Libeled Lady Page #7

But I'm not supposed to show up

until midnight.

What's the difference? You'll bust in

on them a half an hour earlier, that's all.

You'll find cigarettes over there

under the lamp.

Thanks.

- Say, you're pretty palatial up here.

- Like it?

- I think it's grand.

- I always come down for a plunge.

I've even stayed here all night. No, thanks.

- What? Here, alone?

- Yes, there's nothing to be afraid of.

Pretty neat.

I like music with my moonlight.

You know, you're a funny kid.

That's what you seem like up here, a kid.

Very different from

the girl I met on the boat.

I feel different.

This place, it's all tied up

with my childhood.

The trees, the air, the water.

Even the frogs.

I'm mad about frogs.

I love it. We've always

had heavenly times up here.

Every minute completely filled, like today.

- Yes. It's been perfect.

- It has, hasn't it?

Almost too perfect.

And it's costing me a fortune, young man.

What?

I'm paying dearly for this day of fun.

Meaning?

It's my own fault

for daring to bet with Dad on men.

I'm a rotten judge of men.

Well, aren't we all?

I bet him a new plane that you'd

tip your hand in the first 24 hours.

It's rather sporting of your father

to back a dark horse.

Dad's a grand judge of character.

He placed you right away.

Impetuous, friendly,

enthusiastic, guileless.

Guileless?

Not so sure about that.

What's your analysis?

Well, I said it first on the boat.

Just another fortune hunter

chasing $50 million on the hoof.

Then?

And then you told me off

for being fragile...

but I still said, he's got something

up his sleeve he wants to sell.

An oil well, an invention,

or an emerald mine.

The last young man we took on

had an emerald mine.

And will you believe it,

I even bet you didn't fish?

And you lost.

"Live and learn, Connie, my angel," I said.

"Next time, don't bet on men. "

What are you thinking?

I haven't hurt you, have I?

I didn't mean to hurt you.

It was just my way of saying

I hope we can be friends.

That's about the nicest thing

that's been said to me this lifetime.

- Friends?

- Yes, please.

Then you do forgive me?

Don't apologize for suspecting people,

Connie. Keep right on.

Ring every coin you meet.

There are lots of wooden nickels

in circulation.

Come on.

No, I want to talk.

You're the first person in years.

You're in for it, my lad.

The story of my life.

The kitten who died when I was six,

and my great-aunt Matilde...

and all those twisted newspaper stories

you read about my romances...

and why they weren't romances.

There aren't going to be any more

twisted stories.

What do you think a paper

could make of this?

And couldn't they just?

You, me, here alone on a raft?

Single note of the chime

indicates exactly 11:00.

11:
00. Lights out.

And who are you, Cinderella's brother?

- What happens at the stroke of 12:00?

- You'll never know. I hope.

- Come on, I'll race you.

- All right.

Connie Allenbury, you've taken from me

the one thing in the world I love...

my husband.

- How is that?

- Great.

- Next week, East Lynne.

- You just don't appreciate art.

- Look, what's that?

- What?

It's a holdup.

- Chandler.

- What the...

Why, Bill.

I had to stop you before

you got to the lodge.

- She's gone.

- What?

You mean we aren't

gonna finish it tonight?

She only came to put the place in order...

- then she went right back to town.

- Why didn't you call?

They don't have telephones

in trout streams.

I'd better go.

Somebody might see you here.

Aren't you going with us? Move over.

I can't disappear

in the middle of the night.

What a lady-killer you are. One look

at you and the gal disappears.

Say, don't worry.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

It didn't cost $5 million, either.

We had a nice, long ride.

What are you talking about?

We can't miss.

- The setup is perfect.

- The setup is crazy. We haven't a chance.

At the end of the 10th round, it's a draw.

The girl was there in the mountains?

- But only for one night.

- One night is enough.

You told your wife you'd been

called to Washington, remember?

Yes, like it was yesterday.

Yeah, but you lied.

You didn't go to Washington.

You went to Allenbury Lodge

for a rendezvous with Connie.

Our private detective

will swear he followed you.

- But her father was there.

- That was a blind.

- She left the following morning.

- Sure. A guilty conscience.

- You're insane.

- What a mind.

Now I know where you get those

stories about working nights.

Then you come home,

you're indifferent to your wife.

You're cold to her, you fight with her.

It's as neat a case

for alienation of affection...

as I've ever seen,

and we slap it on tomorrow!

- No, we don't.

- Why don't we?

Because you can't get away with it.

They'd throw that case out of

any court in the world. You, too.

Not if I wear blue.

I'm awfully appealing in blue.

A:
I was Allenbury's guest, not Connie's.

B:
I was never alone with her. C...

- I know the alphabet.

- But you haven't got a leg to stand on.

Take it easy, will you?

I'm getting a real in with the family...

and I'm developing an open-and-shut case.

We're gonna file suit tomorrow.

Be at Britton & Britton's office at 9:00,

and I can catch that noon edition.

You'd make your crippled grandmother

do a fan dance for that paper.

Now, Gladdie.

Wait a minute.

Give me one week and I guarantee

to put her in a real spot.

Not a chance. She's walked out

on you twice already.

You know, Bill, I'm beginning to think

you've lost your touch.

- Goodbye, Gladdie. Don't be late.

- Aren't you gonna kiss me goodbye?

Well.

That's Warren for you.

Crazy about me,

but boy, how he conceals it.

- What's the matter with you?

- I just can't make him out.

I can understand

he's tossing me to the dogs for the paper.

- But to do it to the girl he loves...

- Who's tossing whom to what dogs?

If he goes through with this

in the morning...

by tomorrow night, we'll all be in jail.

- Jail?

- Jail.

I don't get you.

It's the plan we've had right along.

Yeah, but we haven't enough evidence

to convince a backward child.

If we spring this, the Allenburys are bound

to smell a frame-up!

- Do you really think so?

- I'm sure of it.

But to think that he'd do this to you.

A beautiful girl who loves him,

who's doing everything in the world...

Believe me, kid. You've put up with a lot.

You know, you're one girl in a million.

You don't know the tenth of it.

You wouldn't believe the things

what I've stood for.

I know.

The first night I met the guy,

he stood me up for two hours.

For what? A woman in Jersey

had quadruplets...

and it's been that way ever since.

I know. It's tough.

Fine, sensitive girl like you.

That's love for you.

- The things I could tell you...

- I'd like to hear all about them.

- Let's have a bite to eat.

- All right.

- You dance divinely.

- Thanks.

There have been complaints.

Then you must have been out

with amateurs.

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