“What,” Bertha asked, “were you in for?”
The mouth tightened. “That, Mrs. Cool, to put it bluntly, is none of your business.”
“Go ahead and put it bluntly, dearie,” Bertha said. “I’m a blunt woman myself.”
“That’s going to help things.”
“Okay,” Bertha announced. “What do you want?”
The woman smiled. “Remember that my hands are tied. Mrs. Goldring has a hold over me.”
“I don’t get it.”
“She holds my past as a threat over me to keep me from playing my hand. Carlotta would be terribly shocked if she knew her mother had been in the penitentiary. Otherwise, I might appear on the scene and make a bid for Carlotta’s affections. I’m in a position now to do much more for her than Mrs. Goldring is. Mrs. Goldring has spent the insurance money she received at the time of her husband’s death. I am relatively wealthy.”
Bertha asked curiously, “How could you have emerged from the penitentiary and made enough money to—”
“I’m afraid I’ll have to be blunt again, Mrs. Cool.”
“Oh, hell,” Bertha said, “I know it’s none of my business, but you interest me — now.”
“Yes,” her visitor said dryly, “I can see that the financial details interest you more than the romantic.”
Bertha thought that over for a few moments and said, “I guess you’re right.”
“The only way,” the woman went on, “that Mrs. Goldring could compete with me financially would be in the event she inherited money. The only chance she stands of inheriting money is if Mrs. Belder should die leaving a will, leaving all of her property to her mother. I understand such a will has been made, and I further understand that Mrs. Belder has disappeared.”
Bertha tugged at the lobe of her left ear, an infallible sign of intense concentration. “What do you mean when you say ‘disappeared’?”
“Committed a murder and skipped out. Eventually she’s going to be caught. The excitement incident to all of that is apt to make her heart pop — just like that,” and the woman snapped her fingers to illustrate the celerity of Mrs. Belder’s departure.
Bertha said nothing, kept her thumb and forefinger pulling at her ear.
“You can see the position in which that leaves me,” the woman went on. “Mrs. Goldring would inherit Mrs. Belder’s money. She would use that to hold Carlotta.”
“You mean Carlotta’s affections are something that can be bought?” Bertha asked sceptically.
“Don’t be silly, Mrs. Cool. Carlotta isn’t like that; and on the other hand, she isn’t a fool. Let’s look at the situation this way. I am her mother. There are certain black marks — very definite black marks in my record. Those constitute reasons why she is very apt to repudiate any claim I might have to her affections because of the natural relationship. I think you understand my position there, don’t you?”
Bertha nodded.
“Very well. Mrs. Goldring has spent all the money she has received. She has made no provision whatever for carrying on unless she can marry some wealthy man. Carlotta is just at the age when she is beginning to realize how important it is to attract the right sort of man as a husband. In order to do that, a woman must circulate in the environment in which the right sort of men are to be found. Mrs. Goldring is due to have a complete financial smash-up within thirty days. She’ll be stripped clean. She won’t have a penny.”
“The sudden realization of that disaster is going to be a great emotional shock to Carlotta. The necessity of changing her entire mode of life, of going from comparative affluence to complete, utter poverty is going to give Carlotta a terrific jolt. Carlotta knows nothing of the value of money.”
“You feel certain Mrs. Goldring’s financial position is as bad as that?”
“I know it. I have made it my business to know it, Mrs. Cool. Mrs. Goldring made this trip from San Francisco to see Mabel Belder and to see if it wasn’t possible to get her daughter to make a final split with Everett Belder, and have mother, daughter, and Carlotta all live together — Mabel Belder, of course, footing the bills.”
“Wouldn’t Carlotta go to work?”
“Eventually, Carlotta would go to work. She has been raised in an entirely different atmosphere. She has cultivated people who are more interested in golf, tennis, and horseback riding than work and achievement. She’s tried a job now and then, just to go through the motions. She didn’t last long.”
“If you ask me,” Bertha said, “it will be a damned good thing for her to have this jolt.”
“Certainly it will be a good thing for her,” Bertha’s visitor snapped. “That’s what I’m hoping for. Do you think it’s been any pleasure for me to see my daughter raised in this particular manner? Good God, woman, do you know what it means to a mother who has certain plans, certain ideals, certain aspirations for her daughter, to see another woman ruin that child’s entire life? I’ve been watching it for the last five years, absolutely, utterly helpless. But remember this: once that crash occurs, once Carlotta is jarred into a realization of what has been done to her, what a vain scatter-brained nincompoop Mrs. Goldring is, then Carlotta’s natural mother can appear on the scene offering a home, the advantages of ample money, security, an opportunity to meet the right people—”
“You can give your daughter those advantages?”
“Yes.”
“Meeting the right people?”
“Yes.”
“These people know of your record?”
“Don’t be silly. Of course not.”
“Mrs. Goldring does.”
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t she tell them if you took Carlotta from her?”
“She might.”
“But you don’t think she would?”
“I think I could take steps to prevent that.”
“What steps?”
The visitor smiled. “After all, Mrs. Cool, I came here to employ you, not to submit to a cross-examination concerning my personal affairs.”
“Go ahead,” Bertha said dryly. “I guess I ask too damned many questions. You’re going to pay for the time, so do it your own way — the telling of what you have to tell.”
“In many ways,” Bertha’s visitor continued, “Mrs. Goldring has made Carlotta a good mother. In other ways she has been very, very foolish. She is a vain woman, one who is angling for a husband and trying to use the same bait with which she caught her first husband.”
“I’ve seen a lot of life, Mrs. Cool. Probably you have, too. The women in the forties and fifties, even in the sixties, who get the desirable matrimonial catches — the widowers who have been trained to double-harness and have money — are the ones who are plump, comfortable, contented, and not too anxious to get married. The ones who starve themselves with diet, try to assume the vivacity of a young woman in the twenties, who appear coy and kittenish, never get to first base. Make no mistake, Mrs. Cool, a mature woman has something that appeals to an older man, something that the young filly can never have. On the other hand, the youngster has the freshness of youth, the rounded firmness of body that an older woman doesn’t have. In order to get anywhere, the older woman needs to use her own weapons and not try to steal the weapons of the younger woman. Once she does that she’s licked.”
Bertha said, “Nice philosophy. What does it add up to in this case?”
“It adds up to the fact that Mrs. Goldring is a fool — a frivolous fool. She’s deliberately squandered her insurance money, acting on the assumption that she could invest that money in getting another husband. She’s had clothes, beauty treatments, expensive apartments and contacts. In case you’re interested I can even give you the sordid details.”