Episode 5

TOM: Your company has been running up rather a lot of credit across town.

♪ ♪ CLARA: Even if we were to marry, the inheritance would still go to her.

EDWARD: Don't you worry about Esther.

I'm taking care of her.

You're nothing but a coward!

And you knew and you said nothing.

LENNOX: You know what they say.

All's fair in love and war.

But then I've known both and you've known neither.

COLBOURNE: You are not to spend another minute in that man's company.

I'm not yours to order about.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Ooh!

Good morrow, horsey!

♪ ♪ Oh!

ARTHUR: Our ball looks set to be a triumph!

Almost all of London joins us.

I would not have supposed it so popular.

Come, shake off this gravity!

With so many men of consequence, any one of tonight's company could prove prospector.

We could even dare to dream of escaping our debt to Eliza.

Arthur, the ball must be canceled.

The shopkeepers say they will not supply us.

Not until the Army's debts have been paid.

But...

They are even now delivering supplies.

No, they are taking them away.

♪ ♪ (birds twittering) ESTHER (voiceover): It has been weeks since your last letter.

And I cannot account for your silence.

I beg you to put my mind at rest.

I'm taking Dr. Fuchs's tincture to make me stronger so I can be the woman you deserve.

Please send word that all is well.

That you have not forgotten your loving wife.

ALISON: I cannot stay here, Charlotte.

I was willing to give him my heart.

My life.

And in return, I almost drowned on account of his lies.

My mind is made up-- I leave tomorrow.

What is left for me here?

Your sister, for one thing.

My sister, the governess, who I never see!

But return with me!

You cannot wish to work a moment longer for Mr. Colbourne, given how he spoke to you!

I have a responsibility to the girls.

At least come to the ball, if it is to be our last night.

So the whole town can laugh at my folly.

(slams) And he will be there.

Alison... Whatever pain you feel now, in time it will pass.

The heart is more resilient than you think.

Indeed.

I believe your own heart is all but healed.

That is why you wish to stay in Sanditon.

It is not for the sake of the job or for the girls.

It is for him.

For whom?

You cannot hide it from your sister.

I'm not trying to hide anything.

Unlike Captain Carter, Colonel Lennox is a good man.

One of us deserves to find happiness.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (knock at door) BEATRICE: Miss Lambe!

♪ ♪ Colonel Lennox will never make good on the shopkeepers' debts.

Not until I've repaid mine to him.

"Now is not the time to gamble, Arthur."

Those were your words.

I know, I know, but I got caught off-guard!

I questioned his character from the start and you made me feel foolish for doubting him.

Does Mary know?

Then you must talk to her.

Tell her the truth.

I will speak with the shopkeepers and see if there is anything to be done about the ball.

♪ ♪ (exhales) (birds twittering) ♪ ♪ (horse approaching at trot) (playing notes repeatedly) Miss Markham.

What cheerful tune is this?

No, you're quite right.

I'll stop.

And take pause to apprehend all the wonderful other diversions ahead, on what I'm sure will be an exquisite day.

(slams keys loudly) Whatever's the matter?

(door slams) The ball.

She believes the garden party thwarted any chances of Mr. Colbourne letting her attend.

Well, naturally.

For a man of Mr. Colbourne's disposition, to be surrounded by happy company, enjoying lively conversation, I think nothing could be more disagreeable.

Mind your tone, please, Miss Heywood.

Mr. Colbourne doesn't deserve to be spoken of with such contempt.

Forgive me.

But the man I have seen... And how long have you known him?

There is more to Alexander Colbourne than you can possibly imagine!

♪ ♪ (sighs) Who knew weddings could be so extortionate?

It's a good thing there won't be any flowers.

(door opens) Or guests.

Esther!

You look uncommonly pale.

I must confess my thoughts are wayward.

(warmly): I cannot explain it.

(George cooing) Has the post come yet this morning?

LADY DENHAM: There's still nothing for you, I'm afraid.

