News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1922-05-31
CHAPTER III
The Break Is Made.

ways calls me tnat Wnen SneS beer
doing all the talking.
AS near as / can remember, / have
told Nurse Sarah's story exactly as she
told it to me, in her own words. But
Of course l know / didn't get 1t right
all the time, and / know I've left out
quite a lot But, anyway, it's told 8
whole lot more than / could have told
why they got married in the first place
and it brings my story right up to the
1 point where l was born; and I've al
ready told about naming me, and what
time they had over that.
!; OF course what's happened since
up to now l don't know all about, fol
l was only child for the first few
| years Now I'm almost a young lady
standing with reluctant feet where
the brook and river meet" q read
that last night | think it's perfectly
beautiful. SO kind of sad and sweet.
1t makes me want to cry every time
| 1 think of it, But even If / don't
know all of what's happened since
l was born. l know good deal for
| I've seen quite a lot, and I've made
| Nurse tell me lot more
/ know that ever since | can remem-
Der I've had to keep as still as a mouse
the minute Father comes into the
house; and / know that / never could
imagine the kind of a mother that
Nurse tells about, If it wasn't that
sometimes when Father has gone off
on trip, Mother and l have romped
all over the house, and had the most
beautiful time. | know that Father
says that Mother is always trying to
make me a Marie" and nothing else
and that Mother says she knows
Fatherll never be happy until he's
made me into a stupid little Mary"
with never an atom of life of my
own. And, do you know? 1t does seem
sometimes, as if Mary and Marie were
fighting inside of me, and | wonder
which Is going to beat. Funny, isn't
It?
Father is president of the college
now, and | don't know how many stars
and comets and things he's discov-
cred since the night the star and |
were born together. But l know he's
very famous, and that he's written up
In the papers and magazines, and is
In the big fat red who's Who" In
the library, and has lots Of noted men
come to see him.
Nurse says that Grandma Anderson
died very soon after l was born, but
that it didn't make any particular diff
ference in the housekeeping for things
went right on Just as they had done,
with her giving the orders as before;
that she'd given them all alone any
way, mostly, the last year Grandma
Anderson lived, and she knew just
how Father liked things She said
Mother tried once or twice to take ME
reins herself, and once Nurse let her,
just to see what would happen. But
things got in an awful middle right
away, so that even Father noticed 1t
and said things. After that Mother
never tried again, l guess Anyhow,
she's never tried it since l can remem-
her She's always stayed most Of the
time up In her rooms in the east wing,
except during meals, or when she
went out with me, or went to the
things she and Father had to go to
together. For they did go to lots of
things, Nurse says.
1t seems that for long time they
didn't want folks to know there was
going to be divorce. So before folks
they tried to be just as usual. But
Nurse Sarah said she knew there was
going to be one long ago. The first
| ever heard of it was Nurse telling
Nora the girl we had in the kitchen
then; and the minute l got a chance
asked Nurse what II was-a divorce.
My, / can remember now how scared |
she looked, and how she clapped her
hand over my mouth She wouldn't |
tell me-not q word. And that's the |
first time / ever saw her give that !
quick little look over each shoulder. |
She's. done It lots of times since
AS | said, she wouldn't tell me, so
l had to ask some one else. l wasn't |
going to. let 1t go by and not find out |
not when Nurse Sarah looked so |
scared and when it was something |
my father and mother were going to
have some day.
l didn't like to ask Mother. Some~A
way, l had a feeling, from the way 1
Nurse Sarah looked, that IT was some |
thing Mother wasn't going to like. And .
thought If maybe she didn't know I
yet she was going to have It, that I
certainly l didn't want to be the one .
to tell her. So l didn't ask Mother I
what divorce was.
/ didn't even think of asking Faith /
er, of course. never ask Father .
questions. Nurse says / did ask him /
once why he didn't love me like other
papas loved their little girls. But i
was very little then. and l don't remem-
Der It at all. But Nurse said Father
didn't like IT very well, and maybe
/ did remember that part, without real
ly knowing II. Anyhow, / never think
of asking Father questions.