[LINCOLN _enters and glances at his wife in surprise._] LINCOLN Will you go back to the door, John---- NICOLAY At once--sir---- LINCOLN And tell Edward I'm much obliged to him for staying, but he can go now---- NICOLAY Yes, sir---- LINCOLN See that he goes before our visitor arrives. I have asked him to say nothing about this appointment. NICOLAY You can trust him implicitly, sir---- [NICOLAY _exits._] MRS. LINCOLN But, you can't trust your wife, to-night, it seems---- LINCOLN [_Whimsically._] Well, you know you're a woman, Mother---- MRS. LINCOLN [_Angrily._] Thank God---- LINCOLN Amen! So say I! MRS. LINCOLN You're _afraid_ to tell me--who this man is----? LINCOLN I may tell you to-morrow---- MRS. LINCOLN When--you've-made-some-fatal-blunder---- LINCOLN I'll make no mistake this time---- MRS. LINCOLN Then why are you afraid of my woman's intuition---- LINCOLN [_Smiling._] I'm not afraid of your _intuition_, Mother---- MRS. LINCOLN Thank you. LINCOLN I didn't say it!---- [_Laughs._] --But you know you do _talk_ too much sometimes! MRS. LINCOLN [_Angrily._] And I'm going to say something to you now. I thought this morning that you would treat those scoundrels with the contempt they deserve when they dared to ask you to sacrifice yourself and the cause of the Union to the ambitions of some traitor behind them. LINCOLN No! No! They're honest in what they say---- MRS. LINCOLN [_Furious._] You're too good and simple for this world! Don't you know that some schemer is behind all this----? LINCOLN Maybe---- It's not a crime, Mother, for a man to aspire to high office, if the bee's in his bonnet. You know I've felt it tickle me lots of times---- MRS. LINCOLN Don't--don't--don't say such foolish things. You need a guardian. You kept three men in your Cabinet who used their position to try to climb into the Presidency over your head. And you didn't kick them out. LINCOLN The country needed them. MRS. LINCOLN [_With earnest dignity._] The country needs you--you are the man, and the only man who has the simple common sense to save this Union first, and settle all other questions afterwards---- LINCOLN