The Sacred Flame by W. Somerset Maugham

Oldtuberadio

The Sacred Flame - invalided following an air crash, Maurice is determined to remain cheerful. But his condition affects all those who are close to him. Starring Julian Glover, Wendy Hiller, Hannah Gordon and Janet Maw.    Do you enjoy the variety on Oldtuberadio?  Like, Share and Subscribe to be notified of our new shows  #radio #crime #thriller #drama  To Support this channel please visit  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/oldtuberadio  https://ko-fi.com/oldtuberadio98  https://www.patreon.com/oldtuberadio  https://locals.com/Oldtuberadio

Transcript

00:00:00Speed is the essence of chess, old boy.

00:00:05Don't let the brute bully me, Mrs. Tabbert.

00:00:08I think you're quite capable of taking care of yourself, Doctor.

00:00:13Besides, how can anyone bully effectively from an invalid bed?

00:00:19If you moved your bishop, you'd make things a bit awkward for me.

00:00:24When I want your advice, I'll ask for it.

00:00:27Mother, is that the way respectable general practitioners talk to their patients in the days of your far-distant youth?

00:00:33Now, how on earth do you expect poor Nurse Whelan to read, when you never for an instant hold your tongue?

00:00:39I don't mind, Mrs. Tabbert. Don't bother about me.

00:00:42After listening to my sprightly conversation for nearly five years, Nurse Whelan pays no more attention to me than if I were a deaf-mute.

00:00:49And who can blame her?

00:00:51Even when pain and anguish wring my brow and I swear like 50,000 troopers, I never manage to bring the blush of shame to her maiden cheek.

00:00:59I know. It's exasperating.

00:01:01It's worse than that, Nurse. It's inconsiderate.

00:01:04Watch the doctor. He's about to move.

00:01:07Be very careful, old boy. The position is fraught with danger.

00:01:11I'm going to move my knight.

00:01:13What would you say if I gave that pawn a little push and murmured check?

00:01:18I should say it was your right, but I should think it a trifle vulgar.

00:01:23Do you know what I'd do now in your place?

00:01:25No, I don't.

00:01:25I'd catch my foot in the leg of the table and kick it over accidentally.

00:01:28That's the only way you can save yourself from getting the worst hiding I've ever given you.

00:01:32Go to the devil. There.

00:01:35Ah, you do that, do you? All right.

00:01:38If you please, ma'am. Major Luconda wants to know if it's too late for him to come in and have a drink.

00:01:43Of course not. Where is he?

00:01:45He's at the door, sir.

00:01:46Ask him to come in.

00:01:47Very good, ma'am.

00:01:51You know him, don't you, old boy?

00:01:52No, I've never met him.

00:01:53He's the fellow who's just taken that furnished house on the Gofflings, isn't he?

00:01:57Yes, yes. I knew him years ago in India, and that's why he came here.

00:02:01He was one of Mother's numerous admirers. I understand that she treated him very badly.

00:02:06I can well believe it. Does he still cherish a hopeless passion for you, Mrs. Tabaret?

00:02:11I really don't know, Dr. Harvester. You'd better ask him.

00:02:14Is he Indian Army?

00:02:15No, police. He's just retired. He's a very good chap, and I believe he's rather a good golfer.

00:02:20Colin has played with him two or three times.

00:02:22I asked him to dine tonight so that Morris could get a game of bridge, but he couldn't come.

00:02:27Major Luconda.

00:02:28Good evening.

00:02:29Hello, good evening.

00:02:30Oh, do come in.

00:02:32Oh, how nice of you to look in.

00:02:33I was on my way home. I saw your lights were on, so I thought I'd just ask if anyone would like to give me a jock and Doris.

00:02:40Now, help yourself. The whiskey's there on the table.

00:02:44Oh, right. Thank you.

00:02:46How are you, nurse?

00:02:47Very well, thank you.

00:02:49Good. And the patient?

00:02:50Bearing up pretty well, considering all he has to put up with.

00:02:54I see you're in your usual high spirit.

00:02:56I don't think you know Dr. Harvester.

00:02:59How do you do?

00:03:00Mrs. Tabaret tells me you're a very good doctor.

00:03:03I take great pains to impress the fact on my patient.

00:03:06His only serious fault is that he thinks he can play chess.

00:03:09Don't let me disturb your game.

00:03:11It's finished.

00:03:11Not at all. I have three possible moves.

00:03:14Ah, what do you say to that?

00:03:16Mate, you poor fish.

00:03:17Oh, damn.

00:03:18Have you beaten him?

00:03:20Hollow.

00:03:21Well, I won't keep you up. I'll just swallow my drink and take myself off.

00:03:25I really only came to say I was sorry I couldn't come to dinner.

00:03:29There's no hurry, you know. I'm not going to bed for hours.

00:03:31We're really waiting up for Stella and Colin.

00:03:34They've gone to the opera.

00:03:36Well, I'm a night owl.

00:03:38I never go to bed till I can't help it.

00:03:39You're the man for my money.

00:03:41I've got a day's work before me.

00:03:43I'll just have a drop of scotch to assuage the pangs of defeat, and then I must run.

00:03:47Please, please do.

00:03:48Let's send the rest of them off to bed, Major, and have a good old gossip by ourselves.

00:03:56All right-o. I'm willing.

00:03:58Now, if you really want to stay up, Morris, let Nurse Whalen get you ready, and then Colin can help you.

00:04:05All right. What do you say to that nurse?

00:04:08Well, it's just as you like. I'm quite prepared to stay up until Mrs. Morris comes in.

00:04:13I'll put you to bed after you've said goodnight to her.

00:04:15No, come on. You're looking tired.

00:04:17Yes, you're looking a little peaked, Nurse. I think it's time you had another holiday.

00:04:21Oh, I don't want a holiday for months.

00:04:24Put your shoulder to the wheel, Nurse, and gently trundle the wounded hero to his bedchamber.

00:04:28Shall I come and help?

00:04:29Not on your life. It's bad enough to be messed about by one person. I don't want a crowd, damn it.

00:04:33Sorry. I'll open the door for you, to know.

00:04:36Oh, thank you.

00:04:38It's only been ten minutes.

00:04:45She seems a very nice woman, that nurse.

00:04:48Yes. She's extremely competent, and I must say she's very gentle and very kind. Her patience is really wonderful.

00:04:57You've had her ever since poor Morris crashed, haven't you?

00:05:00Oh, no. No, no, no. We had three or four before she came. All more or less odious.

00:05:06She's a rattling good nurse. I think you're lucky to have got her.

00:05:10I'm sure we are. The only fault I have to find with her is that she's so very reserved.

00:05:16Except for her month's holiday every August, she's been with us all day and every day for nearly five years.

00:05:23And I only just know that her name's Beatrice.

00:05:26She calls the boys, Mr. Morris and Mr. Colin, and Stella, she always calls Mrs. Morris.

00:05:35She seems to be always well on her guard.

00:05:40No, she certainly doesn't encourage familiarity.

00:05:43I can't imagine skylarking with her at a Sunday school treat, I must admit.

00:05:47And, of course, she's a little tactless.

00:05:50It never seems to occur to her that Morris wants to be alone with his wife.

00:05:57Poor lamb. He has so little.

00:06:00Well, he likes to say goodnight to Stella the last thing, and he likes to say it without anyone looking on.

00:06:07That's why he's staying up now.

00:06:10Poor old boy.

00:06:12He can't bear the thought of going to sleep without kissing her.

00:06:14Well, and Nurse Wayland always seems to find something to do just that last moment.

00:06:20He doesn't want to hurt her feelings by sending her out of the room, and he's terrified of being thought sentimental.

00:06:26So he uses every sort of trick and device to get her out of the way.

00:06:31But, good Lord, why don't you tell her?

00:06:33After all, there's no reason why a man shouldn't kiss his wife goodnight if he wants to.

00:06:36She's terribly sensitive.

00:06:39Haven't you noticed how often rather tactless people are?

00:06:42Hmm. I suppose Morris is absolutely dependent on her.

00:06:46Absolutely.

00:06:48All sorts of rather unpleasant things have to be done for him, poor dear.

00:06:52And he can't bear that anyone should know about them, especially Stella.

00:06:56Yes, I've discovered that.

00:06:57Is there really no chance of his getting better, Doctor?

00:07:00I'm afraid not.

00:07:01It's a miracle that he's alive at all.

00:07:03He was terribly smashed up, you know.

00:07:05The lower part of his spine was broken, and the plane caught fire, and he was badly burnt.

00:07:09And when you think that he was flying all through the war, and he never even had a mishap.

00:07:13His courage amazes me.

00:07:15He never seems low or depressed.

00:07:18Never, never.

00:07:19His appearance are wonderful.

00:07:22It's one of the most anguishing things I know, to see him when he's in dreadful pain, forcing a joke from his lips.

00:07:28I'm sorry to think Colin is going away so soon, Mrs. Tabbert.

00:07:31I think his being here has done Morris a lot of good.

00:07:35When they were boys, they were always great friends, you know, and brothers aren't always.

00:07:40Not indeed.

00:07:41And Colin had been away so long.

00:07:43He went to Central America just before Morris crashed, you know.

00:07:49He had put all his share of his father's money in a coffee plantation.

00:07:52It's doing very well.

00:07:53Well, he loves the life out there, and it does seem cruel to ask him to give it up, to help us, to look after his crippled brother.

00:08:01Well, I think it would be very unfair.

00:08:03One has no right to ask anyone to give up his own chance of making the best he can of life.

00:08:07At all events, with a young one may ask.

00:08:10But the likelihood of their consenting is very slight.

00:08:13Here we are again.

00:08:19I'm all fixed up and ready for any excitement.

00:08:22I must go.

00:08:23And Nurse Wayland should go to bed.

00:08:25I'll just gather my things together and say goodnight.

00:08:29Are you sure, Mrs. Morris, and your brother won't go and have supper after the opera?

00:08:32I'm sure they will.

00:08:33I particularly told Stella she was to have a real treat.

00:08:37It's not often she goes on the loose, poor dear.

00:08:39Then they won't be home till four.

00:08:41Does that mean you disapprove of my staying up, you hard and brutal woman?

00:08:45Doesn't Dr. Harvest?

00:08:46Very much.

00:08:47But I'm aware that Morris has no intention of going to sleep till he knows his wife is safely home again.

00:08:52And my theory is that it does people good now and then to do what they shouldn't.

00:08:55Aha!

00:08:56That's the kind of doctor for me.

00:08:57What's that?

00:08:58What?

00:08:59What?

00:09:00What, Morris?

00:09:01I thought I heard a car.

00:09:03Yes, by Jove, it's Stella.

00:09:06Do you want me to say you can hear it from this distance?

00:09:08You bet your life I can.

00:09:10That's the family bus.

00:09:11Now just stay a minute and see Stella, doctor.

00:09:13She's got her best bib and tucker on and she's a sight for sore eyes.

00:09:17What were they giving at the opera tonight?

00:09:20Tristan.

00:09:20That's why I insisted on Stella going.

00:09:22It was after Tristan that we got engaged.

