( slowly ) No. They didn’t indict him- because they want him to testify against Mr. Gresham. That’s little consolation, Mother.
(John enters) JOHN : Look here mother, what does Gresham want with the governor ? EVIE : I’ve just been asking that. MARTHA : I don’t know, John. JOHN : Didn’t you ask him?
MARTHA : Yes, I asked him. He didn’t say, John ( anxiously ), I don’t think he knew himself. JOHN : [ after an instant’s thought ] I was talking to the assistant cashier yesterday. EVIE : Donovan?
JOHN : Yes, Donovan, I saw him up at the Athletic Club. He said that nobody had any idea that there was anything wrong until the crash came. Donovan had been there eight years. He thought he was taken care of for the rest of his life.
He had got married on the strength of it. And then, one morning, there was a sign up on the door. It was like a bolt out of a clear sky. EVIE : And father?
JOHN : He says the governor must have known. He’ll swear nobody else did. You see, Father was closer to Gresham than Let’s understand better: After Mr. Gresham’s arrest, Evie and Martha get the news that Donovan, another employee of the bank, has also lost his job.
anyone else. That puts him in a nice position, doesn’t it? MARTHA : What do you mean, John? JOHN : Father is the only witness against John Gresham – and me named after him!
John Gresham Baldwin, at your service! MARTHA : Your father will do his duty, John, no matter what comes of it. JOHN : ( shortly ) I know it. And I’m not sure but what is right.
( They look at him inquiringly ) There’s John Gresham, grown rich in twenty years, and the governor pegging along as his secretary at sixty dollars a week! MARTHA : Your father never complained. JOHN : No; that’s just the pity of it. He didn’t complain.
Well, he’ll have his chance tomorrow. He’ll go on the stand