“That comment made me angry, too. I almost told him that her change in behavior could be explained by the fact she’d become a target of fraternity hazing.”
“Oh Laura, you didn’t.”
“No, I didn’t, although if Sanders is involved, he would know that already. Instead, I said I didn’t believe that working too hard was the problem. He seemed to accept that. But that was when he brought up the subject of Willie Caulfield.”
“In what context?”
“Sanders said Grace had mentioned her engagement to him at the beginning of the semester, but that he had noticed a distinct cooling between the two of them since both of them were taking a class with him. He also said that right before Thanksgiving, when he told his wife that Grace had stopped coming to his class, she told him that Grace and Willie’s engagement was over and said she’d heard that Grace was terribly upset. She even told him that it was her understanding that this was the explanation for Grace acting so emotionally, first at the Philosophy Club and later the Neolaean Society meeting.”
“So he knew about what happened at the joint literary meeting?”
“Yes, although he said he’d not been able to attend. His wife had gone with friends and told him all about what happened.”
Caro thought how thankful she was that Laura had been the one to meet with Sanders, doubting she would have gotten nearly as much useful information from him. “I can’t help but think it is significant that Mrs. Sanders was spreading the story that Grace’s problems were all related to breaking up with Willie. The question is why? To help out her husband? Or someone else?”
Laura said, “I was glad he’d brought up Willie, because this gave me the chance to ask him about Willie’s behavior on the camping trip, saying something about how the broken engagement seemed to have been traumatic for Willie as well.”
“Oh, my…how did he react?”
“Seemed surprised but thoughtful. He remarked that Willie had never impressed him as being a man of deep emotions, but that his spirits had seemed more mercurial than usual that weekend.”
“Do you think he was referring to the possibility that Willie was drunk?”
“That was my impression. He did tell me that he attended the coroner’s inquest and that the coroner’s direction to the grand jury didn’t leave them much choice but to conclude the death was purely accidental…with no mention of liability. Beyond expressing the usual pat phrases about how sad it was for a young man to die so needlessly, he didn’t seem very concerned about Willie’s death. As I said, all his emotional responses were directed at how upset he was about Grace. He came right out and asked me if her death had anything to do with what was going on with her at Berkeley.”
“What did you say?”
“I said that I had a strong feeling that it did. I thought he was going to break down in tears at that point. He berated himself for ignoring the signs of how troubled she was. How he’d felt some relief when Moses mentioned she was having difficulty in his European history class, because he believed this meant that it wasn’t something about his class or lectures that were the cause of her change in attitude. Now, however, he felt terrible to think that her discovery about him and the poems might have been affecting all of her school work.”
“You really believe he was telling you the truth, don’t you?”
Laura glanced up the street, where the southbound train was making its noisy way down the tracks. “Oh, Caro, I don’t know. All I do know is that he didn’t say any of the things I would expect a guilty man to say. He showed no interest in discovering what you or anyone else knew about the poems, nor did he try to persuade me to keep what I learned a secret. And, when I briefly mentioned Willie being a member of the Zetas, he simply appeared puzzled that I’d even brought up the subject. But if he wasn’t the person behind the campaign against Grace, who was?”
Chapter 35
Friday evening, April 1, 1881
San Francisco
“‘Hazing’ at the University: The Alameda Grand Jury Condemns the Disgraceful Practice.” San Francisco Chronicle, October 2, 1878
“Nate, invite her in. I’ve barely seen your sister this past week. And ring down to the kitchen to tell them Laura will be dining with us.” With difficulty, Annie tugged the opening of her robe together over her stomach in order to fasten the last button, noting that by next week she would probably have to ask Miss Minnie to sew in side panels if she was going to have anything decent at all to wear at home through the rest of her pregnancy. At least in the privacy of her own room she could go without corsets. Looking up, she said, “Laura dear, I’m so glad you were able to come home early.”
