1238 - March 23, 1971

[bunniefuu]

[mysterious whistling music]

NARRATOR:Collinwood in .

At the old house, Bramwell waits by Daphne's bedside,

hoping that his prayers are strong enough

to pull her back from the brink of darkness.

And at Collinwood, Melanie learns that Kendrick

has tracked down the truth about her,

and soon the secret that has alluded her all of her life

will be secret no more,

and Melanie will know not only who she is,

but what incredible ties link her to Collinwood.

You know who my mother is.

I not only know, I've already spoken to her.

MELANIE: Then she is somewhere close by.

Closer than you would have thought possible.

What do you mean?

Kendrick, tell me, who is she?

Wouldn't you rather see for yourself?

What do you mean?

She's coming here.

She'll be here any minute.

She's coming here to my room?

Oh, Kendrick, I'm so excited.

I'm going to know. Yes, I'm going to know.

[knocking]

Kendrick, I can't move.

-Would you answer the door? -Yes.

[mysterious whistling music]

MELANIE: Mother, oh, mother.

Oh, Melanie, my Melanie.

I'll be downstairs.

Oh, there's no one, no one else in the world

I would rather have for a mother than you.

I've always felt close to you.

When I was a little girl, you used to stop and talk to me.

And stroke my hair, straighten my hair ribbons.

I know, each time I stroked your hair I came close

to telling you the truth.

Why couldn't you tell me?

Why couldn't we have lived our lives together?

Mother, you should have kept me.

JOSETTE:I couldn't.

MELANIE:But why?

JOSETTE:I just couldn't.

Please darling, let's leave it at that.

MELANIE:No. No, Mother, please.

Please tell me everything.

I'd say you have told her enough now.

JOSETTE: I haven't told her anything.

She found out for herself.

You could have denied it.

No, I denied her far too long.

She's my daughter and I'll deny her no longer.

I should never have given her up.

You really had no choice.

I did have a choice.

I'd made up my mind that I'd take Bramwell and my baby

and we'd go somewhere where no one knew us

and we knew no one.

I'd made all the arrangements.

I'd even rented a small flat in Boston.

Then what happened?

She was persuaded that a poor widow with no kin

could not raise two children in a manner

that was good for them.

That's right.

I knew if you stayed here you'd get all the comforts

you needed, all the care.

But the thing was we couldn't stay together.

They wanted you in the great house.

-Who? Who wanted me? -Never mind.

MELANIE: Julia, please, I've waited for so long to get

to the bottom of this.

I imagine she has been waiting, too.

Waiting for you to find out so that she can announce

that she's your mother.

Even though she had promised to give you up.

Do you think any mother can really give up her child?

I do know that there are such things as honor

and keeping promises.

Promise, a promise to whom?

I want to know.

And you shall know, right now.

Josette, no.

Telling the truth now can benefit no one.

Is it worth destroying the whole family?

I beg of you.

It's no use, I'm going to tell her the rest, Julia.

And nothing you can say will stop me.

No. No, I suppose there isn't any way to stop you.

You're so overwhelmed today you'll do anything

for your newly claimed daughter.

You don't care who else you hurt.

Julia, don't speak to my mother that way.

-Your mother is not-- -Please leave us alone.

-Melanie, Josette, please-- -This is my bedroom.

Mother, now you must tell me everything.

Why did you come back here instead of staying in Boston?

Why did they want me at the great house?

Whom did you promise to keep silent?

It was your father.

He insisted.

My father?

Yes, darling.

Your father, Justin Collins.

[gasping]

Justin Collins was my father.

I can't believe it.

It's true.

You're as much a Collins as any of the others,

and just as much his child.

Then you and Papa were in love.

Looking back on it now, it's hard to tell

whether we were or not.

It started after Barnabas' death in that terrible

period of bereavement when one needs kindness so badly.

My papa was kind.

No one was ever so kind as he.

No one was.

He'd put anything he was doing aside to help me.

When I had to go to Boston to see about Barnabas' estate,

he'd go with me.

Boston was a separate world that belonged

to just the two of us.

And then after a while, I found I was going to have a child.

You were that child, Melanie.

But what did Papa say when you told him?

Oh, I don't think I've ever seen a man so happy.

He hoped you'd be a girl.

