We'll extract a hefty payment from Boffin to keep this secret.

I love her.

And when I leave her and this house, I go into a blank life.

[Mr. Boffin] Let me assist you to that blank life!

What?

You would set Rokesmith against me?

He's worth a million of you.

You don't want a dress.

You want an address.

Get back to your corner this minute!

If you don't leave me alone, consider what you'll drive me to.

What shall I drive you to?

[Bradley] I will try her again.

She will not resist me.

And so I wait for her and meet her.

What did you do?

-Nothing.

-What're you going to do?

[grunts] [man screaming] [theme music playing] [bell tolling] [Mortimer] Eugene?

[Jenny shouting] You naughty boy!

Where are you?

Playing out all night, indeed!

You can't hide from me!

You bad, bad boy!

[sighs] [train horn blaring] Clear the mounds, clear off the evidence!

It won't make any difference!

I'll have you, Boffin!

Your destiny is downfall and I'm the one who's destined to bring you down!

[Mr. Boffin munching] -Noddy, my dear.

-Yes, my dear?

Do you not think that maybe we have taken the wrong path?

[Mr. Boffin] Don't you worry, old lady.

[Mr. Boffin munching] It is a very large house, Noddy dear.

I am a little lonely in it.

We decided the way of our travels, old girl.

Don't you worry yourself.

We'll make new friends and all will end comfortably, you'll see.

[exhales deeply] [Roger] Well, he's been hung onto pretty tight.

He's been in the grass and he's been in the water and he's spotted and I know with what and I know with whose.

[chuckles] -Who brought him in?

-I did, sir.

You, my dear?

You could not lift, far less carry, his weight.

I think I could not, sir, but I'm sure that I did.

Attend to the girl.

She must be amazingly strong at heart, but I fear that she's set her heart upon the dead.

Is there something wrong, my love?

No, nothing.

-I was wondering... -Yes?

Well, if one day I might go with you to the China House.

[chuckles] I'm afraid you would find my office life in the city very boring.

No...

It's just...

I watch you pick up your briefcase in the mornings.

I do not know where you go or what you do with whatever is in that important looking case.

-Are you bored, Bella?

-No, of course I'm not!

Our own dear house.

There's so much to do, how could I be?

You are not regretting it?

Hmm?

Having married no money at all?

Absolutely no future whatsoever.

You must not tease me!

[chuckles] It's clear I'm being tested in some way, but you will not break me!

No, you won't.

[sighs] [men grunting] [men talking indistinctly] [coughing] Morning.

Why, T'otherest, I thought you'd been and gone and lost yourself.

Two nights away.

I almost believed you'd given me the slip.

Except I knows you's an honest man and a respectable schoolmaster.

Eat.

You must be starved after, uh, all your traveling.

I'm not hungry.

[metal clangs] Watch out, T'otherest, you'll cut your hands.

Ah!

[gasps] Well, T'otherest, news has gone downriver before you.

What news?

Who do you think picked up the body?

Guess.

I'm not good at guessing anything.

She did.

[Roger laughs] You did well there, sir.

She picked him up.

[laughs] She used her skills to recover the body.

I intend to leave as the sun goes down.

Perhaps it is fitting.

If my poor boy had been brought up better, he might have done better.

You have no reason to reproach yourself.

It's so hard to bring a child up well when you work, work, work all day.

I called him a quantity of names.

I did it for his own good.

I was obliged to let him go in the streets.

He never did do well out of doors.

You have been very patient, Jenny.

If I had been patient, I never would have called him names.

[horses galloping] [bells jingle] Well, I lost no time.

I know an urgent summons when I sees it.

Before starting, I have to ask we be in confidence.

Oh, I suppose that sounds fair.

I have your word and honor, sir?

My good fellow, you have my word.

How you can have that without any honor too, I don't know.

I've sorted a lot of dust in me time.

I never knew the two things go into separate heaps.

Very true, sir.

Very true.

Mr. Boffin, um... [clears throat] I have to confess, I fell into a proposal of which you were the object and oughtn't to have been.

Please remember I was in a crushed state at the time.

Quite so, Venus.

That proposal was a conspiracy against you, sir.

I ought at once to have made it known to you, but I didn't, Mr. Boffin, and I fell into it.

Not that I was ever hearty in it and I viewed myself with reproach for having turned out of the paths of science and into the paths of Weggery.

Not a-killing of yourself, schoolmaster.

Not afore I've squeezed the last penny out of you.

