Leave Her to Heaven Page #4

such wonderfuI news.

Dr. Mason just consented to let Danny

come with us to Back of the Moon.

Oh, no, darling, please.

Let me.

I want to be the first to tell him.

And this is Leick Thorne.

Hello?

Yes. It's for you.

Hello?

Oh, golly, Ellen!

We're going to Back of the Moon.

Yes, Ellen.

When?

Tomorrow?

Oh, gosh.

Yeah?

Gee, thanks, Ellen.

Gosh.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Oh, darling, I dreamed you were...

What gives?

Another day with you.

Twenty-four hours with you.

Good morning, Dick.

- Hey, good morning, Danny.

- Good morning, Ellen.

Hi, Danny!

Hey!

How about a dip in the lake

before breakfast?

Okay.

- Morning, Mrs. Harland.

Thorne.

Who gets up first, you or the sun?

Well, mostly it's neck and neck.

I thought I'd fix breakfast

for you this morning.

Oh, no. That's my job.

I'm beginning to feeI sort of like

a fifth wheeI around here.

You mustn't feeI like that.

Richard considers you a part

of the place.

You must've been especially nice to him

when he was a boy.

Oh, that wasn't hard. He was a nice kid.

You must've had

wonderfuI times together.

Yes, tolerable.

Did he change much

when he got to be a young man?

Not especially.

Did he use to confide in you a lot?

Yeah, sometimes.

Did he ever tell you

about Enid Sothern?

- Who?

- Enid Sothern.

I don't especially recall he did.

Who was she?

Oh, nobody in particular, I guess.

Just schooI stuff.

I'll take those.

- Thorne, do you dream a lot?

- Never.

I had the most awfuI nightmare

last night.

We were out in the skiff, my husband

and I, and he jumped in for a swim.

But I was too lazy,

so I just rowed after him.

Somehow I was afraid. When we got

to the middle of the lake...

...I thought it was time for him

to get in the boat.

So I decided to call out to him,

but I had no voice.

Suddenly, Richard went under,

not diving, but the way seals do...

...just sort of settling in the water.

Then he came up again,

and one of his arms flung out to me...

...as if he were trying to call to me.

I tried to row to him, but the lake

was like glue. The boat wouldn't move.

My arms were paralyzed.

Then he went down again...

...and this time he stayed down.

I reckon there's only one way left

for you to save his life.

- How?

- For you to wake up.

That's just what I did.

Hey!

Come and get it!

- Come on in, Ellen!

The water's swell!

I guess we'd better go in.

Okay, last one in is a sissy.

Oh, no!

- No what?

- Good grief!

- "'Will you marry me?' he said. "

- Well, what's wrong with that?

First, men never propose. They may

think they do, but it's really the woman.

Who told you that? Ripley?

If men do propose, they never say,

"Will you marry me?"

Get away. Get away, gadfly.

- Did you ever propose to a woman?

- Hundreds of them.

- When you proposed to Enid Sothern...

- Who told you about Enid Sothern?

Did you say, "Will you marry me?"

- I didn't propose to her.

- Did she propose to you?

- Beat it, will you?

- How did you propose to me?

- Uh....

- You didn't.

I proposed to you, like this.

- Remember?

- Okay, I'll marry you...

...right after I finish my chapter.

Oh, I hate your chapter.

I hate all your chapters.

- They take up too much of your time.

- Funny, that's what my publisher says.

No, I'm serious. After all, it isn't

as if you had to write for a living.

I've got more than enough

for both of us...

...and it's the dearest wish

in my heart to support you.

Is that bad?

Oh, darling, I didn't know it could be

so wonderfuI here, Back of the Moon.

- You like it here, do you?

- Every minute...

- ...if only it weren't so crowded.

- Crowded?

Why, this is the most remote,

uninhabited place east of the Mojave.

I mean the cabin.

Not that I mind chaperones,

not in the least.

But there's Danny's room on one side of

us and Thorne's room on the other side.

And the wall's as thin as paper,

and the acoustics disgustingly perfect.

Well, at least nobody snores.

Do you know since we've been married,

we've never been alone, not for a day?

- Do you know...?

- Do you know...

...Thorne moved his cot

to the boathouse this morning?

He did? Oh, Richard,

I hope you didn't tell him I...

Oh, not at all. It was his own idea.

As far as Danny's concerned...

- Where is Danny?

- He went with Thorne.

- Where's Thorne?

- He went to town.

- You don't mean they'll stay in town?

- Oh, certainly not.

- Then why did they go?

- Do you have to know everything?

- Tell me.

- No.

- Tell me.

- Cut it out.

- Tell me.

- Stop it. It's a secret.

You can't have any secrets from me.

We wanted to surprise you, honey.

Danny, you sing one. Come on.

What was that?

That was a loon. There's a couple

of them across the lake.

They sound horrible.

You'll get used to it. Wait till you

see the deer. You'II love them.

They come right up to the cabin

to be fed.

- What do you give them?

- Potato peelings and salt.

And then, of course,

there's our porcupine.

Oh, yeah. He used to come every

morning and nibble on the doorstep.

The Robies paid us a visit

at Bar Harbor just before we left.

Are they well?

- The children had the mumps.

- Oh.

Of course, you've heard about Russ

Quinton being elected district attorney.

Really?

They say he's got his mind set

on the governorship.

It wouldn't surprise me if he made it.

Can we find some wild wisteria

and transplant it around the cabin?

- I know where there's some.

- Oh, fine. Then tomorrow we...

I'm afraid Thorne

won't have time for that.

He has his work to do.

Look what I can do.

Thorne showed me.

Oh.

After all, Mother, you must remember

Ellen didn't expect us.

We shouldn't have come, Ruth.

We shouldn't have come.

There must be loose bricks

in the chimney.

I noticed it wasn't drawing very well.

Did you hear me, darling?

What happened tonight?

Since Ruth and your mother arrived

you've been acting like a shrew.

At the landing you were cold,

at dinner, aloof.

- After dinner you were beastly.

- I didn't expect guests.

- I thought you'd be pleased.

- Don't let's quarreI, Richard.

And Danny adores you.

You hurt him. Why?

- I was upset.

- You were insulting to your mother...

...and mean to Thorne,

treated him like a servant.

- Isn't he?

- Certainly not!

He's a friend,

one of my dearest friends.

Is Ruth one of your

dearest friends too?

What's eating you?

Ruth is your sister.

Ruth is not my sister. All night long,

you devoted yourself to her!

Well, somebody had

to make her welcome.

Maybe you're in love with her.

You're in a rotten mood, Ellen.

- Maybe that's why you invited her.

- Do you want her to hear you?

You can't draw a breath in this room

without being heard all over the house.

Let's change the name from

Back of the Moon to Goldfish Manor.

What's happened to you?

You're whipping yourself

into a fit of hysterics.

Oh, no, I mustn't do that.

It might disturb Mother and Ruth

or wake up Danny!

Ellen, what's got into you?

I don't know.

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