Perhaps Babington simply ran out of things to say.

It happens in every marriage.

EDWARD: Oh, I'm sure it's not that, Aunt!

Doubtless, Lord Babington is preoccupied with his business affairs.

I cannot believe it's anything more than that.

It's highly unlikely he would have been led astray.

He's not you, Edward!

There'll be a good reason for his silence.

Of course there will.

♪ ♪ (George cooing) (exhales) (man shouting orders in distance) News of Miss Heywood.

They say she has plans to return home.

Tomorrow.

I knew it was lost.

I'm quite sunk in her esteem, Fraser.

Deservedly so.

But she should have an explanation.

Nothing would come of it.

(sighs): I have acted so foolishly.

And now your cowardice compounds the ill. Seek her out.

Explain yourself.

Why should she end her summer on account of your fictions?

Consider her contentment, Will, not your own glib suit.

Do you really think she wants to end her summer in Willingden?

Where?

The village where she is from.

Is it?

Oh.

A frank apology is the remedy that she needs.

That honor demands.

William!

Reconcile yourself to her departure.

I must.

(bird squawking) Augusta said Father left Lady Denham's in a fury.

But she wouldn't say why.

CHARLOTTE: I cannot claim to know your father's mind, Leo.

Now concentrate.

My elder son is Richard the Lionheart.

My younger is the king who signed the Magna Carta.

Oh, far too easy.

You're Eleanor of Aquitaine.

So how many soldiers will you dance with tonight?

(footsteps approaching) (softly): You're tiring me with all these questions.

Sir.

Leonora, will you leave us?

Miss Heywood.

I don't believe we've exchanged a word since... Lady Denham's.

Yes.

I wanted to say that I regret the way that we parted.

I didn't mean to cause offense.

You wish to apologize.

I cannot.

♪ ♪ Or explain.

Explain what?

Your behavior at the garden party.

♪ ♪ You have not one word to say?

You have no right to demand one.

Just stay away from that man.

♪ ♪ MARY: I am sorry to leave you, Alison, but Lady Denham expects me for whist.

Unless I can persuade you to join us.

Thank you, Mary, but I'd be poor company in my current state.

Mary, I, I wondered if we might have a quick word?

Not right now, my dear.

Can it wait?

Yes, yes, I suppose so.

Alison, a scarlet coat.

(doorbell ringing) Tell him I cannot see him.

(door opens) (door closes) ♪ ♪ (chuckles) It's only you.

♪ ♪ (birds twittering) Mrs. Wheatley tells me you're disappointed not to be going to the ball.

I never harbored much hope that I would.

But it is just another reminder of what I have lost.

How do you mean?

When I was a child, I used to watch my mother get dressed to go out in the evenings.

A feather in her hair.

Her pearl drop earrings.

Her white gloves.

Sometimes she'd let me try them on.

(laughs) And I would dance with my father, standing on his feet.

We'd talk about when I'd be old enough to join them.

Nothing can replace them.

But you will dance at plenty of balls yet.

How?

(sniffles) I don't know why you are bothering to ready me for society since I have an uncle who is so determined to avoid it.

He took you to the garden party.

The only thing that the garden party proved is that my uncle is incapable of change.

♪ ♪ ALISON (voiceover): He sends you here to argue for his good name.

I came without his knowledge.

Then let us speak no more of Captain Carter.

He cannot be the only reason for you to be here.

What about your sister?

Miss Lambe?

There might even be others willing to call themselves your friend.

I don't think so.

A friend would oblige me with the truth, not enjoy secret laughter at my expense.

My counsel to Captain Carter was to tell you the truth.

I couldn't betray his confidence.

How foolish am I?

To give him the slightest merit of his invented stories of the battlefield?

They were not invented.

Merely borrowed.

From you?

What does it matter now?

The damage is done.

Anyway, Miss Heywood, I hope you will forgive me for my part in the deceit.

