Gregory, Lisa

by Bonds of Love

  “Oh, how exciting.”

  “Pegeen!”

  “Well, they aren’t likely to attack me right there in front of the guards!”

  “Really, Pegeen, the way you talk sometimes just isn’t proper.”

  “I know, mum.” Her pert little face looked downcast for a moment. “But I would so like to get a look at them.”

  “When you come to get me this afternoon, perhaps you can see them getting back in the wagons. They unloaded this morning right there in front of the office.”

  “Oh, that’d be grand, that would. Oh, Miss Kate, life’s been ever so much more exciting since you started working.”

  “Has it?”

  “Oh, yes, getting to bring you lunch and coming down to walk back with you in the afternoon. Why, Jimmy O’Toole—he’s the milkman you know …” Pegeen paused and blushed. “At lunch he’s taken to walking a couple of blocks with me and sometimes in the afternoon, if he’s through, he’ll take me up on his wagon and drive me nearly all the way here. Oh, he’s a fine lad, with a bold eye and he dances that fine, and the blarney he gives a girl!”

  Katherine smiled at the girl. “It sounds as if his ‘blarney’ must work.”

  ” ‘Deed it does,” Pegeen said and smiled, thinking to herself that what Miss Kate needed was a James O’Toole who would wheedle and sweet-talk her out of those stiff ways of hers.

  Teddy bounded into the room, his skinny little chest swollen with importance. “I been talking to the guards. I went down to the Wheatley ship, and they had them Rebs all lined up getting their lunch, see, from the prison—horrid-looking beans, miss. And one of the Rebs spoke to me, said as how he’d lay a little bet with me if I’d put up my sandwiches, and then they all laughed, and another one said I’d better keep my sandwiches to myself ‘cause Jenkins was a riverboat man.”

  “One of those gamblers?” Katherine asked.

  “Yes’m. And one of ‘em asked me who the redheaded lass was, and then …” Suddenly he flushed to the roots of his hair and began to stammer.

  Pegeen laughed out loud and said, “Go on; you can leave out what they said about me.”

  “Well, one man, real quiet-like, not loud and laughing like the others, said to me, ‘Boy, who’s the lady with the gold eyes?’”

  Unaccountably Katherine’s heart jerked and she said sharply, “Which one, Teddy?”

  “Tall one, Miss Kate, strong-looking; brown hair, I guess. Anyway,” he went on, impatient at having his tale interrupted, “I said, ‘What d’you mean, gold eyes?’ and he smiled and said, ‘Perhaps you wouldn’t notice. I mean the lady who arrived in the carriage this morning. Dressed in brown, with a little fur muff and a silly hat.”

  “Well!” Katherine gasped, indignant at his description of her hat, and Pegeen smothered a laugh.

  “So I said, ‘Oh, you must mean Miss Devereaux.’ And he said ‘Devereaux?’ and pointed to the name above the office door, and I said, ‘Yes, sir, she’s Mr. Devereaux’s daughter.’ And he thanked me and went off to eat.”

  “Is that all he said?” Katherine pressed him, a little disappointed.

  “Yes’m. But they sure do talk funny, all kinda slow and soft. Then I talked to their guards—their names are Jackson and Gunther. And they say that these are a tough lot and they don’t know why they let them out.”

  “They were probably just trying to impress you. But are there only two guards?”

  “Oh, no, there’s four. Besides the ones that drive the wagons.”

  “How many prisoners are there?”

  “Twenty-five or thirty, I guess.”

  “Oh, mum,” Pegeen broke in, “isn’t it exciting that one of them was asking about you? Why do you suppose he was?”

  “I’m sure I haven’t the vaguest idea, Peg. But I think it’s time you took the tray back to the house and regaled everyone with your account of the prisoners. But, Pegeen, don’t tell them about one of them inquiring about me. It would only worry Aunt Amelia.”

  Pegeen, her eyes wide, held a forefinger up to her lips. “I’ll be as quiet as a churchmouse about it.”

