Family Vault by Charlotte MacLeod

minutes later, the cleaning woman would have tied up her elaborate hairdo in a flamboyant scarf, changed from street clothes to a cotton wrapper, put on a pair of holey sneakers in place of her chic high-heeled pumps, and be making the dust fly. They could afford this paragon only once a week, and nobody, not even Mariposa, could get through the whole house in a single day, so Sarah and Edith were supposed to help.
    Sarah generally enjoyed tagging along with this human whirlwind, dusting and polishing and listening to a steady run of piquant gossip about life as it was lived at the other end of the city. Edith would spend the entire time puttering around Aunt Caroline’s bedroom and bath, and the adjoining room that Mrs. Kelling called her boudoir. Admittedly, this was no small responsibility since everything had to be kept in meticulous order, even the blind woman’s embroidery silks laid out strand by strand. It was to Edith’s credit that she never slacked her duties in this area.
    By the time they got settled around the breakfast table, Aunt Caroline was in no sweet humor.
    “I particularly wanted an early start this morning. You know it’s a two-hour drive to Marguerite’s, and she wants us there well in advance of the others so that you’ll have time to read me her latest chapter. She’s anxious to get my opinion before she goes any further.”
    “Well, that’s just too bad,” Sarah snapped. “Alexander, why don’t you tell your mother you’re not going? You know you hate these ladies’ luncheons, and that book of hers is a total farce. Why should you drive seventy-five miles and back again for the sake of hearing Aunt Marguerite spout drivel?”
    “Why not?” he said wearily.
    “Because you look like death warmed over, for one thing. Won’t you please go back to bed and stay there till you’ve got rid of whatever is ailing you?”
    His exquisite lips curved in a wry smile. “That might be rather a long stay. Don’t worry about me, Sadiebelle. Actually, I’ll be glad to get out of Boston for a few hours. I only wish you were coming, too.”
    “What I wish,” she sighed, “is that the two of us could go off by ourselves for once in our lives. Can’t your mother understand that you’re a human being instead of a seeing-eye dog?”
    “No, I don’t think so.”
    Alexander pushed back his chair and leaned down to kiss his wife. “Don’t work too hard. You look washed-out, yourself. I’m afraid you did too much yesterday.”
    Sarah grabbed him by the necktie and pulled him closer. “Nonsense, Edith managed everything single-handed. Didn’t you notice the becoming modesty with which she was accepting all those compliments?”
    “You’re a nasty little girl, Sadiebelle.”
    He was going to kiss her again but his mother demanded, “Aren’t we ever going to get started?” and Edith came to announce that Mariposa was starting to wash dishes and weren’t they finished yet?
    “In a minute,” said Sarah. “Alexander, don’t let them wear you to shreds. Tell Aunt Marguerite your wife has turned into a shrew and will hit the ceiling if you’re not back in time to rest before dinner. And don’t think I’m joking, because I’m not. Edith, help Mrs. Kelling on with her things and go get whatever she claims she doesn’t intend to take with her because you know she’ll change her mind at the last minute and want it, after all. I’ll clear the table, unless you’d like me to get the car. Alexander?”
    “No, my dear, I’m not that far gone.”
    Parking around the Hill was impossible. They had to garage their 1950 Studebaker down on Charles Street at a rate that would have bought them a new car every few years, fees being what they were in the area. They’d have been better off not to keep a car at all and rent one when they needed to, but Aunt Caroline wouldn’t hear of giving up the vehicle she’d once been able to drive herself.
    Thanks to Alexander’s skill as a mechanic, the