Laura walked over and gave her a kiss on her forehead, and then she put her hands lightly on Annie’s rounded stomach. “Hello, little sprout. Auntie Laura’s here. Oh, Annie, what a kick! Do you suppose the baby knows my voice?”
“What the baby knows is that it’s time for dinner,” Nate said, coming over to pull out a chair for his sister. “Seems to know just when being awake and active is most inconvenient. Dinner time and in the middle of the night appear to be its most active periods.”
“Those are just the times you are around to hear me complain, Nate. I can assure you, this baby does not spend most of the day sleeping.”
Annie smiled at her husband and patted her stomach, feeling what seemed to be a foot push against her hand. What she didn’t say was how anxious she got when even an hour went by without movement. Dr. Brown assured her that periodic inactivity was normal and that she shouldn’t worry if the level of activity felt like it was decreasing near to her term since the baby would have less and less room in which to move around. Nevertheless, despite the discomfort, she always felt better when the baby was active.
Nate opened the bedroom door in response to a quiet knock and after a quick consultation with the little Irish maid turned and said, “Miss Tilly says dinner will be ready in ten minutes. Laura, did you get a letter from Mother? I hope you told her you will be coming down to them for Easter, since obviously Annie and I won’t be able to make it.”
Annie watched with contentment as Nate and Laura shared news about their family, including their amusement at the latest exploits of Violet and Billy’s oldest son, Frankie, and Rose, the new baby. Their good-natured teasing of each other continued through the arrival of Kathleen and Tilly with the dinner trays, permitting Annie to concentrate on eating. She no longer felt the insatiable hunger she had earlier in the pregnancy. Instead, she had discovered it was important for her to eat slowly, stopping if she felt the beginnings of indigestion. Again, her doctor had assured her that the burning sensation in her upper abdomen was quite normal, and she had cheerfully added that this would most likely get worse. But Dr. Brown had also explained that the discomfort that Annie described feeling in her lower abdomen was her body practicing for the actual delivery, something she should welcome. Thank goodness she had a female doctor. She couldn’t imagine having this sort of discussion with a male physician.
“Annie, did you know about this?”
Nate’s clearly irate tone dragged Annie away from her thoughts. “Know about what?”
Laura, sounding disgusted, said, “Nate, I didn’t tell Annie because I didn’t want to worry her. And I wasn’t even going to bring the subject up at all this evening. You were the one who did, asking if Miss Sutton and I had solved our little mystery puzzle yet.”
Oh, Nate, how could you be so condescending? We were having such a nice evening.
Annie laid her hand on Laura’s arm to keep her from jumping up and flouncing out of the room and said, “Laura, dear, you are quite right to be outraged at him. Nate, apologize to your sister. Neither Miss Atherton’s death nor the death of Mr. Caulfield are events to be taken lightly.”
Annie watched as Laura glared at her brother, who mumbled that he was sorry. “Now, Laura, what exactly did you tell Nate that I might not have heard about?”
“You remember my argument with Ned
Goodwin, Sunday before last? Well, the next day, fraternity boys started giving Caro a hard time—saying derogatory things as she walked past, tripping her, knocking her books out of her hands, and even secretly pouring ink on her coat. We assume that Ned reported back to his fraternity friends that I was asking questions about Willie Caulfield’s death, probably on her behalf. All this activity mirrors what happened to Grace last fall, as well as to Julia Beck, that former editor of the anti-fraternity paper.”
Annie felt a spike of fear, and the baby began to wildly pummel her rib cage. “Has anything like this started happening to you? I mean beyond the usual unpleasant adolescent behavior you’ve described as normal?”
“No, nothing out of the ordinary. Although this may be because I would be a harder target to reach, unlike Caro, who is often alone on campus, going to and from classes. In any event, after Charter Day, the harassment seems to have diminished. We think this is because Elliot Sinclair, the Zeta Psi president, instructed everyone to back off.”
