LAURA. And, father, you told me a falsehood.
HEGAN. Laura!
LAURA. I am very sorry, but I have to say it. It was a falsehood; and
it is but one of many falsehoods that you have told me. I understand
just why you did it you think I ought not to ask about these things,
because it will make me unhappy; and so, for my own good, you do not
hesitate to tell me things that are not true.
HEGAN. My child, it is your father that you are talking to!
LAURA. It is my father, and a father who knows that I love him very
dearly, and who will realize it hurts me to say these things, fully as
much as it hurts him to hear them. But they must be said . . . and
said now.
HEGAN. Why now? Just at this moment . . .
LAURA. I know what you are going to say. At this moment you are very
busy . . .
HEGAN. My dear, the Exchange will open in an hour. And I am in the
midst of a big campaign. I have important orders for my brokers, and a
hundred other matters to attend to. And I expect Grimes here any
minute . . .
LAURA. Grimes?
HEGAN. Yes, my dear.
LAURA. You are not through with him yet, then?
HEGAN. No, Laura . . .
LAURA. Well, even so! Mr. Grimes must wait until I have said what I
have to say to you.
HEGAN. What is it, Laura?
LAURA. You are expecting the decision of the Court of Appeals on the
Grand Avenue Railroad case at noon today.
HEGAN. Why, yes . . .
LAURA. The decision will be in your favor. And you and Grimes are
planning to gamble on it, and to make a great deal of money.
HEGAN. Yes, my dear.
LAURA. And you paid Grimes two hundred thousand dollars to fix the
decision of the Court.
HEGAN. [Starting violently.] Laura!
LAURA. Grimes went to judge Porter's house the night before last and
induced him to change his vote on the case.
HEGAN. Laura!
LAURA. And so, what was to have been the minority opinion of the Court
is to be given out today as the Court's decision.
HEGAN. My God!
LAURA. You do not deny that this is the truth?
HEGAN. You overheard us at the house!
LAURA. Not one word, father.
HEGAN. But you must have!
LAURA. Father, throughout this conversation, you may honor me by
assuming that I am telling you the absolute truth. And I will be glad
when you will give me the same privilege.
HEGAN. Then, how did you learn it?
LAURA. That, unfortunately, I am not at liberty to tell you.
HEGAN. Then other people know it?
LAURA. They do.
HEGAN. Good God! [Stares at her, dumbfounded.] Who are these people?
LAURA. I cannot tell you that.
HEGAN. But, Laura . . . you must!
LAURA. It is impossible.
HEGAN. But . . . how can that be?
LAURA. I cannot discuss the matter.
HEGAN. But think . . . my dear! I am your father, and you must trust
me . . . you must help me . . .
LAURA. Please do not ask me. I have given my word.
HEGAN. Your word! [Gazes about, distracted.] You take the part of
others against your own flesh and blood!
LAURA. Listen, father! Think of me for a minute, and how it seems to
me. Do not be so ignoble as to think only of the exposure . . .
HEGAN. But, my child, realize what it will mean if this comes out! Are
these people among my enemies?
LAURA. That depends upon circumstances.
HEGAN. I don't understand you.
LAURA. I will try to explain, if you will be patient with me.
HEGAN. Go on! Go on!
LAURA. Father, you know what has been happening to me during the past
few months. You know how unhappy I have been. And now you have
committed a crime . . . a dreadful, dreadful crime!
HEGAN. My dear!
LAURA. I wish to make it clear to you . . . I am in desperate earnest.
I have taken all night to think it over, and I am not making any
mistake. I have made up my mind that, come what will, and cost what it
may, I must clear myself of the responsibility for these evils.
HEGAN. In what way are you responsible?
LAURA. In every way imaginable. My whole life is based upon them . . .
everything that I have and enjoy is stained with the guilt of them . .
. the house in which I live, the clothing that I wear, the food that I
eat. And I shall never again know what it is to be happy, while I have
that fact upon my conscience. Don't you see?
