PHILIP. _We_ were fighting! _We_! _We_! Uncle, you're humorist.
JAMES, Well, "you," if you prefer it. Although those of us who
stayed at home--
PHILIP. Yes, never mind about the excess profits now. I can tell
you quite well what we fought for. We used force to put down force.
That's what I'm doing now. You were going to use force--the force
of money--to make me do what you wanted. Now I'm using force to
stop it. (He levels the revolver again.)
JAMES. You're--you're going to shoot your old uncle?
PHILIP. Why not? I've shot lots of old uncles--Landsturmers.
JAMES. But those were Germans! It's different shooting Germans.
You're in England now. You couldn't have a crime on your conscience
like that.
PHILIP. Ah, but you mustn't think that after four years of war one
has quite the same ideas about the sanctity of human life. How
could one?
JAMES. You'll find that juries have kept pretty much the same
ideas, I fancy.
PHILIP. Yes, but revolvers often go off accidentally. You said so
yourself. This is going to be the purest accident. Can't you see it
in the papers? "The deceased's nephew, who was obviously upset--"
JAMES. I suppose you think it's brave to come back from the front
and threaten a defenceless man with a revolver? Is that the sort of
fair play they teach you in the Army?
PHILIP.
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