Where the Light Enters

by Sara Donati

  “Good question,” Anna said. “But it’s not just Acton. It’s an obsession for many medical men. Wait, that’s not exactly right. It’s really the more religious types who get so wound up in the subject.”

  “He claims that twenty percent of men get tuberculosis from masturbating.”

  She sniffed, a sure sign of her displeasure. “The only excuse he might offer for that ridiculous conclusion is that he died before Koch discovered the tubercle bacillus.”

  “So you don’t take his theories seriously.”

  “No.” She smiled. “I do not. And neither does any physician who puts science above theology. You look relieved.”

  “I suppose I am relieved. But there was another bit. I marked it with a piece of paper, have a look.”

  Anna dutifully went to his bookmark.

  “There.” He touched the paragraph that interested him, and Anna read out loud.

  There can be no doubt that sexual feeling in the female is in the majority of cases in abeyance, and that it requires positive and considerable excitement to be roused at all; and even if roused (which in many instances it never can be) it is very moderate compared with that of the male.

  “I forgot about this,” she said. “But it’s years since I read Acton.”

  “And?”

  Anna shrugged. “I think Mrs. Acton was unfortunate in her choice of a husband.”

  * * *

  • • •

  IT WAS A challenge, sometimes, but Anna loved to make Jack laugh. This time she managed to get one of his deep laughs that came up from the belly.

  “So,” he said finally, leaning forward to nip at her earlobe. “He’s wrong about—”

  She turned her head to save her ear. “Of course he’s wrong. With the right partner and in the right situation a woman can be just as easily aroused as a man. As you well know.” She caught his hand to stop its travel from her knee up her thigh. “Jack?”

  “Hmmm?”

  “Did you think I was playacting, all this time?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think anybody can flush on demand. And you turn the most incredible shades of pink. If I touch you here—”

  She grabbed his hand, considered stopping him, and realized that she wasn’t quite so tired as she thought, even after the adventures in the bath.

  “—you break out in gooseflesh. And if I were to check I’m pretty sure I’d find—”

  “Enough talking,” she mumbled, then rolled onto her back and pulled him down to her.

  But of course he wouldn’t stop talking, and of course she didn’t really want him to. Jack could not keep anything to himself, not his hands or mouth or his voice. He whispered against damp skin, bella and bellissima and dammi di più. He turned his head to kiss her ankle and told her his truth: she was to him una donna senza equali.

  Much later she said, “William Acton would be shocked. I hope you’re convinced he didn’t know what he was talking about.”

  “For the moment.”

  Anna rubbed her face against his shoulder. “You are incorrigible. And I am fortunate.”

  She was near to sleep when she felt him shift toward wakefulness.

  “Stop thinking,” she said.

  He hummed at her.

  “You know,” she said, more awake now. “You accuse me of humming when I’m thinking about medicine. You hum too.”

  “Only because I picked up the habit from you.”

  “Tell me then, what’s on your mind.”

  After a long moment he said, “Do you think Sophie will really sue Nora Smithson and Anthony Comstock for libel?”

  “I really don’t know,” Anna said. “Do you think she should?”

  He pushed out a long breath. “I hope she will. Not just for her sake, but because it might be the only way to untangle the mess at the apothecary.”

  52

  NEW YORK TRIBUNE

  ABOUT TOWN

  The N.Y. Society for the Suppression of Vice will meet this evening at 150 Nassau-str. Reverend C. R. Newman will offer opening prayers at 7 p.m. Postal Inspector A. Comstock will speak on “Innocents Imperiled.” All interested parties are welcome.

  Yesterday Hannes Pool, of No. 457 East Ninety-eighth-str., became involved in a quarrel with three Italians at Manson’s Saloon on Eighty-second-str. Mr. Pool was stabbed six times. He is being treated at the Presbyterian Hospital, but his assailants escaped justice.

  William K. Cullen, a boat builder, recovered a verdict on Friday for $800 in circuit court against Henry Paulson for false imprisonment.

  Two young women were found drowned off the White Star Line pier yesterday. One has been identified as Annie Crosby, aged about 30, unmarried. She was reported to be a hardworking and modest young woman. Miss Crosby was last seen on Friday night on her way from the factory where she worked to her boarding house on Twenty-third-str. The second, unidentified young woman is very fair of complexion, about five feet three inches in height and weighing no more than ninety pounds. Her age is estimated at twenty. Her hands and knees indicate that she worked as a house or scrub maid. It is feared both young women were the victims of the ruffians who prowl that neighborhood.

  Six-week-old Marianne Busby died yesterday after her mother gave her medicine prescribed by Dr. Anson Taylor of St. Luke’s Hospital for a cough. The mixture contained four times the usual dose of laudanum. Dr. Taylor has been arrested and charged with manslaughter.

  * * *

  • • •

  NEW-YORK EVENING POST

  LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

  Sir: It appears that Mr. Comstock of the Society for the Suppression of Vice has once again overstepped his authority and overestimated his understanding, and in doing so, has committed libel. Yesterday at a meeting of the society he announced that he will shortly arrest Dr. Sophie Savard for malpractice. He named Mrs. Nora Smithson as the alleged victim.

