George Tresslyn pulled through.
He was a very sick man, and he wanted to die. That is to say, he wanted to
die up to a certain point and then he very much wanted to live. Coming out
of his delirium one day he made a most incredible discovery, and at that
very instant entered upon a dream that was never to end. He saw Lutie
sitting at his bedside and he knew that it must be a dream. As she did not
fade away then, nor in all the mysterious days that followed, he came to
the conclusion that if he ever did wake up it would be the most horrible
thing that could happen to him. It was a most grateful and satisfying
dream. It included a wonderful period of convalescence, a delightful and
ever-increasing appetite, a painless return voyage over a road that had
been full of suffering on the way out, a fantastic experience in the
matter of legs that wouldn't work and wobbled fearfully, a constant but
properly subdued desire to sing and whistle—oh, it was a glorious dream
that George was having!
For six weeks he was the uninvited guest of Simmy Dodge. Three of those
weeks were terrifying to poor Simmy, and three abounded with the greatest
joy he had ever known, for when George was safely round the corner and on
the road to recovery, the hospitality of Simmy Dodge expanded to hitherto
untried dimensions. Relieved of the weight that had pressed them down to
an inconceivable depth, Simmy's spirits popped upward with an
effervescence so violent that there was absolutely no containing them.
They flowed all over the place. All day long and most of the night they
were active. He hated to go to bed for fear of missing an opportunity to
do something to make everybody happy and comfortable, and he was up so
early in the morning that if he hadn't been in his own house some one
would have sent him back to bed with a reprimand.
He revelled in the establishment of a large though necessarily
disconnected family circle. The nurses, the doctors, the extra servants,
Anne's maid, Anne herself, the indomitable Lutie, and, on occasions, the
impressive Mrs. Tresslyn,—all of these went to make up Simmy's family.
The nurses were politely domineering: they told him what he could do and
what he could not do, and he obeyed them with a cheerfulness that must
have shamed them. The doctors put all manner of restrictions upon him; the
servants neglected to whisper when discussing their grievances among
themselves; his French poodle was banished because canine hospitality was
not one of the niceties, and furthermore it was most annoying to recent
acquaintances engaged in balancing well-filled cups of broth in transit;
his own luxurious bath-room was seized, his bed-chambers invested, his
cosy living-room turned into a rest room which every one who happened to
be disengaged by day or night felt free to inhabit. He had no privacy
except that which was to be found in the little back bedroom into which he
was summarily shunted when the occupation began, and he wasn't sure of
being entirely at home there. At any time he expected a command to
evacuate in favour of an extra nurse or a doctor's assistant. But through
all of it, he shone like a gem of purest ray.
At the outset he realised that his apartment, commodious when reckoned as
a bachelor's abode, was entirely inadequate when it came to accommodating
a company of persons who were not and never could be bachelors. Lutie
refused to leave George; and Anne, after a day or two, came to keep her
company. It was then that Simmy began to reveal signs of rare strategical
ability. He invaded the small apartment of his neighbour beyond the
elevator and struck a bargain with him. The neighbour and his wife rented
the apartment to him furnished for an indefinite period and went to Europe
on the bonus that Simmy paid. Here Anne and her maid were housed, and here
also Mrs. Tresslyn spent a few nights out of each week.
He studied the nurses' charts with an avid interest. He knew all there was
to know about temperature, respiration and nourishment; and developing a
sudden sort of lordly understanding therefrom, he harangued the engineer
about the steam heat, he cautioned the superintendent about noises, and he
held many futile arguments with God about the weather. Something told him
a dozen times a day, however, that he was in the way, that he was "a
regular Marceline," and that if Brady Thorpe had any sense at all he would
order him out of the house!
He began to resent the speed with which George's convalescence was marked.
He was enjoying himself so immensely in his new environment that he hated
to think of going back to the old and hitherto perfect order of existence.
When Braden Thorpe and Dr. Bates declared one day that George would be
able to go home in a week or ten days, he experienced a surprising and
absolutely inexplicable sinking of the heart. He tried to persuade them
that it would be a mistake to send the poor fellow out inside of a month
or six weeks. That was the trouble with doctors, he said: they haven't any
sense. Suppose, he argued, that George were to catch a cold—why, the damp,
spring weather would raise the dickens—Anne's house was a drafty old barn
of a place, improperly heated,—and any fool could see that if George _did_
have a relapse it would go mighty hard with him. Subsequently he sounded
the nurses, severally, on the advisability of abandoning the poor, weak
young fellow before he was safely out of the woods, and the nurses, who
were tired of the case, informed him that the way George was eating he
soon would be as robust as a dock hand. An appeal to Mrs. Tresslyn brought
a certain degree of hope. That lady declared, quite bitterly, that
inasmuch as her son did not seem inclined to return to _her_ home he might
do a great deal worse than to remain where he was, and it was some time
before Simmy grasped the full significance of the remark.
