19 years since we embarked on this life together.
Six since you tiptoed to my room and told me
there was a gentleman, come to keep me warm.
Exclusive patronage of Sugar by me.
You're leaving us then, after all these years?
What is this?
This is yours.
And mine.
Some lucky gent has taken the legendary Sugar
off the market, before we'd had the benefit of her charms.
I'm afraid all is not as it should be.
Your womb has moved.
Agnes lost a child?
No, we havea child.
You have?
A daughter -- Sophie.
On bad days, I take a couple of these.
Trust me,
you will hardly know yourself.
I have a guardian angel.
[Crying] I will come back for you.
I wish, for all the world, I could live with you.
What is the matter with the men in your family?
Mrs. Fox is dying.
I can't wait for you to join me.
Could I not, in fact,
live with you, as your new governess?
You're not serious?
♪♪
[Indistinct whispering]
♪♪
[Woman laughs]
[Indistinct conversations]
♪♪
[Sighs deeply] Held up, as usual.
Waiting for you has only ever sharpened my appetite.
Trying to sort out Henry's estate,
on top of everything else, is just ugh!
Which is why our current arrangement is no longer viable.
Marylebone must go.
-But, William -- -I am stretched too thin.
How often have you said how...
restorative you find our time together?
Indeed,
which is why I would like you to...
move to Chepstow Villas
and become Sophie's governess.
To live in yourhouse?
With you?
I thought that was what you wanted.
Don't tell me you've changed your mind.
William. [Gasps]
♪♪
[Breathing heavily]
[Grunts]
♪♪
[Grunting softly]
Mrs. Rackham!
Mr. Rackham!
Not now, Letty. I'm busy!
But, sir!
[Bird chirping]
[Exhales sharply]
[Carriage approaching]
[Knock at door]
Clara has found Agnes burying her diaries in the garden.
Her diaries?
Apparently, she wants to make a fresh start.
Curlew wants to lock her up.
I can't wait for you and I to be together.
Cheesman, take Miss Sugar's bags.
I'll take that.
Mind your step, Miss.
[Bell tolling]
♪♪
Letty, this is...
Miss Sugar, our new governess.
How do you do, Miss?
I hope -- I trust-- she will be happy here.
Such a beautiful house.
Miss Cleave will speak with you before she leaves for her train.
Allow me to show you to your room.
♪♪
Mrs. Rackham's room,
and my own.
♪♪
The room is not as spacious as you're used to.
No.
But it will oblige us to remain very close together.
[Ascending footsteps]
Excuse me, sir.
Just come through with it.
Ahem. Miss Cleave will tell you
all you need to know about my daughter
and much more besides, I don't doubt.
And will Mrs. Rackham be joining us?
I don't think so.
I had hoped this would go without saying,
but it would be best if you could take care of Sophie
in a -- in a manner that allows Mrs. Rackham
to go about her general business
without actually...
seeing Sophie.
At all?Exactly.
She finds the child disturbing.
[Thumping on stairs]
Letty! Not in here.
Not in here. For heaven's sake!
Put it in the... dressing room,
with all the other junk.
I swear, a spaniel takes better instruction.
No, don't push it. You'll break it.
[Thumping] -Oh!
♪♪
Agnes: This is a preposterous overreaction!
Curlew: You will forgive me if I disagree.
Agnes: I merely wished to bury the past.
Am I not permitted to go forward unencumbered?
♪♪
Miss Cleave?
Forgive me. I have kept you.
Miss Sugar?
Eight years, I have been in this house.
In that time, I have been both wet and dry nurse
to this child.
Heavens. [chuckles]
You will find Sophie, in the main, a well-meaning thing.
She isn't stupid, but her mind
is very easily jolted off the rails.
At such times, a firm hand is required.
We don't want her going the way of a...
a Bedlamite.
[Wings flutter outdoors]
I'll bear that in mind.
We alternate two sets of sheets.
She wets the bed, you know.
The sheets are not yet dry.
You'll have to come down later.
Now you must be formally introduced to the child.
Miss Cleave, I believe you have a train to catch.
