ee.

LAURA. But you'll go, won't you? You'll go?

MARTIN. Oh, sure. [_Gets hat._] You stay here with Tippy.

LAURA. [_Grabbing her things._] No. I want to go with you.

MARTIN. Please don't, Laura. I don't know where Ken is. It's just a
mere possibility; an old dump I used to take him to. You stay here.
[_He goes. Just as he closes door_ TED _walks into room._]

TED. Hello, Tippy. You back? [LAURA _gives one look at_ TED,
_grasps wrap and runs out._] She hates me.

TIPPY. Well, there's nothing to do about it, except keep out of her
way.

TED. I shouldn't have come back.

TIPPY. Why not? You live here.

TED. Then why does she stay?

TIPPY. Because she doesn't want to be alone with her thoughts.

TED. You think she feels guilty, too?

TIPPY. Well, what do you think? She tricked Ken into continuing the
thing he'd come to hate most in the world; financial dependence on
his father. She took a big chance, and lost.

TED. It was my fault. I told. I never would have told if he hadn't ...

TIPPY. Never mind. We know what Ken did to you. It was in his
nature to do just that.--His nature was part of the thing Laura
took a chance on too,--and lost.

TED. [_After slight pause._] I suppose it's always hard to
understand the other fellow's troubles. They seem so small compared
with your own.

TIPPY. Circumstances do not excuse crimes, but they do explain
them. [_Pause._] We've all taken plenty. But I'll say this, old
man. If I'm the first member of the Class of '29 to check in at
the big Court House I'll look up the judge and I'll say to him,
"See here, God, when Ted Brooks arrives, don't judge him till you've
looked up his full record. The cards were stacked against that guy
from the start! The rest of us merely needed jobs, but he needed ..."
[_Pauses, not knowing how to finish._]

TED. Thanks, Tippy.

TIPPY. I'll be damned if I know what you do need!

TED. Guts. Guts is what I need.--My health's good enough for
physical labor, but nobody wants me to dig ditches.

TIPPY. Did you ever see a steam shovel at work? I don't say you're
any use to the world or have any right to live in it. But making a
hundred men like you substitute for a steam shovel is plain damn
silly. It's an insult to the steam shovel.

TED. [_With deep, quiet desperation which grows more and more
intense through the following scenes._] What should I do? What was
it intended for me to do?

TIPPY. Live like an aristocrat.

TED. As Marti