  Dr. Savard is a member in good standing of the undersigned medical organizations. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Woman’s Medical School, and properly licensed with the city’s health department. She has been active on the staff of three hospitals as well as numerous clinics since she qualified as a physician. Her colleagues are agreed that she is an expert clinician with the highest standards. There has never been a complaint filed about her.

  Mr. Comstock told his public audience that Dr. Savard forced her way into Mrs. Smithson’s home and examined her against her wishes. Further, he stated that she strongly advised that Mrs. Smithson submit to an illegal operation.

  We know this to be a falsehood and thus we encourage Dr. Savard Verhoeven and her attorney to pursue all remedies available to her under the law.

  Signed

  Dr. Abraham Jacobi, New York Medical Society, New York Academy of Medicine, New York Obstetrical Society, Mount Sinai Hospital

  Dr. Mary Putnam, Woman’s Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital, Woman’s Medical School of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children, President, Association for the Advancement of the Medical Education of Women

  Dr. Manuel Thalberg, German Dispensary

  Dr. Will Roberts, The Colored Home and Hospital

  Dr. Wilhelmina Montgomery, Woman’s Medical School of the New York Infirmary for Women and Children

  Dr. David Mayfair, St. Luke’s Hospital

  Dr. Pius Granqvist, Infant Hospital

  Dr. Manfred Washington, Colored Infirmary

  * * *

  • • •

  NEW-YORK EVENING POST

  SMITHSON AND GRAHAM DISAPPEARANCES UNDER INVESTIGATION

  POSSIBLE LINK TO THE SHEPHERD’S FOLD

  The police department yesterday released Mrs. Nora Smithson from custody as a material witness in the case of her missing husband and brother. She is once again free to pursue her work as manager of
her husband’s apothecary at Sixth-ave. and Clinton-str.

  There is still no word on the whereabouts of Mrs. Smithson’s brother, the physician Neill Graham, or her husband. Inquiries to Mrs. Smithson were rebuffed, but the police department has issued a statement.

  The disappearances of Geoffrey Smithson and Dr. Neill Graham are considered suspicious and are under investigation. Anyone in a position to shed light on either of these missing persons should present themselves to the detective’s bureau on Mulberry-str. at the earliest opportunity.

  A person close to the inquiry tells the Post that the recent police search of the Shepherd’s Fold Asylum, just a block away from Smithson’s Apothecary, may be relevant to the disappearances. The Shepherd’s Fold has come under scrutiny in the past, when Reverend Crowley, who has full charge of the asylum, was arrested and tried for cruelty to the orphans housed there. He was twice acquitted of those charges.

  When questioned about the asylum’s links to Smithson’s Apothecary, Reverend Crowley would say only that the Smithsons were the most loyal and dedicated of the many supporters who fund the organization. He refused to discuss the police search of his establishment, except to say that no citations were written. “We observe all laws of God and man. Our only interest is the proper care of orphans who have been entrusted to us.”

  * * *

  • • •

  THE NEW YORK TIMES

  DR. SOPHIE SAVARD FILES DEFAMATION AND LIBEL CHARGES AGAINST MRS. NORA SMITHSON

  Today Conrad Belmont, Esq., acting for his client Dr. Sophie Savard Verhoeven, filed charges in the Superior Court of the State of New York against Nora Smithson of Smithson’s Apothecary.

  Mrs. Smithson is accused of slander and defamation, in that she communicated malicious and damaging falsehoods about Dr. Savard with the intent to injure her good name and reputation and to interfere with her employment. These falsehoods were made both in writing and in person to neighbors and to Anthony Comstock in his capacity as secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice.

  Specifically, Mrs. Smithson claims that Dr. Savard forced her to submit to a medical examination against her will, and further advised Mrs. Smithson to visit a surgeon and submit to an illegal operation.

  Other parties named in the complaint include a Mrs. Irene Hamm of Greenwich Ave. When approached by our reporter, Mrs. Hamm confirmed that Mrs. Smithson had told her in great detail about the alleged assault by Dr. Savard. “Not that I believed a word of it,” Mrs. Hamm said. “Mrs. Smithson is not herself these days.”

  Dr. Savard is asking for a full and public retraction of false statements to be printed in newspapers of her choice, those retractions to be repeated over a three-month period, at Mrs. Smithson’s expense; for general and compensatory damages, to be proven at trial; for costs of suit herein incurred; and for such other and further relief as the court may deem just and proper.

  Sources assure us that a similar complaint will be filed tomorrow against Mr. Comstock, for his part in advertising and spreading damaging falsehoods about Dr. Savard.

  53

  ROSA CAME TO Sophie’s study, a newspaper in her hands and an expression that Sophie recognized: Rosa had a serious question.

  The girl paused to scratch behind Pip’s ears and then sat on the chair beside the desk. She put the newspaper down near Sophie’s right hand.

  For a long moment Sophie considered this unanticipated visit and how to proceed. Now that the fateful step had been taken and the first lawsuit had been filed, she had been waiting for a particular kind of knock at the door.

