Judge Thee Not

by Edith Maxwell

  He turned his glare on her. But he stopped. After a moment he dropped his hands. “Women,” he snarled. “And you,” he added, looking back at me. “I mean it. You are never to set foot in this house again.” He stomped past Aoife and pushed into the hall, leaving the door whapping behind him.

  I brought my hand to my neck and blew out a breath. “I thank thee for rescuing me.”

  “I’m that glad yeh called for me. I was just dusting in the hall.” She set the skillet down and shook her head. “What was he going on about, then?”

  “I think he’s noticed the tin was missing,” I whispered.

  “Ah.” She nodded once, also whispering. “The sign of a guilty man, all upset and after blaming others about losing something he shouldn’t ought to be owning in the first place.”

  “I expect so. At least Sissy and the baby are well. Thee is doing a good job of caring for them.”

  The invariably cheery woman lifted the corner of her apron to wipe a tear from her eye. “She needs a mama right about now, and since my darlings are all grown and gone, I like to help when I can.”

  “She wants to have a mass for the boy. I gave her leave to go out, but she isn’t sure her husband will take her. Thee can transport her, if necessary?”

  She made a pshing sound. “Of course.” She lowered her voice to a murmur. “That woman came a-callin’ this morning, she did. Right here to the house, if yeh can believe it. I don’t know how she dares.”

  “Nalia Bowerman?” My eyes went wide.

  “The very one, all tarted up she was, too, in her fancy green dress. Said she wanted to ‘pay her respects to her cousin in the matter of the deceased child.’” Aoife pronounced the words in a mocking tone.

  “Interesting. I don’t suppose thee overheard any of their conversation.”

  “Nay, not that I didn’t try.” She winked. “They were speaking in the parlor with the boy’s body, but they closed the door and talked soft like.”

  A clock somewhere in the house donged once. “Oh, my,” I said. “I have to get home for dinner. Sissy knows how to reach me should she need me. I’ve enjoyed getting to know thee a bit, Aoife. I hope to see thee again.” I smiled and held out my hand.

  She shook it heartily. “And I you, Miss Carroll.”

  “Since I am banned from the premises, Sissy should pay me a visit with the baby in two weeks’ time. Will thee let her know?”

  “Of course. I’ll bring her meself. And we’ll send yeh a message about when the mass is to be, in case yeh want to come sit silently amidst our fancy church trappings and music. I know yeh Quakers aren’t much for the gab in yer own church.”

  I laughed. “Indeed we aren’t.” Not usually, anyway. Yet as I walked the few blocks home, I wished I knew what kind of gab the brazen Nalia had exchanged with Irvin during her visit.

  Fifty-two

  I sat opposite Orpha in her rocking chair at three that afternoon. I’d excused myself after the family’s dinner dishes were done, feeling the need to talk through Sissy’s births with my mentor. And perhaps discuss Mayme Settle’s murder, too. My trek over here had seemed overly long. I needed to regain my bicycle and soon.

  Orpha regarded me, wizened hands folded in her lap. “I see you’re still troubled, dear Rose, or perhaps troubled anew.” She rocked gently.

  “Thee knows me too well. I am once again confronted by the caprices of our lives. The first matter is that Sissy Barclay’s babies were born last night.”

  “So soon?”

  “At least six weeks premature, possibly up to eight. The first baby, a girl, was vertex. She came out without an overly long ordeal and, while small, seems to be thriving. The second was a frank breech and didn’t make his appearance for nearly an hour after his sister. He was very poorly in the first minutes, but I rubbed life into him. To no avail, as it turned out.” I pressed my eyes shut against sudden hot tears.

  Orpha rocked, waiting. She had been in my shoes many times, suffering a delayed reaction to a trauma.

  I sniffed and wiped away the tears. “His breathing was not strong even from the beginning, and he was smaller than his sister. He died less than two hours later in his father’s arms.”

  “May God rest his innocent soul.”

  “Sissy called for the priest, Father Nilan, but I tell thee, the man was intoxicated. The only solace he provided was what Sissy took from her child receiving the ritual blessing.” I rocked in time with Orpha even though I sat in a stationary chair. The movement was oddly comforting.

  “How fares the mother?” Orpha asked.

  “She seems to have grown a spine with motherhood. She stood up to her bullying husband about the priest, and is determined to hold a mass for the little boy. Irvin forbade her from having her mother or sisters with her for the birth, but I am sure she will take her daughter for a good long visit with her family when she’s up for the journey north to Portland.”

  She gave a soft laugh. “I meant to ask how Mrs. Barclay is doing physically.”

  I smiled at my mistake. “She’s doing well. She’s twenty and in good health. Old enough to endure the labor and birth, young enough to recover easily.” I frowned. “The father, on the other hand, seems obsessed with his son’s body. He has laid him out downstairs and is mourning deeply.”

  “As any first-time parent would, of course.”

  “Yes. Also, he is older and Sissy told me he has wanted children for many years. Or, rather, a son. He’s paid no attention to his living child, though. His daughter, whom Sissy named Irvina in his honor.”

  “More’s the pity.” Orpha made a tsking sound. “These men and their obsession with male heirs. The couple probably hasn’t made burial plans yet, but they’ll need to.”

  “I know. On top of everything, Irvin told me never to come back to the house. He said I am responsible for the baby’s death. In fact, he told me not to return last night, but I paid my postpartum visit this morning regardless. Unfortunately I encountered him in the kitchen after I left Sissy and he nearly attacked me. The cook saved me by threatening him with a heavy skillet.”

  “Oh, my, Rose. Such violence.”

  “I know. It was quite the shock.”

  “This cook seems a brave woman, indeed.”

  “Very much. And a caring one, too. She’s stepped into the role of mother for Sissy, benefiting both of them.”

  “Mr. Barclay shouldn’t be coming after you, though. Man ought to be ashamed of himself.” Orpha rocked in silence for a long minute as she regarded me. “Something still plagues your soul, and this old lady imagines it’s the business of the murder.”

  “It is. Kevin has not made an arrest. The investigation of suspects and events seems to be a tapestry woven from many kinds of thread in the most confounding of patterns.”

  “You spoke before of Mrs. Settle’s gardener, the one whose daughter we could not save postpartum. I assume Mr. Riley is one of those threads?”

  “He is.”

  “I now remember an unusual conversation I witnessed when I returned to assess the baby boy’s health the day after his birth four years ago.” She laughed in her throaty way. “Perhaps not unusual so much as unsettling. Mrs. Settle was leaving the Riley home, that is, the son’s, where the birth took place.”

  “The son who is now raising the little boy as his own.”

  “The very same, over on Carpenter Street. I was still a ways up the hill and across the road from the house when I saw Mr. Barclay approach the matron. By his stance and expression, he appeared quite self-satisfied. I kept approaching, minding my own business but taking care to listen as closely as I could. When I grew near, he held out an open palm and said to her, ‘Pay up or I’ll tell the world.’”

  “He did?”

  She gave an emphatic nod. “As sure as I sit here today.”

  “He must have learned her son was the father of Alice’s baby.”

  Orpha whistled. “I think they call that blackmail.”

  “How did Mayme react
?”

  “I was trying to recall. I believe she scoffed and turned her back. I wonder what became of his threat.”

  I wondered, too.

  Fifty-three

  David turned onto Sparhawk Street at a little past four o’clock and walked his mare along the new road that curved from the downtown area to join Highland. He’d fetched me for a ride with the top down on the doctor’s buggy, saying only that he wanted to show me something special. The morning’s glowering clouds had blown through to allow a sunny, breezy afternoon. Light glinted off Daisy’s sleek roan coat.

  After we passed the imposing brick church where Father Nilan presided, Daisy clopped on the paving stones down to a small hollow. A stream ran under the road here, a stream I’d nearly crashed into last winter after I was attacked while driving a buggy alone at night.

  “It’s pretty here, isn’t it?” David asked, pulling the horse to a halt.

  I nodded. It was, with all the trees in full new leaf and lady slippers blooming in the understory. Except I barely saw it.

  “You’re preoccupied, Rosie,” he went on. “It’s the murder case, isn’t it?”

  “Thee is correct.”

  “Here’s a new thing to think on. The man who was hit? He regained consciousness and it looks like he’ll live. I put in a call to Detective Donovan and he’s going to pay a visit when he’s able.”

  “I’m so glad the man survived. I had told Kevin he would need to contact Jeanette Papka about translating.”

  “Yes, he mentioned her.”

  “I had quite the midday myself.” I told him about the tin, and Irvin’s rage this morning.

  “How dare he attack you!”

  “I have to admit he had told me yesterday not to come back.”

  “But you had midwifing to do and you weren’t going to stay away.” David covered my right hand with his left.

  “Exactly. I didn’t tell you that the second twin died shortly after its birth last night. The pair came so early it’s a marvel the girl lives and is strong enough to nurse well. And now Irvin blames his only son’s death on me.”

  “It’s not your fault. Such is life in our time. It’s a sad but true fact. A scientist needs to devise a substance which mimics the lung fluid premature babies are missing.”

  “And one day someone shall, I have no doubt. It’s a good thing Aoife is a big strong woman.” I giggled, remembering. “Thee should have seen her hoist her iron skillet in the air against Irvin.”

  “I wish I had. I’d like to thank her myself for saving you, my sweet.”

  Matching black geldings pulling a surrey trotted by, filled with a group of young women in summer finery. One of them waved a white-gloved hand.

  “Hello, David!” she called out. “Hi, Rose.”

  He waved back. “Am I ever glad Mother has ceased pressuring me to marry that silly girl. She’s sweet, but she thinks of nothing but clothes and parties.” He squeezed my hand. “And you’re the only woman I have ever wanted to marry.”

  “And thee the only man for whom I have had those feelings.” I smiled. “I want to thank thee for helping Kevin and Emmaline. Has Rosalie’s fever come down?”

  “I believe she’s on the mend.” He clucked to Daisy.

  We rode up a gentle incline, then turned left at the corner of Whittier Street. He pulled the horse to a halt again. Across the street a new house was nearly complete. It had fish-scale slate shingles on the conical top of the tower, whose cylindrical shape extended all the way to the ground. Several harmonious rooflines and inset panels gave the house an attractive look, and a big sugar maple in the back would shade the structure from the midday sun in summer. It looked like the carpenters had only to finish the wraparound porch and paint the outside. Large windows stood open, and I could see the inside was nearly complete, as well. A gentle wind cooled the air up here.

  “Do you like that house?” he asked.

  “I do. It’s very pretty and well situated. Bertie lives just blocks farther down this street. And the house isn’t ostentatiously large. I wonder who is building it.” Much building of new homes was going on in this neighborhood, mostly by mill and factory owners and managers, but also by bankers and lawyers.

  He didn’t speak for a moment, then cleared his throat. “I am,” he murmured.

  “What?” I whipped my head to my right and stared at him with my mouth open. “Thee is?”

  He nodded. His cheeks were pink and his smile tentative. “I hope you don’t mind. I wanted to have a fresh new abode to bring you home to.”

  I laughed out loud. “Mind? Of course I don’t mind. I’m simply surprised. I was wondering where we would reside, and hoped very much thee wouldn’t expect me to live in thy parents’ home.” “Under Clarinda’s roof” was what I’d been about to say but softened my words in the nick of time. I gazed at the house with a different set of eyes altogether and brought my hand to my mouth at the thought of finally, at last, being able to sleep every night with my love. I sniffed, tears springing up unbidden.

  David drew his arm around my shoulders and squeezed. “I hope those are tears of joy. I wasn’t able to keep my secret any longer.”

  I could only nod.

  “It has four bedrooms upstairs, so we’ll have plenty of space for little ones when they come along, and it has an indoor toilet and bathroom. There’s a small maid’s room off the kitchen in case you want household help to live in. But we don’t have to if you don’t care for having someone,” he hurried to add.

  “We can discern the need as Way opens.” The side of the tower under the roof featured four inset panels. Three were decorated with cut-out stars, and one with a crescent moon. “What a delightful touch those are.” I pointed. “Were they thy idea?”

  “Yes, because you are my moon and my stars.” He smiled, no longer looking nervous. “Also, I made sure to specify an office for you on the first floor with a separate entrance on the side. We can order carpets and furniture together this week so the decor is exactly what you prefer.”

  “David Dodge, I cannot believe my good fortune.” I turned and kissed him full on the mouth, not caring that a passing carriage full of matrons stared at us with pursed lips and frowns of disapproval.

  Fifty-four

  David handed me down off his buggy in front of the Bailey house and we said our farewells. He’d just climbed back in when Luke trotted up on Star, Frederick’s gelding. The horse nickered to Daisy, who whuffed in return and stomped a hoof.

  “Hello, David,” Luke said. “Aunt Rose, I think I spied thy missing bicycle.”

  “My purloined bike?” I asked. “Where is it?”

  “I was playing ball with some friends in that field on the far side of Lake Gardner, out near E. P. True, the ice dealer. I saw the bicycle half hidden in a copse near the dam on my way back. The western light lit up the metal or I would have missed it.”

  The copse that was not a stone’s throw from the Settle house. “What a blessing. I thank thee, Luke. I must go fetch it immediately. I am quite fatigued from having had to traipse all over town on foot for most of the day.”

  David frowned. “I wish I could transport you there, my dear, but I am due back at the hospital to conduct evening rounds. We physicians rotate the Sunday evening duty. Tonight it’s my responsibility.”

  “I’ll take thee on Star and thee can ride the bike back,” Luke offered.

  I smiled at my nephew. “Yes, of course I can. It’s still an hour until sunset.” Thank heavens for the long days of Sixth Month. And for Luke’s true sweet nature reemerging instead of his recent sullen moods.

  “Very well. Thank you, Luke.” David knit his brow again. “But accompany her home, will you?”

  I waved my hand in the air. “I’m standing right here. And I don’t need an escort. Now off with thee, David.” I blew my betrothed a kiss and watched his expression lighten.

  He smiled at me, then clucked to Daisy and drove away.

  I gazed up at Luke. “Let me run in
and don my split skirt. I’ll be right out.”

  “Of course. Star needs a drink of water, anyway.”

  Not three minutes later I sat behind Luke as we trotted down High Street toward the lake. I rested my hands on his slim waist. How had he gotten so big so fast? He was already taller than me and wasn’t anywhere near finished growing. As we clopped over the bridge crossing the Powow River, I marveled at how high the spring rains had made the rushing water. We slanted onto Hayes and passed two houses, one on either side of the road. Then there were no more, only a row of trees and undergrowth, and the shadows slanted long. At the end we rounded onto wide Whitehall Road and I glanced left over my shoulder at the Settle home, shuddering as I did.

  We passed two large houses on the right before Luke pulled Star to a halt. We were at the end of a second row of trees planted atop the embankment covering the granite dam now nineteen years old. Luke pointed to the cluster of growth nearest us.

  “See? It’s right there.”

  I slid off the horse. Sure enough, my bicycle had been shoved behind a bay laurel shrub under a maple tree.

  “Can thee extricate it?” Luke dismounted, too, and waited, holding Star’s reins.

  “I think so.” I elbowed aside the bush, grabbed the leather seat, and tugged. The handlebars hung up on a branch and I had to wrestle out the bike. “There.” I brushed dirt off the seat.

  “Is it damaged?” Luke asked, peering at the bicycle.

  “I don’t think so, thank goodness.” I swung it around so it faced the road and straightened my bonnet.

  “Shall I follow thee? David wanted me to.” He gazed at me with a worried look even as his stomach gave off an angry growl.

  I laughed. “Thee must be starving by now. Following me is completely unnecessary, dear Luke. Go on ahead. I’ll be along as fast as my legs can pump.” I smiled at him. “And I thank thee for the ride.”

  “All right. I’ll see thee at home.” His appetite was as legendary as his ability to sleep. One wouldn’t know it by looking at his beanpole shape, but Luke could consume alarming quantities of food. He rode off.