"ANNOUNCER:" "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC." "(fanfare plays)" " Thank you, Mrs. Brown." " Howdy, Bert." " Ben." " Another hot day?" "It sure is." "(sighs):" "Eh." "Hello, Hoss." "(mouth full):" "Hi, Bert." "Good crackers." "They sure are." "I'll put 'em on your bill." "Bert, you put 'em on Hoss's personal bill." "Say, I got a long list of supplies here I'd like you" " to put together for us." " MAN:" "Leave me alone!" "I said leave me alone." "Some of that sweet wine, Bert." "Doctor said take a little with my meals." "I'm out of the brand you like, Luke." "Maybe later today we'll have some in." "WOMAN:" "Luke?" "Honey, you heard what he said." "Look, you can come back later." "I don't want no woman telling me what to do!" "(panting)" "Who do you think you're fooling?" "You think I haven't got any eyes?" "I'll get it myself." "Oh, wait a minute, Luke, you stay out of there." "BEN:" "Luke." "Hoss and I are just going out to have some breakfast." "Why don't you come along with us?" "Now, you Cartwrights stay out of this." "I don't like you!" "I never did!" "I ain't gonna put up with this, Luke!" "You get out of here and stay out of here!" "Luke, honey, please stop." "I don't want you to get hurt!" "No stinkin' storekeeper's gonna tell me what to do." "You high and mighty Cartwrights!" "You don't mean nothin' to me!" "Luke, honey, please stop!" "I've always wanted to kill me a Cartwright." "(gunshots)" "(grunts)" "(drops gun)" "(quietly):" "Luke..." "Luke?" "Luke, honey?" "(voice breaking):" "Please, Luke..." "Now, how'd this happen?" "I'm afraid it's too late for a doctor." "Luke's been drinking for a week straight, Sheriff." "He plumb went out of his head." "There wasn't nothin' Ben could do." "Luke Grayson's been heading for this for a long time." "Yeah, maybe so." "Miserable end for a man like Luke Grayson once was." "You had to do this, didn't you, Ben Cartwright?" "You had to kill him." "(theme song playing)" "DRIVER:" "Hyah!" "Hyah...!" "Hyah, hyah!" "Hyah!" "Hyah!" "Giddyap!" "Well, Todd, this is the end of our long journey." "Virginia City." "(scoffs) Doesn't look like either of us are gonna get much of a welcome." "But Pa must've got my letter." "I wrote him right after he sent me the money for the fair." "Well, time's pretty valuable to a man as rich and important as you say your pa is." "He probably left word for you." "Let's ask around." "Well, if that's the thing to do, I-I want to thank you anyway, for looking out for me the way you have." "Aw." "Agent?" "Yes, sir?" "You know a man called Luke Grayson?" "Sure." "Who don't?" "Well, he was supposed to meet this stage." "Well, now, he ain't gonna meet this stage or any other." "You'll find him over yonder." "MAN:" "You don't mean he's dead?" "AGENT:" "Well, now, Ab Jenkins ain't buried a live one recently." "However, I think the townspeople would've been willing to make an exception in this case." "No..." "No, he can't be dead." "He... can't be dead!" "Ain't that terrible?" "That boy came all the way from Boston to see his father." "Father?" "!" "Is that Luke's kid?" "Are you sure there's nothing more Hoss and I can do?" "Appears to me you done too much already." "I don't like the way you said that, Mr. Jenkins." "Everybody knows it was either Pa or Luke." "You know that ain't what I mean, Hoss." "I was referring to all the expense-- paying for the best funeral." "The sheriff has a special fund to foot that kind of bill." "Yeah." "The sheriff didn't gun Luke down, I did." "We'll see you at the services." "Thank you." "Get out of my way." "Let me to him!" "Is that Luke Grayson?" "I'm afraid so." "Not the way I remember him." "That's not the way at all." "How did he die?" "I'm afraid this ain't the time or the place to..." "Look mister, I got a right to know." "He was my father." "Todd." "Todd Grayson." "I'd have known you anywhere." "It's all Luke talked about the last few days." "If there's ever anything I can do..." "What do you know about him?" "I'm Dianne Jordan." "Luke and I were... your father and I..." "Well, he must have written you about me." "How did he die?" "Now look, son, this is no time to be talking about things like this." "Isn't it?" "Why isn't it?" "He'll have to know the truth sooner or later." "Your father was murdered." "Shot down in cold blood by a man named Ben Cartwright." "Now, you know better than that, Dianne." "Son... this ain't the same as back east." "When a man draws a gun on another man..." "Ben