From the Terrace Page #4

Well, who is it, Mary?

I think you better come in.

Mother, this is Alfred Eaton.

My mother.

How do you do?

Mr. Eaton.

And my father.

Daddy, Alfred Eaton.

Pleased to meet you, sir.

I don't believe

we've seen you before.

Are you from these parts?

PortJohnson, pennsylvania.

Oh, yes. The steel mill.

So, you're that Eaton.

What do you think of the strike?

I'm not in the mill...

but my father doesn't like it.

I shouldn't think he would.

Well, what brings

you to Wilmington...

at this awkward hour?

I was just duck hunting...

on my way to New York.

Thought I'd say hello to Mary.

How was the shooting?

Got a few tail feathers.

How is Jim?

Jim?

Yes.

You mean Jim Roper?

Yes. I assume you're close friends.

Not exactly.

Oh, well, now,

not a friend ofJim's.

Isn't that a bit strange?

No, Mother.

Jim and I met Alfred

at the same time.

Then he's really

a friend of yours...

more than Jim's.

That's right.

Tell me, Mr. Eaton...

You're not in the mill.

What do you do?

I mean, besides duck hunting...

in the middle of the week.

Actually, I've got

some exciting business plans.

I'm not allowed

to disclose them now.

I see.

Well, I guess

I better be going.

My husband will

see you to the door.

No, Mother, I will.

Good night, sir.

Good night.

Good night, Mrs. St. John.

Goodbye, Mr. Eaton.

Your mother and father are, uh...

sort of distant.

Now, what do you

mean by that?

You know what I mean.

You never did believe...

I was going to

marryJim, did you?

Uh-uh.

Well, I wrote him a letter...

and I broke up with him.

Why didn't you tell me?

I don't know.

I didn't tell anybody.

Alfred?

Hmm?

Are you going

to do something...

and be somebody?

For you?

Yes.

Settle down?

Yes.

With you?

Do you love me?

Oh, I want you...

more than anything

in the whole world.

Mary?

You're never going

to want anybody else...

as long as you live.

You better go in now.

I should think he'd know better.

He wanted to see me.

And you should, too.

I happen to like

Alfred, Mother.

The Eatons are

nothing and nobody.

The mother is a drunkard.

The father...

is a nouveau riche

war profiteer.

How do you know?

You haven't met them.

I have sources

of information.

If he were a gentleman...

he'd stay away...

before people start talking.

We don't want him.

That's all there is to it.

That isn't all there is to it.

I've broken

my engagement toJim.

I can't believe it.

Mary...

I forbid you to see this man again.

I don't like that word forbid.

It makes me want to disobey you.

In that case...

I shall have a talk

with Mr. Eaton.

Alfred or his father?

I meant the young man...

but you've given me an idea.

Don't do that, Father!

It's my life!

I don't have to take...

that kind of talk...

from Eugene St. John...

or any of that Dupont crowd!

You didn't.

You hung up on him.

If you'd stayed where you belong...

Maybe I don't like where I belong.

That's what sours your insides...

that my blood and your mother's...

is running through your veins.

That's why you get mixed up...

with a family who doesn't want you.

I'm not interested in her family!

You can't buy respectability...

by slipping a wedding ring on it.

Sometimes you end up...

with what you're running from.

And remember, I told you.

If you're through, I'm going.

Where, back to that apartment...

your friend porter...

and all those questionable

goings-on?

You haven't done

an honest day's work...

since you left the navy!

For your information...

I'm going into business

with Lex porter.

Business?

What kind of business?

Aircraft, private planes.

Airplanes.

That's right.

We're going to design them...

build them, and sell them.

What are you going

to use for money?

What are you going

to use for money?

It's already been taken care of.

Lex's family financing you?

That's right.

100%?

Yes, 100%.

You're putting your

head in a noose.

I was going to ask

you for my share...

but I changed my mind.

How much were you

going to ask me...

to give you?

Not give, lend.

What's the difference?

Well, here's what I think...

of your airplane business.

Put me down for $500.

Well, that's exactly

$500 more than I expected...

if I had asked you for it.

Wait a minute.

It's too late.

I've already signed the papers.

It's something else.

There's something

I have to know.

I've been wanting to ask you.

Come to the office.

I don't know how to start this.

I mean, where's the beginning?

Did you ever hear

of a man named Frolick?

Did you?

Yes.

In what connection?

I'd rather you put the question

some other way.

All right.

Did you ever meet this man?

I saw him once.

Did you beat him up?

Yes, I did.

Thank God.

Thank God it was you.

Maybe you're a lot of things...

I never gave you credit for...

but a man my age

can't change so quickly.

I can admit

I've been wrong...

all these years...

but that wouldn't

make anything right.

It won't take away

what I felt about you...

what I still feel...

regardless of what

I know in my brain.

Some time

when you have children...

you'll know.

One of them is in here.

He shines.

His voice is music.

You love him...

as though he never lived

in his mother's body.

That's the way

Billy was to me...

long before he died.

And when he died...

there was nobody

who understood...

what happened to me.

You were living...

you were alive...

a deliberate thing God did to me.

I didn't want another son...

or anyone in my life.

Not you, not even your mother.

Just Billy.

That's why your mother

took Frolick...

not because she's immoral...

because I didn't even tell her...

I didn't love her anymore.

She had to find that out for herself.

I guess she knew it before I did.

And yet, even knowing...

how badly it turned out

for everybody...

including myself...

I would do the same thing

over again.

It was so wonderful

loving Billy that much.

Always in your thoughts.

I can feel his arms

around my neck this minute.

Don't go.

Don't go?

What do you think I am?

Alfred, I didn't mean it!

Alfred, my s-son...

Alfred?

Hello, Mary.

Get in.

Good evening.

Good evening.

How's your father?

It's hard to tell.

He's always the same man...

sick or well.

Yes.

Old men may seem unchangeable...

to you, Alfred...

but life itself...

now, there's a different thing.

Consider this...

A week ago, I was opposed...

to any thought

of you two marrying.

Tonight, I'm not

only reconciled to it...

I'm secretly in favor of it.

Yes. Life's full

of unpredictable ironies.

Now, you wouldn't have thought...

it was going to be your own father...

who would be responsible...

for this change in my attitude.

My father? How?

By having this unfortunate

heart attack...

which automatically

transforms your life.

You suddenly change

from irresponsible young man...

to the active head of a family...

and Eaton Iron and Steel.

And this removes...

the objections we had to you...

as a prospective son-in-law.

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