1
00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:07,400
Joseph Golding's last Christmas. It was
very strange, thought old Joseph Golding,

2
00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:12,759
that he couldn't be master of his
own mind. He had lived a great

3
00:00:12,839 --> 00:00:17,320
many years, and neither remorse nor
memory had ever been in the habit of

4
00:00:17,399 --> 00:00:22,839
disturbing him. But now it seemed
to him as if the very foundations of

5
00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:28,440
his life were breaking up. He
was well through his day's work, He

6
00:00:28,559 --> 00:00:34,039
had dined comfortably. He sat in
an easy chair in a luxurious drawing room

7
00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:40,399
whose crimson hangings shut out the still
cold of the December afternoon. He had

8
00:00:40,439 --> 00:00:47,039
nothing to do but enjoy himself.
Mister Golding liked to enjoy himself at this

9
00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:53,039
season as much as others did,
for it was Christmas Eve. What though

10
00:00:53,039 --> 00:00:59,159
he was in the habit of spending
it solitarily. He liked solitude, perhaps

11
00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:03,759
because nothing more lively came in his
way, and he was too shy and

12
00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:07,879
proud to look out for it.
For many a year on Christmas Eve he

13
00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:14,359
had sat balancing in his mind the
great accounts presented in his ledgers, the

14
00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:19,359
accumulating coffers at his banker's, the
strokes of business he would make in future.

15
00:01:21,359 --> 00:01:26,319
Not so now the year was drawing
to a close. Some intruding voice

16
00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:33,040
kept whispering that, in like manner, so was his career. He could

17
00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:38,040
not put it from him, try
as he would. The voice reminded him

18
00:01:38,079 --> 00:01:42,319
of a coming time when his life's
work would be all done, even as

19
00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:47,799
his day's work was all done now, when he would be ready to sit

20
00:01:47,879 --> 00:01:52,400
down in the evening and look over
the balance sheet of his deeds, good

21
00:01:52,640 --> 00:02:00,159
and evil. Curiously, the old
days came trooping in slow procession before him,

22
00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:07,640
and he had been able to forget
them for so very long. His

23
00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:13,280
dead wife, he had not loved
her much when she was with him,

24
00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:19,319
but how vivid was his memory of
her now He could see her moving round

25
00:02:19,319 --> 00:02:23,520
the house, noiseless as a shadow, never intruding on him, after he

26
00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:29,759
had once or twice repulsed her gruffly, but going on her own, meek

27
00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:36,800
still ways, with her face growing
whiter every day. He began to understand

28
00:02:36,879 --> 00:02:39,879
as he looked back, why her
strength had failed, and she had been

29
00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:45,840
ready when her baby came to float
out on the tide and let it drift

30
00:02:45,879 --> 00:02:50,840
her into God's haven. She had
had enough to eat and to drink.

31
00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:57,879
That he saw now that he had
left her heart to starve heaven. What

32
00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:02,319
a hard man he had been.
He seemed to see her white still face

33
00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:07,439
as he looked at it the last
time before they screwed down the coffin lid,

34
00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:13,319
with the dumb reproach frozen on it, the eyes that would never plead

35
00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:21,080
vainly any more closed for ever.
He recalled how passionately the three days old

36
00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:25,159
baby had cried in another room just
at that moment, moving all the people

37
00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:30,560
gathered together for the funeral with a
thrill of pity for the poor little,

38
00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:38,599
motherless morsel. She was a passionate, wilful baby. All through her babyhood,

39
00:03:38,639 --> 00:03:44,599
he remembered that she wanted missed,
without knowing what the lack was,

40
00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:50,759
the love and sustenance which her mother
would have given her, and protested against

41
00:03:50,879 --> 00:03:55,199
fate with all the might of her
infant lungs. But as soon as she

42
00:03:55,280 --> 00:04:00,960
grew old enough to understand how useless
it was, she had grown quiet too,

43
00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:06,919
just like her mother. He recalled
her, all through her girlhood,

44
00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:14,719
a shy, still girl, always
obedient and submissive, but never drawing very

45
00:04:14,759 --> 00:04:20,279
near him. Why because he would
have repulsed her as he repulsed her mother.

