Keeper of the Flame Page #9

was a great, stupid beast.

Here's a list of men

who served their country in the last war...

...and were failures in business,

and longed for power of rank...

...and the prestige of a uniform.

In there are the names and addresses

of the men...

...who were designated

to be America's first storm troopers.

But what was really shocking to me

was the complete cynicism of the plan.

Each of these groups was simply to be

used until its usefulness was exhausted.

Hates were to be played against hates.

If one group threatened to get too powerful,

it would be killed off by another group.

And in the end, all these poor little people

who never knew...

...to what purpose they were lending

themselves would be in the same chains...

...cowed and enslaved...

...with Robert Forrest and his handful

of power-thirsty henchmen...

...cracking the whip.

Robert Forrest.

What happened to him?

He changed.

When I first married him, he was as much

a part of this country as Lincoln himself.

And I love our country.

Always when I came back from Europe...

...I felt what it meant

to live in the land of the free.

When I married Robert,

I felt that I was stepping into its history.

He was brave and noble and immortal,

and I was so proud.

But he changed, I tell you.

Not all at once, but gradually.

Couldn't have been because he was bitter

or disappointed.

His life had been only triumph.

The tears could still come into his eyes

and the catch in his wonderful voice...

...when he spoke to the people.

Perhaps he loved the people.

Perhaps he loved them...

...but didn't trust them

to think for themselves.

Or perhaps he was insatiable...

...and wanted even more power

to add to his glory. I don't know.

But he envied the dictators

and thought that all governments...

...of the people and by the people

were soon to perish from the Earth.

Robert Forrest.

And as he changed,

my love changed too.

I remember the first day I looked at his face

and trembled with fear...

...at the change that I saw in that face.

Hatred, arrogance, cruelty.

The face of a man who no longer believed

in God, but only in himself.

And he held me in his arms...

...and I knew that it was no longer a wife

that he wanted but sons.

And his eyes told me

that I was a poor creature...

...who couldn't give him sons.

Then my fear changed to pity.

I thought that he was going like his mother,

that it was madness.

The things he'd think of,

the ideas he'd play with...

...his frank contempt of democracy,

his incredible ambition.

But he wasn't mad.

He wasn't mad.

I was more in danger

from my own thoughts than he.

The morning of the accident,

I stole his keys...

...came here and opened the cabinet.

Then I knew that Robert Forrest was lost,

that he was a traitor to his country.

I didn't know what to do.

I went out riding to be alone, to think.

I rode all afternoon.

The cloudburst came,

I took refuge in the mother's house.

I got the telephone message.

I knew the bridge was out. I saw it.

I came back that way

after the cloudburst.

Suddenly, it was clear to me.

I knew something had to be done.

Their moment had come.

Saboteurs were awaiting instructions...

...and he was on his way to give them.

I stood looking at the bridge.

I said to myself quite calmly:

"He'll come this way and be killed

unless I hurry and warn him. "

But I didn't warn him

because it came to me...

...that clean death in the rain...

...was the best thing that could happen

to Robert Forrest.

Standing by the bridge, I prayed:

"Let him be killed that he may not mock

those who have trusted him...

...and destroy them

as he has destroyed me. "

Half an hour later

they brought his body home.

Now he's in your hands.

Christine,

I want you to do something for me.

- You want me to give myself up.

- No, no, no.

I want you to help me

tell the world the truth about him.

You mean, destroy people's belief

in their hero? Why?

He wasn't their hero, he was their enemy,

and they must know it.

They must know what their enemies

over there can do to heroes over here.

But it will destroy them.

Christine, people are not children.

Sometimes they act like children

when you get them scared or confused.

But down in their hearts

they know they're not afraid.

They want the truth and they can take it.

You can't lie to them. I can't lie to them.

Do what...

Do what you think is right.

I trust you.

I'll do my best to help you.

The key's on the other side.

- It doesn't work.

- The wire's been cut.

- Who did it?

- Kerndon.

- Is this the only way out?

- Yes.

Steve!

Write the story, Steve.

Tell the truth.

The lights. Turn them off.

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