More Portmanteau Plays Part 36

SUSAN (_opening the window and returning to her question_)

No one would know you told me.

LEt.i.tIA

I would know. Yes, I would know that I had told somebody else's secret.

SUSAN

Whose secret is it? Please.

LEt.i.tIA

I've been living in this house for thirty-five years, Susan, and I've known the secrets of all the boys and girls from time to time.

SUSAN

You know mine, too.

LEt.i.tIA

And I've never told one of them, either.

SUSAN

Does old Mr. John ever have secrets?

LEt.i.tIA

_Old_ Mr. John! For shame!... Of course he has secrets.

SUSAN

I wish I knew some of his, Mis' Let.i.tia.

LEt.i.tIA

My dear, you never will know them. John is very quiet.

SUSAN

Who in the family didn't have any secrets at all?

LEt.i.tIA

Oh, they all had secrets when they were young. Nathaniel had _fewer_ than any of them and...

[_Her words are lost tenderly in a memory._

SUSAN

Why hasn't he ever come back home?

LEt.i.tIA (_as she busies herself with the contents of the trunk_)

That is his secret, Susan, and we mustn't ask too many questions. Nathaniel is coming today. I won't ask any questions.... He was a fine young man.

Yes, he's coming back today, my dear. He was the baby of the family.

SUSAN

How old is he now?

LEt.i.tIA

You little chatterbox! Between you and Jonathan I have to fight to keep anybody's secrets.

SUSAN

Does Jonathan ask many questions?

LEt.i.tIA

When we're alone he does. He's just like his Uncle Nathaniel. G.o.d bless him!

SUSAN (_seeing a costume in the trunk_)

Oh, isn't that just wonderful!

LEt.i.tIA (_holding the costume up for Susan to see_)

_That_ is what you can wear in the pageant, my dear Susan.

SUSAN (_taking the costume_)

Oh! Oh! Oh!... I wish I knew whose it was.

LEt.i.tIA

Would that make it any prettier?

SUSAN

No, but I'd like to know just the same.... Was it E. R.'s?

[_A cry is heard outside_, "Aunt Letty! Aunt Letty!"

LEt.i.tIA

Oh, Susan, it's Nathaniel! It's my boy. Here I am, dear.