"No, no, I don"t remember," said the old lady impatiently. "Well, go on."
"You don"t remember?"
"Yes, yes, of course I remember, in a way. But go on, Electra."
"Well, then the philanthropist asked him to be one of the five men who would guarantee a certain sum at their death, and grandfather was indignant and said, "Charity begins at home." Listen." She found her page and read, ""I shall a.s.suredly leave every inch of ground and every cent I possess to my wife, and that, not because she is an advanced woman but because she is not.""
"Of course!" corroborated the old lady. "Precisely. There"s a slap at suffrage. That"s what I mean it for, and you can tell "em so."
Electra did not stop to register her pain at that. She held up one hand to enjoin attention.
"But listen, grandmother. You don"t see the bearing of it yet. That was five years after grandfather made his will, leaving this place away from you."
"Well, what of it?"
"Five years after, grandmother! And here, by his expressed intention, he meant to leave it to you--not to his son, but you. Do you see what that implies?"
"I don"t know what it implies," said the old lady, "but I know I shall fly all to pieces in about two minutes if you don"t stop winding me up and asking me questions."
Electra answered quite solemnly,--
"It means, grandmother, that legally I inherited this place. Ethically it belongs to you. My grandfather meant to make another will. Here is his expressed intention. He neglected doing it, as people are always neglecting things that may be done at any time. It only remains for me to make it over to you."
Madam Fulton lay back in her chair for a moment and stared. She seemed incapable of measuring the irony she felt. But Electra went quietly on,--
"There is simply nothing else for me to do, and I shall do it."
Madam Fulton gasped a little and then gave up speaking. Again she glanced at the window and wished for Billy Stark. Electra was observing her compa.s.sionately.
"It excites you, doesn"t it?" she was saying. "I don"t wonder."
Now the old lady found her tongue, but only to murmur,--
"I can"t even laugh. It"s too funny; it"s too awfully funny."
"Let me get you a little wine." Electra had put her papers together and now she rose.
Then Madam Fulton found her strength.
"Sit down, Electra," she said. "Why, child, you don"t realize--I don"t know what you"d do if you did--you don"t realize I put that in there by the merest impulse."
"Of course," said Electra kindly. "I understand that. You never dreamed of its having any bearing on things as they are now, they have gone on in this way so long. But it would be shocking to me, shocking, to seem to own this house when it is yours--ethically."
"Don"t say ethically. I can"t stand it. There, Electra! you"re a good girl. I know that. But you"re conscience gone mad. You"ve read George Eliot till you"re not comfortable unless you"re renouncing something.
Take things a little more lightly. You can if you give your mind to it.
Now this--this is nothing but a joke. You have my word for it."
"It isn"t a joke," said Electra firmly, "when grandfather could write that over his own signature and send it to a well-known person. How did it come back into your hands, grandmother?"
But Madam Fulton looked at her, wondering what asylum Electra would put her in, if she knew the truth. She essayed a miserable gayety.
"Very well, Electra," she smiled, "call it so, if you like, but we won"t say any more about it. I can"t have houses made over to me. I may totter into the grave to-morrow."
Electra"s eyes went involuntarily to the garden where Billy Stark was placidly walking up and down, smoking his cigar and stopping now and then to inspect a flower. The old lady interpreted the look.
"I know, I know," she said wickedly; "but that"s nothing to do with it.
Besides, if I marry Billy Stark, I shall go to London to live. What do I want of houses? Let things be as they are, Electra. You keep the house in your hands and let me visit you, just as I do now. It"s all one."
Electra spoke with an unmoved firmness. Her face had the clarity of a great and fixed resolve.
"The house is yours; not legally, I own, but--"
"Don"t you say ethically again, Electra," said the old lady. "I told you I couldn"t bear it."
She sank back still further into her chair and glared. At last Madam Fulton was afraid of her own emotions. Such amazement possessed her at the foolish irony of things, such desire of laughter, that she dared not yield lest her frail body could not bear the storm. Man"s laughter, she realized, shout upon shout of robust roaring, was not too heroic for this folly. Electra was speaking:--
"I insist upon the truth from others," she said, still from a basic resolution that seemed invulnerable. "I must demand it from myself."
"The truth, Electra!" groaned Madam Fulton. "You don"t tell the truth."
"I don"t tell the truth?"
"You don"t know anything about it. You"ve thought about it so much that now you only tell horrible facts."
This Electra could not fathom, but it was evident that she was putting it away in her consciousness for a thoughtful moment. Madam Fulton was rallying. She felt a little stronger, and she knew she was mentally more vigorous than her young antagonist. It was only in an unchanging will that Electra distanced her.
"Electra," she said, "you"ve got to be awfully careful of yourself."
There was a wistful kindness in her voice. It was as if she spoke to one whom she wished to regard leniently, though she might in reality shower her with that elfin raillery which was the outcome of her own inquietude.
Electra opened her eyes in a candid wonder.
"Careful of myself?" she repeated. "Why, grandmother?"
"You"ve trained so hard, child. You"ve trained down to a point where it"s dangerous for you to try to live."
"Trained down, grandmother? I am very well."
"I don"t mean your body. I mean, you"ve thought of yourself and your virtues and your tendencies, and tested yourself with tubes and examined yourself under a gla.s.s until you"re nothing but a bundle of self-conscious virtues. Why, it would be better for you if you were a care-free spontaneous murderess. You"d be less dangerous."
"Suppose we don"t talk about it any more," said Electra, in that soothing accent suited to age.
"But I"ve got to talk about it. I never have done any particular duty by you, but I suppose the duty"s there. I"ve got to tell you when you sail into dangerous lat.i.tudes. You mark my words, Electra, a.s.sure as you sit there, you"ve trained so hard that there"s got to be a reaction. Some day you"ll fly all to pieces and make an idiot of yourself."
Electra had risen.
"Excuse me for a moment, grandmother," she said. "I must get you a gla.s.s of wine."
Madam Fulton, too, got up and rested one hand upon the table.