Please allow me to introduce myself to Sophie.
Just...watch out.
She can be quite the little actress.
She'll twist you 'round her little finger
if you're not careful.
♪♪
Good morning, Soph--
Forgive me. You were asleep.
I'm Miss Sugar.
How do you do, Miss?
I know you're Sophie.
You so closely resemble your father.
Sophie, do you have another room?
A playroom, perhaps?
So where do you keep your toys?
You do have toys, don't you?
I have him.
His name's Twinings.
My grandpa gave him to me.
He was riding a tin elephant with tea inside,
but they took that away.
He's much too handsome to be shut up in that dusty chest.
Miss Cleave says I'm not to have a smelly, old doll
in my good, clean room.
She says she doesn't like to look at his black face.
Well, Miss Cleave has gone now.
I should like him to join us for our lessons.
Sophie: Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray the Lord, my soul to keep.
See me safely through the night
and wake me with the morning light.
Amen.
What -- what is it? What's wrong?
Do you resemble your father, Miss?
Oh.
That's a very good question, Sophie.
I've...I've never thought about it.
Perhaps you favor your mamá.
Not at all.
Do you favor yours?
I couldn't say.
I haven't seen her since my birthday.
[Rain falling]
♪♪
[Sighs]
♪♪
Agnes: Dear Diary, I am gripped by terror.
Dr. Curlew has been called, and his black bag frightens me.
I have begged Clara not to let him in,
but she prattles that everyone is worried
about thebaby,
how very late it is,
and that it must come soon.
Whose baby can this be?
I wish William would inform me
about whom he invites to this house.
[Rain continues falling]
♪♪
[Rain continues falling]
[Knock at door]
Dearest.
I haven't known whether to come and find you.
No, no, better not.
[Whispers] How are you getting on?
You rue the day you came, don't you?
Not at all.
Y-you have a weary look.
Would you like me to hire you a nursery maid?
No, that's not necessary.
It's true I haven't slept, but that's 'cause of this bed.
[Sighs] It's too small. I knew it.
William...
it hasn't been christened.
Mmm.
Sugar: Ah! Ah![Objects clattering]
[Laughing softly]
-[Sugar gasping] -Ohh.
Ah! Ahh.
[Moaning]
[Object clatters]
[Laughing softly]
Do you remember our first time?
[Snorts, laughs]
Ugh, what a disgrace I was then.
But I knew you were a great man in the making.
Hmm.
Are you really managing all right with Sophie?
We are very happy.
I did wonder...
when's her birthday?
August the...
something. Why?
Well, Sophie told me
that she hadn't seen Agnes since her birthday.
She means since the day she was born.
♪♪
Good morning, Letty.
♪♪
[Bird chirps]
[Clock ticking]
[Birds chirping]
Good morning, Sophie.
I'm sorry, Miss.
I'm bad.
No, Sophie.
No, you're not bad, not at all.
Let's get you cleaned.
I'm sore down there.
Well, you've been sleeping in wet sheets for too long.
Did...Miss Cleave have a special cream she used on you?
Well, I'll get you some.
[Doorbell rings]
I cannot tell you how...
anxious... [Chuckles]
I have been to see you, Mrs. Fox.
They say your recent recovery
is nothing short of miraculous.
Miracles are rare, Mrs. Rackham.
I prefer to think I was simply nursed back to health.
Come, now. [Chuckles]
Henry assured us he had seen you on your deathbed.
Henry saw me at my very worst, it's true.
And I regret that.
You've been to the Convent of Health...
[Birds chirping]
Haven't you?
No.
St Bartholomew's Hospital.
[Sighs] Are you --
Are you seriously asking me to believe
that you were snatched from the jaws of...
[Whispers] you-know-what...
[Normal voice] by nothing more than good nursing?
The convent of which you speak is not known to me.
If I am...scrupulously honest, Mrs. Fox,
its precise location is a mystery to me. [Laughs]
Luckily, they have provided me with an angel escort,
ready for... [Whispers] when the time comes.
♪♪
The stretcher on which I lie is lifted
and carried through the sunlit trees
to the gates of the convent.
