Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Good evening, this is Orson Welles. Craig's Wife, which is the title of tonight's offering,
00:04has been a personal enthusiasm since I first saw it. The story of 24 hours in the life of
00:08a husband and wife. As we've rehearsed it here in the studio, we've been impressed to find that
00:13Craig's Wife is fresh and vital and true in the same degree as it was when it first played on
00:17Broadway. Got the Pulitzer Prize. Miss Faye Bainter, who was to have played Mrs. Craig,
00:22is unfortunately one of the many victims of our local epidemic of flu. In her stead,
00:27we're something more than lucky in the very personable person of an actress distinguished
00:31both in motion pictures and in the living theater, whose triumphs have been memorable
00:35in both fields and richly deserved, Miss Anne Harding. Mrs. Harold? Mrs. Harold? Well, Maisie,
00:42what is it now? Did you see the evening paper? What? It's a murder right over near us, too,
00:45on Willows Avenue. For heaven's sake, I used to work over on Willows Avenue. Who was it?
00:49Fashionable Willows residents, scene of double tragedy. Bodies of J. Fergus Pazmar and wife,
00:53socially prominent in this city, found dead in library from bullet wounds. For heaven's sake!
00:58Empty revolver near fireplace, cause of death shrouded in mystery. Police working upon identity
01:03of gentleman visitor, seen leaving premises in automobile shortly after midnight. Here's me the
01:07creeps it does. Well, creeps and hoaxes, you better brush up them rose petals from off the
01:11living room floor. And don't leave the evening paper lying about either. You're not expecting
01:14the lady back already, are you? Can't ever tell about women like Mrs. Craig. If she gets an idea
01:18that there's a pin out of place around here, she'll take the first train out of Albany and come
01:22right back home. Honest, Mrs. Harold, I never worked for a woman like Mrs. Craig. She'll feel
01:27sorry for Mr. Craig. Oh, she could build a nest in that man's ear and he'd never know it. She
01:30certainly is the hardest woman to please I ever worked for. Did you, did I tell you about her
01:35wanting me to dust the leaves off that little tree in front of the dining room window last
01:38week? Dust the leaves? That's the honest truth, and me with rheumatism at the time. You know how
01:43I'd done it, don't you? What'd you say to her? I told her right off. I said, I'll dust no tree
01:46for nobody. Well, you turned her on. She says, you mean you refuse to dust it? Yes, I says,
01:50I refuse, and what's more, I'm going to stay refused. Well, she says, it needs dusting whether
01:55you dust it or not. Well, I says, let it need it. A little dust won't poison it. We'll be dust
01:59ourselves someday unless we get drowned. You sure done right. I think the worst kind of woman a girl
02:05can work for is one that's crazy about her house. Say, how long is she going to be away in Albany?
02:09Oh, I guess till her sister's better, but still you never know about her. She liable to find some
02:13excuse to come home. She don't like to be away from her home. Mrs. Craig don't. All right, dear,
02:19just leave your bag here. Yes, Mrs. Craig. Mrs. Harold, Mrs. Harold. Coming, coming. Yes,
02:26Mrs. Craig. Oh, good afternoon, Mrs. Craig. We didn't expect you back so soon. Good afternoon,
02:30Mrs. Craig. This is Miss Eldred, my niece, Mrs. Harold. Maisie, will you take her things up to
02:35the corner room? She's staying with us for a few days. Yes, Mrs. Craig. And will you see that that
02:39cat is on the screen door, Mrs. Harold? It was half open when I came in. Yes, Mrs. Craig.
02:43Aunt Harriet, are you sure we were right to leave mother like that? Oh, Ethel, dear, you mustn't
02:47start that. Your mother's been through this very same kind of thing many times before. Be careful
02:52with that suitcase, Maisie. Don't scratch the wall. Aunt Harriet. Yes, dear. Suppose something
02:57should happen. Nothing's going to happen, dear child. Mrs. Harold. Mrs. Harold. Yes, Mrs. Craig.
03:04Where did those roses come from? Why, that woman across the street brought them over to your aunt.
03:08Mrs. Frazier, you mean? Yes, ma'am. Well, you better take them out of here, Mrs. Harold. The
03:12petals will be all over the room. Maybe Miss Austin left them in her room. She and Mrs.
03:16Frazier are up there having tea. Do you mean to tell me that Mrs. Frazier is upstairs in my
03:21aunt's room? Yes, ma'am. And how did she happen to get up there? Miss Austin asked her. Really?
03:27Oh. All right, that will be all, Mrs. Harold. Aunt Harriet. Yes? You know, there was something I
03:33wanted to tell mother, but the doctor said he thought I'd better wait. Is it something important?
03:37Yes, it was about Professor Fredericks at school. Mother met him last year when she was up there at
03:41commencement, and she liked him very much. And when we got home, she said that if he ever said
03:46anything to me, she'd be glad if I could like him well enough to marry him. She said she'd feel
03:51easier about me, in case anything ever happened to her. And you mean he has said something? Yes.
03:56He asked me to marry him right after Easter. I don't know why your mother would be so panicky
04:00about your future, Ethel. You're only 19. She said she'd like to feel that I have somebody.
04:04Why does a person need anybody, dear, if one has money enough to get along on?
04:08Oh, really, I think you're a very foolish girl, Ethel, if you rush into marriage. Oh,
04:11but Aunt Harriet, he and I are... Are you engaged to this, this Mr., um... Mr. Fredericks?
04:16Yes, I am, Aunt Harriet. I knew mother liked him, and so when he asked me... Well, that's all very
04:20nice, Ethel, but simply liking a man isn't going to go very far toward keeping things going.
04:24Well, I have my own, Aunt Harriet. Oh, I know that, dear child, but surely he isn't marrying
04:28you because of it. Oh, no, of course not. He doesn't know anything about that. Well, hope not.
04:33You did say he was a professor, didn't you, dear? He's the professor of Romance Languages.
04:37Naturally. And I suppose he told you that he loves you in all of them.
04:41Were you married, Aunt Harriet? I had no private fortune like yours,
04:45Ethel. I married to be on my own in every sense of the word. I haven't entirely achieved the
04:50condition yet, but I know it can be done. I don't quite understand what you mean,
04:55Aunt Harriet. I mean that I'm simply exacting my share of a bargain.
04:58How? By securing into my own hands
05:01the control of the man upon which they're found. But how are you ever going to do a thing like
05:06that, Aunt Harriet? Haven't you ever gotten Mr. Fredericks to do something you wanted him to do?
05:10Yes, but I always told him I wanted him to do it.
05:12Well, there are certain things that men can't be told, Ethel. They don't understand them,
05:16particularly romantic men. But Mr. Craig is inveterately idealistic.
05:21But supposing he would find out sometime? Find out what?
05:24What you've been telling me, that you want to control him.
05:27One never comprehends, dear, but it is not in one's nature to comprehend. That's where we
05:31women have such a tremendous advantage over men. Oh, I know you're deploring my lack of
05:36nobility. No, I'm not at all, Aunt Harriet.