Laura proceeded to describe the events of Charter Day, including the extraordinary behavior of Elliot Sinclair’s sister and the drunken performance of Ned Goodwin. She concluded, “All signs are that Elliot Sinclair has been the one who had directed the campaign against Caro and probably against Grace. If so, we believe he got cold feet when Ned and his fraternity friends’ drunken behavior at the Charter Day dance hit the San Francisco papers. Particularly in the context of the rumors swirling around campus that the university Board of Regents has a committee looking into university affairs.”
“And you honestly think this Elliot Sinclair would have mounted this campaign against your friend because he was angry that she wrote some anti-fraternity letters to the editor?” Nate asked.
Laura shrugged. “It’s certainly possible. You have to read some of the letters the pro-fraternity men wrote to see how upset they were that anyone, much less a woman, would question their behavior. When you combine this with the fact that nearly the whole ’81 class was suspended, it’s not surprising that feelings have run high over these issues ever since. I think it is very possible they felt giving Grace a difficult time was suitable revenge for what they had gone through.”
Annie inserted, “Nate, it sounds to me as if these young men have the same attitude you have found in the husbands who can’t believe their wives would challenge them in court. Haven’t you told me about how angry they get when they discover they might actually have to answer for their adultery or abuse?”
Nate nodded and said, “But how does this involve the death of Mr. Caulfield?”
Laura said, “Because I believe that all of this may have started with him. I think Willie set his sights on Sephronia Sinclair, Elliot’s sister, and saw telling Elliot about Grace’s letters to the Oestrus as the way to ingratiate himself with the fraternity and Elliot. Then Elliot, who may have been involved in the campaign against Julia Beck the year before, could have encouraged his fraternity brothers to haze Grace. None of them may have had any particular goal in mind…beyond humiliating Grace and getting her to break off her engagement to Willie. But all that would change when Caro informed Willie that she believed this harassment caused Grace’s death and that she was willing to go to the authorities.”
Nate frowned and said, “And you think this caused Mr. Caulfield to do what? Commit suicide?”
“I think one strong possibility is that, out of guilt, Willie got drunk on the camping trip and accidentally, or perhaps on purpose, fell off a cliff. The other possibility is that someone pushed him, fearing he was going to tell Caro exactly who had been involved in the harassment campaign against her cousin.”
Nate said, “And this Elliot was on that camping trip.”
“Yes, as were at least three other fraternity members, including Bart Keller, who has been the primary person who has been harassing Caro.”
Annie said, “But you aren’t content with blaming this all on a few fraternity leaders, are you?”
“No, I’m not. I have no doubt Elliot and Bart Keller were involved. But Grace wrote in her deathbed letter to Caro that she believed that there was someone else who was behind the fraternity actions. Someone she had trusted…and I certainly don’t see either Elliot or Bart in that role.”
“That’s why you suspected the English Professor, Sanders.” Annie turned to Nate, who was looking slightly stunned, and said, “Laura and Caro did a neat little bit of detective work with Miss Atherton’s notebooks and found that something had turned her against this Sanders, who, I might add, was on the camping trip as well. Then Laura discovered that Sanders had plagiarized a woman’s poem, which is probably what caused Grace to get so upset with him.”
“I went to see Sanders this morning, Annie, and he admitted that he’d naively copied lines from Alice Carey’s poem! But he is adamant that Grace didn’t come talk to him about it. And I am inclined to believe him.”
Nate burst out, “Darnation, Laura, he could sue you for slander. Please tell me you haven’t told anybody else your suspicions.”
“You sound just like Seth,” Laura said, crossing her arms defensively.
“You told Timmons?” Nate’s voice rose.
“No, because I already knew what he would say. I’ve only told Caro and now you two. I’m not a fool.”
“Nate, please lower your voice. Let’s get back to the point. Laura, are you saying that Sanders knew something was wrong with Grace because her academic work was suffering, but he didn’t know what was causing the change in behavior?”
“Yes, I am. He did say other professors had noticed problems, mentioning Professor Moses, specifically, so Caro would like to find out some more details from him. To my way of thinking, if Sanders isn’t the person who was behind the attacks on Grace, it seems reasonable to think that it could be someone who wanted to protect Sanders.”
