being left behind when Mummy went to Europe, wasn't it because of her child's insight that Mummy needed a chaperon?
And hadn't she? Hadn't little Suzie proved an effective one? Would Elaine have gone further with Rex Anders, or even with Guy de Vierzon, had Suzannah and Suzannah's governess (who could forget Miss Prunty?) not been in Paris? Perhaps, though she had been inclined to believe that it was more the warning example of her cousin Theodora, of just her age and looks and means, but who always went too far, much too farâshe would read aloud to Elaine, with that piercing laugh, the worst tabloid extravagances about herselfâthat had kept her in line. Much as she had loved and admired and envied Theodora, who had sometimes traveled with her to Italy and Morocco, she could still see that a part of her value to her wayward cousin had lain in her own unquestioned respectability. The respectability of which little Suzie had certainly been a symbol.
Ah, what would Theodora, long dead now of a liver ailment, have thought of the war? What could she have thought of it but that it had made final ashes of the charred world that had been left of their youthful one after the ravages of its predecessor? Elaine shivered. Was Suzannah still talking?
She was.
"Of course, I don't expect you, darling, to spend all your time cooped up in the house. Fleming can drive you around the park in the afternoon and maybe over to Riverside Drive. And in another week or so we'll plan some little parties of your friends."
"Suzannah, I don't think, after what I've seen in France, I'm going to be in much of a mood for parties."
"Oh, I don't really mean parties. Just a few old pals in for supper. But perhaps you're right. Perhaps we should find something for you to do more in keeping with the times. You might even be interested in helping with some of my work."
"What sort of work is that?"
"I'm in an organization called America First. We're trying to rally antiwar opinion against Roosevelt's underhand efforts to get us involved in Europe."
"You mean you're against Lend Lease?"
"Well, not if it's really confined to that. We don't object to giving some help to England. We're not for the Nazisâfar from it! But what we don't see is why American boys should be sent abroad to pull England's chestnuts out of a fire lit by her own imperialism and stupidity!"
Elaine had often wondered what sort of a cause Suzannah would ultimately embrace, for she had always seemed made for one. But through the matrimonial years this large, somehow steaming girl had seemed oddly dominated by her sarcastic, grinning husband. Elaine disliked the very thought of Peyton Priest.
"I suppose a Nazi victory would be a very nasty thing," she ventured.
"But that won't happen. England can always negotiate some kind of stalemate. The point is that it's a European mess and should be solved by Europeans. England and France got us in once before, and what good did it do us? Or them, for that matter?"
"My poor France," Elaine murmured sadly. "If she has made mistakes, she is paying sadly for them."
"Mother, darling, I'm afraid you've always had a blind spot on the subject of the French. Yet deep down, I suspect you know how rotten their whole society is. New York is full of your titled friends who've fled the country they've betrayed and are now using the dollars of their American wives and mothers to buy the blood of
our
boys for their lost cause!"
Elaine blinked. Certainly Suzannah had a cause now! "Well, I must admit, my French friends did make rather a shamble of things. But I can only think of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem about the lovely light shed by the candle that burned at both ends. Oh, I suppose you're right, my dear. Why should boys who've never known the beauties of France die for her? Did I?"
"Exactly! You wouldn't want to send Bert to fight overseas, would you?"
"Dear Bert. When will he come home to greet his loving grandmama?"
"Soon, I hope. I
And hadn't she? Hadn't little Suzie proved an effective one? Would Elaine have gone further with Rex Anders, or even with Guy de Vierzon, had Suzannah and Suzannah's governess (who could forget Miss Prunty?) not been in Paris? Perhaps, though she had been inclined to believe that it was more the warning example of her cousin Theodora, of just her age and looks and means, but who always went too far, much too farâshe would read aloud to Elaine, with that piercing laugh, the worst tabloid extravagances about herselfâthat had kept her in line. Much as she had loved and admired and envied Theodora, who had sometimes traveled with her to Italy and Morocco, she could still see that a part of her value to her wayward cousin had lain in her own unquestioned respectability. The respectability of which little Suzie had certainly been a symbol.
Ah, what would Theodora, long dead now of a liver ailment, have thought of the war? What could she have thought of it but that it had made final ashes of the charred world that had been left of their youthful one after the ravages of its predecessor? Elaine shivered. Was Suzannah still talking?
She was.
"Of course, I don't expect you, darling, to spend all your time cooped up in the house. Fleming can drive you around the park in the afternoon and maybe over to Riverside Drive. And in another week or so we'll plan some little parties of your friends."
"Suzannah, I don't think, after what I've seen in France, I'm going to be in much of a mood for parties."
"Oh, I don't really mean parties. Just a few old pals in for supper. But perhaps you're right. Perhaps we should find something for you to do more in keeping with the times. You might even be interested in helping with some of my work."
"What sort of work is that?"
"I'm in an organization called America First. We're trying to rally antiwar opinion against Roosevelt's underhand efforts to get us involved in Europe."
"You mean you're against Lend Lease?"
"Well, not if it's really confined to that. We don't object to giving some help to England. We're not for the Nazisâfar from it! But what we don't see is why American boys should be sent abroad to pull England's chestnuts out of a fire lit by her own imperialism and stupidity!"
Elaine had often wondered what sort of a cause Suzannah would ultimately embrace, for she had always seemed made for one. But through the matrimonial years this large, somehow steaming girl had seemed oddly dominated by her sarcastic, grinning husband. Elaine disliked the very thought of Peyton Priest.
"I suppose a Nazi victory would be a very nasty thing," she ventured.
"But that won't happen. England can always negotiate some kind of stalemate. The point is that it's a European mess and should be solved by Europeans. England and France got us in once before, and what good did it do us? Or them, for that matter?"
"My poor France," Elaine murmured sadly. "If she has made mistakes, she is paying sadly for them."
"Mother, darling, I'm afraid you've always had a blind spot on the subject of the French. Yet deep down, I suspect you know how rotten their whole society is. New York is full of your titled friends who've fled the country they've betrayed and are now using the dollars of their American wives and mothers to buy the blood of
our
boys for their lost cause!"
Elaine blinked. Certainly Suzannah had a cause now! "Well, I must admit, my French friends did make rather a shamble of things. But I can only think of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem about the lovely light shed by the candle that burned at both ends. Oh, I suppose you're right, my dear. Why should boys who've never known the beauties of France die for her? Did I?"
"Exactly! You wouldn't want to send Bert to fight overseas, would you?"
"Dear Bert. When will he come home to greet his loving grandmama?"
"Soon, I hope. I
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