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[_To_ BETTY _lightly._]
Now you've had some good news----
BETTY
[_Forlornly._]
How long since any word came from General Sherman?
LINCOLN
Two days. I know the hole where he went in at. But I can't tell where the old varmint's going to come out----
BETTY
[_Chokes._]
If he ever comes out!
LINCOLN
Oh! He'll come out----
[_He stops and listens at the telegraph instrument again, and sighs in disappointment._]
He'll come out somewhere--It's a habit Uncle Billy has----
BETTY
[_Hopelessly._]
They've no news at the War Department either.
LINCOLN
No news is generally good news from Sherman.
[BETTY _turns away to hide her tears and_ LINCOLN _follows her with tender pleading._]
Come, come, my dear--these tears won't do! You've got to help me now!
[BETTY _brushes the tears away._]
I may have sent your lover to his death. I know that! But he went with a smile on his face and a great joy in his heart for the service he was doing his country----
BETTY
Yes--I know--I know--I'm proud of the honor you did him.
LINCOLN
[_Whispering._]
Give me a little lift, then----
[_Pauses._]
I'm just whistling to keep up _my_ courage!
[_He pauses again in an agony of suffering._]
I know that he got to Atlanta----
[_Pauses._]
Sherman has disappeared!
BETTY
Forgive me--I forgot. _You're_ going to win. I feel it. I know it!
LINCOLN
That's the way to talk! That's the way I'm talking to myself though I'm scared within an inch of my life----
[_He pauses and goes over to the_ OPERATOR--BETTY _following._]
Say, boy--can't you beat it a little harder and make the blame thing talk for us?
OPERATOR
I wish I could, sir.
LINCOLN
Try him again-----
[_The_ OPERATOR _calls Atlanta and pauses_--LINCOLN _and_ BETTY _bend over with breathless suspense. The instrument gives one click_--LINCOLN _starts. The instrument stops._]
Didn't the thing start to answer?
[_The_ OPERATOR _shakes his head._]
Call the War Office and ask Stanton to step over here--My G.o.d--why can't we hear!
BETTY
[_Wistfully._]