[shivering] [exclaiming] I see what you're doin'.

Trying to throw your crime on me.

[grunts] Now, look here, Venus.

If I have to buy Wegg out, I shan't buy him any cheaper for your being out of it.

Might you pretend to be in it till Wegg was bought up, and then hand over to me what you'd been supposed to have pocketed?

No, I don't think so, sir.

Not to make amends?

Well, it seems to me the best amends for having got out of the square is to get back into the square.

[Mr. Boffin] And by the square, you mean...

I mean, the right, sir.

How am I to live if I have to buy up fellows out of the little I've got?

I suppose there's no doubt as to the genuineness and date of this confounded will?

None whatsoever.

And where might it be deposited, do you know?

It's in my possession, sir.

Is it?

Now, for any liberal sum of money that could be agreed, Venus, uh, would you put it in the fire?

No, sir, I wouldn't.

Or give it to me?

That would be the same thing.

No, sir.

[whimpers] -[man outside singing] -Hush!

Here comes Wegg.

Hide behind the hung alligator in the corner and judge him for yourself.

Get your head well behind his smile.

He's a little dusty, but he's very like you in tone.

-Are you all right, sir?

-Yeah.

-[bells jingle] -[door creaks] [Silas] Partner, how's our stock in trade?

Still safe, partner?

With all your "friends" watching over it?

Nothing new, Mr. Wegg?

Yes, there is.

That foxy old grasper and griper!

-Mr. Boffin?

-"Mister" be blowed!

Dusty Boffin sends his dust carts at dawn to wake me up!

He's clearing those mounds to get the better of me.

When I see him put his hand in his pockets, I see him taking liberties with my money!

Flesh and blood can't bear it!

No, I'll go further!

A wooden leg can't bear it!

His nose shall be put to the grindstone for it!

[Venus] How shall you do that, Mr. Wegg?

I propose to insult him openly!

And then if he offers a word in return, I'll say "Add another one to that, you dusty old dog, "and you're a beggar!"

I'll break him and I'll drive him!

I'll put him in harness and I'll bear him up tight!

The harder he's driven, the higher he'll pay!

And I intend to be paid highly, Mr. Venus, I promise you!

You speak quite revengefully, Mr. Wegg.

Perhaps I've allowed myself to brood too much.

Be gone, dull care!

I'll be seeing you afore long.

But let it be fully understood that I shall not neglect bringing the grindstone to bear and putting Boffin's nose upon it until the sparks fly off in showers!

[bells jingle] [Bradley] If I had hit him more from behind, he would not have seen me.

[panting] If I had finished the job before throwing him in the river, he would not hover between life and death as he does now.

Even now, he grinds me down.

[boy] Sir?

Sir?

-Dear child, will you never rest?

-It's not work.

I want to fix this young clergyman's surplice while it is fresh in my mind.

My poor boy's funeral might've been of some service to me though I never meant it to be.

It's not to be a funeral doll to be sure, for people do not like to be made melancholy, but a glossy-haired clergyman.

We'll see him go well in Bond Street, I'll wager.

[knock on door] Pardon me.

You are the dolls' dressmaker?

You're Lizzie Hexam's friend.

Yes.

And Lizzie Hexam's true friend.

My name is Mortimer Lightwood.

You must believe me when I say that this note is from Lizzie.

She wishes you to read it.

It is very short.

There was no time to make it longer.

My dear friend, Eugene Wrayburn, is dying.

He is dying at some distance from here from injuries received at the hands of a villain who attacked him in the dark.

[man] She is with him.

Yes.

Yes, she's there.

I've come straight from his bedside.

He, um...

He managed to ask for you, Jenny.

Lizzie and I are both sure he asked for you.

Poor Lizzie.

Oh, my poor Lizzie!

Please come.

He asked me to fetch you.

We have long been much more than brothers.

If we delay, he will die with his last wish unfulfilled.

He's still alive.

[Mortimer] If he were gone, she would still be sitting by him.

[door opens] [Bradley] Come in, Hexam, come in.

Well, how is your new position?

Mr. Headstone, haven't you heard the news?

What news?

The news about that fellow, Eugene Wrayburn.

That he is killed.

He's dead, then.

I mean, I'd heard about the outrage, but I had not heard the end of it.

-Where were you when it was done?

-I, uh... No, stop!

Don't answer!

Don't tell me!

If you force your confidence upon me, Mr. Headstone, I'll give you up.

I will.

I'll have nothing to do with you!

