Keeper of the Flame Page #8

There may be some things

you should've destroyed that remain.

Mrs. Forrest.

- You know I only wish to help.

Just a minute.

- You must let nothing prevent us...

...from preserving the memory

of the great man who's gone.

Who was and is the bright flame

in so many lives.

Come in, Mr. O'Malley.

I'll call you if I need you, Mr. Kerndon.

Does Kerndon know?

Know what?

That you killed your husband?

You found it under the bridge.

The night of the tragedy

you came the shortcut.

You saw the bridge was out.

That's where Diana cast the shoe.

You could've warned him, but you didn't.

You killed him.

How else can I say it?

No other way.

I say it myself.

I say it over and over again at night.

I lie in bed and say it.

- But you don't know.

- What don't I know?

I warned him.

- You mean he committed suicide?

- No.

- You warned him that the bridge was out?

- It wasn't out, quite.

- Quite, but enough.

- I suppose so.

- And you warned him about it?

- I said, "Robert, don't go.

It means disaster. "

- Meaning the bridge?

- No.

- Well, what? What? Where was he going?

- East.

- Kerndon have anything to do with it?

- No.

- He's not in on it?

- No.

- Just you and Geoffrey Midford.

- Geoffrey?

- Don't lie about it. You and Midford.

- No, no.

- You bought up the farm for him?

- Yes.

- Your husband threw him out, didn't he?

- Yes.

And when he left you alone here with

Midford, that was the disaster, wasn't it?

Geoffrey knows nothing about it.

You did it alone.

What a sweet story.

The real story of a great American hero.

Whatever has happened

doesn't reflect on him.

- He's still a hero.

- That's right.

And I must still write the story

and tell the truth.

Why?

Just tell me why.

I warned you. What do you think he'll do?

- He'll do what is right.

- Tell the world.

- That will only reflect on me.

- The police will be here.

They'll pry, probe. They'll want to know.

Give me the keys

so I can destroy everything.

No.

Then you should go and do it yourself.

Now.

Jeb.

Jeb.

Oh, Jeb.

Well, hello, Mr. O'Malley.

- Put those bags down.

- What's the matter?

- Put the bags down.

- Oh, Geoff. Geoff.

- Do you mind getting out of here?

- Yes, I do.

Take it easy, Janet.

This is the important gentleman

Christine's been telling you so much about.

- Not Steven O'Malley.

- Yes, the one and only.

- Well, what's he got against you?

- Plenty.

However, let's forget about it.

I don't wanna fight anybody today.

I'm much too happy.

This is Jeb's sister, Janet...

...who'll probably keep me in better order

after we're married.

After you're married?

You...

- Congratulations.

Hello there.

Janet.

Let me look at you.

Well, you're as bright

as a new silver dollar.

Thanks, Geoff.

Thanks for bringing her back to us.

They've loved each other

ever since they were kids.

They were to be married.

Then Janet got a job

as Mr. Forrest's secretary.

After that she seemed to forget

Midford was around anymore.

Hero worship, same as Jeb.

So Midford started crooking his elbow

too often...

...and Janet cracked up altogether.

Do you blame me for hating Forrest?

- Mrs. Forrest got her into a sanitarium...

- Is that where Mrs. Forrest's been...

...the last three days?

Yes, at the sanitarium with Geoffrey.

- Now they're to be married.

- Tell him I'm gonna use his car for a minute.

- Mr. O'Malley, I thought you'd gone.

- Where's Mrs. Forrest? Where is she?

I just walked with her to the arsenal.

It's just there through the trees.

- Whom are you shielding?

- I'm not.

- Lf I were, I shouldn't betray them.

- You're brave, and tough too, aren't you?

You were ready to let me go away

believing you guilty.

- I want you to go.

- I'm gonna get the truth...

...if I have to tear this place down...

...and if I have to tear him down with it.

- No, you shan't!

Somebody else will do it if I don't.

You're in a jam.

I want to help you. I can help you.

What you've done is terrible,

but you're not.

Yes, I am.

Even if you are,

it's too late for me to stop now.

If it had been just you and Midford,

I could've understood.

That would've been love.

I understand love now.

I can understand what it does to a man,

to a woman.

I don't even care

why you wanted to get rid of Forrest.

I only care

that you won't let me help you.

No.

But you are in trouble, aren't you?

Yes, I'm in trouble.

You need me, don't you?

Yes, I need you.

Well, then what is it?

Tell me, what is it?

But you. You're in trouble too.

Don't worry about me.

Someone you believed in,

you aren't going to anymore.

I can believe in you so much

that you can't help yourself.

You must be what I believe you are.

I've been wanting to talk to you

since that first night you came.

I can't fight you off any longer.

I married a legend.

A legend about a hero.

I didn't know it at first. L...

I worshipped Robert.

Perhaps to worship anyone

is to destroy them.

Everyone worshipped him.

No, no. The, uh...

The image of him.

The image that had been carefully built up

in people's minds.

Deliberately built up, I now believe.

Built up with a terrible purpose.

When I discovered what that purpose was,

I had to destroy the image.

No, I...

I had to destroy the man...

...to save the image.

Yes, that was it.

What terrible purpose?

Oh, I didn't know it was terrible once.

You...

- You heard his mother this afternoon.

- His mother's insane.

But Robert wasn't.

He grew to despise the people

that worshipped him, all of us.

Me too.

He felt that we were all beneath him.

I didn't know what had happened. I suppose

that I was a bit like that myself once.

I believed in a few people,

leaders, rulers.

But when Robert began to change, I...

I saw the face of fascism

in my own home.

Hatred, arrogance, cruelty.

I saw what German women were facing.

I saw the enemy.

Robert Forrest.

The morning of the accident,

I stole his keys, came here and opened this.

This is what I found.

The key

to Robert Forrest's fascist organization.

They didn't call it fascism. Painted it red,

white and blue, and called it Americanism.

In here are the funds to see it through.

Fantastic amounts subscribed

by a few private individuals...

...to whom money didn't mean anything

but wanted political power.

Knew they could never get it

by democratic means.

There's a list of their names.

This was the essence of their plan.

Here are some articles ready for release...

...to stir up all the little hatreds

of the whole nation against each other.

This was an article to be published

in an anti-Semitic paper attacking the Jews.

This was to be used in Farmers Gazette

to stir them up against city dwellers.

Here's one attacking the Catholics,

anti-Negro, anti-labor, anti-trade union...

...subtle appeal to the Ku Klux Klan.

Here's a list of newspaper editors

who either sought to occupy public office...

...or sought to dictate

who should occupy public office...

...and when they failed, felt that the public

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