05:38Yes, you are. I can see it in your face. You think I'm a very sordid woman.
05:42Oh, no, I don't think anything of the kind. Well, what do you think?
05:44Well, frankly, Aunt Harriet, I don't think it's quite honest.
05:48It's very much safer, dear, for everybody. Because, as I say, if a woman is the right
05:53kind of a woman, it's better that the destiny of her home should be in her hands than in any man's.
05:58Don't you see? Aunt Harriet, I'm rather tired.
06:01Would you mind if I rested a bit? Of course not, child. You go right upstairs.
06:04I'll be along in a few minutes to see that you're comfortable.
06:08Mrs. Harrell? Mrs. Harrell? Yes, Mrs. Craig?
06:12Have there been any letters or messages for me since I've been away?
06:14Er, two letters, ma'am. One came this morning and one came Tuesday.
06:17No telephone calls? None for you, ma'am.
06:19There was a gentleman called Mr. Craig this afternoon about four o'clock.
06:22He seemed real anxious to get in touch with Mr. Craig and for him to call him as soon as he came in.
06:25Who was that? A Mr. Bergmeierman.
06:27He was the same gentleman that called Mr. Craig last night.
06:29But he must have got in touch with him, for I gave him the number Mr. Craig said he'd be at.
06:33You mean Mr. Craig was out last night? Of where?
06:35I don't know, ma'am. He didn't say.
06:37But he left a number for me to give anybody if they call.
06:39I wrote it down in this paper so I wouldn't forget it.
06:41It was Levering 3-100. Levering 3-100.
06:44He didn't say whose number it was? No, ma'am.
06:46He just left a number and the gentleman called and I gave it to him like he told me.
06:49I see. All right, Mrs. Harrell.
06:51I'll tell him when he comes. Yes, ma'am.
06:58Information.
06:59Could you give me the address of the telephone number Levering 3-100?
07:04Oh, you don't give out addresses.
07:06I see. Well, it isn't important. Thank you very much.
07:10Wow. Look who's here. Bright and smiling.
07:12Hello, Walter. Harriet.
07:14When did you get in, my dear? A few minutes ago.
07:15Left Albany at noon. Aren't you wire or something?
07:17I never thought of it to tell you the truth.
07:19There was so much to be done around there, getting Ethel's things together, one thing and another.
07:23Was Ethel there? Yes, I brought her back with me.
07:25She's upstairs lying down. How's your sister?
07:27Why, I couldn't see that there was anything the matter with her more than usual.
07:30But you'd think from her letter she was dying.
07:33Then I had to walk out and leave my house for a whole week and go racing up to Albany.
07:37Glad to have you back again, Harriet.
07:38Oh, stop it, Walter. You're so strong.
07:40Seems you've been away a month instead of a week.
07:42Don't break my bones, Walter.
07:44That's what I think I'd like to do sometimes.
07:46Now, stop it. Stop it.
07:48Here, take this hat and put it where it belongs.
07:50Okay.
07:51Take this paper out of here, too. This room's a sight.
07:54Your aunt's company will be scandalized.
07:55Has Andy Orson got some company?
07:57She's upstairs with her. The woman across the street there.
08:01Mrs. Frazier?
08:02It's a wonder she wouldn't bring a few of those roses over here, Andy Orson.
08:05I guess she has sense enough to know that if we wanted roses, we could plant some.
08:10Walter, whose telephone number is Levering Tree 100?
08:12That's Fergus Passmore. Why?
08:13Oh, nothing. I was just wondering.
08:15And Miss Harold told me you gave her that number last night in case anybody wanted you.
08:18I was wondering where it was.
08:19Fergus Passmore. I was playing cards out there last night.
08:21What did Billy Burtmire want you for?
08:23Mrs. Harold said he called you out.
08:24Fergus asked him, too, but Billy called me up later to tell me that his father
08:27had just come in from St. Louis. He wouldn't be able to make it.
08:29I wasn't here when he called, so I talked to him from there.
08:31I hope you're not going to get into that card playing again, Walter.
08:34I never gave up card playing.
08:36We haven't played in nearly a year.
08:38Well, I suppose that's because you don't play, and most of the folks know that,
08:41so they don't ask me.
08:42Was Fergus' wife there?
08:43No.
08:44I suppose that's the reason Fergus asked you then, wasn't it?
08:46What do you mean?
08:47Well, you're not sanely jealous of him.
08:48At all. I'm sure he's never jealous of me.
08:51He was jealous of everybody, from what I could tell.
08:53Oh, don't be silly, Harriet.
08:54But you wouldn't know it, Walter, even if you were.
08:56I'm glad I wouldn't.
08:57You come to find out, I'll bet, that's just the reason Billy Burtmire dodged it,
09:01that that's just what he called you up to tell you.
09:03He called me up to tell me anything of the kind, Harriet.
09:04He said he called me up to tell me his father had come in unexpectedly from St.
09:07Oh, I don't mean last night. I mean when he called you today.
09:09He called today.
09:10Yes, he did, this afternoon, four o'clock.
09:11Here?
09:12So Mrs. Harold told me.
09:13Said he wanted you to get in touch with him as soon as you came in.
09:15I wonder why he didn't call the office.
09:16Well, probably dead and you'd gone.
09:19Really, Walter, I can't understand Auntie Austin.
09:22The minute my back is turned, she invites one of the neighbors into my house.
09:25Shouldn't she, Harriet?
09:26Why, shouldn't she?
09:27Oh, really, Walter.
09:29She stands there right out on the front porch saying goodbye to that Mrs. Frazier.
09:32You say Ethel's here?
09:33Yes, she's in the guest room.
09:34I think I'll go up and say hello to her.
09:36Goodbye, dear.
09:37I'll be right down.
09:40Oh, hello, Harriet.
09:41How did you find your sister?
09:43Mrs. Harold told me a moment ago that you were back.
09:45Yes, Auntie Austin, I'm back.
09:47I think it's about time I came back, don't you?
09:49I don't understand what you mean.
09:51Well, from the looks of things, if I stayed away much longer,
09:53I should probably have come back to find my house a thoroughfare for the entire neighborhood.
09:57You mean by having Mrs. Frazier here for tea?
09:59You know perfectly well what I mean, Auntie Austin.
10:01Please don't try to appear so innocent.
10:03It's exactly what that woman's been trying to do ever since we've been here.
10:07And the minute you get my back turned, you let her succeed.
10:10Just for the sake of a lot of small talk, how did she happen to get in here?
10:13She brought me some roses over, which I think was very thoughtful of her.
10:15Of course.
10:16And you walked right into the trap.
10:18Well, why do you think she should be so anxious to get in here, Harriet?
10:21For the same reason that a lot of other women in this neighborhood want to get in here.
10:24To satisfy their vulgar curiosity.
10:26See what they can see.
10:27And why should you care if they do see?
10:29I don't want a lot of idle neighbors on visiting terms.