If your selfishness, passionate, violent and ungovernable selfishness, had any part in this attack, then you've done me an injury never to be forgiven!

By pursuing the ends of your own violent temper, you've laid me open to suspicion.

Is that your gratitude to me?

You've no idea how long it's taken me to reach this position.

I did not have your natural abilities.

-Your sister... -I've done with my sister!

And I've done with you!

My prospects are very good.

I intend to follow them alone.

Whatever happens, I hope you'll see the justice of keeping wide and clear of me!

And I hope that you might think how respectable you might've been yourself.

I will contemplate your slighted existence!

[door slams shut] [papers sliding] Mortimer...

I must... Lizzie?

[Mortimer] I'll fetch her.

She's always nearby.

[Eugene] No... She...

This attack... Mortimer...

This murder.

You and I both suspect someone.

[Eugene] He must never be brought to justice!

[Mortimer] Eugene... She would be punished.

Her innocent reputation.

[breathing heavily] I've injured her enough.

I would've injured her more, believe me.

You must not avenge me at her expense.

Listen to me!

It was not the schoolmaster Bradley Headstone.

Promise me!

It is true that both my secretary and my ward have proved ungrateful enough to leave me and Mrs. Boffin stranded here in this grand house all alone.

[Mrs. Boffin] Noddy, dear... Now, look here.

I'm afraid the old lady is a little uncomfortable.

No, no, no.

[stutters] You see, it really won't do.

She doesn't care to lead you on.

Either of you.

And, I suppose, it's safe for me to assume that you was hoping to, uh, fill these vacancies in our household?

You and your wife have done me and the old lady a great service.

We mean to reward you.

We think 100 guineas should do it.

Now... [clears throat] As for your filling any position in this house, I'm afraid it won't do.

-But, Mr. Boffin... -No, it really won't do at all.

Let the old fool fend for himself.

There'll be plenty more jackals sniffing round here tonight.

How long will this last, Mortimer?

You're no worse than you were.

[shivers] I pray...

I shall last long enough for you to do me one last service.

Tell me what it is you want me to do, Eugene.

Try to be calm.

You may leave me with Jenny while you're gone.

Leave me here with Jenny while you ask her... What is it you want me to do, Eugene?

[whispers indistinctly] Eugene, listen to me.

Were you about to ask me if I would speak to Lizzie?

Were you about to ask me if I would entreat her to be your wife?

God bless you, Mortimer!

[Mortimer] Trust it to me, Eugene.

I have to go for a while.

I'll leave you with Jenny.

Was that a kiss, Jenny?

You take care, sir, or you will not merit another.

[door opens] [footsteps approaching] Mr. Lightwood.

Forgive the hour, Mrs. Rokesmith, but I have come from Lizzie Hexam with the earnest hope that you'll come back with me to see her married.

Ah!

Then Mr. Wrayburn is recovering!

No.

No, he's dying.

Time is of the essence, Mrs. Rokesmith.

[door creaks] There is my husband.

Take some refreshment, Mr. Lightwood, and then we'll all go down together.

[Bella] We have a surprise visitor, my love.

I fear Mr. Lightwood is much fatigued.

Mr. Lightwood?

[Bella] John, dear... You will come with me to see Lizzie Hexam married?

No, I cannot.

Am I to go alone?

No, you will go with Mr. Lightwood.

You must go.

But I'm afraid I must ask you to excuse me to him altogether.

But he already knows you're home.

I've told him so.

Well, that's a little unfortunate, my dear, but I'm afraid I cannot see him.

John, don't be so mysterious.

What harm do you know of Mr. Lightwood?

None, my love.

[huffs] Forgive me.

Bella... My life!

Don't you remember telling me you felt you were being tested in some way?

Well, I think the time may be coming when you will be tested.

But for now, trust me, please.

It is curious that I've never seen Mr. Rokesmith, although we've often been engaged on the same business.

I begin to think I shall never see him.

That is curious, Mr. Lightwood.

There, we're ready.

[priest reciting prayer in Latin] I bless the day.

I bless the day.

You have made a poor marriage, Lizzie.

A shattered, graceless fellow, and next to nothing to leave you when you're a young widow.

I have made the marriage I would've given all the world for.

You have thrown your heart away.

No.

I have given it to you most freely, most happily.

If...

If you should see me wandering, Lizzie, call my name, and I think I shall come back.

[exhales deeply] How can I repay all that I owe you?

Don't be ashamed of me and you will repay all.