00:09:24Do you remember, Mother?

00:09:26Yes, of course I do.

00:09:27We'd all been to hear it and then we went on to supper.

00:09:30I drove Stella round Regent's Park in a little two-seater I had then

00:09:33and I swore I'd go on driving round and round till she promised to marry me.

00:09:38Tristan had given her such an appetite that by the time we were halfway round the second time

00:09:42she said, oh, hell, if I must either marry you or die of starvation, I'd sooner marry you.

00:09:46Oh, is there one word of truth in this story, Mrs. Tabbert?

00:09:50All I know is that the rest of us had only just ordered our supper when they came in

00:09:54looking like a pair of cats who'd swallowed a canary and said they were engaged.

00:10:00Stella.

00:10:01Darling.

00:10:03Have you missed me?

00:10:04Why are you back already, you wretched girl?

00:10:07You promised me to go and have supper.

00:10:08I was so thrilled and excited by the opera, wasn't I, Colin?

00:10:11Yes, she simply couldn't eat a thing.

00:10:13Well, hang it all.

00:10:14You might have gone to Lucien's and had a dance or two and a bottle of champagne.

00:10:17What's the good of my buying you a new dress when you won't let anyone see it?

00:10:21She said it was too dressed up to go to the opera inn, Major.

00:10:23But I exercised my marital authority and made her.

00:10:27Quite right.

00:10:27Darling, I wanted to show it off in the intervals, but I hadn't the nerves, so I kept my cloak on.

00:10:32Well, take it off now and show the gentleman.

00:10:35The only way I managed to get them to stay was by promising to let them have a look at your new dress when you came home.

00:10:40Oh, nonsense.

00:10:41As if Major Laconda or Dr. Harvester knew one frock from another.

00:10:44Oh, don't be so damned contemptuous of the male sex, Stella.

00:10:48Take off your cloak and let's have a good look at you.

00:10:50You brute, Morris.

00:10:51You've made me feel shy now.

00:10:55Oh, it's a lovely chick.

00:10:59Hello?

00:10:59What's the matter?

00:11:00Stella?

00:11:01Oh, it's nothing.

00:11:05I feel so frightfully faint.

00:11:07Oh, my dear.

00:11:08Stella, it's all right, Morris.

00:11:09Don't pass.

00:11:10Put your head down between your knees, Stella.

00:11:12No, don't come near me.

00:11:14I shall be all right again in a minute.

00:11:16Silly of me.

00:11:17I'm sorry, darling.

00:11:19It was my fault.

00:11:19It's nothing.

00:11:20I feel better already.

00:11:21It's my belief that she's just faint from lack of food.

00:11:25At what time did you dine?

00:11:27We didn't dine.

00:11:28Oh, you are a ridiculous pair.

00:11:31I'm really quite all right now.

00:11:33Nurse, would you mind going into the kitchen and seeing if you can find anything for these silly young things to eat?

00:11:39Of course not.

00:11:41There ought to be some ham.

00:11:42I'll make some sandwiches.

00:11:43And, Colin, get a bottle of champagne out of the cellar.

00:11:47All right, Mother.

00:11:48Is there any ice in the house?

00:11:49I've got a thirst I wouldn't sell for 20 pounds.

00:11:52Well, I'll say goodbye.

00:11:54I'm so sorry you're feeling poorly, Stella.

00:11:57I shall be all right when I've had something to eat.

00:11:59I think Mrs Tablet is quite right.

00:12:01What I want is a large ham sandwich with a lot of mustard on it.

00:12:05You're looking better, you know.

00:12:06Just for a moment, you were as white as a sheet.

00:12:08Goodbye, Millie.

00:12:09Oh, goodbye.

00:12:11It was so nice of you to look in.

00:12:13Goodbye, Morris.

00:12:14Good night.

00:12:15Good night, Major.

00:12:16Good night.

00:12:18I'll just stay a moment or two longer, if you don't mind.

00:12:21I don't trust these young women who don't feed themselves properly.

00:12:26Doctor, shall we take a turn in the garden?

00:12:29Oh, by all means.

00:12:30Well, it is so warm and lovely.

00:12:33Yes, and I hope Nurse Whelan has the sense to cut a sandwich for me, too.

00:12:40Oh, she makes a very good sandwich.

00:12:42She's quite...

00:12:44You're much better than I am, I think.

00:12:48Oh, Morris.

00:12:50Darling.

00:12:53I'm sorry I made such a fool of myself.

00:12:55You scared the life out of me, you little beast.

00:12:58Why didn't you go on to some place and have a bite before you came home?

00:13:01I didn't want to.

00:13:02I wanted to get back.

00:13:04You don't imagine I care a hang about dancing.

00:13:06You little liar.

00:13:08How can anyone dance as well as you without being crazy about it?

00:13:11You're the best dancer I ever danced with.

00:13:13I'm not so young as I was.

00:13:15You're 28.

00:13:16You're only a girl.

00:13:18You ought to be having the time of your life.

00:13:22Oh, my dear.

00:13:23It is rotten for you.

00:13:25Oh, darling, don't.

00:13:26You mustn't think that.

00:13:28Don't imagine for a moment that I've given up a thing that meant anything to me.

00:13:33I married you because I loved you.

00:13:36What a foul brute I should be if I stopped loving you now that you need my love more than ever.

00:13:40Oh, my dear.

00:13:42We can't love because we ought to.

00:13:45Love comes and goes and we can none of us help ourselves.

00:13:48What do you mean?

00:13:50Has there been anything in my behavior to lead you to think that I wasn't the same as I've always been?

00:13:54No, darling.

00:13:56You've been angelic always.

00:13:59Always.

00:13:59Why, what's the matter?

00:14:02You suddenly went quite pale.

00:14:04You're not feeling faint again.

00:14:05No, no, I'm all right.

00:14:08You know, if I've seemed often to take for granted all you've done for me,

00:14:13you mustn't think I'm not conscious all the time how much I owe you.

00:14:17Oh, that's very silly of you, my pet.

00:14:21I don't know that I've done anything for you at all except be moderately civil.

00:14:25You never let me.

00:14:27I'll never let you nurse me.

00:14:28Sorry, not on your life.

00:14:30I couldn't have borne that you should have anything to do with the disgusting side of illness, my precious.

00:14:36I'm so grateful to you, Stella.

00:14:41You know that I'm never going to get well, don't you?

00:14:44I don't indeed.

00:14:46It's a long business, we know that.

00:14:48But I'm absolutely convinced that you'll get at all events very much better.

00:14:52They tell me that one of these days they'll try operating again to see if they can't possibly put me right.

00:14:57But I know they're lying.

00:14:58They pretend they can do something in order to give me hope.

00:15:01And I pretend to believe them because it's the easiest thing to do.

00:15:04I know I'm here for life, Stella.

00:15:09Oh, then let's take what comfort we can in the great joy we've had in one another in the days when you were well and strong.

00:15:17I shall always be grateful for the happiness you gave me and for your love.

00:15:23Do you think that's changed?

00:15:25No.

00:15:26I love you as deeply, as devotedly as I ever did.

00:15:30I'm not often silly and sentimental, am I?

00:15:35Is it so silly to be sentimental?

00:15:39No, you're not often.

00:15:41You're everything in the world to me.

00:15:44People have been most awfully kind to me, and it's not till you're crocked up as I am that you find out how kind people are.

00:15:50But there's not one of them that I wouldn't see in hell if it would save you from unhappiness or trouble.

00:15:56Well, I wouldn't tell them if I were you.

00:15:58I don't believe they'd awfully like it.

00:16:00I ought to be frightened because I'm so dependent on you, but I'm not because I know, not just with my mind or my heart, but with every nerve in me, how good you are.

00:16:11Now, darling, you really are exaggerating.

00:16:14My precious, you can laugh at me, but I see the tears in your eyes.

00:16:17Maurice, I am a very weak, very imperfect, and a very sinful woman.

00:16:26You silly little ass.

00:16:28Why are you saying all this to me just tonight?

00:16:31I should never have mentioned it, only I wanted to tell you that it's you who've given me the courage to carry on.

00:16:38I'm not unhappy.

00:16:40I don't know how many years I shall hang on, but if you'll help me, darling, I think I can make a pretty good job of it.

00:16:48I owe everything to you.

00:16:51Nothing matters to me very much when I know I shall see you tomorrow, and next day, and a day after that.

00:16:58And always...

00:16:59Maurice, I'm unworthy of such love.

00:17:03I'm so ashamed.

00:17:05I'm so selfish.

00:17:07I'm so thoughtless.

00:17:09Never.

00:17:09Why did you make me go out tonight?

00:17:13Did you think it was any pleasure to me?

00:17:15I was thinking of my pleasure.

00:17:17I wanted you to hear again the music we'd heard together that night we got engaged.

00:17:21Do you remember how you cried in the second act when Tristan and Isolde sing that duet of theirs?

00:17:25And I held your hand in the dark.

00:17:27I cried because I loved you, and I was happy.

00:17:31Did you cry tonight?

00:17:32I don't know.

00:17:34You know, that music is stunning, isn't it?

00:17:38People seem to think it's above the average.

00:17:41You seemed to carry it still in your eyes when you came in.

00:17:43They were bright and shining.

00:17:45You've never looked so beautiful as you look tonight.

00:17:47Oh, go on, darling.

00:17:48I can bear much more in the same strain.

00:17:50I could go on for weeks.

00:17:51No, then I'd be afraid you were prejudiced.

00:17:55But go on till the sandwiches come in.

00:17:57The honest-to-God truth is that you're ever so much lovelier than when I married you.

00:18:01What is there that gives you this sudden new radiance?

00:18:04I don't know why I should look any different from usual.

00:18:06I watch your face.

00:18:07I know every change in it from day to day.

00:18:10A year ago you had a strained, almost a hunted look,

00:18:13but now and lately you've had an air that is strangely peaceful.

00:18:17You've gained a sort of beautiful serenity.

00:18:21Oh, my poor lamb.

00:18:23I'm afraid that can only be due to advancing years.

00:18:27Soon you'll discover the first wrinkle on my forehead,

00:18:29then the first white hair.

00:18:31No, no, you must never grow old.

00:18:33I couldn't bear it.

00:18:34Oh, how cruel that all that beauty should...

00:18:36No, don't, Morris.

00:18:38Please.

00:18:39It would have been better for both of us if I'd been killed when I crashed.

00:18:42I'm no use to you.

00:18:44I'm no use to anybody.

00:18:45How can you say that?

00:18:47Don't you know how desperately afraid I was when they told me you were hurt?

00:18:51And how relieved, how infinitely thankful when they told me at last that you would live.

00:18:57They should never have let me.

00:18:59Why didn't they put me out of my misery when I was all smashed up?

00:19:01Only wanted an injection a little stronger than usual.

00:19:04That was the cruelty to bring me back to life.

00:19:07Cruel to me and ten times more cruel to you.

00:19:10I won't let you say it.

00:19:12It's not true.

00:19:13It's not true.

00:19:14I think I could have borne it if we'd had a child.

00:19:17Oh, Stella.

00:19:18If only we'd had one, I could think to myself that it was you and me.

