- 09/07/2025
Ep 11: November. War has broken out and Ernest is away fighting in the trenches. But as Edith frets, she has other things to worry about when she learns that Kenneth is gravely ill with food poisoning. With the family firm continuing to lose money, Bernard urges his father to put him in sole charge of the factory over Kenneth to save the firm. But when father unexpectedly dies, his death sees a family split as Bernard and Kenneth take it to court to see who get to run the firm, leading to unimaginably tragic results.
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00:00Closed Captioning by Kris Brandhagen. brandhagen.com
00:30Gowan Bank, Alton, Warwickshire.
00:48Nature Notes for 1906 by Edith B. Holden.
01:00To sit on rocks, to muse or flood and fell,
01:09to slowly trace the forest's shady scene
01:12where things that own not man's dominion dwell,
01:15and mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been,
01:18to climb the trackless mountain all unseen,
01:21with the wild flock that never need a fold,
01:24alone or steeps and foaming falls to lean.
01:28This is not solitude.
01:30It is but to hold converse with nature's charms
01:33and view her stalls unroyed.
01:58The Anglo-Saxon name for November was blot monarth, blood month.
02:10The latter name probably alluding to the custom of slaughtering cattle
02:14about martinmas for winter consumption.
02:17Dear Edith, I know you have worries enough with Ernest away,
02:31but I feel I should tell you that Kenneth is unwell again.
02:35The doctor says his fever is due to a form of food poisoning.
02:38I know he would like to see you if it was possible.
02:41Yours ever, Winnie.
02:43November the 1st, steady drizzle of rain, a regular November day.
03:02November the 3rd.
03:14I brought home a little book on British toadstools today
03:17with photographs of 65 different varieties.
03:21In the afternoon I went to the violet wood
03:23to see how many different kinds I could discover.
03:26It was quite hot in the sun
03:29and the autumn foliage looked beautiful in the warm afternoon light.
03:34In about half an hour's time I found ten different species of fungus
03:41growing in the wood and adjoining field,
03:43all brown in colour with the exception of two.
03:46One of these was the common sulphur tuft, a rich orange and yellow.
03:51Sulphur tuft, found plentifully among dead wood.
03:57The other was a dull pink above
03:59and a beautiful pale heliotrope beneath.
04:02I only found one clump of these.
04:05One or two of them very large in size.
04:23Winnie?
04:25Bernard!
04:32You must think that by doing Ken's job for a few months
04:35that you know everything there is to know.
04:38While Kenneth has been recuperating from his unexplained illness in Algeria,
04:42Arthur Matheson, myself and several other colleagues
04:44have managed to pull the business together.
04:46We are all shareholders in the company
04:48and we are not prepared to see Kenneth come back and wreck it once more.
04:51He must not be allowed to resume his position as managing director.
04:55Bernard, you mustn't think that by doing Ken's job for a few months
05:00that you know everything there is to know.
05:03Ken is older and more experienced than you by many years.
05:08Kenneth is sick!
05:10Kenneth has always been sick.
05:12He will never be well enough to do the job properly
05:14and he must step down.
05:15If whenever he returns he is allowed to continue as he did before,
05:18then it will be the end of the company.
05:20I am warning you now.
05:23I will do everything in my power to prevent that.
05:31Bernard!
05:33Edith, I have tried and failed to make you see what's happening.
05:37You are too devoted to Kenneth to see any wrong in him.
05:50It's over, Edith.
06:12The younger men have banded together against Kenneth.
06:18I don't think that I am able to do anything to help him.
06:31November the 10th.
06:33Went out fungi hunting again.
06:36The pale yellow fronds of bracken looked very pretty in the wood,
06:39growing among the dark bramble leaves.
06:42In the open part of the meadow, I gathered some of the common polyparis
06:49from the side of a rotten stump,
06:51and a delicate little stag's horned fungi, or clavaria.
06:55I found a very handsome species growing in tears up the trunk of a beech tree.
07:03It was dark blue above and pure white below,
07:06the gills being curiously waved and coruscated,
07:09giving them the effect of white coral.
07:12The road was quite yellow in places with fallen elm leaves.
07:18One or two sharp frosts would strip the trees bare,
07:22although many of the leaves are still quite green.
07:25One or two sharp frosts,
07:27Bernard is clever.
07:29Unscrupulous even.
07:31For years, I have been appointing workers as directors to the board of management.
07:39They have always been happy to step down to make room for their fellows.
07:44But my fear is now that Bernard's friends will refuse to step down.
08:14will have some high quality.
08:16They are comfortable picking around the plate.
08:18They need to be a little bit of a house.
08:21Also, they have to be a small one.
08:23They wouldn't exist.
08:24One or four sharp frosts are open.
08:26They have to be a little bit more.
08:27Aachen is actually the most energetic surface of the way.
08:29The next step of the morning is to be aそうですね.
08:32The next step of the oil is to pick up the middle of the branches.
08:35If you want to go,
08:37it's not as simple as you have to stick here.
08:40The next step of the floater is to be a small part of the ground floor.
