You know what they say about a watched pot.
But they're so late.
In a few hours, this house will be filled with New York's finest.
Well, I would say New York's finest is already right here.
You'll crease my dress.
Why, thank you, Mr. Colonel, sir.
Well, I don't give a fig about anyone else coming.
Actually, Mrs. Paramore responded and said she was looking forward to it.
But I don't give a fig about any of them.
Well, Patti, both daughters triumphant.
Why, even the papers have heard of the duke's arrival.
You are good to keep me company while Theo's away. Are you bored?
Not at all.
I am. And you never bore me, generally.
I was hoping for diverting conversation,
but you're unusually short of disgraceful stories.
Just tired. Late nights, you know how it is.
Not recently, unfortunately.
But it's not that. Are you in love?
Sorry?
Your mother held her shoulders like that after she met your father.
Some kind of dancing injury, if I know her.
Guy, in the nicest way, what are you doing here with your shoulders like that?
What are you waiting for?
Theo's a duke, poor lamb.
He has to carry the burden of waiting for a suitable girl.
But I don't know if you'd noticed, you're not that important.
Well, thank you.
If she's suitable to you,
don't be like your father, politely waiting for life to happen.
Your mother grabbed life.
When she met your father by that lake,
she didn't sit around hoping he'd come to her.
She declared her love in a letter,
wrote it there and then on the bank and took it to give to him.
Your grandmother was appalled.
But your father, well, he loved her her entire life.
We all did.
A life without love is a life half-lived.
And from my grand old age, Guy, let me promise you,
you're a long time dead and you're even longer old.
Now, pass me those potatoes.
- Thank you. - You're welcome.
Well, well, well, what time do you call this?
- Oh, sweetheart. Welcome home. - Hi, Dad.
Nan. Come on, my girls.
Is she doing her funny arms dance?
Go, go.
My little girls.
My two little girls are home.
- Colonel. - Yes.
Mrs. St. George. So very pleased to make your acquaintance.
Oh, well, the pleasure is all ours.
I gotta hug you!
It's so good to meet you.
And Jinny got herself a lord.
Check it out, Madison Avenue!
Let us get your bags.
No, we didn't want to impose. So we're staying at the Grand.
The Grand. What a treat.
- Someone wants to say hello. - Everybody's here.
- Do you wanna hold her? - Yes. Yes, please.
Miss Testvalley, both my daughters happy and settled,
and it's all down to you.
Yes.
Well, we do our best, of course. But it's not what you're used to, I know.
We picked all the furniture ourselves,
and I'm afraid the paintings aren't the least bit old.
- Is that a dove in a cage? - Yes.
We're having a party with food and people--
No, we know what a party is. Why are we having one?
To welcome you home.
We've had so many RSVPs, you have no idea.
The Astors, the Cliffords. Perhaps even the Paramores.
But why is there a dove in a cage?
Mrs. Cooper-Lockhart had a heron. It's to do with birds being chic.
And my color scheme is dove-themed.
Excellent. Now, who's ready for a man's drink
away from all this twittering? Gentlemen.
Girls, quick, quick. You all need to get washed.
I am so sorry. I did not know that there was going to be a party--
No, I'm intrigued. Will the doves be let out at some point?
Will Mrs. Somebody-Somebody bring her heron?
I think anything at all is possible.
Darling, please. The guests will be arriving any minute
- and I wanna show you off. - Why?
Well, because I'm your mother.
Well, look who's lowering the tone.
Lizzy!
- Lizzy. - Lizzy!
- I missed you. Hi. - Hi.
- So happy to see you! - What have you been doing?
- Or should I say who have you been doing? - Yes!
Who's the lucky man keeping you here and away from us?
I couldn't care less about boys and marriage.
Lizzy? Who's stolen Lizzy?
Now, there's a party that's about to start.
So, let's get you all dressed.
Happy to see you home.
Gentlemen, shall we?
So sorry. Sorry. I think I gave you a telegram to send.
- Yes, sir. - But I need it back.
I have to get it back. I have to get that--
Took a while for them to transcribe, sir. And not cheap, I'm afraid, being so long.
Right.
Right. Yes, it was a lengthy one.