[Shuddering]
Agnes: I hear the train which delivered me
hooting and moving off on its return journey.
She whom has taken me under her wing
is waiting at the gates.
I'm carried into the convent,
into a warm cell at its very heart,
which glows in colors from the stained-glass windows.
♪♪
[Whispers] Trust me.
♪♪
[Sophie urinating]
♪♪
[Birds chirping]
[Clattering]
Morning, Sophie.
[Laughs]
Sophie, good girl.
Thank you, Miss.
Hard at work, today, Mrs. Rackham?
Yes, indeed, Clara.
If Bodley and Ashwell, those idiot friends of William's,
can publish books that are no more
than their opinions about life, well, why can't I?
You're writing a book?
[Sighs]
It will be like my diary, but for the public.
A great web of like-minded souls, all waiting on
"The Illuminated Thoughts and Preternatural Reflections"
of Agnes Piggott.
That's my real name, you know.
Sounds fascinating.
If only I hadn't buried all my old writings.
They'd have been such invaluable research material.
Well, I'm sure there's plenty more where that came from.
[Whispers] Yes.
New books?
I asked your father for them.
Your old ones are out-of-date.
History is on the move.
You change every day, and so does everything around you.
Even you?
Even me.
Both: "The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea
in a beautiful pea-green boat."
"They had some honey and plenty of money,
wrapped up in a five pound note."
Both: "The Owl looked up at the stars above
and sang to his small guitar".
Are you cold at night, now the weather's turned?
Would you like another blanket?
Yes, please.
How did you know?
♪♪
Did your nurse bring you an extra blanket
when you were a little girl?
No. But that's how I knew you would like one.
♪♪
Look, there's a wiggly worm... [Speaks indistinctly]
[Giggling]
William, we've discussed everyone except you.No.
Your life is becoming quite shrouded in mystery.
[Chuckles]I'm so curious.
Did you, for example, ever find a governess for your daughter?
Yes, I did. Thank you.
Not a Rescue girl, I hope?
Wh-what makes you think that?
Well, Mrs. Fox is striving
to convince anyone with the least servant problem
to take one of her reformed specimens.
She knows better than to approach me.
I had a Rescue girl in my kitchen.
I was obliged to dismiss her veryswiftly.
Why? What happened?
Well, nothing I could discuss in polite company.
Am I polite company?
Oh, William.[Pats back]
You are sui generis.
[Both laugh]
I feel as if I could discuss any subject with you.
Sophie: Miss Sugar, I found another one.
Miss Sugar.
How do you do?
Very well, thank you, sir.
-A brighter day, today. -Yes, yes, it is.
I brought Sophie outside for her lesson.
She's grown so pale.
A lady can never be too pale.
But a child needs some air.
I find Sophie such a hard-working little girl.
How very agreeable for you.
William: Very good, Sophie.
Miss Sugar.
[Bridgelow giggling]
[William speaks indistinctly]
[Wind gusting]
Mr. Rackham?
Might I have a word with you later,
when you have a moment?
Of course.
[Bridgelow laughing]
Who is that lady, Sophie?
I don't know, Miss.
I've seen her before.
My father says I was a good girl, Miss.
That's not what he said.
[Shuddering]
♪♪
[Knock at door]
You wanted to see me?
[Whispers] Yes.
[Door closes]
[Whispering] I miss you.
To see you in the garden today
and not be able to touch you was torture.
Really?
I feel so dowdy.
All my good clothes are in the trunk.
You don't need your old get-up to take care of Sophie.
[Wind whistling]
No, of course not, but...
I-I don't want you to grow bored of me.
Bored?
Sugar, you saved me.
You can't imagine how much of a stranger I felt in this house.
[Whispers] But then you arrived, and...
We have a home here.
Exactly that.
And I am grateful.
How grateful?
Verygrateful.
But I must go now.
Bodley and Ashwell are launching their new book,
"The Great Social Evil."
[Doorknob squeaks]Perhaps later.
We'll see.
[Wind continues whistling]
-[Gasps] Who's there? -[Gasps]
Miss Sugar, I'm sorry. I just...
