Lives Like Loaded Guns_ Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds - Lyndall Gordon [152]
No, Miss Vinnie had never entertained any idea of transferring land, much less agreed to it. No, her brother had never asked her to do it.
David Todd testified to the contrary, that before Miss Vinnie had signed the deed she had inspected the site. From an east window in The Dell he’d spied her moving about by moonlight. She’d then come inside to say she’d agree to the transfer.
Miss Vinnie denied this in no uncertain terms. No, she did not inspect the site. Did the court believe that she would totter out in the bitter cold of December to take measurements by night? It was not her way to creep about in the dark. As townsfolk were aware, the Dickinson sisters did not venture out at night. She and her sister were known for their still, uneventful way of life. In this retiring role Miss Vinnie outplayed Mabel.
‘State all that you knew about the purport of Mr Spaulding’s call,’ the court asked.
‘I was told he came to see me,’ Miss Vinnie answered promptly. ‘I was asked if he could come and see me on account of his interest in my sister; he would like to talk with me about her.’
Speaking her lines, Lavinia warmed to the part. Those who witnessed her word-perfect performance said she was vivid, convincing. Every word told in her attack on Mabel Todd. Here in the courtroom is a woman who has been positioned as a willing dependant who’s resolved to be put upon no longer. She has done things for Austin because he was her brother, and dedicated her life to Emily, the adored. But now Austin is no more, Lavinia feels used by Mabel Todd. In her self-centred way, Mabel has taken the land as her due. She seems to have forgotten the consideration due to Lavinia who ‘did not like it’ when Mabel used her home for adultery, and who still resents Mabel’s failure to acknowledge her part in collecting Emily Dickinson’s letters.
The court asked Mrs Todd, in turn, about the purpose of her visit with Mr Spaulding. ‘The only object of your visit was to get the woman to sign the deed?’
‘To get her to sign the deed was what we went for. That is what she knew we went for . . . I got Mr Spaulding there for that purpose.’
Was anything said about that purpose before the move to the dining room?
Mrs Todd admitted that neither Mr Spaulding nor Miss Lavinia said a word about the deed before she herself introduced the subject in the dining room.
‘What was said?’
When Mrs Todd put the deed on the table and called Lavinia’s attention to it, Lavinia said ‘something like “Shall I sign it now?” I said, “Mr Spaulding is here. Perhaps now is as well as any time.”’
‘What did you say that for, if you knew that was what he was over there for - if you knew he came on purpose to sign the deed?’
‘I knew I was going out of the country for six—’
The lawyer repeated the question.
‘I suppose because then was the most convenient time.’ Mrs Todd evidently found this hard to explain. ‘She wasn’t like the ordinary run of people . . . I knew Mr Spaulding was courteous enough not to hurry her, because he told me he had always heard she was very queer. If she hadn’t wanted to be hurried I think he would have been willing to come again.’
Was Mrs Todd herself in any hurry?
‘I don’t think I was in a hurry. I wanted the deed before I left the country. ’
Miss Vinnie’s counsel drove it home that she had not employed Mr Spaulding to witness the deed. It remained, then, distinctly questionable how he had come to make a business visit to the Homestead at night. Miss Vinnie repeated the refrain