Jasper Penny supplemented Jannan's letter to Essie Scofield, asking for
an appointment with his client at the law office, with a short
communication laying before her the condition in which he had found
Eunice, his knowledge of her neglect to provide their daughter with the
funds he had sent for that purpose, and definite plans for his complete
control of the child. At the despatch of this he felt that his duty,
where Essie as a formal parent resided, was ended. It was now only a
question of an agreement on terms. He got no reply, other than a
notification from Stephen Jannan that a meeting had been arranged for
the following week. And, at eleven o'clock, on a clear, thin blue winter
morning, he mounted, with Eunice, to the entrance of Jannan's offices on
Fourth Street.
Essie Scofield, in widespread mulberry silk with tight sleeves and broad
steel buttons, a close brimmed blue bonnet filled with lilacs and tied
with an old rose ribbon, was more compelling than Jasper Penny had
remembered her for, actually, years. A coffee-coloured India shawl, with
a deep fringe and trace of a lining checkered in cherry and black
slipping from her shoulders, toned her appearance to a potential
dignity.
"Eunice," she exclaimed, as the child entered, "do come here at my
side!" A small, cold mouth was silently raised for a straining embrace.
Stephen Jannan proceeded at once, addressing Essie Scofield. "Mr. Penny
informs me that he has written you explaining our purpose. I have
already instructed you of the law in such a connexion, and there remains
only your signatures to these papers. I begged you, if you will
remember, to come with counsel, but since you have not done that it will
be best for you to read this deed, which is quite clear in its intent."
Essie gazed dramatically at the paper the lawyer tended her. "It means,"
she said, "that I am to lose Eunice, and because I cannot offer her any
advantages beyond those of a slim purse. I am a most unfortunate
creature." Jasper Penny scraped his chair back impatiently, but Stephen
enforced his silence with a gesture. "While my client understands that
no monetary consideration can compensate for the breaking of ties of
affection," Stephen Jannan went on smoothly, "and while he offers none
in payment to that end, still we feel that some material recognition
should be due you. Have you anything to say, suggest, at this point?"
Essie Scofield's arm was about Eunice's waist. "I am to be parted from
my little daughter," she exclaimed; "and my tears are to be stopped with
gold--an affectionate breast, a heart-wrung appeal, stilled by a bribe.
That is the price paid by a trusting, an unsuspicious, female. Long ago,
when a mere girl, dazzled by--"
"We won't go into that," Jannan interrupted, "but confine ourselves to
the immediate development. By signing the paper in question, and
accepting a sum of money, you surrender all claim to this child, known
as Eunice Scofield."
"How will that affect my--my position in other ways?" she demanded, in a
suddenly shrewd, suspicious tone. "Not at all," the lawyer assured her.
She sobbed once, emotionally; and Eunice regarded her with a wide,
unsparing curiosity. "A stranger to me," she gasped, with a paper white
face and fluttering eyelids. Jasper Penny ejaculated sharply, "How much,
Essie?" In a moment, he judged, familiar with a potential hysteria, she
might faint, scream; there were clerks, people, in the next rooms. On
the brink of collapse she hesitated, twisting her purple kid gloves.
"Ten thousand dollars," she said.
Stephen Jannan glanced swiftly at his cousin, and the latter nodded.
"That is satisfactory," Jannan announced. "A mere formality--witnesses."
Essie Scofield traced her signature in round, unformed characters;
Jasper Penny followed with a hasty, small script; and Eunice, seated at
the impressive table, printed her name slowly, blotting it with a
trailing sleeve. The lawyer swung back the door of a heavy safe, and
took out a package of white bills of exchange on the Bank of
Pennsylvania. Essie counted the notes independently, thrust the money
into a steel-beaded reticule with silk cords, and rose, gathering
together her cashmere shawl. She ignored Eunice totally in the veiled
gaze she directed at Jasper Penny. "It is better," she told him, "if you
write first when you expect to visit me. Really, the last time, with
some friends there, you were impossible." He bowed stiffly. "Don't let a
sense of duty bring you," she concluded boldly. "I get on surprisingly
well as it is, as it is," she reiterated, and, he thought, her voice
bore almost a threat.
When she had gone the two men sat gazing in a common perplexity at the
child. Stephen Jannan's lips were compressed, Jasper Penny's face was
slightly drawn as if by pain. Eunice was investigating a thick stick of
vermilion sealing wax and a steel die. "Well?" Jannan queried, nodding
toward the table. "I thought something of Burlington," Penny replied,
"but decided to place her in New York. Want to give her all the chance
possible. I intend, at what seems the proper time, to secure her my own
name." He stopped the objection clouding his cousin's countenance. "We
won't argue that, please. Now about the will; the provision must be
explicit and generous. There, at least, I am able to meet a just
requirement." Jasper Penny's will was produced, a codicil projected,
appended, and witnesses recalled.
"I wanted to inquire about Miss Brundon," Jasper said finally, the
business despatched. "She seems to me very fragile for the conducting of
an Academy. Is there no family, men, to support her? And her
institution--does it continue to progress well?"
"Very." Jannan replied to the last question first. "Her children come
from the best families in the city; and, under my advice, her charges
are high. She has a brother, I believe, a cotton merchant of New
Orleans, and quite prosperous. But he has a large family, and Susan will
not permit him to deprive it of a dollar for her benefit. As you say,
she is not strong; but in spite of that she needs no man's patronage.
The finest qualities, Jasper, the most elevated spirit. A little too
conscientious, perhaps; and, although she is thirty-nine, curiously
ignorant of the world; but rare ... rare. It almost seems as if there
were a conspiracy to keep ugly truths away from her."
Truths, Jasper Penny thought bitterly, such as had just been revealed in
Stephen's office. There was, it seemed, nothing he could do for Susan
Brundon. He envied the lawyer his position of familiar adviser, the ease
with which the other spoke her name: Susan. He rose, fumbling with a
jade seal. "Come, Eunice," he said, the lines deepening about his mouth
and eyes. Stephen Jannan assisted him into the heavy, furred coat.
"Well, Jasper," he remarked sympathetically, "if we could but look
ahead, if we were older in our youth, yes, and younger in our increasing
age, the world would be a different place." He held out to Eunice a
newly minted Brazilian goldpiece. "Good-bye," he addressed her; "command
me if I can be of any use." She clutched the gold tightly, and Jasper
Penny led her out into the winter street. "We must have dinner," he said
gravely. "With some yellow rock candy," she added, "and syllabubs."