What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?

Your husband was a wonderful man.

Death is very sad.

Sad?

Mr. Bentley, I'm very pleased to see you.

Thank you very much.

Will you have tea, or would you prefer a drink?

I really haven't time.

It won't take any time at all

if you have your refreshments while we conduct our business.

Tea will be fine.

- I'll pour. Albert. - Yes. Miss Marrable.

I ordered tea brewed because I was expecting Mr. Honigger.

Avid tea drinker.

But I suppose the reading of the will

is usually left to the junior partner.

Will you have cream, Mr. Bentley, or brandy?

Brandy lends an elegance to tea.

Neither, thank you, and no sugar.

The actual reading is a formality we can dispense with.

and I can give you the salient points.

After all, you're the only person mentioned in the will.

Well, I shouldn't be surprised to find that Joseph had left me everything.

After all, there's no one else he could've possibly included.

Will you have a piece of hazelnut cake?

No, no, thank you.

Of course. I'll depend on you to fill me in

on the details of Joseph's enterprises.

I suppose they're terribly involved.

Actually not that much.

To sum up, Mrs. Marrable, your husband

was not as solvent as you probably assume.

You must be referring to

that dilapidated apartment house he bought.

Joseph mentioned that that turned out to be an unprofitable venture.

Yes, he disposed of that some time ago.

Oh, did he?

Well, he wasn't always able to keep me up on all his ventures.

His oil holdings, though, must be doing very well.

His oil holdings are unexercised options.

They must have some value.

Well, Joseph invested in so many companies.

They're so numerous. I can't even remember all the names!

Mrs. Marrable, there are no assets,

only liabilities.

Surely you know your husband borrowed the money

to pay the surgeon for the last two operations,

and the hospital bill has yet to be settled.

You are overlooking the insurance,

which amounted to 200,000 before he increased it!

He cashed out all his policies.

Well, certainly there's the house...

with the furniture and the rugs.

How many of these pieces

have been in Joseph's family for generations?

They don't belong to me either.

I'm afraid not. I have the documents here.

Of course, Mr. Marrable bequeathed his personal possessions to you,

including his watch, his gold cufflinks,

his briefcase with all its contents.

He lost his cufflinks!

The watch disappeared between trips to the hospital!

But I have his rusty dagger...

his stamp album that he hasn't looked at in years...

and his boyhood butterfly collection.

All this is mine, is it, to keep?

Plus the shirt on my back. I suppose!

What am I going to do?

You must have relatives.

No. I have a nephew in Arizona... or is it New Mexico?...

but I haven't laid eyes on him since he was a child.

I have no one.

I'm sorry, but I'll need your signature on these...

Nothing, nothing...

Mr. Bentley, all I have left is my personal savings account.

That ought to help.

To live on for the rest of my life?

It's something to keep you going for a while.

It won't last any time at all,

and you know that, and Joseph Marrable knew that.

How am I to live?

I'll need your signature.

What am I going to live on?

What shall I do? What shall I do?

Your signature, Mrs. Marrable.

I'll take the flashlight.

Do we have to do it now?

Oh, yes. The soil's too dry in the daytime.

and the hot sun can burn the roots.

Pick that up, will you?

Miss Tinsley.

Miss Tinsley, will you fetch the mail?

Here's that sample of tea you sent for.

Want it for your lunch?

There'll be plenty of time to taste it.

Just store it for the present.

naturally without opening the lid.

Hindus have taken great pains to teach us

that tea loses its aroma unless properly sealed.

Oh, well. That's flattering.

I have been invited to join the museum building committee.

Lunch is almost ready.

I have to talk to Juan first.

Has he made one of his usual blunders?

I'll never know why you put up with him.

Miss Tinsley.

Oh, do remember to leave ample room for the roots.

My gardening magazine says

it never hurts to make the hole too deep.

I make it good.

But when they bring the tree?

Well. the nursery delivers in the late afternoon,

but as you know, I like to attend to it myself.

You have a very green thumb.

Yes.

Your pine trees grow good.

Very good.

Don't spill it.

Obviously you haven't the remotest idea

how much a bottle of Grand Marnier is worth,

or you'd be more watchful of every drop.

You've never tasted it, have you?

No.

I'm afraid I don't care for liquor.

When referring to a cordial, we use the French pronunciation...

liqueur, Miss Tinsley.

I shouldn't try to teach you any more,

considering how little you've absorbed under my tutelage.

Will you turn that off. please?

It's one of your favourites.

Is it indeed?

I believe we can do without music this evening.

May I see the financial page?

You may.

What do you expect to find there?

Your stocks are unlisted. as they were the day you placed your order.

But how are they doing?

Are they going up. or are they going down?

How would I know?

Well, I thought your broker would keep you advised.

He has more pressing business

than to render daily quotations of your gigantic investment.

I know it doesn't seem much to you,

but it represents my savings, practically all of it.

It was at your request, my dear Miss Tinsley,

that I handed your massive capital over to my broker.

Well, yes. When you told me your stock had doubled

and was still going up. I...

You wanted to hitch onto a star without any awareness

of how treacherously it can become a falling comet.

However...

no more of this.

I'll call my broker in the morning

and instruct him to sell your securities, at a loss if need be.

Oh, no. I can't afford that.

No.,I don't want to sell now.

Don't call him, Mrs. Marrable, not on my account. Please.

I won't, if you'll kindly stop wringing your hands over your money.

I think I'll go to my room.

Good night.

You promised to help me plant my pine tree.

You want to do it now?

Go on. I'll join you in the garden in a moment.

This would be much easier in the light of day.

Well, the soil's too dry in the daytime.

Besides. hot sun can burn the roots.

I think this hole's too big for that little tree.

Oh, I don't think so.

Oh, what a nuisance.

My watch dropped off.

- I don't see it. - It's over there.

Down there.

Look at Aunt Claire charming the men.

Who wouldn't, with that fabulous necklace you and George gave her?

I wouldn't have my own mother to a cocktail party.

Elva, George and I are very fond of Aunt Claire.

We know. dear. That's why you asked her to come live in Arizona.

She's got so much money that somebody has to keep a watchful eye over her.

You aid and abet them.

Well, Aunt Claire believes in the underdog, don't you?

Wait till the underdog starts building across the road from you.

If the Indians are rich enough to build there.

George won't mind a bit.

That's the measure of aristocracy nowadays, isn't it George?

It isn't every day I can get away from my dull husband for a matinee.

I went there, my darling.

I waited over half an hour for you.

You should never miss an appointment with me,

because you see, I give no second chances.

Pity, too.

You've escaped.

What's wrong with our party?

Nothing. It's lovely.

Maybe I've been to too many in the East.

And this is the reason I came to Arizona.

The rocks or the snakes?

The open spaces.

No kidding.

Well, there's a lot more desert out there.

I could take you for a drive. They won't miss us.

Least of all my wife.