[Whispering] I need to check for Mrs. Rackham.
-William: Janey! Cl-Clara! -[Woman speaks indistinctly]
[Door closes]
-Agnes, where are you, dear? -Mrs. Rackham!
[Dog barking] -Agnes?
-Agnes! -Mrs. Rackham!
-Agnes, where are you? -Mrs. Rackham!
[Dog barks]
-Mrs. Rackham! -[William shouts indistinctly]
Mrs. Rackham!
[William shouts indistinctly]
[Gasps]
[Agnes sobbing]
My angel!
I knew you'd come.
Agnes, what have you done?
Please, I-I-I'm ready.
[Sobbing] Get me away.
I-I-I can't.
You're my only hope.
-I willhelp you. -When?
Soon.
[Inhales sharply] You promise? You promise?!
Yes. But, first, I-I have to let them know you're safe.
[Sobbing] Safe?
In this house? With him?
[Sobbing continues]
Don't worry, Agnes.
♪♪
I'm watching you.
I see everything.
Stay still.
[Sobbing continues]
Sugar: Mr. Rackham!
♪♪
William: Clara...
[Sobbing continues]
I've been telling you, for months,
your wife requires specialist treatment away from this house.
And I am asking you to help hasten her recovery,
here, in her own home.
Nobody blames a man for sending his wife to hospital
if she has a broken leg or contracts smallpox.
That is a facetious comparison.
Agnes: [Sobbing] No, please!
Oh, Rackham. You simply have to rid yourself of this notion
that your wife is a well person
who suffers occasional bouts of illness.
She's a very sick person who occasionally has a good day.
She's been doing marvelously well these --
No, she hasn't!
Now this absurd pantomime has gone too far.
It's high time Agnes admitted to being a mother.
[Door opens, slams closed]
[Agnes sobbing, shouting in distance]
[Crying] She has me at my wits' end.
And why the hell did I ever call Curlew?
Hush, my love.
He wants me to condemn my wife to a living hell
because she can't use a spade!
William, you're beside yourself.
She'll be no trouble from now on, though, oh, no.
[Sniffles] Curlew has finally made himself useful,
in that respect.
What do you mean?
She's to be sedated!
Day and night.
Is that necessary?
What have I just been telling you?!
Day and night! Do you understand?
♪♪
My angel.
♪♪
Bridgelow: Jessie Sharpleton, just back from Zanzibar,
and Clarence Ferry.
Ah! He wrote "Her Regrettable Lapse."
I saw it at the Haymarket.
Bridgelow: How I love to be surrounded
by my denizens of the age to come.
Watson: I say, Rackham.
-Lord Watson! -You've been a busy chap.
Even in the apothecaries in Venice, I find your phiz,
stamped on all the little pots and bottles.
[Chuckle] A miracle of the Modern Age, sir.
I can be making a fool of myself in Venice and Paris
without ever leaving London.[Laughter]
Watson: Very good.
-[Laughs] -That's very good.
[Clock ticking]
[Wind whistling]
Clara, I'm surprised to see Mrs. Rackham sitting up.
Clara has decreased my medication,
now that I'm in less pain.
That is not a decision for Clara. [Scoffs]
She was doing as I asked.
I have suffered a most humiliating rebuff.
Cheesman says he's forbidden to take me to church.
My dear, it's Friday.
Mychurch.
I need a miracle of healing, William.
But, Agnes... [Sighs]
Agnes, you cannot walk.
-Cheesman can carry me. -No.
I will not have you become a laughingstock.
[Laughs]
What a cowardly,
conventional man you are, William.
Agnes, you are ill.
I'm trying to take care of you.
When have you ever taken care of me?
[Sobbing]
When, huh?
When?
Agnes! No.
No. Agnes!
Agnes. Not in front of the servant!
Agnes!
-[Continues sobbing] -Stop it!
Agnes!
My body is turning into raw meat,
and all you care about is what other people think!
-Agnes, for pity's sake! -Clara: Mrs. Rackham, please!
Stop it. Stop it.
[Panting]
You're hurting me.
