Black Widow Page #2

some cheese

and a chocolate nut sundae.

No coffee.

Lottie's party

and my meeting with Nancy Ordway...

was on the sixth ofJune.

Let us now go back

exactly three months...

to the sixth of March...

which, as we learned later, was when

Miss Ordway arrived in New York.

Yes?

Don't you really

recognize me?

Well, Nanny.

Good heavens. Come in.

Here, let me.

No wonder.

You've grown so.

Even if I had been expecting you...

I wouldn't have looked

for a beautiful young woman.

- Well, how old are you now anyway?

- I'll be 20 next month.

You were still in pigtails

the last time I saw you.

That was six or seven years ago.

Yes, I suppose so.

Well, come on.

- Take off your hat. Make yourself comfortable.

- Thanks.

But don't worry.

I haven't come to put up on you.

This is just to say hello and leave

my stuff here, if you don't mind...

while I look for a place of my own.

- I'm gonna live in New York now.

- Tired of Savannah?

Well, after Mama died, there was

nothing else to keep me there.

- I want to write, you know.

- Oh, really?

- This is Greenwich Village, isn't it?

- Good heavens.

Do kids still come

to Greenwich Village to write?

Well, isn't it cheap here?

Well, in comparison to some of the more

fashionable parts of town...

it is, of course.

Are you acting now?

Oh, yes.

I'm in a hit too.

Uh-uh.

What's the name of it?

Star Rising.

Drama of sorts.

- Can I get you a drink or something?

- Oh, no, thanks.

But I'm hungry enough

to eat a bear.

Oh, well, I guess

we can do something about that.

Within a week ofher arrival...

she was already

on her way uptown.

- Hello. Thought you'd given us up.

- Oh, I've been busy.

Well, it's about time.

I've been getting ready

to send out an expedition for you.

I've been working.

This is my brotherJohn.

- This is Sylvia.

- Welcome to the joint, John.

- You an artist too?

- No, I'm still going to law school.

- I'm just here for a few days.

- Hey, Nanny.

Nanny, take care of Mr. And Miss Amberly.

They're old friends of mine.

Let me know if she spills anything

on you, huh?

She's crazy. I spilled one drink

the first day I worked here.

To hear her tell it, you'd think I was

spilling things on people all the time.

- What are you, brother and sister?

- Uh-huh.

- Well, what are you gonna have?

- Well, for heaven's sakes.

I'm certainly glad to see somebody else

besides myself reads Conrad.

- You, uh-You like Conrad?

- I love him.

A lot of people may think

he's slow and deliberate...

after the way writers

move along these days...

but I like that.

I like to get right in there

with those people...

and find out what they're

thinking and feeling.

- What did you say you wanted?

- I want a Bloody Mary.

Well, what on earth is that?

Vodka and tomato juice.

Haven't you ever heard of it?

No, and I hope

I never do again.

What's yours?

Same thing?

No, I'll just have a beer.

- Did you ever hear of a Bloody Mary?

- Certainly.

It's slop, but if that's

what she wants, get it for her.

Well, it's her funeral.

- Where did you get her?

- Oh, friend of mine-

a fella I used to work with

in a stock company-

brought her out here

a couple weeks ago...

and asked if I could

give her a job.

She's his niece. What did she do,

give you some kind of an argument?

Not at all.

Just kind of natural and friendly.

She's cute too.

Her next stop, two weeks later...

was 24th Street...

at the kind invitation

of a new friend.

- Nanny.

- Yes?

It's John.

He's flying down this afternoon

and wants to take us to dinner.

What about you?

Lt'll be all right, I suppose.

I was going to work, but-

- Tell him I'd love to.

- She says fine.

You sure you really

want me along?

All right, all right.

Come on down

whenever you get in.

- Does this bother you too?

- What?

- John and me.

- Why should it?

I'm sure you never figured

on anything like that...

when you invited me

to live here with you.

Could have happened anyway,

couldn't it?

I suppose so, but-

Do you think

he's really serious?

I think so.

Why? Aren't you?

I don't know.

I mean, I don't know

whether I should be or not.

- What do you mean?

- Oh, you know.

Your family, Boston-

all that.

I can just imagine

what they think of me.

What's that got to do with it?

For one thing, they're not as stuffy

as all that.

For another, the only important thing

in a case like this...

is do you love him

and does he love you?

Well, I'll tell you anyway.

I'm crazy about him.

I think he's the kindest, gentlest...

most understanding person

I've ever known in my whole life.

By early May, about a month

before Lottie's cocktail party...

she had reached 45th Street and the

theater where Lottie was starring...

in my production of Star Rising.

Excuse me. Which way

to the stage entrance?

First alley around the corner.

- I'd like to see Mr. Ling, please.

- Mr. Ling is gone already.

Oh, dear.

Did he say where he was going?

- May I ask your name?

- I'm his niece, Miss Ordway.

Was he expecting you?

No, I just took a chance I could have

dinner with him. Do you know where he eats?

- Good evening, Mr. Denver.

- Hiya, Fritz. How are all your ails?

Oh, just about the same,

thank you, sir.

- Maybe my hips-

- Miss Marin still here?

- Yes, sir.

- Ah. Just the fellow I was looking for.

What about you and Iris

for dinner with me?

Can't tonight. We're booked.

What's with Lottie?

She's eating with Alec Waterhouse.

She's going to try and steal that play

from your wife.

- She can have it. Iris doesn't want it.

- Isn't it any good?

The play's all right,

but he wants to do it in London.

- Iris doesn't want to go to London.

- Don't tell Lottie that.

She's all set to hijack

the poor bloke.

It might break her poor little heart

that she got it on the level.

I won't say a word.

Sorry about dinner, Brian.

Oh, that's all right.

I'll find somebody.

Do you know where

he usually eats on matinee days?

No, I don't,

but maybe Mr. Mullen does.

- Where who eats?

- Mr. Ling. This is his niece.

He got out so quick

she missed him.

I'm sorry,

I don't know.

Oh, well.

It's not too important.

- Thank you both very much.

- I'll tell him you were here.

Thanks.

I didn't know

Ling had any family.

I didn't either.

Hold it a moment.

What did he do, stand you up?

Oh, no.

I just took a chance.

- He didn't know I was coming.

- I'm sure he didn't.

He's far too gallant to stand anyone up,

even a relative.

- You know him?

- Very well. I'm, uh-

Well, to be perfectly honest with you,

I'm Miss Carlotta Marin's husband.

- Really?

- I have a name of my own, of course...

but it seems stupid

to use it when I can get...

so much more attention

simply telling whose husband I am.

- I know it.

- You do?

- Brian Mullen.

- How did you know it?

From the newspapers

when you got married.

Well, I've never heard

of such erudition.

- Does it really bother you that much?

- What?

- Being married to a famous star.

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