10:32Let them tend to their houses.
10:33They'll have plenty to do.
10:35Mrs. Frazier's very likely one of those housekeepers that hides
10:37the dirt in the corners of a bunch of roses.
10:39You know nothing about her house.
10:40Well, I don't want to know about it.
10:42And I don't want to know about her.
10:44She wasn't here to you.
10:45She was in my house, wasn't she?
10:47And in your husband's house.
10:48Oh, well, she was hardly here to see my husband, was she?
10:52Mrs. Frazier was here to see me, your husband's aunt.
10:54And I made her welcome, and so did he.
10:56And asked her to come back again.
10:57And I don't think you'd find him very much in accord with your attitude if he knew of it.
11:01Well, you'll probably tell him.
11:02Oh, I have a lot of things to tell him, Harriet.
11:05I've had plenty of time to think about them during the past two years up there in my room.
11:08And they've been particularly clear to me this week that you've been away.
11:11That's why I've decided to tell Walter, because I think he should be told.
11:15Only I want you to be here when I tell him.
11:17So that you won't be able to twist what I say.
11:19You have a very good opinion of me, haven't you, Auntie Austen?
11:21It's not an opinion of you at all, Harriet.
11:23It's you that I have.
11:25Well, whatever it is, I'm not at all interested in hearing about it.
11:28I want you to know that I resent intricately your having brought Mrs. Frazier in here.
11:32Oh, be honest about it at least, Harriet.
11:34But what do you mean?
11:35Why particular eyes on Mrs. Frazier?
11:37Because I don't want her here.
11:39You don't want anybody here.
11:40I don't want her.
11:41You don't want your husband.
11:42Only that he's necessary to the upkeep here.
11:45But if you could see how that could be changed or managed without him,
11:49his position here would be as pure as a position of one of those pillows there.
11:53Well, I must say, Miss Austen, that's a very nice thing that you say to me.
11:56You want your house, Harriet.
11:57That's all you do want.
11:58And that's all you'll have to finish, unless you change your way.
12:01People who live to themselves, Harriet, are generally left to themselves.
12:04For other people will not go on being made miserable indefinitely
12:07for the sake of your ridiculous idolatry of house furnishings.
12:11You seem to have borne it rather successfully.
12:13I did it for Walter's sake, because I knew he wanted to have me here.
12:17I didn't want to make it difficult.
12:19But I've been practically a recluse in that room of mine upstairs ever since you've been here,
12:22just to avoid scratching that holy staircase
12:25or leaving a print on one of those sacred rungs.
12:27I'm not used to that kind of stupidity.
12:29I'm accustomed to living in rooms.
12:31I think too much of myself to consider their appearance where my comfort is concerned.
12:36So I've decided to make a change.
12:37Only I want my reasons to be made perfectly clear to Walter before I go.
12:41I think I owe it to him for his own sake, as well as mine.
12:44What's the matter?
12:44Are you on your way upstairs?
12:45I haven't the faintest idea, I'm sure.
12:48But from what Aunty Austen has just been saying,
12:50she seems to think there are quite a few things the matter.
12:52What is it, Aunty?
12:53She tells me she's going to leave us.
12:54Nothing very new, Walter.
12:55I don't leave the house, you mean?
12:57So she says.
12:58You didn't say that, did you, Aunty?
13:00Haven't I just told you she said it?
13:01I'm leaving tomorrow, Walter.
13:02Why? What's happened?
13:03She says she finds my conduct of affairs here unendurable.
13:06I'll be obliged to you, Harriet,
13:08if you'll allow me to explain the reasons for my going.
13:10I know them better than you do.
13:12Well, you haven't any reasons that I can see,
13:14except the usual jealous reasons that women have
13:16of the wives of men that they've brought us.
13:17You'll have plenty of time to give your version of my leaving after I'm gone.
13:20Well, sit down, then, and let us hear your version of it.
13:23I prefer to stand, thank you.
13:24As you please.
13:26I doubt if I'd know quite how to sit in one of these chairs.
13:28What do you mean, Aunty?
13:30I can't believe you've had a difficulty with anyone,
13:32especially with Harriet, who thinks the world of you.
13:34And you know she does, Aunty.
13:35Harriet's just as fond of you as I am.
13:38I'm glad you're here to hear some of this.
13:41I suppose there are little irritations
13:43that come up around the house occasionally,
13:44just as there are in any other business.
13:47But I'm sure you're too sensible, Aunty,
13:49to allow them to affect you to the extent of making you want to leave the house.
13:53Why, Aunty, what did we do here around you without you?
13:56It wouldn't seem to me that we had any house at all.
14:00What was it you said to Aunty, Harriet?
14:02I said anything to her, of course.
14:03She's simply using her imagination.
14:05Well, if it isn't anything that Harriet has said to you, Aunty, what is it?
14:09Oh, no, Harriet has never said anything.
14:11She simply acts and leaves you to interpret, if you're able.
14:14It takes a long time to be able until you find the key.
14:17It's all very simple, very ridiculous, and incredibly selfish.
14:21So much so, Walter, that I rather despair of ever convincing you of my...
14:25of my justification for leaving your house.
14:27Well, what has Harriet done, Aunty?
14:29I'll tell you what I did, Walter.
14:31I objected to Aunty Austen's having brought that woman across the street in here while I was away.
14:35You mean Mrs. Frazer?
14:36Yes, I mean Mrs. Frazer.
14:37What's the matter with Mrs. Frazer?
14:38She's a vulgar old busybody.
14:40That's what's the matter with her.
14:41She's been trying to get in here ever since we've been here.
14:42What do you mean she's been trying to get in here?
14:44Well, you wouldn't understand if I told you, Walter.
14:47It's a form of curiosity that women have about other women's houses that men can't appreciate.
14:54I'm afraid I don't quite understand.
14:57If you feel, Aunty Austen...
14:58You're a man, Walter, and you're in love with your wife.
15:00I'm perfectly familiar with the usual result of interference under those circumstances.
15:03Well, I hope I'm open to conviction, Aunty, if you have a grievance.
15:05Oh, it isn't my own cause I'm about to be.
15:07It doesn't matter about me.
15:08I can't be here.
15:09But I don't want to be witness to the undoing of a man
15:12by way of becoming a very important citizen without warning him of the danger.
15:16I don't understand what you mean, Aunty.
15:18It's probably the great part of the danger, Walter, that you don't understand.
15:21If you did, it'd be scarcely necessary to warn you.
15:24Of what?
15:25Your wife.
15:27What are you laughing at, Harriet?
15:29Oh, don't you think that's very amusing?
15:31I don't know that I think it's so very amusing.
15:33No, I didn't, Harriet.
15:34Well, when you've heard the rest of it, you'll probably change your mind.
15:37Harriet isn't really laughing, Walter.
15:39What am I doing, crying?
15:40You're whistling in the dark.
15:42Oh, dear.
15:43You're terrified that your secret's been discovered.