HEGAN. I see.
LAURA. I tried all night to find you. I wanted to have a chance to
talk with you, quietly. And, now, instead, I have to do it here, amid
all the rush and strain of this dreadful Wall Street. But so it is . .
. I must say it here. Father, I have come to plead with you, to plead
with you upon my knees. Listen to me . . . don't turn me away!
HEGAN. What do you wish me to do?
LAURA. First of all, I wish you to give up this illegal advantage that
you have gained. I wish you to stop this decision, and give the people
the victory to which they are entitled.
HEGAN. But, my dear, that is madness ! How can I...
LAURA. You compelled Grimes to do this thing . . . you can compel him
to undo it!
HEGAN. But, my dear, it would ruin me!
LAURA. If you do what I ask you to do, ruin will not matter.
HEGAN. What do you ask me?
LAURA. I wish you to stop this mad career . . . to give up this money
game . . . to drop it utterly! To stop selling stocks and manipulating
markets; to stop buying politicians and franchises . . . to sell out
everything . . . to withdraw. I want you to do it now . . . today . .
. this very hour!
HEGAN. But, my dear . . .
LAURA. I want you to come with me, and help me to find happiness
again, by doing some good in the world. I want you to use your power
and your talents to help people, instead of to destroy them.
HEGAN. My child! That is something very easy to talk about, but not so
easy to do!
LAURA. We will work together, and find ways to do it.
HEGAN. It seems possible, from your point of view . . . with your
noble ideals, and your sheltered life . . .
LAURA. My sheltered life! That is just what I can no longer endure!
That I should have ease and comfort, while others suffer . . . that my
father should take part in this mad struggle for money and power, in
order to give me a sheltered life! I must make it impossible for that
to continue! I must make you understand that all your money is
powerless to bring me happiness . . . that it is poisoning my life as
well as your own!
HEGAN. [Gravely.] Laura, I have tried to protect you . . . that is the
natural instinct of a father . . . to keep evil things from his
daughter's knowledge. If I have told you untruths, as you say, that
has been the one reason. But since you will not have it so . . . since
you must face the facts of the world . . .
LAURA. I Must !
HEGAN. Very well, then . . . you shall face them. You tell me to give
up this case . . . to change bac
k the Court's decision, so that the
public may reap the advantage. Do you realize that the public has
nothing to do with this suit? . . . That it is a covert attack upon me
by an unscrupulous enemy?
LAURA. You mean Murdock?
HEGAN. Murdock. You know something of his career, perhaps . . .
something of his private life, too. And if I should turn back, as you
ask, the public would gain nothing . . . he would be the only one to
profit. He would raid my securities; he would throw my companies into
bankruptcy; he would draw my associates away from me . . . in the end,
he would take my place in the traction field. Is that what you wish to
bring about?
LAURA. It is not that that I am thinking of. It is the corrupting of
the Court . . .
HEGAN. The Court! Do you know why Grimes and I had to do what we did?
LAURA. No.
HEGAN. And yet you have judged me! What would you say if I told you
that we had information that one of the judges had received a thousand
shares of Grand Avenue stock from Murdock? And that another had been
promised a seat in the United States Supreme Court by that eminent
Republican?
LAURA. Oh! Horrible!
HEGAN. You see what the game is?
LAURA. But, father! The buying and selling of the powers of the
Government . . .
HEGAN. The "Government" consisting of politicians who have gotten
themselves elected for the purpose of selling out to the highest
bidder. For ten years now I have been in charge of these properties .
. . I have had the interests of thousands of investors in my keeping .
. . and all the while I have been like a man surrounded by a pack of
wolves. I defended myself as I could . . . in the end, I found that
the best way to defend was by attacking. In other words, I had to go
into politics, to make the control of the "Government" a part of my
business. Don't you see?
LAURA. Yes, I see. But why play such a game?