It would be rather churlish of me not to, since you did save me from drowning.

And as you say, my departure is not on your account, so do not reproach yourself.

♪ ♪ BEATRICE (voiceover): I do hope the sitting won't last too long.

With my brother conducting a funeral in Bridport today, I shall struggle to make his parish rounds and meet all my errands.

Perhaps I shall just have to forgo my darning circle.

Thank you.

Arthur!

Ah...

The very person.

We are due at Mr. Lockhart's studio, but poor Miss Hankins is rushed off her feet.

I don't suppose you would mind... chaperoning me?

Alas, I have an important meeting in an hour.

That would be time enough.

I know Mr. Lockhart would be delighted to see you.

Well...

I suppose I could spare... (chuckling): ...a little time.

(people calling and talking in background) COLBOURNE: Miss Heywood.

On reflection, the garden party, how I spoke to you, I cannot regret the intention of my words, but I regret the way I expressed them.

(chuckling): Is that an apology?

I believe so, yes.

Then I accept it.

Even if I still do not understand.

(chair scrapes floor, seat creaks) I wished to speak to you on Miss Markham's behalf.

Oh?

Mr. Colbourne, every person contends with their past.

But is it fair for yours to constrain Miss Markham's life?

And Miss Colbourne's?

There is a ball tonight, which Augusta longs to attend, but knows she will not.

How am I to ready her for society when her guardian keeps her so confined?

It renders my position untenable.

♪ ♪ Then it seems you have some thinking ahead of you.

You will inform me once you've made a decision.

(papers rustling) ♪ ♪ (door closes) (birds twittering) (gasps): Oh, gracious.

I fear we must be leaving, Miss Lambe, or I shall be late.

Could you not just leave us to it, Arthur?

And return after your meeting?

Oh, Mary would not approve of my leaving you unchaperoned.

Or Miss Hankins, for that matter.

There is a certain... ...alchemy that occurs when a painter and a sitter are alone.

As someone with such a feeling for art, surely you can understand that?

♪ ♪ MARY: My congratulations, Miss Brereton.

Have you decided where you and Captain Denham will live once you're married?

Not yet.

LADY DENHAM: I suppose that rather depends on where Edward's company flits to next.

"Flit," milady?

Well, it seems our Colonel Lennox has quite a reputation.

I've just heard from a friend in Ramsgate.

Evidently, when the company were stationed there last year, they drank the town dry, ran up debts with every tradesman, and then vanished overnight.

Surely they cannot just outrun their debts?

Oh, on the contrary.

These men are war heroes.

The shopkeepers looked for legal recourse quite in vain.

And it seems that Ramsgate is not the only town to suffer such a fate.

So, you might wish to communicate this to Mr. Parker.

Forewarned is fore-armed.

♪ ♪ (slurring): I am the winner, am I not?

CLARA: No, Esther.

We are on the same team.

♪ ♪ Excuse me.

I'm very tired all of a sudden.

♪ ♪ (birds twittering) You changed your hair.

You asked me how I wished to be seen.

This is the hair my mother gave me.

What did your father give you?

Education.

An inheritance.

Which is both a blessing and a curse.

Had I your inheritance, I would travel the world.

I would do nothing but eat, drink, paint...

Swim.

And then I would spend the rest of my time... (softly): ...in bed.

And then I wouldn't have to do another miserable commission.

(chuckles) I'm sorry this is such an ordeal.

Not you, Miss Lambe.

You must have realized that I'm not, not doing this for money.

But for love.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ MARY: Lady Denham said she heard it from a friend.

Apparently, Colonel Lennox and his men simply vanished overnight, leaving all their bills unpaid.

Overnight?

And it seems the law cannot touch them.

That is all the more reason why, for the sake of the town, we must resolve this now before they disappear.

Mary.

There is something else I must tell you.

Something I've been keeping from you.

Tom?

Colonel Lennox will not repay the shopkeepers' debts until I've repaid my own.

