Jewel of Promise

by Marian Wells

  “Cultured; those who want the finer things in life and come from good families. Those with money.”

  “Oh.” Sadie went to the stove after the hot rhubarb pie.

  Amos watched her and then turned to Beth. “What do you call the other people?”

  Beth shrugged, bit her lip, and finally said, “They are farmers. Poor people, I suppose.”

  “What about the factory workers, those who live in towns?”

  “Factory workers?” Beth echoed. “Why, I’ve never met any of them. I would suppose they are poor too.”

  “Are they in favor of slavery? Do they believe in it so badly that they’ll fight for it?”

  “Sir,” Beth said slowly, “I honestly don’t know. I don’t know any except my own kind of people.”

  Amos returned to the newspaper. “Seems someone ought to be considering how the others feel about slavery and war. These others just might be the ones who have to do the fighting when they really get into it.”

  Sadie watched the frown lift from Beth’s face. “Amos, that could be so. Maybe the war won’t last long with poor people fighting. They have other matters to tend to, like planting.”

  ****

  When Mike came home for the first time, he carried news. Sitting at the table with Sadie and Amos he sipped coffee. “Your coffee is reason enough for a body to not leave home.” Then sobering he added, “Looks like we’ll all be leaving home, badly as we want to stay.”

  He faced the questions in Sadie’s eyes. “I’ve been down to Cairo this last trip and seen the changes. Wouldn’t surprise me if some strong fighting takes place down the Mississippi pretty soon. Guess I did right to come on home with the Awl when I did.”

  The back door opened and Beth came into the kitchen. As she pulled the scarf from her head, she saw Mike. “You’re back,” she said softly, pushing her long hair away from her face. Sadie saw Mike’s face and turned to watch the girl, wondering how she could fail to see the expression in Mike’s eyes.

  When Mike didn’t answer, Beth looked up, blushed, and brushed at her hair. “I’ve been riding the little filly into town to my job. I took the clerking job at the hardware store. I’ll be back in a minute.” She dashed toward the stairs.

  Sadie bit her tongue, but the words came anyway. “Mike, don’t go to setting thine heart on such as her. She’s flighty; I know the kind. She’ll break thy heart and then look for another to break.”

  “I know,” he muttered, moving his cup around in circles. “I know the kind, too. Besides, I could never afford to keep one such as she is—a lady.” Sadie listened to his words, thinking that the expression in his eyes seemed to speak differently.

  Beth whirled into the kitchen. She had changed her dress. With a swish of her full skirts, she went to help Sadie. “There’s frolicking in town tonight,” she informed Sadie. “A fair with games and music and food to eat. It’s meant to show a good time to the fellows.”

  “What fellows?”

  “The lads who’ve been learning how to be soldiers. The townspeople got this up. A thank you and a sendoff. They’re raising money, too, selling pies and such. Even handiwork to raise money for uniforms and arms for the men.” She paused, examining Sadie’s expression. “I know you believe it’s wrong to fight. Do you believe in helping them?”

  Sadie shuddered. “Buy bullets and guns? No, my child. I couldn’t live with myself. I’ll be ready when the lads need cookies and new socks.”

  “Beth, do you want to go?” Mike got to his feet. “I’ll take you into town. After all, a young lady can’t go alone.” He grinned down at her.

  Sadie saw the frown start on Beth’s face, but abruptly she smiled. “That would be nice. I know a girl who is very anxious to meet you.”

  After dinner, Mike harnessed Amos’s old mare to the light buggy and brought it around to the door. Beth dashed out the door and was in the buggy before Mike could get out. She was breathless as she said, “Thanks so much, Mike. I wanted to go badly, but without you asking, I couldn’t have gone. It’s terrible to have these people frown at me all the time.”

  “All the time?”

  “Oh, Mike. They just don’t understand young people having a good time. All of us girls are earnest about giving these fellows a good sendoff. Might be some of them won’t come back if there’s a real battle—” She caught her breath.

  “Beth,” he said carefully, “it isn’t that Amos and Sadie don’t want you to have a good time, it’s just that—” He paused, suddenly realizing the gap that existed between Beth and himself. “We believe these kinds of frolics are not—healthy.”

  “Mike!” she turned to stare at him, “I didn’t think you believed like they do.”

  “We think that the Christians should not participate in some of what will pass as entertainment tonight. It might be that Amos and Sadie are wiser than you give them credit for being. Anyway,” he grinned at her, “I’m here to keep you safe, so we might as well enjoy it.”

  By the time Mike had found a place to leave the horse and buggy, Beth had blended into the crowd. He found her at the horseshoe pitching booth. He also saw the young man beside her. Mike noticed the uniform first, and he saw Beth’s flaming hair and pale face nearly touching the shoulder of the smiling soldier.