00:19:23And you would have something to console you.

00:19:26After all, it's a woman's destiny to have children.

00:19:29You wouldn't have felt that you had entirely wasted your life.

00:19:32But, my dear, I don't feel I've entirely wasted my life.

00:19:36You're not yourself tonight.

00:19:39Ill and tired.

00:19:41Oh, what has come over you?

00:19:44I love you, Stella.

00:19:45Stella, I want to take you in my arms as I used to.

00:19:49I want to press my lips to yours and see your eyes close and your head fall back

00:19:55and feel your dear soft body grow tense, Stella.

00:20:02I can't bear it.

00:20:04Don't.

00:20:06My voice, darling, don't.

00:20:09Don't cry.

00:20:10There.

00:20:14Don't cry.

00:20:15Oh, my God.

00:20:28What a damn fool I am.

00:20:30Give me a handkerchief.

00:20:32Here you are.

00:20:34Oh, my dear, you did frighten me.

00:20:38It's what they call a nerve storm.

00:20:43It was lucky it was only you here.

00:20:46It would have been a pretty kettle of fish if Nurse Wayland had seen me like that.

00:20:49It would have been a much prettier kettle of fish if I'd seen you clinging to her.

00:20:54I say, you haven't got a mirror, have you?

00:20:55My angel, how do you imagine I apply lipstick?

00:20:58Here you are.

00:21:00I do look rather tear-stained, if I may say so.

00:21:06Let me powder your nose.

00:21:07You can't think what a comfort it is after you've been upset.

00:21:10Go on with you.

00:21:12You can give me a whiskey and soda if you like.

00:21:13All right, but I'll powder mine.

00:21:16I feel like a house on fire now.

00:21:18I wish someone would explain how it is that a dab of powder can, in the twinkling of an eye,

00:21:23reduce a woman's nose from an unwieldy lump to a dear little thing that no one can deny is her best feature.

00:21:30These are the miracles of science that we read about.

00:21:33Now, I'll get you your whiskey and soda.

00:21:36Ah, here's Colin.

00:21:37I'll have a glass of champagne instead.

00:21:38I'm afraid I'd be the devil of a time.

00:21:40I knew you couldn't be trusted in a cellar by yourself.

00:21:43We were just going to send out a search party out of you.

00:21:45Well, first I couldn't find anything to break the ice with,

00:21:47and then I couldn't find the nippers to cut the wire.

00:21:49And then I thought I might as well put the car away.

00:21:51I didn't want to leave it outside all night.

00:21:53Meanwhile, Stella is famishing.

00:21:54Nurse Weyland is just coming.

00:21:56She's making some sandwiches with grilled bacon, and they smell a fair treat.

00:21:59Oh, here she is.

00:22:01That is kind of you, nurse.

00:22:03If there's anything I adore, it's bacon sandwiches.

00:22:06I haven't brought any knives and forks I thought you could eat with your fingers.

00:22:09Mmm, heavenly.

00:22:10I'll just bolt up and change my coat.

00:22:13I might just as well be comfortable, and I shan't be a minute.

00:22:15Well, I'm not going to wait for you.

00:22:16All right.

00:22:17Go right ahead.

00:22:18But leave me my fair share, or else all is over between us.

00:22:23I'll call the others.

00:22:24Right-o.

00:22:24Dr. Harvester, come and eat a sandwich before it gets cold.

00:22:33I don't think I'll wait to see you people make pigs of yourselves.

00:22:36I think I'll turn in.

00:22:38Aren't you going to have a drink with us?

00:22:40I don't think I will, after all, if you don't mind.

00:22:42I'm rather tired.

00:22:43I'm sorry, Maurice.

00:22:45But there's nothing to stay up for if you're tired.

00:22:47You might look in on your way up to bed, Stella.

00:22:50Yes, rather.

00:22:51But I shan't disturb you if you're asleep.

00:22:53I shan't be asleep.

00:22:54I've got a bit of a head, but I'll just lie still in the dark, and it'll go away.

00:22:57Did I hear you calling me?

00:22:59You did.

00:23:00Maurice is going to bed.

00:23:01Ah.

00:23:01Oh, I am glad.

00:23:03It's fearfully late.

00:23:06Good night, old boy.

00:23:10Sleep well.

00:23:11Good night, Mother.

00:23:13Bless you.

00:23:15Let me give you a hand, Nurse.

00:23:17Oh, I can manage perfectly.

00:23:19I'm so used to wheeling the invalid bed, and he weighs nothing.

00:23:23Never mind.

00:23:24Let me push him in.

00:23:25I'd like to.

00:23:27Let the man do something for his money, Nurse.

00:23:30Oh, very well.

00:23:35Don't be long, Doctor, or the sandwiches will be stone cold.

00:23:38Oh, I won't.

00:23:44Oh.

00:23:47Maurice is rather nervous tonight.

00:23:49Yes.

00:23:50I noticed it.

00:23:52I'm sorry I went to the opera.

00:23:54Oh, my dear.

00:23:55You go out so little.

00:23:56I haven't the inclination, really.

00:24:00I'm afraid you're awfully tired.

00:24:03Dead.

00:24:04Well, why don't you eat something?

00:24:06No, I'll wait till the others come.

00:24:09Whatever happens, my darling, I want you to know that I'm deeply grateful for all you've

00:24:17done for Maurice.

00:24:18Why do you say that?

00:24:19You don't think he's any worse?

00:24:21No.

00:24:23I think he's just about the same as you, as you are.

00:24:25Oh, you startled me.

00:24:27I don't know why you should suddenly say a thing like that.

00:24:29Is there any reason why I shouldn't?

00:24:32Sounded strangely ominous.

00:24:33I feel I'd like you to know that I do realize what a great sacrifice you've made for him

00:24:41for so many years.

00:24:44You mustn't think that I've taken it as a matter of course.

00:24:47Oh, my dear, don't.

00:24:48Don't.

00:24:49If there was anything I could do to make things a little easier for him, I was anxious to

00:24:52do it.

00:24:54After all, you didn't marry him to be the helpmeet of a helpless cripple.

00:24:59One takes the rough with the smooth.

00:25:00You're a young and a very beautiful woman.

00:25:05You have the right to live your life just as everyone else has.

00:25:10And for years now, you've given up everything to be the sole comfort of a man who was your

00:25:15husband only because a legal ceremony had joined you together.

00:25:20No, no, because love had joined us together.

00:25:23Oh, my poor child.

00:25:25I'm so desperately sorry for you.

00:25:30Whatever the future may have in store, I shall never forget your courage, your self-sacrifice

00:25:38and your patience.

00:25:40I don't understand what you mean.

00:25:44Don't you?

00:25:46Oh, eh?

00:25:47Where are the others?

00:25:48Maurice has gone to bed.

00:25:49Dr. Harvester is just coming.

00:25:51Now, come on, children, and sit down and have something to eat.

00:25:55I'll pour out some wine, shall I?

00:25:59Mmm.

00:26:00Scrumptious.

00:26:01Yes, Nurse Whelan does make them well, doesn't she?

00:26:03Marvellously.

00:26:04Good night, Nurse.

00:26:04Oh, Doctor, if you don't hurry up, you'll be too late.

00:26:08These sandwiches are simply lovely.

00:26:10Well, I'll just have a sandwich and swallow one glass and push up.

00:26:13It's any old time, and I thought I'd be up bright and early in the morning.

00:26:18Is Maurice all right?

00:26:20He's a bit down tonight for some reason.

00:26:21I don't know why.

00:26:23He was in great spirits earlier in the evening.

00:26:25Yes, I expect he's tired.

00:26:27He would sit up.

00:26:28He says he's got a headache.

00:26:29I've left him a sleeping draught that he can take if he can't get off or wakes in the night

00:26:33and feels restless.

00:26:34I'll go in and see him before I go to bed.

00:26:37If he can only get a good rest, I'm sure he'll be his usual self tomorrow.

00:26:41Sit with him a little, Stella.

00:26:43Of course I will.

00:26:44Well, I must be off.

00:26:45Good night, Mrs. Tabrett.

00:26:46I've had a jolly evening.

00:26:47I'll come see you to the door, and then I shall go to bed.

00:26:53Good night, children.

00:26:54Good night.

00:26:54Good night, Colin dear.

00:26:56Now, don't stay up too late, either of you.

00:26:59And put out the lights and see that the windows are properly closed and the safety catches are in place.

00:27:03I will, Mother.

00:27:05You see how these boys treat me, Doctor?

00:27:08They've no respect for their ages, Mother.

00:27:11A certain amount of restrained affection, however.

00:27:16Bless you, my dear.

00:27:18Now and always.

00:27:20Good night.

00:27:21Good night, Doctor.

00:27:22We shall see you in a day or two, I suppose.

00:27:24I expect so.

00:27:25Good night, old boy.

00:27:33Stella.

00:27:35Stella.

00:27:35Oh.

00:27:38Oh, Colin.

00:27:40Oh, my poor darling.

00:27:41Don't touch me.

00:27:44Oh, what shall I do?

00:27:48Colin, what have we done?

00:27:49Darling.

00:27:51Morris was so strange tonight.

00:27:54I couldn't make him out.

00:27:56I was almost afraid he suspected.

00:27:58Impossible.

00:27:59He must never know, never.

00:28:02I'll do anything in the world to prevent it.

00:28:04Oh, I'm so terribly sorry.

00:28:07We're in a hopeless pass.

00:28:10Hopeless.

00:28:12Why did you ever love me?

00:28:14Why did I ever love you?

00:28:18Stella.

00:28:21Oh, I'm so ashamed.

00:28:32Major Laconda, sir.

00:28:34Oh, Colin.

00:28:34Oh.

00:28:38It's nice of you to have come.

00:28:40My dear boy, what an awful thing.

00:28:43I'm absolutely horrified.

00:28:45I've only just this minute heard.

00:28:48As you can imagine, we're all very much upset.

00:28:51I've been playing golf.

00:28:52I went out early.

00:28:53I had a match at nine.

00:28:54And someone told me at the clubhouse when I got in.

00:28:58I just couldn't believe it.

00:29:01I'm afraid it's true all the same.

00:29:04But Morris seemed comparatively well last night.

00:29:07Anyhow, no worse than usual.

00:29:09I thought he was in such good spirits.

00:29:10He was full of fun, cracking jokes.

00:29:14Yes, I know.

00:29:15Of course, I haven't heard any of the details.

00:29:18Was he taken suddenly worse in the night?

00:29:20No, he said he was rather tired.

00:29:23It was getting a bit late, you know.

00:29:26Harvester was here, and he helped Nurse Weyland to put him to bed.

00:29:29He seemed all right then.

00:29:32Well, what...

00:29:33Did he just die in his sleep?

00:29:36I suppose so.

00:29:37Well, that's the best way, isn't it?

00:29:40We'd all give something to know for certain that when our time came, we'd pass away like that.

00:29:46He can't have felt ill, or he'd have rung.

00:29:48He had a bell push under his pillow, and it rings in Nurse Weyland's room.

00:29:52Or she'd have been down like a flash if there'd been a sound.