Eugene, not so soon!

Come back!

You see?

You call me back from the dead.

Live for me, Eugene.

Live to see how hard I will try to improve myself.

You cannot be improved upon, my darling.

Impossible.

On the contrary, I was thinking, dying is about the best thing I could do.

And leave me with a broken heart?

You seem to think quite well of me.

Heaven knows, I love you dearly.

Heaven knows, I prize it.

If I were to live, you might find me out.

I should find that my husband has a mind of purpose and energy which I know he will put to the best account.

I wish I could think so.

But how can I look at such a wasted youth as mine and believe it?

I'm afraid, if I were to live, I should disappoint you.

Thank you for coming, Mrs. Rokesmith.

How could I not?

Mr. Wrayburn seemed a little better this morning.

We may hope.

Goodbye.

[John] And how was Lizzie, my love?

Suffering an almost unbearable happiness.

You forgot these, Mrs. Rokesmith.

Mr. Lightwood and I have met before, my dear.

When Mr. Lightwood saw me my name was Julius Handford.

Julius Handford?

Surely not.

It was at the time of John Harmon's drowning.

I took great pains to seek him out.

[John] Quite true, but it was not my object or interest to be found out.

My... My position is a painful one.

I hope that no complicity in this very dark matter may be attached to you, but you must know that your extraordinary conduct has laid you open to the deepest suspicion.

Mr. Lightwood, you know where I live.

I know that you have urgent demands on your time.

You have my word I will not disappear again.

I hope hereafter we'll be better acquainted.

Good day.

[wind whooshing] [bell tolling] [gasps] [Bella] John Harmon is dead!

What is it, my dear?

John Harmon is drowned.

[snoring] [pig grunts] [muffled speech] [indistinct grunting] [gasps] [exhales deeply] [John] You don't ask me, my dear, why I took a false name.

No, John, love.

I should dearly like to know, of course.

I should not like you to think that I'm not interested.

My darling, I stand in no danger.

Are you sure of that, John?

Moreover, I've done no wrong or injured no man.

-Shall I swear it?

-No.

No, never to me.

You realize the dark matter that Mr. Lightwood spoke of... -You realize... -No.

I don't want to hear.

Besides, I have, um...

I have something to tell you.

You are not the only one with a secret.

Only I'm ready to tell you mine.

[both chuckle] [Mr. Boffin] Do you think Wegg's likely to drop down on me today, Venus?

[Venus] I think it very likely, sir.

[door closes] Boffin, you're quite a stranger.

[Mr. Boffin] Nothing wrong, Wegg?

Oh, no, nothing wrong.

Quite the contrary.

So... My friend and partner, Mr. Venus, gives me to understand that you are aware of our power over you.

Hmm.

First of all, I'm calling you Boffin.

No "mister" and definitely no "sir".

Since you say it is to be so, I suppose it must be.

I suppose it must be.

You are aware that you are in possession of property to which you have no right?

Yes.

-You are desirous of coming to terms?

-Yes.

You'll throw in your mound with a generous stake and divide the lot into three!

I shall be ruined.

You'll leave me in sole custody of these mounds.

When they're cleared away to the last shovelful, that's when the final division will be made.

I must keep this from the old lady.

She must not know.

[Silas] Why should she not know?

She's a dustman's wife once!

She can become one again!

Eh?

Nose to the grindstone, Boffin!

Get to it!

Get to it!

[guard] Boat train to Paris, France, departs in one hour!

Boat train to Paris, France, departs in one hour!

[Tippins] The boat train?

The Lammles have been exiled to Europe forced to live like leeches off the scraps of continental society!

[Mrs. Veneering] What a disgrace!

[Mr. Veneering] They deserve it for trying to live beyond their means.

What do you think, Mr. Tremlow?

No, a gentleman does not need to... [Tippins] Don't ask Mr. Tremlow!

He can never be made to say a word on the misfortunes of others whatever the scandal!

[Mr. Veneering] Outrageous scandal!

I never heard anything more disgraceful!

[Tippins] I have something worse to tell you and Mr. Tremlow will not say anything to us about this either!

Eugene Wrayburn has disgraced his family -by marrying a female boat person!

-[woman laughs] [Mr. Veneering] A woman of lower class?

[man] A scandal!

[Tippins] His father has cut him off without a penny!

[Mrs. Veneering] His mother cries.

[Tippins] This social experiment is doomed to failure!

[church bells tolling] [indistinct speaking] [Sophronia] Do you smell a little money, Alfred?

