Then Dr. Berry spoke again. “Branson,” he said quietly, “I want you to come with me and see your mother. She’s asking for you. She needs you very badly, my boy.”
Branny’s heart missed a beat. Through all those long hours in the darkness it had never occurred to him that his mother might still be alive.
Slowly his hand went up to the lock. Then he withdrew it again. No, this might be a trap—to lure him out so they could pounce on him.
“Branson, she’s down in the drawing room waiting. You wouldn’t want to be unkind to her, would you? She’s had a terrible accident….”
Branny could bear it no longer. He crashed open the cupboard door and stood there facing Dr. Berry. For a moment the physician stared in astonishment at the child. Branny was covered with grime and dust. His hair was full of cobwebs and the expression on his pale face held in it all the misery of the world.
Dr. Berry was strangely touched, and, dirty as Branson was, he drew him towards him. The kindness of a stranger was too much for the boy and the pent-up flow of unshed tears broke loose in a torrent.
For a moment Dr. Berry said nothing. He just held the quivering child close and patted his head while Branny wept his heart out. Then the doctor produced a handkerchief, wiped Branny’s eyes, and said cheerfully: “Come on, now, old boy. You’ve got to be a man. Your mother needs a man to look after her and you’re the only one in the house, you know.”
Then, in answer to an unspoken question, he went on: “She’s going to live, Branson, but she may never be able to walk again. That’s why she’ll need a man like you to look after her.”
He took Branny’s hand and led him from the attic. “Now, go on down and have a good scrub and then we’ll take you to see her. Come on, let’s see a clean smiling face and look sharp.”
Aunt Hilda and Aunt Nellie were waiting for him downstairs. They kissed him and Aunt Hilda said “poor little boy” as she produced the best Brown Windsor soap. Aunt Nellie got his Sunday suit and used her own comb and brush to brush the dust and cobwebs from his hair.
And then, when he looked clean and neat, Aunt Hilda said: “Your mother’s in the drawing room, dear. Her bed is down there now and you can have the little study next door all for your own. So you can look after her. And you can have all your meals together.”
“And,” put in Aunt Nellie with a grim attempt at cheerfulness, “after a few weeks when your mother’s a little stronger, she’ll need you to push her wheel chair. So you won’t be going to boarding school next term after all….”
Dr. Berry led him then into the drawing room where his mother’s bed was placed near the window. She lay in it, frail and beautiful, her soft hair about her face.
“Well, here’s your new nurse, Mrs. Foster.”
Branny moved to his mother’s bedside and took the slender hand that she held out to him. They looked long into each other’s eyes like lovers.
“Branny,” she breathed. “Oh, Branny, darling …”
After the doctor had left, they stayed there, fingers intertwined. There was a faint fall of snow outside the windows and through an open door Branny could see his own bed in the little room that had been prepared for him. There was even a fire.
Soon Aunt Hilda came in, carrying a tea tray with two cups only. There was a boiled egg for Branny and muffins to be toasted.
“Now, Nurse Branson,” she said, “I’m going to leave you to take care of your patient.”
Branny felt his heart would burst with joy.
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION
My name is Beverly Braun. Im eleven years old. Mummie says I must always say Im eight cos mummie is only twenty seven. She has been twenty seven almost as long as I can remember. When I ask if people dont grow one year older every birthday she laughs. She says artists dont Beverly. When they get to thirty they start going back wards. So I suppose mummie got to thirty three years ago. I dont mind cos I like haveing a young and pretty mummie. I get lots of uncles and they give me things.
And one of my uncles was shot dead the other day.
Mister Pratt who is a very nice policeman told me I would have to talk to a judge soon. And that is why Im writeing this all down. In case I dont remember everything when I talk to the judge.
I better begin at the beginning. When daddy went away to be a soljier we were very poor and mummie and I lived in a tiny apartment in New York with Anna. Anna is kind of a servant although she isent a servant cos she eats meals with us and shes a Sweed. Shes awful old and she nursed daddy when he was a baby in Sweeden. She doesnt smell very nice. When daddy went away he said yull look after them wont you Anna. And she cried a lot and said wild horses wouldent drag her away from her precious darlings.