08:42Edith?
08:48Frank.
08:49How is he?
08:52As well as can be expected.
09:00We want you to come and stay with us.
09:04Everend's very anxious about you.
09:06When he has everything else in hand, there's really nothing else you can do to help.
09:09That's a very kind offer, Frank, but I think it would just be too awkward.
09:16I think it's better if Evelyn and I don't meet.
09:20I shall stay with Winnie as planned.
09:34Winnie.
09:35Edith, dear, I'm so glad you could come.
09:38How are you?
09:39I never seem to see you except in a family crisis.
09:42Where is he?
09:43He's in the garden, resting.
09:46These endless court cases have weakened him so much,
09:48I'm afraid he might not have the strength to fight this illness off.
09:55I'm all right, Edith.
09:57You shouldn't have come all this way.
09:59You have enough worries with Ernest.
10:01It's ironic, isn't it?
10:02I should have to go to Stratford to catch a fever.
10:14Still, in Algeria, I shouldn't have had Winnie to take care of me.
10:17I shall soon pull through, though.
10:21Evelyn says it's all nerves.
10:24She never had much time for ills of the spirit.
10:28She'll soon be here with her own particular brand of comfort.
10:32Winnie will defend you.
10:34No doubt.
10:36But I make no pretense at valour.
10:40And I should be grateful if you tell her I'm not to be disturbed.
10:43I can't bear to see her again.
10:49I shall go for a walk.
10:53I wonder, are there still kingfishers in that little pool near Olten Station?
10:59I never walk that way now.
11:03I used to watch the sunsets from there.
11:08Dear Edith.
11:10Your visions suit your nature.
11:13Mine are bleaker.
11:33November the 13th.
11:38Went for an early morning walk across the fields to Elmden Lane
11:41to make some sketches of a blackbird and thrush at a cottage there.
11:46It was a grey, perfectly still morning,
11:48with a slight fog that veiled the distant woods and trees in a purple mist.
11:54Many of the trees were quite bare,
11:55but the oaks still have their foliage
11:57and were all shades of bronze and brown.
12:00The hedges and banks, too, were glowing with the golden tints of nut leaves and bracken,
12:15and everywhere there was a delicious autumn scent of fallen leaves.
12:19November the 14th.
12:29I saw a kingfisher fly across the little pool by the roadside below Olten Station today.
12:35The new catkins are showing on all the hazel and alder trees now.
12:49The sun had a most remarkable appearance just before setting tonight.
12:53I never saw it look so large in my life.
12:56It was deep crimson, shaded with purple, which gave it a globular appearance,
13:02and it looked like a huge fire balloon suspended against a curtain of grey cloud.
13:07Oh, Kenneth.
13:12The year lies dying in this evening light.
13:19The poet, musing in autumnal woods,
13:23hears melancholy sighs among the withered leaves.
13:28Shh.
13:29Don't waken him.
13:31But surely he must want to be woken.
13:34Supposing he died in his sleep.
13:36That's a heartless thought.
13:40Oh, Evelyn, I'm sorry to sound crotchety.
13:44I'll go outside and get some fresh air until he wakes up.
13:51Like a spirit glorified,
13:54the angel of the year departs,
13:57lays down his robes,
13:59once green in spring,
14:01or bright with summer's blue.
14:03And having done his mission on the earth,
14:08filling 10,000 veils with rosy corn,
14:12orchards with rosy fruit,
14:14and scattering flowers around,
14:16he lingers for a moment in the west.
14:20With the declining sun,
14:32sheds over all
14:33a pleasant farewell smile,
14:38and so returns to God.
14:41I'm sorry.
14:51I'm sorry.
14:55I was there to kiss him for the last time.
15:14But he knew very little about it, Edith.
15:17Don't blame yourself for wandering off.
15:19I'd like to sit with him now.
15:23He looks so peaceful.
15:25The will is what counts.
15:43It shows clearly enough what Father intended.
15:45Nevertheless, the deed poll was never revoked.
15:48It cannot be now,
15:50and therefore technically,
15:51Matheson and the others are directors for life.
15:54Are you really going to stand upon that?
15:57Of course.
15:59Then I shall fight you to the highest court.
16:02Goodness.
16:03I hope a little common sense will prevail before that.
16:06What is common sense?
16:07You would agree with Bernard,
16:09whatever he said.
16:09Isn't that so?
16:12Well, if I must choose.
16:19Then I am alone.
16:21No.
16:22So there we are, then.
16:28Family split.
16:30Declared.
16:33While Kenneth was managing director,
16:35receiving the unthinking support of my father,
16:38the firm nearly went bankrupt.
16:40And how would you say the business fared
16:42while your brother was abroad for some years?
16:45It improved substantially.
16:48After your father's death,
16:50you returned, I believe,
16:52to take up your old position as managing director.
16:55Yes.
16:55That was what I tried to do.
16:58That was clearly the intention of my father's will.
17:01Would you tell the court what then happened?
17:04Certainly.
17:04Several of my colleagues,
17:07including, I regret to say, my brother Bernard,
17:10decided to ignore the terms of the will.