[train chuffing] -Hello.

Mr. and Mrs. Lammle.

My husband.

-How do you do?

-Are you going to Marseilles?

Oh, how nice?

-Yes, we are.

[speech continues indistinctly] [train whistling] [inspector] So, Mr. Lightwood, you say you have some information concerned the murder of Mr. John Harmon.

But now the mystery is you seem reluctant to divulge it.

[sighs] It is concerning Mr. Julius Handford.

Ah, yes.

Mr. Julius Handford was followed from this very police station to his lodgings at Westminster where he seems to have evaded my man and disappeared.

Have you caught sight of him, Mr. Lightwood?

I fear so.

[door opens] [inspector] Do you recognize me?

I recognize you most certainly, Mr. Julius Handford.

John, what's happening?

Nothing can harm us, remember.

Can I have a private word with you, Mr. Handford?

Mrs. Rokesmith knows she can have no reason for being alarmed, whatever the business.

Really?

Is that so?

Are you going to charge me with a crime?

I charge you with being someway connected with the murder of John Harmon.

No, sir, you cannot!

-I'll come with you.

-No, John, you don't have to go!

No, I choose to go.

Don't distress yourself.

I'll be back by morning.

[church bells tolling] [hooves beating] Why, it smells rather comfortable here.

I am rather comfortable, sir.

Don't use lemons in your business, do you?

No.

Will you partake, sir?

Will I partake?

Of course, I'll partake.

Will a man partake who's been tormented by dust carts, heaving to and fro, 24 hours a day?

Don't let it put you out, Wegg.

You don't seem in your usual spirits.

If it comes to that, you don't seem in your usual spirits.

You seem getting on for lively and you've had your hair cut and you've fattened up.

Well, Mr. Wegg, I can see you're being whittled very low.

One might fancy you've come to see the French gentleman [chuckles] rather than me!

Why, you've had the place cleaned up.

Yes, by the hand of an adorable woman.

And I'll presume the next thing you're gonna do is get married.

To the old party?

The lady in question is not an old party.

[whispering] Then the lady's objections have been met?

The objections have been met by the kind interference of a new friend of mine.

He waited on the lady and made the point that if I would, after marriage, confine myself to the articulation of men, children, and the lower animals only, it might help relieve the lady's mind of her feeling respecting being regarded in a bony light.

It was a happy thought, sir, which took root.

You seem flush with friends at the moment, Venus.

Still, you may spend your fortune how you wish.

I mean to travel.

The tough job is ended, the mounds laid low.

The hour is come for Boffin to stump up.

You're gonna be late for the China House if you're not careful.

The fact is, my dear, I have left the China House and I'm in another way of business.

And I must ask you this, Bella.

You've become fond of this cottage.

Well, of course I have.

It's our life together.

I'm afraid we have to leave, my dear.

My new position has a dwelling house attached rent-free.

John... Do you consider this a gain, my dear?

Yes, I do.

And what about the baby?

Will there be room in the house for the baby?

There will, I'm sure, be room for us all.

But why should you take this on trust?

We will go and look at it this morning.

John, what does this mean?

-Oh.

-[Mr. Boffin] There, there, my dear.

Let's lift you up.

There.

Old lady, if you don't begin the telling of the tale, someone else will!

I'm gonna begin, Noddy dear.

It isn't easy to know where to begin when a person's in this state of happiness!

[sighs] Oh... Bella, my dear, tell me who this is.

-Why, my husband, of course.

-Oh, my!

His name, dearie.

-Rokesmith.

-[Mrs. Boffin] No, it ain't.

Not a bit of it.

-Well, Handford, then.

-No, it ain't.

Not a bit of it.

His name is John?

I should hope so, dearie!

[chuckling] Many's the time I've called him John!

Guess, my pretty.

-I can't guess!

-I could.

I found him out one night in a flash, didn't I, Noddy, dear?

It was on a particular night when he'd had a disappointment about a certain young lady.

Too many's the time I'd seen him sitting so lonely like that as a child.

I just cried out, "John, it's you!"

And he catches me as I falls down in his arms.

John Harmon?

But that's not possible.

He is drowned!

Now, my dear, let me finish telling.

So I says to Noddy, "Lord be thankful!

"Here is our little John Harmon come home again to us!"

And we both fall down, crying for joy!

Do you see, my darling?

Can you understand?

[sighs] These two, who I came to life to dispossess and disappoint, they cried for joy!

Oh, don't you mind him.

