The Tapestry in the Attic by Mary O'Donnell Page A

quite a character.”
    “As ready as I’ll ever be,” replied Annie. “I’m excited about this play, though. I’m sure it will take me outside my comfort zone—like when you and I were extras in the movie that was filmed in Stony Point a while back. It’s good to do things that are out of the ordinary now and then.”
    “Arianna was an actress, even before we were married, you know.” Ian’s eyes became distant as he remembered his wife. “It was a sacrifice for her to move from the big city to Stony Point. She loved the theater, but thankfully, I guess she loved me more.” He smiled, and Annie’s heart skipped a beat. “She continued to be part of the theater scene though, often in the summer months at the Ogunquit and the Hackmatack Playhouses. She especially enjoyed working with the children who came to the summer drama camps. She would have been thrilled that Stony Point has its own theater.”
    “I wish I could have known her, Ian,” said Annie. “Everyone always says what a wonderful woman she was.”
    “She was that,” said Ian. “I guess we were both lucky to have had happy marriages and to have those good memories to carry with us. Not everyone is so fortunate.”
    The elevator doors opened to a small vestibule with a hallway strutting out from each side. There was plush, deep red carpeting over wood flooring, with gorgeous inlaid wood visible along the edges. Annie had never been on this level of the building before, and as she and the others followed Stella down the left-hand hallway, she was surprised at how sumptuous the surroundings seemed. The walls were finished with what Annie recognized as expensive Venetian plaster and bordered by beautifully carved woodwork. The rooms were mostly empty, but someone had been keeping the place clean. She could see no dust anywhere.
    Perhaps realizing what was on Annie’s mind as well as the others, Stella said, “This floor was used for offices in Gerald Walker’s day; he was the son of the founder of the original Walker’s dry-goods store here in Stony Point. When they had this building constructed in the 1920s, the store was in its heyday, and no expense was spared. When the store closed in the seventies, this floor was leased to Gordon Proctor’s father and uncle, who were both lawyers too.”
    Annie knew Gordon Proctor fairly well—he had been Betsy Holden’s attorney, and it was he who called her in Texas after the death of her grandmother to tell her she was to inherit Grey Gables.
    Stella continued, “The condition of the offices had declined along with the fortunes of the store, but when the law office of Proctor & Proctor moved in, they refurbished everything. When the owner of the Walker Building decided to sell it, Gordon bought that house on Elm Street and moved the practice over there.”
    Stella stopped speaking since they had reached the conference room. Annie admired the high ceiling and the tall windows and the elaborate woodwork; they reflected the popular art deco style of the 1920s. One wall, at the end of the room opposite the door, was given over to a magnificent built-in bookcase that stood empty at present.
    An extra-long rectangular table sat in the center of the room and cloth-covered office chairs surrounded it; a few additional chairs were lined up along the walls. Annie realized that these didn’t seem to fit in with the twenties era—they must have been new purchases, bought by the Cultural Center committee as workhorse furniture, rather than investing in expensive pieces. It made sense to Annie that there were other more public places where the money they had raised was more wisely spent.
    “You may put your coats on the side chairs and then take a seat anywhere around the table,” said Stella, “but let’s leave this one at the far end open for Professor Howell.” After she had taken off her coat, Stella proceeded to seat herself next to Professor Howell’s chair at the end of the table while the rest of the