you come and find me.

We both know the Listers

are rich in name only.

But the offer will stand.

At a hundred an acre.

Forgive me, Aunt.

We have some unpacking to do.

It's as if I've woken from a feverish dream.

I can live and work and still be happy.

I have been an Icarus but shall fall less fatally.

From this moment I will,

without remorse, suit my convenience.

Miss?

This is a large house for one person.

Some days more than others.

Shall we?

You have fine taste.

It's all my father's.

I've done no more than choose a spot to sit.

You have chosen well.

The light here agrees with your complexion.

Would you like some cake?

Thank you.

I have come to enquire

about the coal mine on your land.

I don't know much about it.

My father's old steward manages it.

I have a mind to seek my own,

so wish to educate myself.

Mr Rawson wants to lease my land,

but only, I suspect, because he's

helping himself to its coal from his side.

He came to visit me as well,

to ask to buy our mine outright.

- You refused?

- On my steward's advice.

- He claimed the price he offered was an insult.

- I should talk to your steward.

By all means.

- I shall send him to you.

- That's very kind, Miss Walker.

It's difficult to know who to trust.

Alas, I fear it might be some time before

I can amass the necessary capital to compete.

Unless, of course...

I can find someone to invest.

Tell me, Miss Walker...

do you like Byron?

Some books on engineering

from my father's library

which may be of some practical help.

Some books from my own library,

with thanks.

Perfectly impractical.

This is the figure I reached with your steward.

I shall call it the Walker Pit.

As a compliment to you.

Mm, our first pit was sunk

to the bottom last week.

one of the handsomest pits in the county.

Very good.

If a coal pit can be said to be handsome.

And sometime next spring

we hope to begin a second.

And how will you be financing that?

Why, with return from the first.

I'm grateful to you for providing my niece

with some occupation.

I worry for her,

in that big house on her own.

We have much in common.

Fortune hunters must be a great concern,

Mrs Priestley.

Indeed.

Did I mention I saw the Lawtons

at the races in York?

Mariana told me she feels

so much happier these days,

now she's made new friends

and cultivated some society.

I'm so pleased she's settled.

Can you ever love anyone else?

My usual reading is the penny magazine.

So much is changing

in farming and business

that if we remain ignorant,

there will be those that will take advantage.

Miss Lister, Miss Walker, won't you step inside,

let me buy you a beer?

Not until you stop sending men

to intimidate our pit workers.

That's a cheap price you're selling coal at.

We set a price that is fair to our customers.

I'll always go a penny cheaper.

We sell door to door,

you sell on the canals.

I don't see we're any competition.

I've got to be suspicious of any man

who won't take a drink with us, eh, Bill?.

Indeed.

You are doing everything possible

to make me want to compete.

Make way, Bill. Let the gentleman pass.

Where's your cups, Anne?

- If you do I'll drop you.

- I'd like to see you try.

I think you should come and stay with me

at Shibden while this business rages.

I think it'll be safer for us both.

I've put you in the red room, Miss Walker.

I hope you'll feel at home.

- Is that necessary?

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