Welcome to sleep stories with Steph It is time to relax.
And fully let go.
There is nothing you need to be doing now.
And know where you need to go.
Close your eyes.
And feel yourself sink into the support beneath you.
And let all the worries of the day go.
Drift away.
This is your time.
And your space.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
And let it out with a long sigh.
That's it!
There is nothing you need to be doing now.
And know where you need to go.
Happy listening.
Chapter 40 Valancy paused a moment on the porch of the brick house in Elm Street.
She felt she ought to knock like a stranger.
Her rosebush,
She idly noticed,
Was loaded with buds.
The rubber ploughed stood beside the prim door.
A momentary horror overcame her,
The horror of the existence to which she was returning.
Then she opened the door and walked in.
I wonder if the prodigal's son ever felt really at home again,
She thought.
Mrs Frederick and Cousin Stiggles were in the sitting room.
Uncle Benjamin was in there too.
They looked blankly at Valancy,
Realising at once something was wrong.
This was not the saucy,
Impudent thing who laughed at them in this very room last summer.
This was a grey-faced woman with the eyes of a creature who had been stricken by a mortal blow.
Valancy looked indifferently around the room.
She had changed so much and it had changed so little.
The same pictures hung on the walls,
The little orphan who knelt at her never-finished prayer by the bed,
Whereon reposed the black kitten that never grew up into a cat.
The same elaborate never-used picture stood at the same angle on the sideboard shelf.
The blue and gilt vases that had been amongst her mother's wedding presents still primly adorn the mantelpiece,
Flanking the china clock of berosed and besprayed wear that never went.
The chairs were in exactly the same places.
Her mother and cousin Stickles likewise unchanged regarding her with stony unwelcome.
Balancy had to speak first.
I've come home,
Mother.
She said,
Tiredly.
So I see.
Mrs Frederick's voice was very icy.
She had resigned herself to Valancy's desertion.
She had almost succeeded in forgetting there ever was a Valancy.
She had rearranged and organized her systematic life without any reference to an ungrateful,
Rebellious child.
She had taken her place again in a society which ignored the fact she ever had a daughter and pitied her,
If it's pitied her at all.
And now,
Of course,
Fancy was here.
With tragedy and disgrace and scandal trailing after her visibly.
So I see.
Said Mrs.
Frederick again.
May I ask why?
Because I'm not going to die,
" said Valancy Huskerly.
God bless my soul,
Said Uncle Benjamin.
Who said you were going to die?
I suppose,
" said Cousin Stickle shrewdly.
I suppose you found he has another wife,
As we've been sure about all along.
Said Valancy,
I only wish she had.
She was not suffering particularly,
But she was very tired now.
If only the explanations were over and she was upstairs in her old ugly room again,
Just alone.
The rattle on the beads of her mother's sleeves as they swung on the arms of the reed's chair almost drove her crazy.
Nothing else was worrying her,
But all at once it seemed she simply could not endure that thin,
Insistent rattle.
My home,
As I told you,
Is always open.
Said Mrs Frederick-Stonely,
But I can never forgive you,
Valancy.
Balancy gave a mirthless laugh.
I'd care very little for that if I could only forgive myself,
" she said.
Come,
Come,
" said Uncle Benjamin testily.
He was rather enjoying himself.
He felt he had Valancy under his thumb again.
We've had enough of this mystery.
So,
What has happened?
Why have you left the fellow?
No doubt there's reason enough,
But what particular reason is it?
Balancy began to speak mechanically and she told her tale bluntly and barely.
A year ago,
Dr.
Trent told me I had angina.
I could not live long,
I think.
I wanted to have some life before I die.
That's why I went away,
Why I married Barney.
And now I've found it's all a mistake.
There's nothing wrong with my heart.
I've got to live.
And Barney only married me out of pity.
So I have to leave him to be free.
God bless me,
Said Uncle Benjamin.
Cousin Stickles began to cry.
Well,
See if only you'd had confidence in your own mother!
Yes,
I know,
Said Valancy impatiently.
What's the use of going into that now?
I can't undo this year.
God knows I wish I could.
I've tricked Barney into marrying me and he's really Bernard Redfern,
Dr.
Redfern's son of Montreal.
And his father wants him to go back to him.
At this,
Uncle Benjamin made a queer sound.
Tarzan Stickles took her black,
Balded handkerchief away from her eyes and stared.
A queer gleam suddenly shot into Miss Frederick's stone-grey orbs.
Not the purple puma!
She said.
Valancy nodded.
He's John Foster too,
The writer of those nature books.
Bitch.
Mrs Frederick was visibly agitated.
Dr.
Redfern is a millionaire!
Uncle Benjamin shut his mouth with a snap.
10 times over.
He said.
Valancy nodded.
Yes,
Barney left home years ago because of some disappointment and now he'll likely go back.
So you see I have to come home.
He doesn't love me and I can't hold him to a bond he was tricked into.
Uncle Benjamin looked incredibly sly.
Did he say that?
Does he want to get rid of you?
I haven't seen him since I found out,
" said Valancy.
But I tell you,
He only married me out of pity,
Because I asked him to,
Because he thought it would be only for a little while.
