Episode 1

Episode 1 | 53m 2s | Video has closed captioning.

With their father away at war, the March sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy come to terms with their new life alongside their mother, Marmee. The girls also make friends with Laurie, the new boy next door.

Aired: 05/13/18

Expired: 01/16/24

Rating: TV-PG

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Funding for MASTERPIECE is provided by Viking and Raymond James with additional support from public television viewers and contributors to The MASTERPIECE Trust, created to help ensure the series’ future.

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LAURA LINNEY: This is "Masterpiece"... MARMEE: "A year is a long time to wait "before we meet again.

"That when I come back to them, "I may be fonder and prouder than ever of my little women."

♪ ♪ AUNT MARCH: Four small children is a recipe for heartache, headache, and indigestion.

LAURIE: I've loved you ever since I've known you.

Please just be my comfortable friend.

♪ ♪ JO: Castles in the air need keys, and sometimes I dare to think that this is mine.

It's beautiful, Jo.

No one can say I don't have accomplished daughters.

LINNEY: "Little Women"-- toni (girls laughing) ♪ ♪ MEG: Get ready!

(shushing) (door opens) (door closes) Got them!

Jo, those are the kitchen scissors!

They're good and sharp.

Please don't make me be the first.

No.

Amy's first!

(laughing) If I must make this sacrament, I do it gladly.

But don't you dare take more than a half-inch!

(laughing) (cannon fires) (wind howling) Do you have any letters for the post, Pastor March?

(Mr. March exhales) This will go in the mail train tonight?

Yes, sir.

Bless you, son.

MAN: Cold... ♪ ♪ (shivering) ♪ ♪ JO: "Merry Christmas, Father.

With our fondest love..." MEG: "Meg."

JO: "Jo."

BETH: "Beth."

AMY: "And Amy."

♪ ♪ (exhales) (crackling) (meowing) Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents.

Jo, get up off the rug.

That party dress is in a bad enough state as it is.

We agreed not to have any presents this year.

We said we didn't mind, as long as we had Marmee and Father and each other.

Beth, we haven't got Father, and we shan't have him for ever such a long time.

Not until the war ends.

AMY: Meg!

I found Jo's gloves.

They're all creased and sticky.

I used them to mop up some lemonade I spilled at Sallie's birthday dance.

MEG: Jo, why didn't you clean them?

You can't go to a party without any gloves!

I was hoping we wouldn't be invited to another one!

(gasps) I should have gone away with Father in disguise, signed up as a drummer boy, and done my duty as he has.

BETH: Jo, I don't think that's allowed.

Or even possible.

(sighs) Besides, I can't think of anything more disagreeable.

Why would you want to sleep in a tent, and drink out of a tin mug, and eat all sorts of bad-tasting food, Jo?

Because, Amy, she forgets that she's a young lady and that I'm trying to mend her dress.

I can't help that I like boys' clothes and work and manners.

Being born a girl is the most disappointing thing that ever happened to me.

(gasps mockingly) (giggling) ♪ ♪ (wind blowing) ♪ ♪ (hinge creaks, box shuts) (carriage rumbling) (horses snorting) ♪ ♪ MARMEE: I do believe that was the busiest day the depot ever had!

We had to get 200 boxes of soldiers' comforts onto the 5:00 train, and we lacked mittens for some of them.

JO: We'll have to sit and knit more, like pokey old women.

(cups clatter) Jo, be careful.

You look tired to death.

Aunt March kept me on my toes today.

Most people mellow out at Christmas, but not her.

(Amy laughs) Do I get a kiss, as well as warm slippers, Amy?

You are all such a treat to come home to.

And I have a treat for you, too.

A letter?

Is it from Father?

Yes, it is.

(all laughing) ♪ ♪ MR. LAURENCE: You're late, Theodore.

LAURIE: I'm sorry, Grandfather.

(footsteps descending stairs) How was your voyage?

Did you stay on deck and keep your eyes on the horizon as I advised?

Mostly.

It mostly worked.

I presume you brought your principal's reports for me to read.

"A year is a long time to wait before we meet again.

"But these hard days will not be wasted "if we all work hard.

"Give them all my dear love, and a kiss.