Cartwright." "Why did he want to kill my father?" "If you're Ben Cartwright, you don't have to have an excuse to kill a man." "Dianne, I won't have this talk." "Now, look..." "Boy, you come with me a minute." "It's your father's gun." "Take a good look." "It'll show he fired twice." "There was no way back after that." "He fired even before Ben Cartwright drew." "My father's gun..." "He wore it proudly." "It was a famous gun once." "Uh, son, the gun, I think I ought to turn that over to the sheriff." "Why?" "It was Luke's gun, wasn't it?" "Well, yeah, sure, but..." "Then it should go to the boy." "Everything Luke left should go to the boy." "Your father left some other things over at my place, with me." "I know he'd want you to have them." "...nor is it for us to condemn the victor even while we mourn the fallen." "We can only hope that the soul of Luke Grayson shall achieve, in the everlasting life beyond, the forgiveness... and peace denied him on this earth." "Let us pray." "(cocks gun)" "You better say one for yourself, Mr. Cartwright, 'cause it's..." "it's gonna be your last." "You murdered my father, and now they're gonna bury you along with him." "Don't be a fool, boy." "Put up your gun." "TODD:" "When I'm finished with it!" "Son, this is your last warning." "You might get off the first shot," " but I'll get off the second." " Hold it, Sheriff." "He's just a scared kid now." "Sure, I'm scared, but that's not gonna stop me." "Todd... for your own sake, listen to me." "It was no murder." "Ben Cartwright did everything he could to avoid bloodshed." "You keep out of this!" "It isn't your fight!" "It doesn't have to be anybody's fight, son." "If I'd done what you think, do you believe I'd be a free man today?" "Oh, I've heard all about you Cartwrights." "You can even buy your way out of murder, but not this time." "Let me..." "let me go!" "(sobbing):" "I'll kill him!" "I'll kill him!" "I'll kill him..." "Todd, it's all right." "It's all gonna be all right, just the way I promised your father." "I don't want any favors from anyone." "That's all right, Todd." "Your father was that way, too." "He wasn't the sort of man to ask anyone for a favor, either." "You put him there, Ben Cartwright." "Think of that when you try to sleep tonight." "Now, I've addressed the complaint to Judge Parker in Eureka." "He should be there by the first of the month," " and he can head straight back." " Well, that's fine." "That should only take about three weeks." "Now, what happens to the boy till then?" "Well, I reckon the taxpayers can stand expense of another boarder." "Hang it all, Roy, you can't keep that boy behind bars!" "He's not a criminal!" "He's a 16-year-old kid!" "With a 16-year-old gun." "Ben, do you realize that if that kid was just a split second sooner, you wouldn't be around to watch either one of them grow any older?" "That's right, Pa." "A sidewinder is just as poisonous the day he's hatched as he is when he's full grow'd." "Yeah, well, we're not talking about sidewinders, we're talking about a boy." "Besides, the fangs of this one have already been pulled." "And I aim to see that he don't get a chance to grow another set." "Leastways, until the circuit judge decides what happens to him next." "Well... a lot of things can happen till then." "But not with the boy in here, eating himself up with grief and all." "It's just no good, Roy!" "What do you want me to do, take him by the hand and tell him that nice little boys just don't go out a-murderin' their elders and turn him loose?" "(door opens)" "I've come for the boy." "The boy?" "!" "Hold on, Dianne." "He's my responsibility, isn't he?" "Who else is gonna look after him?" "He was Luke Grayson's son." "And I'm the only one around here that cared anything about Luke Grayson, so that gives me a right to the boy." "Dianne, it's not a matter of who the boy's father is." "It's just that, well, he's upset, and he's kind of dangerous when he feels this way." "Well, I could take care of him, Sheriff." "I could give him a home." "Where?" "In the saloon?" "Roy, please." "You stay out of this, Cartwright." "I don't care what you all think about me, but the boy has to have someone." "Don't you understand that?" "He needs someone." "I'm sorry, Dianne, but I just can't turn him over to you." "Well, could I see him?" "Why, of course." "That's perfectly all right." "Right over here." "Todd?" "What do you want?" "Well, I-I brought you these things." "They were your father's." "Gold watch and