And so there was Anna all the time and always scolding mummie about my uncles and for spoiling me saying I was far to knowing for my age. Which seems like a good thing to me cos no one can know to much.
Mummie is a singer and she sings lovely. She looks like an angle when she sings. She dident use to sing when daddy was home but after he went and we were poor she said to Anna Id better start in again and make some money. And Anna said no dont you can have all my money.
But mummie did any how.
At least she tried to and uncle Frank tried for her. Uncle Frank knows all about the places where people sing. But it wasent any good and I heard uncle Frank say to mummie honey you just arent corny enough. And mummie cried a bit and uncle Frank said he would lend her 100 dollars. But mummie said no shed rather take it from any one but him. I dont understand this. Uncle Frank is a friend of daddys and he wanted to marry mummie before she married daddy. He is very nice and not stern like daddy is.
And when I was alone with uncle Frank I started to cry a bit to. I told him I dident get enough to eat. So he gave me five dollars and told me not to tell mummie about it but to buy her a chicken or some candy with it. And I bought a little ring with a green stone in it which the man in the store said was a real emerald. I was going to give it to mummie but it was to small for her. So I dident tell her or Anna about it. I just kept it in my most secret hiding place with my green necklace which I sort of found once and a gold compact which one of mummies friends gave me once. At least I think she was going to give it me. There was another one in her bag. And I figgered she couldent use two very well.
And so we went on being very poor. I had to wear my best dress to school on weekdays and I dident have any best dress at all. Then one day uncle Frank came to take mummie and me to the movies. And I cried and said I couldent go in my dirty old dress. And next day uncle Frank sent me two new dresses. Mummie scolded me about it at first and then laughed and said you have takeing ways darling. And Anna frowned and said like mother like daughter.
And then one day mummie got a telegram to say that daddy was missing and probably dead. It was a Sunday morning. Mummie and I were in bed when Anna brought in the telegram. And Anna was crying. Then mummie started to cry so I thought I better cry to. But I couldent cry very much cos if daddy was dead mummie could marry uncle Frank and I would be a bridesmaid at the wedding. Besides daddy wasent kind to me and once he wipped me cos I borrowed a watch from a girl at school. She said I wasent going to give it back to her. Which was silly cos the watch dident even work. But daddy wipped me with a hairbrush and the bristly side to. And he said if I ever borrowed anything else hed send me to a reform school for ten years. And mummie came in and said if you lay a hand on Beverly Ill leave you. And he said you get the hell out of here or Ill take the brush to you. But he couldent cos it was broken. And mummie dident leave him although I hoped she would.
And so to cheer mummie up after the telegram I said never mind you can marry uncle Frank now. And she said what an awful thing to say. And I cant marry for a year any how. Well just have to go on being poor unless I can get a job.
And Anna said I was a wicked child to be so hartless about the best father that ever breathed.
We were very poor then. But it was fun cos I had lots of uncles a
nd parties and movies. And I dident have to rite letters to daddy every week cos there was no place to send them to. So instead I wrote stories which I like writeing much better. And I hid them in my secret place. And my uncles offen brought me candy and things. And when Anna was out mummie sometimes let me stay up till after eleven. And once I had some wine called sham pain but I dident like it much and it gave me a prickly feeling in my nose.
It was uncle Joe who brought the sham pain and he was the oldest uncle I ever had. He was bald and had a mustash which was almost white. And I dident like him much. But mummie said I was to be very polite to him cos he owned some theaters and he was going to pay her a lot to sing in one of them.
And one nite after I was in bed I heard them talking very loud and they were talking about me. So I went and listened a bit. And I heard uncle Joe say yull have to send the kid away to school. And mummie said Beverly goes with me or I wont go to your old Philadelphia. And uncle Joe said well if you think the work is such a disgrace I dont see why you want the kid hanging around. And mummie said pray god she wont know what kind of work it is. Nor Anna either. And he said well you wanted work dident you and you wouldent want to waste that figure. And then used a word Id never heard about what mummie was going to do in his theater. And he said it was no disgrace. But art.