15:45Really?
15:45What is my secret?
15:46I think it's hardly necessary to tell you that, Harriet.
15:48But I'm interested in hearing it.
15:50Well, you can listen while I tell it to Walter.
15:52Very well.
15:53But I want you to know before I tell him
15:55that it didn't remain for your outburst against Mrs. Fraser here
15:58a few minutes ago to reveal it to me.
15:59I knew it almost as soon as Walter's mother knew it.
16:02She means that I've been trying to poison you secretly, Walter.
16:05Not so secretly either, Harriet.
16:06Well, I'm sorry, I must go.
16:08I don't intend to stay.
16:09I didn't think you would.
16:11Why not, Harriet?
16:12Because I have something more important to do than listening to a lot of absurdities.
16:15I hope when you finish discussing me,
16:17you'll be as frank in letting Walter know something
16:19of what I've been putting up with during the past two years.
16:22Oh, Harriet.
16:23Playing the martyr, as usual.
16:25You've almost spoken those last words for her, Walter.
16:28I know her so well.
16:29I wish you'd tell me what's happened, Annie.
16:31Walter, your mother asked you to promise her when she was dying
16:35that you'd take me with you when you're married.
16:37She asked me to promise her that I'd accept her invitation when you made it.
16:41You see, she knew her woman, Walter.
16:44The woman you were going to marry.
16:46Mother didn't like Harriet?
16:47Nobody could like Harriet, Walter.
16:49She doesn't want them to.
16:51I like her.
16:52You're blinded by a pretty face, son.
16:54As many another man has been blinded.
16:55Oh, Harriet, darling.
16:56She's left you practically friendless, Walter.
16:58Why do you suppose your friends have so suddenly stopped visiting you?
17:01They always visited you at home.
17:03And I dare say all those charming young men and women
17:05that used to have such pleasant times at home
17:07thought that when you married, your house would be quite a rendezvous.
17:11But they reckoned without their hostess, Walter.
17:14Just as they're beginning to reckon without you.
17:16You never go out anymore.
17:17Nobody ever asks you.
17:19They're afraid you might bring her and they don't, Walter.
17:22Because she's made it perfectly clear to them that she doesn't want them.
17:25I don't think that's true.
17:28No, I, Andy, I think just as Harriet...
17:29I want to tell you something that I saw the other day in the city.
17:32I was having luncheon at the Colonnade
17:33and two of your old Thursday night poker crowd came in.
17:36Sat at a table within, well, within hearing distance of me.
17:39Presently, a man and his wife came in.
17:42Sat down at another table.
17:43The wife immediately proceeded to tell the man how he should have sat down.
17:47And how he should sit, now that he was down himself.
17:50I distinctly heard one of your friends say to the other,
17:52listen to Craig's wife over there,
17:55that's a little straw, Walter,
17:56that should show you the way the wind is blowing.
17:59Your friends resent being told where they shall sit and how.
18:02And so they're avoiding the occasion of it.
18:04Just as I'm going to avoid it.
18:05But you can't avoid it.
18:07So you must deal with it.
18:09How? How should I deal with it?
18:10By impressing your wife with the realization that,
18:13well, that there's a man in the house as well as a woman.
18:16And that you are that man.
18:18If you don't, Walter, you're going to go the way of every other man
18:21that's ever allowed himself to be dominated by a selfish woman.
18:24Become a pallid little echo of her distorted opinions.
18:28Believing finally that every friend you ever had before you met her
18:31was trying to lead you into perdition.
18:33And that she rescued you and made a man of you.
18:35Well, her could never turn me against my friends.
18:37Walter, they can make men believe that the mothers that nursed them
18:41are their arch enemies.
18:43That's why I'm warning you.
18:45For you're fighting for the life of your manhood, Walter.
18:47And I can't leave this house without at least turning on the light here.
18:51And letting you see what it is that you're fighting for.
18:53Daddy, I can't see you leave this house.
18:55That's all there is to it.
18:56But if I'm not happy here...
18:57I promised mother that you'd always have a home with me.
18:59And if you go, I'll feel somehow that I'm breaking that promise.
19:02You haven't a home to offer me, Walter.
19:03You have a house with furniture in it.
19:06It'll be used under highly specified conditions.
19:09Do you know, I have the impression, Samara,
19:11when I look at these rooms,
19:13that they're rooms that have died and are laid out.
19:18Well, whenever they are, they'll seem less if you leave them.
19:22I don't think I feel worse if it were mother herself that were leaving.
19:24Oh, be glad that it wasn't your mother, Walter.
19:27She would have left long ago.
19:28I beg your pardon, Mr. Craig, but there's nothing here to see.
19:30Ask him to come in.
19:31I'll see you before I go, Walter.
19:32All right.
19:33I have a lot of things to do here.
19:35Hello, Miss Austin.
19:36Oh, hello, Mr. Baker.
19:36Hello, Walter.
19:37Hello, I called your house.
19:38I couldn't get you.
19:39What's up? Something wrong?
19:39Something wrong?
19:40Well, that's what I came to see you about.
19:41You were out there last night.
19:42What are you talking about?
19:43You mean you don't know?
19:45Haven't you read the evening papers?
19:47Fergus Passmore and his wife are dead.
19:48Both of them murdered.
19:49What?
19:50I've seen every paper in town.
19:51That's why I wanted to see you.
19:53The paper says they're looking for a man seen leaving the house after midnight.
19:56Sure, that was me, but Fergus was alone when I left him.
19:58Now, now, listen, Walter.
19:58You've got to move carefully in a thing like this.
20:00This kind of affair is pie for the newspapers,
20:02and the fact that we were invited out there to play cards wouldn't read any too well.
20:05I haven't thought of that, but you've got nothing to worry about.
20:07You weren't there.
20:08I know that, but I'm not sitting back in the corner in this thing, you know, Walter.
20:11It just so happened that I wasn't out there,
20:13but I talked to you on the telephone out there last night from my house.
20:16And in a thing of this kind, they trace telephone calls and everything else.
20:19Oh.
20:20Now, now, Walter, I think the wise move for us is just to hop out there
20:23and try and find out what's going on.
20:24We've got to move mighty carefully, you know.
20:26Yeah, yeah, I know.
20:27I can't get over it, Billy.
20:29Just a few hours ago, I was sitting in his house playing cards with him.
20:31He's laughing and joking.
20:32You know the way Fergus is when he's in a card game.
20:34I know.
20:36Hey, Billy, I'm just beginning to realize that I was the last man
20:38to see Fergus Passmore alive.
20:39Oh, don't I know it.
20:41And that's what the police are looking for.
20:42You.
20:43Come on, now.
20:43Let's get going.
20:44All right, my car's out front.
20:45We hurry.
20:45We can get over there in ten minutes.
20:52Walter.
20:53Walter.
20:55Walter, where are you?
20:56Walter.
20:58Mrs. Harold.
21:00Maisie.
21:01Yes, Mrs. Craig.
