EXT. PENNSYLVANIA -- DAY
John stands head bowed beside an unclosed grave while Eddie, who has grown older, and young WILLIAM cry softly. MOURNERS leave and the DOCTOR approaches John.
DOCTOR
Why did you stay away so long, Geary?
JOHN
Sir?
DOCTOR
I watched Margaret month after month waste away. She just sat and read and reread your old letters. How could a man write such warm letters and then be so cold to those who loved and needed him?
JOHN
I beg your pardon.
DOCTOR
She lived for the day you would come home, lived with her dreams and her love for you and her family.
JOHN
Margaret understood. I did it for her, and for my sons.
DOCTOR
She didn't want your millions. Margaret only wanted a husband, one without an ambition choking out everything in his life.
JOHN
That's not your concern. Good day to you, sir.
The doctor shakes his head and turns away. John takes the boys to the buggy.
JOHN
Eddie, you're going to have to be a man now. President Pierce has summoned me to Washington.
EDDIE
You . . . You're going to leave me and Willie alone?
JOHN
Dinah will be coming to take care of you boys.
EDDIE
Dinah?
JOHN
You remember Dinah. She was with your grandmother. Dinah and I grew up together.
EDDIE
She's our slave?
JOHN
Dinah is no one's slave! Mother freed her before she died. The Gearys hold no one in bondage.
EDDIE
I'm old enough. I can take care of me and Willie.
JOHN
I admire your spunk, son, but the matter is closed. Dinah will be with you. You don't want me to miss visiting the president, do you?
EXT. KANSAS COUNTRYSIDE -- NIGHT
Scenes of violence where ARMED RIDERS shoot at each other, ride through streets burning buildings and homes, watch MEN hanged. BANDS move across the countryside.
JOHN'S VOICE OVER
When you sent for me to come to Washington, I thought it was about the problems in Kansas, but I beg of you, President Pierce, don't ask this of me. My wife only recently died and I have two small boys to care for.
PIERCE'S VOICE OVER
I wouldn't ask if there was another I could depend on. You turned down being territorial governor of Utah. But this situation in bloody Kansas has to have a big man, a man of stature, a man I trust. Both abolitionists and slaveholders are sending people into the territory to stack the voting for statehood. It's a powderkeg.
JOHN'S VOICE OVER
There must be any number of men who can govern the territory.
PIERCE'S VOICE OVER
Citizens live in terror. A zealot named John Brown is burning a path of violence across the state, attacking slaveholders. And the slave interests are just as bad.
JOHN'S VOICE OVER
I heard of Brown. I agree with his motives, but not his methods.
PIERCE'S VOICE OVER
The last two governors I sent ran from threats of assassination. I don't believe anyone can make you run, John. Even though you oppose slavery, I know you will be a fair man. Don't let us down.
INT. GEARY KITCHEN -- DAY
DINAH, an attractive black woman, cooks while Eddie and Willie, both munching cookies, sit at the table.
DINAH
Yes, Eddie, I can read and write. Your grandma taught me.
EDDIE
Why did she do that? You were a slave.
DINAH
I already told you. I won't no slave then.
WILLIE
(to Eddie)
Grandma taught her slaves before she set them free, dummy.
EDDIE
Do your lessons, Willie.
WILLIE
I don't have to, do I, Dinah?
DINAH
Both you boys better keep learning so's you can read your father's letters when he sends them to you from Kansas.
EDDIE
You were a slave. You can't tell me what to do.
DINAH
While John Geary's gone, I'm his deputy and you better do what I say.
Eddie glowers in rebellion for a minute.
EDDIE
When papa comes home things will change.
DINAH
What you gonna say if he comes back and marries that widder woman--Mary Henderson.
WILLIE
He won't do that. She ain't our mother.
EDDIE
We're all right, just us. We don't need anybody else.
DINAH
You won't have much to say about it. Talk is they were getting pretty serious before he left--and he's been writing her.
The boys look disturbed.
EXT. LECOMPTON STREET -- DAY
A one-story building with a sign saying TERRITORIAL GOVERNOR'S OFFICE is among unimposing structures of the frontier town. CROWDS--traders, farmers, ranchers--move warily about as if suspicious of each other. Some are on horseback, in buggies, on foot, moving with an air of apprehension. Everyone is armed.
JOHN'S VOICE OVER
The Lord knows I hate to leave, Monk--just when it seemed we could have peace between the slavers and free staters. After exiling John Brown, I thought things would be better.
