The Purchase Price Page #3

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- Kiss me good night.

- No.

No, you better go home and go to bed.

Oh, come on, girl, kiss me good night.

You break my accordion, eh?

Hey, wait a second. What's the matter...?

Oh, you shouldn't have done that

to my friend Forgan.

He's a fine fellow.

He just can't hold his liquor

as good as me.

- Drunk or not, I don't wanna...

- Tut-tut-tut.

Everything is all right.

Nobody is mad at anybody.

Everybody loves everybody.

Well, good night.

You go straight to bed...

...and don't do nothing I wouldn't do.

Pigs. All of them.

I thought it was kind of fun.

This place looks like a cyclone struck it.

- Do you feel the cider?

- No.

I do. My head is spinning.

Well, go to bed.

I'll clean up.

Well, good night.

Good night.

Don't bother with that, Jim.

I'll do it in the morning.

Mm-hm.

Jim, have you always lived

on this farm alone?

Not always.

Last spring I had a woman named Hazel

keeping house for me.

You had a woman living here?

Yep, Hazel. She was an Indian squaw.

- Pretty?

- Well, she weighed 25o pounds...

...and she smelled.

Took me two weeks to get rid

of the bedbugs after I got rid of her.

- How awful.

- Yeah.

- Morning, Al.

- Morning.

I got a letter for you

from Mr. Peters at the bank.

Thanks.

Goodbye, Mrs. Gilson.

Bye.

Won't you tell me what's wrong?

I promised you protection and a home.

Well, I can't give them to you.

The bank's notified me

we've got to get off this land.

- Leave the farm?

- It's mortgaged to the hilt.

The bank threatens to foreclose.

- How much do you need?

- Eight hundred dollars.

I stand as much chance

of raising 8 million.

You might borrow.

On what and from whom?

It's driving me crazy

paying the bills I owe now.

What do you intend to do with me?

Send you back to Montreal,

if I can ever raise the money.

No use prolonging the agony.

Has it been agony?

Well, it must have been for you.

Things have only just started.

You don't know these northwest winters.

They're bad enough when you got

everything that money can buy.

But you haven't the comforts...

You know of course, that there's nothing,

no one for me to go back to.

I'm afraid we'll have to stick it

out together.

But our marriage is hopeless.

We started all wrong.

Like going into a race blindfolded.

Would you mind moving those bags

so I can really clean this room?

But I told you we were leaving.

Maybe.

Do you know what's in those sacks?

Seed wheat, isn't it?

That's the best seed

that ever got into a gunnysack.

It took first prize at Calgary,

same in Chicago.

That makes it the best wheat

in the world.

And you grew it.

Yeah, after 11 years of slaving

and sweating.

Ever since I left agricultural college,

I starved, literally starved.

Well, I fertilized and cross-fertilized...

...and experimented with crop after crop

until the strain was fixed.

This seed will produce the heaviest head of

white-flower wheat that's ever been grown.

There's a fortune in a crop of it.

More money than I've ever seen

or ever will see.

And when the goal is in sight, after 11 years

of struggle, you're willing to quit.

- What else can I do?

- Stay here. Plant your seed.

You can't plant until spring.

By that time,

this land will no longer belong to me.

That's my proposition, Jim. Think it over.

We'll never be able to do business

on those terms.

Good evening, Mrs. Gilson.

Good evening, Mr. McDowell.

I just offered your husband

to shoulder all his mortgages...

...take over all outstanding notes

and put him on a salary...

...if he'll let me take over the farm

and work it my way.

Is he going to accept?

Well, there's just one obstacle.

I'm not interested in the deed unless you

come over and run my house for me.

- I'm a rotten housekeeper, a worse cook.

- I'll risk it.

- And I've got a bad temper.

- Me too. We'll have a lot in common.

Well, I'll have to talk it over

with Jim first.

Sure, only don't make me wait too long.

I'm not altogether sold on this outfit,

but I could get sold on you, Mrs. Gilson.

Don't strain yourself.

Are you going to accept

McDowell's proposition?

I saw him talking to you. Are you?

I don't see why I shouldn't.

Well, you know what it means.

A chance of keeping this farm

and letting you go on with your work.

I've found that keeping house for a man

can be done on quite an impersonal basis.

After all, I'm only doing

what any servant could do.

Even Hazel with her 25o pounds

and her bedbugs.

- I haven't given you much of a break.

- I was thinking of the future.

Well, since I was crazy enough

to drag you out here...

...will you please leave that future

in my hands for the next few weeks?

All right, all right, all right.

Oh...

Brrr.

Come in.

- Good morning. Golly, it's cold.

- Haven't seen anything yet.

- Winter's just started.

- You're a comfort.

Isn't there any paper around here?

Here.

This ought to be enough to start a fire.

The last day of the year, and what a year.

That's the last of the coal.

You waste too much

trying to keep this place too warm.

Too warm?

Why, I've hardly stopped shivering

since I left Montreal.

- You got all the bedclothes.

- What?

Well, I guess we have to ride over to

Glover's farm and get another load of coal.

- How far is that?

- We leave after breakfast...

...we can get back by midnight.

- Oh, practically just next door.

- Coffee ready?

- Yes.

What time is it?

Two minutes to 12.

Then we have two minutes to wait.

- What?

- Nothing.

You hate me, don't you?

- No, but...

- Well, what's wrong, Jim?

I can't forget the look on your face

that first night...

I've been able to forget. Why can't you?

That isn't the question.

I've never done anything

to earn your love.

Isn't love the one thing

you don't have to earn?

Well, it seems to me

it ought to be...

...a natural sort of partnership.

- Have...

Have you ever heard a woman scream?

No.

- Well, you're going to.

- Huh?

Because I've been dying to do it

for months.

Ah!

I'm Mrs. Gilson.

I've just heard

that there's a new baby here.

Can I do anything to help?

Have you had anything to eat?

- Where's your husband?

- He went away.

- Has the doctor been here?

- No.

- Hasn't anyone been here with you while...?

Just Sarah.

You poor little lamb.

But don't worry,

everything will be all right.

Now, Sarah, you and I

have a lot of work to do around here.

Is there any milk?

Is there any milk?

There's some in the pail.

Hurry up and get me a saucepan-full.

Sarah, I told you to get me some milk.

We'll take care of you in a jiffy,

Mrs. Tipton.

And is there any flour?

I'd like to make some bread.

It's in that tin.

All right, you get a bowl

and put the flour in it.

It's awful to have a baby, isn't it?

No, darling. It's wonderful.

The most wonderful thing in the world.

There, now. He's all dressed for company.

Sarah, take the baby

over to your mother.

No, please, Mrs. Gilson.

I don't wanna touch it.

Now, isn't that silly.

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