chain." "Remember this?" "Three silver dollars." "That's all he had." "But there must have been more." "He wrote me." "Oh?" "What exactly did he tell you, Todd?" "That when I got here, he'd buy a horse for me, and... and I'd help him build a house, and-and together we'd..." "we'd start a ranch." "Yes, I know." "How would you know?" "He never would have showed you any letters he wrote to me." "No, that's right, he wouldn't." "Besides... he never would have sent for me on a three-dollar promise." "He wasn't that kind of a man." "Well, he's gone now, and, and it doesn't matter." "Well, it does to me!" "And it would to you, too, if you ever meant anything at all to him." "Well, I don't know what I meant to him but I certainly know what he meant to me." "Dianne... is there something I could do to help with the boy?" "What's the matter, Cartwright?" "Looking for something to ease your conscience?" "Aw, Dianne, you know better than that." "Pa's just trying to..." "I don't care what he's trying to do." "How can he know what I must feel?" "How can any of you Cartwrights know anything about feelings?" "You've got everything you want." "Isn't any room in your life for anything like feelings!" "(door closes)" "Sheriff, I'm not gonna leave that boy in that jail cell." "Ben, now, I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong." "You don't owe that kid any favors." "What makes you so sure the favor would be for him?" "Roy, both of us, we've been around a pretty long time, but not so long that we can take a man's life and just forget it, whether the man needed killing or not." "I know, Ben." "Now, I don't like keeping that kid in jail any more than you do, but what do you expect me to do with him, turn him over to Dianne?" "No, no, turn him over to me." "To you?" "Pa, you forgetting what that boy tried to do to you out at the cemetery?" "Hoss, he's a scared little boy who traveled 3,000 miles for what?" "For a funeral!" "He's hurt, he's confused, he's-he's alone." "If somebody doesn't straighten him out now, he'll wind up like his father or worse." "Then somebody else will have blood on his hands." "Pa, if-if we do take him, what are we gonna do with him?" "Take him out to the Ponderosa." "Show him what fresh air feels like." "Give him a horse, teach him how to ride." "Don't you think I know what to do with boys?" "Ah, sure you do, Pa, but..." "but this boy wants to kill you." "He thinks he wants to kill me." "But if he stays locked up like a criminal, he'll be sure of it." "Now, Roy, please believe me." "I know what's best." "Ben, I have all the respect in the world for your judgment." "I think you're wrong." "But if I do turn him over to you, you're gonna have to be responsible for him all the way." "I'm perfectly willing to accept that." "Boy, he's gonna be a mighty big handful." "Adam and Little Joe both going out on a roundup." "Well, we'll be able to manage him." "But it's only a parole, nothing more." "And if he steps out of line just one time, you're duty-bound to turn him back to me." "Now, you understand that?" "I understand perfectly." "There'll be no trouble." "Pa, I sure hope you know what you're doing." "So do I." "Mind if I join you?" "Don't you believe in knocking?" "Oh, that depends." "Your kind never does." "Now, just what is my kind?" "I've seen you in every mining camp and every tank town honky-tonk between here and Mexico." "Maybe not the same face or the same fancy duds, but... the same cold eyes, same way of walking and the same stink of killing on you." "Well, now that we understand each other," "I'll have that drink." "Nice place you've got here." "Fine taste in furniture." "Now, um, you didn't come here just to talk about my taste in furniture." "Now, don't be too sure about that." "Let's just call this a sort of, um, social visit." "(chuckles)" "People like you and me-- we never get enough chance to talk." "Nobody much cares what we think or how we feel." "Feelings?" "Can't afford 'em." "Not anymore." "No?" "Then what's this still around for?" "Give it to me." "It's all I have left of him." "That and the boy." "He's on your mind whether you like it or not." "He's nothing to me anymore." "Now that I know he's in good hands." "The hands that killed his father." "That kid's got spunk." "How long do you think he'll take what Ben Cartwright dishes out?" "Come on, admit it." "Sooner or later, he'll make his play." "Then he'll get himself killed then or hanged later." "What can I do about it?" "He