by Liz Bradbury
Funds are certainly not overspent for the upkeep of Evangeline’s family. They own this little house outright. It would surely be an ample and charming town home for one or two, plus housekeeper, were it not for the stable odors. Yet it is quite cramped with Evangeline, her mother, her aunt, and her two sisters and brother, along with the scullery who lives in the below-stairs quarters.
Evangeline has been told by Messrs. Auerbach, Shilling & Scand that two substantial notes are due at the end of next month. And that payment of those will reduce her family income to near zero and turn them out of the house. Yet I cannot see how this is possible.
I have wired Franklin and asked him for the loan of an auditor to accompany me and Evangeline in the meeting two days hence with her financial advisors. Franklin, ever the doting and supportive brother, has wired back that he will also attend the meeting and in the meantime will look into the Fen holdings through other channels. He is arriving on the four o’clock train, tomorrow.
“Who’s Franklin?” I asked.
“I looked him up,” said Kathryn. “He’s Victoria’s younger brother, Franklin Cedarbrook Snow. He was a major Philadelphia lawyer even at the young age of twenty-eight. He ran for office and ultimately became a Senator and then a cabinet member under McKinley.”
“Read more,” said Jessie.
“OK, this is later that day.”
It is quite late and I have just sent Evangeline home in a hack. The rooms I have taken at the Hamilton are comfortable but seem empty the moment she leaves. I have asked her to stay but she insists that her family feels more comfortable in the house when she is there.
I took these rooms not because I felt the need to leave the tiny Fen family home. In fact, I would gladly stay there regardless of the discomfort if only to be near my angel, but I needed a place to spread out the papers and financial records to elucidate the Fen family holdings.
Evangeline and I have found several significant discrepancies between actual shares and profits. I must say that Mr. Auerbach seems nothing more than an American Uriah Heap to me. Unctuous is quite the understatement and I caused Evangeline to laugh when I said so.
I ordered an intimate supper for the two of us to be delivered in my rooms. I found her looking at me with a brightness that warmed me. I was nearly seized with a passion to take her into my arms, but that wouldn’t solve anything, and both of us seem to know it.
As yet she is guarded. Perhaps that is so because I offered to cover her debts. I was in error. She is not the sort to be indebted to a dear friend, much less one she... well. It is perhaps a condemnation of our era that a woman would hastily enter a loveless marriage for security, but would never encumber a friend.
Kathryn turned the page and said, “This is after the meeting.”
June 1st, 1876
I don’t suppose this meeting could have gone better. It is gratifying to have Franklin here and he has taken to Evangeline. My brother knows me far to well to misunderstand my commitment to Evangeline. Like two children scheming as one, he is always on my side and I am glad to see he approves of my obsession. Franklin and his faithful accountant Mr. Purrit were able to lay plain the figures of Evangeline’s so-called advisors, ‘Asses Three,’ as Franklin calls them privately.
Franklin threatened them with criminal prosecution. They relented under his brilliant ‘cross examination style’ questioning and indeed I pride myself in that I was able to add quite a bit of enlightening information from my examination of the Fen family books, which I have reviewed without ceasing for the last several days.
Mr. Purrit easily confirmed that Evangeline is due several large sums from share investments that will not only cover any debt but will allow her family to live comfortably. Under pressure of prosecution by my formidable brother, the asses have admitted that...”
“Oh my God,” said Kathryn scanning the page.
“What, what!?!” we all said in unison.
“...have admitted that... General Merganser Hunterdon had pressed them and indeed paid them to create this financial debacle for the Fen family. Franklin has already sent for the police and telegraphed state banking authorities.”
Kathryn sat back in utter amazement.
“So, Ersatz, Shamming, and Scammed sold out the General!” said Farrel.
“But I’m afraid to ask what happened. Hunterdon was so wealthy and powerful he could have just had Brother Franklin and Mr. Pruitt thrown in jail or worse before they got out of town,” I said.
Kathryn was gently flipping the pages to find out the future of the past.
“No, that’s not what happened! Here, listen to this, just a few days later,”
June 7th, 1876
My brother is even more powerful than I had imagined!
Under further pressure the dastardly money counters who nearly ruined the fortune of my angel admitted they had caused the ruin of several other families and businesses in the district by simply confusing the books and presenting fraudulent bills. They did this under the direction of Merganser Hunterdon, to his financial advantage.
Via a series of telegrams Franklin has called an informal meeting of a wide range of powerful men from Harrisburg. They arrived by train this morning. Of course, I was not permitted to attend, but Franklin recounted everything to us later.
The problem, it seems, is that the General controls so much of the financial infrastructure of the state that he has effectively stalled his own indictment. The gentlemen from Harrisburg fear that the rocky economy that has been shored up since the panic will collapse if the richest man in the state is prosecuted. And while he may be a crook, his own businesses are actually sound. It has been revealed that Merganser was instrumental in a great deal of the slave trade and purchase in the years before the war. As heinous as that surely is, he has a great deal of information about other key people in the Northern financial world who were also part of these nefarious dealings. He threatened to expose them if he is indicted.
