Chapter XXIII: Fate Spreads Her Net

[FROM SUE PAYNTER]

PARIS, March 4th, 188--

JERRY DEAR:

Frederick died here a week ago. His heart, you know, was
never very good, and the strain of his last concerts was too
much for him. They were very successful, and just before I
came over, the poor fellow had sent me--in one of his
periodical fits of reform, _Dieu merci!_--some beautiful
jewels, chains, aigrettes and a gorgeous diamond collar,
begging me to sell them, but on no account to wear them, as
if I would! I sold them pretty well--it's all for the
babies, you know. Poor Frederick--I'm not sure his reforms
were not the hardest to bear!

He has been for so long so less than nothing to me that the
sense of freedom is startling. I'm glad I came as soon as I
heard he was sinking--it was not so very sudden. I was with
him to the last, and the strangest people came to see
him--it was tragically funny. He seemed just like a poor,
disreputable brother to me, and nothing mattered, really,
except to get him what little comfort one could.

I brought the children over, and I think we shall stay here
indefinitely. I have a nice little _appartement_ not too far
from the Bradleys, though, of course, I couldn't afford to
live there! and such a dear, sensible bonne (_a tout faire_,
of course) who gets the children into the park every day for
me when I'm busy. For I am very seriously busy, and how, do
you think? I wrote a long, gossippy letter to Alice Carter
who loves _chiffons_, poor soul, though Madam Bradley
doesn't give her many, telling her what was being worn and
where, and how, and gave her a little account of a
fashionable _fete_ that a friend of mine had described to
me, and the dear creature actually took the trouble of
copying it, omitting personalities, of course, and showing
it to a friend of Walter's, an amazing young man who is
starting some woman's magazine with a phenomenal
circulation, already. He offered her a really good price for
it and said if I would do the same kind of letter every
month, he would pay one hundred dollars for each one--five
hundred _francs_! Of course I accepted, and now I spend two
days a week in the shops, getting ideas and making sketches.
You see I am a business woman, really, Jerry. I have always
believed that plenty of women would do better at their
husband's business, and let them hire housekeepers or attend
to the house themselves! Look at the French women!

It seems so good to be here--it always agreed with me, _la
belle France_, and the children seem well, too--for them.
Little Susy really has some colour. They are especially fond
of the _Parc Monceau_, and this charming out-of-door life
that is so easy here will do wonders for them, I'm sure.
That east wind of Boston--ugh, how I loathe it!

I feel so busy and so self-respecting--independence agrees
with me. You see, with my few hundreds from father, and
these letters, and the little income Roger got for me, with
the principal put away for the children, I shall do very
well indeed and owe "nothing to nobody." And when Susy gets
old enough, I'm going to have her taught something--trade or
profession, _n'importe!_--that will make her as independent
as I am to-day. I think it is criminal not to. Then she
needn't marry unless she wants to.

I wonder if you realise how many women marry to get away
from home? Few men do, I imagine. It's not particularly
flattering to you, _messieurs_, but it's the truth. I had
four sisters, and I know!

You have heard, I suppose, that Margarita is actually in
training for the opera? It was very exciting--Mme. M----i is
really at the bottom of it, I think, though everybody agrees
with her to this extent: the child really has extraordinary
talent, and with her face and figure will be sure of
success, one would think. Of course her voice is not
phenomenal--I doubt if it is big enough for the New York
opera house. How Frederick used to rail at that building!
They wanted him to play there once, you know, at some big
benefit. He always said no respectable human voice could be
judged there--it seems the acoustics is wrong. But it is an
exceptionally fine voice, nevertheless, and so pure and
unspoiled. She had nothing to unlearn, literally, and her
acting, Madame says, is superb. She can memorise anything,
and in such a short time!

But for a Bradley! Madame is furious that she is married.
There are plenty to have babies and live in America, she
says, without her little Marguerite! _M. le mari_ does not
appreciate what a jewel he wishes to shut up, she says--but
I am not so sure of that! Whether he is really going to let
her or is only humouring her, I don't know. It is rather an
embarrassing situation, _au fond_, because you know what she
is--calm, lovely, enchanting--what you will, but absolutely
immovable! Reasoning has no effect upon her, and then, to
tell the truth, she has reasons of her own. Her desire for
this is very strong, and her affection for Roger is not
strong enough, apparently, to make her sacrifice herself. Do
you think she has any soul, really? I mean, what we
understand by that--something that takes more than two years
of ordinary life to grow. Passionate, yes. Intelligent, yes.
But a real soul? _Je m' en doute._

"Of course I love Roger, Sue," she said to me, "but why
should I not do what I want to just because I love him? I
can love him and sing, too."