I cant remember the word now. But I looked it up in a dictionery. It meant to mock or mimick. So I knew mummie was going to mock or mimick in Philadelphia. And she thought it some sort of disgrace and prayed god I wouldent know about it.
We went to Philadelphia right away. Uncle Joe had got an apartment for us in a great big building near a square where there were lots of children and sailors. It wasent a very big apartment and there were only two bedrooms. But it was very sumptious in chairs and tables and the kitchen was very white and shiny. But it really wasent big enough for uncle Joe to cos he said yull have to squeeze me in when Im in Philadelphia. And mummie started to get colds a lot then and I had to sleep in Annas room so as not to catch them. I dident like that much cos of Annas funny smell. And she was always talking about daddy and what he did when he was a little boy.
Mummie wouldent talk at all about her work so Anna and I had a secret plan. Anna was going to ask mummie what theater she was working at. Then we were going to buy tickets and sit in the very front row and clap very loud when mummie mocked and mimicked. And then we were going to send her some flowers so everyone would think she was the best mocker and mimicker in the whole world. And the evening she was going to work for the first time Anna said that shed like to hear her sing. And we were eating strawberries. Mummie put her fork down and went very white. And she must have guessed our secret plans cos she said dont you dare come near the theater Anna and if you let Beverly come Ill never speak to you again as long as I live. And she got up without eating any of her berries. And Anna said I could have them.
Mummie worked every night except Sunday and sometimes in the afternoon. She must have been awful clever at mocking and mimicking cos we were ever so much richer than we had been in New York. I had real cream with my sereal every day and there were lots of flowers in the house. And mummie must have made lots of new friends cos the telephone was always ringing. It was mostly men and they asked for Trixie.
At first I used to say there wasent anyone called Trixie there cos mummies name is Dorothy. Then I asked Anna about it and she said it was mummies stage name probably. But mummie said we were never to talk to anyone on the phone except uncle Joe or maybe uncle Frank when he called which was nearly every day.
And I had a new pair of shoes with sort of shiny buckles on them and mummie gave me a necklace for my eleventh birthday which might be real pearls if they werent quite so pink. And it was on my eleventh birthday when we met uncle Joe in the street.
Anna and I had gone out to buy a special chicken for dinner and we saw uncle Joe coming out of a jewel shop. He was smiling a lot and he called to Anna and said look at what Ive just bought for a certain little lady. And he pulled a box from his pocket and showed her the most beautiful bracelet of diamonds and real emeralds Ive ever seen. They must have been real cos there was one like it in the window. It cost 500 dollars.
And when uncle Joe saw I was staring at his bracelet he said no peeking little lady. Then he put the box back in his right pocket. He said he was coming to dinner and he wanted to have some of the goolash which Anna makes so well. But Anna said he couldent have goolash cos it was my birthday treat and I had chosen chicken.
I was so excited about the bracelet which uncle Joe had bought for me that I couldent think of anything else except that uncle Joe was the kindest uncle in the world. The bracelet would just go with my ring and I wouldent have to hide it the way I have to hide my ring. I wore my very best dress with white fur on the edges. And Anna spent almost an hour curling my hair and putting pink on my fingernails. There was a cake with eleven candels on it which was going to be a surprise for me. Though I knew all about it any how. But I dident mind much cos I was only thinking about the bracelet.
Uncle Joe came rather late and he seemed sort of funny and talked very loud. He gave me a kiss which smelt funny. Then he said heres a birthday present for a good girl. It was a very big package. I thought he had wrapped up the bracelet so as to make it more fun opening lots of boxes.
I went away all by myself to open the package so I could take a long time and give myself a sort of extra surprise as each box got smaller. But there werent a lot of boxes at all. There was just one box with a silly doll in it. A big fat doll with horrid stringy hair and blue eyes that dident even shut when she lay down. And no underwear.