00:29:55And she heard nothing?

00:29:56Nothing.

00:29:56When did you find out, then?

00:30:00Well, you see, sometimes, if he'd had a poorish night, you know, he slept rather late in the morning, and he was always allowed to sleep on.

00:30:07You know what nurses are.

00:30:09Yes.

00:30:09However rotten a night you've had, you must be washed and have your hair brushed and your pillows shaken.

00:30:15Don't I know it?

00:30:16Well, Stella stopped all that.

00:30:18She insisted that no one should go into Morris till he rang.

00:30:21I believe it was the only matter on which there'd been any friction between Stella and Nurse Weyland.

00:30:26Stella said she didn't want to interfere with anything else, but on that point she insisted, and Nurse Weyland could either knuckle under or go.

00:30:32Quite right.

00:30:33We were just finishing breakfast when Nurse Weyland came in.

00:30:36I noticed she was very white.

00:30:38She said she'd just been into Morris.

00:30:40Then Stella got right up on her hind legs.

00:30:43I won't have it, she said.

00:30:45I've forbidden you to go in till he rings.

00:30:46I've never seen Stella in such a passion.

00:30:49I saw that Nurse Weyland was trembling.

00:30:52She looked all funny.

00:30:54Scared, you know.

00:30:55But not of Stella.

00:30:57Is anything the matter, Nurse?

00:30:58I asked.

00:31:00She gave a sort of cry and clenched her hands.

00:31:04I'm afraid he's dead, she said.

00:31:07Good God.

00:31:09How awful.

00:31:11Stella gave a sort of gasp, and then she went into a dead faint.

00:31:15Your poor mother.

00:31:16Your mother was wonderful.

00:31:18I sprang forward to help Stella.

00:31:19She'd fallen on the floor.

00:31:20For a moment I was afraid the shock had killed her.

00:31:23And I saw Mother sitting at the table with a piece of toast in her hand.

00:31:28She just looked at Nurse Weyland.

00:31:31I don't know.

00:31:33As though she couldn't understand.

00:31:36She was awfully white.

00:31:39And then she began to tremble.

00:31:41She never made a sound.

00:31:43She shrank back into her chair, and she seemed all of a sudden to become an old, old woman.

00:31:50Why didn't that fool of a nerve spray it to you more gently?

00:31:55Then Mother stood up.

00:31:57She got hold of herself quicker than any of us.

00:31:59I never knew she had such a nerve.

00:32:01Oh, she's a woman in a thousand.

00:32:04I've always known that.

00:32:05She said to me, you'd better go for Dr. Harvester.

00:32:08My God, I shall never get the sound of her voice out of my ears.

00:32:13Hold on, old man.

00:32:14It's no good you're going to pieces.

00:32:17Don't tell me any more if it upset you.

00:32:19No, I'm all right.

00:32:20There's nothing more to tell.

00:32:22Mother said, nurse and I'll see to Stella.

00:32:24That seemed to pull Nurse Weyland up.

00:32:26She came forward, and she and Mother began to get Stella round.

00:32:30I went into Morris' room.

00:32:32I felt his pulse, and I put my hand on his heart.

00:32:36He looked as if he was asleep.

00:32:38I knew he was dead.

00:32:41I got the car and went to Dr. Harvester's and brought him back with me.

00:32:44He said he thought poor Morris had been dead for a good two hours.

00:32:49Did he say what had happened?

00:32:50He thinks it may have been an embolism, or perhaps heart failure, you know.

00:32:54How about Stella?

00:32:56Oh, she's all right, thank God.

00:32:58My God, she did give me a fright.

00:32:59I don't wonder.

00:33:01Harvester wanted her to go to bed, but she wouldn't.

00:33:03She's in Morris' room now.

00:33:06What about your mother?

00:33:08Harvester's with her.

00:33:09He had to go and see some patients, but he said he'd come back,

00:33:12and he turned up just before you did.

00:33:16Dr. Harvester, sir.

00:33:18Hello, Major.

00:33:20Thank you, Alice.

00:33:21Not at all, Doctor.

00:33:24This is a very sad errand that's brought you here, Doctor.

00:33:27Oh, it's naturally been a dreadful shock to Mrs. Tapparat and Stella.

00:33:32How is Mrs. Tapparat?

00:33:33She's bearing up wonderfully.

00:33:36I wonder if she'd like to see me.

00:33:38Oh, I'm sure she would.

00:33:39Shall I run up and see?

00:33:41Oh, that'd be very kind of you, Colin.

00:33:43Say that if she doesn't want to be bothered with me,

00:33:45if she's only got to say so, I shall quite understand.

00:33:47All right.

00:33:54You know, I've known Mrs. Tapparat for over 30 years.

00:34:01Her husband was in the India Civil.

00:34:04Yes, she told me.

00:34:06They were almost the first people I got to know at all well when I went out to India.

00:34:10She's one of the best, you know.

00:34:13Always was.

00:34:14Everybody liked her.

00:34:15Of course, I've seen a good deal of her during the last four years.

00:34:19She's really been wonderful.

00:34:21So is Stella, for that matter.

00:34:23One can't help being rather thankful it's all over.

00:34:28But I could wish the end hadn't come so suddenly.

00:34:32Oh, hello, nurse.

00:34:34I thought you were having a rest.

00:34:36Good morning.

00:34:38Good morning, Major.

00:34:40I'm glad you came round to Mrs. Tapparat.

00:34:42We'll be glad to see you.

00:34:43I told you to go and lie down, nurse.

00:34:45I couldn't.

00:34:46I was too restless.

00:34:47I'm afraid it's been as great a shock to Nurse Weyland as it has to the rest of us.

00:34:52After all, she'd been looking after Morris for a long time.

00:34:56Yes, it's been a great shock to me.

00:34:59He was a dear.

00:35:00One couldn't help admiring him.

00:35:03He bore his terrible misfortune with so much courage.

00:35:06He was splendid.

00:35:08I naturally grew attached to him.

00:35:11He was always so grateful for what one did for him.

00:35:14A nurse naturally doesn't like to lose a patient.

00:35:19Especially so unexpectedly.

00:35:20It was always on the cards that he'd go out suddenly.

00:35:23Like a candle that you blow out when you don't want it anymore.

00:35:27Where does the flame go then?

00:35:30My dear, I'm afraid you're taking poor Morris's death a good deal more to heart than he's quite wise.

00:35:37Don't you think he was only a case to me?

00:35:40Even a nurse is human.

00:35:42Strange as it may seem, she has a heart like other people.

00:35:45Of course she has a heart.

00:35:47But it doesn't do her or her patients any good if she allows her emotions to get the better of her common sense.

00:35:52Does that mean you think I've been inefficient?

00:35:54No, of course not.

00:35:55Heaven knows you never spared yourself.

00:35:58Now, you take my advice and go for a holiday.

00:36:01What you want is a real rest.

00:36:02What is it, in your opinion, that Morris Tabret actually died of?

00:36:06Heart failure.

00:36:06Everybody dies of heart failure.

00:36:08Of course, but that's as good a thing as any to put on the death certificate.

00:36:12Are you going to have a post-mortem?

00:36:13No, why should I?

00:36:14It's quite unnecessary.

00:36:15I don't agree with you.

00:36:16I'm sorry, but it's my affair.

00:36:19If I'm prepared to sign the death certificate, I don't know that anyone else has any right to say anything about it.

00:36:24You've told me half a dozen times that Morris Tabret might have lived for years.

00:36:27So he might.

00:36:28I can tell you now that it's a blessing for everybody concerned with him that he didn't.

00:36:33Dr. Harvester, Morris Tabret was murdered.

00:36:39What are you talking about?

00:36:40Do you want me to repeat it?

00:36:42Morris Tabret was murdered.

00:36:44Rubbish.

00:36:46I dare say you're not quite yourself this morning, nurse.

00:36:49It's very natural.

00:36:51But you must try to be reasonable.

00:36:53You oughtn't to say things that you can't possibly mean.

00:36:56I am in complete possession of my senses, Major Laconda, and I know perfectly well what I am saying.

00:37:03Do you mean to say that you intended that statement to be taken literally?

00:37:08Quite.

00:37:08Well, it's a very serious thing to say, you know.

00:37:12I am aware of that.

00:37:13It's grotesque.

00:37:14You have known me for five years, Dr. Harvester.

00:37:16Have I ever given you to imagine that I am a neurotic or hysterical woman given to talking in a wild or exaggerated way?

00:37:23Do you mean that you're dissatisfied with the way your patient was treated by Dr. Harvester?

00:37:30Is that it, nurse?

00:37:31Well, don't hesitate to say anything you want to.

00:37:33I shan't be in the least offended.

00:37:34So far as I could judge.

00:37:36You did everything for Morris Tabret that medical skill could do.

00:37:39Besides, he was surely seen by several specialists.

00:37:42Half a dozen at the least.

00:37:44Well, nurse Wayland?

00:37:45I am a trained nurse, Major Laconda.

00:37:48You surely don't imagine that if Morris Tabret had died as the result of an error in treatment on Dr. Harvester's part,

00:37:54that I should be so heartless as to distress the relatives by mentioning it.

00:37:59I have made a definite charge, and I stick to it.

00:38:02The charge being that some person or persons unknown murdered Morris Tabret?

00:38:06Yes.

00:38:06But why should anyone want to murder poor Morris?

00:38:10That at present is no business of mine.

00:38:12Now, look here, nurse, you know just as well as I do that everyone was devoted to Morris.

00:38:17No one was ever more surrounded with love and affection than he was.

00:38:20It's incredible that anyone should even have wished him harm.

00:38:23Whatever I may or may not think, I am at liberty to keep to myself.

00:38:26I am not in the witness box.

00:38:28The witness box?

00:38:29Do you already see yourself giving sensational evidence at the old Bailey?

00:38:33I can honestly say that I can imagine nothing more hateful than the notoriety if I were obliged to appear in court.

00:38:40There'd be notoriety, all right.

00:38:42Come now, you know just as well as I do that Morris died of natural causes.

00:38:46What on earth is the use of making a fuss and getting everyone upset?

00:38:50If he died of natural causes, a post-mortem will prove it.

00:38:54And then I shall have nothing more to say.

00:38:56I'm not going to have a post-mortem.

00:38:58You know how the relatives hate it.

00:39:00Are you afraid of what it will show?

00:39:02Of course not.

00:39:03I warn you that if you sign the death certificate, I shall go straight to the coroner and make a protest.

00:39:08I should have thought the tablets had had enough to put up with.

00:39:11Major Laconda, will you tell me, what is the duty of a nurse who has reason to believe that her patient has come to his death by foul play?

00:39:17I should suppose that her duty is quite clear.

00:39:22But I think she should be very sure that her reasons are valid before she exposes to distress and publicity a family that has treated her with unvarying kindness.

00:39:33Major Laconda, you are right.

00:39:37Everyone in this house has treated me with the greatest consideration.

00:39:41I therefore do at least owe it to them to make no charges that may concern them behind their backs.

00:39:46Does that mean you want them sent for?

00:39:48Please.

00:39:49Yes.