"Tell them I think of them by day "and pray for them each evening.

"Our country may be torn in two "because it can't agree on what is right, "but even in this time of darkness, "when armies clash and blood is shed, "we can shine a light through our kindness to each other.

"And there are smaller battles we can win, "within our hearts and close to home.

"I know my daughters "will fight their bosom enemies bravely "and conquer themselves so beautifully, "that when I come back to them, "I may be fonder and prouder than ever of my little women."

♪ ♪ (birds chirping) (bells tolling in distance) (sizzling) Hannah, do you know where our mother is?

She isn't in her room.

Well, she wouldn't be, because we had some shoeless little lad come wailing and hammering on the door, saying his mother was starving and sickly, and like to die, and all her children like to die with her.

Kindly get your fingers out the syrup!

Sorry.

So your mother went running off after him to see what she could do, and she took a great pile of firing from next to my stove.

As long as we've enough to cook the bacon.

(laughing) Merry Christmas, Hannah!

HANNAH: If you don't unleash me, you young rapscallions, there'll be no pancakes!

MARMEE: Girls.

(slides latch) I've just come from the most deprived and wretched home I have ever seen.

There was a mother with a newborn, and five other little ones huddled under rags for warmth.

I took firewood, but it was not enough.

♪ ♪ (giggling) MEG: Cream!

We never have cream!

AMY: I'm carrying the bacon.

The smell torments me like the legions of the damned!

Hurry, Beth, dear.

Don't let those sugar rolls get cold!

Come on, Jo!

♪ ♪ Oh, my stars!

Miss, I'm so sorry.

I could have broken your... coffee service.

I'm quite likely to break it myself before I'm through.

Or lose my self-control and just drink all the coffee.

We're giving our Christmas breakfast away to a poor German family we've never even met.

Was that your idea?

No, our mother's.

The soccer ball wasn't mine.

It was my grandfather's.

He thinks it's the kind of thing a boy my age might like.

Mr. Laurence is your grandfather?

Until last night I hadn't seen him for ten years.

But I'll be living with him now-- at least until I go to college.

That's nice.

MARMEE: Hurry up!

I should go back.

(softly): Grandfather's watching through the window, so I have to make out like I'm having fun.

(chuckling) Happy Christmas present-giving!

Oh, yes.

♪ ♪ (carriage rumbling, horse snorts) (carriage rumbling) (baby crying) (woman talking softly) (child coughing) Jo, dear, there you are.

Uh, a hot drink, first, for Mrs. Hummel.

Give the tray to Meg.

Beth and Amy, would you start spooning out some oatmeal for the little ones?

Jo, see if you can stop that broken window.

What with?

Uh... Hannah's hat will do.

If you'd be so kind.

(child coughing) ♪ ♪ (wind blowing gently) (sniffles) I didn't even know that people lived like that.

But they do.

Come downstairs.

There's something you'll enjoy.

("Deck the Halls" playing on piano) (laughing, silverware clinking) MARMEE: Isn't this wonderful?

(laughing) Did you do this?

No.

AMY: There's pink ice cream and white ice cream!

And jelly!

You never saw anything so elegant!

Old Mr. Laurence from next door sent it.

BETH: It's a reward, because he heard about us giving our breakfast away.

MARMEE: That boy just lost his mother.

We must make him welcome.

♪ ♪ (birds chirping) (sizzling) It's burning!

It's burning, Jo!

You're burning my hair!

Are the tongs supposed to smoke like that?

Of course they are-- it's just the dampness drying.

AMY: Something's scorching, Jo.

Even I can smell it, and I've got quite a flat nose.

JO: Nonsense-- when I take these papers out you're all going see a cloud of little ringlets.

(gasping) Oh, Meg?

Oh, no.

I'm so sorry!

(gasping) I'm so sorry!

So so... What have you done?

Jo!

What have you done?

I did what you asked me to do.

I curled your hair!

(crying) (puts curling iron down) Why did you even ask me?

You know I always ruin everything!

Oh, that's not true, Jo!

It's true tonight!

(Meg crying) How can I go to the party without any hair?

You still have plenty at the back that's really smooth and pretty.