So John tells us about his disappointment with a certain young person and how he's gonna leave London and let us keep our wrongful inheritance.

And my Noddy, well, you should've seen him.

To think that he'd come to the property wrongfully turned him whiter than chalk.

So we came to our confabulation about a certain young lady.

Noddy says, "She's a little spoiled, but that's only on the surface.

"She true golden at heart."

And then John says, "Oh, if I could but prove so."

And then we says, "What would content you?

If she was to stand up for you when you were slighted?

If she was to be true to you when you were poorest and friendless?

And all this against any interest.

How would that do?"

"Do? "

he says.

"It would raise me to the skies!"

And we says, "We'll make your preparations for it is our firm belief that up will you go!"

And then Noddy says, "Bella was a little frightened of me at first.

She thought me a dusty and a brown old bear!"

-Well, I... -You did, my dear.

[chuckles] He says, "What if I was to become that old bear she thought me once?

John," he says, "prepare to be slighted and oppressed!"

And he began.

Lord, how he began!

And you proved yourself true, as we knew you would.

And John wouldn't let us tell you, though.

That was the plan.

He says, "She's so selfless and contented.

I can't afford to be rich yet!"

And so we go on.

Now the baby's on the way.

He says, "I can't tell her now!"

And I said, "If you don't tell her as soon as you can so she can come into her rightful home, then I will!"

[chuckles softly] Now, come, sir, and meet my gaze.

Come on, admit it!

You're a bad old bear!

Well, I did hope it might hint at caution, my dear.

[chuckling] And I assure you that on that celebrated day when I made, which has since been agreed upon, to be my greatest demonstration, I allude to "meow" says the cat, "quack" says the duck, "bow wow wow" says the dog and John stares at me as if I've gone a little strange.

Them flinty words hit my old lady so hard on my account, I had to hold her hard to stop her from running after you and telling you I was playing a part!

[chuckles] Forgive me, my darling.

I was drowned, or as good as.

And as I lay by that river gasping for air, I thought I might as well be.

I had nothing left to live for.

And when you have nothing, you are very bold.

I had nothing to lose by trying you out.

And when I did, I found I had the best of friends and the most worthy of wives.

And then this new life growing within you.

So when I did miraculously have everything, I was afraid to lose it and determined to hold fast to it.

I couldn't risk telling you until I had one more signal of your love and then yet more and more.

Can you forgive me?

We might still be in Blackheath had it not been for Mrs. Boffin and our friend, the inspector.

[chuckles] [Bella] I hope we do not have to part with them again.

[dog barking] Mr. Boffin.

I thought you said you'd dismissed this fellow.

No "fellows" here or I'll throw you out of the window, you wretch!

Boffin, let's get down to business.

I want the room cleared of this scum.

That's not going to be done, Wegg.

Mr. Venus, will you be so good as to hand me over that document?

And now, sir, having parted with it, I wish to make one small observation.

Not that it's necessary, but it is a comfort to my mind.

Silas Wegg, you are a precious old rascal.

Silas Wegg, know that I took the liberty of telling Mr. Boffin about our enterprise at quite an early stage.

Though my hands were not, for a few hours, quite as clean as I could wish, I hope I have made full amends.

-Oh, certainly, Venus, certainly.

-Thank you, sir.

I'm much obliged for your good opinion and for the influence so kindly brought to bear on a certain lady both by yourself and Mr. John Harmon.

Everything else between you and me is now at an end, but I beg leave to repeat, you are a precious old rascal!

You're a fool.

You may go... And welcome.

Now, Boffin, I'm here to be bought off!

Now, buy me or leave me.

I think I'll have to leave you, Wegg.

I see how this goes.

You can afford to be so bold now you have so much less to lose!

But Mr. Harmon here, ask him if he knows what this piece of paper is.

It is a will of my father's of a later date than the one formerly recognized leaving the entire estate to the Crown.

Right you are!

So, what is it worth to you?

Absolutely nothing.

[grunting] -You scoundrel!

-You're knocking my head against the wall!

I mean to!

I'd give 1,000 pounds to be able to smash your brains out!

Let me show you something.

[breathing heavily] This is the last will of many made by my unhappy father and it leaves the entire estate to Mr. Boffin excluding me altogether.

Mr. Boffin found it and it disturbed him beyond measure so he buried it in the mound.

His intention being that it should never come to light.

When he told me of this, I urged him to recover it and have it legally established.

So now you see that this pathetic piece of paper has no value whatsoever.