What debts?

A dice game.

He deliberately trapped me, Mary.

How much?

A hundred pounds.

Have you learnt nothing?

I am so sorry.

After everything we endured last year!

Everything that Sidney sacrificed!

What do you mean, "sacrificed"?

Did you really never work it out?

Sidney and Charlotte were in love.

He married Eliza to save you.

But you would throw all that away for a game of dice!

(door closes) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (weakly): What do you want, Edward?

(door closes) I know I'm the last person you would seek comfort from now.

But I know you better than anyone.

And it frightens me to see you like this.

I'm just a little dizzy, that's all.

You cannot see how you appear.

I fear you're in the grip of some kind of mania.

Why is this happening to me, Edward?

♪ ♪ Sleep now.

You will feel much the better for it.

♪ ♪ (seagull squawking) (soldiers laughing, chatting) ♪ ♪ It's you making her ill.

In London, I saw unfortunates with matching symptoms: scratching... (softly): Laudanum!

You've exchanged it for her concoction!

Don't feign shock, Clara-- you agreed to this.

I didn't agree to poison her.

Then why tell me she was taking it?

Besides, it's working-- she's unraveling.

The moment Lady Denham believes her mad, she will rapidly disinherit her.

She takes that tincture because she wants a child.

This seems especially cruel, Edward, even for you.

And it gladdens me that she cannot have one.

And if Babington believes her mad, so much the better.

This is not just about George.

This is revenge.

She betrayed my trust, and for that there are consequences.

(grabs Clara's arm): She shall attend the ball tonight.

Make sure of it.

(releases arm) (exhales) (dog barking in distance) ARTHUR: Ah, there you are!

You must get changed, or we'll be late to our own ball.

It is going ahead?

But how?

As luck would have it, I was, until recently, a loyal customer of Mr. Chorston's bakery.

Chorston won the others round.

They agreed to an extra three days' credit.

You are a marvel, Arthur!

A marvel!

There's something different about you tonight.

A new brightness in your eyes.

I wonder, how is that portrait progressing?

Faster than I had expected.

Mr. Lockhart is prodigiously talented.

How did you fare with Mr. Colbourne today?

(sighs) I fear everyone's judgment was sound.

About him and the imprudence of my ambition.

(sighs) But what will you do if you're no longer a governess?

I don't know.

You're not going to return to Willingden and marry that farmer.

Ralph?!

No.

I don't understand why you won't consider Colonel Lennox.

He's handsome.

Noble.

You enjoy each other's company.

Georgiana... You can't recapture what you had with Sidney.

I will never love anyone as I loved Otis.

That doesn't mean I can't find different kinds of passion.

♪ ♪ ALISON: Charlotte?

GEORGIANA: Alison!

I have not seen that gown before.

It is my May Day dress, from home.

What convinced you to come?

His shame, not mine.

Why should I hide away?

Well, then, your liveliest spirits.

And Charlotte, as this is our last night as a happy trio, you must promise to enjoy yourself.

Fine, yes, I promise.

I think this means she will dance with the colonel.

I did not say that.

No, but when you're wrapped in his strong arms, I shall be studying you closely.

I somehow doubt you'll maintain your present composure.

Oh, you're both impossible.

(laughing) ♪ ♪ Hm.

Wish me luck, Fraser.

With what, sir?

Let's just say I hope I receive a better response from my Miss Heywood than Captain Carter did from his.

Whoa!

(horse nickering) (laughing) (carriage door closes) (gasps, laughs) ♪ ♪ (people talking in background) (quietly): Was this wise?

♪ ♪ GEORGIANA: Mary tells me there will be some highly eligible gentlemen here.

Quite so, Georgiana.

Yes, we shall see you married by your 21st birthday yet.

And, and you, Charlotte.

I hope that you will be dancing this evening.

I, I know that Sidney would want to see you dancing again.

As do I.

Thank you, Tom.

Yes.