And it's not as though you're Jo, whose hair is her one beauty.

(Meg crying) (playing slow piece) Not that piano.

There was...

I'm sorry, sir.

I didn't know.

Look, if you must play, there's a concert grand in the drawing room.

Yes, sir.

Nobody plays that piano anymore.

I don't permit it.

(footsteps fading) Does it really look all right, Jo?

It looks almost like you've invented a new fashion.

(laughing) (party orchestra playing) JO: Meg...

If I do anything really wrong, will you wink at me?

I will do no such thing!

I shall raise my eyebrows.

That's much more ladylike.

(laughs softly) (dance music playing) (guests chatting, laughing quietly) (whispering): What?

(whispering): Smile!

(music stops) (guests applaud) (piano playing "Oh, Holy Night") Susie Perkins has three drawing lessons a week.

She says there's no substitute whatever for drawing from life.

(Beth stops playing) Can we see it yet?

(metal clanks) (laughs) HANNAH: You look as sooty and black as if you'd just crawled out of a coal bin.

No one can say I don't have accomplished daughters.

(laughs) Did you know that Jo's writing a novel?

I've seen the pages, all piled up on her desk in the garret.

Let Jo write in peace.

(cat meowing, Beth playing piano) (dance music plays) LAURIE: Hello again.

Don't you care for the party, either?

Oh, um, it's lovely.

It's just I don't know many people.

Me, neither.

And I have a headache.

Me, too.

I think I might have the grippe coming on.

(laughs): I just have 19 hairpins stuck in my head.

I let my little sister loose on my coiffure.

Is that the little dark one or the little fair one?

The fair one.

Do you know us all by sight?

We're neighbors.

We ought to know each other's names.

And when you sent the thank-you letter for the supper, it just said, "Margaret, "Josephine, Elizabeth, and Amy March."

So I still don't know which one of you is which.

Well, I'm Josephine, but everybody calls me Jo, apart from one ancient aunt whom I have to wait on and who's usually vexed with me.

I'm called Theodore, and I hate it.

(laughs) The boys at school in Switzerland used to call me Dora.

They changed to Laurie in the end-- I made them.

Did you learn a lot of French out there?

Je suis venu ici avec mon tuteur, mais il est dans la salle fumeuse avec les autres hommes... ...à discuter de la guerre.

Uh, "I came here with my tutor.

"But he is in the smoking room with all the other men, talking about the war."

You have a tutor.

Grandfather insisted.

(sighs) He wants me to go to Harvard, but my grades aren't what they need to be.

MEG: Jo!

Jo!

I turned my ankle over in the Gallop, and I swear I heard a tearing sound!

Oh.

Should I fetch ice?

You'll have to fetch a stretcher, or we'll never get her home.

(laughing in distance) (door opens) (laughing, shushing) Oh.

I was about to send Hannah to collect you.

(panting) And I warned you about those high-heeled shoes.

It was a case of "Let us be elegant or die!"

She took them off in case she sprained the other ankle.

I'm Theodore Laurence-- I live next door, and this is my tutor, Mr. Brooke, ma'am.

I helped Miss March into our carriage so she'd be spared the walk home.

Well, I thank you both for your extremely kind attentions.

♪ ♪ (door opens) (door closes) Meg, have you been drinking wine?

I had punch.

Does that have wine in it?

♪ ♪ There are three dolls on my side of the bed, Beth!

Wasn't this one mine once?

You broke the top off her head, and I found her in the rag bag.

Jo, I see that Laurence boy standing at the window looking down sometimes.

Do you suppose he's lonely?

Yes.

I do.

♪ ♪ AMY: Marmee!

Marmee?

Marmee!

Have you seen my rubber overshoes?

If you don't put them away, don't expect them to stay put.

I can't find my slate, either!

AMY: Beth, have you seen my slate?

It has a sum on it I need to take to school today.

I have a headache, Amy.

MARMEE: All girls get headaches, Beth.

We just have to bear them as best we can.

I have one, too, Marmee, as well as my ankle smarting.

Can I take some belladonna?

No.

Wrap a shawl around your head.

The walk to work will cure it.

HANNAH: Letter for the mistress.

