)
Won't you join them?
HATCH:
No.
(Through the scene which follows, REDDY and HARRY continue to eat
and drink heartily.)
ALICE:
No? Well, then, while they're having supper, you and I will talk.
If you're going to gag me soon, I want to talk while I can.
(Rises and hands box to him.)
Have a cigar?
HATCH:
(takes cigar)
Thanks.
ALICE:
(standing with hand on back of chair)
Now, I want to ask you some questions. You are an intelligent man.
Of course, you must be, or you couldn't have kept out of jail for
twenty years. To get on in your business, a man must be
intelligent, and he must have nerve, and courage. Now--with those
qualities, why, may I ask-- why are you so stupid as to be a
burglar?
HARRY:
Stupid!
REDDY:
Well, I like that!
HATCH:
Stupid? Why, I make a living at it.
ALICE:
How much of a living?
HATCH:
Ten thousand a year.
ALICE:
Ten thousand--well, suppose you made FIFTY thousand. What good is
even a hundred thousand for ONE year, if to get it you risk
going to prison for twenty years? That's not sensible. Merely as
a business proposition, to take the risk you do for ten thousand
dollars is stupid isn't it? I can understand a man's risking
twenty years of his life for some things--a man like Peary or
Dewey, or Santos-Dumont.
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