good evening, mr. kane. i don't suppose anybody would introduce us. mrs. kane, i am edward rogers.
i made miss - miss alexander send you the note. she was a little unwilling at first - but she did it.
maybe you can do it and maybe you can't, mr. kane.
she doesn't know, mrs. kane. she just sent it - because i made her see it wouldn't be smart for her not to send it.
i'm not a gentleman, mrs. kane, and your husband is just trying to be funny calling me one. i don't even know what a gentleman is. you see, my idea of a gentleman, mrs. kane - well, if i owned a newspaper and if i didn't like the way somebody else was doing things - some politican, say - i'd fight them with everything i had. only i wouldn't show him in a convict suit, with stripes - so his children could see the picture in the paper. or his mother. it's pretty clear - i'm not a gentleman.
anything you say, mr. kane. only we're talking now about what you are. that's what the note is about, mrs. kane. now i'm going to lay all my cards on the table. i'm fighting for my life. not just my political life. my life. if your husband is elected governor -
i'm protecting myself every way i know how, mrs. kane. this last week, i finally found out how i can stop your husband from being elected. if the people of this state learn what i found out this week, he wouldn't have a chance to - he couldn't be elected dog catcher. well, what i'm interested in is seeing that he's not elected. i don't care whether they know what i know about him. let him keep right on being the great, noble, moral - champeen of the people. just as long as -
that's the chance i'm willing to give you, mr. kane. more of a chance than you'd give me. unless you make up your mind by tomorrow that you're so sick that you've got to go away for a year or two - monday morning every paper in this state will carry the story i'm going to give them.
the story about him and miss alexander, mrs. kane.
shut up! i've had a dozen men doing nothing but run this thing down - we've got evidence enough to - well, the evidence would stand up in any court of law. you want me to give you the evidence, mr. kane?
mrs. kane, i'm not asking you to believe me. i'd like to show you -
i'd rather mr. kane withdrew without having to get the story published. not that i care about him. but i'd be better off that way - - and so would you, mrs. kane.
you're making a bigger fool of yourself than i thought you would, mr. kane. you're licked. why don't you -
i see!
you're the greatest fool i've ever known, kane. if it was anybody else, i'd say what's going to happen to you would be a lesson to you. only you're going to need more than one lesson. and you're going to get more than one lesson.