I don't know who it's from, but it has Mr. Laurence's cipher on the envelope.

And are youse young ladies ever going to take these hot turnovers I've been fretting about since sun-up, or are you not?

They most certainly are, Hannah.

And they are going to take them out of the house within the next five minutes!

Get to school and get to work!

♪ ♪ (ringing) Bonjour, Mademoiselle Josephine.

Your boots, upon the matting, s'il vous plaît.

I daresay you had a fine Christmas with your family, replete with homespun pleasures and the comforts of the hearth.

Yes, we did.

New Year next.

Well, let us hope it brings the world less anguish than the last one.

(squawks) Polly was grieved by your absence, it would seem.

Likewise.

Do you want to talk about your invitation from Mr. Laurence?

Oh, Beth.

It's a simple invitation to go to his house to play on a beautiful concert grand piano.

Beth, dear.

We agreed that you need not go to school because it troubled your spirits, and we agreed that you could help to run the house rather than waste your days.

But if you don't engage with the world, all you'll be running is your own prison.

I'm not doing what Father asked, am I?

I'm not fighting my bosom enemies bravely.

No.

And you have to try.

JO: "In such times "of dangerous trial, "many would be deterred "from inquiring into and embracing the truth, "and others tempted and drawn aside from their steadfastness and integrity..." (fire crackling) (yawning) Why don't you just open a little wider, and swallow the whole book?

Sorry, Aunt March.

When I engaged you as my companion, Josephine, it was my hope that you would come to find Mr. Belsham's "Sermons" as transporting and as restorative as I. I should have taken Margaret on, not you.

She has dainty manners, a soft voice, and a sweeter nature.

She also had another job already, taking care of four small children.

Four small children is a recipe for heartache, headache, and indigestion, and it always was.

No one can help how big their family gets.

Well, they can help who they fall in love with.

The most foolish thing your mother ever did was to marry my nephew.

He had filled his skull with theologizing and philosophizing and didn't leave space for a grain of business acumen.

I can only hope that you and your sisters learn from her error and do not do likewise.

(Polly squawking) Now, go and put clean sand under Polly's perch.

After which we may resume the sermon.

Meaning Mr. Belsham's.

And not mine.

(laughing) ♪ ♪ (laughing) (shouting happily) AMY: Oh, no!

(screaming) (Laurie laughs) You are a savage, Laurie Laurence!

A real, real savage!

MEG: Amy!

Amy!

Stop screaming like that!

LAURIE: That's right!

Do as your sister says!

(laughing) JO: Not so fast!

(laughing) Leave this to me, Amy!

I'll beat you, Laurie Laurence!

(screaming) LAURIE: I don't think so, Jo March!

(screams) ♪ ♪ (tapping) LAURIE: Do you want to go to the theater, Jo?

I'm writing.

Well, I didn't mean today.

I just meant... Shhh!

It's a regular castle in the air up here.

A castle in the air is a place you go to dream, Laurie Laurence.

This garret is a chamber of industry.

Page 156.

I don't know how you peg away the way you do.

Never wasting an hour, never letting one moment go cold.

Brooke called me a lazy dog yesterday, and I'm afraid I am.

Marmee says it's about finding a motive, a reason to get up and apply yourself.

She's possibly-- probably-- absolutely right.

I just...

I don't know what that motive is.

Or ever will be.

Grandfather wants me to be an India merchant after college, just like he was.

And I'd rather be shot.

If I were a boy, and if I were you, I would get on one of those old ships and sail away and never come back until I'd tried my own way.

We should go together.

All right.

As long as you show me London and Paris and Italy along the way.

Shake on it.

And go pack your trunk.

After I've finished this chapter.

Castles in the air need keys, and sometimes I dare to think that this is mine.

Oh, thank goodness it will be dark in the theater!

This brushing braid is hanging off the hem.

I must have put my foot through it.

(laughing) You're going out.

I can smell eau de cologne right along the landing, and Hannah's been polishing the opera glasses.

Yes, she has.

Because we're going to the theater.

To see "The Seven Princesses of the Diamond Lake"?

JO: Yes.

Laurie invited the two of us to go with him and Mr. Brooke.