He remembered hearing Lutie say that she was going to take George home
with her as soon as he was able to be moved!
What was he to do with himself after all these people were gone? For the
first time in his life he really knew what it meant to have a home, and
now it was to be broken up. He saw more of his home in the five or six
weeks that George was there than he had seen of it all told in years. He
stayed at home instead of going to the club or the theatre or to stupid
dinner parties. He hadn't the faintest idea that a place where a fellow
did nothing but sleep and eat bacon and eggs could be looked upon as a
"home." He had thought of it only as an apartment, or "diggings." Now he
loved his home and everything that was in it. How he would miss the
stealthy blue linen nurses, and the expressionless doctors, and the odour
of broths and soups, and the scent of roses, and the swish of petticoats,
and the elevating presence of pretty women, and the fragrance of them, and
the sweet chatter of them—Oh my, oh me-oh-my! If George would only get
well in a more leisurely fashion!
Certain interesting events, each having considerable bearing upon the
lives of the various persons presented in this narrative, are to be
chronicled, but as briefly as possible so that we may get on to the
results.
Naturally one turns first to the patient himself. He was the magnet that
drew the various opposing forces together and, in a way, united them in a
common enterprise, and therefore is of first importance. For days his life
hung in the balance. Most of the time he was completely out of his head.
It has been remarked that he thought himself to be dreaming when he first
beheld Lutie at his bedside, and it now becomes necessary to report an
entirely different sensation when he came to realise that he was being
attended by Dr. Thorpe. The instant he discovered Lutie he manifested an
immense desire to live, and it was this desire that sustained a fearful
shock when his fever-free eyes looked up into the face of his doctor.
Terror filled his soul. Almost his first rational words were in the form
of a half-whispered question: "For God's sake, can't I get well? Is—is it
hopeless?"
Braden was never to forget the anguish in the sick man's eyes, nor the
sagging of his limp body as if all of his remaining strength had given way
before the ghastly fear that assailed him. Thorpe understood. He knew what
it was that flashed through George's brain in that first moment of
intelligence. His heart sank. Was it always to be like this? Were people
to live in dread of him? His voice was husky as he leaned over and laid
his hand gently upon the damp brow of the invalid.
"You are going to get well, George. You will be as sound as a rock in no
time at all. Trust me, old fellow,—and don't worry."
"But that's what they always say," whispered George, peering straight into
the other's eyes. "Doctors always say that. What are you doing here,
Brady? Why have you been called in to—"
"Hush! You're all right. Don't get excited. I have been with you from the
start. Ask Lutie—or Anne. They will tell you that you are all right."
"I don't want to die," whined George. "I only want a fair chance. Give me
a chance, Brady. I'll show you that I—"
"My God!" fell in agonised tones from Thorpe's lips, and he turned away as
one condemned.
When Lutie and Anne came into the room soon afterward, they found George
in a state of great distress. He clutched Lutie's hand in his strong
fingers and drew her down close to him so that he could whisper furtively
in her ear.
"Don't let any one convince you that I haven't a chance to get well,
Lutie. Don't let him talk you into anything like that. I won't give my
consent, Lutie,—I swear to God I won't. He can't do it without my consent.
I've just got to get well. I can do it if I get half a chance. I depend on
you to stand out against any—"
Lutie managed to quiet him. Thorpe had gone at once to her with the story
and she was prepared. For a long time she talked to the frightened boy,
and at last he sank back with a weak smile on his lips, confidence
partially restored.
Anne stood at the head of the bed, out of his range of vision. Her heart
was cold within her. It ached for the other man who suffered and could not
cry out. _This_ was but the beginning for him.
In a day or two George's attitude toward Braden underwent a complete
change, but all the warmth of his enthusiastic devotion could not drive
out the chill that had entered Thorpe's heart on that never-to-be-
forgotten morning.
