Mary Marshall: [after Barbara had partitioned all their stuff] Barbara, what I'm in prison for isn't catching.
Barbara Marshall: I'm sorry, Mary, I... I keep hurting you, and... I really don't want to.
Mary Marshall: I guess it is uncomfortable for you to meet somebody who's been in prison. Maybe when you get to know me, you'll feel differently.
Barbara Marshall: I want to know you, Mary. Really, I do.
Mary Marshall: How much do you know about me?
Barbara Marshall: Not much. Mother and Dad still treat me like a child. Everything's a big secret.
Mary Marshall: I don't think it would hurt for you to know. As a matter of fact, I think it might help. When I was your age, my mother died.
Barbara Marshall: Oh, I remember her. Way back when I was young. She used to make clothes for my favorite doll.
Mary Marshall: Yes, she was wonderful with her hands. And some time after that, my father went north on business. And then, when he died, I was on my own. I got a very good job as a secretary, and my job brought me in contact with a lot of very nice men, one of whom, might have turned out, I thought, to be the one who would give me all the things that you dream about when you're twenty and lonely. One day, when I was called into my boss's office, he invited me to a party in his apartment. He was single, and I started dreaming. Bosses do marry their secretaries. I took what money I'd saved and I bought an evening dress. I thought it was very fancy. I wanted to look good in front of his high class friends. He had sent me an orchid, a white orchid, the first one I'd ever had. I was wearing it. When the door opened, I walked into the biggest apartment I'd ever seen. I thought it was rich and elegant. I'd wanted to impress him, so I got there a little late. I'd wanted to make an entrance all by myself, but nobody else was there. I should have had sense enough then to get out, but I didn't. He'd been drinking a long time before I got there, I guess, and he kept right on. He told me that he hadn't invited anyone else, and that the white orchid, and all that was just his way of getting me up there. I - I tried to talk my way out, and then when that didn't work, I made a break for it. I didn't scream. I was too frightened, I guess. I tried to get away from him, but I couldn't. He seemed to be everywhere. Oh, it was all mixed up like some terrible kind of a dream. Once, I almost got away, when he f

Mary Marshall: [coming out of a theater showing a war movie] Is the war really like that?
Zachary Morgan: I guess so.
Mary Marshall: That's funny.
Zachary Morgan: Why?
Mary Marshall: I mean that you should only guess so.
Zachary Morgan: Well, they have experts making those pictures. I guess that's the way they see the war. A beach a mile long, and thousands of soldiers, and tanks, and machine guns and everything. I guess that's the way it is.
Mary Marshall: But it wasn't that way for you, huh?
Zachary Morgan: It's just a difference in size. To a guy that's in it, the war's about ten feet wide, and kind of empty. It's you and a couple of fellows in your company, maybe, and maybe a couple of Japs. It's all kind of mixed up. Sometimes it's all full of noise, and sometimes it's quiet. It all depends on what you're thinking about, I guess. It depends on how scared you are, how cold you are, and how wet you are. I guess if you asked a hundred guys what the war's like, they'd all give you a different answer. Mary. You know what?
Mary Marshall: What?
Zachary Morgan: I mean, usually you don't like to talk about it. I never said anything about it before, not to anybody.
Mary Marshall: I'm sorry, I ...
Zachary Morgan: No. No, I feel kind of good.

Mary Marshall: [getting into a cab] Bye.
Zachary Morgan: Bye.
Mary Marshall: [to cab driver] 617 North Elm Street.
Zachary Morgan: Oh, wait. If, uh, if anybody tried to telephone you, how could they get you?
Mary Marshall: Well, uh, my uncle's name is in the telephone book. Henry Marshall.
Zachary Morgan: Henry Marshall? Good. Oh! What's your name?
Mary Marshall: Mary. Mary - Mary Marshall.
Zachary Morgan: Mary Marshall. Good-bye.
Mary Marshall: Good-bye.
Zachary Morgan: Wait a minute. Um, if somebody calls and says it's Zachary Morgan, that's me.
Mary Marshall: [laughing] Oh. Glad to meet you.
Zachary Morgan: Merry Christmas.
Mary Marshall: Merry Christmas.

