“I’m sure you don’t owe me anything, sir.” Mrs. Place took her hand off his
and averted her face.
“You’ve been good to me. Kept me a man. Until now.” He looked at the
pitifully small mound his frail body made under the covers and shook his head.
“And you’re a woman, aren’t you? Woman always thinks a man owes her the
world and a half.”
Mrs. Place’s face collapsed, as if all the flesh were melting off.
He waved his hand toward Olivia with a dismissive motion. “Don’t worry
about her. It’s time she knows the things go on between men and women,” he said. “She’ll take a husband soon enough.”
Olivia turned her back to them and stared out the window, but her gaze
returned to her father when he broke the thick silence that had engulfed the room.
“This is for you,” he said, wheezing as he leaned over to remove a thick white
envelope from the drawer of the nightstand and hold it out to Mrs. Place. “Cash
money. No waiting for the blasted lawyer. I had to have Avis get it from the bank
for me and you can bet he’s going to want to know where it disappeared to.” He
stopped to cough again. “That’s why Olivia is here, so no one will be able to say
I didn’t give it to you of my own free will, or that you put an evil spell on my
poor senile mind. You can trust her. She’s got her share of faults in her character,
but it’s her bad luck that lying ain’t one of them.”
Mrs. Place stood up and arranged her skirts. “Well, thank you Seborn. I can
assure you, I’m most grateful to you.” She slipped the envelope into a deep pocket and chattered about the cake she was going to go right home and bake for
him.
He cut her off with a wave of his hand and closed his eyes. “You’d best go now. Good-bye, Jettie.”
She paused for a moment before she moved to his side and bent down to plant
a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll be seeing you, Seborn. You get yourself all better. You
hear me?”
Eyes still closed, he made another impatient gesture with his hand.
“Let me show you out, Mrs. Place,” Olivia said after a moment’s silence.
Mrs. Place followed her out to the hall where they heard voices downstairs –
Tobey, Avis, and Mabel arriving home for their noonday meal.
“Perhaps you’d like to step into my room, take a moment to collect yourself before you go down there,” Olivia said. Mrs. Place had been looking down the
stairs as if they descended straight into hell.
“Yes, I would. You’re awfully kind,” she said, suspicion creeping into her
voice.
“Come in.” Olivia opened the door. “Why don’t you sit over there on the
window seat? I could fetch you a pitcher of water, if you’d like to freshen up.”
“No. That won’t be necessary.” Mrs. Place walked quickly to the window and
seated herself, suddenly the picture of composure.
“He never talked much about you.” She looked Olivia over with a cool eye.
“Always griped about Avis the conniver and Tobias the spineless weakling, but I