HEGAN. Why? Because it is the only game I have ever known . . . the
only game there is to play. That is the way I have lived my life . . .
the way I have risen to power and command. I played it for myself, and
for my friends, and for those I loved.
LAURA. You played it for me! And, oh! father! father! . . . Can't you
see what that means to me? To realize that all my life has been based
upon such things! Don't you see how I can't let it go on . . . how, if
you refuse to do what I ask you to, it will be impossible for me to
touch a dollar of your money?
HEGAN. Laura!
LAURA. Just that, father! I should never again be able to face my
conscience!
HEGAN. [After a pause.] Listen to me, dear. You know that I have
always meant to withdraw . . .
LAURA. I know that. And that has been a confession! You know that you
are wrecking your life-wrecking everything! And if you mean to stop,
why not stop?
HEGAN. But, my dear, at this moment . . . in the midst of the battle .
. .
LAURA. At this moment you are on the point of doing something that
will put a brand upon your conscience for the balance of your career.
And at this moment you are confronted with the realization that you
are ruining your daughter's life. You see her before you, desperate .
. . frantic with shame and grief. And you have to make up your mind,
either to drive her from you, heart- broken . . . or else to turn your
face from these evils, and to take up a new way of life.
HEGAN. [Broken and crushed, sits staring at her.] Laura!
LAURA. [Stretching out her arms to him.] Father! A knock at the door;
they start.
GRIMES. [Enters.] Oh! Beg pardon!
HEGAN. Come in.
LAURA. [Starting up.] No!
HEGAN. Come in! You must know it!
GRIMES. What is it?
HEGAN. Shut the door! Grimes, the game is up!
GRIMES. How d'ye mean?
HEGAN. We've been betrayed. Somebody knows all about the Court
decision . . . about what passed between you and Porter, and between
you and me!
GRIMES. The hell you say!
HEGAN. We're threatened with exposure!
GRIMES. Who is it?
HEGAN. I don't know.
GRIMES. But, then . . .
HEGAN. My daughter tells me. But she is not at liberty to give the
names.
GRIMES. Well, I'll be damned! [He stares from HEGAN to LAURA; then
comes and sits, very deliberately, where he can gaze at them. A long
pause; then, nodding toward
LAURA.] What's her game?
HEGAN. [Weakly.] She will tell you.
GRIMES. [Looking at her.] Well?
LAURA. I am here to plead with my father to turn back from this
wickedness.
GRIMES. [Stares.] And do what, ma'am?
LAURA. Quit Wall Street, and devote himself to some useful work.
GRIMES. [After a pause.] And if he won't?
LAURA. I have told him he must choose between his present career and
his daughter's love.
GRIMES. [Gazes at LAURA, then in front of him; slowly shakes his
head.] I can't make out our young people. When I was a boy, young
women looked up to their parents. What's your father done to you, that
you should turn against him?
LAURA. I have not turned against him, Mr. Grimes.
GRIMES. [Indicating HEGAN, who sits in an attitude of despair.] Look
at him!
[A pause.]
LAURA. I am pleading with him for his own good . . . to give up this
cruel struggle . . .
GRIMES. To turn tail and run from his enemies?
LAURA. It is of my duty to the public that I am thinking, Mr. Grimes.
GRIMES. You owe no duty to this world higher than your duty to your
father.
LAURA. You think that?
GRIMES. I think it.
LAURA. [Hesitates a moment, then turns.] Father! What do you say? Is
that true?
HEGAN. [Crushed.] I don't know, my dear.
GRIMES. God Almighty! And this is Jim Hegan ! [To LAURA.] Where'd you
get onto these ideas, ma'am?
did not ask me to discuss this question. Our points of view are too
different.
GRIMES. [Shrugs his shoulders.] As you please, ma'am. But you needn't
mind me . . . I ain't easy to offend. And I'm only trying to
understand you.