00:39:50Yes, I think that would be best.

00:39:52You've been so definite, Nurse Wayland, that neither Dr. Harvestone or I can keep the matter to ourselves.

00:39:58However distressing it may be, I think Morris's family should know what you have to say.

00:40:04I'm quite prepared to tell them.

00:40:07In point of fact, I think Mrs. Tabbert is just coming.

00:40:09Where is Stella?

00:40:11Do you want her to?

00:40:12I think it's better.

00:40:14No, Colin as well.

00:40:16Ah, I'll see if I can find them.

00:40:18I believe Stella's in Morris's room.

00:40:27Don't judge me until you've heard all I have to say, Major Laconda.

00:40:33Nurse Wayland, I happen to be a very old friend of the Tabberts and deeply attached to Mrs. Tabbert.

00:40:40I regret that you should think it is your duty, at this moment of all others, to add to their great sorrow.

00:40:49I can only hope that you'll be shown not to have been justified.

00:40:54My dear old friend...

00:40:56I felt that I must come and see you for a moment, my dear.

00:41:01I'm sure you know her.

00:41:02It was very kind of you to come and just like you.

00:41:07You're being very brave, my dear.

00:41:09I want only to think that my son has ended his long martyrdom.

00:41:15I will not weep because he is dead.

00:41:18I will rejoice because he is free.

00:41:22Ah, Dr. Harvester told me you were here, Major, and wanted to see us.

00:41:26Well, I just wanted to tell you how much I feel for you all.

00:41:31You know, Morris and I often talked of death.

00:41:38He was never afraid of it.

00:41:40He didn't attach very much importance to it.

00:41:43He told me that he didn't wish me to wear mourning for him.

00:41:46He wanted me to go about and do things exactly as if he were alive.

00:41:50He loved you so much, Stella.

00:41:52He put your happiness above everything.

00:41:55Yes.

00:41:57You know, Morris never quite believed that with this life everything ended for him.

00:42:03He didn't believe in a great many things that many people still more or less believe in.

00:42:07I could never bring myself to teach my children what I couldn't myself believe.

00:42:12When they were little, and I used to sit in the evenings and look at the multitude in a star sweeping across the blue sky of India and think of what we are, so transitory and so insignificant, and yet with such a capacity for suffering and such a passion for beauty.

00:42:30I was overwhelmed by the mystery and the immensity of the universe.

00:42:35I couldn't conceive what was the cause of all those worlds I saw above me, nor what was the power that guided them.

00:42:43What I vaguely defined was too stupendous to fit into the limits of any creed of men.

00:42:50He didn't believe with his reason, but in some strange way, with his nerves or his heart, that perhaps there was something in the Eastern notion of the transmigration of souls.

00:43:07Nurse, I want to thank you for everything you did for Morris, and I want you to know how deeply grateful I am to you.

00:43:15I did no more than my duty.

00:43:16Oh, no, you did much more than that.

00:43:18If it had only been your duty, you could never have been so immensely thoughtful.

00:43:23You've been so awfully kind.

00:43:26Your husband was a very easy patient.

00:43:29He was always anxious not to give trouble.

00:43:31I've got a little plan that I want to tell you about.

00:43:34You've had a long and hard time here, and your month's holiday a year has been very little rest.

00:43:40My dear, a nurse's salary is never very large.

00:43:45I know that Morris has left me everything he had.

00:43:47It would be dear of you if you'd let me make you a present of a few hundred pounds, so that you could go for a year's holiday and need not think of earning your living for a while.

00:43:57Do you think I would take money from you?

00:44:00But what on earth is the harm of it?

00:44:03Oh, come, nurse, don't be unreasonable.

00:44:04You know I don't want to offend you.

00:44:06What I've done, I've been paid for.

00:44:08If I wasn't satisfied with the payment I received, I only had to go.

00:44:14Nurse, what is the matter? Why do you speak to me like that?

00:44:17You mustn't take what Nurse Wayland says too literally. She's really not herself today.

00:44:23Stella, I've got something very unpleasant to tell you.

00:44:28I would sooner not have added to your present trouble, but I'm afraid it can't be avoided.

00:44:32What is it?

00:44:33Nurse Wayland is not satisfied that Morris died from heart failure.

00:44:39But if Dr. Harvester says so, surely he knows best.

00:44:42I'm prepared to sign the death certificate. I've no doubt in my mind of the cause of death.

00:44:47Nurse Wayland thinks there ought to be a post-mortem.

00:44:50Never. Never.

00:44:52Poor Morris's body has suffered in her.

00:44:54I won't have him cut about to satisfy an idle curiosity. I absolutely refuse.

00:44:58Well, I understand that an autopsy cannot be held except with the consent of the next of kin.

00:45:04Or on the order of the coroner. What does she mean by that?

00:45:08I'm afraid she means that if you persist in your refusal, she'll go to the proper authority

00:45:14and make the statement she has already made to Dr. Harvester and me.

00:45:19What is the statement?

00:45:21Do you wish to repeat it, Nurse Wayland?

00:45:24Not particularly. I have no objection to you doing so.

00:45:28Nurse Wayland states that Morris's death was not due to illness, but to some other cause.

00:45:37I'm dreadfully sorry, but I don't understand.

00:45:40What other cause could have brought about his death?

00:45:43She says he was murdered.

00:45:46What?

00:45:48Oh, no.

00:45:50Murdered?

00:45:53You must be mad, Nurse.

00:45:55Harvester and I have pointed out to her that he was regarded by everyone connected with him

00:46:00with the greatest affection as preposterous.

00:46:03After the first shock, I'm almost inclined to laugh.

00:46:07Is that why you were so funny when I asked you to accept enough money to take a year's holiday?

00:46:12I had no wish that the matter should go so far now.

00:46:14If Dr. Harvester had agreed to my suggestion of having a post-mortem,

00:46:19nothing need have been said until it was discovered if my suspicions were justified or not.

00:46:23Willing to wound and yet afraid to strike, Nurse Wayland.

00:46:26You have forced me into this position, Dr. Harvester.

00:46:30I only did my duty in telling you my very grave suspicions.

00:46:33And the moment I did, you took up a definitely hostile attitude towards me.

00:46:37Well, if you want to know, I thought you silly, nervous, and hysterical.

00:46:43Or is it that you are frightened to death of a scandal?

00:46:46I admit I shouldn't welcome publicity, but I can honestly say that if it were my duty,

00:46:50I wouldn't let my own interests stop me from doing it.

00:46:53All that is neither here nor there.

00:46:54Nurse Wayland has presumably some grounds for her statement.

00:46:57Perhaps she'd better give them.

00:46:59Major Laconda, Mr. Morris often had bouts of sleeplessness.

00:47:08Dr. Harvester had prescribed various sedatives,

00:47:10but he found that chloraline was the one that he supported best.

00:47:14Is that true, Doctor?

00:47:15Quite.

00:47:15I explained to Morris the danger of his growing dependent on drugs

00:47:18and begged him not to take a dose without my permission or Nurse Wayland's.

00:47:22I am quite sure that he never did.

00:47:24So am I.

00:47:25He was very sensible, and he understood my point.

00:47:27He certainly wasn't lacking in self-control.

00:47:31Will you tell Major Laconda what instructions you gave me last night?

00:47:34He was excited and overwrought.

00:47:37I asked Nurse Wayland to give him a tablet and told him that if he woke in the night, he could take it.

00:47:42I thought he'd probably drop off for half an hour or so and then wake up and not be able to get to sleep again.

00:47:47I dissolved a tablet in half a glass of water and I put it by his bedside.

00:47:51I noticed that there were only five tablets left in the bottle, and I made up my mind to order some more.

00:48:00This morning, the bottle was empty.

00:48:03That's very strange.

00:48:05Very.

00:48:07How did you happen to notice?

00:48:09I was tidying up.

00:48:12I thought it better to put away all the medicines and the dressings and so on.

00:48:15Would five tablets have a fatal effect, Doctor?

00:48:18Six.

00:48:19I left one dissolved in water by the side of his bed.

00:48:23Yes.

00:48:24There's little doubt that the effect would be fatal.

00:48:27It's incredible.

00:48:29But it's surely much more likely that someone took them for his own use.

00:48:33Nurse, are you absolutely sure that last night the bottle contained five tablets?

00:48:36Absolutely.

00:48:37If anyone took them for his own use, it must have been after I went to bed.

00:48:40But no one went into Morris' room last night after that but me.

00:48:44I went in to say goodnight to him.

00:48:47How do you know that no one else went into his room?

00:48:50Who could have?

00:48:52It was only Colin and Mother.

00:48:54Well, you went upstairs as I was letting myself out, didn't you, Millie?

00:48:57Yes, I was very tired.

00:48:59I didn't see any reason to wait while the others ate a bacon sandwich.

00:49:04You didn't go into Morris' room last night, Colin?

00:49:06No, why should I?

00:49:08I don't want a sleeping draught to make me sleep.

00:49:12You're not under the impression that I took the tablets, I suppose, Nurse Wayland?

00:49:18If you had, you could presumably produce at least four of them.

00:49:22Believe me, if you'd taken 25 grains of chloraline at midnight, you wouldn't be sitting there now.

00:49:27The fact remains that five tablets disappeared last night.

00:49:31Where are they?

00:49:32There's always the possibility that they were taken maliciously by someone who wanted to make trouble.

00:49:37Do you mean me, Dr. Harvester?

00:49:41What do you think that I can get out of making trouble?

00:49:44Really?

00:49:45I don't know how such a stupid idea can have crossed your mind.

00:49:49Why should I have asked you to have a post-mortem if I knew for certain, as I must have done if I'd taken the tablets out of malice, that it would discover nothing?

00:49:56Isn't it possible that they could have been taken by somebody this morning?

00:49:59Who?

00:50:00A housemaid, for instance?

00:50:02Oh, chloraline's not a very common drug.

00:50:05Shouldn't have thought a housemaid would ever have heard of it.

00:50:07It's not as though it were aspirin.

00:50:09I don't know about that.

00:50:10There have been cases in the papers.

00:50:12It's not safe to take it for granted that a housemaid wouldn't have got into the habit of taking something when she couldn't sleep.

00:50:20Well, it's very easy to make sure.

00:50:22It's Alice who did Morris' room.

00:50:24Let's send for her.

00:50:25That is unnecessary.

00:50:27She was frightened at the idea of going in.

00:50:29I told her that I would clean up the room and put everything to rights myself.

00:50:33I'm quite sure that she's not been in this morning.

00:50:35What are we to do, Mother?

00:50:37You must do exactly what you think fit.

00:50:40Mrs. Tabbert, I know that this must add terribly to your grief.

00:50:45I can't tell you how sorry I am.

00:50:47It seems dreadful that I should have to repay all your kindness to me by increasing your troubles.

00:50:53My dear, I'm quite ready to believe that you will do nothing and say nothing but what you think is right.

00:51:02Oh, dear, it's all come as such a dreadful shock.

00:51:04I think that I should tell you that when I found the tablets were missing, I looked in the glass in which I'd dissolved the one that I'd prepared for him.