Now, you will listen to me!

We knew enough about you to persuade Mr. Boffin to lead you on till the last possible moment, so that your disappointment might be the heaviest possible!

And believe this, I only possess my inheritance through Mr. Boffin, who insisted that I should have my fortune and he his small inheritance and no more.

I owe everything I possess to the kindness and tenderness of Mr. and Mrs. Boffin and when I see a roundworm like you presume to rise up against these noble souls, the wonder is I don't twist your head off and throw it out of the window!

[Mr. Boffin] Um...

I'm sorry, Wegg, that me and Mrs. Boffin can't have a higher opinion of you, but, uh, I shouldn't like to leave you worse off in life than when I found you, so, uh, what'll it cost to set you up in another stall?

Well, sir, when I first made your acquaintance, I had got together a collection of ballads which was, I may say, above price.

Well, then, they can't be paid for and you'd better not try!

There was a pair of trestles...

Umbrella, clothes horse...

I'll leave the sum to you, sir.

Come, here's a couple of pound.

[growling] [screaming] [laughing] Ah, come on, Prince!

Giddy up, boy!

Don't let him get over-excited, Mortimer.

Visitors bring up his spirits.

[cow mooing] My father paid us a visit up here, up the river.

Objected to his hotel, of course!

And, as you know, he's a much younger cavalier than me and an admirer of beauty.

He was so affable as to suggest that Lizzie should have a portrait painted, which, for him, is like a paternal benediction with gushing tears!

So, our marriage being so solemnly recognized, I have no fear on that score.

And you are handling my puny financial affairs so adeptly that what little that I have to call my own may be more than I ever had.

Eugene...

The schoolmaster.

-He's not suspected?

-No.

Rest easy.

I have made sure the police have lost scent of him.

I promise, Eugene.

But he still lives and he did you dreadful injury and I cannot help but feel he should be punished.

No, Mortimer.

He does not live... And he did me a favor.

-A favor?

-Yes.

Oh, yes.

Consider this.

Had he not attacked me, I don't know what I would've done, how I would've injured her in my reckless passion.

Mortimer, listen, listen.

I would have lost her respect.

Any possibility of our love would've gone forever.

Consider that.

And consider what I have now.

And then tell me whether the schoolmaster lives if not as some ghost between here and hell, knowing, as he does, that he brought us together.

You think he does not have punishment enough?

[children talking indistinctly] Begging your pardon, sir, but where might I be?

Why, this is a school, sir.

Ah.

And who might teach at this school?

I do.

What, you're the master?

Yes, I am the master, yes.

And a lovely thing it must be to teach young children like these what's right and to know that they learn what's right by your example.

Might I ask a question of these lambs of yours?

If it is educational, yes.

Oh, it is that.

Tell me, young sirs, what sorts of water do we find on land?

[boys] Seas, rivers, lakes, ponds.

And, my lambs, what is it that they catch in these lakes and rivers and ponds?

-Fish.

-Yes.

But what else?

-Weeds?

-Yes.

But I'll have to tell you what else.

I fear you won't guess.

[gasps] It's a bundle of clothes!

Bless me, if I didn't catch this one in a river by me.

You see, it had been sunk there -by a man who wore... -How do you know that?

Because I was watching him and I saw him.

And, do you know, for some reason, I think that man fetched up in this school.

[Bradley] Yes, I believe I know him.

[Roger] Beg that you may tell that man that I wish to see him at my lock upriver.

Yes, I'll tell him.

Do you think he'll come?

I'm sure he'll come.

[chuckles] Come in, sir.

And who may you be?

I've come from the Harmon household for the nursery dolls.

-My name is Sloppy.

-Indeed?

I've been looking forward to meeting you.

-I've heard of your distinguishing yourself.

-Ah.

Pretending to be a phantom!

Pitching somebody into scavenger carts!

Oh, yes, miss!

I was that frightening!

What do you think of me?

Well, out with it!

Don't you think me a little comical?

[Sloppy] Oh!

What a lot!

And what a color!

Enough to make wigs for all the dolls in the world!

Oh, you must've been taught for a long time.

You work so neatly and with such taste.

I never was taught a stitch, young man!

No?

Here's me been learning and learning at my cabinet-making with Mrs. Boffin paying for so long!

I could make you something if you'd like.

Much obliged, but what?

I could make you a handy set of nests to lay the dolls in, or a set of drawers for your silks and threads.

Or I can make you a rare handle for your father's stick.

