Read Online Bedelia by Vera Caspary - Free Book Online Page A

the scene at the railroad station.
    Abbie was not impressed. “If you’d spoken to him, you’d probably have been introduced to his dear godmother or maiden aunt.”
    â€œShe didn’t look auntish. They seemed terribly absorbed in whatever they were talking about, as if they shared some passionate interest.”
    â€œBut you said she was homely and oldish.”
    â€œI didn’t mean it was romantic. They seemed to be excited about something.”
    Abbie puffed on her cigarette and reflected upon the ugliness of Ellen’s bedroom. When they had been chums at grammar school and Abbie had brought her secrets to Ellen’s room, the white iron bed had stood in the same corner, the Morris-style dresser and desk had been adorned with the same scarves and pictures. On the wall hung faded photographs of the Parthenon frieze, the Forum, and of Michelangelo’s David .
    â€œDo you think he knew Bedelia before he came here?” Ellen asked.
    â€œWhat a suspicious nature you’ve got,” Abbie said. “I’ve never in my life heard anything so vicious. Whatever makes you think that?”
    â€œHe’s not really interested in anyone else. It’s a sort of preoccupation with him. Haven’t you noticed the way he always watches her?”
    Abbie crushed the stub of her cigarette into a saucer which had been sneaked upstairs for that purpose. To cleanse the air of the tobacco smoke, she opened the window. “What about his dates with other women? Those tea parties with Lucy Johnson? And you and Mary among the others?”
    â€œTo disguise his real interests.”
    â€œWhat a wild imagination. You ought to write penny-dreadfuls.”
    â€œI’m not suspicious by nature,” Ellen said. “At first I thought I was getting these ideas because I was jealous of Bedelia.” It cost Ellen some effort to say this, but she had made up her mind to speak frankly, and she gritted her teeth and went on. “You know that I tried to like Bedelia and trust her, and I’d have succeeded if it weren’t for this Chaney affair.”
    Abbie was warming herself over the register. Her skirt filled with hot air and spread out as if hoops supported it. “You’ve chosen a strong word. Do you believe that of Bedelia?”
    â€œI’m not so low.” Ellen’s eyes were upon a snapshot of Charlie framed in raffia. He wore tennis flannels and carried a racket, and his hair was abundant.
    â€œMy guess is that Chaney’s in love with her. But you can’t blame Bedelia for that. She’s the sort that men die for.” Abbie stepped off the register. Her skirt fell limp about her legs.
    â€œDie for? That’s pretty romantic, isn’t it?”
    â€œA slight exaggeration. What I mean is that Bedelia’s a man’s woman. Men fall in love with her because she’s crazy about men, and they sense it. She exists only for her man, her whole life is wrapped around him. Without a man she couldn’t live.”
    â€œAnd we can, I suppose?”
    â€œUnfortunately,” sighed Abbie. “You and I, pet, have got too far from the harem. You earn your living and enjoy it. I have an income and live quite adequately alone. Men aren’t our lords and masters. And they resent us.”
    â€œLet them. The harem doesn’t hold any charms for me,” Ellen said angrily. She took one of Abbie’s cigarettes, placed it between her lips and drew in her breath as she touched a match to it.
    Abbie watched with a gleam in her eye. The stairs creaked, but Ellen did not put down the cigarette.
    â€œBravo,” whispered Abbie.
    â€œI’d like them better without the perfume.”
    â€œWe must be feminine.”
    â€œThat’s a compromise. Either you smoke or you don’t.”
    Abbie laughed. Ellen’s mother creaked past the door. If she had come in, Ellen would have continued to stand there with the cigarette