“But, deary!”
“No!” said Leonard. “I’m grateful to you, but you’ll have plenty of others to help you get rid of your money. I’m going—” He paused for a moment. “I’m going away,” he went on. “I’m going out to California. After you’ve finished helping everybody in sight, you can come out to me, any time you like.”
He went into the house, slamming the screen door behind him. He was sick of it. He loathed human nature. Knaves and fools! Aunt Jean was one of the fools, and he was another.
There were some letters for him on the hall table. He took them into the sitting room, and flung himself into a chair. He had never felt so tired and so dispirited in his life. All of them, even Vi!
He realized now that he had not been a really complete cynic. He had thought that Evan was a darned fine fellow, making a gallant fight in the world. He had thought Marian was a rather wonderful girl, loyal and patient and strong. He had thought that Vi was the pluckiest, dearest kid. He had had faith in these people.
But no more! He was a cynic now, all right; and he really was going away. He had not dreamed of such a thing until he said it, but he meant it now. He would leave the rest of them to divide poor Aunt Jean’s million, and, when she was cleaned out, he would look after her.
He lit a cigarette and lay back in his chair. The room was tranquil and pretty in the lamplight. The curtains fluttered in the night wind, and he could smell the honeysuckle outside. This place had been a home for him. He had believed that he hated it, but he hadn’t. He had loved it—the neat, airy bedroom upstairs, the porch where the honeysuckle climbed, the cheerful grin Evan had for him, Marian’s thousand affectionate little services, and Vi coming and going.
“They were all right,” he said to himself, forlornly, “until they smelled money. Well, that’s human nature.”
But he wanted to get away from human nature as fast as possible. There would surely be work in California for an expert designer of love nests. He knew nobody there; he would have no ties.
Marian entered the room.