Go play with someone else.
♪♪
[Breathing heavily]
♪♪
Sophie.
How nice it is to see you downstairs.
♪♪
Where isyour mamá, Miss?
She's at home, in herhouse.
All alone?
No. She has visitors.
The next card I make is for her.
We'll see, Sophie.
♪♪
Who were you looking after last Christmas?
Uh, a little boy.
Christopher.
Who's looking after him now?
I don't know.
Surely, we should make hima card.
Merry Christmas,
one and all!
Where's Agnes?
Upstairs, sleeping.
Ah, doped up. Better for everybody.
I don't know about that, but it does mean
that Sophie can join us, for the first time.
Well...
[Chuckling] Will you look at the size of the child?
-Ha-ha! -[Giggles]
Ha ha, ha!
Now, then, where are the presents?
[Chuckling]
♪♪
Oh! Thank you, Miss Sophie.
Thank you.
[Sniffs]
[Sniffs][Sniffs]
♪♪
Oh, Miss Sugar.
No, no.
Ah, Sophie...
Please, allow me.
Um, Mr. Rackham, that's very generous.
[Paper rustling]
-Books, Miss? -Yes, Sophie.
Shakespeare.
Your father and I share a passion.
Rackham: Miss Sophie,
this is a precision instrument
entrusted to me by an explorer I once met.
[Chuckles] Now, look through here.
Let me show you how it works.
You take this off, look through the window.
Through here, through the window.
♪♪
[Laughter] -Allow me, Sophie.
-Aah! -Ah!
Open up.
Oh, whoa!
[Shouts, laughter]
♪♪
[Agnes snoring]
-Miss. -Mm-hmm?
Do you think I could be an explorer when I'm older?
I don't see why not.
[Sighs] It mightn't be permitted,
a lady explorer.
These are modern times, Sophie.
Women can do all sorts of things nowadays.
Perhaps I could explore the places
the gentlemen explorers just don't wish to explore.
[Sighs] Perhaps you could.
There's no use, anyone waking my mamá now, is there, Miss?
She has missed everything.
She is very ill, Sophie.
I think she'll die soon
and they'll put her in the ground.
If you like,
we can read the book I gave you tomorrow.
Yes. Yes, I'd like that.
Goodnight, Miss Sugar, and God bless.
You, too, Sophie.
♪♪
[Dog howling]
♪♪
[Door opens]
[Howling continues]
[Door closes]
Christopher?
♪♪
Agnes: Dr. Curlew leans over me.
There is no one to stop him having his way. [Shudders]
He places his hands on my belly,
and the demon inside me lunges in rage and terror
and then tears its way out of me.
Stars burst behind my eyes.
I glimpse the vile creature only for an instant.
Naked, made of blood and slime.
William: [Whispering] Soon, you'll be in a place
where you will get better, my love. [Sniffles]
[Crying]
You do wantto be good, don't you, Agnes?
"Be good, sweet maid."
[Sighs deeply]
Hot. Oh, it's so hot.
Are you hot?
[Whispering] I didn't mean to hurt you that first night.
[Crying] I-I was made hasty by urgency
and I-I thought --
I thought, once we were under way, you would enjoy it.
♪ As six strong men lift me up ♪
Oh, no, oh, don't let me fall.
[Agnes groans]
[William breathing heavily]
[Crying] It has been such a long time.
Don't be afraid, dear heart.
[Clothes rustling]
I'm going to embrace you.
[Whispering] You'll let me know if I hurt you, won't you?
[Inhales sharply][Rustling continues]
I wouldn't hurt you for the world.
[Crying out]
[William gasping]
[Sobbing] ♪ They've pierced my hands and feet ♪
♪ They've numbered all my bones ♪
-Shh! -[Stifles cry]
William: Shh. Shh.
[Crying out]
-[Muffled moans] -[Continues crying out]
[Agnes wailing]
[William grunting]
Ah!
[Panting] Uhh!
-[Continues crying out] -[Panting, grunting]
[Wind whistling]
Ohh!
