Time Will Darken It by William Maxwell Read Free Book Online Page A

Austin couldn’t see into the study, this required assistance, and so did the next stunt, when Dr. Danforth went all the way upstairs. The piano was moved so that Austin could see into the front hall, and confederates were stationed on the landing and at the head of the stairs. By prearranged signals they conveyed to the pianist whether Dr. Danforth was getting warmer or colder. A false move on his part produced an abrupt fortissimo chord, which was sometimes succeeded by others even louder, because of Dr. Danforth’s infirmity. At last he came down the stairs wearing a white coat of Martha King’s and a black hat with ostrich feathers on it. This feat was regarded by the Mississippi relatives as a triumph of the human mind.
    After Dr. Danforth, it was Ab’s turn. She had not expected to have any. But little girls can be seen and not heard and still be the centre of attention. Now, with all eyes upon her, she was obliged to leave the room. She sat with her legs tucked under her in a wicker chair in the study, and listened to the low murmur in the next room. It threatened to become intelligible but didn’t quite, and finally they called to her.
    As Ab came into the living-room she saw and started towards her mother. The music stopped her in her tracks. She blushed. She would have liked to escape but the music held her fast. She moved tentatively towards the fireplace. The music grew softer. There were three people confronting her—Mrs. Potter, Dr. Danforth, and Miss Lucy Beach. Ab knew she was supposed to do something to one of them, but which one? And what was it that she was supposed to do? She advanced towards Dr. Danforth. Once when she had an earache, he blew smoke in her ear and the pain went away. The music grew louder, obliterating him.
    Through the music her father was saying something to her which she couldn’t understand, but which was neverthelessinsistent and left her no choice except the right one. She stepped back and would have walked in the opposite direction but the
DEE dum dum dum
grew loud and frightening. Lucy Beach sat there smiling at her, but some instinct—what the music was saying seemed clearer to the child now, though it was not yet plain—made her move instead towards her great-aunt from Mississippi. The music grew soft and caressing. The music suggested love to the little girl. She saw an invitation in her great-aunt’s eyes and, forgetting that this was part of a game, leaned towards her and kissed her on the cheek. To Ab’s surprise, the music stopped and the room was full of the sound of clapping.
    “You sweet child!” Mrs. Potter exclaimed, and drew Ab into her arms. While Ab was enjoying her moment of triumph, she heard her mother’s voice announcing that it was way past time for little girls to be in bed. A moment later she was led off, having gone around the circle of the company and said good night to everyone.
    The sense of triumph was still with her on the stairs, and it lasted even after she had been tucked in bed. She was pleased with her first excursion into society, and she realized drowsily that the grown people were, beyond all doubt or question, pleased with her. The sudden impulse which had seemed to arise from inside her, the impulse towards love, was, as it turned out, exactly what they had meant for her to feel all along.

7
    The sounds of an evening party breaking up are nearly always the same and nearly always beautiful. For over an hour the only excitement on Elm Street had been provided by the insects striking at the arc light. Now it was suddenly replacedby human voices, by the voice of Mrs. Beach saying, “Feel that breeze.… Good night Martha … Austin, good night. Such a nice party.… No, you mustn’t come with us, Mr. Potter. We left a light burning and we’re not afraid.”
    The light could not protect Mrs. Beach and her daughters from death by violence, or old age, or from the terrible hold they had on one another, but at least it would enable