Anything Goes

Not an easily achieved combination. She finally found a short-sleeved emerald jacket and a long skirt that hadn’t wrinkled too badly and when she tried them on, she realized she must have put on a little weight these past few days of eating Mrs. Prinney’s excellent food. The jacket and skirt would just need a tiny bit of freshening up.
    Mimi returned with the tux and took away Lily’s outfit. When she returned to Lily’s bedroom, Lily said, “Mimi, sit down for a moment.”
    Dread filled Mimi’s features as she perched on the front edge of the squashy grandmother chair. “Yes, Miss Lily?”
    Lily drew a deep breath and said, “I’m mistress of this house. That means I have a responsibility for what goes on here. And to be responsible, I must know what’s going on.”
    Mimi said, “Yes, miss.“
    “I heard your conversation with Billy. I insist on knowing what you two were talking about.”
    “Nothing really, Miss Lily.“
    “Nonsense. He was trying to make you tell something to someone that would result in you getting money. I told you I heard every word.”
    Mimi ducked her head, sniffling. “Oh, Miss Lily, it’s so batty I’m ashamed to say.“
    “I’m sorry, but you must,“ Lily said.
    “All right, but you won’t like it. It was something my ma told me when I was getting fixed to marry Billy. She didn’t like him one little bit. So, remember when I said I’d never met or seen Mr. Horatio before that day on the boat? Well, that was because of me. Or my mother. See, she worked for Miss Flora and lived in the house. When Ma got in trouble—you know, in a family way with me, she told Miss Flora.”
    Lily sat down slowly on the bed, half-knowing and fully dreading what Mimi was going to say next. “Go on,“ she said.
    “Miss Flora really loved my ma. And she loved your uncle, too. But when Ma told Miss Flora that your uncle was the father of the baby she was going to have—that’s me—Miss Flora was furious. She called Mr. Horatio to account and he said it wasn’t so, that he’d never laid a hand on Ma, then he said some mean things about Ma. They argued and argued, my ma said.“
    “And that’s why he left?”
    Mimi nodded. “He never came back. He sent presents for Miss Flora’s birthdays, nice things they was. Jewelry and nice perfume and such lovely handkerchieves with lots of embroidery and her initials and all. And he always sent presents to her at Christmas and a big wreath or a box of fruit or whatnot. But he never called, never wrote nothing but his name on the cards. And he never came here.“
    “And you told Billy this. That you were Uncle Horatio’s child.“
    “No, not right off, Miss Lily. When your uncle left, my ma married a man in town who ran off and left her when I was two months old. Michael O’Hare, she said his name was. I never knew him, being only a baby. But I thought he was my real father. She had a picture of them getting married, see, and I fancied that I looked a little bit like him. So when she told me about Mr. Horatio, I didn’t rightly believe her.“
    “When did you tell Billy? And why, if you didn’t believe your mother?”
    Mimi got tears in her eyes. “Not till a couple years ago. He’d been beating me and said he was going to leave me. And my aunts were being just awful as could be. It was plain terrible, Miss Lily. I had to make peace with Billy or my aunts or I’d of been sleeping in the woods, with no job and no money. So I told Billy what my ma had said. I told him I was really a rich man’s daughter. And that he was old now and pretty soon he’d die, and I’d get all his money, so Billy better be nice to me and stay around and if he divorced me, he’d be sorry as sorry.”
    Mimi blew her nose loudly on a grimy handkerchief she pulled out of her apron pocket. “See, Miss Lily, I wanted to believe it, too. After my ma told me about Mr. Horatio, I started dreaming like. Of being rich. Having nice clothes. Living in this house.
    I even wondered if I could change my name to Brewster, like yours. Anyhow, Billy was right nice to me for a long time after I told him. Then he got put in jail again for stealing some silver things from one of the big houses up here, and when he came out, he was mad at me again.”
    In spite of the heat of the day accumulating in the upstairs bedroom, Lily suddenly felt cold. The sky was getting more overcast.
    “So—“ Lily cleared her throat. “So you’re really Uncle Horatio’s daughter and