"She would tell you," Daniel used to urge Margaret to find out the coveted3 secret.
"But I don't care to know."
"I do. Find out for me."
"Not for any consideration on earth or in heaven, my dear, would I lift my finger about a matter which is so absolutely Mrs. Leitzel's own private and personal concern and no one else's."
The suspense4 and impatience5 with which, after her death, they awaited the reading of the will, seemed to let loose every primitive6 animal instinct of covetousness7, and scarcely could they restrain, within decent bounds, their fierce suspicions of each other and their hawklike8 greed for the prey9 at stake.
When it was found that after a bequest10 to the New Mennonite denomination11, and one to the nurse, Miss Wenreich, the entire remainder of the fortune of the deceased was left unconditionally12 to Margaret, the sensations and sentiments of the Leitzels were dynamic. Even Daniel was more chagrined13 than pleased. An economically independent wife, he had already found, was not the sort of whom Petruchio (who expressed Daniel's idea exactly) could have said:
"I will be master of what is mine own:
She is my goods, my chattels15; she is my house,
My household stuff, my field, my barn,
My horse, my ox, my ass16, my anything;
And here she stands, touch her whoever dares."
One couldn't maintain the Petruchio attitude, which was certainly the true and orderly one, toward a wife who had a large income of her own and was strangely lacking in a proper respect for her husband.
It was not until Daniel discovered that Margaret had scruples17 about accepting the money that he found himself as fearful lest it should pass out of his family into the hands of strangers as he had hitherto been eager to get it into his own hands. The pious18 and solemn arguments he employed to convince her of her duty in the matter, far from having any weight with her, rather confirmed her in her feeling that, having forced the Leitzels to give up a third of their possessions to their step-mother, it put her too much in the light of a self-interested plotter to have the money come round eventually to her.
It was, however, Catherine Hamilton who convinced her that she could justly keep it.
It was a trial to Catherine to be obliged, when speaking of the Leitzels to Margaret, always to curb19 her tongue to a hypocritical form of respect for them; for Margaret would not countenance20 any reflections upon them. So Catherine's remarks, in the present instance, though clearly conveying her meaning, were veiled.
"Do you think, Margaret, that the Leitzels, for their own spiritual discipline, ought to lose or get that money? Was old Mrs. Leitzel wise or wrong in willing it away from them? Will you be wronging or helping21 their immortal22 souls—if they have any," Catherine ventured rather fearfully to add, "if you give it back to them? Another thing: you have already learned enough about married life to know that only in economic independence can a woman have any moral or spiritual freedom; can she be a personality in herself, distinct from her husband's. With all this money of your own, you will be free to control the education of your children as you could not if your husband's money had to pay for their education. Of course, in most cases, I suppose mothers and fathers have no difficulty in agreeing perfectly23 about their children's education; but when they differ radically24, what a boon25 to a conscientious26 mother to have means at her command to do for her children what she thinks essential for their welfare in life! My dear, it's the solution of the whole confounded 'woman movement' that women shall be freed from an economic slavery which balks27 their efficiency as mothers, as citizens, and even as wives. Also, with all this money of your own, think what you can do to help me capitalize and organize my ideal school for girls! Why, I can begin next week!"
"And we will begin next week! I've thought of another thing: I can now use the money Uncle Osmond left me to help educate Hattie's children. She and Walter are the sort that will never be affluent28. They care too little about money ever to acquire any."
"And you can have an automobile29 of your own in which you will now and then take my mother out for an airing to her great benefit!" added Catherine.
"It shall be at her disposal," declared Margaret.
Another thing had occurred to her while Catherine had been speaking: Daniel, she knew, would never allow her a just portion of his wealth for the upkeep of their home and the rearing of their children. Every dollar of his that she spent would have to be discussed and argued about. This fortune which Mrs. Leitzel had left to her was really only her fair share in her husband's possessions, which she could use freely and quite independently of him.
When once she was convinced that she was justified30 in keeping the money, the frenzied31 raging of the Leitzels affected32 her not at all, though Hiram's fury and agony carried him to the length of telling her to her face that she was stealing the money (his own mother's money) from his children to give it to her own son and daughter.
As for Daniel, his chagrin14 over his step-mother's will swung round, in the end, to a chuckling33 glee over his wife's cleverness.
"After all, Margaret, you do have some business ability! I declare you outwitted us all with the cute way you managed to get things into your own hands! That wasn't a bad deal, my dear, not at all a bad deal, and I shouldn't have supposed it was in you! You seemed to care so little for money! And to think that all the while you were working such a clever scheme as this! Well, I knew when I decided34 to marry you that you weren't stupid. I trust that Daniel Junior will inherit the joint35 business acumen36 of his mother and father. He'll be some business man if he does, won't he?"
"God forbid!" was Margaret's reply, which Daniel thought quite idiotically irrelevant37. But he was ceasing to try to understand what seemed to him his wife's unexplainable inconsistencies.
He even came, in time, to submit, without fretting38, to Margaret's ideas of running a household; finding her innovations, which had at first seemed to him madly extravagant39, to be as necessary to his comfort and convenience as to hers. But he never did get so used to them as to cease to feel an immense pride in what Jennie and Sadie called "Margaret's tony ways." He always covertly40 watched the faces of guests in his home (for they had guests now) to note wonder and admiration41 at the elegance42 of its appointments, the formal service at meals, the dainty tea table brought into the parlour every day at five, and the many other fastidious trifles introduced into their daily life.
It is to be noted43 that though the intimacy44 of Catherine and Margaret continued throughout their lives, Catherine never once found courage to put to her friend and confidante the question to which she could not, in her knowledge of Margaret's character, find any answer: "What in the world was it that ever induced you to marry Daniel Leitzel?"
It was only through motherhood, which was to Margaret her religion, that she learned, among other great lessons, how mistaken she had been in selling herself for a home. And the paramount45 ideal which she always held up to her boy and girl, as being the foundation of everything that was worth while in life, was the highest conception of mated love which she could possibly give them.
The End
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1
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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2
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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3
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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4
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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5
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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6
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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7
covetousness
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8
hawklike
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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10
bequest
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| n.遗赠；遗产，遗物 | |
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11
denomination
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| n.命名，取名，(度量衡、货币等的)单位 | |
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12
unconditionally
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| adv.无条件地 | |
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13
chagrined
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| adj.懊恼的，苦恼的v.使懊恼，使懊丧，使悔恨( chagrin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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15
chattels
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| n.动产，奴隶( chattel的名词复数 ) | |
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16
ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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17
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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18
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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19
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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20
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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21
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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22
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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23
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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24
radically
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| ad.根本地，本质地 | |
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25
boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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26
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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27
balks
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| v.畏缩不前，犹豫( balk的第三人称单数 )；（指马）不肯跑 | |
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28
affluent
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| adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的 | |
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29
automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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30
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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31
frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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32
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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33
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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34
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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35
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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36
acumen
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| n.敏锐，聪明 | |
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37
irrelevant
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| adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的 | |
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38
fretting
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| n. 微振磨损 adj. 烦躁的, 焦虑的 | |
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39
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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40
covertly
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| adv.偷偷摸摸地 | |
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41
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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42
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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43
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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44
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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45
paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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