Thank you very much.
So sorry to--
My two favorite dancers. Listen, go have fun.
Duke!
Is it duke or duke?
Anyhow, so you have your drink? Sorry it's not tea.
Will Nan be joining us?
She'll no doubt be getting into trouble somewhere.
So, how did you convince our little free spirit to say yes?
The minute she could walk, no one could catch her.
Well, I think I'm just hoping to walk alongside her.
Nice. That's a nice line, Nan's a lucky girl.
Mrs. Paramore, welcome. I know how in demand you are.
We wouldn't have missed it.
You've gone for doves, I see.
The Astors only had canaries at theirs, and they didn't look well.
The canaries or the Astors?
Both.
Congratulations, Mrs. St. George. How very far you've come.
Nan?
Well, I'm just gonna wait right here then, okay?
Nan, you said you wouldn't today.
Now that I'm actually in this house, I can't simply just make my face pretend.
Girls.
Well, I'm happy for them.
For my part, the doves are a step too far. But Patricia's never shy of excess.
Who is, in New York?
Whereas if it had been me--
- Lizzy, if you hadn't-- - Disappointed the family?
Let us all down?
Decided, for whatever reason, ill-health or over-excitement,
to take yourself away, perhaps we'd be holding a party of this kind.
Well, I'm just saying, you were the pick of that ball on that staircase.
Everyone said so. And if you'd only agree to go back to England and try it out--
- What? - Oh, yes, she refuses.
Now that she's met the queen, she thinks she is one.
- Perhaps if I had had daughters more-- - Agreeable?
- Obedient? - Appealing!
There, you've made me say it. I've said it, appealing.
- I have to go find Jinny. - Wait, Lizzy.
I'm just saying, if you'd both been more open to the process,
this could've been our party.
Yeah. Well, only without the doves, right?
The doves are a step too far, certainly.
In polite society, you don't actually drink a drink, you know?
I believe you do drink drinks, Mother.
Mabel, I was a girl once and thought I knew what was what.
But I'm afraid gradually you're forced to realize, you know nothing at all.
When the others go back to England, you'll be staying here with me.
What? No, I can't.
I'm afraid if Lizzy's here then so are you.
What would people say if I have daughters on different continents?
Your sister has ruined it for us all.
Mother, please, she just--
Nan, what is it?
Everyone's down there.
I'm nobody to you. You have never been my mother.
Everything you've told me my entire life has been a complete--
Jinny, go downstairs, please.
I'm so sorry. This is all my fault.
This isn't about faults, darling. Now, go downstairs and enjoy your moment.
Shoulders back. Head high.
Sorry!
Sorry.
I don't believe we've met.
- Elizabeth. Lizzy. - It's a pleasure.
There you are. I'm so sorry.
- I was just-- Are you having a good time? - Yes.
I've just been introduced to Elizabeth.
But you know Lizzy. She stayed at your house and at Runnymede.
There were rather a lot of people there that weekend.
Of course, I--
We were all running around.
I mean, it was a bit of a blur.
I'm sorry, I just--
I'm sorry.
If I had never been born or if I'd never existed--
Don't, please.
It would have been easier. It would have been better for you and for Daddy.
The whole family must have been whispering and nudging,
and having to stop talking whenever I walked into a room.
It was never like that.
Why did you lie? Every day you woke up, and you spent the whole day lying to me.
And then the next day you got up, and you lied to me again.
- Darling, we've made mistakes. - You've made mistakes.
I'm not yours. My eyes aren't yours.
My hands aren't yours. My feet aren't yours.
And it was no wonder that I was close to Daddy when I was small.
I used to feel so bad when I was so glad that he came home.
But it was because he was my daddy, and you were nobody. You're nobody.
- Please, wait-- - I thought being here would help.
That if I could just talk to you...
But you're just parading me to all of New York, and you're making me lie
and I can't look at you.
We just need to gather ourselves. Darling, come sit down.
Your father's looking after Theo. We can just talk.
And you're making me lie to Theo.
How can he marry me when he doesn't know who I am?
When I don't even know who I am? My whole life has been a lie.
I need to tell him the truth.
Nan? Nan?
Nan.
Nan!