Then there were the frequent and unavoidable meetings of Anne and her
former lover. For the better part of three weeks Thorpe occupied a room in
Simmy's apartment, to be constantly near his one and only patient. He
suffered no pecuniary loss in devoting all of his time and energy to young
Tresslyn. Ostensibly he was in full charge of the case, but in reality he
deferred to the opinions and advice of Dr. Bates, who came once a day. He
had the good sense to appreciate his own lack of experience, and thereby
earned the respect and confidence of the old practitioner.
It was quite natural that he and Anne should come in contact with each
other. They met in the sick-room, in the drawing-room, and frequently at
table. There were times during the darkest hours in George's illness when
they stood side by side in the watches of the night. But not once in all
those days was there a word bearing on their own peculiar relationship
uttered by either of them. It was plain that she had the greatest
confidence in him, and he came, ere long, to regard her as a dependable
and inspired help. Unlike the distracted, remorseful Lutie, she was the
source of great inspiration to those who worked over the sick man. Thorpe
marvelled at first and then fell into the way of resorting to her for
support and encouragement. He had discovered that she was not playing a
game.
Templeton Thorpe's amazing will was not mentioned by either of them,
although each knew that the subject lay uppermost in the mind of the
other. The newspapers printed columns about the instrument. Reporters who
laid in wait for Braden Thorpe, however, obtained no satisfaction. He had
nothing to say. The same reporters fell upon Anne and wanted to know when
she expected to start proceedings to have the will set aside. They seemed
astonished to hear that there was to be no contest on her part. She could
not tell them anything about the plans or intentions of Dr. Thorpe, and
she had no opinion as to the ultimate effect of the "Foundation" upon the
Constitution of the United States or the laws of God!
As a matter of fact, she was more eager than any one else to know the
stand that Braden intended to take on the all-absorbing question.
Notwithstanding her peculiar position as executrix of the will under which
the conditions were created, she could not bring herself to the point of
discussing the salient feature of the document with him. And so there the
matter stood, unmentioned by either of them, and absolutely unsettled so
far as the man most deeply involved was concerned.
Then came the day when Thorpe announced that it was no longer necessary
for him to impose upon Simmy's hospitality, and that he was returning that
evening to his hotel. George was out of danger. It was then that he said
to Anne:
"You have been wonderful, Anne. I want to thank you for what you have done
to help me. You might have made the situation impossible, but—well, you
didn't, that's all. I am glad that you and that poor little woman in there
have become such good friends. You can do a great deal to help her—and
George. She is a brick, Anne. You will not lose anything by standing by
her now. As I said before, you can always reach me by telephone if
anything goes wrong, and I'll drop in every morning to—"
"I want you to know, Braden, that I firmly believe you saved George for
us. I shall not try to thank you, however. You did your duty, of course.
We will let Lutie weep on your neck, if you don't mind, and you may take
my gratitude for granted." There was a slightly satirical note in her
voice.
His figure stiffened. "I don't want to be thanked," he said,—"not even by
Lutie. You must know that I did not come into this case from choice. But
when Lutie insisted I—well, there was nothing else to do."
"Would you have come if I had asked you?" she inquired, and was very much
surprised at herself.
"No," he answered. "You would have had no reason for selecting me, and I
would have told you as much. And to that I would have added a very good
reason why you shouldn't."
"What do you mean?"
"I may as well be frank, Anne. People,—our own friends,—are bound to
discuss us pretty thoroughly from now on. No matter how well we may
understand each other and the situation, the rest of the world will not
understand, simply because it doesn't want to do so. It will wait,—rather
impatiently, I fear,—for the chance to say, 'I told you so.' Of course,
you are sensible enough to have thought of all this, still I don't see why
I shouldn't speak of it to you."
"Has it occurred to you that our friends may be justified in thinking that
I _did_ call upon you to take this case, Braden?" she asked quietly.
He frowned. "I daresay that is true. I hadn't thought of it—"
"They also believe that I summoned you to take charge of my husband a few
weeks ago. No one has advised the world to the contrary. And now that you
are here, in the same house with me, what do you suppose they will say?" A
queer little smile played about her lips, a smile of diffidence and
apology.
He gave her a quick look of inquiry. "Surely no one will—"
"They will say the Widow Thorpe's devotion to her brother was not her only
excuse for moving into good old Simmy's apartment, and they will also say
that Dr. Thorpe must be singularly without practice in order to give all
of his time to a solitary case."
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Anne," he cried impatiently, "give people credit
for having a little commonsense and charity. They—"
"I don't give them credit for having anything of the kind," she said
coolly, "when it comes to discussing their fellow creatures. I hope you
are not distressed, Braden. As you have said, people will discuss us. We
cannot escape the consequences of being more or less public institutions,
you and I. Of course they will talk about our being here together. I knew
that when I came here three weeks ago."
