No. I won’t do that. I’ve done enough; you’re free, you’ve got the money and the farm. BEN (_crosses in front of table and sits left of table_) They ain’t worth a damn with you gone--I didn’t know that till just now, but they ain’t. JANE It’s sort of sudden, the way you found that out. BEN Oh, it don’t take long for a man to get hungry--it only takes just a minute for a man to die; you can burn down a barn quick enough, or do a murder; it’s just living and getting old that takes a lot of time--Can’t you stay here, Jane? JANE There’s Nettie. BEN Nettie--that couldn’t stand the gaff--that run out on me when I was in trouble. JANE It doesn’t matter what folks do, if you love ’em enough. BEN What do you know about it? I suppose you’ve been in love a lot of times? JANE No. BEN Then you be quiet and let an expert talk. I was lonesome and I wanted a woman; she was pretty and I wanted to kiss her--that ain’t what I call love. JANE You. You don’t even know the meaning of the word. BEN That don’t worry me none--I guess the feller that wrote the dictionary was a whole lot older’n I am before he got down to the L’s. JANE You’ve got good in you, Ben, deep down, if you’d only try. (_Ben turns_) I know, it’s always been that way! You’ve never tried for long; you’ve never had a real ambition. BEN When I was a kid I wanted to spit farther than anybody. JANE Good-by. [_She starts up to door._ BEN And so you’re going to break your word? JANE (_hurt--turns_) BEN I don’t know what ’twas you promised mother, but you’ve broke your word. No man ever needed a woman more’n I need you, and you’re leaving me. JANE That isn’t fair. BEN It’s true, ain’t it; truth ain’t always fair--You ain’t helped me none, you’ve hurt me--worse than being broke, worse than bein’ in jail. JANE It don’t seem like I could stand to have you talk like that. BEN What you done you done for her. I didn’t count, I never have, not with you. JANE When you’ve been trying to do a thing as long as I have, it gets to be a part of you. BEN You done it all for her--well--she’s dead--you’d better go. JANE Maybe I had, but if I do it will be with the truth between us. Here’s the letter she left for me, Ben--I got a feeling somehow like she was here with us now, like she wanted you to read it. (_She holds it out_) It’s like she was guiding us from the grave--Read it. [_Crosses up to window._ BEN (_reads_)