Then Miss Jencks advances to the fray, with pleasant
platitudes about giving up what we like for those we love.

"But Roger loves me, too," says _la Margarita_--"why does he
not give up what _he_ likes because he loves me?"

Tableau! _Que faire alors?_

It is really rather complicated, I think, Jerry, though you
will probably not agree with me, when I explain what I mean.
I have done a great deal of thinking in the years since my
marriage--I have been forced to. Things which would never
have occurred to me, never come into my horizon if, for
instance, I had married Roger; things which would never, I
can see, be likely to come into the horizon of the happily
(and prosperously) married, have come to me and I have been
obliged, in my poor way, to philosophise over them.

Have you ever read Ibsen's play, the "Doll's House"? I don't
think it has been acted in America, and probably won't be,
unless, perhaps, in Boston. But get it and read it. It is to
show that a woman is a personality, aside from her family
relations, and must live her life, finally, herself. At
least, so I understand it. It is to be acted in London soon,
and I am going to try to see it--the theatre seems to mean
so much more, this side the water! One really takes it
seriously, somehow, along with the other arts. But then,
there is no duty on art here!

Will you tell me, Jerry, why, if Margarita really is an
artist and has a great gift, she should not use it? It may
not be what would best please her husband (and you know,
Jerry, I would cut off my hand for Roger! But I must say
what I think) but if she sees a career open to her of fame,
money and satisfaction, why should the fact of her marriage
prevent it? As far as fame goes, she could be better known
than Roger; as far as money goes, she could almost certainly
earn more than he can; as far as what _Nora_, in the play I
spoke of, calls "her duties towards herself," she could
surely develop more fully. That is, if it is necessary for a
woman to develop herself fully in any but the physical
sense--and isn't it?

It is all very perplexing and I do so wish it had happened
to any one but Roger! He is much hurt, I know, though he
conceals it well, of course, in his quiet, steadfast sort of
way. What a man he is! He would never be willing, I am sure,
to go back to his profession in New York and leave Margarita
alone in Europe, exposed to all the temptations and scandal
and dangers that seem almost inevitable in the life she is
preparing for. They might as well be completely and legally
separated, in that case. He has money enough without
practising law, of course, but he would never be idle--he
loves his work--and as for hanging about as her business
manager--I wish you could have seen his face when Madame
suggested it! I explained to her it was not precisely the
sort of thing his family were accustomed to do. She can't
understand it, of course--she has the French idea of a
lawyer. When I told her that Mr. Bradley was really _vrai
proprietaire_ and well-to-do aside from his practice, she
had more respect for him.

"Then he will not need to occupy himself," she said
triumphantly, "and all the better. Let him rent an estate
and live _en gentilhomme_!"

She has promised to go back to America for the summer for
two months--she can learn her _roles_ there, she says, and
Roger wants to go. _Eh bien!_ We shall have to wait.

The child is beautiful--so strong and well, and so
ridiculously the image of Roger. She is trying to stand
now--think of it! My poor little rats were two years old
before they could.

_A vous toujours_,

SUE.

[FROM MY ATTORNEYS]

SEARS, BRADLEY AND SEARS,

Attorneys and Counsellors-at-Law.

Cable Address, Valleshta.

2-- COURT STREET, BOSTON, MASS.

March 10th, 188--

WINFRED JERROLDS, Esq.,

Cf., Coutts Bros.,

Cairo, Egypt.

DEAR SIR:

Pursuant to our letters to you of six weeks ago, we had our
Mr. James go to the North Carolina plantation to investigate
and report on the property. He was almost at once approached
with offers to buy the property on terms which surprised
him. He communicated with us and we took the responsibility
of sending one of our best mining experts to look over the
ground. We found that Pittsburg men had been making heavy
purchases of land a few miles west across the range and had
also been buying tracts adjacent to your lands both north
and south; they had also had a party of engineers all over
your lands under the guise of a fishing party.

The expert, Mr. Minton, reported that he found heavy
outcroppings of coal on both sides of the valley, of
excellent steaming quality. The veins apparently extend
through your lands into the higher lands north and south of
yours. West of you but a few miles these Pittsburg people
have acquired large bodies of iron ore. But the most
important fact of all is that the valley is the most
practical route for a railroad across the range west of you,
from the coast to the iron lands already mentioned, for many
miles in either direction.