46
00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:27,600
He could see it now. It
was very strange these facts should come

47
00:04:27,639 --> 00:04:32,120
back to him to day, and
their naked truth with them. He had

48
00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:39,319
been a cold, hard, ungenial
man, without sympathy for any one human

49
00:04:39,439 --> 00:04:46,399
being, absorbed utterly in the pursuit
of money making. And so the child

50
00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:53,439
Amy had grown up in shadow without
him. But suddenly, when she was

51
00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:58,879
eighteen, the old passionate spirit that
had made her cry so when a baby

52
00:04:59,079 --> 00:05:02,720
must have awakened again, he thought, for she fell in love then and

53
00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:11,120
wished to marry, to marry in
defiance of his wishes. He remembered her

54
00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:15,319
standing proudly before him after one of
their quarrels, where he had been harsh

55
00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:20,800
and bitter and abusive of the man
she wanted to call husband. She had

56
00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:26,879
borne in silence reproach of herself,
but not of him, who had become

57
00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:31,240
to her as her best existence.
Her words came back to the old man.

58
00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:38,360
Now, father, do you know
anything against Harry Church, Yes,

59
00:05:38,759 --> 00:05:42,920
he had answered, wrathfully, I
know that he is as poor as job

60
00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:46,879
was when he sat among the ashes. He cannot keep a wife as a

61
00:05:46,959 --> 00:05:53,279
daughter of mine must be kept.
Anything else, Father, looking him steadily

62
00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:59,040
in the eye, No, that's
enough, he had thundered. I'll tell

63
00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,439
you besides that if you marry him, you must lie in the bed you'll

64
00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:09,839
make My doors will never open to
you again. Never he met with a

65
00:06:09,879 --> 00:06:14,040
will as strong as his own.
That time, she did marry him,

66
00:06:14,399 --> 00:06:18,879
and went away with him from her
father's house. Mister Golding had known the

67
00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:25,240
day the wedding was to take place, and disdained to stop it. He

68
00:06:25,439 --> 00:06:30,279
washed his hands of Harry Church and
of Amy his wife. She wrote home

69
00:06:30,439 --> 00:06:36,160
afterwards, over and over again,
but mister Golding sent all the letters back

70
00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:44,319
unopened. Subsequent to that, they
disappeared from the town, and he had

71
00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,839
never heard what became of them.
It was at least ten years ago.

72
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:57,199
Now it seemed very strange that these
things should have come back to night to

73
00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:02,759
haunt him, and with a wild
remorse, a pitying regret, he had

74
00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:09,160
done nothing to recall them. Could
it be his sense of failing health that

75
00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:14,199
brought them? If so, what
sort of anguish might he not look for?

76
00:07:14,279 --> 00:07:18,480
As he drew nearer and nearer to
the ending, he began to wish

77
00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:24,519
that he knew what had been in
those rejected letters, whether Amy had been

78
00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:30,519
suffering for anything, that money could
supply. The next thought that struck him

79
00:07:30,639 --> 00:07:36,519
was why he had opposed the marriage
so virulently. It is true Harry Church

80
00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:42,399
had been but a clerk in his
own employ but he was a well educated

81
00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:49,639
gentleman and would rise with time,
faithful, intelligent, persevering, respected,

82
00:07:50,199 --> 00:07:57,959
but poor. In that last word
lay the head and front of Harry Church's

83
00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:05,720
offending. Joseph Golding was rich then, he was far richer now, But

84
00:08:05,399 --> 00:08:11,480
he could not help asking it.
What special good were his riches bringing him?

85
00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:16,839
He was an old man, the
span of life running quickly on,

86
00:08:16,759 --> 00:08:22,199
and he was all alone. Who
would take his gold? Then? He

87
00:08:22,279 --> 00:08:28,879
could not carry it along with him. All in a moment he saw it

88
00:08:28,959 --> 00:08:35,600
clearly, the dreadful truth stood naked
and bare. His life and its object

89
00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:45,919
had been mistaken ones all alone,
all alone, he kept saying to himself,

90
00:08:46,279 --> 00:08:50,279
in a sort of vague self pity, I've toiled and worked for naught.

