Episode 105, scene 1.

     Constance is reading the newspaper as Ellion comes in the kitchen.

EC:  Morning, dear.
CM:  It's him.
EC:  Don't look so frightened.
     [Elliot kisses Constance on the right cheek.]
     Everybody loved Don Quixote.

AM:  Morning.  
CM:  Good morning.
AM:  Morning.
EC:  Good morning, dear.
AM:  Good morning.  I just had the craziest dream about uncle Matt.  He 
     was in Afghanistan and was climbing a mountain, with thousands of 
     children following him like the pied piper.  And they were all 
     listening to his tall tales like I used to.  I'm going to miss him. 
EC:  Huh.  Miss who?
AM:  The old editor.

     [Allison sits at the table.]

EC:  Well, I hope you are as loyal to me.
AM:  [Reading aloud]  A letter to the editor by Elliot Carson.
CM:  Not at the table.  Read it after breakfast.
AM:  Oh, no.  I think the ideal wife and daughter of the new editor of the 
     Clarion should read newspapers all the time.  Even in the bath tub. 
EC:  Sure.  Let her read it.

CM:  You should understand what your father was trying to say . . . 

     [Constance sets breakfast plates in front of Elliot and Allison.]

EC:  [Interrupting]  Constance.  I said what I meant in the letter.

     [Allison reads the letter.]

AM:  It's a horrible letter.
EC:  What do you mean, horrible?  I was trying to be straight forward.
AM:  Isn't straight forward slander just as horrible as indirect slander?
EC:  The fact that David Schuster is firing men from the mill isn't slander.  
     It's the truth. 
AM:  . . . and irrelevant.
EC:  I beg your pardon.  That's what the letter is about.
AM:  No.  This letter is a personal attack against David Schuster.  It's 
     neither true nor . . .
EC:  [Interrupting]  Allison, I happen to believe that automation at the mill 
     spells death for Peyton Place. 
AM:  Then why don't you write a letter against automation, instead of 
     David Schuster? 
EC:  Because I'm not against automation.  I'm against overnight 
     automation at the Peyton mill.  
AM:  But David Schuster hasn't . . . 
EC:  Not yet, but he will.  He was sent here to do a job.  To salvage the mill 
     or to sink it.  And he'll do it.  Because men like David Schuster don't 
     count the cost in people's lives.  If he decides to automate, he'll do it 
     fast, and he'll get out.  He'll collect his fee, and move off some place 
     else, without one thought of what he has done to Peyton Place. 
AM:  That's not true.

CM:  [Quietly]  It's getting late.  I had better finish dressing. 

     [Constance gets up from the table, leaves the kitchen and goes upstairs.]

AM:  [Softly]  If the Schusters hadn't fired me, would you still have written 
     this letter? 
EC:  Of Course.  What kind of a question is that?  
     Don't you believe me?
AM:  I want to.
EC:  But you can't.
AM:  You don't know David Schuster.  You've only met him, what, once or 
     twice, and still you can use words like arbitrary and insensitive. 
     How would you know?  All you know about Mr. Schuster is that his 
     wife fired me, arbitrarily. 
EC:  He has fired lots of men, arbitrarily. 
AM:  Still, according to his wife, he could have had a reason.  She 
     thought he was beginning to like me.
EC:  Allison, there's nothing to that.  And I believe you.  That has no 
     bearing on this. 
AM:  Are you sure?
EC:  Of course.  Allison, sooner or later, you're going to have to wake up to 
     the fact that the world doesn't revolve around you.  That people who 
     know you can make decisions without being affected by their feelings 
     toward you.  I love you very much, and I am concerned about you, and 
     I think about you, and I'm trying to be a good father to you. 
AM:  It seems to me that things would be a lot easier if you would stop 
     trying to be such good father.
EC:  I was just saying that although I think about you very much and you 
     are vrey important to me, I do think about other things.  This town, 
     for instance.  I hate to see Peyton Place, as we know it, die. 
AM:  That's not what you said.  You said that you hate David Schuster.
EC:  [Shouting]  Now, just a minute.  That letter was not meant as 
     a personal attack.   Now, please believe that.  No more that your 
     defense of Mr. Schuster was a personal one. 
AM:  Will you excuse me, please?

Episode 105, scene 1