Adam came from a run to Hartley for groceries one evening in late
September, with a look of concern that Kate noticed on his face.
He was very silent during supper and when they were on the porch
as usual, he still sat as if thinking deeply. Kate knew that he
would tell her what he was thinking about when he was ready but
she was not in the least prepared for what he said.
"Mother, how do you feel about Uncle Robert marrying again?" he
asked suddenly.
Kate was too surprised to answer. She looked at him in amazement.
Instead of answering, she asked him a question: "What makes you
ask that?"
"You know how that Mrs. Southey pursued him one summer. Well,
she's back in Hartley, staying at the hotel right across from his
office; she's dressed to beat the band, she's pretty as a picture;
her car stands out in front all day, and to get to ride in it, and
take meals with her, all the women are running after her. I hear
she has even had Robert's old mother out for a drive. What do you
think of that?"
"Think she's in love with him, of course, and trying to marry him,
and that she will very probably succeed. If she has located where
she is right under his eye, and lets him know that she wants him
very much, he'll, no doubt, marry her."
"But what do you THINK about it?" asked Adam.
"I've had no TIME to think," said Kate. "At first blush, I'd say
that I shall hate it, as badly as I could possibly hate anything
that was none of my immediate business. Nancy Ellen loved him so.
I never shall forget that day she first told me about him, and how
loving him brought out her beauty, and made her shine and glow as
if from an inner light. I was always with her most, and I loved
her more than all the other girls put together. I know that
Southey woman tried to take him from her one summer not long ago,
and that he gave her to understand that she could not, so she went
away. If she's back, it means only one thing, and I think
probably she'll succeed; but you can be sure it will make me
squirm properly."
"I THOUGHT you wouldn't like it," he said emphatically.
"Now understand me, Adam," said Kate. "I'm no fool. I didn't
expect Robert to be more than human. He has no children, and he'd
like a child above anything else on earth. I've known that for
years, ever since it became apparent that none was coming to Nancy
Ellen. I hadn't given the matter a thought, but if I had been
thinking, I would have thought that as soon as was proper, he
would select a strong, healthy young woman, and make her his wife.
I know his mother is homesick, and wants to go back to her
daughters and their children, which is natural. I haven't an
objection in the world to him marrying a PROPER woman, at a proper
time and place; but Oh, dear Lord, I do dread and despise to see
that little Southey cat come back and catch him, because she knows
how."