91
00:08:52,919 --> 00:08:58,120
But during this time, even now, as he sat there, a

92
00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:03,480
message of love was on its way
to him. Perhaps Heaven had but been

93
00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:09,360
preparing his heart to receive it.
He heard a ring at the door bell,

94
00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:15,399
heard it without paying attention to it. Rings were nothing to him.

95
00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:20,759
People did not come on business to
his residence, and of visitors he expected

96
00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:26,279
none. Down went his head lower
and lower with its weight of thought.

97
00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:33,600
Meanwhile, two people were admitted into
the hall below, a man and a

98
00:09:33,639 --> 00:09:39,080
little girl. The man had the
appearance of a staid, respectable servant.

99
00:09:39,759 --> 00:09:45,000
He took off the child's warm cloak
and hood, and she stood revealed a

100
00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:50,080
dainty, delicate creature of some eighty
years old, her golden curls drooping softly

101
00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:56,000
round her face, with its large
blue eyes and its cherry lips. The

102
00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:01,159
admitting maid, not knowing what to
make of this, called mister Golden's housekeeper,

103
00:10:01,279 --> 00:10:07,720
old Missus osgood The latter went into
a tremor as she came forward and

104
00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:13,399
looked at the face. It's miss
Amy's child, she exclaimed to the man

105
00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:18,679
nervously. I couldn't mistake the lightness
miss Amy's it was, he answered,

106
00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:24,320
Missus Harry Church. She has been
this many a year. I know it

107
00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:28,159
is as much as my place is
worth to admit any child of hers here.

108
00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:35,320
You and Missus Osgoode, exclaimed the
little girl. Mamma said I should

109
00:10:35,399 --> 00:10:39,840
be sure to see you. Here's
a blessed lamb and so she remembers me.

110
00:10:41,879 --> 00:10:45,600
She talks if you often, she
says, you are always kind to

111
00:10:45,639 --> 00:10:50,759
her, nobody, but you loved
her well. I did love her.

112
00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:54,200
The old house has never been the
same since she went out of it.

113
00:10:54,799 --> 00:11:01,759
What's your name, my pretty one, Amy, Amy, repeated the housekeeper,

114
00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:05,960
lifting her hands as if there were
some wonder in it. And Mamma

115
00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:11,600
said, you would let me go
up alone to Grandpapa. And so you

116
00:11:11,799 --> 00:11:18,440
shall decided, missus osgood. After
a minute's hesitation, I won't stand in

117
00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:20,519
the way of it. Let master
be as angry with me as he will

118
00:11:22,039 --> 00:11:26,159
be. Is up in the drawing
room, all by himself. The man

119
00:11:26,279 --> 00:11:31,279
sat down to wait, and the
child went up alone, opening the door.

120
00:11:31,399 --> 00:11:37,840
She went softly in, not speaking. Perhaps the stern looking old man

121
00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:43,960
sitting there with bent head ORed her
to silence. Joseph Golding, waking up

122
00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:48,360
from his deep reverie, saw a
letter held out to him. He took

123
00:11:48,399 --> 00:11:54,559
it mechanically, supposing its messenger.
Hidden behind his large chair was one of

124
00:11:54,600 --> 00:12:01,080
his waiting maids. With a singular
quickening of pulse, he recognized his daughter's

125
00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:07,519
writing. She had waited all these
silent years, she told him, because

126
00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:11,960
she was determined never to write to
him again until they were rich enough for

127
00:12:11,039 --> 00:12:15,320
him to know that. She did
not write from any need of his help.

128
00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:20,000
They had passed these ten years in
the west, and heaven had prospered

129
00:12:20,039 --> 00:12:26,159
them. Her husband was a rich
man now, and she wanted from her

130
00:12:26,279 --> 00:12:31,440
father only his love. Wanted only
that death should not come between them,

131
00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:37,679
and either of them go to her
mother's side without having been reconciled to the

132
00:12:37,759 --> 00:12:43,519
other. How did this come here? Who brought it? Demanded mister Golding,

133
00:12:43,639 --> 00:12:50,759
in his usual imperious manner. I
did, Grandpapa. He sprang up

134
00:12:50,799 --> 00:12:54,120
at the soft, timid voice,
as if some fright took him, and

135
00:12:54,360 --> 00:13:00,000
stared at the lovely vision standing there
like a spirit on his half stone,

136
00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:05,440
with her white face and her gleaming
golden hair. Was it real? Where

137
00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:11,600
was he? Who could this child
be? But as he looked, the

138
00:13:11,919 --> 00:13:16,600
likeness flashed upon him, and he
grew hungry to clasp her to him.