Ah, Lady Denham.

Of course, you know my betrothed, Miss Brereton.

Oh, herzlichen Glückwunsch to you both.

How proud you must be, milady!

Oh, you can hardly imagine!

FUCHS: And Lady Babington, I hope you are well.

So do I.

♪ ♪ Good luck, Colonel.

Miss Heywood, permit me the honor of the first dance.

She would be delighted.

(song begins) (song continues) It doesn't seem so long ago since the first time we danced together.

To think how much has happened since that night.

Is it not remarkable how the path of one's life can be so altered in just a few short weeks?

No doubt Mrs. Parker has told you that the Army, it seems, will be gone in a puff of smoke.

You insisted that they would benefit Sanditon financially, but it seems the opposite is true.

I did warn you.

I, I do not in fact recall any warnings.

What do you intend to do about it?

You endorsed these scarlet-coated rogues in the strongest possible terms.

I entrusted you with my money, as did your brother's widow.

Well, maybe that trust was misplaced.

Oh, in heaven's name, what's wrong with you?

Find a remedy.

(song continues) Tom?

It's most agreeable to enjoy your company without fear of interruption by your employer.

Quite.

Although I cannot say with certainty how long he shall remain my employer.

I am glad to hear it.

Does that suggest you have been giving some thought to your future, Miss Heywood?

(song ends, crowd applauds) Excuse me, Colonel.

My sister needs me.

(applause fades) (new song begins) (people laughing) I think I preferred the main room.

Yes, shall we?

No.

For my own pride, I cannot let this stand.

(laughing) Miss Heywood.

I was sorry to hear you were leaving Sanditon.

I am hardly inclined to believe you, since you have made no attempt to explain your actions.

No, you are right.

I, um...

It fell to Captain Fraser to beg forgiveness in your place.

It was he that asked me to stay because he is a man of honor and integrity.

Believe me, it was only self-reproach that prevented me.

Let us put this discord behind us.

I beg you, do me the honor of this next dance.

I will not dance with you.

I came only to say I was fool enough to indulge your falsehoods, but please consider your behavior.

Perhaps you may spare the next girl.

(people talking and laughing in background) ESTHER: Oh, to watch you two parade around like a parody of devotion, it's grotesque.

I can't believe you sanctioned this sham of a wedding, Aunt.

It's called making the best of a bad situation.

I'm sorry you can't be happy for us, Esther.

Don't let your own marital discord mar our joy.

Joy?

Clara is your captive.

She bears you no more love than I do.

Here, take this.

(glass shatters) (sighs) Are you quite all right?

Yes, I didn't... Esther, what's got into you?

Perhaps we should have left you behind.

Here, take mine.

(sighs) (Esther exhales sharply) ♪ ♪ Something preys on my mind, Aunt.

Esther told me once, on her paternal line, her grandfather once lived 30 years in a madhouse.

Oh, nonsense.

Esther's not mad.

She's just confused, that's all.

What is wrong with me?

If Babington returns to find me like this... (exhales) If he returns.

He will.

(sighs) ♪ ♪ Miss Lambe, I trust you are having a pleasant evening.

Mr. Lockhart.

Passably so, thank you.

I know I'm only a humble artist, but would it be a presumption if I were to ask you to dance?

I hardly think my guardians would approve.

Oh, come now.

It's only dancing.

Where is the harm?

(energetic song begins) (partygoers whooping) (song continues) You know Mr. Lockhart better than I do, Arthur.

Can we trust him with Georgiana?

ARTHUR: Look at how he lights her up, Mary.

I would trust him with my life.

(song continues) ♪ ♪ (song stops) (groans) It's too much wine, I think.

♪ ♪ She did very well to interrupt us.

I did not like that dance at all.

(chuckling) Something less jaunty, please.

(musicians start slower piece) Come with me.

I believe the cause to be Lady Babington's unhappy condition.

How?