  The reporters would see this lawsuit as a gift from heaven, and they would descend. Or try to. Laura Lee, Sam, and Noah were dedicated to keeping the house calm and quiet for Tonino’s sake and would turn troublemakers away, of that she could be sure. Others would not be so easy to dismiss: curious neighbors, vague acquaintances, old classmates, everyone would want to know what she, Sophie Savard Verhoeven, meant by dragging her business into the public courts. A lady, even a lady who happened to be a physician, simply did not do such things.

  She had imagined Mrs. Griffin would be the first to come challenge her on this newest breach of good behavior, but here was Rosa. Under a smooth brow her blue eyes were solemn.

  Sophie put aside the notes she had been updating on Tonino’s condition. Pip jumped into her lap, sensing, as he seemed always to do, that she was anxious. She picked up the newspaper and saw that Rosa had marked an article on the front page.

  “You want me to read this?”

  When Rosa nodded, she went ahead.

  NEW-YORK EVENING POST

  DR. SOPHIE SAVARD VERHOEVEN SUES MRS. SMITHSON FOR LIBEL AND DEFAMATION

  Charges have been filed against Mrs. Nora Smithson for libel and defamation of the character of Dr. Sophie Savard Verhoeven of Stuyvesant Square. A similar complaint is to be filed against Anthony Comstock of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice in the days to come.

  Acting for Dr. Savard is the attorney Conrad Belmont, who met briefly with reporters after filing the complaint with the court. “Dr. Verhoeven regrets the necessity of pursuing legal redress in this matter. The accused has been informed that she may put an end to this legal action by publishing an apology and full retraction to her false and damaging statements about Dr. Savard.”

  The charges originate in Mrs. Smithson’s public claim that Dr. Savard was encouraging her to undergo an illegal operation.

  A hearing has been scheduled for June 4 in the matter of Savard Verhoeven vs. Smithson. Mrs. Smithson has retained as her legal counsel Bernard Graves, Esq.

  Sophie tried and failed to produce a comforting smile. “You’d like me to explain this?”

  Rosa cleared her throat. “Please.”

  From the open window they could hear Lia debating with Laura Lee about her use of the scissors she had borrowed from the kitchen. She intended to cut holes in one of her bonnets so that it would accommodate Tinker’s ears and was reluctant to give up this plan. Lia’s inventive arguments were far more entertaining than any discussion of defamation and civil law.

  Rosa said, “If you don’t want to talk about it I can ask Uncle Conrad or Aunt Quinlan.”

  What Rosa meant to say was that she would go away without answers, if Sophie insisted, but she would not stop asking questions. Rosa’s perseverance would take her far, but in this moment Sophie wished she were not quite so strong willed.

  “What do you want to know?”

  Rosa weighed her approach. “Who is this Mrs. Smithson?”

  “She’s someone who lives near Jefferson Market. She and her husband own the apothecary across from the elevated train ticket booth.”

  One of Rosa’s passions was the elevated train; even this brief mention made her sit up a little straighter.

  “I know Smithson’s,” she said. “You can see into the family apartment from the train when it pulls into the Greenwich station. You can see into most of the upper stories of the stores on Sixth Avenue as you go by.”

  And now Sophie wondered if she should discourage this bit of voyeurism, or ask what things Rosa had observed. She decided that for the moment, neither option was worth pursuing.

  Rosa had picked up the newspaper again from where Sophie had put it down and her eyes ran over the print. When she glanced up there was something in her gaze Sophie couldn’t name. Distrust? Disappointment?

  “Mr. Reason told me about suing people. But why are you suing Mrs. Smithson?”

  Sophie decided to start with the smallest part of the whole. “You know that it’s wrong to lie about people, especially if you do it on purpose to cause them harm, and harm is done.”

  Rosa nodded, looking a little confused that Sophie would explain something so self-evident.

  Sophie went on. “If you tell falsehoods about somebody in order to do them harm, and tho
se falsehoods really do cause harm, sometimes the only solution is to sue them in a court of law. To make them stop.”

  “So Mrs. Smithson said you did something bad.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Does she claim you did something bad in general, or something bad to her?”

  “She has been telling people that I did something bad to her. And unless I stop her, I could lose my license to practice medicine.”

  Rosa’s jaw fell open and then closed with an audible click. “What does that mean, practice medicine? Like the little man who practices the organ at St. George’s? You’re already a doctor, why do you have to practice?”

  A discussion of the oddities of English would be a way out of this conversation, but Sophie knew she would not escape for long.

  “It’s just a way of saying that they would make sure I couldn’t be a doctor anymore.”

  Rosa frowned. “Mrs. Smithson doesn’t want you to be a doctor? But why?”

  “She thinks I am a bad doctor.”

  Rosa wrapped her arms around herself, as she always did when she was angry. As if she needed to contain the things that threatened to break out and wreak havoc. “That is just silly. You are an excellent doctor. Everybody says so.”

  “I thank you for your confidence and faith in me,” Sophie said. And meant it.

  A thought came to Rosa. Sophie could almost see it forming in the girl’s mind.

  “What did you do to her that she thinks you’re a bad doctor?”

  Sophie combed through Pip’s coat with her fingers while she considered the best answer. “I told her the truth.”