“Is Mrs. Winter in the kitchen?” Nannie inquired of the negress.
“No, Miss Nannie. She done went out de back way. I ’specs she’s over to Mis’ Hamilton’s.”
“Oh, John, if there was anything else I could do I wouldn’t need to leave you,” faltered Nannie sadly after Katy had returned to the kitchen. “I was driven to this because Lucy has made no other course possible!”
“Driven to it!” echoed John savagely. “Lucy’s got nothing to say about it! What did you say to make that fellow send you such a telegram?”
“Nothing, John.” Nannie gazed at him with swimming eyes. He rumpled his hair viciously. “You dear boy,” she murmured with tears in her voice.
John look at her sceptically. His lip quivered slightly.
“Really, didn’t you fix this thing up, Nannie?” he asked with a wounded, distrustful air. “I never believed you’d lead me on into thinking things were getting better while you were planning to—” He could say no more. He crumpled his napkin into a ball and turned his face away, placing one hand to his eyes.
“John!” Nannie reproached, “do you suppose it’s been easy for me to seem lighthearted when I realized that I must give up—so much—that which means so much to me?”
“Then why not cut it out? You must cut it out! It’s absurd! It’s ridiculous! I won’t believe it. Why only this morning—I don’t see how you can torture me like this, Nannie. You know you’ve come here to stay with us always. Why you’re a part of my home—part of my life, Nannie! Do you think I’m going to submit to all this tamely, to please Lucy! She’ll find out I’m not the weak, soft proposition she imagines. We’ll fight it out and see who’s running things in this house. Never you fear, Nannie, I won’t have you shoved out in the street. We’ll stand together and Lucy can rant and rave all she pleases. By God, I won’t have it! I’ll fight it to the last ditch! You’re her own mother, and if she doesn’t realize that she owes anything to you, I do, and I’ll make her—make her stand up to her obligations whether she wants to or not. She’ll either accept my standards in this household or—if she’s going to have me she’s got to—I’m the master here whether she likes it or not! She evidently thought when she married me that I was a man without any backbone, exactly the opposite of Jim Sprague! I’ll show her! I’ll show her, I tell you! She shan’t tear you away from me, Nannie! She—” Almost inarticulate with angry emotion, he was striding up and down the room. He halted near Nannie’s chair, clenching and unclenching his fists as he stared away from her.
“John, dear,” Nannie’s voice was subdued, “we must talk reasonably.”
He snorted.
“I suppose that means bend to Lucy’s will!” he interjected bitterly.
Nannie was patient.
“No, dear. But don’t you see, John, what staying under the circumstances would mean? It puts me in a position—Lucy will stop at nothing, John. I think she’s capable of making us trouble with other people. I’ve—I’ve—” Here Nannie looked at the floor, embarrassed. “I’ve heard her go so far as to hint that she’d write to Cousin Minnie and Professor Walsh and—and old friends of the family like Judge Dodd and other people!”
“Professor Walsh!” John almost roared. “Let her write to Professor Walsh! I’ll go to Russellville and break his neck if necessary!”
“I know, John,” Nannie was fearful now, “but that wouldn’t save me, if slurs were cast on my—my reputation. I’m a misjudged woman, John, and after Arthur’s heartlessness has placed me in such a false position I can’t afford to risk such a thing.”
John regarded her undecidedly.
“Don’t you think I’m able to take care of you, Nannie?” he asked in a trembling voice.
“You would do all you could, John,” Nannie’s voice broke too, “but some things are beyond your power.”
“And do you mean to say that we have to submit to this because Lucy has the drop on us—that we can’t stop her from stooping to a lot of underhand lying?” he demanded, defiance in his tone.
“Remember she’s done none of this,” Nannie continued hastily. “It’s only,” again she looked away from him, “that certain things she’s said have made me afraid she might. Anyway—now it’s all arranged—”
Katy came in to clear the table and Nannie led the way into the living room.
“Don’t turn on the light,” John objected peevishly as she moved toward the electric switch.
They seated themselves in the dim radiance that filtered in from the hall.
“Nannie, you’ve got to give it up,” he repeated suddenly. “Put it off for a month or two anyway,” he begged unsteadily.
“If Lucy were different! Oh, John, if Lucy only would—” She took one of his hands in both of hers.
John’s fist clenched.
“I won’t forget what she’s done to us in a hurry!” he cried, glancing away from Nannie as he spoke. There was a cruel edge to his tone.
“It’s her abnormal state. Oh, you poor, dear boy! And to think you must bear all this and that I can’t do anything to ease your burden! I saw this coming, John, and I didn’t dare to tell you what she was forcing me to.” Nannie talked hurriedly. Half sobs broke in on her words.
John bent forward and leaned his brow against the hands that held his own. There was a long pause.
“How long ago did you decide this?” he demanded, looking up suddenly and pressing her fingers so that she winced.
“I’ve been trying to decide a long time, John. You don’t know all Lucy says to me when you’re away. I made up my mind definitely a—a few days ago. The telegram really has nothing to do with it, though I half expected from what Professor Walsh had written that he would send one.”
“When are you going?” John went on with painful intensity.
“It’s