So the government regulators have agreed to make a back room deal, as Franklin would call it. The majority of Merganser’s corporation will now be run by a closely regulated network of new board members. Merganser will remain at liberty but he will be powerless. He’ll draw an allowance and I suppose he will continue to control a small part of his own accumulated wealth. But for now, his Scrooge-like grasp is loosened on those weaker than he.
“It’s always about money, isn’t it?” I sighed. “So does this mean Evangeline doesn’t need Victoria anymore, or is this where the doors open?”
“I’d hate to think money ended their relationship. Let’s see, this is also from that day,” said Kathryn.
I confess that the vast majority of my concern has always been for Evangeline and now everything has changed. I have already taken rooms for her family at the Hamilton Hotel, where they will reside until a more suitable residence can be arranged. Meanwhile I find myself oddly drawn to the little tradesman’s row home on Washington Mews. I believe I may purchase it and rebuild the inside with modern convenience. I think I shall reside there while I work on my sculpture commissions for Irwin College. I’ll plant lavender in every free inch of earth in order to overcome the mephitic odor.
Yet, dear journal, what this means for Evangeline and... me... I do not know. I can at least rest assured that any question of marrying that criminal general is out of the question. Yet... the Harrisburg power brokers have asked that Evangeline’s engagement continue for a suitable period, because as it turns out, Gen. Hunterdon’s engagement to one of the state’s oldest families has helped to stabilize the state’s banking system even more than his money has done.
“Well, how long is she going to have to pretend she’s engaged to him?” asked Jessie.
“Well publicly, 140 years or so,” I said.
“Hunterdon must have been furious. Oh look, it goes on to say here,” said Kathryn.
Franklin tells us that Merganser is near to spontaneous combustion. Certainly Evangeline and I will not es
cape his verbal curses, but they are impotent in our world.
Evangeline has agreed to keep up appearances until all danger of the state’s financial instability has passed. She wants none of his money for herself but has already planned a series of public works including a vast public library, a network of schools for children, an education program for poor mothers, and a modern hospital with a nursing school for women on the edge of the city.
“Until all danger of the state’s economic instability has passed? Well, no wonder the myth of their devotion to each other has survived for 140 years,” Farrel said.
“Well, well, doesn’t this cast a different light on the city of Fenchester?” said Kathryn, pausing to sip some more wine. “Now, these next few pages are all about the allocation of various monies. They did leave Merganser with control of a few things—the funeral home, the Majestic, some land holdings... an office building. Based on what Franklin said about a board controlling Hunterdon’s money, how was it that so much of the city’s philanthropy is attributed to him?”
“Well, he did have some money left, but why did he throw himself into commissioning all those beautiful sculptures of Evangeline after she died? He must have hated Victoria Snow, but he ended up giving her twenty dollars every day for the rest of her life for those commissions? Why?”
“Yeah, hard to explain, but can we get back to the romance?” asked Jessie. “Isn’t there anything else?”
“Yes, here, about a week later.” Kathryn read,
June 17th, 1876,
The heat wave that is lowering the attendance at the Centennial in Philadelphia has hit Fenchester. The weather is oppressively hot, nearly 100 degrees in the shade at not even ten in the morning. These steamy days are giving me second thoughts about living so close to a vast stable.
Evangeline has suggested we ride into the country. I confess I am not the horsewoman she is, but I would ride an elephant if that were the key to finding moments alone with her. I must bring forth the spirt of Charlotte Cushman and not be complacent. Though being with Evangeline as dear friends has been a pleasure, I can wait no longer. What would Charlotte do? Yes, well, I know exactly what Charlotte would do!”
Kathryn scanned the rest of the page and the next two, then she said, “OK this was written the next morning:”
Were I not tethered to the earth by the heavy garments my sex must endure, I would fly over the rooftops. Today may well have been the best day of my life, but I place hope in that it is just one of a lifetime of happy days to follow.
“Oh no, this is so sad,” said Farrel. “Knowing what happens to her is like being able to see into the future.”
“Focus on the present,” I said. “Go on, Kathryn.”
Kathryn looked up at me briefly and our eyes locked. She nodded slightly, then she went on reading:
When my beautiful Evangeline and I rode out of the city, she said in her most confidential voice as we mounted the horses, “I have something to share with you. I’ve never shown anyone this secret place before. But I find I have a fondness for you, Victoria that... that surpasses my sisters, when it comes to secrets.”
The enchanting look in her eyes quickened my heart, and I found myself wishing I was riding astride to ease a tension that began to build in my nether regions. It turned out, however, I was glad I had saved this physical sensation to share with my angel later in the afternoon rather than relieving it at a canter.