DEVLIN'S VOICE OVER
The president gave you the marching orders, governor. He's taking the 'sassynation threats serious. You gotta slip out tonight.
JOHN'S VOICE OVER
I'm not sure if it's concern over my safety or politics. The president caters to his secretary of war. Jefferson Davis
(more)
JOHN'S VOICE OVER(Cont'd)
wants slavery in Kansas, and the president needs his southern Democrats.
INT. GOVERNOR'S OFFICE -- SAME DAY
The office is crude with a few chairs, wall maps and the governor's desk only slightly larger than Devlin's sitting nearby. They are packing papers.
DEVLIN
I'd take that last piece of mail you got serious.
Devlin picks up a letter from John's desk to read from it.
DEVLIN
"A negra black rat make out to be a guvaner. I got rat poison made out of led."
JOHN
Action impresses me. Not threats.
DEVLIN
The president's got another governor on the way?
JOHN
He's bringing in a yes man, and there's nothing I can do. He's already pulled my teeth. The U.S. Marshals have orders not to serve my papers. The military is busy somewhere else when I need them.
DEVLIN
Maybe they think you might want to run for president. (he grins) How would I look as vice-president, President Geary?
JOHN
None of that--not even joking. I'm not ready for a campaign manager yet. I confess that someday I .. . .
A SERGEANT bursts into the room.
SERGEANT
They's back, governor! They's back!
JOHN
Settle down, sergeant. Who's back?
SERGEANT
They's going at the free town of Lawrence, sir--three thousand of them!.
DEVLIN
Must be the pro-slavers on the march.
SERGEANT
That's right, Mister Devlin. They're saying they gonna hang every free stater in Lawrence and burn the town.
JOHN
By God! Not while I'm still governor. Why hasn't General Cook gone to their aid?
SERGEANT
Says he can't move without direct orders from Washington. What you gonna do, governor? My wife and kids are there.
John removes his formal coat, hangs it up and straps on a pair of holstered pistols.
JOHN
Monk, write me an order to General Cook telling him to meet me at Lawrence to put down this insurrection. I'll take full responsibility. Tell the general to meet me there with troops. Have the sergeant take it to the general personally.
Devlin pauses in his writing.
DEVLIN
Don't you think, governor, that . . .
JOHN
What is it?
MONK (Cont'd)
. . . that it would carry more weight if I delivered it personally? Besides, I'm not much good with a gun anyway.
JOHN
Good thinking. You take it. I've got a long, fast ride ahead of me.
Devlin smiles and puts the order in his coat pocket.
EXT. LAWRENCE STREET -- NIGHT
Sign on store front says LAWRENCE GEN. MDSE. PEOPLE are loading belongings onto wagons and buggies. The street has been pandemonium, but John stands in their midst to calm them.
JOHN
You don't have to run from hoodlums. This is your town and I promise no one will molest you. I stake my life on that.
FIRST MAN
Life don't mean much to them people--yours or anyone else's. There's thousands of them on the way.
JOHN
And I have a regiment of troops coming.
SECOND MAN
Who's gonna stop 'em 'till the troops get here--if they do come?
JOHN
I will!
THIRD MAN
By yourself?
JOHN
Just don't panic. You will be safe.
FIRST MAN
It's too late. They're coming. They're here.
Women SCREAM. Men SHOUT and run about. John's voice rises above the chaos.
JOHN
(shouting)
Just clear the streets. Go back to your homes. I'll keep them busy until the troops arrive.
People quickly disappear into shadowy doorways. Horses, mules and wagons are left standing. John stands alone in the middle of the dusty street, waiting. His hands are on his hips near the revolvers. The armed riders stop at the edge of the town and their leader, PARDUE, dismounts and, looking suspiciously into the shadows, cautiously approaches John.
PARDUE
We're here to burn this town. We don't want no free staters in Kansas.
JOHN
You'll burn nothing! I order you to disperse and leave these people in peace.
PARDUE
Order! You order? Who the hell you think you are?
JOHN
I'm your governor. John Geary.
Pardue looks closer at John, recognizing him.
PARDUE
Yeah--you're that wild sonuvabitch they sent us from Washington. We're gonna burn the town, and you too.
From the crowd of waiting horsemen, a RIDER shouts impatiently at Pardue.
RIDER
What're we waiting for, Pardue? Let's put this place to the torch.
PARDUE
(shouting back)
Hold your 'taters! We got us a governor here as well as a town.
