Tracy Park: A Novel

by Mary Jane Holmes

'I don't know what you mean,' Jerrie said, and when the cook explained, her cheeks flushed for an instant and her eyes blazed with resentment But she controlled herself quickly and said, 'Tell Mrs. Tracy—but, no, I am going to her room and will tell her myself.'

Knocking at Mrs. Tracy's door, she was admitted to the presence of the lady, who simply stared at her as if asking why she were there. Jerrie told her in a few words that her own diamonds had been found, and where they had been secreted, and that she had come to return them.

'Then your father was the thief,' Dolly said, with that rasping, aggravating tone so hard to hear unmoved.

'Call him what you please. A crazy man is not responsible for his acts,' Jerrie answered, calmly; then, more proudly and decidedly, went on, 'By the way, Mrs. Tracy, I was met by the cook with a singular request, and I wish to say that as there can be but one mistress in a house, it is my wish that so long as you remain here you are that mistress in your own department; of course I shall take charge of my father's, and see that his wishes are carried out. Good afternoon,' and with a proud, lofty bearing, Jerrie walked from the room, leaving Dolly to her own morbid and angry thoughts.

Not even the restored diamonds had power to conciliate her, and they were so beautiful as she held them up, admiring their brilliancy and their size.

'I'll never wear them, never, because she has some like them,' she said to herself; and then the thought flashed upon her that she could sell them, and thus add to the sum which her husband had invested in his own name.

Ten thousand dollars, that was all, he had told her, and she had calculated the income, only six hundred dollars a year to live on—less than she now wasted yearly upon bric-a-brac and things of which she tired so soon.

It was a sombre outlook, and it is not strange that her tears fell fast upon the costly stones, whose value she could not guess, although she knew it must be great, they were so superior in size and quality to any she had ever seen.

'Yes, I will sell them,' she said, 'and invest the proceeds in my own name; but even that will hardly keep the wolf from the door, for Frank is growing more and more imbecile every day, and Tom is good for nothing. He'll have to scratch for himself, though, I can tell him.'

Here her ladylike, but very characteristic, soliloquy was brought to an end by a faint call, which had the power to drive every other thought from her heart, for the mother-love was strong even with her, and going to Maude, she asked what she wanted.