He said a man was entitled to a daughter

after he'd had three sons.

Oh, I wanted you to know that, Melanie.

How happy he was that you were to be born.

He didn't have a single doubt about your coming,

and neither did I.

Thank you, Mother.

Thank you for telling me that.

He offered to leave Flora and go away with us,

but I knew that was wrong.

Justin belonged here with his wife and those three boys,

so I ran away by myself.

MELANIE: Where did you go?

Boston's a big city.

He wasn't able to track me down for quite a while,

not until after you were born.

And then he was furious.

He thought it would be wrong for you to be raised in Boston.

He wanted, he insisted,

that I let him take you back to Collinwood

and raise you here.

And finally he convinced me that it was the best thing

for you, and you were the only one that mattered.

Now can you understand?

MELANIE: Understand?

Why I had to give you up?

Why I couldn't train you?

Oh, Mother, how hard it must have been for you.

How very hard to see me grow up as someone else's child.

Mr. Young, I'm sorry there's nothing better

to entertain you than the Collinsport Gazette.

I'm sure you'd prefer a private diary

or some intimate letters.

Mrs. Collins, that remark was not necessary.

And I don't believe that it was necessary

for someone to come into this house and pry

and pick away at all our secrets,

which is precisely what you have done.

If I have, it's because those secrets

were better off in the open.

JULIA: Oh, is that for you to decide?

Yes. Yes, it is for me to decide if it concerns Melanie.

And I suppose you intend telling everyone

what you've just discovered.

I will do what Melanie and her mother want me to do.

I can't believe that they would want to hurt Flora.

Mr. Young, I must insist that Flora not be told of this.

Miss Collins, I sympathize with your feelings.

I want to hurt no one.

I told you, I will do what Melanie and her mother

want me to do.

Now, if I may ask you a question without you

accusing me of prying.

How did you find out?

How did I find out?

A long time ago I took some clothes of Justin Collins

to a charity in the village.

In one of the pockets of one of the coats

I found a letter that told me enough so that

I could surmise the rest.

KENDRICK: I see.

I always bless the day that I found the letter

instead of Flora.

I don't think she would have enjoyed learning

that her husband had betrayed her with someone else.

Yes, that's what it comes down to, Mr. Young.

He betrayed her with another woman.

Nothing can wipe the shame of that out for her.

Daphne. Oh, Daphne my darling.

Bramwell.

I thought I heard you calling me.

-Have I been sleeping very long? -Yes, you had a long sleep.

How do you feel now?

I feel very tired.

I feel as if I'd run a long distance

or come from very far away.

Bramwell, I feel very, very grateful.

No more grateful than I am that you found

your way back to me.

DAPHNE: You're grateful, Bramwell?

Daphne, I want you to conserve your strength.

Now, just listen and don't talk.

All the time you were lying there,

when it seemed you wouldn't come back,

I felt such despair.

So much bleakness in my soul.

So much anger.

Anger, Bramwell?

Yes, because I know now how deeply I love you,

and I despaired I would never be able to tell you how much.

Oh, but you did tell me.

Don't you remember?

No, you couldn't because that was, that was my dream.

While I was sleeping,

Bramwell, I dreamed that I had your son.

And the look on your face when you saw him

for the first time, it told me how much you love me.

Bramwell, what's the matter?

Nothing.

Oh, yes, there is.

Something's wrong.

I was wrong to come back, wasn't I?

I was wrong.

I should have--

Daphne, lie still.

Don't upset yourself.

The truth is I love you.

I do love you.

Then don't turn away from me, ever.

No, I won't.

Bramwell, don't you want to have a child?

Right now I want you to get well.

I want you to rest.

I want you to gain back your strength.

I want you to think of nothing,

no one but yourself and your health.

What will you think about?

You.

I may have failed you as a husband up until now,

but from now on, everything is going to be different.

I won't fail you again, never.

Give me the rest of our lives to prove that.

And Bramwell is my brother.

Well, my half-brother actually.

Oh, I've always felt so close to him.

Do you remember, even when I was a very little girl,

I was always tagging after him instead of Morgan or Gabriel?

Or even Quentin.

I remember it so well.

I used to see the two of you go off together

and wish I could tell you both the truth,

tell the whole world the truth.