The horsemen stir uneasily.
VOICES OVER
Hey, that IS Geary. The governor's here. Troops must be hiding around somewhere! It's a trap!
PARDUE
(to John)
There ain't no troops. I don't give a damn if you got dirtdobbers hiding in every doorway, Geary. We came for a fire and we're gonna roast some free staters. You can't stop thousands of men.
JOHN
Right now you better worry about just one man.
PARDUE
Who might that be?
JOHN
Yourself.
PARDUE
Huh?
JOHN
If a single man moves in with a torch, I'll blow your head off before the first spark starts.
Pardue hesitates, looking into John's cold eyes. Pardue grins.
PARDUE
You ain't afraid of dying, are you?
JOHN
No. Are you?
FIRST RIDER
(shouting to Pardue)
What we gonna do? Things ain't right here.
Pardue waves at the man, continues talking to John.
PARDUE
You don't remember me, colonel Geary, but I remember you. I was with Jeff Davis' outfit in Mexico. We used to call you that crazy bastard from Pennsylvania, the way you led that White Star outfit in charges against Santa Anna's men.
JOHN
Those were better times than these, Pardue. There's no honor in dying in a street--like this.
PARDUE
No . . . they ain't, Colonel Geary.
He turns and waves to his men, shouting back at them.
PARDUE
We're leaving, boys. It's too much for us here. (to John) There'll be another day for you and me. We're on different sides of something mighty important to us. But I'll warn you--you better get out of Kansas. Some big people want you dead. You can't trust anybody. By the way, I know
(more)
PARDUE (Cont'd)
you ain't got no regiment on the way. That's the way it was supposed to be.
JOHN
Then why . . . ? I know you're not afraid.
PARDUE
A man's gotta respect something. Till we meet again, colonel.
JOHN
Till we meet again, Pardue.
INT. LIVING ROOM GEARY HOME -- DAY
On a fall afternoon, Dinah and MARY, John's wife, sit sewing before the soft fire in the fireplace of the comfortable, well furnished room. Mary is attractive, tall. A baby, also MARY, plays on the floor.
MARY
I'm glad you decided to stay with us, Dinah.
DINAH
Why would I leave? I been with the Gearys all my life, like my mother before me.
MARY
I know--you're family. And you've been such a help to me. I love John Geary. I married him. I've borne his baby. But sometimes I feel I don't really know him--at least not like you do. He's a driven man, like he's trying to wrap a dozen lifetimes into one.
DINAH
Always he's like that. Pushes everybody hard. Pushes himself harder.
MARY
But why, Dinah? He's already earned enough honors--and money--to distinguish half a dozen men.
DINAH
Like he's hearing a voice calling him to do something he ain't done yet.
MARY
His law practices does well. The farm is prosperous. But there's an urgency in him as if he's waiting for some call from destiny.
DINAH
I remember when he comes back from Mexico--there's a look in his eyes. He had a saber with blood on it. I cleaned it and John had a fit. Said he wanted it to remind him of the war. Says a war brings out the best, and the worst in a man.
MARY
And that same man can be so tender.
DINAH
He's like a man looking down a tunnel. Don't see anything to either side, just straight ahead.
Mary looks out the window at John and HANK MEBANE, a handsome man John's age, in the distance walking across farm fields near the house. They have shotguns and bird DOGS.
MARY
I hope it doesn't bother you having John's friend Henry Mebane as John's guest, him being a slave holder from Savannah.
DINAH
(smiling)
Why should it? You ain't trying to sell me, are you?
MARY
Dinah! Don't even joke about that.
DINAH
They got a strange friendship--John and mister Hank.
MARY
He has a beautiful laugh. Such a charming person, not the kind you would think of having slaves.
DINAH
They go back a long ways. Him and John met while they served in Mexico.
JOSH appears at the kitchen doorway and KNOCKS politely on the door frame. He is a handsome, muscular black man dressed in better than average clothes. He speaks slowly with a dialect.
JOSH
'Scuse me, Miss Dinah, but when you get time I wanted to show you that spoon bread recipe.
Dinah beams widely and winks at Mary. She rises to go to the kitchen.
DINAH
Mary, I guess I better go see what this Georgia field hand wants before he messes up my kitchen.
MARY
Oh, I think we know what he wants, but we're not going to let Josh take you back to Savannah.
Josh chuckles.
JOSH
I surely wish I could, Miss Mary. I surely wish I could.
