"And I am going with him, Margaret. I think I can be of service over there. Paul Caillard is the best friend I have. As you know you are the only relative I have in the world, and you are happily and safely married, so I feel that I am harming no one by my decision.
"We sail tomorrow morning on the Saturn. It will be impossible for me to come to your home before then. So this is good-by. When I come back, if I come back, I want to meet your husband and see you in your home.
"And now I must speak of a little matter of which you are ignorant, but of which you must be told before I go. Before your mother died, I had made my will, leaving her everything I possessed, for you and she were all the family I had ever known. After her death I changed her name to yours. If anything should happen to me, my attorney, William Faye, 149 Broadway, will attend to everything for you. He is also my executor.
"Most of what I have, would have come to you by law, anyway, Margaret, for you are "my nearest of kin"--isn"t that the way the law puts it?
But you might have some unpleasantness from those Pennsylvania cousins of ours, so I have protected you against such a contingency.
"And now, Margaret, good-by and G.o.d bless you.
"Your affectionate cousin, Jack."
I finished the letter with a numb feeling at my heart. It seemed to me as if one of the foundations of my life had given away.
When Jack had left me after that miserable reunion dinner where he had been hurt so cruelly by the news of my marriage during his year"s absence, he had said--ah, how well I remembered the words--"I shall not see you again, dear girl, unless you need me, if you ever do. I can"t be near you without loving you and hating your husband, whoever he may be, and that is a dangerous state of affairs. But wherever I am, a note or a wire to the Hotel Alfred will be forwarded to me, and if the impossible should happen, and your husband, ever fail you, remember Jack is waiting, ready to do anything for you."
I had not expected to see Jack for months, perhaps years, but the knowledge of his faithfulness, of his nearness, had been of much comfort to me. And now he was going away, probably to his death.
The most bitter knowledge of all, was that which forced itself upon my mind. Jack was going to the war because he was unhappy over my marriage. He had not said so, of course, in the letter which he knew my husband must read, but I knew it. The remembrance of his face, his voice, when I told him of my marriage was enough. I did not need written words to know that perhaps I was sending him to his death!
I glanced at the clock--11:15. Only three-quarters of an hour till the train which was bringing my mother-in-law to our home was due! She would be in the house within three-quarters of an hour! Would I have time to dress, go after the flowers and cream we needed for luncheon and be back in time to welcome her?
Common sense whispered to omit the flowers, and send Katie for the cream. But one of my faults or virtues--I never have been able to decide which--is the persistence with which I stick to a plan, once I have decided upon it. I made up my mind to take a chance on getting back in time.
I made my purchases and on my way back I stepped into the corner drug store and telephoned Jack. He would not hear of my seeing him sail, and he would not promise to write me. Then there was a long silence. I wondered what he was debating with himself.
"I am going to let you in on a little secret," he said at last. "I have provided myself with the means of knowing how you fare, and I suppose I ought to let you have the same privilege. You know Mrs.
Stewart, who keeps the boarding house where you and your mother lived so many years?"
"Oh, yes."
"Well, she and I are going to correspond. Now, understand, Margaret, I am going to send no messages to you. I want none from you. Remember, you are married. Your husband objects to your friendship with me. I will do nothing underhand. But if anything happens to you I shall know it through Mrs. Stewart, and she will always know where I am and what I am doing."
"That is some comfort," I returned earnestly. "What time does the Saturn sail tomorrow?"
"At 10 o"clock. But, Madge, you must not come."
"I know," I returned meekly enough, although a daring plan was just beginning to creep into my brain. "And I will say good-by now, Jack.
Good-by, dear boy, and good luck."
My voice was trembling, and there was a tremor in the deep voice that answered.
"Good-by, dear little girl. G.o.d bless and keep you." The next moment I was stumbling out of the booth with just one thought, to get home and bathe my eyes and pull myself together before the arrival of my mother-in-law.
I was just outside the drug store, and had realized that I"d left my purchases in the telephone booth, when I heard my name called excitedly.
From the window of a taxicab d.i.c.ky was gesturing wildly, while beside him a stately woman sat with a bored look upon her face.
My mother-in-law had arrived!
"Madge! What under the heavens is the matter?"
d.i.c.ky sprang out of the taxicab, which had drawn up before the door of the drug store, and seized my arm.
"Nothing is the matter," I said shortly. "I went out to get some cream for Katie"s pudding and some flowers. I stopped here in the drug store to get some of my headache tablets, and left the flowers and cream.
Some dust blew in my eyes. I suppose that"s what makes you think I have been crying."
"That"s you, all over," d.i.c.ky grumbled. "Risk not being at home to greet mother in order to have a few flowers stuck around. Here, come on and meet mother, and I"ll go in and get your flowers." He took my arm and made a step toward the taxicab.
"No, no," I said hastily. "I know exactly where I left them. I won"t be a minute."
Luckily the flowers and cream were where I had left them. I detest the idea of arranging any part of one"s toilet in public, but I did not want the critical eyes of d.i.c.ky"s mother to see my reddened eyes, and roughened hair, which had been slightly loosened in my hurry.
There was a mirror near the telephone booth at the back of the store.
I took off my fur cap, smoothed back my hair and put on the cap again.
From my purse I took a tiny powder puff and removed the traces of tears. Then I fairly s.n.a.t.c.hed my parcels and hurried to the door.
d.i.c.ky was just entering the store as I reached it. His face was black.
I saw that he was in one of his rages.
"Look here, Madge," he said, and he made no pretense of lowering his voice, "do you think my mother enjoys sitting there in that taxicab waiting for you? She was so fatigued by her journey that she didn"t even want to have her baggage looked after, something unusual for her.
That is the reason we got here so early. And now she is positively faint for a cup of tea, and you are fiddling around here over a lot of flowers."
If he had made no reference to his mother"s faintness, I should have answered him spiritedly. But I remembered my own little mother, and her longing when fatigued for a cup of hot tea.
"I"m awfully sorry, d.i.c.ky," I said meekly. "You see you arrived before I thought you would. I"ll get the tea for her the moment we reach the house."
But d.i.c.ky was not mollified. He stalked moodily ahead of me until he reached the open door of the taxicab. Then his manner underwent a sudden change. One would have thought him the most devoted of husbands to see him draw me forward.
"Mother," he said, and my heart glowed even in its resentment at the note of pride in his voice, "this is my wife. Madge, my mother."
Mrs. Graham was leaning back against the cushions of the taxicab. If she had not looked so white and ill I should have resented the look of displeasure that rested upon her features.
"How do you do?" she said coldly. "You must pardon me, I am afraid, for not saying the usual things. I have been very much upset."
The studied insolence of the apology was infinitely worse than the coldness of her manner. I waited for a moment to control myself before answering her.
"I am afraid that you are really ill," I said as cordially as I could.
"I am so sorry to have kept you waiting, but I did not expect you quite so soon, and I had some errands."
"It doesn"t matter," she said indifferently. Her manner put me aside from her consideration as if I had been a child or a servant. She turned to d.i.c.ky.
"Are we almost there, dear?"
The warmth of her tones to him, the love displayed in every inflection, set out in more bitter contrast the coldness with which she was treating me.
"Right here now," as the taxi drew up to the door of the apartment house. There was a peculiar inflection in d.i.c.ky"s voice. I stole a glance at him. He was gazing at his mother with a puzzled look. I fancied I saw also a trace of displeasure. But it vanished in another minute as he sprang to the ground, paid the driver and helped his mother and me out.
She leaned heavily on his arm as we went up the stairs to the third floor upon which our apartment was.