Ruthless Page #5

Only I'm not going around like

an old grump. I'm happy about it.

Martha.

Darling.

I'm telling you something.

In a minute.

Right now, you've got to listen to me.

This job is in New York.

Oh.

Well, I like Boston better, but ..

I've got to tell you straight out.

You won't be with me.

Not if we're married?

Don't they pay enough?

They pay very well.

There, I'll meet the right people and

begin to make deals on my own account.

I'm going far, Martha.

And fast.

And alone.

I can't be with you.

Because you don't want me?

I shall never want anybody else.

But I can see the road I've got

to travel. I can see where it leads.

I can see the sacrifices

I've got to make.

And I'm the first of them?

No.

I am.

You love me?

You really love me .. and yet you

can turn your back on everything ..

Yes! I've got to.

I haven't any choice. I've got to.

I stole you from Vic.

You might have been happy.

I tried to tell you that I

wasn't any good for you but ..

You wouldn't believe me.

I knew it already.

I knew it when you first

came to live with us.

I watched you.

I could see it all the time.

But when I told you?

Yes.

Because you told me ..

I hoped that by loving you and ..

Being close to you.

Like your wife.

I hoped you'd change.

But I suppose I wasn't

a big enough person.

Maybe I didn't love you enough.

And now you hate me.

When you can't help yourself?

No.

I can't hate you for that.

Any more than if you'd

told me you were ..

Terribly ill.

Perhaps you are.

If you want to know.

I love you.

I shall, always.

I'm sure you manage most of your

affairs more cleverly than that.

Thank you.

You are very young.

And very ambitious.

And may I say that ambition is a high

climb with no way of getting down.

You may be right. I'll have

to find out for myself.

You might spare yourself a lot of bumps

and bruises if you listen to Mr Vendig.

His philosophy today is that

success doesn't mean a thing.

You won't give way so much

as an inch, will you, Vic?

No. But that's your fault, Horace.

You've always handled me so

easily that I've got my guard up.

Let's face it.

You haven't done anything but talk.

But I have to talk to somebody,

and you're the only one I can talk to.

All my life I've spent collecting

things that I can't trust.

I have nothing that's part of me.

The money I've made is ..

It's no more than this house, and you

saw how easily that was transferred.

Tell me more about yourself.

There's really not much.

I work rather hard.

As a matter of fact most of my

time is taken up by my music.

All of it?

There is not enough left to share.

If that's what you're driving at.

Surely, you can't refuse your

host the first dance. Please.

Just this one.

Tell me, is Vic to be congratulated?

Don't you want Vic to have

cause for congratulations?

Yes.

Up until ten minutes ago.

Now, I wish he didn't even exist.

Or away exploring another planet or

anything that would leave you with me.

But I might like exploring another

planet. It sounds exciting.

What do you want?

Mallory.

Vic, you've had so many evenings with

Mallory. Give me just part of this one.

Since you put it that way,

and remembering the past.

The only answer I can

possibly give you is "no."

Oh, well at least let's all

have a drink together.

An Old-Fashioned and a Martini.

Christa.

Why, Buck. Did he write to you, too?

He wants to make his peace.

With me before anyone, I would imagine.

And you, what harm has he done you?

You are coarse, Christa.

Did he do that to you?

Your hair was pure gold once.

Now it looks like brass.

The fool hairdresser of

mine uses a hard rinse.

Don't stare at me, Buck.

You make me nervous.

I remember the day ..

I don't want to remember any day.

I came in her for a drink and I ..

And you found a memory.

What else are we here for?

But to remember.

Sit down.

No, Buck.

And we'll remember ..

Ah!

Christa.

He frightens me.

Why do you have him here?

Who?

If this man caused a little

trouble, Mr Vendig, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, Christa.

There must be some fun here somewhere.

I'll have him escorted out.

No.

Mr Mansfield is my guest.

I hope your presence here means ..

My letter was taken in the

spirit in which I intended it.

It means I came to see if all this stuff

was another of your confounded tricks.

I'm old.

Maybe you think I'm weak.

And blind too, like Samson, eh?

When Lo ..

He pressed his palms against

the pillars of the temple.

Say the word, Mr Vendig.

Tell this vermin.

To stand away from me.

Let go.

Get me a drink.

Charles, there's a bottle on your left.

Mr Mansfield, you introduced

me to a lot of things.

Including this.

It's 21 years old.

Sorry.

I wish that hadn't happened.

A man doesn't go far in life without

leaving some rag ends behind him.

Who was that?

That's all that's left of an emperor.

Now he's just an old man who's

lost his money and his wife.

Since his wife was all he lived for,

I suppose he's dead.

I understand you do put a little corn

and oil on his grave. Occasionally.

Doesn't that help?

It's still a grave.

We can quarrel. We often have.

But the only time we ever split,

it was you who forced us into it.

I know .. maybe we should

have stayed that way.

Perhaps I didn't know

when I was well off.

Vic.

I've never turned my back on you.

It was you who turned your back on me.

Vic, it's wonderful to see you.

Thanks. We've a lot to talk about.

Of course. The first:

how was South America?

Oh, it makes New York look

like a one-room apartment.

There is air down there and space.

Wherever you look you see the sky.

It's the new frontier, Horace. Maybe the

last one. Did you ever think of that?

But a fortune is made every day.

You ought to be coming back with me.

This stinks of ledgers

and stocks and bonds.

Come down there and breathe.

Did you ever get within grasping

distance of one of those fortunes?

My poor, misguided friend.

See. Observe.

This little bit of paper is

known as a bank draft.

Would you read it to me?

Three hundred thousand dollars.

My partners and I split a cool million.

Not bad pay for a few years hard work.

Well, when do we leave?

Sorry, Vic .. it's not enough.

No .. I didn't think it would be.

I also think Mr Vendig,

that you want too much.

There is no such thing as too much.

You didn't make a fortune, Vic. You were

well paid for your work. That's all.

Fortunes are made here. On Wall Street.

Sure, sure.

Who is the young lady?

Her name is Susan.

Nice.

I like old-fashioned names.

Susan .. Ruth.

Prudence .. Martha.

You've grown very devious, Vic.

You aren't being very

straight-from-the-shoulder yourself.

You expected me to believe what you said

in your letter? That she turned you out?

If ever a girl more obviously threw

her heart and soul at someone's feet.

You do that very neatly.

I've become a wicked old man.

Martha has two very good

eyes and intelligence.

It didn't take her long to see ..

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