Trilby

She stared at him as if he’d gone mad. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s too late to lie about it,” he told her, his voice cold with contempt. “Sally saw you and Curt kissing each other. She told me, several weeks before she died.”

Her face went from red to deathly white. She faltered and almost fell. His hand shot out to steady her, but she threw it off, hating him.

“That is a lie,” she whispered, shaking. “It is a vicious, unfounded lie!”

“Why would my wife lie to me?” he drawled. “And she’s dead now. How convenient for you. She can hardly contradict you, can she?”

She swallowed, and then swallowed again. She thought she might faint. She knew there wasn’t a drop of blood in her face. His expression told her that arguing with him wasn’t going to change his mind. He’d decided that his wife’s lie was gospel. Nothing she said was going to convince him that she’d done no more than talk to his cousin Curt.

She lifted her hobble skirt with trembling cold hands and started unsteadily back toward the car.

He followed her, opening her door with overblown courtesy.

She didn’t look at him as she got in. She couldn’t bear to. She sat like a statue as he cranked the car and turned it back toward home.

It wasn’t until he pulled up in her front yard that he spoke again. “There’s no use playing the martyr with me,” he said carelessly. “I know what you are.”

“If I were a man, I would shoot you through the heart,” she said, choking. She was shaking with outrage and temper. “When I tell my father what you’ve accused me of, he probably will shoot you! I hope he does!”

He raised both eyebrows. “You can’t possibly mean to actually confess to him?” he asked insolently. “You’ll destroy his illusions.”

She controlled her urge to slap him again, but barely. “Mr. Vance,” she said, with cold indignation, “in order to conduct a clandestine relationship with your cousin, I should be obliged to leave the house after dark.”

“That would be no problem. You have an automobile,” he reminded her.

“I can neither drive nor ride a horse,” she said stiffly.

He hesitated. “Then someone could have driven you.”

She nodded. “Oh, of course. My parents would understand that I wanted to leave the house at night, alone, something I’ve never done in my life!”

She was blowing holes in his theory. He frowned. He didn’t like the cold facts she was putting to him.

“The incident Sally told me about was at a party that your parents attended,” he said, averting his eyes with growing unease.

“I see. I’ve been prejudged, without even the chance to defend myself.” She stared straight ahead, shivering as a distasteful thought came to her. Her hands gripped her purse. “I suppose…your wife didn’t confine her confession to you.”

“She told Lou, Curt’s wife,” he replied.

Her eyes closed. So that explained why Curt’s wife had been glaring at her so furiously. Probably the vicious gossip had gone the rounds of the entire community. And all because she’d liked Curt and enjoyed talking to him. It had been perfectly innocent.

“Why don’t you ask your cousin if I’ve been having an affair with him?” she asked weakly.

“And have him lie to save your good name?” He laughed. “That would be intelligent, wouldn’t it?”

“Mr. Vance, I should never think to accuse you of any intelligent act,” she said in a harsh tone. “As for your disgusting slander, it is unfounded and grossly unfair. Yes, I shall tell my parents.” She turned and looked at him fully. “The truth is the best weapon I know. And you, sir, will live to regret having accepted a lie without question—even from your late wife.”

Her indignation registered then, and later. She got out of the car, avoiding his assistance, and marched toward the house. He went after her.

Her parents and Teddy were not inside, so there was no necessity for him to explain Trilby’s hostility. Trilby went straight into her bedroom and slammed and locked the door with an audible click, without a single word to Thorn.

He stood outside the closed door and his tall body went rigid. Why had she acted as if he’d done something unspeakable to her, when he was only telling the truth?

“Oh, damn women!” he cursed violently, and went back out the door.

When Jack and Mary came back, Trilby had just bathed her face and hands in cold water. But her eyes were obviously red, and so was her pert nose.

“Why, my dear,” Mary exclaimed, “what’s happened?”

“Your hero has shown his true colors,” Trilby told her father, with trembling dignity. “His wife told him that she saw me kissing his married cousin Curt. He believes that I am involved in a clandestine affair with the man.”

Mary gasped. Jack’s face went hard with contained rage. “How dare he!” he raged. “How dare he make such an accusation to you!”

“I do not want to see Mr. Vance again,” she said pointedly, folding her hands tightly in front of her. “I told you from the beginning that I considered him an uncivilized savage. Perhaps now you’ll understand why.”

“I’m shocked,” Mary said heavily. She took Trilby’s hand and tugged her into the living room, to pull her down gently on the sofa. “Thank goodness Teddy is still mending harnesses with Mr. Torrance. I would hate for him to hear this.”

“Yes,” Jack said, his voice curt. “He idolizes Thorn.”

“Mr. Vance is a good businessman,” Trilby said, choking. “He’s very wealthy and you cannot afford to antagonize him. But now, will you both please stop pushing me at him? He believed that I am—that I am a woman of easy virtue, and when he was alone with me, he behaved in a very…ungentlemanly fashion.” She gripped her hands tightly together. It was painful to have to say these things to her parents. “I do not wish to be forced into his company again.”

“And certainly you will not be!” Mary said shortly, daring her husband to argue.

“Indeed not,” Jack murmured. He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his gray-sprinkled hair. “Trilby, I misjudged the man. I’m very sorry.”

“So am I, Father, because you admire him.”

“How can he believe such a thing of you?” Mary groaned. “And why did his wife tell such an obvious lie? It makes no sense.”

“It makes a great deal of sense if she told the lie to avert suspicion from herself,” Jack said tautly. “That’s something we can never repeat outside this house,” he cautioned the women. “I do not want an action for slander against us when we’re already in financial woe.”

“I don’t want to make any trouble for Mr. Vance,” Trilby said, with dignity. “I only want him kept away from me.”

“You can be certain of that,” Jack assured her. “If any business crops up that requires his presence here, I’ll give you ample warning, my dear. I’m very sorry to have placed you in such an awkward position.”

“You weren’t to know how he dislikes me,” she told her father bitterly. “Oh, I do wish we’d never left Louisiana! Richard will be home soon…”

“And you want to see him?” Mary said. She smiled and patted Trilby’s hand. “Well, he can come out to us for a visit. Would you like that? He can stay as long as he likes.”

“Do you mean it?” Trilby asked enthusiastically. “Truly?”

“Truly.” Mary laughed and hugged her daughter. “It will make a nice change to have young male company in the house.”

“Could he bring Sissy and Ben with him?” she asked, mentioning his sister and brother. “And perhaps his cousin Julie?”

“Certainly.”