We have been negotiating for three weeks with these
Pittsburg people and they have finally made us an offer
which we enclose. Briefly, it amounts to $300,000 in five
per cent. mortgage bonds, $250,000 in stock (this of
problematic value) and a royalty of ten cents per ton on all
coal mined on your lands, with an agreement to mine at least
50,000 tons annually until your coal measures are
practically exhausted.

In view of your unwillingness to come here and yourself
engineer a rival development company, not to speak of the
difficulty of enlisting adequate capital in the face of the
purchases already made by our Pittsburg friends, we think
you cannot do better than accept this offer. Whether we can
get as good an one later is doubtful. We have promised an
answer by cable from you within three days of your receipt
of this letter.

Congratulating you on these most fortunate discoveries, we
remain,

Yours very respectfully,

SEARS, BRADLEY AND SEARS.

[FROM TIP ELDER]

UNIVERSITY CLUB, NEW YORK,

March 20th, 188--

DEAR JERRY:

I needn't say how hearty my congratulations are on your good
luck, need I? What a hit that was! And what a fine use you
are making of it, too! Of course I'll help all I can. I must
hurry to catch this mail-boat, so I will just cut short and
merely say that Latham and Waite, of Union Square, seem to
have put in the best bid for the work and I have told them
to send you the detailed budget and contracts as soon as
they can get them ready. They have connections with a big
brick-yard in Tennessee and say that they can put you up a
very good little hospital, three wards, operating-room, six
private rooms, diet kitchen, dispensary, nurses' dormitory
and suite for superintendent, including one elevator, for
close under $65,000, on very good terms of payment. This
will include all fittings (hardware, etc.) and two fine,
large piazzas, with arrangements for sun parlour, if
desired. Also four bathrooms. Miss Buxton has selected the
site, as I suppose she has written you, and Miss Bradley has
secured another deaconess-nurse for the permanent staff.
Young Collier has done marvellously well down there, and the
generous endowment you offer will take care of two more
boys, Miss Buxton says. Dr. McGee says that Collier has a
real gift for surgery--I think I have got a scholarship for
him at Johns Hopkins, next year.

What a fine little woman that nurse is! She can't speak of
you without her eyes filling with tears. I teased her a
little by saying that if she had not begged you for the use
of that deserted farm-house on your land for a convalescent
home, you would never have learned about the coal and
probably sold the land for a song, so the credit was really
hers--you ought to have seen the sparks in her eyes!

"You have really made him a rich man," I told her.

"I wish I could," she said very soberly, "but it's not money
Mr. Jerrolds needs."

What do you suppose she meant? Anyhow, you've got it, old
fellow, whether you need it or not, haven't you?

The hundred you sent me (you knew I didn't need any "fee")
has gone into fitting up my club gymnasium. It went a good
way, too. I miss Mrs. Paynter's suggestions--she is a good
business-woman. What a release, that blackguard's death!
Strong words for a minister, perhaps you think, but I tell
you, my blood boils when I think what she endured. I gave up
my grandfather's hell, long ago, but some men make you long
to believe in purgatory!

I heard in a round-about way from Roger's brother-in-law
Carter (Yale '8--, isn't he?) that Mrs. Bradley was going on
the stage. I was afraid of it last summer.

Miss Bradley is a good woman, but not much like Roger, is
she? Queer, how people get into the same family.

Hoping the rheumatism is all right now, and that you'll make
use of me, in any way you can, I am

Yours faithfully,

TYLER FESSENDEN ELDER.

[FROM ROGER'S SISTER]

NEWTON, MASS.,

April 2nd, 188--

DEAR JERRY:

I can't resist, in spite of your warning, letting you know
how deeply we appreciate your generous offer for the
children. You know, of course, that we never felt the
slightest claim. It would not have been so much, anyway, if
it had been divided, and father always felt that people had
a right to leave their money as they chose, if they had any
rights in it at all, he said. I believe he thought it ought
to go to the State, or something. He and Mr. C--l S--z used
to talk about it evenings, I remember.

But to provide so generously for them in your will--it was
truly kind and Walter feels it very much. I hope it will be
long before they get it, Jerry. Of course Roger will have a
son some day and then you will be giving it to Roger
Bradley, as you say, and it won't have been out of the
family really--you were just like one of us for so many
years. And dearer to Uncle Win than any of us, I am sure.

With deepest gratitude again from Walter and myself, and
hopes that you are quite well now,

Yours always,

ALICE BRADLEY CARTER.