338: Mrs. Stolz was ...
Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 13 continues
Mrs. Stolz was settled in her favorite chair, wrapped snugly in her old robe, eating, in small, luxurious bites, a chocolate cream from a box on the table beside her. A copy of Life was open in her lap, but she had stopped reading to watch the raindrops run down the window pane, and she was thinking how pleasant it was to be in such cozy quarters, in a place as snug as her old robe, a place that gave her so much comfort but asked so little of her, when Lorna and Herb knocked at her door.
“Oh, my,” she said, when she saw them dripping in the hallway, “what’s wrong?”
“Mrs. Stolz,” said Lorna, tears streaming down her face, “we’ve come to take you home.”
“If you want to come home,” said Herb. “Of course, you may be happy right here — ”
“Herb,” said Lorna. She stepped into the room and took Mrs. Stolz’s hands in hers. “We know how much you must miss the house,” she said, “and we don’t feel right about it. We feel as if we’ve taken your home from you.”
“You want me to take it back?” asked Mrs. Stolz. Fear made her suddenly so cold that she began wringing her hands. She had the chocolate cream in one of them.
“We were hoping you would come to live with us,” said Lorna.
“Live with you?” said Mrs. Stolz. The idea sounded preposterous to her. She wondered what could have brought them to such a strange desire. She stared at the sticky goop on her hands. She couldn’t quite imagine what it was.
“Yes,” said Lorna. She fought to control herself. Why hadn’t she seen how far gone the poor woman was? Here she was rubbing chocolate on her hands. She needed watching. “We want you to be back in your own home again,” said Lorna.
They must need money, thought Mrs. Stolz. “Do you need money?” she asked. She looked around the room for something to wipe the chocolate from her hands.
“Oh, no,” said Lorna. “We wouldn’t charge you anything. We just want you to be happy.” She handed Mrs. Stolz her handkerchief.
From behind Lorna’s back, Herb winked at Mrs. Stolz. He intended his wink to mean that it was perfectly easy for him to imagine her preferring to stay at the River Sound. He put his arm around Lorna’s shoulders and gave her an affectionate squeeze. He winked at Mrs. Stolz again, and he meant her to understand that he had come along to humor Lorna in her conviction that Mrs. Stolz would want to return, but that Mrs. Stolz should feel free to disburden her of this misperception, taking into account the tenderness of her feelings and the generosity of her motives. Mrs. Stolz thought that he was telling her that Lorna was insane.
“Oh!” said Mrs. Stolz. She brought her hand, with Lorna’s handkerchief, to her mouth. She was startled and saddened. Compassion swelled in her breast; tears welled in her eyes; dabs of chocolate spotted her chin. She gripped Lorna’s hands. “Of course, my dear,” she said, nearly sobbing, “of course. If it’s what you want, I’ll come home.”
Lorna, smiling tenderly, squeezing Mrs. Stolz’s sticky hands, said, “It’s what we want.”
Ella threw her arms around Mrs. Stolz and hugged her with grand-daughterly affection. Herb said nothing.
In Topical Guide 338, Mark Dorset considers Comfort, Contentment, and Simple Pleasures from this episode.
[to be continued on Wednesday, September 14, 2022]
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