go on my account. You can hear what I have to say. ( He turns to the head of the family ) Baldwin, if you feel like coming around to the Third National sometime this week, you’ll find a position waiting for you. BALDWIN : ( thunderstruck ) Do you mean that, Mr.
Marshall? MARSHALL : ( smiling ) I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t. ( He continues more seriously. ) I was in to see Gresham this afternoon.
He told me about the offer he had made you. But he knew that no amount of money would make you do something you thought wrong. Baldwin, he paid you the supreme compliment; rather than go to trial with you to testify against him, he confessed. BALDWIN : ( sinking into a chair ) Confessed!
MARSHALL : Told the whole story. ( He turns to Martha ) I can only say to you what every man will be saying tomorrow: how highly I honour and respect your husband! How sincerely- MARTHA : ( seizing his hand piteously ) Please! Please!
Can’t you see he’s crying? (Slowly, the curtain falls.) - (slightly adapted) Let’s understand better: Mr. Marshall offers Baldwin a job at his bank, The Third International, thus rewarding him for his uprightness. 12th - - Page Glossary wrecking - ruining, destroying (here, bankruptcy) indict - accuse or charge someone for a crime and put on trial testify - give evidence as a witness in court governor - the way John ad- dresses his father go on the stand - testify during a trial in the court of law smash-up - complete collapse (insolvency) indignantly - angrily perjure - swear falsely haggle - argue, disagree reckoned - calculated misappropriate - to take other’s money dishonestly for one’s own use nonplussed - confused, puzzled baptized - named, christened of his own ac- cord - voluntarily, without compulsion technicality - a minor detail shams - people who cheat others hypocrites - people who put on a false appearance, pretenders apprehension - fear buoyantly - cheerfully piteously - sympathetically Percival