INT. GEARY KITCHEN -- DAY
Josh tries to put his arm around Dinah who pulls coyly away.
DINAH
How come you talk like a field hand around Mary?
Josh grins like a kid caught in the cookie jar. His dialect disappears.
JOSH
Habit. I don't know Miss Mary that well. Some people don't like (his dialect appears briefly) an uppity black man.
DINAH
You don't talk like that around Hank?
JOSH
(his dialect disappears)
Of course not. Unless he and I are around strangers.
DINAH
Did you bring me back here to talk about spoon bread--or to spoon, Josh Mebane?
JOSH
We don't have much time, Dinah--only a few more days. Really think about going back with us. You haven't lived until you see Savannah. The ocean. The river. The lowlands. The . . .
DINAH
The alligators. The mosquitoes big as houses. The slaves. No thanks.
JOSH
Don't put me down--please. I've never met anyone like you.
DINAH
Your southern black women are afraid to speak their mind.
JOSH
I've already talked to Hank. If you come as my bride, we would have our own home, our own share of the cotton and crops. As Hank's overseer, I get a percentage now.
DINAH
And he gets our children. When I marry, it will be to a free man. My children will be free. I won't fall in love with an uneducated slave.
JOSH
Uneducated! How many blacks--how many white men do you know who can read the Old Testament in Hebrew? Or Greek? Read and write Latin or French? Discuss Plato or Chaucer with you?
DINAH
I suppose you can.
JOSH
When Hank went to school, I went with him. What he studied, I studied. Where he learned, I learned. London. Paris. Athens.
DINAH
No matter. You're still a slave.
JOSH
I'm not a . . .
DINAH
I suppose you're going to tell me you're a free man.
JOSH
I am.
DINAH
Don't lie to me.
JOSH
I swear. Hank did it. I have my papers, but we keep it quiet with all the trouble brewing between the North and South.
DINAH
Maybe . . . you are telling the truth. But you ain't getting me to go around where they chain up black people and sell them at auction.
JOSH
Things will change--some day.
DINAH
I won't wait for someday. Now--if you would think about settling here around sensible folks. I'm sure John and Mary would sell us a piece of land. I got some money saved up. Just maybe . . .
JOSH
I can't leave Hank--not now. We have big plans. You can be with us. Be part of them.
DINAH
Josh, we don't have time to banty words. I admit I care for you more than any man I've met. But your world isn't mine. Never can be. You would like my world, if you would just try it.
JOSH
This isn't the time now, Dinah. Let us just keep the door open--both ways. Please.
DINAH
Of course, dear Josh.
They embrace.
EXT. FARM FIELD -- SAME DAY
John and Hank walk across the fields where hired hands, black and white, harvest crops. John's heavy black beard is full grown. The two men carry shotguns couched in their arms and follow the bird dogs.
HANK
How you ever got such a beautiful wife is beyond me, my gruesome friend. And, of course, it didn't hurt she came with money and land of her own.
JOHN
You know I didn't marry her for her money, Hank. Of course, a little security never hurt any romance
They both laugh.
HANK
A little! You must be worth several millions now.
JOHN
When are you going to settle down to married life?
HANK
Oh--maybe soon. I've been courting a pretty little redhead with a Scottish temper. But I just don't see what Mary saw in an old sourpuss like you.
JOHN
Frankly, I don't either. She has been my wife and my partner in everything.
HANK
(jokingly)
What you really need is a few slaves. I'll send you some as a present.
JOHN
Don't joke about that! You know how I feel.
HANK
I apologize, my friend. It was in poor taste.
JOHN
I'll never understand how a man as sensitive as you could support the institution of slavery.
HANK
I don't support it. It supports me. Slavery has become an economic necessity in the South, a source of cheap labor we cannot survive without. If my neighbor has slaves and I don't, I can't compete with my cotton and cane crops.
JOHN
You're a good Christian. You know it's wrong.
HANK
I can quote you passages from the Bible in support of slavery.
JOHN
You won't do that. You're no hypocrite.
HANK
No, I have many sins. Hypocrisy isn't one of them. In practicality, without slave labor, our plantation system wouldn't survive.
JOHN
Why not work freemen--white and black--as I do? A free man works harder.
HANK
Maybe--but our profit margin won't allow it. After the initial investment of eighteen hundred dollars for a good slave fieldhand--money I must borrow from a cotton factor, it costs me only about sixty dollars a year to keep him up. Where can I find a freeman to work for sixty dollars a year. Of course, it's a vicious circle. To pay back the loan, I must cultivate more land. Then I have to buy more slaves to cultivate the new land, using money I borrow from the factor.