Would you like that?

Yes! Yes, I want the whole world to know who's child I am.

No, no one must know.

Julia, this doesn't concern you.

It does concern me.

You two are so overwhelmed by what's happening

you don't know what you're doing.

But I have not lost my senses.

And I'm aware of my obligations to the family.

And I tell you, you will not say anything.

I forbid it!

Julia, I've let your branch of the family

tell me what to do for far too long, but no longer.

-I'm not a child you can forbid. -Yes, you are a child,

a willful child,

and you're determined to use Melanie

for revenge against those whom you think

-have treated you badly. -Julia, that isn't fair.

We don't want to harm anyone.

But you will.

You will hurt yourselves.

And you'll hurt Flora.

She's been through so much lately.

Do you want to destroy the woman who raised you,

take away the little she has left?

Julia, I told you I don't want to harm Flora or anyone.

Neither do I want to deny my mother her chance

to tell the truth.

Well, you can't have it both ways.

You've got to make a decision and face the consequences.

MELANIE: Why are you so concerned?

I am Justin's sister.

Now that he is dead, I owe it to him to take care of Flora.

And I've not forgotten my obligation to the family.

The family, always the family.

Yes, always the family,

but don't forget it's your family, too.

Yes, Melanie, your family as much as mine.

Flora didn't know that when she took you in.

You were just a waif.

A waif who needed a home.

And she gave you one.

She begrudged you nothing.

All right, if it's agreeable to my mother,

-we shall say nothing. -Now, what about Kendrick?

He says that he will do whatever you want him to do.

Kendrick, you've spoken to him.

I must talk with him right away.

I must go, too.

No, Josette, wait.

There is one other thing we have to settle, you and I.

JOSETTE: What is that?

It's best for everyone concerned if you never come

to Collinwood again.

-What? -JULIA: You heard me.

I think you can see Melanie wherever and whenever

you like, but not here.

You cannot treat me as an outcast.

You made yourself an outcast when you and Justin broke

the laws of God and man.

Madam, your tea,

brewed by your devoted and loving servant.

Oh, Bramwell.

You'd better try it and see if it's all right.

I'm sure it's perfect.

So are you.

Now, drink your tea.

JOSETTE: Bramwell, how is--

She's awake, she's so much better.

Daphne, dearest.

He did it. Bramwell willed me to come back.

Don't look so sad, Mother.

Well, this is a wonderful night for all of us.

Mother, what is it?

Tell me, what's wrong?

Now you know everything about me.

Who my mother is, who my father was.

Incredible.

Kendrick, I don't know what to do now.

I don't want to hurt Flora or Papa's memory,

but I can't go on living a lie any longer.

If I could just think of some way to--

There is, there is a way.

And we are going to find it.

When we're married, everything will look different.

Kendrick, when can we be married?

Well, let's go to the village and find out.

Let's make it quickly.

Very quickly.

I'll go and dress.

[clock chiming]

-Julia. -Yes, Bramwell?

What happened here tonight?

I don't know what you mean.

My mother came home a while ago

and she was very upset.

I know she was here.

Who did she see? Who did she talk to?

Well, there's really nothing I can tell you.

I don't believe that.

Well, then, let's say that there's nothing

I wish to tell you.

I've never seen my mother more upset in her life.

-Now it must have been-- -Bramwell! Bramwell!

It's Daphne. Something terrible's

happening to Daphne, hurry.

[wind howling]

Bramwell, are you there?

What is happening?

So glad you came in time.

There are things I must say before I go.

No, I won't let you go.

No, Bramwell, not even your love will make me stay.

It seems I only came back for a visit, didn't I?

And now I've got to go back into the darkness forever.

No, Daphne, no.

It's all right, Bramwell.

I'm not afraid.

The darkness is comforting.

You must find

comfort, too, without me.

I don't want anything without you.

No, Bramwell, you say that now,

but in time you will want Catherine.

You see?

You see, I can say it.

You will want Catherine, and she will want you.

Bramwell, you'll have my blessing.

[breathing heavily]

You're the two people in the world I love the most,

and you must comfort each other.

Oh, Daphne, Daphne you mustn't give up.

Daphne, no.

Daphne, don't leave me!

Daphne, Daphne!

[dramatic orchestral music]