21:02Maisie, where is Mr. Craig?
21:03I don't know, miss.
21:04Maybe he went out with that gentleman that was here a while ago.
21:06What gentleman?
21:06Who was he?
21:07I don't know, ma'am.
21:08I never saw him before.
21:09You're sure he's not around somewhere?
21:10I haven't seen him, ma'am.
21:11It's...
21:12You've been reading the paper.
21:14Ain't that a terrible murder, ma'am?
21:16I was just saying to Mrs. Harold...
21:17I don't want to talk about it, Maisie.
21:18Did you know the man?
21:20The Passmore, I mean.
21:20Oh, be quiet, Maisie.
21:21Leave me alone.
21:22Yes, ma'am.
21:24Oh.
21:25Why did I ever leave this house?
21:31You are listening to the Campbell Playhouse presentation of Craig's Wife,
21:35starring Orson Welles and Anne Hardy.
21:37This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.
21:44Maisie, go up and see that Miss Elder's door is closed and be quiet about it, Maisie.
21:58And don't disturb her.
21:59She's asleep.
22:02Hello?
22:03Yes, this is Mrs. Craig's residence.
22:05Yes.
22:06Oh, yes.
22:07Mr. Fredericks.
22:08Well, Ethel is lying down now.
22:10She was very tired.
22:10Poor child.
22:12No, no.
22:12There's nothing really you could do if you came down, Mr. Fredericks.
22:16Well, I'd much rather not call her, Mr. Fredericks, if you don't mind.
22:19Can't I take the message?
22:21Oh, I see.
22:22Of course.
22:22Yes, I understand.
22:24Oh, no, no.
22:25I wouldn't think disturbing her just now.
22:28I'm sorry.
22:29No, Mr. Fredericks.
22:30Mrs. Craig, there's a gentleman in you.
22:33He says he's from the police headquarters.
22:34Police.
22:36Show him in.
22:36Tell him I'll be right down.
22:38Will you step this way, please, mister?
22:40Mrs. Craig will be right in.
22:43Good evening.
22:44I call to see Mr. Craig.
22:46Oh, Mr. Craig isn't in just now.
22:47I'm sorry.
22:48Have you any idea what time Mr. Craig will be in?
22:50I'm expecting him any minute.
22:51He was here less than half an hour ago and I went upstairs.
22:53So he must be right here in the neighborhood somewhere.
22:56I see.
22:57He'll certainly be back for his dinner at seven o'clock if you care to call back.
23:00Well, it may be that you could give me the information I'm looking for as well as Mr. Craig.
23:04But would you sit down for a minute?
23:06Oh, certainly.
23:07I'll tell you what it is I wanted to see him about, Mrs. Craig.
23:09I suppose you've seen the evening paper about this unfortunate affair out here on Willows Avenue.
23:14You mean that shooting affair?
23:15Yes, at the Passmore home.
23:16Isn't that a dreadful thing?
23:18I've just been reading it.
23:19I'd want to alarm you, Mrs. Craig.
23:20There's no particular connection between that and my visit here.
23:23Oh, I'm very glad to know that.
23:25There was a man seen leaving the Passmore house shortly after midnight in an automobile.
23:29One of the neighbors happened to see him,
23:30but it was too dark to establish any identification.
23:33Besides, that wouldn't account for the death of Mrs. Passmore.
23:36Of course, she didn't get in until after three o'clock,
23:38and the man left there between twelve and one.
23:40I see.
23:41Of course, as you understand, Mrs. Craig,
23:42it's part of our business to follow up any little outside clue
23:45that we haven't got hold of that might throw some additional light on cases.
23:48Yes, of course.
23:49And that's what I wanted to see Mr. Craig about.
23:52You mean you think Mr. Craig might be the man that was seen leaving there last night?
23:56No, that circumstance is really not being seriously considered.
24:00House of that description might have had any number of visitors during the evening.
24:02That's very true.
24:04But we've had a report late this afternoon, Mrs. Craig,
24:06from the Linbrook Telephone Exchange, where your calls come in,
24:09that there was a call made on your telephone here at 527 this evening,
24:14about 30 minutes ago, asking for the address of a telephone number of Levering 3100.
24:19And that happens to be the number of the telephone Mr. Passmore's home.
24:23You mean that somebody called from here?
24:24On this telephone, yes, ma'am.
24:26Oakdale 623.
24:28That's the number of your telephone here, isn't it?
24:29Yes, it's our number.
24:30Yes, that's what I've got here.
24:32Well, I can't imagine who it be that called.
24:34Court says it was a woman's voice.
24:35And the call was made at 5 o'clock this evening, you say, half an hour ago?
24:39527, my report says.
24:41The operator didn't give the address, of course.
24:43It's against the telephone company's rules.
24:45It does seem strange, doesn't it?
24:47Has this telephone here been used at all, to your knowledge,
24:49Mrs. Craig, since 5 o'clock this afternoon?
24:52Why, I answered a call a few minutes ago from Northampton, Massachusetts.
24:56A long-distance call, you mean?
24:57Yes.
24:57It was a Mr. Fredericks at Smith College there,
25:00calling my cousin to inquire about her mother.
25:02Her mother's ill in Albany.
25:03I see.
25:04We don't know whether or not anybody from the outside has been in here since 5 o'clock.
25:08Not to my knowledge,
25:10except a neighbor from across the avenue there, Mrs. Fraser.
25:13She brought some roses over to my husband Grant.
25:15She was here when I got in,
25:17although I scarcely think she would have used the telephone.
25:20Mind if I use this phone here for a minute?
25:22Oh, not at all, go right ahead.
25:23Keelans, Tell calling.
25:36That's so.
25:37I got to wait in there before 6.
25:40Righto, Chuck, I'll be right over.
25:42Won't have to bother you anymore right now, Mrs. Craig.
25:45There's been a bit of additional information coming over at headquarters
25:47that'll hold things up temporarily.
25:48You know, sir, being some new development in the case?
25:50Yes, Mrs. Craig, a very important development.
25:52Good evening, and thank you, Mrs. Craig.
25:54Yes, very welcome.
25:59Walter, where have you been?
26:00I was really working on a line.
26:02Shut that door.
26:04Hi, what's the matter?
26:06Haven't you seen the evening paper of Fergus Passmore and his wife?
26:09Yes, I've seen it.
26:10Well, what about it, Walter?
26:11What about it? What do you mean?
26:12I've been nearly out of my mind for the last half hour.
26:15I happened to see it in the paper there when I came downstairs.
26:18I couldn't find you anywhere.
26:19I thought probably you'd been arrested or something.
26:21Why would I be arrested for, Harriet?
26:23Connection with this thing, of course.
26:24Police are looking for you.
26:25One of them just left here not five minutes ago.
26:27Are they looking for me?
26:29What are they looking for me for?
26:30Well, doesn't it say in the paper there that you were seen
26:32leaving Passmore at 12 o'clock last night?
26:33Well, it doesn't say that I was seen leaving there.
