The Second-Story Man | Page 8

they done that. And it ain't the first time they done it,
either . . . nor the last. And they've bought juries . . . and judges, too, I
reckon . . . there ain't much work of a dirty sort that the Empire Steel
Company ain't tried in this city . . . and you can bet their smart young
lawyers know all the game! I'm sorry for you, lady . . . you're white,
and I'd be glad to help you. But I've seen too much of the company and
its ways, and I won't lie down and lick its hand . . . not for any money! I
ain't so low I've got the value of my wife and two little babies figured
out and ready to hand. I reckon I'll stay on the outside of the fence and
take my chances. I'll wind up in jail, I suppose; but there's many a
better man than me done the same. So I guess I'll go, and we'll call it
off.
[Starts away.]
MRS. AUSTIN. Harvey!
AUSTIN. My dear . . .
MRS. AUSTIN. Is that all you can say to him? You will let him go?
[To JIM.] Listen to me. You are right. We can never undo what we
have done. We cannot repay you. But at least we must do what we can.
We cannot let the evil go on. You yourself have no right to do it . . .
you have no right to give up your life.
JIM. I see what you mean, lady; and I'm sorry for you. I'd help you if I
could. But it's too late . . . I know that. There can't anybody save me.
I'm rotten . . . I'm a boozer. I couldn't stop if I wanted to. And I ain't got
any reason to want to. I ain't in the running.
MRS. AUSTIN. [Stretching out her arms.] But what can I do ?
JIM. You can look after them that ain't down. Look after them that your
husband and the rest of the company's sharks will do up tomorrow.
MRS. AUSTIN. No!
JIM. Oh, they'll do it! I know what you mean . . . you'll make him
stop . . . but they'll have another man in his place. It's a machine . . . it

goes right on. Yes, and you won't do as much as you think you will,
either . . . you'll think it over, and you won't go as far as you mean to
now.
MRS. AUSTIN. No! No!
JIM. Ah, but you can't help it . . . you're in the mill, too. It's the class
you belong to. You can talk and feel sorry . . . but you ain't made to do
things. You have to have your houses and your fine dresses . . . and you
couldn't live without them, and there'd be no use your trying. And that
means you have to live off my class . . . you have to ride on our backs.
And it don't much matter which part you ride on, as far as I can see.
You'll make your husband get a new job, maybe; but he'll do the same
thing in another way . . . only you won't find it out. But any way he gets
his money it'll come out of me and my kind. D'ye see? I do the work . . .
I'm the man underneath. I make the good things, and you get them. [A
pause.] Good luck to you.
MRS. AUSTIN. You are cruel.
JIM. Nothing of the kind. I've just told you the facts. I feel sorry for
you. I'd do anything I could for you. [Stretching out his hands.] See
what I've done! I've given you your husband's life.
MRS. AUSTIN. Oh!
JIM. Yes, just that. You've no idea how many times I swore it . . . that
I'd kill him on sight . . . that I'd strangle the life out of him, if ever I laid
eyes on him again. I used to sit when I was half drunk, and brood over
it . . . my God, I even swore it by the body of my little boy! And I've
got my gun, and you've taken his away from him. And I don't shoot
him. [A pause.] I leave him to you. [Grimly.] You punish him.
[Exit right.]
[AUSTIN stretches out his arms to his wife. She sinks upon the table,
burying her head.]
CURTAIN

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Sinclair

The Second-Story Man

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