  Katherine returned to her work, but found that soon the numbers would recede and in her mind she’d see that man. She was sure it was the same one who had grinned at her so insolently this morning. Why had he asked Teddy about her? Why on earth was he interested in her name? Aunt Amelia would be sure it meant he wanted to “have his way with her,” but since Aunt Amelia firmly believed that about every male who called on them, Katherine doubted that she was right. She simply was not the sort that bounders tried to force themselves upon, though if she had ever seen anyone likely to force himself on a woman, it was that man. She wished she knew what his name was and felt that he had some sort of advantage over her because he knew hers.

  She was diverted from her reverie by the entrance of Charlie Kesey. He was an old sailor, blind in one eye, and with a lamentable preference for the bottle. He had been blinded, he told her, in a fistfight in Portugal when a drunken French sailor smashed a bottle into his face. A jagged scar still showed above and below his black patch. His equilibrium had also been impaired, and that, coupled with his loss of vision, had destroyed his usefulness as a sailor. Her father had hired him to sweep the office and do odd jobs about it and sometimes about the house. He had a scraggy, almost piratical look about him, but Katherine had loved him at first sight and had slipped away from her overseers at home every chance she could to come down to the docks and talk to Charlie. She was his adored “Missy” and, if Betsy had given her her domestic education, Charlie had given her her naval education. He had taught her how to steer by the stars, how to sail through a gale, how to tell one ship from another, and what every part of a ship was named. He gave wonder and excitement to her childhood, whittling intricate little wooden animals for her and telling highly imaginative tales of his own exploits and those of pirates.

  Charlie never seemed to change. As seedy-looking as ever, as inclined to reek of rum, he was also possessed of the same salty humor and admiration for his “Missy.” “You’ve got spunk right enough,” he had told her, “spitting in those old biddies’ eyes like this.”

  “Well,” he said today, pausing inside the doorway with his broom, “scruffy lot of workers you got out there. Think you’ll be taking a shine to one of them, Missy?”

  This struck Teddy as so amusing he almost fell off his high stool laughing. Katherine just said tartly, “I hardly think so, Charlie.”

  “Well, I thought they might be in your line. I’ve never seen yet any other type of man you fancied.”

  “The whole lot are worthless,” Katherine smiled.

  “Don’t laugh so, boy; you’ll split a gut. I’ll tell you truly, I never seen finer dressers than some of them Reb gentlemen. Why, I remember once I sailed under a captain from Charleston—” and Charlie was off on one of his reminiscences.

  Katherine, only half-listening, wondered if he had been a splendid dresser. How different he would look in a snowy white shirt and well-cut coat and trousers instead of the faded, dirty remnants of the gray uniform he now wore. And, somehow, not so very different—the animal strength, the gathered and waiting power would still be there. Angrily she shook off her thoughts. What nonsense she was indulging in! Determinedly she bent over the books.

  So absorbed did she become that she hardly noticed when Pegeen came in. Pegeen, not wanting to leave until she had seen the prisoners closer, took up a quiet post by the window. For a long time the girl was unrewarded but at last she cried, “Oh, they’re leaving now!”

  Teddy tripped all over himself in his frantic haste to get to the window. Charlie abandoned his efforts at oiling the door hinges to join him. Katherine, with a deliberate air of unconcern, cleaned off her desk and locked it up before she strolled over to stand beside Pegeen. She found him instantly, waiting near the end of the line to get on the wagons. As if feeling her gaze upon him, he suddenly raised his head and looked at their window. He smiled and boldly winked at her.
She retreated from the window.

  “Did you see that, Miss Kate!” Pegeen exclaimed. “That pirate winked at us! Bold as brass, he was. Is that the one that was asking after you?”

  “I think so. Is that he, Teddy, third one from the end?”

  “Yes’m, that’s the one.”

  “You mean one of them scum was asking you about the Missy here?” Charlie demanded.

  “Sure was, Charlie.”

  The old man looked concerned. “I don’t like that, miss.”

  “Oh, stuff and nonsense, you’re all making a great to-do about nothing,” Katherine said stoutly, but she found to her surprise that her fingers trembled slightly as she tied on her bonnet.

  “Well,” said Pegeen as they briskly walked home, “I must say, that rascal had a way with him.”