"Then why did you come?" he demanded.
She replied with a directness that shamed him. "Because I do not want
people to talk about Lutie. That is one reason. Another is that I wanted
to do my share in looking after George." Suddenly her eyes narrowed.
"You—you do not imagine that I—I—you couldn't have thought _that_ of me,
Braden."
He shook his head slowly. "If I had thought _that_, Anne, I should not
have told you a moment ago that you were wonderful," he said.
Few women would have been content to let it go at that. It is the
prerogative of woman to expect more than a crumb, and, if it is not
forthcoming from others, to gratify the appetite by feeding confidently
upon herself. In this instance, Anne might have indulged herself in the
comfort of a few tremulous words of self-justification, and even though
they drew nothing in exchange, she would at least have had the pleasure of
uttering them, and the additional satisfaction of knowing that he would
have to listen to them, whether or no. But she was far too intelligent for
that. Her good sense overcame the feminine craving; she surprised him by
holding her tongue.
He waited for a second or two and then said: "Good-bye. I shall drop in
to-morrow to see George."
She held out her hand. "He swears by you," she said, with a smile.
For the first time in more than a year, their hands touched. Up to this
moment there had not been the remotest evidence of an inclination on the
part of either to bridge the chasm that lay between them. The handclasp
was firm but perfunctory. She had herself under perfect control. It is of
importance to note, however, that later on she pressed her hand to her
lips, and that there were many times during the day when she looked at it
as if it were something unreal and apart from her own physical being.
"Thank heaven he doesn't feel toward me as he did last week," he said
fervently. "I shall never get over that awful moment. I shall never forget
the look of despair that—"
"I know," she interrupted. "I saw it too. But it is gone now, so why make
a ghost of it? Don't let it haunt you, Braden."
"It is easy to say that I shouldn't let it—"
"If you are going to begin your life's work by admitting that you are
thin-skinned, you'll not get very far, my friend," she said seriously.
"Good-bye."
She smiled faintly as she turned away. He was never quite sure whether it
was encouragement or mockery that lay in her dark eyes when she favoured
him with that parting glance. He stood motionless until she disappeared
through the door that opened into the room where George was lying; his
eyes followed her slender, graceful figure until she was gone from sight.
His thoughts leaped backward to the time when he had held that lovely,
throbbing, responsive body close in his arms, to the time when he had
kissed those, sensitive lips and had found warmth and passion in them, to
the time when he had drunk in the delicate perfume of her hair and the
seductive fragrance of her body. That same slender, adorable body had been
pressed close to his, and he had trembled under the enchantment it held.
He went away plagued and puzzled by an annoying question that kept on
repeating itself without answer; was it in his power now to rouse the old
flame in her blood, to revive the tender fires that once consumed her
senses when he caressed her? Would she be proof against him if he set out
to reconquer? She seemed so serene, so sure of herself. Was it a pose or
had love really died within her?
By no means the least important of the happenings in Simmy's house was the
short but decisive contest that took place between Lutie and Mrs.
Tresslyn. They met first in the sick-room, and the shock was entirely one-
sided. It was George's mother who sustained it. She had not expected to
find the despised "outcast" there. For once her admirable self-control was
near to being shattered. If she had been permitted to exercise the right
of speech at that crucial moment, she would have committed the
irretrievable error of denouncing the brazen creature in the presence of
disinterested persons. Afterwards she thanked her lucky stars for the
circumstances which compelled her to remain angrily passive, for she was
soon to realise what such an outburst would have brought upon her head.
She took it out on Anne, as if Anne were wholly to blame for the outrage.
Anne had the temerity,—the insolence, Mrs. Tresslyn called it,—to advise
her to make the best of a situation that could not be helped. She held
forth at some length for her daughter's benefit about "common decency,"
and was further shocked by Anne's complacency.
"I think she's behaving with uncommon decency," said Anne. "It isn't every
one who would turn the other cheek like this. Let her alone. She's the
best thing that can happen to George."
"My dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Tresslyn, aghast. "Of course, I shall not come
to this apartment while she is here. That is out of the question."
"Inasmuch as Lutie was here first and means to stay, I am afraid you will
have to reconsider that decision, mother,—provided you want to be near
George."
"Did you speak of her as 'Lutie'?" demanded Mrs. Tresslyn, staring.
"I don't know what else to call her," said Anne.
