CRAIG’S WIFE
59
Craig
- Why, I think that was a perfectly natural request, Auntie, considering what you’d been to both of us during her illness.
Miss Austen
- But, it wasn’t as though I should need a home—for she knew I preferred to travel,—that that’s what I was preparing to do when she was first stricken. And I never told you, Walter, but she asked me to promise her that I should accept your invitation when you made it. You see, she knew her woman, Walter,—the woman you were going to marry.
Craig
- You mean that Mother didn’t like Harriet?
Miss Austen
- Nobody could like Harriet, Walter; she doesn’t want them to.
Craig
- I like her.
Miss Austen
- You’re blinded by a pretty face, son, as many another man has been blinded,
Craig
- Well, what has Harriet done?
Miss Austen
- She’s left you practically friendless, for one thing; because the visits of your friends imply an importance to you that is at variance with her plan: so she’s made it perfectly clear to them, by a thousand little gestures, that they are not welcome in her house. Because this is her house, you know, Walter; it isn’t yours—don’t make any mistake about that. This house is what
