The Second-Story Man | Page 7

My dear, you do not understand. I could not have done that. I
was the representative of the interests of the company.
MRS. AUSTIN. And that is the sort of work you do for them?
AUSTIN. That is the sort of work that has to be done. I cannot help it,
much as I would like to . . .
MRS. AUSTIN. [Wildly.] You have done that sort of thing before. And
you will do it again!
AUSTIN. My dear . . .
MRS. AUSTIN. And you take money for it! You bring that money
home to me! And you never told me how you got it! You make me
sharer in your guilt!
AUSTIN. Helen!
MRS. AUSTIN. This was how you earned your promotion! This was
what you came to me and boasted about! This was what we married on.
This money . . . blood money . . . that you get for cheating this helpless
laborer out of his rights . . . out of everything he had in the world!
AUSTIN. My dear, you are out of your mind. You do not understand
business.
MRS. AUSTIN. I understand it all . . . a child could understand! It is
only you . . . the rising young lawyer . . . that doesn't understand!
Harvey, Harvey! Do you know what you have done to this man . . .
what you and I together have done to him? We have wrecked his life!
We have driven him to hell! We have murdered his wife and his two
children. We have turned him into a tramp and a criminal. We have
climbed to success on top of him . . . we have made our fortune out of
his blood! This house . . . this furniture . . . these pictures . . . all this
beauty and comfort . . . all this we have coined out of his tears and
agony . . . out of the lives of his sick wife and his two little babies! And
you have done this for me . . . you have made me the cause of it . . . you
have put the guilt of it upon my young life . . . a thing that I must carry
through the world with me until I die!
AUSTIN. [Starting toward her.] Helen!
MRS. AUSTIN. No! Don't touch me! Speak to HIM! It is with him you

have to do! What have you to say to him? Don't think about me!
AUSTIN. My dear, be reasonable!
MRS. AUSTIN. What have you to say to him? That is what I want to
know! Harvey! Don't you understand it is your character that is up for
judgment?
AUSTIN. It can't be as bad as you say.
MRS. AUSTIN. Why can't it? Find out.
AUSTIN. [After a long pause, turns to Jim.] Faraday.
JIM. Well?
AUSTIN. Is what my wife says true?
JIM. It's true.
AUSTIN. You got no damages from the company?
JIM. Didn't you fix it yourself? What do they pay you for?
AUSTIN. And had you no money saved?
JIM. My family had to live on it.
AUSTIN. And didn't you get your job back?
JIM. Until the shut-down, I did.
AUSTIN. Oh, that's so. I forgot that.
JIM. Humph!
AUSTIN. That's too bad. I will have to do something for you.
JIM. Will that bring my wife and babies back to life?
AUSTIN. Oh, your family died! My God . . . that's terrible! [A pause.]
Faraday, I can't help that. What can I do? Listen, man . . . you see how
unhappy my wife is . . . you don't want to make the thing impossible for
me, do you?
JIM. I ain't doing anything.
AUSTIN. Be reasonable, and let me atone for the mistake. We'll say
nothing about this . . . about tonight. We'll start over, and I'll see that
you get a good job, and a fair chance.
Jim. Humph!
AUSTIN. Will you do that? I'm honestly sorry about it. And perhaps if
I can give you some money for a start. .
[Takes out purse.]
JIM. Put up your money. It ain't likely you've got as much there as I'd
have got from the company.
AUSTIN. Oh, is that it? Well, maybe that is fair. I'll fix it up with you
on that basis.

JIM. And what about the other fellows, hey?
AUSTIN. The other fellows?
JIM. That you've done out the same way you done me. What about Dan
Kearney, that lost his life the day after . . and you and the rest of the
company sharks fixed it up so that his widow couldn't prove how it was
that he got hurt!
MRS. AUSTIN. Harvey!
JIM. Yes, ma'am,