This Happy Breed Page #10

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Stanley Baldwin.

Ramsay Macdonald.

- [Clatter]

- There you are. Now you've done it.

- Oh, dear.

- I wish you could see your face.

Here. Quiet a minute. Listen.

- What?

- [Door Opens]

Here. I'd better hop it.

That's right, leave your best pal

to face the barrage alone.

- [Switch Clicks]

- [Footsteps]

Pull yourself together.

We're for it here.

Chest out. Chin up.

[Switch Clicks]

And what do you think you're doing,

if I may make so bold?

- Bob was just going home.

- Oh, just going home, was he?

- Sorry we woke you up, Ethel.

- I suppose you know what the time is, don't you?

Well, who cares?

Time was meant for slaves.

- [Laughs]

- You go on up to bed, Frank Gibbons.

I'll have something to say to you later.

What was that you broke?

It was only the poor old Johnnie Walker.

It's all my fault, Ethel.

You ought to be ashamed of yourselves,

men of your age...

coming home drunk and waking up

the whole house.

[Chuckles] You're not an whole house,

Ethel, old girl.

You're just a little bungalow.

- [Laughs]

- Come on, Bob. It's time you was going home.

Yeah, now don't be hard on him, Ethel.

He's my best pal.

[Chuckles] He may be looking

a bit silly, I'll admit...

but he's my pal all the same.

- Who's looking silly?

- [Laughs] You are.

What about you?

You both look silly, but it's nothing to what

you're going to look in the morning.

Now come on, Bob.

I'm not gonna stay here much longer.

All right, all right. I can take a hint.

[Wind Whistling]

Good night, Mrs. G.

Good night, Sergeant.

It's been a pleasure.

Steady the Buffs.

- [Lock Clicks]

- [Clattering]

[Laughs]

Eh - All right.

All right. You don't have to say nothing.

I know -

Now stop it, Frank. The next time

you go to a regimental dinner...

you can go to a hotel afterwards

and sleep it off.

I won't have it, you hear? This is

my dining room. This is not a bar parlor.

Go on. Get up to bed,

and don't make a noise either.

- What's this?

- What's what?

This letter.

I haven't written no letters.

It's Queenie's writing.

Here. You can't open

the girl's private letters.

It's addressed to you and me.

Well, I'll be blowed.

She's gone.

Read it.

Who is this man?

Have you ever seen him?

No.

I'll fetch her back.

I'll give her the hiding of her life.

Can't find her.

Doesn't say where she's gone.

"We love each other.

His wife won't divorce him.

We can't live without each other...

so we're going away."

This is our fault.

We ought to have known

something like this would happen.

We let her have her own way too much

ever since she was a child.

Queenie.

We'll trace her, all right.

Don't you worry.

We'll find out who the man is

through the shop.

It must have been there that she met him.

We'll get her back.

I don't want her back.

She's no child of mine.

I never want to see her again

as long as I live.

- Don't talk like that, Ethel.

- I mean it.

I've done my best to bring her up

to behave respectable...

to be a good girl,

but it hasn't been any use.

If she loves this man that much,

maybe it was too strong for her.

Maybe she couldn't help herself.

You don't see what she's done

same way as what I do, do you?

Oh, I don't know.

You and me never have quite seen eye to eye

about what's right and what's wrong.

You'd have her back tomorrow

if she'd come, wouldn't you?

But I wouldn't.

You've always encouraged her,

told her how clever she was...

let her twist you around her little finger.

All I've done is to try laughing at her

instead of scolding her.

Well, you've got something

to laugh at now, haven't you?

Don't go for me, Ethel.

She's my girl as well as yours.

I'm not going for anyone.

I've done my best. I can't do no more.

You can't stop loving the girl all at once,

even if she has done wrong.

I can try.

What's the sense in that?

It's nothing to do with sense.

It's how you feel.

I've never seen you like this before.

Hard as nails, you are.

What did you expect me to be?

Oh, I don't know.

I suppose you've never cared for Queenie

as much as you did the other two.

- It's not fair to say that!

- It's true though, isn't it?

No, it's not.

She's always been the most trouble,

that's true enough.

And she's certainly never put herself out

to help me the way Vi has, that's true too.

But I've cared for her just the same

as I have the others...

and don't you start saying I haven't.

It's no use laying the blame for this

at my door.

What she's done she's done on her own...

and I'll never forgive her for it

till the end of my days.

Oh, well.

If you feel like that, it's not much good

talking about it, is it?

Will you turn out, or shall I?

Ethel.

I'm going back to bed now.

You'd better tidy up a bit

before you come up.

[Footsteps On Stairs]

[Door Opens, Closes]

[Rain Falling]

[Wind Whistling]

[Children Shouting Playfully]

[Shouting Continues]

This sink's taking a terrible time

to run out.

It's my belief the plug hole's

stopped up.

Well, you better pop round

to the tobacconist on the way home...

- and telephone Mr. Freeman.

- Righto.

- How long before tea's ready?

- About five minutes. The kettle's on.

Here are the tea things.

[Radio:
March]

Why are you laying tea so early?

Because Frank's taking us to the Majestic.

I wish somebody would turn that wireless off.

It's getting on my nerves.

- Ethel'd have it playing all day.

- [Clicks Off]

Just 'cause Reg gave it to her.

The skies will fall next,

I shouldn't wonder -

you doing something I asked you

without grumbling.

Now, Mrs. Flint, don't start.

It was a lucky day for all of us

when you met that Mrs. Wilmot.

Well, we won't argue about it, will we?

You're not so touchy as you used to be,

flying off at the least thing.

I'm very glad, I'm sure.

You haven't had one of your headaches

for weeks, have you?

No, I have not.

There you are then.

Well, perhaps you'd sooner have me

as I was before -

not sleeping a wink at night

and suffering and being in error.

- In what?

- Error.

Oh, so that's what it was.

And you needn't sneer

at Mrs. Wilmot either.

She's a wonderful woman.

She must be to make you believe

there isn't anything the matter with you.

It's what I've been saying for years.

Well, then we won't say anything more

about it, will we?

We will if we feel like it.

- Sylvia?

- Yes, Frank?

Tell Ethel to start tea without me.

I've got one more bed to do.

- Where is she?

- Upstairs, laying down.

Frank's been a changed man

since Queenie left.

I haven't noticed much difference.

Do you think she'll ever come back?

She'll have a piece of my mind if she does,

bringing disgrace on all of us.

- He had a letter from her the other day.

- How do you know?

Well, it came by the midday post, along with

that letter I had from Mrs. Wilmot.

I recognized the handwriting.

- Think he told Ethel?

- Well, not very likely.

It had a French stamp.

Disgusting.

What was disgusting?

[Mrs. Flint Sighs]

Gracious Ethel, what a start you gave me.

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