26:35It says there was a man seen leaving there.
26:37I know.
26:37And who else could it have been but you?
26:38You were out there, weren't you?
26:40Yes.
26:40Well, that's enough, isn't it?
26:41But they don't know that.
26:42Oh, don't be absurd, Walter.
26:44Didn't you tell me that Billy Burtmire
26:46called you on the telephone out there last night?
26:48Yes.
26:48Well, didn't the butler get your name then?
26:51No.
26:51Fergus answered the phone himself on the extension in the library.
26:53Did the policeman say they knew it was I that was out there last night?
26:56Oh, I don't remember what he said exactly.
26:57I was too upset.
26:59But he wanted to know where you were.
27:00And, of course, I couldn't tell him because you were here when I left the room.
27:03And then you suddenly disappeared.
27:04Disappeared?
27:04I was never placed in such a position in my life.
27:07I'm sure that man must have thought I was evading him.
27:09Where did you go with Billy?
27:11Over to Fergus's house.
27:12Oh, what in heaven's name did you do a thing like that for, Walter?
27:16He wants your name to be dragged into this thing?
27:18I should think your own common sense would show you
27:20what it would mean to have your name mentioned in an affair of this sort.
27:23I'd be in every newspaper in the country.
27:25Wouldn't bother me in the least.
27:26Wouldn't bother you?
27:27No, not in the least.
27:28My conscience is clear.
27:29Oh, don't be so absurdly romantic, Walter.
27:31It isn't a question of romanticism at all, Harriet.
27:34No, and it isn't a question of conscience either.
27:36Simply a matter of discretion.
27:38If you've had nothing to do with this thing, what's the use of becoming involved?
27:40What do you mean if I've had nothing to do with it?
27:42Oh, don't start picking me up on every word.
27:44And don't take out a cigarette, Walter.
27:45You know you can't smoke in this room.
27:47Oh, all right.
27:48Well, that's a nice place to throw it, I must say.
27:50Into the fireplace.
27:50Don't you want it?
27:51What good is it if I can't smoke it?
27:53Well, there are plenty of other places in the house to smoke if you want to.
27:55I don't know where they are.
27:56Well, you can smoke in your den, can't you?
27:58If I shut the door.
27:59Oh, now don't act martyred, Walter.
28:02I think I'll call up Billy and see if the police have been to see.
28:05You're not going to call Billy Berkmeyer.
28:07Why not?
28:08Don't you realize that that telephone is being watched
28:11and that they're probably watching Berkmeyer's too?
28:13And if you call him and the operator listened in...
28:14She's got something else to do but listen in on our calls, Harriet.
28:17Well, you listened in on this one, didn't you?
28:19Which one?
28:20What did you say?
28:21You mean the police said the operator had reported on a call from here?
28:24Oh, I don't remember what he said distinctly.
28:25He just kept rambling on about a telephone.
28:27I want to know why our phone's being watched.
28:28That's more I intend to find out.
28:30Now, listen to me, Walter Craig.
28:31You must not use that telephone.
28:33I will not allow you to drag my name into a notorious scandal.
28:36Oh, Harriet, I've got to find out where I'm at at this thing.
28:38If you speak over that telephone, I'll leave the house.
28:41And you know what construction would be put upon that under the circumstances.
28:46What do you mean?
28:48You'll leave the house.
28:49I mean exactly what I said.
28:51Do you think I could stay in this neighborhood 24 hours
28:53after my name has been associated with a thing of this kind?
28:55Harriet, you surely don't believe I had anything to do with a murder.
28:57It isn't for me to determine the degree of your guilt or innocence.
29:00I'm not interested.
29:01I'm interested only in the respect of the community we've got to live in.
29:04You mean you'd rather know I was involved in this thing
29:06and keep the respect of the community
29:08than know I was the victim of circumstances and lose it?
29:11All right, Mrs. Harold.
29:12Put it up for you.
29:13I'll be right out.
29:13Mrs. Harold.
29:14Yes, sir?
29:15Mrs. Harold, do you know if anybody's called that number
29:17that I gave you last night here today on the telephone?
29:19Levering 3-100?
29:20No, sir.
29:21You haven't had occasion to call that number today on this telephone?
29:23I never even thought about it today until Mrs. Craig asked me for it
29:25when she came in this evening and I gave it to her.
29:28All right, Mrs. Harold.
29:29Thank you very much.
29:32And it was you that made that call.
29:34What are you doing?
29:35Checking up on me?
29:36Don't flatter yourself, Walter.
29:37You were doing, wasn't it?
29:38Why didn't you tell the truth?
29:39You were playing safe.
29:40That was it, wasn't it?
29:40Exactly.
29:41And at my expense.
29:42I knew if I told you I made that call,
29:43you'd be on the telephone in five minutes telling the police.
29:46Well, I intend doing that anyway.
29:47Well, if you do, you'll explain my leaving you, too.
29:50That wouldn't worry me in the least, Harriet.
29:51Well, it might worry the police.
29:53But it's you the detectives are looking for, Harriet.
29:54Well, you needn't try to turn it on to me.
29:56They wouldn't be looking for either of us
29:58if you'd stayed at home last night
30:00instead of being out car playing with a lot of irregular people.
30:03I felt it in my bones up there in Albany
30:05that something would happen while I was away.
30:07I knew as soon as ever my back was turned,
30:09you'd be out with your friends again.
30:11And what is your back being turned?
30:12Got to do with my visiting my friends.
30:14Well, you wouldn't have been visiting them if I'd been here.
30:15What do you mean? How'd you stop me?
30:17I'd have stopped you all right one way or another.
30:19What you've done, locked the door on me?
30:20Wouldn't have been necessary to lock the door on you.
30:23You haven't been visiting them in the last 18 months, have you?
30:26No, I haven't.
30:27And they haven't been visiting you either.
30:30I mean, you kept them out of here.
30:31Well, if I did, the end justified the means.
30:34You at least haven't been in the shadow of the law in the last 18 months.
30:39My aunt said here a while ago
30:41she'd driven all my friends away from the house.
30:45I thought she was imagining things.
30:48Said something else, too, something I didn't believe.
30:51She said you were trying to get rid of me, too,
30:54without actually driving me away from the house.
30:57I believe that's true, too.
30:59What if I wasn't cordial to your friends?
31:02You think I wanted my house turned into a tavern?
31:04Friends never turned my mother's house into a tavern.
31:07Well, evidently, your mother and I had very different ideas of a house.
31:10Very different indeed, Harriet.
31:11There was more actual home in one room of my mother's house
31:13than there'd be in all of this if we lived in it a thousand years.
31:16Why didn't you stay in it, then, if you found it so attractive?
31:19Now you're talking, Harriet.
31:21Now you're talking.
31:22Why didn't I do just that?
31:25Don't make any mistake that you didn't want my friends here
31:27simply because they played cards.
31:32You wouldn't have wanted them if they'd come here to hold prayer meetings.