won't talk to me." "Maybe he doesn't have to." "Maybe he already has." "What do you mean by that?" "I was at the funeral." "He tried to kill Ben Cartwright, and you didn't try to stop him." "I'm not responsible for what he tried to do." "Maybe not." "But you were hoping the boy would pull the trigger." "Or weren't you?" "Well, how do you expect me to feel?" "After all, his father and I were" "Were in love?" "That's very touching, but a little out of my line." "I'm talking about killing Ben Cartwright." "You'd kill Ben Cartwright?" "For a price." "For a price, I could kill most anybody." "What makes you think I've got the money?" "Well, not you, maybe." "I was thinking of the kid." "On the way out here, he told me about his father." "That boy's gonna fall into quite an inheritance." "I haven't sunk that low." "Anyway, even if I wanted Ben Cartwright dead," "I'd never hire a two-bit gun like you." "No, I guess you wouldn't." "You can let the boy do it for you." "Wear something pretty when you go out to prison to see him." "Think it over." "I'll be around if you need me." "Ain't that the prettiest bunch of trees you ever seen, Todd?" "You ever been to Boston?" "No, can't say as I have." "How do you know they don't have prettier trees there?" "Well... you got something there." "Never thought of it, I reckon." "Guess there are lots of things you never thought of." "Yeah." "Yep, I reckon you're right at that, too." "What about that horse?" "You think you can ride him?" "What's so hard about riding a horse?" "Come on." "Yes, sir, there's a whole lot more to being a cowboy than just smelling like one or wearing boots." "For instance, you always get up on the left-hand side of a horse." "And you walk up to him real easy-like, so's you don't spook him." "Go on, try it." "Go on." " (neighing)" " Todd!" "The left side." "Doggone it, boy." "When are you gonna get it through that ornery head of yours, we're trying to help you?" "Help me?" "You-You think I want to ride that sweaty old bag of bones?" "!" "I don't give a hoot whether you want to or not." "You're going to." "You think you can make me?" "!" "You dad-gum tommy-tootin' I can." "Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?" "Pa, I don't know." "I've tried my best with this boy." "I can't seem to do nothin' to please him." "Oh?" "What seems to be the trouble, son?" "Look, I came out here because the sheriff made me." "That doesn't mean I have to like it!" "Now, look, Todd, when you're here on the Ponderosa, you're here as a guest, not as a prisoner." "Will you try to remember that?" "Howdy, Ben, Hoss." "Roy, it's good to see you." "How are things in town, Sheriff?" "Fair to middling." "How you getting along with young Todd here?" "Oh, just fine, Roy, just fine." "Everything's going fine." "Gonna make a rancher out of him yet, aren't we, Todd?" "Ben, uh, I've been thinking." "Maybe I overstepped my bounds in letting you take that boy." "Well, I-I said I'd assume full responsibility." "Yeah, but just the same, technically, he's still in my custody." "Where are you figuring on sleeping him?" "Well, most of the hands are out with Adam and Little Joe on roundup." "I figured I'd give him the foreman's room there, so he could have a place of his own." "Mm-hmm." "Seems solid enough, exceptin' for that window in the back." "You can see that from your room though, can't you?" "Now, wait a minute, Roy." "This here's a boy's room, it's not a jail cell." "Not as far as I'm concerned." "And, Ben..." "put a lock on that door after the kid goes to bed tonight, you hear?" "Well, I'll be heading back to town." "Roy, we got supper on the table in there." "Why don't you stay and eat with us?" "I wish I could, Hoss, but I gotta get back." "I'm sorry we're late, Pa, but Todd here couldn't quite make up his mind whether he wanted to eat or not." "Well, believe me, Todd, I never had any trouble like that with Hoss when he was your age." "Not since, either." "Mmm!" "You know something, Hoss?" "This beef is about the tastiest we've ever had." "Mmm!" "That gravy looks good, too." "Now, there's no sense in this, boy." "I know you're hungry-- why don't you sit down and eat?" "Do you think I'd eat at the same table with the man that killed my father?" "HOSS:" "Todd, we're just trying to help you-- can't you understand that, boy?" "Don't do me any favors!" "Now, look, I'm not afraid of you or any other Cartwright." "And I'm not gonna take orders from you, either." "Now I said I wasn't gonna eat