The Little Foxes Page #2

these fine gentlemen ride off and leave

the cotton and the women to rot.

My father was killed in the war.

He was a fine soldier.

- A fine man.

- Yes, certainly. A famous soldier.

That's not the tale

I'm telling Mr. Marshall, Birdie.

The war ends.

Lionnet is almost ruined,

and the sons finish ruining it.

Why? Because the Southern aristocrat

could adapt himself to nothing.

Too high-toned to try.

- It's difficult to learn new ways.

- You're right, it is difficult.

But maybe that's why

it's profitable.

Our grandfather and our father learned

the new ways, learned to make them pay.

They were in trade. Others, like

Birdie's family, looked down on them.

To make a long story short,

Lionnet now belongs to us.

Twenty years ago, we took over their

land, their cotton and their daughter.

You are boring Mr. Marshall

with these ancient family tales.

I hope not. I'm just making an important

point for our future business partner.

- You see...

- Will you come and try a very old port?

I've been saving it

for a special occasion.

- Come, Alexandra.

- My brother and I feel...

a man ain't only in business

for himself.

- May I?

- Thank you. You're most polite.

It's got to give him some

satisfaction, something here.

Money ain't all,

not by three shots.

Really? I always thought

it meant a great deal.

So did I, Mr. Marshall.

- I've always contended...

- What's the matter with you?

First you chatter like a magpie,

now you're sulking like a schoolgirl.

- I'm not doing anything.

- You've had too much wine.

Get yourself in hand,

and stop acting like a fool.

You look pretty tonight,

Miss Birdie, and young.

Me, young?

Birdie, Mr. Marshall wants you

and Alexandra to play for him.

Yes, Regina.

I'm coming.

You don't have to convince me

you're the right people for the deal.

You want the mill here, and I do too.

It's not my business why you want it.

To bring the machine to the cotton,

and not the cotton to the machine.

- Henry, serve the port.

- My reason is more simple.

I want to make money,

and I believe I can make it on you.

However, I have no objection

to more high-minded reasons.

- Mr. Marshall, I feel...

- Birdie, we're ready.

Yes, Regina.

You know, Mr. Marshall...

- Thank you. You both play charmingly.

- My wife had the very best teachers.

- Those folks had the best of everything.

- I must be leaving for my train.

Thank you so very much.

- I'm sorry you can't stay. Come again.

- Thank you.

The children will drive you

to the depot.

Yes, sir. I'll drive you down, sir.

Come on, Zan.

- Be careful how you drive.

- Good-bye, Mrs. Hubbard.

- Good-bye, sir.

- Fill them up, Oscar.

You promised to let me

show you Chicago.

- Do I have to make you promise again?

- I promise again.

Wait. Before you leave, sir,

here we have a strange custom.

We drink the last drink

for a toast.

That's to prove that the Southerner's

always on his feet for the last drink.

I give you the firm of Hubbard Sons

and Marshall Cotton Mills...

and to it a long

and prosperous life.

Hubbard Sons and Marshall.

What y'all want?

A little biscuit

with a little gravy on it.

Somebody write you a golden letter

and tell you we got gravy tonight?

- We got told.

- Mr. David Hewitt tell us.

- Say you got high-tone company.

- Lots of meat and gravy.

Go on, get!

Ain't my food to give away.

Feed the hungry, the Lord said.

Give them some supper, Belle.

Miss Regina say supplies going

mighty fast around here...

and she ain't the stingy kind.

A little bit here and there,

she don't mind.

- But feeding the whole town.

- Stop fretting. Tell her I did it.

Here. You children keep quiet.

Where did the Lord say that

about feeding the hungry? What book?

I don't know, but if He didn't,

He should have. Go ahead.

Don't the children

make a handsome pair?

Leo, you ride here.

Let John do the driving.

Good-bye and a pleasant journey

to you, sir.

Giddap.

Ben, you did it.

Looks like we did.

Looks like it?

Don't pretend.

You look like a cat

that's been licking the cream.

Let's have a drink

to celebrate.

I thought the children

made a very handsome couple.

Yes, you said that before.

Yes, it's beginning to look

as if the deal's all set.

Remember I told him that here

we drink the last drink for a toast.

- I never heard that before.

- Nobody ever heard it before.

The Lord forgives those

who invent what they need.

I already had his signature.

But we've all done business with men...

whose word over a glass

is better than a bond.

Anyway, it didn't hurt

to have both.

- You understand what Ben means?

- Yes, I understand.

- I understood when it was happening.

- Did you, Regina?

When he lifted his glass,

I saw the bricks going into place.

Did you?

I saw a lot more than that.

I'm gonna leave you and Oscar

to count the bricks.

- I'm going to Chicago.

- Really, Regina?

Yes, I'm going to live there.

I'm taking Alexandra with me.

I'll give big parties for her and see

that she meets the best people...

and the right young men too.

Later on, I'll take trips

to New York and Paris...

and have everything I want.

You shall come to Chicago

to visit us.

Not too often, of course.

Ben, you won't have to learn

to be subtle.

You'll be very rich, and the rich

can be as eccentric as they like.

- So you want to live in Chicago?

- Yes.

Let's all say what we'll want

when we're very rich.

- What do you want, Oscar?

- Might take a few trips, eh, Birdie?

- Do you good.

- Yes, I'd like that.

- Might even go to Jekel Island.

- You know what I'd like?

I'd like to have Lionnet back.

Maybe we could even live there.

I do think we could all be happier...

- What are you chattering about?

- About Lionnet.

- Everybody was saying what they'd like.

- I can't hear a word you're saying.

- I was only saying...

- We heard you.

I'm waiting for you and Birdie

to finish.

Four conversations

are three too many.

First I said I don't know where

you'll get the money to live in Chicago.

Then I was about to say

I thought you heard me say that...

and were pretending you didn't.

What does that mean?

It's like this:

For 49 percent,

Marshall will put up $400,000.

Yes, I know all the terms.

Then you also know the contracts

will be signed this week...

and Marshall will want

to see our money soon after.

Oscar and I are ready

with our two-thirds of the money.

But your third, Horace's I mean,

doesn't seem to be here.

You've written him, Ben's written him,

we've all written him. He answers, but...

He answers, but there's never a word

about whether he's going into this.

You're our sister. We want you

to benefit from anything we do.

And in addition

to your concern for me...

you do not want control

to go out of the family.

- That right, Ben?

- That's cynical.

But cynicism's an unpleasant way

of telling the truth.

Why doesn't Horace come home

and talk business?

It's beginning to look like

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote