For one brief second I felt the old pull to let Mr.

Bradley do the talking for me — he was the lawyer, after all, and I was a tired old woman.

But I remembered that for most of my ninety years, other people had been speaking on my behalf, deciding what I could carry, managing me for my own good.

Lawrence himself had always insisted I could stand on my own two feet.

This morning, at my own table, I was going to prove him right.