Then I'm coming, too!

No, you aren't, because you haven't been asked.

MEG: Oh, Jo, couldn't we buy her a ticket?

It was my turn to have the rag money this month, and I haven't spent it yet.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

No, Meg-- even if we can get her a ticket, she can't sit alone.

And neither you nor I can sit alone, so that means Laurie or Mr. Brooke would have to.

You're supposed to be the one with the ladylike manners, Meg.

(clicks tongue sadly) I hate you, Josephine March.

And you'll pay for this.

Just you wait.

♪ ♪ (sighs) ♪ ♪ (door opens) (door closes) (sighs quietly) (cat meowing softly) My feet just chattered on the ground.

I couldn't even ring the bell.

Keep your cloak and bonnet on.

You can come with me to the Hummels'.

Amy, would you like to come, too?

No, thank you, Marmee.

I'll stay home and tidy my art box.

(footsteps climbing stairs) ♪ ♪ (laughing) (fire roaring and crackling) ♪ ♪ (papers shuffling) (fire crackles loudly) (door closes) (Meg and Jo laughing) Girls.

Did you enjoy the play?

If you're lucky, after dinner, Meg and I will reprise the entire Ballet of the Swans.

Jo bought these for you in the foyer.

Chocolate-coated caramels.

Why?

Because I was a crosspatch, and I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Why not unwrap them, Amy?

It's the kind of treat that tastes much better when it's shared.

I imagine all treats taste better when shared.

MEG: I'll take you to the play next week, Amy.

There are tickets-- I asked at the office.

HANNAH: So which one of youse young ladies has been meddling with my cooking range?

I leave the house for one hour in pursuit of additional onions, and I come back to my kitchen to find the stove cold, smoking, and choked with a load of scrawly papers!

(Jo's breath trembling) This is mine.

This is my writing!

What's happened to the rest of it?

In a nutshell, it's all turned to soot and black ash.

Amy, did you burn my book?

I said I'd make you pay for being so hateful.

And I have.

(yelling) MARMEE: Girls!

Jo!

You wicked, wicked, girl.

I will never write again!

And I'll never forgive you as long as I live.

Jo, stop!

Stop!

JO: Why should I?

It's too late to stop her!

(Amy yelps) (gasps and cries) (whimpering, Jo grunts angrily) (footsteps fade) MARMEE: Amy, how could you?

(door slams) Did you see what she did?

Did you see what she did?

MEG: Yes!

And don't look to me for comfort, because I don't blame her.

(door closes) (Amy crying) If it was in your head once, some of it must still be in there.

Writing isn't like that.

You can't keep it anywhere.

It passes through you, and you have to catch it and get it on the page.

And do you know the worst thing?

I don't even know if it was any good.

All I ever wanted was to take it somewhere, to show it to someone, to see if it might be fit to publish.

I don't mind if you cry, Jo.

Tears are an unmanly weakness.

You're not a man!

Go on, apologize.

I'm truly, truly sorry, Jo.

Please forgive me.

I can't.

Did you hear that?

I apologized, and she won't accept it.

Jo.

Don't let the sun go down on your anger.

You're sisters.

Forgive each other.

You can start again in the morning.

Start what again?

My book?

Amy did an abominable thing and she doesn't deserve to be forgiven!

(sniffs) (footsteps fade) (chirping) I can't imagine any of you quarreling.

You don't have to imagine it.

We've been at odds for days now.

Even Beth acts grieved and wistful all the time.

But it always looks so idyllic, when I look down and see you through the parlor window in the evenings.

It's like the window is a frame, and you're all part of a perfect picture.

You must cherish your illusions, if they make you happy.

What would make you happy, Jo?

Skating.

With you.

You said we should, if the lake froze properly, and this is probably the last ice we shall have.

I also said we'd take Amy.

What?

I'm sorry.

It was before she burnt your book.

(fire crackling) (Laurie and Jo laughing) ♪ ♪ (laughing) Now, stay away from the middle.

Now, if you hear a cracking sound, it means the ice is about to give.

If you don't hear it crack... (comes to stop) ...it's time for hockey.

(Jo laughing) Not so fast!