Mrs. St. George, can I just--
- There you are. I've been meaning to-- - Not now, Lavinia.
Theo.
Here she is, the best-looking
- mother of the bride I ever saw. - No, stop. Where's Nan?
- You know it's time for-- - I have to go.
Ladies and gentlemen, we know how heartbroken you were
to miss the wedding of the year.
So by way of second best,
will you please help me give a big New York welcome
to Lord and Lady Seadown.
Come on, it's not a first dance until you've done it in New York.
Oh, come on. Let's show these children how it's done, Patti.
Tracy, I have to talk to you.
Get your hands off me!
For pity's sake, Patti.
If you don't want to dance, you just have to--
Nan knows.
I guess they just thought it would be nice for us to--
To be paraded? To stage a fake first dance?
Well apt, I suppose, because in America, everything is a reproduction.
Does the duke know?
She says she'll tell him.
Well, then she's a fool. She'll lose him.
A duke can never marry a girl like that.
- What about her? What about me? - All right.
I'll fix it.
This isn't one of those times you can go in and make her laugh, Tracy.
Have one of your little nudges about the world together,
about how silly and how amusing I always am.
This is entirely your fault.
Do you have any idea what we've sacrificed for your utter belief
that you can do exactly as you please?
Well, I must say, when I look at that party out there,
with all those orchids and that food and that furniture,
it doesn't seem to me much like anybody's making any sacrifices.
I don't care for a stick of that furniture, not a stick!
You have turned us into liars!
I have battled to keep this family together, and I will continue to do so.
And if it will be all right, it is because I will make it all right.
I love New York!
New York loves you.
I can breathe here.
I feel free.
Just like--
Just like when I was a little boy, and I could just run around
all day long
before I had to wear such tight breeches.
You know, I do like you in looser pants.
God, do you remember those nights before the wedding?
Those afternoons.
Those mornings.
Shall we...
In the St. George house?
Well, Conchita, this is America.
Land of the free.
Come on.
- Jinny. - There you are.
- We wanted to say congratulations. - Congratulations.
You married a real English gentleman. A lord, no less.
- And we heard you two had-- - You eloped!
- So romantic. - So fabulous.
So, how is England? Do you live in a palace?
Is everything really old?
It is, but it's old and beautiful, not old and dirty, you know.
Lords and ladies have exquisite taste.
I always knew Jinny would go far.
- If I didn't say, I thought it. - You did.
- And so did I. - And that gown Jenny, it's so elegant.
So elegant.
Yes, I believe I've already said it.
Lizzy, what are you playing at?
If we have to stay here with Mother, I shall die.
You won't die.
How do you know? I might.
- This all used to feel so familiar and-- - Safe.
- Yes. And now it's-- - It's different.
Is this still because Seadown chose her?
Mabel, you are so much more like Mother than you will ever see
because you know nothing at all about anything.
- So, tell us more about your-- - Big castle.
- It's not really a castle. - What's it called?
Tintagel... Castle.
Well, I bet the St. George's can't believe their luck.
I mean, look around. It's all rather gauche, isn't it? This new money?
Well, you could say America is all new money.
Excuse me, I must find my fiancé.
If you find any bills in there you wanna pay, you go right ahead.
- Be my guest. - Jinny told me there were letters.
Funny thing about getting older, stories you thought were long buried--
Well, they rear their heads again and they don't always make you feel good.
How does it make you feel?
Wanting me to talk about my feelings, huh? Well, you get that from your mother.
You wanna know the truth?
Old.
Old is what I feel, Nan.
Seems impossible when you're young, I know.
But that way you feel when you're running and laughing
and dancing with those friends of yours, you--
Well, one day...
you will follow that feeling anywhere.
Ask anyone my age,
we're, all of us, just pretending to be grown-ups.
You know, when your belt's bursting,
your hair is thin on top,
and suddenly a beautiful young girl smiles at you and laughs at your joke...
Well, you know, a man can't be blamed for seeing.
Hell, she wants you to see it.
And meanwhile, yes,
your mother is still the finest-looking woman in the land,
but, you know, she gets tired and cranky. So, occasionally the--
Where is she? My real mother.