Annie felt a sudden tightening in her lower abdomen, and she held her breath for a moment, then slowly let it out as the discomfort eased.
“Annie, are you all right?” Laura said, looking at her strangely.
“Yes, just thinking. Do you have any suspicions about who this other person might be?”
“The person who fits this description most closely, is her minister, Reverend Mason.”
“A clergyman!” Nate quickly lowered his voice and added, “However did you come to that conclusion?”
Laura again glared at her brother but answered quietly, “First of all, as her pastor, he would be the logical person for Grace to go to for advice. Second, he is the official advisor for the second largest fraternity on campus, the Chi Phis. Third, he was part of the camping trip when Willie died, and from what I have heard, he and Sanders often go tramping among the hills together, so I assume they are good friends. Finally, can you imagine how devastated Grace would be if she even suspected that he was behind all the awful things that were happening to her?”
“But why would he do something like this? All it would take is one of those fraternity men to tell someone that he’d directed them to harass Grace, and it would completely ruin his career. Friendship alone doesn’t seem an adequate explanation. What could he get out of it? Money? Could he be blackmailing Sanders?”
“As far as I know, Sanders has only his faculty salary, and I fail to see that he’s making much money with his poetry. It would have to be a very unusually close friendship to warrant this kind of action. However, Caro is determined to speak with him. He’s been hard to get hold of, but she had gotten him to agree to meet next week.”
Annie glanced quickly at Nate and was pleased to see he completely missed what Laura was implying about the relationship between Sanders and Reverend Mason. But this did bring up another thought, and she said, “Didn’t you think at one time, before you discovered the poetry angle, that maybe Grace had learned that Sanders was having an affair…and that’s what had gotten her so upset?”
“Yes, one of the scandalous broadsheets that came out year before last, part of the whole fratern
ity, anti-fraternity upset, suggested a love triangle between him and two students, although one of those students has since graduated, and the other is happily engaged. That doesn’t mean Sanders wasn’t having an affair. And there is nothing that precludes Grace’s anger with Sanders coming from her discovery that he had feet of clay…in both the academic and personal realm. But I can’t see Grace telling either Sanders or this supposed lover what she knew. I just wish she had confided in me…”
Annie saw Laura’s face close down, and she said, “Dearest, if she didn’t confide in her cousin, then it is unlikely she would have told you, a new acquaintance. But rather than search after some unknown person who loved Sanders and tried to protect his reputation by driving Grace out of town, a simpler explanation would be…”
“Sanders’ wife,” Laura quickly finished her thought. “She is certainly a possibility. She could be doing it out of love, say if she learned from Willie what Grace had discovered about the poetry. Or simply to protect her husband’s job, which is the source of her financial security. Interestingly, Caro learned from the woman who lives next door to the Sanders that Mrs. Sanders is very friendly with a number of young fraternity men, as well as some of the younger faculty. So I suppose it is possible that she, not her husband, is the one having an affair.”
“With a student,” Nate exclaimed.
Annie thought it was sweet of him to be so scandalized, and she patted his arm and said, “I know my dear, Laura is making Berkeley sound like a hotbed of immorality. But from what Laura has told me, Mrs. Sanders is over twenty years younger than her husband, quite beautiful, and some of the students, like Seth Timmons, are her age. Additionally, it is not unheard of for a woman to take up with a younger man.”
Laura said, “I really think we must consider Mrs. Sanders as a suspect. Think about it. Early on in the term, she could have learned from someone Grace has confided in—Willie, or someone else like Reverend Mason—that her husband’s reputation is in danger. She uses her friendly relationship with a fraternity boy, like Elliot or Bart Keller, to get their fraternity brothers to target Grace. The goal is to shut her up, send her home, or maybe to erode her reputation on campus so badly that if she ever did make an accusation, it wouldn’t be considered credible.”
Scholarly Pursuits Page 26
