Pearl in the Mist (Landry 2)

eyebrows lifted. "Secretly you had Uncle Jean moved

/> from his private room into a ward."

She sat back and crossed her arms under her

bosom.

"Secretly?" She laughed a hollow, thin laugh

before looking at Bruce and then turning to me with a

frown. "I don't have to do anything secretly. I don't

need your or your sister's or anyone else's permission

to do anything that regards this family."

"Why did you do it?" I cried. "We can afford to

have him in his own room."

"A private room was a waste of money. I

always thought it so," she said. "Not that I have to

explain myself to you or your sister."

"But he's regressing now. The staff says so. He

no longer cares about himself the way he used to

and--"

"He wasn't making any real progress either

way. All Pierre was doing was soothing his own

troubled conscience by lavishing the extra money on

Jean. It was a ridiculous expenditure:"-

"It wasn't," I insisted. "I saw the difference; you

haven't."

"Since when did you get a degree in mental

illness?" she shot back. Then she smiled coldly again,

a smile that put chills into my spine. "Or have you

inherited some magical powers from your faithhealing grandmere?"

A heat came into my face. Daphne never

missed an opportunity to mock my grandmere's

memory. She loved ridiculing the Cajun world. I took