Mrs Frederick and Cousin Stickles both tried to speak,
But Uncle Benjamin waved a hand at them and frowned portentously.
Let me handle this.
Well,
Well.
He said to Valancy,
Let's talk it all over.
As you see,
We don't quite understand everything yet.
As Cousin Stickle says you should have confided in us before.
I dare say we can find a way out of this.
You think Barney can easily get a divorce,
Don't you?
Should valancy eagerly.
Uncle Benjamin's silence with another wave of the exclamation of horror he knew was trembling on Mrs Frederick's lips.
Trust to me Valancy,
Everything will rearrange itself.
Now tell me,
Dossie.
Have you been happier?
Was Mr Redfern good to you?
I've been very happy and Barney was very good to me,
" said Valancy,
As if reciting a lesson.
She remembered when she studied grammar at school she had disliked the past and perfect tenses.
They had always seemed so pathetic.
I have been.
It was all over and done with now.
Don't worry,
Little girl.
How amazingly paternal Uncle Benjamin was.
Your family will stand behind you.
Let's see what can be done.
Thank you.
To advance your dolly.
Really,
It seemed quite decent of Uncle Benjamin.
Can I go and lie down a little while now?
I'm very tired.
Of course you're tired.
Uncle Benjamin patted her hand very gently.
All worn out and nervous you are.
Now go and lie down by all means.
You'll see things in quite a different light after you've had a good sleep.
He held the door open.
As she went through,
He whispered,
What is the best way to keep a man's love?
Galaxy smiled wanly.
But she had come back to the old life and the old shackles.
What?
She asked as meekly as of yore.
Not returning.
Said Uncle Benjamin with a chuckle.
Then he shut the door and rubbed his hands.
Nodded and smiled mysteriously around the room.
Poor little Doss,
He said pathetically.
Do you really suppose that Snaith can actually be Dr Redfern's son?
Gus,
Mrs.
Frederick.
I see no reason for doubting it.
She said Dr Redfern's been there.
Why,
That man is as rich as a wedding cake.
Amelia,
I've always believed there was more in Dost than people thought.
You kept her down too much.
Repressed her.
She never had a chance to show what was in her,
And now she's landed a millionaire for a husband.
Insisted Miss Frederick.
They told terrible tales about him.
All gossip and invention.
All gossip and invention.
It's always been a mystery to me why people should be so ready to invent and circulate slanders about other people they know absolutely nothing about.
Just because Barney Snaith didn't choose to mix up with everyone,
People resented it.
I was surprised to find what a decent fellow he seemed to be,
That time he came into my store.
I discounted all the yards there and then.
But he was seen dead drunk in Port Lawrence once.
It's just constant stickles.
Doubtfully,
Yet is one very willing to be convinced to the contrary.
Who saw him?
" demanded Uncle Benjamin.
Who saw him?
Old Jemmy Strang said he saw him.
I wouldn't take old Jemmy Strang's word on oath.
He's too drunk himself half the time.
He said he saw him lying drunk on a bench in the park.
Red Fern's been asleep there.
Don't worry over that.
But t'is clothes in that awful old car,
" said Mrs Frederick uncertainly.
Eccentricities of genius,
Declared Uncle Benjamin.
You heard Doss say he was John Foster.
I'm not up in literature myself,
But I've heard a lecturer from Toronto say John Foster's books put Canada on the literary map of the world.
I suppose we must forgive her,
" yielded Mrs.
Frederick.
Forgive her.
Uncle Benjamin snorted.
Really?
Amelia was an incredibly stupid woman.
No wonder poor Doss had gone sick and tired of living with her.
Yes,
I think you'd better forgive her,
He said.
The question is,
Will Snaith forgive us?
What if she persists in leaving him?
You've no idea how stubborn Valancy can be.
Said Mrs.
Frederick.
Leave it all to me,
Amelia.
Leave it all to me.
You women have muddled it enough.
This whole affair has been bungled from start to finish.
If you had just put yourself to a little trouble years ago,
Amelia,
She would not have bolted over the traces as she did.
Just let her alone.
Don't worry her with advice or questions till she's ready to talk.
She's evidently run away in a panic because she was afraid he'd be angry with her for falling him.
Most extraordinary thing of Trink to tell her such a yarn.
That's what comes of going to strange doctors.
Well,
Well,
We mustn't blame her too harshly,
Poor child.
Redfern will come after her,
And if he doesn't,
I'll hunt him up and talk to him man to man.
He may be a millionaire,
But Valancy is a sterling.
He can't repudiate her just because she was mistaken about her heart.
Not likely he'll want to.
Doss is a little overstrung.
Bless me,
I must get in the habit of calling her Valancy.
She isn't a baby any longer.
Now remember,
Amelia,
Let's be kind and sympathetic.
It was something of a large order to expect Mrs.
Frederick to be kind and sympathetic.
But she did her best.
When supper was ready,
She went up and asked Valancy if she would like a cup of tea.
Balancy lying on her bed declined.
She wanted just to be left alone for a while.
Mrs Frederick did leave her alone.
And she did not even remind Valancy that her plight was the outcome of her own lack of daughterly respect and obedience.
One could not exactly say things like that.
To the daughter-in-law of a millionaire.