31:36You didn't want them because, as my aunt says,
31:38it's implied an importance to me.
31:41But it was at variance with your little campaign.
31:43The campaign that was to reduce me to one of the wife-ridden sheep
31:47that's afraid to buy a necktie for fear his wife might not approve of it.
31:50Oh, don't try to make yourself out a martyr.
31:52You had your share of this bargain.
31:53I never regarded this thing as a bargain.
31:55Did you expect me to go into a thing as important as marriage with my eyes shut?
31:59I wanted you to go into it honestly as I went into it 50-50.
32:03You've been playing safe right from the start.
32:05You've been exploiting me consistently in your shifty little business of personal safety.
32:11And you throw me right now to the suspicion of implication in this double murder
32:14to preserve that safety.
32:16I've been trying to preserve my home.
32:18That's all I've heard from you since the day I married you.
32:19Well, what else has a woman like me but her home?
32:23Hasn't she her husband?
32:24She could lose her husband, couldn't she, as many another woman has.
32:27Couldn't she lose her home, too?
32:29She couldn't if she knew how to secure it.
32:31That's the point in the nutshell, here it is.
32:33She knew how to fix it for herself.
32:35So what if I have fixed things for myself?
32:37You haven't lost anything by it, have you?
32:39If I fix them for myself, I fix them for you, too.
32:43Your home is here.
32:45And maybe if I hadn't played the game so consistently, it wouldn't be here.
32:49And I wouldn't be the first woman that's lost her home and her husband, too,
32:52through letting the control of them get out of her hands.
32:55I saw what happened to my mother, and I may never forget it.
32:59I saw what happened to my mother, and I made up my mind it would never happen to me.
33:03She was one of those I-will-follow-thee-my-husband women
33:08that believed everything my father told her,
33:10and all the time he was mortgaging her home over her head for another woman.
33:15And when she found it out, she did the only thing that women like her can do,
33:19and that was to die of a broken heart within six months,
33:22leaving the door wide open for the other woman to come in as stepmother over Estelle and me,
33:26and then get rid of us both as soon as Estelle was marriageable.
33:30But the house was never mortgaged over her head, I'll promise you that,
33:33for she saw to it that it was put in her name before ever she took him,
33:36and she kept it there, too, right to the finish.
33:38Why didn't you ask me to put this house in your name?
33:41Because I didn't want it in my name.
33:42You could have been more honest.
33:44I haven't done anything that wasn't honest.
33:46I simply tried to be practical, but with your usual romanticism,
33:49you want to make me appear a criminal for it.
33:51I'm not reproaching you at all, Harriet.
33:52I'm merely saying that you simply married the wrong man.
33:54I married a romantic fool.
33:56That's what I married.
33:56I'm saying it more clearly every day I live.
33:58Oh, well, we understand each other now, Harriet.
34:01Don't wait.
34:03Walter!
34:05Now, who on earth moves those ornaments on the mantelpiece?
34:07Brass of you.
34:10Presumption.
34:12Just wondering how you get that way.
34:14Walter, did you move those ornaments?
34:16So brazenly presumptuous as to say such a thing of me.
34:20What have you ever done for a million others like you
34:23that would warrant the assumption of such superiority over the men you're married to?
34:26I asked the servants a dozen times not to touch the things on the mantelpiece.
34:29You should set yourself up to control the very destiny of a man
34:32as though I were some mental incompetent.
34:34Excuse me, ma'am.
34:35Sorry, ma'am, but I had to remind you about dinner.
34:37It's going to be spoiled.
34:37Oh, Mrs. Harold.
34:39Who moved those ornaments?
34:40I only dusted them, ma'am.
34:42You know perfectly well I never allow anybody even to dust that mantelpiece but myself.
34:47I even bought a special little brush for those ornaments
34:49because I wouldn't trust them to anybody else.
34:51But you were away, Mrs. Craig.
34:52I am not interested in your excuses.
34:55I have told you over and over again never touch those ornaments
34:58and you deliberately disobey me.
35:00I'm sorry, Mrs. Craig.
35:00Well, don't let it happen again.
35:03You may put up the dinner.
35:04We'll be in in two minutes.
35:04Yes, Mrs. Craig.
35:07Walter, you better go along and get your dinner before it's cold.
35:09I'll go up and tell Ethel and Auntie Austin.
35:17Did something get broken here, Mr. Craig?
35:19Did that ornament fall off the mantelpiece?
35:22No, Mrs. Harold.
35:24I smashed it.
35:25On purpose, you mean, Mr. Craig?
35:28Yes.
35:29I didn't like it.
35:31Walter, did something fall down there a moment ago?
35:35No.
35:37What?
35:38Sounded up here as though the house fell down.
35:41Maybe it did, Harriet.
35:44I'm just standing here wondering.
35:49Is this the yellow cab company?
35:51Oh, will you send a cab to 8545 Franklin Avenue at once, please?
36:02What on earth is going on down there this morning, Mrs. Harold?
36:05It's the men taking out Miss Austin's truck, Mrs. Craig.
36:08Well, tell them to keep it away from the wall.
36:09I don't want that wall all scratched up.
36:11I only had it painted in April.
36:12Yes, ma'am. I'll tell them.
36:16Are you up, Walter?
36:17Yes.
36:19Good heavens, Walter.
36:20What a mess your room is, honestly.
36:23Oh, is that the morning paper?
36:25What does it say about the past morning?
36:26Quite safe.
36:27Quite safe.
36:27His brother got in last night from Pittsburgh
36:29with a letter that Fergus had written him
36:32intimating his intentions.
36:33Ah, then Fergus did it himself.
36:35So it appears.
36:36I was told he was jealous of his wife.
36:38He did it because she was dishonest.
36:40Well, thank heaven I kept my head last night
36:42and didn't allow you to telephone and make a show of us all.
36:44You can thank me that your name
36:46isn't in every paper in the city this morning.
36:48Oh, I can thank you for more than that, Harriet.
36:50Another thing.
36:52I want to know about that ornament there
36:53that broke him downstairs last night.
36:56I smashed it.
36:58Oh, what were you doing?
36:59Leaning against the mantelpiece again as usual?
37:01No, it wasn't an accident.
37:04I did it deliberately.
37:05What do you mean you did it deliberately?
37:08I mean that I smashed it purposely.
37:11What for?
37:12I became suddenly heroic.
37:14Yeah, I smashed it into a thousand little pieces.
37:18Then I smoked one cigarette after another
37:20till I had your sanctum sanctorum absolutely littered
37:23with ashes and cigarette butts.
37:24I was positively a whale of a fellow around here
37:27for about an hour last night.
37:28Sure thing.
37:29What did you do?
37:30Go out of your mind or something?
37:32No, I was particularly clear in my mind, strange to say.
37:35You made a remark here last night, Harriet, that
37:38completely illuminated me
37:41and illuminated you.
37:45Suddenly I saw for the first time everything.
37:48Just as one sees an entire landscape at midnight
37:51in a flash of lightning.