at this table, and I won't!" "(door opens)" "(door closes)" "Don't let him spoil your supper, Pa." "You done all you could." "That boy's been through a pretty rough day, Hoss." "Probably hasn't eaten since breakfast, maybe even longer." "Made up his mind to hate everything about this place... starting with us." "Well... he didn't exactly choose to come here." "Look at it another way." "Now, suppose I'd been the one who'd been gunned down." "How would you feel about breaking bread with Luke Grayson?" "Yeah." "I reckon I never looked at it like that, Pa." "Hoss... take the supper out to the bunkhouse." "The boy's got to eat." "Yes, sir." "Don't be surprised if I come back with a finger bit off." "Pa thought you might change your mind about supper." "I brung you something to eat." "Well, you can take it right back to him." "I said I don't want anything from you Cartwrights." "Look, Todd..." "I don't care how mad a man gets about something, his stomach goes right on needing something to eat." "You think you can make me eat that?" "No." "No, I can't." "And I wouldn't want to make you eat it." "But if Pa thought you was down here hungry and there wasn't no food here for you, he'd feel real bad about it." "Your father doesn't care anything about me." "Todd, what makes you say that?" "What makes me say it?" "Because it's the truth, that's why!" "Ben Cartwright's a liar!" " Now, you listen here, boy..." " No, you listen." "You must think I'm two years old or something, you and all your talk about, 'bout teaching me to ride." "Well, I don't want to ride, see?" "And I've had just about enough of your father's talk about me being a guest here." "Todd, he meant that." "You are a guest here, as far as we're concerned." "Oh, am I?" "I suppose you put locks on the doors of all your guests?" "There's your supper!" "You can take that back to him and tell him I'm sick of his kind of favors." "(plate shatters)" "(door opens)" "♪♪" "(rattling)" "(cocks gun)" "(door opens)" "♪♪" "All right, Cartwright." "Todd, what... what is this?" "I guess you know what it is." "Todd, listen to me." "Don't come any closer." "Don't come any closer!" " Don't come any closer!" " (gun clicks)" "(gun clicking)" "Todd, give me the gun." "No!" "No!" " (glass breaks)" " Todd!" "Todd!" "(door opens)" "Hey, Pa... what's all the racket?" "What's the matter?" "(gasping) It's Todd." "He stole an empty... empty gun out of the desk drawer." "Tried to kill me." "Tried to kill you?" "!" "Well, the little varmint." " Where is he?" " Outside somewhere." "Probably hiding like a scared animal, waiting for you and me and a dozen other grown men to come chasing after him." "Well, Pa, you ain't gonna just let him go, are you?" "No, I'm not gonna let him go." "I'm not gonna go running after him, either." " But, Pa, he tried to kill you." " With an empty gun." "Yeah, but, Pa, he didn't know it was empty." "Dad-burn it, how far does your obligation go with this boy?" " Hoss, please!" " Please, nothing, Pa!" "After all you done for that boy." "You gave him a home, you" "Least I could do after what I did to him!" "Sheriff Roy Coffey" "I have to think of his position." "Regardless of what I think," "I..." "I'm gonna have to tell Roy what happened." "He probably stole one of our horses and... halfway to San Francisco by now." "How far do you think he could get?" "You saw the way he rode, didn't you?" "Yeah, but I got a sneaking hunch he wasn't doing his best, neither." "Well, he'll probably... try to find his way back to Virginia City." "If he did, we'll..." "we'll find him there." "I'm not gonna run after him;" "not tonight anyhow, I... (Ben gasping)" "Let's try to get some rest." "We'll go see the sheriff first thing in the morning." "It's getting late, honey." "Why don't you go to bed?" "Go to bed?" "I haven't slept since he died." "You gotta go on living, kid." "Yeah." "That's just the trouble." "Living and... thinking." "Looking at nothing but this day and night." "You really loved him, didn't you?" "Sure." "Funny, isn't it, Charlie?" "Me falling in love with a guy like Luke Grayson." "He really wasn't much, huh?" "Couldn't keep a job." "Always getting in fights." "Always getting drunk." "Half the time he didn't even know I was alive." "Funny, isn't it, Charlie?" "You're not laughing." "Nope." "I ain't laughing." "You remember how he was?" "When he'd walk down the street, all the women'd get mad that they'd met their own husbands." "I was just like 'em." "My eyes would follow