Mary Marshall: [meeting for the first time on the train] Are you going home on furlough?
Zachary Morgan: Yeah. Yeah, I'm on furlough. They gave me a furlough.
Mary Marshall: Is this your first time home since...
Zachary Morgan: Well, I haven't got any regular home or family. I'm just going to visit. You traveling on business, or...
Mary Marshall: No, I'm on vacation. Christmas vacation.
Zachary Morgan: What kind of business are you in? I mean, what sort of work do you do?
Mary Marshall: Well, I, uh... I travel. I'm a traveling saleswom - uh, saleslady.
Zachary Morgan: I never heard any jokes about traveling salesladies. I guess there aren't many. I never would have guessed that's what you did.
Mary Marshall: Well, what - what would you have guessed?
Zachary Morgan: Oh, that you were, uh, I don't know... a secretary or a model maybe, a schoolteacher.
Mary Marshall: Well, I once was a secretary, and I wanted to be a model. So that would have been pretty good guessing.
Zachary Morgan: You going all the way to L.A.?
Mary Marshall: No. No, I haven't much farther to go, as a matter of fact. I'm getting off at Pinehill.
Zachary Morgan: Oh. Oh, well... Is Pinehill your home?
Mary Marshall: No. I'm just visting my uncle.
Zachary Morgan: That's funny. I'm going to Pinehill, too.
Mary Marshall: Oh, really?
Zachary Morgan: Uh-huh. Yeah. I'm visiting there. My sister lives in Pinehill.
Mary Marshall: I bet she'll be very glad to see you.
Zachary Morgan: I hope so. Maybe we'll run into each other there.
Mary Marshall: Yes.

Mary Marshall: [Trying on the dress in the dressing room] How much is this dress?
Saleslady: Sixty-nine dollars.
Mary Marshall: Oh? Would you take the tag off, please?
[Handing her some money]
Mary Marshall: Look, here's thirty dollars. And when my aunt asks you the price, will you tell her that it's thirty-nine instead of sixty-nine dollars?
Saleslady: It's a bargain.
Mary Marshall: Thank you.
Mrs. Marshall: [Saleslady leaves the dressing room, and joins Mrs. Marshall outside] Miss, how much was that dress?
Saleslady: Thirty-nine dollars.
Mrs. Marshall: Look, I'll give you twenty dollars. When I ask you again, how much it was, you tell me it's nineteen dollars.
Mary Marshall: [coming out of the dressing room] Do you like it?
Mrs. Marshall: Oh, it's darling on you.
Mary Marshall: Isn't it sweet?
Mrs. Marshall: It was made for you. Um, Miss, how much is this dress?
Saleslady: Nineteen dollars.
Mrs. Marshall: Oh, that's a wonderful buy.
[Mary realizes what happened and laughs]

Mary Marshall: You know something?
Zachary Morgan: What?
Mary Marshall: The doctors are gonna be very surprised when they see you. They'll probably send you back to active duty.
Zachary Morgan: That lemonade must have been spiked.
Mary Marshall: No, I really mean it. Do you realize what you did tonight? I bet you couldn't have done that a week ago.
Zachary Morgan: What?
Mary Marshall: Well, I watched you all evening. When you were dancing, you never hesitated for words, and your eyes didn't blink. And then when that dog attacked us, I've never seen anyone quite so fast on their feet.
Zachary Morgan: I didn't even think about what I was doing.
Mary Marshall: That's just it, you were so alert and keen, and your timing was perfect.
Zachary Morgan: I hope you're right. I believe you are. Mary, you told me that in eight days you can do a lot of believing.
Mary Marshall: You see, I'm the fellow that's on the radio that says: Life can be wonderful.
Zachary Morgan: You're wonderful.
Mary Marshall: You're just saying that because you know I've got lots of money.
Zachary Morgan: You're wonderful.
Mary Marshall: Because you know I've got very influential friends.
Zachary Morgan: You're wonderful.
Mary Marshall: Because of my social position.
[he kisses her]
Zachary Morgan: Mary, I know I'm going to get well. I've got plans, too, lots of them. I know I'm going to stay well, too, because you figure in all my plans. You've got to figure in them because, without you, I'm back where I started. I'm sunk.
Mary Marshall: Let's don't talk about it tonight. I'm kind of sleepy.