JOHN
(chiding)
And you sit in the shade of your verandah plying yourself with strong spirits while your slaves sweat and toil, getting the whip if they don't meet their quota.
HANK
(laughing)
Come now, John. Can you see me whipping anyone? I grant you some owners do. Not on the Mebane plantation. I get out and work side by side with them, daylight to dark. Sometimes by lantern light. They're family to me--just as Dinah is to you.
JOHN
There's a difference. Dinah's free.
HANK
Let's not dwell on this. If it makes you feel better, our slaves are compensated for good work and good crops. Small amounts, of course, but many have bought their freedom and stayed on.
JOHN
Slavery is a blight on the land.
HANK
It's a problem we in the South must solve ourselves, in our own way.
JOHN
In your own time?
HANK
Yes, in our own time.
JOHN
That Abe Lincoln running for president has strong views on slavery.
HANK
The South would never stand for that Black Republican. If he were elected, that would be the end of the Union.
JOHN
Little chance of his winning. Stephen Douglas and the Democrats far outnumber his party.
HANK
We'll settle the slavery issue as reasonable men. Never as enemies, my friend John.
JOHN
Never as enemies, my friend Hank.
A covey of birds fly up and both John and Hank fire, the explosions reverberating across the peaceful countryside. They continue firing at the birds.
EXT. BATTLEFIELD -- DAY
A CANNON roars with SOLDIERS in gray manning it beneath a Confederate flag. It fires from right to left.
EXT. ANOTHER BATTLEFIELD -- DAY
Another CANNON fires, this time manned by SOLDIERS in blue under the Stars and Stripes. It fires from left to right.
EXT. FRONT OF GEARY HOME --- DAY
Mary stands on the front porch holding baby Mary. Young WILLIE H. half hides behind his mother while 12-year-old WILLIE G. stands defiantly beside Mary with his father's rifle cradled in his arms. A restless breeze blows the American flag masted on the porch as Mary watches the loosely marching Confederate SOLDIERS crossing their fields. Two mounted generals--JOHNSON and RHOADS--ride up to the porch.
Willie G. sucks in his breath to gain courage before speaking.
WILLIE G.
I'm warning you. My name is Willie Geary and General John Geary is my father. This is his home and he is a dangerous man when he's roused.
John and Rhoads exchange amused glances.
MARY
Willie, be quiet. We must see what these gentlemen want.
JOHNSON
Pardon the intrusion, ma'am. I'm General Johnson. This is General Rhoads. We're just passing through.
Rhoads looks at Willie with a smile, speaking to him.
RHOADS
And we wouldn't dream of disturbing the peace of his home--because I know John well and he is a very dangerous man when roused.
JOHNSON
If we meet John Geary it will be on the battlefield, not at his home. We're on our way to a place called Getttysburg and I suspect we'll see enough of John there.
RHOADS
Good day to you, Mrs. Geary.
They salute her and ride away to rejoin the moving column of troops. Mary breathes a sigh of nervous relief and looks toward the horizon over which the men are marching. In the distance, cannonfire echoes across the land.
EXT. GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELD -- DAY
John, uniform torn and bloody, stands atop a hill firing toward the Rebel lines. His standard bearer holding the White Star banner stands at his side.
INT. GEARY LIVING ROOM -- DAY
Mary paces the floor, a communication in her hand. EDDIE, now in his late teens, tries to calm her.
EDDIE
Mary, he's alive. That's what's important. Father may be a prisoner, but he's alive.
MARY
First that newspaper article that he lost an arm in battle--and now he's been captured in the battle at Culpepper. We'll never see your father again.
EDDIE
Of course we will. Nothing can stop him.
MARY
Many of my friends never understood what I saw in that cold mountain of strength. There is a warmth he seldom shows, a sensitivity he hides. If only he would lower his guard and be the loving, caring man he is.
Eddie puts his arm around Mary, pulling her close.
EDDIE
I know how you feel. Father has always shut himself off from me. When he sent mother and Willie and me away from him in San Francisco, she began dying. I don't want that to happen to you. . . . Mary, you . . . you need love and understanding. I . . .
Mary looks at him tenderly, then embarrassed she pulls away gently.
MARY
Your being here means so much to me--in John's absence. I don't know what I would have done without you.