When we reached the middle of a lovely green glade, she dismounted and I did as well.
“I think the horses do not need to be tied. The grass and water in the stream will meet their needs. You know, Victoria, I’m quite successful at knowing what horses want, but I find that skill fades when it comes to...” Victoria turned and looked at me for long moment as I held my breath and hoped she would come to me on her own, without my bidding.
Instead she drew from her horse bag a large parcel she tucked under her arm. It was quite hot in the sun and our heavy riding clothes added to our discomfort. I was desperate for relief from the heat and desperate for a different sort of relief ever since I had first felt Evangeline in my arms at the train station.
“Come along,” she beckoned.
I followed her between low yew branches out of the glade. A wall of yews in a broad circle made a private outdoor room. (I may note here that I will henceforth find a circle of yew trees a meaningful and deeply comforting place to me, always.)
In its center was a rock pool that the clear stream swelled and eddied. Birds darted around it, but it was unspoiled by any human presence. It was ours alone.
“Fancy a swim?” said Evangeline softly and then she smiled the most provocative of smiles and I was quite ready to swim with her for eternity.
She put down her parasol and opened her parcel. In it was a large blanket that she spread on the ground. “There is no one around, Victoria. I have come here fifty times and never been disturbed.” And then... she began to disrobe.
“Jiminy Crickets,” I said.
Kathryn paused here and I shifted in my seat. Kathryn glanced at me in a way that made me desperately glad that we were sharing this moment. I saw Jessie lean against Farrel’s shoulder.
Kathryn read:
I stood stock still, hoping the moment was not a mere figment of my imagination and then with a smile upon my lips I undid the buttons of my shirtwaist and slipped my dress up over my head. The extra padding we both wore at the back was soon discarded, petticoats and the rest of our fashionable trappings were cast aside into two large heaps. I thought briefly that the fabric from our ensembles would have clothed a dozen needy children.
My angel’s modesty was now protected only by her summer chemise and drawers. Their light linen fabric was sheer, and for the briefest of moments I reflected that her modesty would be protected by nothing at all when this fabric was wet.
She took my hand and we stepped down into the small rock-lined pool. The water was warm but refreshing, and we hastened to submerge ourselves in its liquid embrace.
“How did you find this lovely place?” I asked her as I paddled to the center and dipped my head under the water.
“When I was a girl, my pony led me to it. I was supposed to ride near the house, but I’d travel for hours letting the pony choose the trail. That was when we could afford to keep horses.”
“You could keep a horse now, Evangeline, if you wished. Your finances would more than bear it.”
I swam back to her and we moved to sit near the edge of the pool, still with the water to our shoulders but resting on the rocks beneath.
“Victoria,” Evangeline began, “my mother and sisters and... I are eternally grateful to you for all you have done. When I received your note saying you would come to Fenchester, I had looked forward to your caring sympathy but had never dared believe you would so adroitly solve all our problems.”
Evangeline’s voice caught and she turned from me in the throes of emotion. The full meaning of her family’s gratitude was clear to me, but at that moment I cared for nothing but the knowledge of where her own heart lay.
I said, “It makes me very happy to be able to grant you peace of mind. I hope you know that I would do anything... anything, I could to make you happy, my dear.”
“Would you, Victoria? Could you know, when you left me in Rome, I thought I would die from the loss of you. I cried for days, though I hid it from the others at Charlotte’s house. I made up my mind to tell you the next time we met. But then my circumstances were so reduced, so desperate, I thought it unfair to burden you with more than a request for advice. I didn’t want you to think I wanted you to... financially encumber yourself. Now that those troubles are a thing of the past, however...” She reached for my hand and drew me closer.
I said earnestly, “But don’t you know, darling Evangeline, that I would have given my last breath to ease your cares? I would have... I will... if you but allow me...”
And with that, she kissed my cheek, then slipped up the water’s edge
until she was only waist deep, and as I had suspected, the soaked fabric that covered her had become as clear as glass, thus revealing a vision that is etched on my very soul for eternity. I was ready to act, but it was she who reached forward.
With hands on both my shoulders, she drew me to her slowly until I was very close.
I managed to say, “Evangeline, dare I ask?”
She answered my question with a kiss on my lips. It was not the type simply between dear friends. Indeed my Angel became a tiger burning bright. Her meaningful kiss grew ferocious as I responded. She forthwith rent the linen fabric from my eager form and tore hers away as well. We pressed together, feeling each other not with gentle fingertips but with every inch of sensitive flesh.
I confess that I had imagined this moment a hundredfold and taken pleasure from the planning of my actions, yet it was clear that Evangeline had not only done the same but had all the more skill in her stratagem. The pond had a perfect place for one to recline while a water sprite found a dozen spots to suck and stroke.