[Sobbing]
♪♪
[Agnes sobbing]
[Door opens]
[Door slams]
♪♪
[Door slams]
[Clattering][Agnes continues sobbing]
Help me.
[Sobbing] Help.
♪♪
Help me, please.
[Sobbing continues]
♪♪
[Floorboard creaks]
♪♪
Agnes.
Please.
[Sobbing continues]
They give me poison
and they hurt me.
He... [Inhales sharply] hurts me,
and his doctor does the same.
In the same place, always.
The doctor hurts you?
He...pushes inside.
He...digs away at me with his sh-sharp beak.
Agnes,
no one is going to hurt you anymore.
They're going to kill me.
Worms have eaten my diaries.
[Breathing shakily]
No one will know I existed!
[Whispers] Agnes, your diaries are safe with me.
[Gasping sob]
♪♪
Come, let's get you to bed.
♪♪
[Agnes shuddering, sobbing]
♪♪
[Birds chirping]
[Gasps] What time is it?
7:00, Miss.
And Mr. Rackham's asking for you.
[Retreating footsteps]
"But our suffering in the flesh will, someday, end.
"I have, myself, traveled in my sleep
"to see the place where we will pass into our second body,
kept safe for us by the angels of paradise."
[Crying] I found it in Agnes's room.
It seems she's writing a novel.
She tells a good story, doesn't she?
Are you making a joke?
No, of course not.
It is madness! It's complete lunacy!
Well, she's just consoling her --
Stop it![Throws book]
Agnes is to be put away.
In an asylum. She leaves tomorrow.
Curlew will supervise her treatment.Curlew? But, William --
She will be meticulously cared for.
The decision has been made.
Well, in that case,
I can't think what you need to know from me.
I need to know I'm not a monster.
[Crying]
God forgive me, Sugar, I can't bear to be here when they come.
I'll stay at my club.
What if Agnes should resist?
She will be sedated,
and Curlew will have four strong men with him.
Four?
To ensure that it proceeds with dignity.
[Doorbell rings]
Agnes will be cured.
Curlew swears it.
She will come home
and we shall introduce her to Sophie.
She'll be a mother, at last.
[Doorbell rings]
Damn it, is the entire house asleep?!
♪♪
[Door closes]
♪♪
[Vomiting]
[Gasps, coughing]
[Indistinct conversations]
♪♪
-Another whiskey, sir? -Yes.
[Rain falling, thunder rumbles]
♪♪
Woman: Deary.
Deary.
You poor baby.
No.
You need...
a nice...soft...bed
to lie down in.
No, no. Get away from me!
♪♪
-You don't mean that. -Leave me alone!
Just leave me alone.
Oh, deary?
Oh! Oh![Thud]
Oh!
[Coughing]
Uhh! Oh! [Inhales sharply]
Ah. [Panting]
Oh! Oh.
[Sobs]
♪♪
-Agnes. -Mm.
Agnes, wake up.
Drink this.
Drink it all up.[Tea cup rattles]
I'll be back.
Don't go back to sleep.
♪♪
Is it time?
♪♪
[Dog barking]
♪♪
[Train chugging, whistle blows]
Sugar: Do exactly as I say, Agnes.
I'll be watching you. Don't worry.
The right destination will reveal itself to you.
The place you choose
will be the right place becauseyou chose it.
Lostwithiel.
♪♪
[Spits, coughs]
[Footsteps running up stairs]
Miss Sugar!
Sugar: I really have no idea where she could've gone.
I find it very hard to believe that Mrs. Rackham
could have made her way out into the world
without the help of someone.
It is remarkable, what a woman can do
when she sets her mind to it.
Curlew: What's left of her mind.
This'll be such a blow for Mr. Rackham.
I do hope Mrs. Rackham returns before he does.
Indeed.
Mrs. Rackham is an extremely vulnerable individual,
and, if someone has helped her...
well, that's tantamount to murder.
Sugar: When you arrive at your destination,
walk deep into the countryside.
Ask to be shown to the Convent.
♪♪
Don't take "no" for an answer.
Promise.
♪♪
[Laughs]
♪♪
Oh!
♪♪