  “Whatever can you mean?” Katherine said dryly.

  Not in the least deterred by her tone, the girl went on, “I mean he was a handsome brute, that one. And it fair sent shivers up my spine when he winked at us like that.”

  Katherine almost retorted that he had winked at her, not the two of them, but bit back the words, realizing what a foolish thing it was to say. Whatever was the matter with her today?

  When they reached home, she found a worthy Boston matron and her daughter there, obviously lingering on with their afternoon call in the hopes of her coming in. Sighing, she resigned herself to a tedious time satisfying their curiosity about the excitingly dangerous Rebel prisoners. As if that weren’t bad enough, she then had to endure a dinner at her Aunt Amanda’s home, where she was plagued by her aunt’s alternate scolding and eager questions as well as by her cousin’s cloying attentions.

  By the time she reached home, she was so tired she could have screamed. She found, however, that she couldn’t sleep. At first she fumed about the way the ladies lectured her on her impropriety and then gobbled up the information about the prisoners she could give them. Then her mind turned to the unwelcome attentions of her cousin Jamie—when would he give up? She had refused him twice and still he kept after her, plying her with syrupy compliments. Of course, he was urged on by her aunt, who would have liked to see Katherine’s wealth flowing into her own coffers. “As if,” Katherine sniffed to herself, “I’d ever marry someone who was too much of a coward to fight, who buys replacements for himself in the draft!”

  Then, unbidden, the prisoner came into her mind and, no matter how she struggled, wouldn’t leave it. She couldn’t understand why he plagued her so—his impudence was unforgivable, and she disliked him heartily. Why should that mean she couldn’t stop thinking about him?

  She arose the next morning tired, but filled with a quiet determination that today she would remain unruffled. And so she did, never once looking out the window at the prisoners as they worked. Nor did she watch them unload, and she left before they returned to the wagons that afternoon. She even managed to repress Teddy’s and Pegeen’s chatter about them. That night she went to bed feeling triumphant and fell asleep instantly.

  One afternoon a few days later, the door opened and a dark, quiet young man dressed in the blue of the Navy stepped into the office. Katherine looked up and smiled pleasantly.

  “Lieutenant Perkins,” she said, “how nice to see you again.”

  “Miss Devereaux. Teddy. Charlie.”

  “Please sit down. How is the Navy?” Katherine asked.

  “Oh, fine. My ship should be sailing soon.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “To join the blockade. I’m not at liberty to say where exactly.”

  “Of course.” Katherine smiled at him. She liked the lieutenant and enjoyed his irregular visits. He had first come to her father’s office over a year ago when she had happened to be there, measuring the windows for the curtains she had decided to put in. She had been impressed by Perkins’s quiet assurance and steady personality. Rather grave and earnest, he rarely smiled; when he did, his brown eyes lit up and his face was touched with warmth. He was not a particularly handsome man, but there was a certain strength of character in his rough-hewn face that Katherine liked. He had escorted her back to her house that day, and then she had not seen him again until she had begun working a few months ago. Since then, he had taken to dropping in every once in a while, and Katherine always enjoyed his visits, though she was a little puzzled as to why he came so often.

  There were times when she felt that he was interested in her, but she knew she must have imagined that, since he never visited her at home. She had to admit to herself that she would not be entirely adverse to his suit. Although she doubted she would ever love him, and the very stolidity of his character made him dull at times, she thought him better than most men who had courted her—more honest, innately warmer, easier to converse with about things that interested her. Because she thought him admirable, it never occurred to her, as it had to her father, that Perkins was afraid she would rebuff his suit because of his background.

  “Have you heard about our prisoners, Lieutenant?” Teddy asked eagerly.

  “Indeed, I have. In fact, I came over just to see them.”

  Katherine’s heart began to pound violently inside her, but she forced herself to speak calmly. “Oh? I’m sure that if you want to walk over to the ship to look at their work, you can. I’ll be happy to take you over there if you like.”

  He smiled. “Why, thank you. I’d like that very much.”

