- Ashton Main Huntoon: [Bent puts a blindfold over Ashton's eyes] Oh El, you know I'm afraid of the dark!
- Elkanah Bent: You used to be afraid of me, but I think you've gotten over that.
- Ashton Main Huntoon: What makes you think I've ever been afraid of any man?
- George Hazard: [avoiding to talk about the war] What's that on your finger?
- Orry Main: [smiles] Madeline and I were finally married.
- George Hazard: Oh, congratulations!
- Orry Main: I just wish you'd been there to be my best man.
- George Hazard: I'll make it up to you! Throw you the damnest party you ever saw, after the war!
- Orry Main: [both laughing] Great!
- George Hazard: We'll make it a West Point reunion. I'll even invite Marcus Hassler, remember him?
- Orry Main: [tense pause] He was killed by a Union sharp shooter last week.
- George Hazard: [another tense pause] Orry, Lincoln bend over backwards to accomodate the South...
- Orry Main: Then why did he invade Virginia? You call Bull Run accommodate?
- George Hazard: Wait a minute, I was there, I saw it! There was an entire rebel army waiting to invade the capital, what was Lincoln supposed to do? He took an oath to preserve the Union. The South started it by firing on Sumpter!
- Orry Main: We didn't start anything! We just wanted to be left alone!
- Orry Main: You never even gave him a chance! You refused to compromise! He just could NOT extend slavery into the new territories!
- Orry Main: That is NOT the issue George! We both agreed that slavery is an outmoded institution that will only hold South back!
- George Hazard: [pause] Dear God, what has happened to us?
- Orry Main: [gets up] Well, I think that under the circumstances it was best that we ended our business partnership.
- Elkanah Bent: I don't like to be kept waiting. I have little patience where women are concerned.
- Ashton Main Huntoon: Well Mr.Bent, maybe I shouldn't bother, then. Because I like a man with a lot of... patience.
- Elkanah Bent: Well then, considering all your attributes, patience may be a virtue I could make an effort to acquire.