Jill Ireland: Marian Starett

Quotes 

• Ada Gary : And it's so lonesome at night.

  Marian Starett : Where's he go?

  Ada Gary : Out there. In the door yard, or down in the hidey-hole the children dug in the bank. He stays out all night with that shotgun.

  Marian Starett : Can't you kind of ease his mind? Bring him to bed?

  Ada Gary : I'm afraid. Marian, I'm a religious woman. And I've begged him to get down on his knees and ask Jesus to give him peace. He just went on cleaning that gun ad said, 'Where was Jesus when Rufe Ryker poisoned our stock?'

• Marian Starett : Tom will be all right soon, won't he?

  Shane : [Shane looks Marian in the face, remains thoughtfully silent] 

  Marian Starett : You don't think so?

  Shane : It's hard to say. Once I was cleaning the stable. I found a spider web. I tore it down. Next day it was there again, so I tore it down again. It went on for about ten days. Spider building its web, me tearing it down. Then slowly the web began to change. Angles weren't precise anymore. They were twisted, out of balance. It was as though the spider was trying to find a design that couldn't be destroyed. He never found it. And I don't know if he ever built a proper web again.