EDDIE
You shouldn't worry. He's indestructible. Monk Devlin wrote they're working on a prisoner exchange.
MARY
Oh, Eddie, I pray that it's so.
INT. CONFEDERATE FIELD TENT -- DAY
Major Hank Mebane in Confederate uniform is seated at a crude table talking to his AIDE.
AIDE
General Geary is being brought to see you before he's sent back on the prisoner exchange. At least, with his arm injury, we won't have to face him leading his White Star division on the battlefield again.
HANK
Don't bet on it. It would take more than losing the use of an arm to stop that man.
John, in battle scarred Union uniform, his left arm hanging uselessly at his side is brought in by an armed CORPORAL. He is stiff, particularly when he recognizes Hank.
JOHN
Are you responsible for my getting preferential treatment?
Hank ignores the question.
HANK
(smiling)
Always the stuffed shirt. Aren't you going to say hello to and old friend.
JOHN
My only greeting to traitors is a bayonet.
Hank controls his irritation with difficulty.
HANK
Traitor? For protecting my home against invaders?
JOHN
You violated the sacred trust of the Union.
HANK
John, we went through this before when it was only theoretical. The thirteen colonies entered voluntarily. We left voluntarily. Your mister Lincoln wants to force us to remain under his yoke against our will.
JOHN
Your act was treason, pure and simple. The Union above all.
HANK
That's always the difference in us. With me, my family comes first, then my hometown, then my state, and then the nation--which in this case is now the Confederate States of America.
JOHN
Our differences can be settled in only one way.
HANK
By force of arms? Might makes right, John?
JOHN
If you are through with me, major . . .
HANK
How is your arm? You could still have gangrene. The doctors say they wanted to amputate. You wouldn't let them.
JOHN
It's my arm.
HANK
Might hurt your political career. A wounded man looks better than a one-armed one on election day, doesn't he, John?
JOHN
With your permission, major, I would like to end this interrogation.
HANK
Once we were friends, John
JOHN
Once--and no more.
HANK
Well, good luck. You're going home on a prisoner exchange tomorrow. Give my love to Mary and the family.
Hank holds out his hand to John who ignores it. John salutes and abruptly turns and leaves.
EXT. RAILWAY DEPOT -- DAY
John stands on the rear platform or a train at the Harrisburg station. A brass band and a CROWD cheer him. He smiles and waves his right hand to them. Mary, Dinah and Eddie are among the group
MARY
Look! Look! He has both arms.
DINAH
I told you no rebel cannons can stop that man. Go to him, Mary.
MARY
Not yet, Dinah. Let him have his moment of glory. Let the people have him first.
DINAH
He looks like a man already running for president.
EDDIE
Maybe he is.
DINAH
Abe Lincoln better watch out for John Geary.
INT. GEARY LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT
Mary sits while John paces the floor.
MARY
Can't you relax? This medical leave was supposed to let you recuperate.
JOHN
I must get back before I miss the action.
MARY
And the glory.
John looks sharply at her.
MARY (Cont'd)
I know you believe in what you're fighting for, but you carry it like John Geary's personal crusade.
JOHN
I was passed over for honors and promotion in the Mexican War. I won't be in this one. Some say I'm not very diplomatic. The people don't want softness. They want the firm hand of retribution on the necks of traitors.
MARY
You mean what the voters want. You're already campaigning for office after the war.
JOHN
First things first. As long as we're on the subject, I must tell you Eddie is going back with me as a lieutenant in my division. Little Willie is going as a drummer boy.
MARY
No! No, John, I won't allow it.
JOHN
You? You won't allow it? They are MY sons.
MARY
They are mine, too. Eddie is like a . . .
JOHN
They know their duty to their country.
MARY
You mean their duty to their father. You left me with running our farm and business. I have to have Eddie here. And Willie's too young. You care more about your ambitions than me or your own family.
JOHN
That's not true.
MARY
You are self centered. Selfish. You see yourself as a national monument.
JOHN
I have a destiny to fulfill.
MARY
Destiny? You have a king sized ego, as big as your body. You should have lived in the days of kings where you could be lord of the realm.
JOHN
Margaret would never have talked to me like that.
MARY
Maybe if she had she would still be alive.
He slaps her. Mary recoils, tears welling in her eyes. But she won't cry.
JOHN
Mary . . . I'm sorry. My temper got the better of me.
MARY
Do as you wish, John. You will any way. Just stay away from me.
Mary leaves the room.
JOHN
Mary, wait. I . . .