Oh, sweetheart...
Her family sent word that she passed on not long after you were born.
And who was she?
We--
Well, she was--
It was a long time ago. And--
Well, what'd she look like?
I expect she was very beautiful.
That much I can tell you because--
Well, you know, look at you.
And what was her name?
I didn't get a proper look at her, Nan.
Nan.
Being away from New York, Mother, I'm so much more myself.
I imagine.
And of course, I've barely missed you at all.
So...
is there anyone in England like us?
Like you?
Oh, well, you should see them all.
There's not a single person like me.
Thank you.
My dearest Nan,
my feelings for you can no longer be kept secret.
I am weak. And I'm confused.
But Nan, my love for you is neither.
So, what did she say?
I talked to them both. She didn't speak, and he didn't listen.
He said that pretty girls give him a look which they hope he'll notice.
And he can't be blamed.
How can Mother even stand it?
I think she just gets on with the day.
I suppose that's what marriage becomes.
Daddy will always be impossible.
But Nan, Mother, our mother, she--
she loves you entirely.
Fix your face, darling.
You got to join the party.
Almost like I'm a real person.
- Is Minnie... - Safely asleep upstairs.
He's so carefree here.
None of those children will ever be carefree.
Growing up in the Brightlingsea house, I'm afraid that's just not possible.
They get...
extinguished.
We have to get away from his family.
Lady Marable, if I may,
Lord Richard is an Englishman, a firstborn and a lord.
Yes, but look at him. Why wouldn't he choose this?
He may not always feel it under that roof, but in England he has power.
No Englishman will ever choose freedom over power.
Have you had anything to eat?
You're right, of course.
I've made mistakes. Plenty.
But I wouldn't believe any mother who claimed she hadn't.
And I was doing my very best. I was.
I may not have carried you in here.
But from the second I saw you, I promise you, I have carried you in here.
The day you came to me
was the best and the hardest day of my life.
My heart was broken because of your father.
But it had no idea what was coming, this old heart of mine.
With your eyes and your little fingers.
And your thighs, I could grab a whole handful.
And don't tell me that your eyes aren't mine,
because I've stared into them night after night when you wouldn't settle.
And your fingers are mine, because I kiss them again and again.
You nestled into my heart
and made it so much bigger and brighter and more important.
When you were this high and you wanted to climb,
which you always did...
I used to turn my back, so you wouldn't see that I was scared.
- But you were? - Are you serious?
I'm a mother and a woman.
And both of those are terrifying every single day.
But I didn't want you to see from my face that I was scared for you.
I so wanted you to be fearless.
And if you'd known, if we'd told you,
you'd have been Nan with a secret.
Nan with questions. Nan that felt different.
And I just wanted you to be Nan.
And maybe that was wrong, but I was making it up as I went along.
And Daddy says that everyone in this whole world
is just pretending to be grown-ups.
And he's right, of course.
Though some of us are pretending a little harder than others.
And, darling, about Theo...
It might feel like a lie,
it might even be called a lie if you look it up in the dictionary, but...
you'll lose him.
And I don't think it's a lie when it's to protect someone you love.
It's okay to turn your back to hide that you're scared.
But Theo's honest. He's not like Daddy.
And maybe you can let the lies keep coming
- and maybe you're happy with that, but-- - I'm not happy.
And, darling, I need you and Jinny to know that.
I'm not happy with any of it.
But that's up to me.
I want better than a lifetime of lies.
And I know that you had to turn your back to make me brave, but I am brave now.
Mostly. And you've still got your back turned.
Here she is at last, my girl.
So, we now have the duke and his "dukess."
So, now we need a dance from you both. Come on, we have waited long enough.
Why, Colonel, what makes you think
these young people want to hang around old folks like us?
They're young and in love. You must remember that.
Now, come on everybody, this is supposed to be a New York party.
Nan's gonna tell him.
And I suspect she's absolutely right.
Theo, slow down, slow down, slow down.
Are you okay? Has something happened?
I love you, Nan.
Do you want me?
I want you to say it.
Yes. Yes, I do. I want you.
Come here.
- I've missed you. - Hasn't it been just awful?
Listen, I've been wanting-- Darling, what's married life like?