17:12Bernard's colleagues had been appointed
17:14as temporary members to the board of management
17:16by my father.
17:18Through a deed poll signed by him?
17:20Yes.
17:21It was a scheme my father ran
17:23to give every worker in the factory
17:24an opportunity to serve on the board of management.
17:26But when my father died,
17:29Bernard's colleagues refused to step down,
17:32claiming that the deed poll was still valid.
17:34I'd just finished my evening meal
17:35and had settled down to a quiet pipe
17:37when my privacy was invaded
17:38by the arrival of my brother
17:40and two of his...
17:41advisors.
17:44They declared a director's meeting
17:45with my brother in the chair
17:46and proceeded to allot unissued shares
17:49to their own friends and supporters.
17:52Well, the next morning,
17:53when I arrived at the works,
17:54I found posters
17:56stating that my colleagues and I
17:58were no longer directors.
18:00Do you agree with Bernard Holden's statement?
18:04It is difficult to comment on the facts,
18:06as I have been living in London
18:07for most of the time in question.
18:10However,
18:12my brother Kenneth
18:13has always been the kindest of men,
18:16with a most generous disposition.
18:19I find it impossible to imagine him
18:21in the thuggish role
18:22in which he has been cast in this courtroom.
18:24Mrs. Matthews,
18:27would you agree with your sister's assessment
18:29of your brother Kenneth's behaviour?
18:32No.
18:33I certainly cannot pretend
18:35that my brother Kenneth behaved normally,
18:37even within the family.
18:39He was nervous, irritable,
18:41and prone to the most unreasonable suspicions.
18:44The conclusion of this court is
18:48that both these documents are valid.
18:51The deed poll was not
18:53and cannot be now revoked
18:55because of the death of the instigator.
18:58As no time limit appears in this document,
19:00those appointed by it
19:02will be directors for life.
19:05Arthur Holden's will
19:06appoints Kenneth and Bernard Holden
19:08to be directors
19:09with a time limit of ten years.
19:13There is therefore uncertainty
19:14as to the manner
19:15of practical control of the company.
19:19May I suggest
19:20at the earliest opportunity
19:22you call a meeting of the shareholders
19:24who can, if they wish,
19:26pass a resolution
19:27forbidding Kenneth Holden
19:29from acting as a director.
19:32Provided he has paid
19:33his director's remuneration,
19:34he can take no further action
19:36against you.
19:41All rise, please.
20:03November the 26th.
20:21Cycle to Solihull
20:22and back through the lanes
20:24past the oak woods.
20:26The sun was shining brightly,
20:29lighting up the dying fronds
20:30of bracken
20:31among the undergrowth.
20:33I heard a thrush singing
20:38most sweetly
20:39in the big beech tree
20:40at the top of Kyneton Lane.
20:45Sing on, sweet thrush,
20:48upon the leafless bough.
20:52Sing on, sweet bird.
20:55I listen to thy strain
20:57and aged winter
21:00mid his early rain.
21:03At thy blithe carol
21:05clears his furrowed brow.
21:08It's a very bad news, Winnie.
21:15It's a very bad news, Winnie.
21:17But not earnest.
21:20God would not cheat me so.
21:25God would not cheat me so.
21:30It's a very bad news, Winnie.
21:36But not earnest.
21:36God would not cheat me so.
21:40It's Kenneth, my love.
21:50It's Kenneth, my love.
21:54Oh.
21:55I knew he was terribly ill.
22:04His face was so grey.
22:09I saw his face in my dreams.
22:13So sad.
22:16So sad.
22:18Son?
22:19I saw him.
22:35How the hell would you lie to the căr?
22:39Oh, sorry.
22:40Bye-bye.
22:41Bye-bye.
22:44Bye.
22:44Bye-bye.
22:45Bye-bye.
22:45Bye-bye.
22:47ghetto rewrite.
22:47When Frank and I were married here, we were all so happy.
23:02It's so bad, it's so bad.
23:32You go on. I'd like to walk.
23:43You do come with us. Evelyn.
24:02Like as the thrush in winter, when the skies are drear and dark and all the woods are bare, sings undismayed, till from his melodies odors of spring float through the frozen air.
24:17So, in my heart, when sorrow's icy breath is bleak and bitter and its frost is strong, leaps up, defiant of despair and death, a sunlit fountain of triumphant song.
24:42Is it from Ernest?
24:43Yes. I'd know that how driving anywhere.
24:47Yes.
24:53He's well.
24:56Oh, thank heavens.
24:59Pray God he comes home soon.
25:04I shall have to write and tell him about Kenneth.
25:07Oh, don't do it yet.
25:09You must be relieved you've heard from him.
25:12Yes.
25:14Yes, I shall.
25:16And when you do write you can say at least that the family is speaking to each other again.
25:20You'll need every shred of good news there is.
25:22No.
25:23No.
25:24No.
25:25No.
25:26No.
25:27No.
25:28No.
25:34No.
25:35Oh, oh, oh.
25:36No.
25:37¶¶
26:07¶¶
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