them. All of them. With the power of the Foxworth trust behind me I can borrow millions, and then I'll buy out the banks and demand they pay off their mortgages. I'll buy out the village stores, close them down. I'll hire other attorneys, fire the ones I have now and see that they're disbarred. I'll find new stockbrokers, hire new real estate agents, see that real estate property values are undermined, and when they sell cheap, I'll buy. By the time I'm through, there won't be one old aristocratic Virginia family left this side of Charlottesville! And not one of my business colleagues will be left with anything but debts to pay
off!"
"Then will you be satisfied?" asked Chris. "NO!" flared Bart, his eyes hard, glaring. "I
won't be satisfied until justice has ruled! I have done
nothing to deserve this night! Nothing but try to give
them what our ancestors did--and they have rejected
me! They'll pay, and pay, and then pay some more." He sounded like me! To hear my very own
words coming from the mouth of the child I'd carried
when I'd said them made all my blood drain into my
feet. Shivering, I tried to appear normal. "I'm sorry,
Bart. But it wasn't a total loss, was it? We're all
together under one roof, a united family for once. And
Cindy's music and singing made this a festive
occasion after all."
He wasn't listening.
He was staring at all the food that had yet to be
eaten. All the champagne with the bubbles gone flat.
All the wine and liquor that could have loosened
many a tongue and given him information he wanted
to use. He glared at the maids in their pretty black and
white uniforms, drunken and staggering around, some
still dancing as the music played on and on. He
glowered at the few waiters who still held trays of
drinks gone warm. Some stood and looked at him and
waited for his signal to say the night was over. The
impressive centerpiece of an ice crystal manger, with
the three shepherds, the wise men and all the animals,
had melted into a puddle and spilled over to darken
the red cloth.
"How lucky you were when you danced in The