him wherever he went." "He was so..." "so tall and straight and... and that smile that..." "He was like that to me until the day he died." "You want another drink, kid?" "Yeah, I guess so." "Better than trying to get to sleep." "Thanks." "Are you open for business?" "Sure, I'm open for business." "What can I do for you?" "I want to buy a gun." "Guns cost money, boy." "I-I've got money." "It's not much, it's three dollars, but that ought to buy a gun of some kind." "I don't have a gun I can let go for three dollars." "Look, mister, any gun, an old one." "M-Maybe you've got something here that somebody left on a bill or something like that." "Son, you might as well know," "I wouldn't sell a gun to Luke Grayson's boy for $3.00 or $3,000." "And nobody else in town would, either." "Now just run along and forget it." "(grunts)" "(hoofbeats clopping past)" "♪♪" "DIANNE:" "Well, good night, Charlie." "Todd, what are you doing here?" "Mind your own business." "Leave me alone." "Todd, you're in trouble." "What's happened?" "I-I tried to kill Ben Cartwright." "Well, Todd, they'll catch you." "They'll put you in jail." "I don't care what they do to me." "Well, we can't stand here talking like this." "Someone will see us." "Here, come with me." "Ben, it's just bad seed." "I knew Luke Grayson when he amounted to something, but he still had that bad streak in him." "The boy's got it now, just as same as the old man had." "You got any idea which way he headed?" "Well, he came this way, as close as we can figure." "Well, I'll get a couple of deputies." "I'd like to have you come along, Hoss." "Ben?" "Yeah, might as well get started." "Good." "Bert... what happened to you?" "Uh, Luke Grayson's kid came in the store and wanted to buy a gun." "I refused to sell it to him." "When I turned around, he hit me on the head with an ax handle." "Don't you think you better have a doctor take a look at you?" "Well, I don't know." "Kind of stunned me for a minute." "I kept seeing the kid taking the gun, and I couldn't make my legs work quick enough to stop him." "He took a gun?" "That's right." "Six-shooter and some shells." "He knew what he was doing." "Ben, you better take him up to the doctor." "Hoss will go along with me." "BEN:" "All right." "And Ben, it's not just a 16-year-old boy we're dealing with." "It's Luke Grayson's kid, and he's got a loaded gun." "All right, Roy." "All right." "I asked you, where did you get that gun?" "I told you-- I just got it, that's all." "Now that you've got it, what are you going to do with it?" "I'm going to kill Ben Cartwright." "What do you think I'm going to do with it?" "Now listen to me" "I want him dead just as much as you do, but what chance do you think a kid like you will have against all those grown men?" "All I need is just one clear shot." "Don't you realize that they'll cut you to ribbons the minute you walk outside this room?" "Todd, what are you going to do?" "I'm getting out of here." "No, Todd." "Wait." "There's another way." "Wh-What are you talking about?" "If I help you, will you promise me that you'll leave Virginia City and never come back here again?" "How can you help me?" "This is a draft on the First City Bank of San Francisco-- $500." "If I sign it, it'll be payable to bearer." "Five hundred dollars." "Then I was right." "Right about what?" "This is my father's money." "You were holding out on me." "Holding out on you?" "Todd, I'm just trying to help you." "Look, if my father gave you this, you keep it." "I don't even want to hear about it." "(door opens)" "Maybe you don't need it, kid... but I do." "You won't need that gun." "I'm on your side." "Right, Dianne?" "What are you doing here?" "I told you I'd be here when you needed me." "I think you do now." "And I know you stole that gun." "So does the sheriff, and he's coming to get you." "I've got to get him out of here, get him to San Francisco." "Do you think you could you do it?" "I can do it for $500." "You see, I was listening outside your door." "Now that's not socially correct maybe, but it's a way to find things out." "Now you just sign it, and I'll get the kid out of town." "There's only one thing." "You mustn't cash it until you get to San Francisco." "Sure." "I'm in no hurry." "What are you doing?" "I don't want anything from you!" "Look, my father wouldn't have anything to do with a woman like you." "Now, look, boy, you do as you're told, or I'll let the sheriff have you." "Cash that for me." "Five hundred dollars?" "!" "That's