It belongs to me.

I'm lame.

Oh, I'm glad it's yours.

I'd rather ornament it for you than anyone else.

You'd better see me use it.

Oh, it seems you hardly need it at all.

Oh.

What a volume.

And such a tone!

[water splashing] [door bangs shut] So I'm here.

Who's to begin?

Well, where's your watch?

Well, I left it behind.

I want it.

I mean to have it.

[chuckles] Is that what you want from me?

Look here, schoolmaster, you could've dealt with Wrayburn without my caring a curse.

But when you copy my clothes, my neckerchief, shake blood on me, you make as if to throw the whole crime on me.

You'll pay me and you'll pay me heavy, you sly devil!

I was playing your game long ago before you tried your clumsy hand in it.

When you stole away, I steals after you and I sees you throw these bloody clothes away and here, then, is proof.

I'll be paid for it till I've drained you dry!

Well, you can't get out of me what is not in me.

You've had more than two guineas off me already.

Do you know how long it takes me to earn such a sum?

I don't know and I don't care.

You'll have to pawn every stick you own, beg and borrow every penny you can.

I'll keep you company wherever you go till I'm satisfied!

This is all the money I have.

Say I give you this and my watch and every quarter when I draw my salary, -I give you a portion and... -You got away from me once.

I won't take a chance again.

I'm a man with absolutely no resources but myself.

I have absolutely no friends.

[sobbing] [Roger] Come, come, master, you can't be rid of me.

I'm a-going along with you wherever you go.

[water flowing] It's no use, schoolmaster, you'll never be free of me.

[grunts] Let go!

I'll get me knife!

[grunting] It's no use!

You can't drown me!

I told ya, a man that's been brought back out of drowning -cannot be drowned again!

-Well, I can be!

And I'm resolved to be!

And I'll hold you living and I'll hold you dead!

-[screaming] -[water splashing] [speaking indistinctly] Put 'em down here.

That's it.

[chuckles] Now that I have the energy, Mortimer, I've been thinking about the future.

I've had the idea of taking Lizzie to one of the colonies, working at my vocation there.

I shall be lost without you.

-Maybe you're right.

-No, I would not be right.

Makes me angry to think I could turn coward on Lizzie.

Sneak away with her as if I were ashamed of her.

[Mortimer] That's well said, of course, Eugene, but... are you sure that you might not feel some slight coldness towards her on the part of... Well, society?

[laughing] [sighs] -Yes, you may well stumble on that word, Mortimer!

-[chuckles] Now, listen to me, Mortimer.

My wife is somewhat nearer to my heart than society is.

So if I should ever think to hide her away, then you, who I love next best in all the world, will tell me she would've done better that night I lay bleeding to death to turn me over with her foot and spit in my face.

Go and find out what society thinks of me, my dear fellow, if it will make you feel any better.

As for myself, come hell or damnation, I really couldn't care less.

[Tippins] Really, Mortimer, as you refuse to join our debate, we've had to bring it to you!

A debate on such a pleasant evening.

[Tippins] Our debating question was, does a young man of very fair family, good appearance and some talent make a fool or a wise man of himself by marrying a female waterman turned factory girl?

[all laughing] [Mortimer] That is hardly the question, which is, I believe, whether the man who you describe does right or wrong in marrying a brave woman?

I say nothing of her beauty.

Excuse me.

Was this young woman ever a female waterman?

Never, but she might sometimes -have rowed in a boat with her father.

-[all gasp] Has the young woman got any money?

No, absolutely nothing!

Well, then my gorge rises against such a marriage!

It offends and disgusts me!

It makes me sick!

[Mrs. Veneering] There must be equality in station.

A man accustomed to society must look out for a woman accustomed to society.

And what if the man does not care for society?

Mr. Tremlow, you are so small, I had forgotten you.

You never say a word, always silent as a mouse.

Come now, speak up and tell us what you think!

I am disposed to think that this is a question of the feelings of a gentleman.

A gentleman who contracts such a marriage can have no feelings!

Pardon me, sir, but I don't agree.

If this gentleman's feelings of gratitude, of respect, of admiration, of affection, induce him to marry this lady... -[Mr. Veneering] Lady?

-[Tremlow] Why, yes, sir.

What else would you call her if the gentleman were present?

I say again, that if this gentleman's feelings induced him to marry this lady, then... he is the greater gentleman for the action.

And she is the greater lady.

Time for one more before we go back?

[all laughing] [closing theme playing]