00:51:16There was still about a dessert spoonful of liquid in the bottom of it.

00:51:19I have put it aside and I suggest that it should be analysed.

00:51:25You're wasted on your profession, nurse.

00:51:27You have all the makings of a detective.

00:51:29Wouldn't a draft in which half a dozen tablets have been dissolved be very unpalatable?

00:51:34It would be rather bitter.

00:51:36I suppose if one swallowed it down at a gulp, one would hardly notice till one had already drunk it.

00:51:40It all sounds very circumstantial.

00:51:43I'm afraid there's a dreadful probability in Nurse Whelan's story.

00:51:46But, my dear, it's absurd. Who on earth would have thought of murdering Morris?

00:51:51Oh, that. Yes, I wasn't thinking of that.

00:51:55Nurse Whelan can't seriously think that anyone deliberately gave Morris an overdose of his sleeping draft.

00:52:01But I'm beginning to be desperately afraid that perhaps he took it himself.

00:52:07Suicide?

00:52:09He wasn't himself last night. He was very strange.

00:52:13I'd never seen him so nervous.

00:52:15Was there any reason for that?

00:52:18I'm afraid so. You see, I'd been to Tristan and we'd seen it together the night we got engaged.

00:52:26It upset him to think of the past.

00:52:29Did he speak of suicide?

00:52:30No.

00:52:31Had he ever done so?

00:52:33Never. I don't believe it had entered his head.

00:52:38I am quite convinced that Morris Tabret did not commit suicide.

00:52:42What reason have you got for saying that?

00:52:44Sometimes he was terribly depressed.

00:52:48I didn't think it wise to let him have, within reach, the power of putting an end to himself.

00:52:53I never saw him depressed.

00:52:55I know you didn't.

00:52:58You never saw anything.

00:53:00What have I done to you?

00:53:03Why do you talk to me like that?

00:53:04Your face is all twisted with hate of me.

00:53:06I don't understand.

00:53:07Don't you?

00:53:09I'm beginning to be frightened of you.

00:53:11What sort of woman are you that we've had in this house for almost five years?

00:53:15There's nothing to be frightened of, my darling.

00:53:17Now don't give way to your nerves.

00:53:19Because he joked and laughed when you were there.

00:53:24Did it never occur to you that there were moments when he was overwhelmed with black misery?

00:53:29Poor lamb.

00:53:30Why did he insist on hiding it from me?

00:53:32His one aim was to make his suffering easy for you to bear.

00:53:37Whatever pain he had, he hid from you so that you shouldn't have the distress of being sorry for him.

00:53:43Oh, it's dreadful that you should say such things.

00:53:46You make me feel that I was so cruel to him.

00:53:48Oh, everything had to be hidden from you when you were coming.

00:53:50The medicine bottles, the dressings had to be put away.

00:53:53So that there should be nothing to remind you that there was anything the matter with him.

00:53:56I would willingly have done everything for him that you did.

00:53:59It was his most earnest wish that I shouldn't concern myself with the horrid part of his illness.

00:54:04And that is true, nurse.

00:54:05I was nothing.

00:54:07I was only his paid nurse.

00:54:10He didn't try to hide from me the despair that filled his heart.

00:54:16He didn't have to pretend with me.

00:54:18He didn't have to be good-tempered or amusing with me.

00:54:22He could be morose and he knew I wouldn't mind.

00:54:25He could quarrel with me and then say he was sorry if he'd hurt me.

00:54:29And know that he couldn't hurt me.

00:54:33What are you telling us, nurse Wayland?

00:54:35I am telling the truth at last.

00:54:39I wonder if you know what strange truth it is.

00:54:43But nurse, what you've been saying suggests that he did have at least moments of despair when he must have thought of suicide.

00:54:51We know that he was overwrought last night.

00:54:53If his death was not due to natural causes, surely it's extremely likely that he brought it about himself.

00:55:00It was just one of those moments that I was on my guard against.

00:55:06The Claraline was kept in the bathroom on an upper shelf that he could not possibly have got at.

00:55:12I had to stand on a chair myself to reach it.

00:55:14If a man is determined to do a thing, he can often surmount difficulties that others would have thought insuperable.

00:55:21Ask Dr. Harvester if it would have been possible for Morris Tabret to cross the room, go into the bathroom and stand up on a chair.

00:55:29He had absolutely no power in the lower part of his body.

00:55:33His back was broken by the accident and the spinal cord terribly injured.

00:55:37Oh yes, yes.

00:55:39And after all, we don't know yet that Morris died of an overdose of chloraline.

00:55:44Oh, the matter can't be left like this, Harvester.

00:55:46I'm afraid there'll have to be an inquest.

00:55:49Yes, obviously I can't sign the death certificate now.

00:55:52I shall have to communicate with the coroner.

00:55:54I'm sorry, Dr. Harvester.

00:55:57I'm absolutely convinced that he died of natural causes.

00:56:02I can't offer an explanation of the disappearance of those damn tablets, but there must be an explanation.

00:56:08The most likely one is that Nurse Whelan was mistaken.

00:56:10Surely if anyone had taken out half a dozen tablets, he would have put others in their place, aspirin or something, so that they wouldn't be missed.

00:56:16People don't think of everything.

00:56:18It is only because a murderer makes some mistake that he gets caught.

00:56:22But damn it all, no one commits a murder without a motive.

00:56:26No one had the smallest reason to wish Morris dead.

00:56:28How do you know?

00:56:32Good God, how do I know that two and two are four?

00:56:36Did you know that his wife was going to have a baby?

00:56:43Stella?

00:56:44I suspected it last night when she nearly fainted.

00:56:48This morning, I knew for certain.

00:56:50What do you mean?

00:56:52Are you accusing me of having murdered my husband?

00:56:55Is it true what she says, Stella?

00:56:59It's quite true.

00:57:02Well, I realize I'm interfering in matters that are no affair of mine.

00:57:06My dear Major, I know that you are kindness itself.

00:57:09You've known Mrs. Tablet for ages and Morris and Colin when they were small boys.

00:57:13All the same.

00:57:14You must see how difficult it is for me to ask the question that inevitably arises in one's mind.

00:57:21I'll answer without your asking.

00:57:24Of course, it's quite impossible that Morris should have been the father of the child I'm going to have.

00:57:29Since his accident, he has been my husband only in name.

00:57:34I am the father, Major LeConda.

00:57:38You.

00:57:38Do you mean to say that it escaped your sharp eyes, nurse, that Colin and Stella were in love with one another?

00:57:47Did you know?

00:57:49I think nowadays the young are apt to think their elders even more stupid than advancing years generally make them.

00:57:57Oh, Mother, what must you think of me?

00:58:00Do you very much care?

00:58:01I suppose I ought to be terribly ashamed of myself.

00:58:06But I can no more help loving Colin than I can help the rain falling.

00:58:10You are shameless.

00:58:13But, Mother, you have every right to think that I treated Morris abominably.

00:58:17He's beyond the reach of pain.

00:58:20But I bitterly regret the pain I've caused you.

00:58:23I have no excuses to make for myself.

00:58:25My dear, don't you remember what I said to you last night when I thanked you for all you'd done for Morris?

00:58:32Did you think I was talking at random?

00:58:36I knew then that you were going to have a baby and that Colin was its father.

00:58:40You mustn't think I didn't struggle against it.

00:58:44I said to myself that the only return I could make Morris for all the devotion he gave me

00:58:48was by remaining faithful to him and loyal.

00:58:52I'm sure you did.

00:58:53I told myself that Morris was a cripple, bedridden, sick, the victim of an unforeseen misfortune,

00:58:59that it would be foul of me to betray him.

00:59:01I tried to drive Colin away.

00:59:04I did everything except ask him to go.

00:59:07I couldn't do that.

00:59:07I couldn't.

00:59:09I pretended to myself that it was on your account and on Morris's.

00:59:13You hadn't seen him for so long.

00:59:14Morris was so pleased to have him here.

00:59:16But it's quite true that I hadn't seen Colin for a long time and Morris was tremendously pleased to have him here.

00:59:24I don't understand you.

00:59:27Mrs. Tablet, you seem to be going out of your way to find excuses for your daughter-in-law.

00:59:31If you knew what was going on, why didn't you stop it?

00:59:36I'm afraid I shall shock you, nurse.

00:59:40I want to put it as delicately as I can, but it's a matter that we indeed have made indelicate by prudishness and hypocrisy.

00:59:49Stella is young, healthy and normal.

00:59:51Why should I imagine she has not got the instincts that I had at her age?

00:59:59When Morris's accident made it impossible for him and Stella ever to live again as man and wife,

01:00:06I asked myself if she would be able to support so false a relationship.

01:00:13Their love was deep and passionate, but it was rooted in sex.

01:00:18It might have come about with time that it would have acquired a more spiritual character.

01:00:27They did not have that time.

01:00:31May I ask how long you'd been married?

01:00:35I was married to Morris about a year before he crashed.

01:00:38A year?

01:00:40A whole year?

01:00:43Out of his suffering, a new love did spring up in Morris's heart.

01:00:49A hungry, clinging, dependent love.

01:00:52I didn't know how long Stella would be content with that.

01:00:57I knew that her pity was infinite.

01:01:01I knew it was so great that she mistook it for love.

01:01:05And I prayed that she would never find out her mistake.

01:01:08She meant everything in the world to Morris.

01:01:12Everything.

01:01:14But I feared the time would come when she could no longer stand the miserable life that was all he had to offer her.

01:01:20If she wanted to go, I felt we hadn't the right to prevent her.

01:01:27And I knew that if she went, Morris would die.

01:01:31I would never have left him.

01:01:33It never entered my head that it was possible.

01:01:37I saw the strain that it began to be on her nerves.

01:01:40She was as kind as ever and as gentle, but it was an effort.

01:01:45And what is the good you do worth?

01:01:48Unless you do it naturally as the flowers give their scent.

01:01:51I have never been given to understand that good is only good if it's easy to do.

01:01:57No, I don't suppose it is.

01:01:59But if it's difficult, then I think it benefits the person who does it rather than the person it's done to.

01:02:06That is why it is more blessed to give than to receive.

01:02:12I don't understand you.

01:02:15I think what you say is, is odious and cynical.

01:02:19Then I'm afraid you'll think what I'm going to say now, even more cynical and odious.

01:02:26I found myself half wishing that Stella would take a lover.

01:02:31Oh, Mrs. Tappert.

01:02:33I was willing to shut my eyes to anything so long as she stayed with Morris.

01:02:38I wanted her to be kind and thoughtful and affectionate to him, and I didn't care for the rest.

01:02:43When Colin came back, and after a while, I realized that he and Stella were in love with one another,

01:02:54I did nothing to prevent the almost inevitable consequences.

01:02:58I didn't deliberately say it to myself in so many words.

01:03:02Oh, that would have shocked me.

01:03:03But in my heart was a feeling that this would make it all right for Morris.

01:03:09She wouldn't go now.

01:03:10She was bound to this house by a stronger tie than pity or kindness.

01:03:16Didn't it strike you what great dangers you were exposing them to?

01:03:21I didn't care.

