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. LETITIA And I've never told one of them, either. SUSAN Does old Mr. John ever have secrets? LETITIA _Old_ Mr. John! For shame!... Of course he has secrets. SUSAN I wish I knew some of his, Mis' Letitia. LETITIA My dear, you never will know them. John is very quiet. SUSAN Who in the family didn't have any secrets at all? LETITIA 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? LETITIA (_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? LETITIA You little chatterbox! Between you and Jonathan I have to fight to keep anybody's secrets. SUSAN Does Jonathan ask many questions? LETITIA When we're alone he does. He's just like his Uncle Nathaniel. God bless him! SUSAN (_seeing a costume in the trunk_) Oh, isn't that just wonderful! LETITIA (_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. LETITIA 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!" LETITIA Oh, Susan, it's Nathaniel! It's my boy. Here I am, dear. [_She has an armful of costumes which she drops nervously._ SUSAN Mis' Letitia, I believe you love him best of all! LETITIA No, I don't, but I always understood him, I think. [_The voice below calls again_, "Where are you?" Come up here, my boy. Come up to the lumber room. [_Steps are heard on the stairs, young eager steps, and Nathaniel Clay bursts into the room. He is an eternally young man of thirty-five, who has touched the dregs and the heights of the world and remained himself._ NATHANIEL [_taking Letitia in his arms, then holding her from him as he inspects her._ Aunt Letty! Not a day older.... But oh, so wise. LETITIA Nathaniel, my boy, my darling, darling boy. NATHANIEL Now, now. Don't cry. LETITIA My boy, my boy. My splendid boy. [_Susan has forgotten her costume in her admiration for Nathaniel. She puts it down on the bench in front of the piano._ NATHANIEL And this is-- LETITIA This is Susan Sample. NATHANIEL Not-- LETITIA Yes, time has been flying, Nathaniel. This young lady is Mary Sample's daughter. NATHANIEL How do you do? I can't believe it. You were only a little pink cherub up there in the sky when I ran-- LETITIA (_hurriedly interrupting him_) Yes, Susan was born three years after you went away. NATHANIEL