Read Control for Free Online Page B

gnawed at her parents in a son, presented no problem in such a daughter. They seemed proud and pampered her unmercifully. At the age of eighteen, Charlotte was done with school. It bored her, she had no particular aptitude for it. College would have been an overpowering waste. The idea of work bored her too, and though doubtless she could have gotten a job through her father ’ s contacts, keeping one was not a test anyone seemed anxious to put her to.
    In total then, she was, at the age of-eighteen, in all ways, a perfectly beautiful and perfectly useless ornament. Which was, in all ways, precisely what Mr. W. Nelson Stewart was in the market for.
    “ I want you to pay attention now, ” her father said. “ Sit down, Charlotte. This is going to be fairly important. ”
    Charlotte sat in the chair across from his desk. She already knew it was going to be important. Her father rarely asked her to come down to his Wall Street office. She looked at him now. He was slightly taller than she was, and his hair was going fast. But he had a tiny dark mustache that twitched when he was excited, and his eyes were always bright, and she adored him.
    “ I would like you to consider marrying Nelson Stewart, ” her father said.
    “ Why isn ’ t Mr. Stewart asking me? ”
    “ Mr. Stewart is not keen, at this stage of his life, to face rejection. ”
    “ Can I reject him? Do I have a choice? ”
    “ Every choice. But I do want you, as I said, to consider. There are positives and there are negatives. May I list some of them for you? ”
    “ You do what you want, Daddy. ”
    “ Charlotte, for the duration of this crucifyingly important discussion, please stop calling me ‘ Daddy. ’”
    Charlotte promised to do her best.
    “ I know this must strike you as being horrendously old-fashioned, a talk like this. And I urged Nelson to have it with you himself. But he ’ s simply too shy. That is one of his positives, Charlotte. He is shy around you because, to be frank, he is smitten with you. Since I am his lawyer and have been for twenty years,
    I think I can vouch for his character. This is a decent man, my darling; a bit of a violent temper, true, but only in matters of business and only when he has been lied to. Or in other ways cheated. He has never raised his voice to me and will never, I ’ m sure, be anything but a gentleman with you. ”
    “ But he ’ s so old. ” ‘
    “ I ’ m still dealing with the positives, darling, now don ’ t interrupt again. As you know he ’ s involved in the stock market, which is not unlike my saying the Rockefellers are involved in the oil business. I exaggerate, of course, but you get my point. ”
    “ But we ’ re not poor or anything. ”
    “ No, dear, but we ’ re not rich or anything either. Not rich in the sense that I ’ m talking rich. All right: he can support you, he reveres you, his character is for all intents and purposes flawless, plus he ’ s known you all your life. When you were a baby, he used to play on the floor with you. He ’ s watched you grow, has a month ever gone by that you haven ’ t spent time with Nelson? ”
    “ I don ’ t know, is that important? The negatives are what I want to hear, if you don ’ t mind ,”
    “ All right. You mentioned age, and with reason. Nelson isn ’ t ‘ old ’ but he certainly is not exactly of your generation— ”
    “ —he ’ s fifty— ”
    “ —darling he ’ s forty-four— ”
    “ —he looks fifty— ”
    “ —Nelson is more than aware that he isn ’ t a matinee idol— ”
    “ —and I hate those rimless glasses— ”
    “ —Charlotte, we ’ re not talking about his rimless glasses, we ’ re talking about your life! ”
    She could tell by his tone they were nearing the end.
    “ He ’ s never married, he wants to marry now, he wants a lot of children, you ’ ll make a splendid mother. ” He smiled.
    “ What? ”
    “ I was just thinking: if your children have just half of your looks and half