  Katherine hastened to put on her cloak and bonnet and slip her hands into her muff. She told herself that she was being silly, that there was no reason to be excited, that there was, in fact, no reason to go with him in the first place. Ignoring her inner voice, she swept out the front door. Perkins, pleased because her invitation seemed to him to indicate a liking for his company, followed her out the door and solicitously put his hand under her elbow to assist her down the stairs.

  His elation grew as they crossed the yards, for she chattered in a light, excited way that he had never seen her adopt before. It occurred to him that perhaps she was a little buoyant over being alone with him, for they had never been together without at least the juvenile chaperonage of Teddy.

  “How thrilling it must be to be going to join the blockade soon,” she said, her voice vibrant.

  His chuckle was more a release of his turbulent feelings than an expression of amusement. “Oh, I’m afraid not. Blockading is rather dull most of the time—just sitting and waiting and watching. I would rather be out pursuing the Rebel raiders.”

  She smiled. “I imagine you’re right. The raiders are almost like pirate stories, aren’t they? Charlie Kesey used to make my hair stand on end with his pirate adventures—and I loved it.”

  “Did you used to spend a lot of time with old Charlie?”

  She looked up at him, her eyes mischievous. “Indeed, yes, whenever I could escape from my governess or my housekeeper or my mother; it was my favorite occupation.”

  He stared down into her amber eyes, glinting with gold lights, and felt as if he might drown in them. “Katherine, I—I—”

  “Here’s the hull,” she announced gaily. “Now if we can just get past the guards.”

  “All it takes is assurance—and your name and my uniform,” he whispered, firmly taking hold of her arm and feeling a sudden rush of light-headedness at touching her.

  “Corporal.” He and the guard exchanged salutes. “Lieutenant Perkins. This is Miss Devereaux. We’ve come to inspect the prisoners’ work.”

  “Yessir.”

  They went into the half-finished hull. All around them activity went on, seemingly uncoordinated, with scaffoldings and catwalks at various heights. The guards stayed at the edge, their eyes endlessly watching the prisoners, who worked, not lazily, as Katherine had expected, but in silent concentration. The crew foreman, George MacPherson, came hurrying toward them, smiling and whisking off his cap to properly meet a lady.

  “Miss Devereaux.” He made a funny little bob, his version of a bow.

  “George, th
is is Lieutenant Perkins. He is interested in seeing how the prisoners are getting along.”

  “Why, I’ll be happy to show you around. You know,” he confided, beginning his tour, “I never would have believed it, but this crew has been working right smartly. Just sailors, by and large, but they’ve at least done repair work and they can handle the simpler tasks, which cuts down the number of skilled workers we need. Why, I think I could practically do it with just them. And they’re not shirkers, either, which I can tell you, surprised me.”

  “I imagine they’re willing to work quite well if it means being outside the prison,” the lieutenant said. “I can think of nothing more grim than a prison to a man who’s spent his life with the limitless ocean around him.”

  Katherine walked along with them, barely hearing their words. Now that she was here, her burst of enthusiasm had vanished, leaving her feeling foolish and mad at herself. Why had she come? What did she think she was doing here? Why hadn’t she sent Lieutenant Perkins over here by himself? For once in her life, she felt as if she had no control, no understanding of herself. Did she want to see that man again? But how preposterous!

  “Now,” MacPherson was saying, “if you’ll just come up here with me—” He started to climb a ladder, with the lieutenant on his heels, but the young man caught himself and turned.

  “But wait, Miss Devereaux can’t climb like this.”

  Katherine looked at the ladder and smiled. Climbing a ladder was almost impossible in a hoop and petticoats, not to speak of the unmentionable view it would present to the men below. “I’m afraid I can’t,” she said, “but you go on. I’ll wait right here for you. I’ll be perfectly safe.”

  “Well—”

  “Go on. I know how interested you are.”

  The lieutenant smiled his thanks and darted up the ladder after the chunky foreman. Katherine, the smile lingering on her lips, turned and found herself staring into cold gray eyes under satanically slanted black eyebrows. Her heart began to pound and she thought frantically of running up the ladder after Perkins.

  Then the man smiled, jauntily pulled off his battered cap, and swept her a mockingly elegant bow. “Captain Matthew Hampton, ma’am, at your service.”