Anything Goes

Don’t you remember Dad raving about the time that Major Winslow gave the ball at their Fifth Avenue mansion for his wife’s birthday and had a cash bar? And the buffet food was meager and ran out half an hour after the party started. Dad was appalled and so was everyone else. I remember Sissy saying she had to keep an inventory of her clothing and if she wanted something new to wear, she had to prove to him that some other dress was worn out and beyond repair.”
    “Sounds like a charmer,“ Robert said. “I guess borrowing money from him is out of the question?”
    “Utterly,“ Lily said with a laugh. “Give me five minutes to spruce up.”
    Lily took the time to dress up a little, added a scarf to her ensemble and put everything from her handbag into a slightly nicer, smaller one. By the time she was ready, Robert had the Duesenberg at the front door.
    “Isn’t this some crate?“ Robert said, beaming.
    Lily was dumbfounded. It was a great, handsome beast of a car. The paint was a rich yellowish-cream color and there was a huge amount of chrome that Robert had meticulously polished. The grille alone was a work of art. It was not only luxurious, but gigantic and she wondered what would happen if they met up with another car on the narrow road. Fortunately the drive to the Winslow house wasn’t long enough to create the problem.
    “I should have telephoned first,“ Lily said, suddenly remembering the proprieties she’d grown up with and which had become rusty in the last two years.
    “We’ll just say we were taking a spin in the Duesie and dropped in. Which is true,“ Robert said. “Nice little pile they’ve got here,“ he added as they turned into the Winslows’ drive.
    The house sat a little lower and farther back from the Hudson than Grace and Favor and probably didn’t share the same magnificent view of the river. But it was massive and probably much older than many of the great homes in the area. Robert pulled the car around an elaborate circle drive and they walked up the four steps to the portico. He used the great lion’s head door knocker enthusiastically. They waited.
    “The butler must be taking a nap,“ Robert said, knocking again.
    Finally the door opened, but it wasn’t a stiff-bosomed butler before them, but a beautiful red-haired girl. “Why, it’s Lily and Robert Brewster!“ Sissy Winslow said with pleased surprise. “Whatever are you doing here? Come in.“
    “We’re your next-door neighbors,“ Lily said as the girls embraced. Sissy attempted to hug Robert, too, but he gracelessly eluded her with a sudden desire to tie his shoe.
    “Neighbors?“ Sissy said. “Oh, are you two the new people at Honeysuckle Cottage?”
    Lily explained that they did indeed live there and had changed the name to Grace and Favor Cottage.
    “What does that mean? Grace and Favor?“ Sissy asked.
    “Just a pretty phrase we picked up,“ Lily said.
    “I never would have made the connection between Mr. Brewster and you two, in spite of the name,“ Sissy said. She indicated a table where Lily could leave her things (although Robert wouldn’t part with his precious car keys or the violently checkered golfing cap he’d suddenly developed a fondness for), and led them along a marble-tiled hallway to a vast formal front parlor.
    “Butler’s day off?“ Robert asked.
    “Oh, we don’t have a butler anymore,“ Sissy said. “Daddy says that with so terribly many people out of work, it’s unattractive to live ostentatiously. It’s sort of fun, actually, to have practically no staff at all. More private, you know. Not having a maid laying out her choice for your clothes and such. And I’m learning to cook. Cook! Can you just imagine me cooking?”
    Lily had forgotten what a high-pitched giggle Sissy had and was insulted that Sissy thought cutting back the staff was ‘roughing it’ when she and Robert had lived the last two years like rats in a tiny cage. She mentally chided herself. If their father hadn’t lost everything, she would be no better informed than Sissy. It wasn’t fair to blame her for her stupidity.
    “So Horatio Brewster was a relative of yours and left you the house?“ Sissy went on.
    “Our great-uncle,“ Lily said.
    “Daddy thought the world of Mr. Brewster, you know,“ Sissy said. “They were great friends. And business associates as well.“
    “What business?“ Robert asked.
    “I’m not sure, exactly. But they were always talking about bits of property