“Whenever I felt like it. Sometimes I listened and watched both.”
“You’ve acquired some atrocious habits, my dear. Hasn’t anyone ever told you that spying is bad manners?”
“It’s often useful. You learn things.”
“I dare say. What have you learned about your mother and me, for example?”
“Oh, that’s plain enough. You’re in love with each other, of course. You always kiss when Cory isn’t there.”
“That’s nothing. Nowadays, kissing is a casual form of greeting between good friends.”
“Not the way you and Mother do it.”
“You’re quite a clever girl, aren’t you?”
“I’m extremely intelligent. Cory wants to send me to a school for gifted students.”
“Would you like that?”
“No, I’ll refuse to go.”
“How does your mother feel about it?”
“She thinks I ought to wait another year. She and Cory had an argument about it. She said he just wants to get rid of me.”
“Does Cory suspect your mother and me? Is that what you meant by saying I’ve made things difficult? I certainly didn’t mean to.”
“No, no. Cory’s very dull about such things. He doesn’t see what’s under his own nose.”
“Perhaps he’s not as good at spying as you are.”
“He’s not as good at anything as I am. Things are difficult because of the tension, and you have caused it by the advice you have given me.”
“I’ve only tried to help. It would be much nicer for everyone wouldn’t it, if Cory would simply give up and go away? Divorces are quite easily obtained these days.”
“Well, I’ve tried my best to make him go, but all it has done is create bad feeling between him and Mother. They are always at odds about me.”
“What have you done? I may be able to suggest something more.”
“I’ve taken every opportunity to express my hostility, that’s all. I even threatened to kill him.”
“Such threats from young girls are not to be taken seriously. I imagine he simply discounted it.”
“Do you? I don’t. He was quite disturbed about it. Later, I heard him asking Mother if she didn’t think I should see a psychiatrist, but Mother wouldn’t hear of it.”
“Good for your mother. You can always depend on her to defend you. Nevertheless, however disturbed Cory was, I’ll bet the threat would have been more effective if you had done something to support it.”
“Done what? I don’t want to get myself into serious trouble, you know.”
“Of course not. I was just thinking of a kind of trick. A clever girl like you should be able to devise something.”
“It shouldn’t be difficult. It really doesn’t take much to upset Cory. He’s a worrier.”
“Not without cause, I can see. I happen to know a few tricks myself, in case you’re interested. I don’t think I’d better engage in a conspiracy with you, however.”
“Why not? It would be our secret.”
“Well, I’ll think about it, but I’m sure that you will think of something better yourself.”
She finished her apple, and now she threw away the core and balanced the salt cellar on one knee, which she had drawn up in front of her. Her eyes were bright with excitement, but at the same time they seemed to retain an analytical detachment that survived excitement or anger or any emotion whatever.
“You want me to make Cory leave Mother, don’t you? That will make it possible for Mother to get an enormous settlement that will make everything much better when you marry her later. You are planning to marry Mother, aren’t you?”
“How would you feel about it?” He suddenly felt something himself that was very close to fear. “If you hate Cory for marrying your mother, wouldn’t you hate me as much?”
“Not at all.” She laughed and snatched the salt cellar from her knee and shook her hair back from her eyes. “You’re different from Cory. It might be quite entertaining to have you in the family.”
“I’m glad you think so.” He arose from his heels and settled his feet flat on the soft earth. “Keep me posted on developments, will you?”
“Yes, I shall.” She laughed again with a kind of childish delight, anticipating a trick on Cory. “And now you had better go up to the house and see Mother. Cory isn’t home, so you don’t have to worry. No one will see you kiss her. Not even me.”
He found Stella at the rear of the house, in a sunny room with sliding glass doors that opened onto a wide terrace of colored flagstones. She was standing at the doors looking out across the terrace. She turned, hearing him behind her, and started toward him. She was wearing a white sheath and white sandals, and her skin had been exposed to the sun in controlled baths that had given it the shade and sheen of butterscotch candy. She was holding a cigarette in one hand and in the other, he was happy to see, a thin-stemmed glass with an olive in it. No one saw him kiss her. Not even Nettie.
“Darling,” she said, “I’ve been waiting for you.”
“My ego is greatly stimulated, I must say. You are the second beautiful woman who has told me that within the last half hour.”
“I’m jealous of the other one.”
“You needn’t be. I’ve been talking with your precocious daughter in the orchard.”
“Nettie? The girl’s becoming quite impossible. What on earth was she doing in the orchard?”
“As I said, waiting for me. Also eating a green apple.”
“Nettie likes you, I think, and it’s rarely that she likes anyone at all. It must be your irresistible charm. I’m having an early martini. Will you have one?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
“They’re in the pitcher on the table there. I remembered the ratio exactly. Four to one.”
“Good. Will you have another one with me?”
“Later, darling. Four-to-one martinis shouldn’t be rushed, especially when they get an early start.”
“You’re right. They are good for you, like green apples, in moderation. If you