(grunts) ♪ ♪ (exhales) ♪ ♪ (exhales) (wind blows gently) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Jo!

(sighs) Jo!

(chuckles) (sticks hitting puck) Jo, will you help me put my skates on?

(grunts) Laurie invited me last week.

I don't need you to talk to me, I just need you to do the straps.

If you're old enough to force your way in when you're not wanted, you're old enough to fasten them yourself.

You won't shut me out like this.

We're supposed to be trying to be good people, and you, Jo March, aren't going to get anywhere when you ignore someone who's trying to set a virtuous example... (ice cracking) (Amy screams, water splashing) (yelping) Amy!

Jo!

LAURIE: Amy!

Jo, stop!

You can't walk on it-- it's too thin.

(yelps) (panting) JO: She didn't know!

You told me, and I didn't tell her.

She didn't know!

AMY: Jo, Jo!

Amy, don't move.

I'm coming to get you.

You have to stay absolutely still, Amy, and when I get to you, trust me absolutely.

Don't grab me, do you understand?

(grunts) (panting) LAURIE: Jo...

This won't do, Jo.

Go find a branch!

♪ ♪ (panting) (grunting) ♪ ♪ (panting) (cries out) ♪ ♪ (grunts) (Amy shivering) JO: Take it!

Take it, Amy!

Take it.

AMY: Don't let go, Jo.

Never.

I swear to you, never.

(fire crackling) MARMEE: Jo, Amy won't even catch cold, you wrapped her up so well and brought her home so quickly.

JO: Laurie did everything.

All I did was let her go skating off alone because I can't conquer my horrible temper.

It's been your burden since you were a little girl.

You will learn to master it.

I won't.

I try, and I think I've won, and then it breaks out worse than ever.

I'll never learn to govern myself!

You don't know what it's like, Marmee!

I do!

You're never angry.

No, I never seem angry.

But I am angry, almost every day of my life.

I've been trying to cure my rage for 40 years and have only succeeded in controlling it.

Are you angry when you press your lips together and go out of the room?

Yes.

Father doesn't have a temper, does he?

He's always so wise and so patient.

No one is without their trials.

(voice breaking): But his strengths speak to my weaknesses and help to bear me up.

Don't cry, Marmee.

You didn't even cry when Father left for Washington in his uniform.

I gave my best to the country I love and saved my tears till he was gone.

Sometimes, we simply have to do the bravest thing.

I'm sorry.

So am I.

♪ ♪ (birds calling and chirping) (buzzing) (exclaiming and laughing) ♪ ♪ When Laurie said his visitors were English, I thought it would all be very smart and formal.

I even bought new gloves.

Give them to me-- I'm going back to sit by the hampers.

BROOKE: And which ensign do you sail under, Miss Margaret?

The Union Jack or the Union Flag?

Oh, I daresay I ought to make our guests feel welcome.

A delightful gesture, and a very good choice.

♪ ♪ (laughing) MEG: There they are!

(laughing) We're coming for you!

Amy... Don't you dare!

(laughing, screaming happily) Jo!

(laughing) ♪ ♪ (shouting and laughing in distance) Have they sent you up here to talk to me?

No.

I just came.

I'm scared to talk to them.

Are you shy?

I'm not.

Although I can't claim to be particularly interesting.

I used to able to talk about two things, hunting and cricket.

But I broke my legs hunting, and I can't think you and I would get very far with cricket.

(chuckling) I have a pack of cards with me.

Oh!

No, I'm worse at cards than I am at conversation.

If you'd like to try cricket, I will listen very hard.

(birds chirping, oars rowing) Did you enjoy the translation of the German poem?

I left it in your mailbox on Sunday.

Oh, that was you.

Yes.

We all thought it was Laurie.

Do you read German, Miss March?

My father was teaching me, but I've fallen behind since he went to Washington with the Army.

Perhaps the deficiency might be remedied by your governess.

I am a governess.

A paid governess?

I work for a family called the Kings.

They have four little children.

I see.

Laurie didn't make your position entirely plain.

You must excuse me.

(chuckles) I had hoped that Miss Vaughn and I might be friends.

I think perhaps ours is the country to belong to if you have to be a worker.