139
00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:20,519
It was the little Amy of the
old days, grown into beauty. For

140
00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:28,200
Amy had never been so wondrously fair
as this. Come here, my child.

141
00:13:28,919 --> 00:13:33,559
Don't be afraid tell me what your
name is? Amy, Grandpapa,

142
00:13:35,639 --> 00:13:41,600
Another Amy, Grandpapa He felt the
sobs rising up in his heart with a

143
00:13:41,639 --> 00:13:48,879
great flood of emotion, but he
choked them back. What have they told

144
00:13:48,919 --> 00:13:54,399
you about me? He rejoined,
after a long pause. Have they bid

145
00:13:54,440 --> 00:14:01,320
you hate me? They always told
me that you were far away toward weather

146
00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:05,080
sun rose, and if I were
good, they would bring me to see

147
00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:09,919
you some day. Every night I
say in my prayers, God bless Papa

148
00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:16,399
and Mamma, and God bless Grandpapa. Why didn't they bring you? What

149
00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:20,440
made them let you come alone?
Mamma sent me with John to give you

150
00:14:20,519 --> 00:14:26,600
the letter? Was the simple answer. The carriage is at the gate waiting

151
00:14:26,679 --> 00:14:33,759
for me. Who is John Papa's
servant? And where are they staying at

152
00:14:33,759 --> 00:14:41,360
the hotel? We only got here
this morning. Missus Osgood, hovering in

153
00:14:41,399 --> 00:14:46,759
the hall, looked on in wonder. Her master was coming downstairs, calling

154
00:14:46,759 --> 00:14:50,480
for his hat and coat, and
leading the child. He got into the

155
00:14:50,519 --> 00:14:56,519
carriage with her, and it drove
away. Mister Golding was wondering vaguely whether

156
00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:01,039
it were real. They arrived at
last, and the child led him in

157
00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:05,879
opening a door at the end of
a long corridor. She spoke, cheeringly,

158
00:15:07,799 --> 00:15:11,559
Mamma, here is Grandpapa, He
said he would come back with me.

159
00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:18,200
Mister Golding's head went off in a
swim. Advancing weakness tells upon people

160
00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:24,000
in such moments as these. He
sat down, and there were Amy's arms,

161
00:15:24,279 --> 00:15:30,480
his own, Amy's about his neck. Which of the two sobbed the

162
00:15:30,559 --> 00:15:35,720
most could not be told? Why
had he never known what he last through

163
00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:41,840
all those vanished years? Father?
Are we reconciled at last? I don't

164
00:15:41,919 --> 00:15:48,600
know my daughter until you tell me
whether you forgive me. There should be

165
00:15:48,679 --> 00:15:54,200
no talk about forgiveness. She said, you went according to your own opinion

166
00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:58,039
of what was right, and perhaps
I was to blame too. Father.

167
00:15:58,559 --> 00:16:03,840
It is in off that God has
brought us together again in peace. I

168
00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:07,559
thought that no one could resist my
little Amy, least of all her Grandpapa.

169
00:16:10,159 --> 00:16:15,039
He looked up. The child stood
by silently, the firelight glittering on

170
00:16:15,159 --> 00:16:22,320
her golden hair, her face shining
strangely sweet. He put out his arms

171
00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:26,919
and drew her into them, close, where no child, not even his

172
00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:33,360
own, had ever nestled before.
Oh how much he had missed in life?

173
00:16:33,879 --> 00:16:37,159
He knew it now. He felt
her clinging hold round his neck.

