Brief Encounter Page #3

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- You're quite sure?

- Absolutely positive.

Thank you for being so kind.

Oh, nonsense, dear.

I shall telephone in the morning

and see if you've had a relapse.

I shall disappoint you.

Good night.

Good night. Oh, give my love

to Fred and the children.

- Is that you, Laura?

- Yes, dear.

Thank goodness you've come back.

The place has been in an uproar.

- Why? What's the matter?

- Bobby and Margaret

have been fighting again.

They won't go to sleep until you go in

and talk to them about it.

- Mummy? Is that you, Mummy?

- Yes, Margaret.

Come upstairs at once, Mummy!

I want to talk to you.

You're both very naughty. You should

have been asleep hours ago. What is it?

Well, Mummy, tomorrow's my birthday,

and I want to go to the circus.

And tomorrow's not Margaret's birthday,

and she wants to go to the pantomime.

My birthday's in June.

There aren't any pantomimes in June.

It's far too late

to discuss it tonight,

and if you don't go to sleep, I shall

tell Daddy not to let you go to either.

Oh, Mummy!

Why not take them to both? One

in the afternoon, one in the evening?

You know that's impossible. We shouldn't

get them to bed till all hours,

and they'd be tired

and fractious.

Well, then, one on one day

and the other on the other.

You're always accusing me

of spoiling the children.

Their characters would be ruined

in a fortnight if I left them

to your over-tender mercies.

All right, have it

your own way.

- Circus or pantomime?

- Neither.

We'll thrash them both soundly,

lock them up in the attic...

and go to the pictures

by ourselves.

Oh, Fred.

- What on earth's the matter?

- Nothing. It's nothing.

Darling, what's wrong?

- Tell me, please.

- Really and truly, it's nothing.

I'm just a little rundown,

that's all.

I had a sort of fainting spell

at the refreshment room at Milford.

Isn't it idiotic?

Dolly Messiter was with me,

and she talked and talked and talked

until I wanted to strangle her.

Still, she meant to be kind.

Isn't it awful about people

meaning to be kind?

- Would you like to go to bed?

- No, Fred, really.

Come and sit by the fre

in the library and relax.

You can help me

with the Times crossword.

- You have the most

peculiar ideas of relaxation.

- That's better.

- There you are, darling.

- Thank you.

But why a fainting spell?

I can't understand it.

Don't be silly, darling. I've often

had fainting spells, and you know it.

Don't you remember Bobby's

school concert and Eileen's wedding...

and that time you insisted

on taking me to that symphony

concert at the town hall?

Go on, that was a nosebleed.

I suppose I must be that type of woman.

It's very humiliating.

I still maintain there'd be no harm

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