I get great satisfaction from earning a wage.

I only wish I enjoyed teaching as much as you do.

You would, if you had Laurie as a pupil.

And I shall miss him when he goes to college next year.

Next year?

That's not so very far away.

I shall wave him off and turn soldier.

I have no family to miss me, or even care, should I not be spared.

Laurie and Mr. Laurence would care a great deal.

And we would all be heartbroken if you came to any harm.

Thank you.

Now, Miss Meg, let's race back to those hampers.

(rain falling steadily) (tapping) Jo, have you seen my cream glove?

It's half of the kid pair I had new at Laurie's picnic.

No.

Oh.

(footsteps fade) I bet you used it to mop up lemonade.

JO: Shh!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (clock pendulum clicking) (playing quiet piece) MR. LAURENCE: Nobody is supposed to play that piano!

I'm sorry, Mr. Laurence!

I'm sorry.

I know I was supposed to play the concert grand, but... No, no, no, no, no.

Oh, my word.

(chuckles) I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to startle you.

But I once had a daughter who loved this piano as much as I loved her.

I thought silence was her best memorial.

But now I suspect I may be mistaken.

Don't stop.

Here we are.

Please.

(playing quiet piece) (chirping and clucking) ♪ ♪ Meg's been in our hothouse with Brooke for a long time.

What do you mean?

She only went to fetch the orange tree he's been raising from a pip.

And all I have to say is, how much fetching does an orange tree take?

You're insinuating things, and I don't care for it.

You're better than that, and so is Meg.

It might be insinuating if I didn't know where her cream glove was.

Or who had it.

And still does.

Brooke has Meg's glove?

How do you know?

Saw it.

He's had it in his pocket all this time.

Isn't that romantic?

No.

It's horrid.

Bad boy.

Brooke?

No, you.

For telling me.

(laughs) AMY: Marmee... Can I have some pickled limes to take to school on Monday?

Pickled limes?

It's the fashion.

(sighs) Marmee!

Look what Mr. Brooke gave me for my piece of the garden.

BETH: And I have pansies.

Mr. Laurence calls them "Heart's ease."

He says they're his favorite flower.

(horse snorting and trotting) It's a telegram.

Thank you.

(hoofsteps fade) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Your father is very ill. And I have been asked to go to him at once.

Laurie, if you would go to Plumfield and ask for this note to be given to Aunt March, I would be grateful.

Is there nothing else I can do?

I...

I don't know.

Hannah, the brown trunk from the garret.

We have sufficient sal volatile and nux vomica, but, Jo, you'll have to get me some more... belladonna.

And some Holloway's pills.

Where from?

(curtly): From the pharmacy on Main Street.

What can we do?

Pray.

Pray that I may be able to afford the train to Washington.

Soon.

(voice breaking): Pray that I am not too late.

Oh, children, help me!

Help me to bear it!

(crying) (sniffling) (people talking softly) (bell rings) Bonjour, Mademoiselle.

Do you only speak French?

Because I have to be elsewhere, and I need to do this quickly.

MARMEE: I hate to beg.

I hate it.

But you did.

Yes.

And my husband may still die.

But at least, if I go to him, he may not die alone.

Well, what ails the fool?

Dysentery?

Typhus?

Apoplexy?

The telegram didn't say.

In which case it was indubitably written by a man.

I venture to suggest that we had best send a woman there, so that we might, uh, ascertain the facts.

Thank you.

♪ ♪ (footsteps approaching) I was able to get you everything you wanted.

Oh, you splendid girl.

Mr. Laurence is sending Mr. Brooke to Washington on business, and he can escort me on my journey, and is to make sure that Father and I have everything that we might need.

Meanwhile, Aunt March is lending me the money for my fare.

Oh.

Because I got you this.

What is this?

♪ ♪ (gasping) AMY: Your one beauty.

Oh, Jo.

I leave you to Hannah's care... ...and Mr. Laurence's protection.

And I want you all to remember this one thing.

Whatever may come to pass in Washington... ...you can never be fatherless under Heaven.

Take care of each other.

♪ ♪ (knocks) (horses trotting) I want to run after her.

I want her to see us waving.