"Simeon Dodge will appreciate my feelings,—my position—"
"Simmy is very much on her side, so I'd advise you to steer clear of him,"
said Anne impatiently. "Now, mother dear, don't upset things here. Don't
make a fuss. Don't—"
"A fuss?" cried her mother, trying hard not to believe her ears.
"Don't make it any harder for poor old Simmy. He is in for a rough time of
it. Tresslyns everywhere! It isn't a lovely prospect, you know. He will be
fed up with us before—And, mother, don't overlook the fact that George is
very ill. He may not pull through. He—"
"Of course he will get well. He's as strong as an ox. Don't be silly."
The next day she and Lutie met in the library and had it out,—briefly, as
I said before, but with astounding clarity. Mrs. Tresslyn swept into the
library at four in the afternoon, coming direct from her home, where, as
she afterwards felt called upon to explain in self-defence, the telephone
was aggravatingly out of order,—and that was why she hadn't called up to
inquire!—(It is so often the case when one really wants to use the stupid
thing!) She was on the point of entering the sick-room when Lutie came up
from behind.
"I'm afraid you can't go in just now, Mrs. Tresslyn," she said, firmly and
yet courteously.
George's mother started as if stung. "Oh!" she exclaimed, and her tone was
so declaratory that it was not necessary to add the unspoken—"it's _you_,
is it?"
"He is asleep," said Lutie gently. "They won't even allow _me_ to go in."
This was too much for Mrs. Tresslyn. She transfixed the slight, tired-eyed
young woman with a look that would have chilled any one else to the
bone—the high-bred look that never fails to put the lowly in their places.
"Indeed," she said, with infinite irony in her voice. "This is Miss
Carnahan, I believe?" She lifted her lorgnon as a further aid to
inspection.
"I am the person you have always spoken of as Miss Carnahan," said Lutie
calmly. Throughout the brief period in which she had been legally the wife
of George Tresslyn, Lutie was never anything but Miss Carnahan to her
mother-in-law. Mrs. Tresslyn very carefully forbore giving her daughter-
in-law a respectable name. "I was afraid you might have forgotten me."
"You will forgive me if I confess that I have tried very hard to forget
you, Miss Carnahan," said the older woman.
"It isn't my fault that you haven't been able to do so," said Lutie.
"Please! you are not to go in." Mrs. Tresslyn's hand was turning the door-
knob.
"I fear you are forgetting who I am," said she coldly.
"Oh, I know you're his mother, and all that," said Lutie, breathlessly. "I
do not question your right to be with your son. That isn't the point. The
nurse has ordered your daughter and me out of the room for awhile. It is
the first wink of sleep he has had in heaven knows how long. So you cannot
go in and disturb him, Mrs. Tresslyn."
Mrs. Tresslyn's hand fell away from the knob. For a moment she regarded
the tense, agitated girl in silence.
"Has it occurred to you to feel—if you can feel at all—that you may not be
wanted here, Miss Carnahan?" she said, deliberately cruel. She towered
above her adversary.
"Will you be kind enough to come away from the door?" said Lutie, wholly
unimpressed. "It isn't very thick, and the sound of voices may penetrate—"
"Upon my soul!" exclaimed Mrs. Tresslyn, staring. "Do you presume to—"
"Not quite so loud, if you please. Come over here if you want to talk to
me, Mrs. Tresslyn. Nurse's orders, not mine. I don't in the least mind
what you say to me, or what you call me, or anything, but I do entreat you
to think of George."
Greatly to her own surprise, Mrs. Tresslyn moved away from the door, and,
blaming herself inwardly for the physical treachery that impelled her to
do so, sat down abruptly in a chair on the opposite side of the room,
quite as far removed from the door as even Lutie could have desired.
Lutie did not sit down. She came over and stood before the woman who had
once driven her out. Her face was white and her eyes were heavy from loss
of sleep, but her voice was as clear and sharp as a bell.
"We may as well understand each other, Mrs. Tresslyn," she said quietly.
"Or, perhaps I'd better say that you may as well understand me. I still
believe myself to be George's wife. A South Dakota divorce may be all
right so far as the law is concerned, but it will not amount to
_that_"—she snapped her fingers—"when George and I conclude to set it
aside. I went out to that God-forsaken little town and stayed there for
nearly a year, eating my heart out until I realised that it wasn't at all
appetising. I lived up to my bargain, however. I made it my place of
residence and I got my decree. I tore that hateful piece of paper up last
night before I came here. You paid me thirty thousand dollars to give
George up, and he allowed you to do it. Now I have just this to say, Mrs.