174
00:16:37,799 --> 00:16:44,559
Her kisses dropped upon his face like
the pitying dew from heaven, and he

175
00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:52,919
was it himself or another soul in
his place. Father. See Amy's voice

176
00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:56,120
had a full, cheerful ring in
it. Her married life had been happy.

177
00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:03,919
Mister Golding turned at the call.
Here are Harry and the boys waiting

178
00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,720
to speak to you, she said, in a less assured tone. He

179
00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:14,920
shook his son in law's hand heartily. Old feuds, old things were over

180
00:17:15,039 --> 00:17:21,519
now, and all was become new
in his heart. Until that trouble came.

181
00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:26,839
He had always liked Harry Church.
Then he looked at the two boys,

182
00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:34,160
brave, merry little fellows of whom
he might be proud. Explanations ensued.

183
00:17:34,759 --> 00:17:40,200
Fortune had favored mister Church. They
had come back for good and were

184
00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:45,880
already looking out for a house.
No house but mine, interrupted Joseph Golding.

185
00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:48,960
It will want a tenant when I
am gone. You must come home

186
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:55,599
to morrow. To Morrow will be
Christmas day, said his daughter, half

187
00:17:55,640 --> 00:18:00,440
doubtingly. All the better. If
Christmas was never kept in mind my house,

188
00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,519
it shall be now. I shall
not live to see another Amy.

189
00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:11,480
She looked up at the changed thin
face and could not contradict him. Some

190
00:18:11,519 --> 00:18:17,319
one going out to the west indies
had told them how Joseph Golding was breaking.

191
00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:22,240
The news had caused them to hurry
home prematurely. Amy said to her

192
00:18:22,319 --> 00:18:27,079
husband that if her father died unreconciled
to her, she should be full of

193
00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:33,160
remorse. Forever. You will come
home to morrow, all of you,

194
00:18:33,559 --> 00:18:37,160
repeated mister Golding, and mind Amy, you do not go away again.

195
00:18:38,559 --> 00:18:44,519
But if the children should be too
much for you father, when they are,

196
00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,920
I'll tell you, he said,
with the touch of the former gruffness,

197
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,799
the old house is large enough.
He went out and found his way

198
00:18:52,839 --> 00:18:56,960
to the shops open to the last
on Christmas Eve in the old town,

199
00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:03,599
looking for Christmas gifts new work for
him. But he entered into it earnestly,

200
00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:10,640
perambulating the streets like a bewildered Santa
Clause. He went home laden with

201
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:18,039
books and toys and jewels and bonbons. Missus Osgood lifted her hands and thought,

202
00:19:18,039 --> 00:19:22,279
the end of the world must be
coming. Help me to put these

203
00:19:22,319 --> 00:19:26,400
things away, Osgood, don't stare
as if your moon struck and look here,

204
00:19:26,759 --> 00:19:30,119
they'll be company to dinner to morrow. Mind you send in a good

205
00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:34,680
one, the best that ever was
seen on a table. Master. If

206
00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:40,079
it's for them, I think it
may be for well. It is miss

207
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:45,319
Amy's coming home again. Heaven be
praised, sir. The house has been

208
00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:49,599
but a dull one since she left
it. They are all coming, and

209
00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:53,599
they will not go away again.
Osgood. If you want more servants,

210
00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:59,359
you can get them. It's the
best Christmas box you could have given me.

211
00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:04,640
Master. And they came Amy and
Amy's husband, and the pretty boys

212
00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:10,119
were there, and best of all, the sweet little girl with the golden

213
00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:15,839
hair sitting next to Grandpapa. It
was too happy a party for loud mirth.

214
00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:23,799
And among them Joseph Golding saw or
fancied he saw another face over which,

215
00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:30,119
almost thirty years ago he had watched
the grave sod piled, a face

216
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:38,279
sad and wistful, no longer,
but bright with a strange glory. Close

217
00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:45,279
over beyond him, she seemed to
stand, and he heard or fancied that

218
00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:51,799
he heard a whisper from her parted
lips, though it might have come only

219
00:20:51,839 --> 00:21:02,240
from his own heart. Peace on
earth and good will toward men. End

220
00:21:02,319 --> 00:21:03,759
of Joseph Golding's Last Christmas