01:03:22I only thought of Morris.

01:03:24When they were children, I think I loved them equally.

01:03:30But since his accident, I hadn't had room in my heart for anyone but Morris.

01:03:37He was everything to me.

01:03:41For him, I was prepared to sacrifice Colin and Stella.

01:03:47I hope they'll forgive me.

01:03:49Oh, my dear.

01:03:51As though there was anything to forgive.

01:03:53Mother.

01:03:54You'll only laugh at me if I say that I'm shocked.

01:03:58I can't help it.

01:04:00I'm shocked at the very depth of my soul.

01:04:03I was afraid you would be, nurse.

01:04:04I would have gone to the stake for my belief that no unclean thought had ever entered your head.

01:04:12Didn't it revolt you to think that your son's wife was having an affair with a man under your own roof?

01:04:19I suppose I'm not very easily revolted.

01:04:21I've lived too long to think that my own standard of right and wrong is the only one possible.

01:04:28Perhaps we should all look upon these matters differently if our moral rules hadn't been made by persons who had forgotten the passion and the high spirits of youth.

01:04:39Do you think it's so very wicked if young things surrender to the instincts that nature planted in them?

01:04:45Did the probable result never occur to you?

01:04:49A baby.

01:04:50It persuades me of Stella's essential innocence.

01:04:54Otherwise, she would have known how to avoid such an accident.

01:04:56You must admit, nevertheless, that Morris's death has come in the very nick of time to get her out of a very awkward predicament.

01:05:09Are you sure that your motive for all this is anything more than your bitter hatred of me?

01:05:14Why should I hate you?

01:05:16Believe me, I only despise you.

01:05:17You hate me because you were in love with Morris.

01:05:25How dare you say that?

01:05:28You gave it away.

01:05:30It had often seemed to me that you were fonderer of Morris than a nurse generally is of her patient, and I used to tease him about it.

01:05:38It never struck me that it was serious till this morning.

01:05:42You were madly in love with Morris.

01:05:44And if I was, what of it?

01:05:46Nothing, except that it's my turn to be shocked.

01:05:50I think it was rather horrible and disgusting.

01:05:52Yes.

01:05:53Yes, I loved him.

01:05:55My love grew as I saw yours fade.

01:06:00I loved him because he was so helpless and so dependent on me.

01:06:05I loved him because he was like a child in my arms.

01:06:08I never showed him my love.

01:06:11I would sooner have died.

01:06:13And I was ashamed because sometimes I thought that he saw it, but if he did, he understood.

01:06:22He was sorry for me.

01:06:25He knew how bitter it is to long for the love of someone who has no love to give you.

01:06:30My love meant nothing to him.

01:06:34He had no room in his heart for any love but the love of you.

01:06:39And you had no use for it.

01:06:41You think that you were so kind and considerate.

01:06:47If you'd loved him as I loved him, you'd have seen how less than nothing was all that you did for him.

01:06:53I could think of a hundred ways to give him happiness.

01:06:56And you hadn't the love to think of any of them.

01:06:59Yes, it's quite true that I didn't love Morris.

01:07:04I often reproached myself because I couldn't.

01:07:07He seemed so ungrateful, so unkind.

01:07:10But he became no more to me than a very dear friend for whom I was desperately sorry.

01:07:15Do you think he wanted your pity?

01:07:17I know he didn't.

01:07:18But pity was all I had to give him.

01:07:21Who was it that said that pity was akin to love?

01:07:24There's all the world between them.

01:07:26Yes, all the hideousness of sex.

01:07:29And do you believe there was nothing of sex in your love for Morris?

01:07:33No.

01:07:35No.

01:07:38My love for that poor boy was as pure and as spiritual as my love for God.

01:07:47There was never a shadow of self in it.

01:07:49I never asked anything but to be allowed, to serve and to tend him.

01:07:53I never touched his lips until they were cold in death.

01:07:59And now, I have lost everything that made life lovely to me.

01:08:06What was he to you?

01:08:09What was he to his mother?

01:08:12To me.

01:08:14He was my child.

01:08:16My friend.

01:08:17My lover.

01:08:18My God.

01:08:24And you killed him.

01:08:26That's a lie.

01:08:28Nurse Whelan, you have no right to say that.

01:08:30It is true and you know it.

01:08:31I know nothing of the kind.

01:08:34I only know that you've worked yourself up into a state

01:08:36in which you're saying all sorts of things for which you have no justification.

01:08:41I could no more have killed Morris than I could walk a tight trip.

01:08:44Doesn't it occur to you that there was nothing to prevent my leaving him?

01:08:47Who could have blamed me?

01:08:48How would you have lived?

01:08:49You haven't a penny of your own.

01:08:52I've heard you tell Morris a hundred times that you had to mind your P's and Q's

01:08:55because you knew that he was your only means of livelihood.

01:08:59I certainly shouldn't have repeated a feeble little joke so often.

01:09:03I suppose I could have worked.

01:09:05Worked?

01:09:05You, do you know what it means to work for your living?

01:09:12All your life you've been petted and spoiled and pampered

01:09:15and you knew you were going to have a child.

01:09:17How could you have worked?

01:09:19You're really going too far, Nurse Whelan.

01:09:20We can't stand here and let you insult Stella.

01:09:22There was Colin, you know.

01:09:24I don't think he would have left me in the lurch.

01:09:26He certainly wouldn't.

01:09:27And what would you have had to go through before he could marry you?

01:09:30Not only exposure to your husband but the divorce court.

01:09:32It wouldn't have been a very pretty case.

01:09:35It would have been horrible.

01:09:36Do you think his love for you would have stood that test?

01:09:40Are you sure he wouldn't have hated you for the disgrace that you had thrust upon him?

01:09:45Men are sensitive, you know.

01:09:47More sensitive than women.

01:09:49And they're afraid of scandal.

01:09:50I may not be typical of my sex.

01:09:52I don't think I should like it either.

01:09:54You don't have to tell me that.

01:09:57Why are you letting me stand here and talk as I'm talking

01:10:00but that you think that you could persuade me or bribe me into holding my tongue?

01:10:06Why haven't these men, who are your friends and who hate me, thrown me out?

01:10:13Because they're afraid of me.

01:10:15They're afraid of scandal.

01:10:16They're afraid of publicity.

01:10:18Isn't that true?

01:10:19Very probably.

01:10:20And you are not only afraid of scandal.

01:10:23You are afraid of your neck.

01:10:24No, that's not true.

01:10:26You are in a hopeless position.

01:10:28And there was only one way out of your difficulties.

01:10:32You know as well as I do that your treachery, your monstrous cruelty

01:10:36would have broken your husband's heart.

01:10:38You couldn't face that.

01:10:40And so you preferred to kill him.

01:10:43Aren't you falling into a rather vulgar error, my dear?

01:10:46I know that when people talk of a good woman, they mean a chaste one.

01:10:51But isn't that a very narrow view of goodness?

01:10:55Chastity is a very excellent thing, but it isn't a whole virtue.

01:11:00There's kindness and courage and consideration for others,

01:11:03and I'm not sure if there isn't also humor and common sense.

01:11:08Are you defending her for having been untrue to your son?

01:11:11I'm excusing her, Nurse Whelan.

01:11:15I know she gave Morris all she could.

01:11:17The rest was not in her power.

01:11:18Well, I realize now that how you look upon such things,

01:11:21nothing, nothing matters very much.

01:11:25There's no guilt in sin.

01:11:28And no merit in virtue.

01:11:31May I tell you a little story about myself?

01:11:33When I was still a young woman with a husband and two children,

01:11:39I fell deeply in love with a young officer

01:11:41who had charged to the police in my husband's district,

01:11:44and he fell deeply in love with me.

01:11:46Millie, my dear.

01:11:48I'm an old woman now, and he's an elderly retired major.

01:11:53But in those days, we were all the world to one another.

01:11:57I didn't yield to my love on account of my boys.

01:12:01It nearly broke my heart.

01:12:02Now, you know, I'm very glad I didn't.

01:12:07One recovers from the pain of love.

01:12:12When I look at that funny old-fashioned major now,

01:12:16I wonder why he ever excited in me such turbulent emotions.

01:12:21I could have told Colin and Stella that in 30 years,

01:12:25it wouldn't much matter if they resisted their love.

01:12:29But people don't learn from the experience of others.

01:12:33But you did resist.

01:12:35You could always say that.

01:12:38I think it was easier then, you know.

01:12:40We attached more importance to chastity then than we do now.

01:12:47Yes, I resisted.

01:12:50But because I know the anguish it was,

01:12:53I feel I have the right to forgive those who are less virtuous,

01:12:57or perhaps more courageous than I.

01:13:00Oh, my dear, you're so kind, so wise.

01:13:04No, my darling, I'm only so old.

01:13:09Stella, Nurse Whelan's accusation is very definite,

01:13:14and it must be met.

01:13:16Her accusation is absurd.

01:13:18Can you suggest anyone who had the slightest motive

01:13:22for wishing he was dead?

01:13:23No.

01:13:24I'm sure you want to help us to get at the truth.

01:13:27Now, you must forgive me

01:13:30if I ask you some embarrassing questions.

01:13:32Of course.

01:13:34What did you propose to do

01:13:35when you discovered you were going to have a baby?

01:13:37I was frightened.

01:13:39At first I couldn't believe it.

01:13:40I didn't know what to do.

01:13:42And you knew that it couldn't be conceived for very long.

01:13:45Naturally.

01:13:46Did you tell anyone?

01:13:48No.

01:13:49I was trying to screw up courage

01:13:50to ask Dr. Harvester what I'd better do.

01:13:53I didn't mind for myself.

01:13:55It was Morris I was thinking of.

01:13:57You must have had some plan.

01:13:58Oh, a hundred.

01:14:00I thought of nothing else day and night.

01:14:02I suppose you never thought

01:14:04of making a clean breast of it to Morris.

01:14:07No, never.

01:14:09It would have broken his heart.

01:14:11You appear to have been the last person who saw him alive.

01:14:16Why was he upset?

01:14:17No need I tell you.

01:14:18It was so very private.

01:14:19No, of course not.

01:14:20I've no right to ask you.

01:14:23But for your own sake,

01:14:24I think it would be better if you told us everything.

01:14:28He broke down because he couldn't love me

01:14:30as he wanted to love me.

01:14:33He would have so liked me to have a baby.

01:14:36And when you said good night to him,

01:14:39did he make no further reference to that?

01:14:41No, none.

01:14:42He'd quite recovered.

01:14:43He was in perfectly good spirits again.

01:14:45What did he say?

01:14:46He just asked me if we'd enjoyed our snack

01:14:48and then he said,

01:14:49you'd better get off to bed.

01:14:51And I kissed him,

01:14:52said good night.

01:14:53How long were you in his room?

01:14:55Five minutes.

01:14:56Did he say that he felt sleepy?

01:14:58No.

01:14:59I suppose you knew where the chloraline was kept.

01:15:02Vaguely.

01:15:03I knew that all his bottles and things were in the bathroom.

01:15:06He hated his bedroom to be littered.

01:15:08Did he ask you for anything before you went?