Surely uncle Joe knew that a grown up girl of eleven dident want a silly doll. I cried a little by myself. And I hated uncle Joe cos he had almost promised me the bracelet from what he said to Anna out side the store in the morning.
Then I started to think how the bracelet almost was like my own and how I wanted to look at it just once more. And there was nothing wrong in that. I remembered uncle Joe had put it in his right pocket so I made a plan. I went into the room where mummie and uncle Joe were drinking and laughing and I climbed on to his knee. And I kissed him and said thank you for the doll which I hated really. And he said so you like your dolly do you.
And while I was hugging him I slipped my hand in to his right pocket where the bracelet was. And he dident notice anything.
I ran out in to the bedroom and opened the package by myself and there it was my beautiful bracelet with real emeralds. I put it on and the diamonds sparkled like stars. Then mummie called me to dinner and I hid the bracelet in my secret place. There was chicken and ice cream and the cake for dinner. But I dident even eat very much. I just wanted to go back and look at my bracelet.
After dinner uncle Joe said poor mummie ought to have a birthday present to. Then he winked at me and said maybe if shed shut her eyes shed have a surprise. Then he put his hand in his pocket while mummie kept her eyes closed.
But of course his pocket was empty.
Uncle Joe swore like anything. Then he ran out in to the hall and looked in his overcoat. But the bracelet wasent there either. And Anna and I helped him look every where in the apartment. Then he said dam it I just have dropped it in the taxi and there goes 500 smackers. So he called up the taxi or someone but they dident help much. And suddenly he said no it couldent have been in the taxi cos the package was in his pocket when he rang the bell of the apartment cos he felt it there.
Then I saw mummie was looking at me in a funny way. She made me go out alone with her into the kitchen. She said Beverly did you steal uncle Joe’s package. And I said no I dident steal the bracelet. And I dident really steal it. I only just borrowed it to look at again. And mummie said sort of sadly how did you know it was a bracelet if you dident take it. Yud better run and look through your things and see or else I will have to come and look through them for you.
And I was a bit scared then cos if mummie went through my things she might find my secret place. So
I went in to my room and I got out the bracelet. It looked lovely. But I put it back in the box. Then I hid it under my skirt and I went back in to the living room.
I was going to put it under the couch so it would look like it fell out of uncle Joe’s pocket. But he saw me and ran across the room and snatched the box. And he said you theeving little rat. You took it I knew you did. And he hit me in the face very hard. Then mummie came rushing in and said dont lay a finger on the child. And uncle Joe swore a lot. Then he said Beverly ought to go to prison or to boarding school and by golly shes going before shes a day older. Then Anna came in and saw me crying. And she picked me up and swore at uncle Joe partly in Sweedish and said it was all the wages of sin.
She took me in to the bedroom and brought me another piece of cake which I couldent eat cos there was candel greese all over it. And she said poor baby you like pretty things dont you. Well you shall have my broch which is the only jewelry I have. And she gave me an ugly old broch which she brought over from Sweeden with her. It had an o nix in it which Anna said is a sort of precious stone. Though it isent really. And she said I could sleep in her bed if I was unhappy. And I said no thank you Anna I think Im getting a cold and yud better not catch it.
Later on mummie came in to kiss me goodnite. She must have made friends with uncle Joe cos she was waring the bracelet. She looked pretty as an angle and she said poor baby it was your birthday and dident have any real treet. And I said my bestest treet would be to wear the bracelet just for tonite. So mummie laughed and slipped it off saying alrite just for one nite. But you must never take anything that doesent belong to you again. Never never. And I promised.
After mummie had kissed me goodnite and cried a little more I gave Anna back her old broch. And Anna let me keep on the lite til almost 12 oclock and we talked about all the pretty clothes and jewelry I was going to have when I grew up. And Anna said daddys mummie who was my grandmother in Sweeden had some lovely jewels and she was very pretty and I was just like her.
The Ordeal of Mrs. Snow Page 14