Tresslyn: if George gets well, and I pray to God that he may, I am going
back to him, and I don't care whether we go through the form of marrying
all over again or not. He is my husband. I am his wife. There never was an
honest cause for divorce in our case. He wasn't as brave as I'd have liked
him to be in those days, but neither was I. If I had been as brave as I am
now, George wouldn't be lying in there a wreck and a failure. You may take
it into your head to ask why I am here. Well, now you know. I'm here to
take care of my husband."
Mrs. Tresslyn's steady, uncompromising gaze never left the face of the
speaker. When Lutie paused after that final declaration, she waited a
moment for her to resume.
"There is, of course," said she levelly, "the possibility that my son may
not get well."
Lutie's eyes narrowed. "You mean that you'd rather see him die than—"
"Miss Carnahan, I am compelled to speak brutally to you. I paid you to
give up my son. You took the money I proffered and the divorce I arranged
for. You agreed to—"
"Just a moment, please. I took the money and—and _got out_ in order to
give George a chance to marry some one else and be happy. That was what
you wanted, and what _you_ promised me. You promised me that if I gave him
up he would find some one else more worthy, that he would forget me and be
happy, and that I would be forgotten inside of six months. Well, none of
these things has happened. He hasn't found any one else, he still loves
me, and he isn't happy. I am going back on my bargain, Mrs. Tresslyn,
because you haven't carried out your part of it. If you think it was easy
for me to give him up when I did, you are very much mistaken. But that
wouldn't interest you, so I'll say no more about it. We'll come down to
the present, if you don't mind, and see where we stand; George needs me
now, but no more than he has needed me all along. I intend to stick to him
like a leech from this time on, Mrs. Tresslyn. You had your chance to make
_your_ kind of a man out of him, and I guess you'll admit that you failed.
Well, I'm going to begin where you were content to leave off. You treated
me like a dog, and God knows you've treated George but little better,
although perhaps you didn't know what you were doing to him. He is down
and out. You didn't expect things to turn out as they have. You thought
I'd be the one to go to the devil. Now I'll put it up to you squarely. I
still have the thirty thousand you gave me. It is nicely invested. I have
lived comfortably on the income. A few years ago I sold George to you for
that amount. Well, I'll buy him back from you to-morrow."
"Buy my son from me?" gasped Mrs. Tresslyn.
"You made it a business proposition three years ago, so I'll do the same
now. I want to be fair and square with you. I'm going to take him back in
any event, but I shall be a great deal better satisfied if you will let me
pay for him."
Mrs. Tresslyn had recovered herself by this time. She gave the younger
woman a frosty smile.
"And I suppose you will expect to get him at a considerably reduced
price," she said sarcastically, "in view of the fact that he is damaged
goods."
"You shall have back every penny, Mrs. Tresslyn," said Lutie, with
dignity.
"How ingenuous you are. Do you really believe that I will _sell_ my son to
you?"
"I sold him to you," said the other, stubbornly.
Mrs. Tresslyn arose. "I think we would better bring this interview to an
end, Miss Carnahan. I shall spare you the opinion I have formed of you
in—"
"Just as you please, Mrs. Tresslyn," said Lutie calmly. "We'll consider
the matter closed. George comes back to me at my own price. I—"
"My son shall never marry you!" burst out Mrs. Tresslyn, furiously.
Lutie smiled. "It's good to see you mad, Mrs. Tresslyn. It proves that you
are like other people, after all. Give yourself a chance, and you'll find
it just as easy to be glad as it is to be mad, now that you've let go of
yourself a little bit."
"You are insufferable! Be good enough to stand aside. I am going in to my
son. He—"
"If you are so vitally interested in him, how does it happen that you wait
until four o'clock in the afternoon to come around to inquire about him?
I've been here on the job since last night—and so has your daughter. But
you? Where have you been all this time, Mrs. Tresslyn?"
"God in heaven!" gasped Mrs. Tresslyn, otherwise speechless.
"If I had a son I'd be with him day and night at—"
"The telephone was out of order," began Mrs. Tresslyn before she could
produce the power to check the impulse to justify herself in the eyes of
this brazen tormentor.
"Indeed?" said Lutie politely.
"My son shall never marry you," repeated the other, helplessly.
"Well," began Lutie slowly, a bright spot in each cheek, "all I have to
say is that he will be extremely unfair to your grandchildren, Mrs.
Tresslyn, if he doesn't."