01:15:12No, there was nothing he wanted.

01:15:14Nurse Wayland had fixed him up quite comfortably.

01:15:16You don't understand.

01:15:18Major Laconda is giving you an opportunity of saying

01:15:21that your husband asked you for the chloraline

01:15:23and that you, thinking no harm, gave it to him.

01:15:27You saw him take out five or six tablets

01:15:29and then you replaced the bottle on the shelf.

01:15:32Ah, I never thought of that.

01:15:35That would have been quite a good way out

01:15:36if I'd poisoned my husband.

01:15:39No, Major.

01:15:40Morris never asked me for the chloraline

01:15:41and I never gave it to him.

01:15:43You've done what you thought your duty, Nurse Wayland.

01:15:47Well and good.

01:15:49If now you have other things to do,

01:15:51I don't think we need take up any more of your time.

01:15:53Oh, I'll go.

01:15:56There's nothing more for me to do here.

01:16:01I started packing my things.

01:16:02I shall be ready in ten minutes.

01:16:05You must take your time, Nurse.

01:16:09Mrs. Tabbert,

01:16:11I couldn't go without thanking you

01:16:14for all your kindness to me.

01:16:16My dear, you were never any trouble.

01:16:18It was never difficult to be kind to you.

01:16:20I'm dreadfully sorry to have to repay

01:16:22all you've done for me

01:16:23by bringing this confusion

01:16:25and unhappiness upon you.

01:16:29I know.

01:16:32I know that you hate me, but...

01:16:34It seems frightful,

01:16:36but I do ask you to believe

01:16:37that I can't help myself.

01:16:40Before you go, my dear,

01:16:43I should like it, if I could,

01:16:46to release your spirit from the bitterness

01:16:48that is making you so unhappy.

01:16:52God bless you, my dear,

01:16:53for the kindness you showed my poor Morris

01:16:56and for the unselfish love that you bore him.

01:16:58Oh, no.

01:17:03My dear.

01:17:05Now, you mustn't lose your admirable self-control.

01:17:11You'd better leave an address, Nurse Wayland.

01:17:13Dr. Harvester will communicate

01:17:15with the proper authorities,

01:17:17and I've no doubt they'll want

01:17:18to get in touch with you.

01:17:20I shall go and see the coroner

01:17:21and put the facts before him.

01:17:23Would you like to come with me, Nurse?

01:17:26No.

01:17:27If Mrs. Tabbert doesn't mind,

01:17:29I'll ring up his place from here

01:17:31and find out if he's in.

01:17:32Of course I don't mind,

01:17:34but before you do that,

01:17:36may I say something?

01:17:38Of course.

01:17:39I'll try to be brief.

01:17:42Nurse Wayland is mistaken

01:17:44in thinking that Stella was the last person

01:17:47who saw Morris alive.

01:17:49I saw him and spoke to him later.

01:17:52You!

01:17:53But was he wide awake?

01:17:56If he'd taken 30 grains of chloraline,

01:17:59he'd have been certainly very drowsy,

01:18:01if not comatose.

01:18:02Wait a minute, Dr. Harvester.

01:18:04Please, let me tell you my story

01:18:06in my own way.

01:18:07I beg your pardon.

01:18:08You know that Morris' room

01:18:09was just under mine.

01:18:11His windows were always wide open,

01:18:13and when he couldn't sleep

01:18:14and put on his light,

01:18:16I could see the reflection from my room.

01:18:18Then I used to slip down

01:18:21and sit by him

01:18:22and we'd put out the light

01:18:23and we'd talk about his childhood in India

01:18:25and about my own youth.

01:18:28Sometimes we'd talk about things

01:18:31that few men care to speak of

01:18:33in the broad light of day.

01:18:37He'd tell me of his great love for Stella

01:18:39and how anxious he was

01:18:41for her welfare and happiness.

01:18:44And often he'd fall asleep

01:18:46and then I'd steal softly away.

01:18:50Oh, we never mention

01:18:51these long conversations we had.

01:18:53I didn't want Stella to think

01:18:54that I was in any way

01:18:55taking her place.

01:18:56Oh, my dear,

01:18:57I wouldn't have grudged you anything.

01:18:59There was no need to.

01:19:01I couldn't sleep last night.

01:19:04There was no light in Morris' room,

01:19:08but I felt strangely

01:19:11that he was lying awake too.

01:19:13So I went downstairs

01:19:15and into the garden

01:19:16and I looked in at his window.

01:19:18He saw my shadow

01:19:19and said,

01:19:21Is that you, Mother?

01:19:23I thought you might come in.

01:19:25What time was that?

01:19:26Oh, I don't know.

01:19:27It was perhaps an hour

01:19:28after you left.

01:19:32He told me

01:19:33that he'd taken his sleeping draught,

01:19:34but it didn't seem

01:19:35to be having any effect

01:19:36and he said

01:19:37he felt awfully wide awake.

01:19:38And then he said,

01:19:40Mother, be a sport

01:19:43and give me another.

01:19:45It can't hurt just for once

01:19:47and I do want to have

01:19:48a decent sleep.

01:19:50Somehow or other

01:19:51he was very nervous last night.

01:19:53I suppose his usual dose

01:19:55wasn't any good.

01:19:57Very early after his accident,

01:19:59I had promised Morris

01:20:01that if life became intolerable to him,

01:20:05I would give him the means

01:20:06of putting an end to it.

01:20:07Oh, God!

01:20:09I said

01:20:09that if his sufferings

01:20:12were so great

01:20:13that he couldn't bear them anymore

01:20:14and he solemnly asked me

01:20:16to help him,

01:20:17I wouldn't shirk the responsibility.

01:20:19And sometimes he'd say,

01:20:24Does the promise still hold?

01:20:27And I answered,

01:20:28Yes, dear, it holds.

01:20:30Did he ask you last night?

01:20:32No.

01:20:33What happened then?

01:20:34I knew that Stella's love

01:20:37meant everything to Morris

01:20:38and I knew that she'd none to give him

01:20:42because she'd given all her love to Colin.

01:20:46What do any of us live for

01:20:48but our illusions?

01:20:49And what can we ask of others

01:20:52but that they should allow us to keep them?

01:20:56It was an illusion

01:20:59that sustained poor Morris

01:21:02in his suffering.

01:21:04And if he lost it,

01:21:05he lost everything.

01:21:08Stella had done as much for him

01:21:11as even I,

01:21:12his mother,

01:21:13could ask of her.

01:21:13I was not so selfish

01:21:16as to demand from her

01:21:18the sacrifice of all

01:21:19that makes a woman's life worthwhile.

01:21:21Why didn't you give me the chance?

01:21:24Years ago,

01:21:26when I resisted my love

01:21:28for Major Laconda,

01:21:29I thought that no greater sacrifice

01:21:31could ever be asked of me.

01:21:35I know now that it was nothing

01:21:37for I loved Morris.

01:21:41I adored him.

01:21:43And I'm so lonely now

01:21:45that he's dead.

01:21:49It was a lovely dream

01:21:51that he dreamed

01:21:52and I loved him too much

01:21:54to let him ever wake from it.

01:21:57I gave him life

01:21:59and I took life away from him.

01:22:02Oh, this is a tablet.

01:22:06Oh, how dreadful.

01:22:09I went into the bathroom

01:22:11and I got the bottle of chloraline

01:22:13and I took five tablets,

01:22:15as you know, Nurse Wayland,

01:22:16and I dissolved them

01:22:17in a glass of water.

01:22:18I took it into Morris

01:22:20and he drank it at a gulp,

01:22:23but it was bitter.

01:22:25He mentioned it

01:22:26and I suppose that's why

01:22:28he left a little

01:22:29at the bottom of the glass.

01:22:30I sat by the side of his bed

01:22:33holding his hand

01:22:34until he fell asleep

01:22:36and when I withdrew my hand,

01:22:41I knew it was a sleep

01:22:42from which he would never awake.

01:22:45He dreamed his dream to the end.

01:22:47Oh, mother, mother,

01:22:49what have you done?

01:22:51And what will be the end of this?

01:22:52I'm so terrified.

01:22:53Now, my dear,

01:22:54don't bother about me.

01:22:55What I did,

01:22:56I did deliberately

01:22:56and I'm quite ready

01:22:57to put up with the consequences.

01:22:59But it's my fault,

01:22:59it's my weakness.

01:23:01How can I ever forgive myself?

01:23:03What have I done?

01:23:03You mustn't be silly

01:23:04and sentimental.

01:23:06You love Colin

01:23:07and Colin loves you.

01:23:08You mustn't think about me

01:23:10nor distress yourself

01:23:11at what happens to me.

01:23:13You must go away.

01:23:14And in America,

01:23:15you can marry

01:23:15and have your child

01:23:16and you must forget

01:23:17the past and the dead

01:23:18for you're young

01:23:20and the young

01:23:21have a right to life

01:23:22and the future

01:23:22belongs to them.

01:23:23Mother, darling.

01:23:25Oh, mother,

01:23:26you make me so ashamed.

01:23:27My son,

01:23:28I love you too.

01:23:30I have your happiness

01:23:31very much at heart.

01:23:34Millie,

01:23:34my dear,

01:23:35dear Millie.

01:23:38Well, Nurse Wayland,

01:23:39you see,

01:23:40you were quite right.

01:23:42Of course,

01:23:42I ought to have replaced

01:23:44the tablets by others,

01:23:45but as you said just now,

01:23:46murderers

01:23:47often make mistakes.

01:23:49And I'm not

01:23:50an habitual criminal.

01:23:52Dr. Harvester,

01:23:56are you still willing

01:23:58to sign the death certificate?

01:24:00Yes.

01:24:01Then sign it.

01:24:05If there were ever

01:24:06any question,

01:24:08I am prepared

01:24:10to swear

01:24:11that I left

01:24:12the tablets

01:24:12on Morris' table

01:24:13by his bed.

01:24:15Nurse,

01:24:16isn't it a dreadful risk

01:24:17you're taking,

01:24:18Doctor?

01:24:18Damn it,

01:24:19I don't care.

01:24:21Oh, Nurse,

01:24:22we're so grateful to you.

01:24:23Infinitely grateful.

01:24:25Oh.

01:24:27Oh,

01:24:27Mrs. Turbott.

01:24:30I've been

01:24:31petty

01:24:33and revengeful.

01:24:36I never knew

01:24:37how mean

01:24:38I was.

01:24:40Oh.

01:24:41Now,

01:24:42come, come,

01:24:42my dear.

01:24:43Don't let us

01:24:44get emotional.

01:24:45We're both

01:24:48of us lonely

01:24:49women now.

01:24:50Let us

01:24:51help one another.

01:24:53So long as

01:24:54you and I

01:24:55keep our love

01:24:55for Morris

01:24:56alive in our hearts,

01:24:58he's not

01:24:59entirely dead.

01:25:08The Sacred Flame

01:25:09by W. Somerset Maugham

01:25:11starred Wendy Hiller,

01:25:13Hannah Gordon

01:25:13and Janet Moore.

01:25:15It was directed

01:25:16by Graham Gold.

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