LAURA. [After a silence.] Mr. Grimes, I had the good fortune to be
brought up in a beautiful and luxurious home; but not long ago I began
to go down into the slums and see the homes of the people. I saw
sights that made me sick with horror.
GRIMES. No doubt, ma'am.
LAURA. I found the people in the grip of a predatory organization that
had bound them hand and foot, and was devouring them alive.
GRIMES. You've been listening to tales, ma'am. We do a lot for the
people.
LAURA. You treat them to free coal and free picnics and free beer, and
so you get their votes; and then you sell them out to capitalists like
my father.
GRIMES. Humph!
LAURA. You sell them out to any one, high or low
, who will pay for the
privilege of exploiting them. You sell them to the rum-dealer and the
dive- keeper and the gambler. You sell them to the white-slave trader.
GRIMES. There's no such person, Miss Hegan.
LAURA. You offer an insult to my intelligence, Mr. Grimes. I have met
with him and his work. There was a girl of the slums . . . her name
was Annie Rogers. She was a decent girl; and she was lured into a dive
and drugged and shut up in a brothel, a prisoner. She escaped to the
street, pursued, and a friend of mine saved her. And, high and low,
among the authorities of this city, we sought for justice for that
girl, and there was no justice to be had. Yesterday afternoon I
learned that she cut her own throat.
GRIMES. I see.
LAURA. And that happened, Mr. Grimes! It happened in the City of New
York! I saw it with my own eyes!
GRIMES. Such things have been, ma'am.
LAURA. And you permit them.
GRIMES. I?
LAURA. You permit them
GRIMES. I can't attempt to discuss prostitution with a lady. Such
things existed long before I was born.
LAURA. You could use your power to drive the traffic from the city.
GRIMES. Yes, ma'am; I suppose I could. But if I'd been that sort of a
man, do you think I'd ever had the power?
LAURA. How neatly parried! What sort of a man are you, anyway ?
GRIMES. [Looks at hey fixedly.] I'll tell you the sort of man I am,
ma'am. [A pause.] I wasn't brought up in a beautiful, luxurious home.
I was brought up with five brothers, in two rooms on the top floor of
a rear tenement on Avenue B ; I was a little street "mick," and then I
was a prize "scrapper," and the leader of a gang. When a policeman
chased me upstairs, my mother stood at the head and fought him off
with a rolling-pin. That was the way we stood by our children, ma'am;
and we looked to them to stand by us. Once, when I was older, my
enemies tried to do me . . . they charged me with a murder that I
never done, ma'am. But dye think my old father ever stopped to ask if
I done it or not, ma'am? Not much. "Don't mention that, Bob, my boy,"
says he . . . "it's all part of the fight, an' we're wid yer." [A
pause.] I looked about me at the world, ma'am, and I found it was full
of all sorts of pleasant things, that I'd never had, and never stood a
chance of havin'. They were for the rich . . . the people on top. And
they looked on with scorn . . . I was poor and I was low, and I wasn't
fit for anything. And so I set to climb, ma'am. I shouldered my way
up. I met men that fought me; I fought them back, and I won out.
That's the sort of man I am.
LAURA. I see. A selfish man, bent upon power at any price! A brutal
man, profiting by the weakness of others! An unscrupulous man, trading
upon fear and greed! A man who has stopped at no evil to gain his
purpose!
GRIMES. I am what the game has made me.
LAURA. Not so! Not so! Many another man has been born to a fate like
yours, and has fought his way up from the pit . . . to be a tower of
strength for goodness and service, an honor to his people and himself.
GRIMES. I've not met any such, ma'am.
LAURA. No; you've not sought for them. You did not need them in your
business. The men you needed were the thugs and the criminals, who
could stuff ballot- boxes for you . . . the dive-keepers and the vice-
sellers, who would contribute to your campaign funds! And you have
dealt with them . . . you have built up the power they gave you into a
mighty engine of corruption and wrong! And you are master of it . . .
you use it to wring tribute from high and low! Selling immunity to