Mildred Pierce - James M. Cain [84]
This had obviously been an effort to kill two birds with one stone, to give some plausibility to what he had said about her hours, and at the same time introduce her to somebody, quite as though he would have done so all along if only the right kind of evening had presented itself. She had taken it as evidence of a change of heart, and accepted. Indeed, she had more than accepted. She had consulted anxiously with Mrs. Gessler over what she should wear, and gone into Bullock's and picked out an evening gown. Then she had gone into a veritable agony over the question of a coat. She didn't have a fur coat, and the prospect of making her debut in the world of mink with nothing but her battered blue haunted her horribly. But Mrs. Gessler, as usual, stepped into the breach. She knew a lady, it seemed, with a brocade coat. "It's a beautiful thing, Baby, ashy rose, all crusted with gold, just what you want with your hair. It's really a Chinese mandarin's coat, but it's been re-cut, and you couldn't put a price on it. There's nothing like it on sale anywhere. It'll be the snappiest thing in the room, even at the Biltmore, and—she's broke. She needs the money. I'll see what I can do."
So for $25, Mildred got the coat, and when the dress arrived, she caught her breath at the total effect. The dress was light blue, and gave something to the rose of the coat, so she was a-shimmer with the delicate colors that her general colorlessness needed. She bought gold stockings and gold shoes, and her panic changed to smug complacency. All this had been before Christmas, and her choice of the New Year's party as the occasion for the break with Monty may possibly have been prompted by a matter-of-fact determination not to let such a costume go to waste, as well as a vivid recollection of the $40 she had contributed to the expense. However, no such motive obtruded on her own virtuous consciousness. It was merely, she told herself, that a resolve had to be made, and New Year's morning was a very good time to make it. As she rehearsed the scene mentally, it became clear in its details, and she knew exactly how she would play it. At the Biltmore, she would be gay, and rattle her rattle, and throw her balloon, and tell the story of Harry Engel and the anchors. Back at Monty's house, she would watch the Ewings take their departure, and then, at his invitation to come in, she would decline, and climb into her car. Then, ai his surprised look, she would make a little speech. She would say nothing of Veda, or money, or legs. She would merely remarks that all things had to come to an end some time, and it looked as though he and she had reached that point. It had been very pleasant, she had enjoyed his company, every minute of it, she wished him the very best in the world, and she certainly' hoped he would regard her as his friend. But—and at this point she saw herself putting out a graceful hand, and in case he merely stood there looking at it, as stepping on the starter.
The whole thing, perhaps, was a little stuffy, and certainly it was sing-songy, as she kept adding to it. But it was her valedictory, and no doubt her privilege to deliver it any way she chose.
December 31, 1933, dawned dark in California, and before the morning was over, quite a little rain was falling. By mid-afternoon, tall tales interrupted the broadcasts: of washouts in the hills, of whole families evacuated from this village and that village, of roads blocked, of trains held in Arizona pending dispatcher's orders. But in Glendale, except for the wet, and quite a little rubble that washed down on the streets, nothing ominous met the eye, and Mildred viewed the downpour as an annoyance, a damper on business, but nothing to