“Well, I have been working on some of your affairs here in the house. Uh, Joan Eunice, as your guardian, I had to take over management of your household.”
“Hasn’t Cunningham saved you from such picayune worries? I must speak to him.”
“Well., yes, he has and I’ve let him go on, as before; I’ve made no changes. But I have had to look over the household books and authorize charges and confound it, they’re stealing you blind. Cunningham especially.”
“Good!”
“What’s good about it?”
“Jake, you told me that it was impossible to spend my income. If my butler is black-marketing two-thirds of what he buys for me and pocketing the proceeds—and he always has—then he’s anxious to keep his job. Which means that he has to please me. Jake, can you think of a cheaper way to buy the nearest thing to loyalty that can be bought? Let him steal. Do not bind the mouths of the kine who tread the grain. The good horse must always get his lump of sugar.”
“Bad precedent. corrupts the country.”
“The country is corrupt. But ‘it is the only game in town’; we have no choice. The problem is always how to live in a decadent society. Jake, I want you to live here. I hope you will live here. It will make me feel happy and safe for you to be under the same roof. But don’t worry about my reputation—and Winnie is here to protect yours. Most certainly don’t think about such trivia as household expenses; just close your eyes and sign. But don’t hesitate to chew out Cunningham if the service is less than perfect; that’s the price he must pay for the privilege of swindling me. By the way, my chief guard steals, too; I think he has a fifty-fifty split with Cunningham. I’ve never tried to find out the arrangement; it would embarrass them.”
Salomon smiled. “Joan Eunice, for a young—and beautiful—woman, you sound. remarkably like a cynical old man I used to know.”
“Do I, Jake dear? I must learn not to sound that way. I must now leave the ‘cynical old man’ things to you and try to behave like a lady. If I can. But please don’t disrupt a smooth household by trying to reform it—or it will wind up like a reform administration: less efficient and still more expensive. Didn’t your servants steal from you?”
The lawyer looked sheepish. “Well…yes. But I had the best cook in Safe Harbor enclave. If I had fired her, I might have wound up with one just as expensive—who put sugar in gravy. I think I was groused that they were stealing from you—when you were helpless. But I didn’t want to tamper with your household while there was any chance that you might recover. Wanted to hand it back as it was. And I have. Or shall.”
“Thank you, Jake. At the moment, while I may not yet be a lady, I feel not at all like a cynical old man. I find that I feel like a woman who has been ill and is not yet fully recovered. I had best go to bed. Will you help me?”
“Uh, I’ll call the nurse.”
“Jake, Jake—this is the body I have; we must quit being jumpy about it. Here, lend me your arm. I can stand if you’ll help me…and walk to the bed if you’ll let me lean on you.”
Salomon gave up, offered her both hands to help her out of the chair, steadied her with his arm to the bed. Joan Eunice got into it quickly, slid her negligee off as she slid under the sheet. “Thank you, Jake.”
“My pleasure—Joan Eunice.”
“Will you have breakfast with me? Or lunch if you want to sleep late?”
“Uh . . . lunch.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” She put out her hand. He took it, bowed over it—hesitated only slightly and kissed it firmly.
Joan Eunice kept his hand and pulled. “Come closer, Jake dear.” She reached up, took his face between her palms. “You loved her.”
“Yes.”
“I loved her.”
“I know.”
“Say my name. My new name.”
“Joan—Joan Eunice.”
“Thank you, Jake.” Unhurriedly, she pulled his face down, kissed him softly on the lips. “Good night, dear friend.”