In essence, her brain is impaired by nonsensical messages from her flawed womb.

In science, we call it hysteria.

Interesting that her symptoms began just as she started taking your ridiculous concoctions, your "tincture."

Impossible.

It is a harmless placebo.

It cannot affect her physically.

I seek only to give her hope.

Esther, come, we must go, before you humiliate yourself further.

♪ ♪ Charlotte!

♪ ♪ I don't know what kind of a spell you've put on him.

I'm sure it wasn't just my words.

And I'm sure it was-- you must never leave us.

The next dance is about to begin.

I... (chuckles) You know I do not dance.

It is a ball, Mr. Colbourne.

Why else are you here?

I'm asking myself that same question.

CHARLES: How long do you plan to remain here in Sanditon?

If it were down to me, only until I come of age.

But if the Parkers have their way, I'll be stuck here until I marry.

How long will you stay?

Until tomorrow.

As soon as your portrait is finished, I shall be leaving for Europe.

Were you going to tell me?

This is me telling you.

So this is goodbye?

It doesn't have to be.

Come with me.

As your concubine?

(softly): As my wife!

MARY: Georgiana!

There you are!

(gasps) MARY: I thought you'd disappeared.

Come along.

♪ ♪ (door opens, closes) (exhales sharply) (song playing) (song continues) I wonder, have you given any more consideration to your position?

CHARLOTTE: A great deal.

I hope we might persuade you to stay.

Why is that?

Augusta and Leonora have been transformed by your influence.

I cannot explain the effect you have had, Miss Heywood, on all of us.

It's as if you've restored us back to life.

We would be bereft to lose you now.

(song continues) (song ends) (crowd applauds) Excuse me.

(exhales): There you are.

How could I let him lead me into such a bind?

Because that is what he does.

He is a colonel-- an expert in strategy and setting ambushes.

I was casting around, looking for someone to, to endow with all the qualities I miss in our brother, and, and there he was.

Sidney is irreplaceable.

But you have a quality that he never had.

You are a man of vision.

Were it not for you, Sanditon would be little more than a row of fishing huts.

You have a rare imagination.

A genius for conjuring up ideas out of nothing.

You will think of something, Tom.

You always do.

What would I do without you, Arthur?

Why was I looking for someone to fill Sidney's shoes when you, you've been there all along?

♪ ♪ My brother.

(sniffles) (people talking in background) Charlotte.

What is the matter?

I don't understand.

Dancing just now, I felt alive in a way I haven't since... You are allowed to have feelings for another man.

That is not a betrayal.

But... Why him?

Why not him?

Speaking of whom.

LENNOX: Miss Heywood.

I shall see you downstairs.

I hoped we could conclude our conversation at last.

(song begins) Army life defines a man.

I've never been defeated on the field of battle, but now I fear I am quite conquered.

I have never met anyone comparable, Miss Heywood.

You surprise me constantly.

Nothing, nothing would delight me so much as to be constant to you.

I...

There's a large estate along the coast with a very pleasant aspect.

I took the liberty of making enquiries.

I do not understand.

Of course you do.

I believe you have understood since our first meeting.

I humbly beg of you, give me your hand.

I wish you to be my wife.

♪ ♪ I, I thought I'd been clear.

I do not wish to marry.

The time for playing games is over.

I play no game.

I am perfectly serious.

You worry I wouldn't suit a domestic life.

I assure you, I...

I cannot marry you.

You can't want to continue as a governess.

I am offering to save you from that squalid existence.

I do not love you!

Love will grow if you let it.

(struggling): Stop!

Be sensible of my rank!

Know your own!

I know who I am.

I've never pretended to be anyone else.

♪ ♪ (gasping) Miss Heywood... What is it?

(Charlotte exhaling) What did he say to you?

(gasping) ♪ ♪ (people talking, laughing in background) Abandoned and in want of friends again, I see.

Captain Fraser.

How do you always find the most perfect words of comfort?

My entire summer wasted.