Barbara Marshall: [caught staring at Mary] I was just thinking, that's an awfully nice suit you have on, Mary.
Mary Marshall: Oh, thank you, Barbara. You were thinking of something else, too.
Barbara Marshall: As a matter of fact, I was.
Mary Marshall: [taking of her jacket] Where can I put this?
Barbara Marshall: I'll take it.
Mary Marshall: You may as well tell me, so we can both get it off our minds.
Barbara Marshall: Well, I... I just... Well, you see, I hadn't known that they gave these vacations or furloughs to people that...
Mary Marshall: You don't have to be shy about it, Barbara. I didn't know about it either. Till the warden told me that in this state, and a few other states, they give special furloughs to people for good behavior.
Barbara Marshall: Well, I think it's wonderful that they have that confidence in you.
Mary Marshall: Yes. I think so, too.

Barbara Marshall: Dad. Dad, I want to ask you a question.
Mr. Marshall: Fine. Fire away.
Barbara Marshall: You know, you never told me anything about Mary. I mean, why she was sent to prison, and why she ...
Mr. Marshall: You can find out about that some other time, when you're a little older.
Barbara Marshall: But it can't be so secret. I don't see why I shouldn't know.
Mr. Marshall: Barbara, you can find out about that some other time. It's just that Mary made a little mistake, and that's all there is to it.
Barbara Marshall: But they don't send people to prison for just doing nothing.
Mr. Marshall: Now, look, Barbara, I'm trying to listen to the radio and work this puzzle, and I can't take on any other jobs at the moment.
Barbara Marshall: But, what if my friends ask me about her? What'll I tell them? They'll want to know why ...
Mr. Marshall: Just tell them that Mary is your cousin. From that point on, they can mind their own business. And it seems to me that your business might be helping your mother out in the kitchen.
Barbara Marshall: [laughing] Oh, Dad. Sometimes the way you talk to me, you make me feel like I'm an adopted daughter or something.

Barbara Marshall: Mary, I - I - I told him. I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't know. I told him.
Mrs. Marshall: We're so sorry.
Barbara Marshall: [in tears] Mary, I... Mary, I... I'm so ashamed. Please forgive me. I love you, Mary, and I wouldn't want to hurt you, not for anything. I understand something... I understand something now that I never knew before, that you can make a mistake, do something dreadful, without meaning to... Oh, Mary!
Mary Marshall: [choking on tears] It's all right, Barbara.

Barbara Marshall: You going back to active duty, Zach?
Zachary Morgan: Not for a while yet.
Barbara Marshall: Gee, you look a lot better than you did a week ago.
Zachary Morgan: Feel a lot better.
Barbara Marshall: Do you think it was the Marshall food that did it?
Zachary Morgan: Must've helped. I think it was mostly your cousin Mary.
Barbara Marshall: She's awfully nice.
Zachary Morgan: I've noticed that, too. You know what? I think I'll marry her.
Barbara Marshall: Are you kidding?
Zachary Morgan: Not as far as I'm concerned. Of course, I don't know about her, yet.
Barbara Marshall: Well, won't you mind waiting?
Zachary Morgan: That's up to Mary, really. Things have worked out so well, that I may not have to wait as long as I thought.
Barbara Marshall: Well, that's what the folks have always hoped, that she won't have to serve her full term now. But the fact that they let her out of prison for Christmas is a pretty good sign. You know, it wasn't until the other night, when she told me how it all happened, I realized that it really isn't her fault. She's not a criminal. I mean, not like real criminals. Oh, it's too bad that you two can't go back on the train together, but then Mary isn't due in Easton until nine o'clock tonight. She wants to spend as much time with us as she can. You can't blame her, after being locked up for three years.