a lot of money." "You've got that much in the till." "Just go ahead and cash it." "I..." "I've never seen anything quite like this before." "Mr. Cartwright?" "Yes, Charlie?" "Would you take a look at this for me?" "Yes." "What is it?" "It's a bank draft." "You know about these things." " I wish you'd look it over." " Fine." "He doesn't have to look it over." "It's good." "It's got Dianne Jordan's signature on it." "Why did she give you this?" "I don't think that's any of your business, Cartwright." "This has something to do with Todd, doesn't it?" "What's the matter, Cartwright?" "Can't you hear good?" "Where's the boy?" "You've got my money." "I said, where's the boy?" "I don't like people touching me, and I don't like 'em grabbing my money." "If this is yours legitimately, you'll get it back, but not until I've talked to Dianne about this." "Ben!" "Here..." "Go on, that way." "(knocking on door)" "BEN:" "Dianne?" "Are you in there, Dianne?" "It's Ben Cartwright." "The door's open." "I think this belongs to you." "Where did you get that?" "From that two-bit gunman who's been hanging around town." "He tried to cash it downstairs." "DIANNE:" "He tried to cash it?" "Well, what business is it of yours?" "Maybe I owed it to him." "Maybe he did me a favor once." "Well, did he?" "Or was he about to do you a favor... like killing me." "It was Luke's money." "Luke owed it to Appling, and" "Dianne, Luke never had $50 as long as I knew him, much less $500." "Get out of here." "I don't have to sit here and listen to you saying these things about Luke." "You killed him." "Isn't that enough?" "Don't you think the whole town knows it was you who supported Luke?" "Don't you think they know it was you who fed him, who clothed him, who even gave him his drinking money?" "And all the time, he didn't even know you were alive." "That's not true." "Luke was good to me." "He loved me." "Did he?" "Do you think Luke was capable of loving anyone, or even of thinking of anyone other than himself?" "Stop that!" "I won't listen to you saying such things." "I won't listen, do you hear?" "I won't listen!" "Dianne... you know that what I'm saying is the truth." "And one day you're gonna have to face that truth." "Where's the boy?" "(gun clicks)" " (Dianne gasps)" " Right here, Cartwright." "It's easy to lie about a man when he's dead and can't talk back, isn't it?" "Todd, put away that gun." "I'll put it away after I kill you." "And this time, I'm not going to miss." "This time, I got bullets in the gun." "Todd, don't." "Wait!" "Todd, stop!" "He killed my father." "Are you forgetting that?" "No, I'm not forgetting, but everything he said about your father was true." "No, it's a pack of lies." "No, it wasn't a pack of lies." "Look, I knew your father better than anyone in the whole world." "He wasn't any good, just like Ben Cartwright said." "He was no good." "No." "You're lying." "He..." "He sent me money." "He wanted me to come out here and live with him." "DIANNE:" "He never sent you a dime." "Every honest dollar that Luke got, he drank faster than he could walk to the post office." "That $500 that I gave to Appling was mine." "The money-- the check that you got every month to keep you in school-- that was mine." "Even the money that you were sent to bring you back here to Virginia City was mine." "See, I thought if he... if he saw his own son, that that would help him straighten out." "It couldn't be." "If he was so bad, why would you...?" "DIANNE:" "Why did I stick to him?" "Because I loved him." "(crying)" "I loved him from the first moment I saw him." "(sobbing)" "(uncocks gun)" "Give me the gun, boy." "I keep trying to remember him the way I wanted him to be." "He was such a wonderful man." "Such a rotten, lousy, stinkin'... wonderful man." "Pa, you all right?" "Charlie just told us what happened." "Yeah, I'm all right, Hoss." "That boy-- he's going to be all right now, too." "I'm still gonna have to take him in, Ben." "He stole a gun." "Did he, Roy?" "An empty gun." "Now, what do you think that would be worth?" "The lives of two people?" "I guess it ain't worth a thing, Ben." "Oh, Roy, uh, in case you happen to think about it, that, uh, horse of ours-- the boy didn't steal it." "I just gave it to him." "That right, Hoss?" "Yes, sir, that-that's right." "Roy, you-you tell him to ride him out and pay us a visit." "BEN:" "And tell him to bring his new ma." "ANNOUNCER:" "This has been a color presentation of the NBC Television Network."