Tomorrow, when you're mucking out your father's pigs, you'll have time to consider that.

Now, we're at a ball, you are wearing the most beautiful gown here, and I must insist we dance.

This dress is the plainest in the room.

You are mocking me once again.

No, Miss Heywood.

Simple is not plain.

True beauty needs no adornment.

I say to you now in all sincerity that you have never looked lovelier.

Thank you.

That is worth all the more coming from the rudest man I know.

(chuckles) This is what I tried to warn you of.

You didn't warn me of anything.

You ordered me to avoid him and gave no reason.

My only thought was to protect you from a man I knew to be dangerous.

Then why did you not say?

All I had was the colonel's account.

He told me that you were not to be trusted.

That... Go on.

That you stole the woman he loved and destroyed her.

That is what he told you?

So what is the truth?

I have had enough of these endless riddles and evasions.

Of trying to find meaning in your silences.

This is not the place.

I must know who you are.

♪ ♪ Uncle?

Miss Heywood.

What is it?

We're leaving.

Miss Heywood will come with us.

♪ ♪ FRASER: So you leave tomorrow.

A bright new dawn for Sanditon.

We'll be celebrating in the streets.

How I will miss your sense of humor.

(song playing) (song continues) (song continues) (song ends) (crowd applauds) Miss Leonora has been impossible: up and down from her bed all evening.

Miss Heywood.

I was not expecting you.

Did you dance, Augusta?

Miss Heywood!

Come, girls, let us leave your father and Miss Heywood in peace.

(quietly): I'll tell you everything tomorrow.

♪ ♪ Hysteria, Aunt.

What if she begins to rave?

We may not be able to provide care to her best advantage.

We need not consider that now.

These affairs only go one way.

Well, where would she go?

Where is George?

Do you have him?

(George crying) (Esther humming, George breathing evenly) LADY DENHAM: Esther!

(George crying) CLARA: What are you doing?

Don't hurt him!

(George crying) I wished for some air and I heard George crying.

And you brought him back here?

Why?

To bring him comfort.

Edward, you're frightening him.

Please do not harm him.

Return him to his mother.

I would never harm him!

I'm comforting him!

LADY DENHAM: Esther, give him to his mother.

Now, please.

(George wailing) (softly): Esther.

♪ ♪ (George quiets down) (George fussing softly) Lucy and I married young.

I had not long inherited this house.

She wanted to stay in London, at the heart of society, and I did not.

So I came back here.

She stayed for a final season.

And that's where she met Colonel Lennox.

Captain, as he then was.

I never thought what strangers she and I had become.

She wrote, delaying her return, pleading illness.

Months went by without a word.

At last, my curiosity conquered my pride.

I went to London.

Only to find she was with child.

His child?

♪ ♪ COLBOURNE: He'd abandoned her.

And she was too scared and ashamed to face me.

I showed her no pity.

No compassion.

You bear no blame.

The words I spoke torment me to this day.

She became a ghost of her former self.

And not long after the child was born, she... Go on.

Lucy knew she wasn't strong.

When she walked out into the rain that night, she must have known.

That is why it pains you to be in Leo's company.

She is a living reminder.

♪ ♪ I so wanted to tell you, but I was afraid of what you would think of me.

You should not endure such recrimination after so long.

Forgive yourself.

I cannot.

I, I cannot... You must.

Else the past will thwart the future.

A future that I imagine could be very dear, indeed.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ARTHUR: Sidney's possessions.

GEORGIANA: What is it?

ALISON: Is it not peculiar how we can be strangers to our own affections?

Miss Heywood.

AUGUSTA: What is it that you are frightened of, Uncle?

Go to her.

TOM: Charlotte, a Mr. Colbourne is here to see you.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Go to our website, listen to our podcast, watch video, and more.

To order this program, visit ShopPBS.

"Masterpiece" is available with PBS Passport and on Amazon Prime Video.

♪ ♪