I mean, I'm happy.
When we're together, when it's just us two,
- he does nothing but look after me. - I'm glad.
- He treats me like-- - Like a lady?
- Of course. - Does he really?
Of course. Look, I'm Lady Seadown.
You left me all alone. Again.
I know, I'm so sorry. I was just catching--
In your house with your family,
who are absolutely not, I'm realizing, easy people.
I'm just starting to feel all this fuss, the constant references to who I am.
Did you only marry me for my title?
No, of course not. I love you.
This party is humiliating to me. Humiliating.
This whole vulgar event,
thrown in our honor, yet a hideous display of bad taste.
I'd have thought I deserved more respect.
- I don't understand. - From you, my wife,
and also from your mother.
That this is how she chooses to introduce her new son-in-law
to New York, by parading me and my title. It is demeaning.
No, you're absolutely right. And I'm so sorry.
And it gives me no pleasure to say that your mother ought to apologize.
For the party. The farcical first dance.
That display we just witnessed. She ought to say sorry.
But you don't actually mean she ought to apologize?
I'm not going to tell you what to do, Virginia.
Theo.
Just before we go back inside, I wanted to tell you something.
- I've just been wanting to say-- - Are you happy? With me, I mean.
Of course.
Then don't tell me anything that might spoil it.
Really?
Let's get married soon.
Might that be all right?
Mother.
This party, the whole event, the entire afternoon, it's--
Well, it's been a gaudy display of bad taste.
You've been to England now, so you know how to behave.
But I'm afraid James deserves more respect.
You've embarrassed him, and you've embarrassed me.
So, I would appreciate it if you would apologize.
Jinny, my love, what's come over you?
I think we should get everyone dancing again, don't you?
Mrs. St. George, I can't thank you enough for this delightful party.
You've made me and my wife feel so welcome.
Well, welcome, of course. This is Jinny's home.
Perhaps the sea crossing might have made you a bit queasy.
The aim of this party,
and our whole lives, in fact, has been our happiness.
I shall become a duchess soon
and have access to royalty of every rank.
But I fully expect to be less impressed by them than I ought to be,
because our mother...
My mother is a queen.
Shoulders back. Head high.
You're right, of course, Jinny.
Everything about this party is irrelevant and in bad taste.
In fact, the only thing I'm proud of in this entire room are you girls.
Both of you.
But I'll reserve my apologies and shame
for the years I spent giving a fig what people thought of me.
And perhaps one night in Saratoga when I climbed a wall
and accidentally showed my second-best bloomers to the Mayor.
Now, Lavinia, I believe this party is beneath us.
- But it's your party. - We're just gonna walk out of the room.
- Okay. - Just--
Do you suppose everything will be all right, Lavinia?
No idea. None at all.
I believe Tracy is not always a good man.
They so rarely are. What can we do?
Only our very best to be grown-ups.
I can't just move to New York.
Why not? Please, Dicky. We could just stay here.
I can't be in that house. I can't live.
And I won't let Minnie be extinguished by your family.
You've decided you've no choice and that's up to you.
But I do have a choice.
I just need to decide which one to make.
Mother, I'm gonna go back to England with the girls. To be with Jinny.
Find myself a husband, if I can. And Mabel can come with me.
Oh, Lizzy, that's the spirit.
I believe in you. I do.
- Thank you. - Of course.
So, Duchess Nan, when are we going back to England?
Oh, Lizzy, thank goodness.
Mother, earlier--
You're all right, are you, Mabel? Are you?
- I do want my girls to be all right. - Yes, very much so.
But Mother, listen. Upstairs--
Now, Mabel, put on your shawl properly, and that's the end of it.
However will we find you a husband if you're only ever wearing half a shawl?
So, I take it Nan didn't tell him then?
We still get a duke in the family?
I can't do this anymore, Tracy. It's done.
Do you honestly think anyone would look at you twice if you're on your own?
Or even open the door to you?
Why, they wouldn't even have you back in Saratoga, Patti.
And, well, you know how muddleheaded you get.
You'd never survive.
She asked about her, of course. Her real mother.
You didn't tell her the truth?
No, of course not. What do you think I am?