37:52But unfortunately, the lightning
37:56struck my house and knocked it down.
37:59I sat here all night wondering how I might build it up again.
38:01Oh, really, Walter?
38:02I saw your entire plan of life, Harriet,
38:04and its relationship to me.
38:07And my instinct of self-preservation
38:09suggested the need of immediate action.
38:12At the inauguration of a new regime here,
38:14so I smashed your little ornament as a kind of opening gun.
38:19I was going to smash all the other little ornaments
38:21and gods you'd set up a temple here
38:23and been worshipping before me.
38:26I was going to put my house in order,
38:28including my wife, and rule it with a rod of iron.
38:32I don't wonder that amuses you, it amused me.
38:35Particularly when I suddenly remember
38:36the truth of what you called me last night.
38:39In view of that, the absurdity of my trying to sustain
38:43such a role indefinitely made me laugh.
38:46But I'm rather sorry you couldn't have seen me anyway.
38:48I think you would at least have appreciated
38:50the sincerity of my attempt to continue here as your husband.
38:53What do you mean, your attempt to continue here as my husband?
38:55I realize now, Harriet, that the role is not for me.
39:00I can only play a romantic part.
39:05Ethel, dear child, what are you doing up so early?
39:08You're not ill, are you, dear?
39:09No, but I've made up my mind, Aunt Harriet.
39:11I've got to go to Albany.
39:12I know, dear child, but I'm sure
39:13you're upsetting yourself unnecessarily.
39:15We certainly would have heard something if anything had happened.
39:17And I really should call Mr. Fredericks
39:19on the long distance, Aunt Harriet.
39:20He'll be wondering what on earth has happened.
39:21He probably hasn't given it a thought.
39:23Oh, don't say that, Aunt Harriet.
39:25I know he hasn't.
39:25Mrs. Craig.
39:27Well, Mrs. Harold, what are you doing
39:28with your hat on at this hour?
39:29Where are you going?
39:30Well, the fact is I...
39:31I'm leaving, Mrs. Craig.
39:33Leaving?
39:33I'm going with Miss Austen, Mrs. Craig.
39:35Indeed?
39:36She was telling me last night she was going to leave here,
39:38and I said I thought I'd be leaving pretty soon myself.
39:40So she said if I was going away soon,
39:42she'd like very much to have me go with her.
39:44And do you think it's very considerate of you,
39:45Mrs. Harold, to walk away like this
39:47without getting me any notice?
39:49What about the keys?
39:49I left them all on your dressing table upstairs,
39:52and Miss Austen's, too.
39:53Well, I'd better check things over with you first,
39:54Mrs. Harold.
39:55We'll see who's at the door, will you, Ethel?
39:57And whoever it is, neither Mr. Craig nor I are at home.
40:00Come on upstairs, Mrs. Harold.
40:05Gene.
40:06Ethel.
40:07Oh, Gene, what are you doing here?
40:09I had to see you, darling.
40:10I thought maybe you were ill or something.
40:12I called you on the long distance,
40:13but I couldn't get any satisfaction.
40:15I didn't know what to think.
40:16So I just jumped on the night train
40:17and got in here at 8.20.
40:19I'm going right...
40:19I'm going home right away, Gene.
40:21Did your cousin tell you I called you last night?
40:23Why, no, she didn't.
40:24Well, I asked her to call you to the phone.
40:26She didn't seem to want to do it.
40:28In fact, she hung up on me.
40:31That's why I came down.
40:31It seems such a peculiar thing to do on the long distance.
40:34I know why she didn't tell me you called.
40:36She doesn't want me to marry you.
40:38Gene, do you really want to marry me very much?
40:41Why, yes.
40:43More than anything in the world, I do.
40:45Yesterday, she almost convinced me
40:46that I was wrong about loving you.
40:47But today, I know differently.
40:49If you're ready, Gene, we'll go.
40:50Uncle Walter will drive us to the station,
40:52away from on the port.
40:53I don't want to see Aunt Harriet again.
40:56Ethel, you and Mrs. and Mr. Fredericks get in the car.
40:59I'll be right out as soon as I figure anything.
41:01All right, Uncle Walter.
41:08Harriet?
41:10Well?
41:11What is it, Walter?
41:12I'm meeting Andy Orson in town.
41:14And on the way, I'll take Ethel and Fredericks down to the station.
41:17Is Ethel leaving without telling me goodbye?
41:19You wonder after what you did to her?
41:21Well, just because I...
41:23Walter, don't put those keys on that table.
41:24You'll scratch it.
41:25There's a key to your car in the garage
41:26with some other things I've left for you.
41:27You should warn me for anything during the week.
41:29I'll be at the Ritz.
41:29You'll be where, Walter?
41:32You're not serious about leaving this house.
41:34I just think that decision would please you very much.
41:35Well, it doesn't please me at all.
41:37It's absolutely ridiculous.
41:38But it's so absolutely practical.
41:40Oh, don't try to be funny, Walter.
41:42Anyway, I'd like to know what's practical
41:44about a man walking out and leaving his wife in his home.
41:48I have no wife to leave.
41:50You neither loved nor honored me.
41:52Well, you married me, whether I did or not.
41:53I never saw you before in my life, Harriet, till last night.
41:56Well, you married me, didn't you?
41:58And you married a house.
42:01If it's agreeable to you, I'll see that you had it all to yourself.
42:05You'll be quite alone with your house.
42:07You'll be back unless I'm very much mistaken.
42:09You don't know your man, Harriet.
42:11You know me pretty well, I'll grant you that,
42:13particularly when you said my mind worked very slowly.
42:16You fail to reckon with the thoroughness of my mind when it does work.
42:21We've shown our hands, Harriet, the game's up.
42:25If you also showed me how I could keep from making a fool of myself in the future.
42:28Well, you're certainly not beginning very auspiciously, I can tell you that.
42:31I shall be at least a self-respecting fool,
42:33and that's something I could never be if I stayed here.
42:36Harriet, there's something in a man that I suppose is...
42:39is a sensual manhood.
42:42You insulted that last night.
42:45I should be too embarrassed here under your eye,
42:48knowing that you had no respect for that manhood.
42:52I should remember my lover's ardors and enthusiasms for our future,
42:57and you bearing with me contemptuously for the sake of your future.
43:01I couldn't stand it.
43:02Where are you going when you leave here?
43:05Where a lot like me are going.
43:07Out-fashioned, possibly.
43:11You know, Harriet, I can't help but wonder,
43:13with all your wisdom it never occurred to you
43:14that one can't play a dishonest game indefinitely.
43:17I haven't played any dishonest game.
43:18Maybe not according to your standards, but I think you have,
43:21and I think you know you have.
43:24That's the rock that you and I are splitting on.
43:27This fair town,
43:28this fair town that you and I are living on,
43:31this fair past mores hadn't revealed you, something else would.
43:37So my going may as well be today as tomorrow.
43:42Goodbye, Harriet.
43:54What?
43:58What?