'Do you know what it's like to share your husband with - well, you're never quite sure?'
'The new psychology tells us that men often behave this way to compensate, Janet. To convince themselves that they're - adequate.'
'Wrong again, Madame Scarlatti!' Janet emphasized Elizabeth's name with slight contempt. 'Your son was adequate. In the extreme. I suppose I shouldn't say this, but we made love a great deal. The time, the place, it never mattered to Ulster. Or whether I wanted to or not. That was the last consideration. I mean I was the last consideration.'
'Why did you put up with him? That's what I find difficult to understand.'
Janet Scarlett reached into her purse. She withdrew a pack of cigarettes and nervously lit one. 'I've told you this much. Why not the rest - I was afraid.'
'Of what?'
'I don't know. I've never thought it out. Why don't we call it - appearances.'
'If you don't mind my saying so, that strikes me as foolish.'
'You forget, I was the wife of the Ulster Stewart Scarlett. I'd caught him... It's not so easy to admit that I wasn't able to hold him any longer than a few months.'
'I see your point - We both knew that a divorce on the grounds of assumed desertion would be best for you, but you'd be criticized unmercifully. It would appear to be in the poorest taste.'
'I know that. I've decided to wait until a year is up before I get the divorce. A year is a reasonable time. It would be understandable.'
'I'm not sure that would be in your interest.'
'Why not?'
'You'd completely separate yourself and partially separate your child from the Scarlatti family. I'll be frank with you. I don't trust Chancellor under these circumstances.'
'I don't understand.'
'Once you made the first move, he'd use every legal weapon available to have you declared unfit.'
'What!'
'He'd control both the child and the inheritance. Fortunately...'
'You're mad!'
Elizabeth continued as if Janet had not interrupted. 'Fortunately, Chancellor's sense of propriety - which borders on the ridiculous - would prevent him from initiating action that might cause embarrassment. But if you provoked - No, Janet, a divorce isn't the answer.'
'Do you know what you're saying?'
'I assure you I do - If I could guarantee that I'd be alive a year from now I'd give you my blessing! I can't do that. And without me to stop him, Chancellor would be a conniving wild animal!'
'There is nothing, nothing Chancellor can do to me! Or my child!'
'Please, my dear. I'm no moralist. But your behavior hasn't been above reproach.'
'I don't have to listen to this!' Janet rose from the sofa and opened her pocketbook, replacing the pack of cigarettes and taking out her gloves.
'I'm not making judgments. You're an intelligent girl. Whatever you do, I'm sure there are reasons... If it's any comfort, I think you've spent a year in hell.'
'Yes. A year in hell.' Janet Scarlett began putting on her gloves.
Elizabeth spoke rapidly as she crossed to her desk by the window. 'But let's be candid. If Ulster were here, or in evidence anywhere, an uncontested divorce could be arranged quietly, without difficulty. After all, neither is without blemish. But, as the law says, one of the parties is removed, perhaps deceased, but not legally declared dead. And there's a child, an only child. That child is Ulster's heir. This, Janet, is the problem.'
Elizabeth wondered if the girl was beginning to understand. The trouble with the young rich, she decided, wasn't that they took their money for granted, but that they couldn't comprehend that money, though a by-product, was a true catalyst to power and, because of this, a frightening thing.
'Once you made the first move, the birds of prey from both camps would descend. In the final analysis, the Scarlatti name would become a joke in the back rooms of athletic clubs. And that I will not have!'
Elizabeth took out several folders from the desk drawer, selected one, and replaced the others. She sat down behind the desk and looked over at the girl.
'Do you understand what I'm saying?'
'Yes, I think I do,' the girl said slowly, looking down at her gloved hands. 'You want to conveniently tuck me away out of sight so nothing can disturb your precious Scarletts.' She hesitated, lifting her head to return her mother-in-law's gaze. 'And I thought for a minute you were going to be kind.'
'You can't very well qualify as a charity case,' said Elizabeth.
'No, I suppose not. But since I'm not looking for charity, that doesn't