  Mike hesitated, shrugged and walked toward the couple. Beth turned with a smile. “Oh, Mike, I want you to meet Lieutenant Roald Fairmont.” She nodded at the lieutenant. “This is Michael Clancy. He’s the fellow who’s been piloting cargo downriver.” Linking her arms through theirs she smiled, saying, “We’re going to have a wonderful time! There’s dancing and games. Mike, did you see all the booths? I should think they’ll raise money galore.”

  Mike acknowledged Fairmont’s stiff greeting and asked, “How long is this fair to be going on?”

  “Until the end of the week.” She turned to Roald. “Do you want to go down to the square? There’s dancing.”

  He nodded and they were about to excuse themselves when they were interrupted. “Mike—oh, Mike Clancy!” Mike turned toward the voice. It was the butcher’s daughter, calling and waving as she came toward him.

  She was still gasping for breath as he said, “Tessie Coiles, is the market on fire?”

  “No, but I need your help desperately,” she pleaded as Mike blinked in surprise. “Please don’t turn me down. Several of the fellows were to help set up tables and cook sausages, and they haven’t come. Will you—”

  “Certainly I’ll help.” He followed as she turned to dash back the way she had come.

  Mike set up tables while Tessie covered them with checked oilcloth and set pots of mustard in the middle. Later he went to the makeshift firepit and turned sausages while she stuffed buns with the savory, sizzling meat.

  The crowd had thinned and the embers were turning to ash when Tessie turned to him. “Mike, you’ll have to eat this last one.”

  Following him to the table, she put down the tankard of lemonade and sat down on the other side of the table. She shoved the mustard pot toward him. “’Twas nervy of me to take advantage of your kindness, especially since I scarcely know you. Have seen you around town, and at church sometimes.”

  “I enjoyed myself,” Mike admitted. “I was starting to feel like a third wheel when you rescued me.”

  She nodded. “I know Beth’s wanting to snatch as much time as she can with Roald. She’s smitten, and it’s no wonder. Wouldn’t any girl go for such as he?”

  Uneasily Mike studied the sausage. “Has she been seeing him for some time?”

  “Oh, yes. Since he first came to help around here they’ve been stepping out together. He hasn’t had any competition. Everyone knows Beth is his girl.” She paused, studied him curiously, and added, “I thought you knew, since you’ve both been living at the Coopers. Hope I’m not causing any problems.”

  Mike took another bite of the sausage, drank some lemonade, and answered, “No, I haven’t kept in touch with Beth since I’ve been off hauling barges.”
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  “It’s starting to look like we can’t keep out of war with the South,” she said slowly. “Are you going to join up to fight?”

  “I don’t know. I’m still struggling with it. I guess I have a Quaker conscience. Right now I see myself contributing by piloting the tug. Maybe that’s all I’ll get around to doing if the war’s a ninety-day affair.”

  “Do you really think it will be?”

  “No.” He gave her a quick glance. “I’ve been pretty far south in the past year, and I don’t like what I’ve been seeing and hearing.”

  “Such as?”

  “The rumblings of discontent against the North, and there’s no bones made about the feelings. They’re making the most of it.” He glanced at her, realized she didn’t understand, and tried to explain. “The feeling’s been drummed up by the nice-looking fellows standing on soapboxes and giving it out to all who’ll listen. Speeches heard over and over begin to have an effect. It isn’t a message of brotherly love and kindness that many people in the South are hearing.”

  He drank the last of the lemonade and stood up. “I see Beth heading this way. The moon’s settled just beyond the trees; it’s time to collect my passenger and head homeward. Thank you, Miss Tessie, for an enjoyable evening.”

  “Oh, there you are,” Beth said coolly. “I hope you two had a good evening. I’m exhausted; Roald and I danced until our feet nearly fell off.”

  “Oh,” Tessie said, “I haven’t heard the music for nearly an hour.” She gathered up Mike’s dishes and ducked her head shyly. “Thank you, and good evening to you both.”

  Chapter 10

  The oppressive heat and humidity drew Olivia from her chair to the library window. As soon as she pushed aside the heavy draperies to allow a breeze, she saw Alex. For a moment she could only watch, aware of the scene pressing against her heart. The horse walked slowly and Alex slumped in the saddle—a strong message of defeat and discouragement.

  After watching a moment longer, she crossed the room to where Alex’s parents rocked their chairs in unison. Young slave girls wielding palm leaf fans tried to stir the heavy air. She looked from the perspiration on the girls’ faces to the flushed, weary couple in the chairs. “Alex is home. He’s just coming down the lane. I’m going to the stable to meet him.”

  “Let Claude take care of the horse,” Mr. Duncan said impatiently, moving his face to catch the breeze.

  “You know Alex. He won’t be content with turning his horse over after this long ride,” Olivia answered as she passed their chairs and walked down the hall to the kitchen entrance.

  Alex pulled the saddle from his mount just as she entered the stable. “Hello, my dear,” he murmured with a wan smile.

  “You’re exhausted. Let me take your saddlebag.” She lifted her face for his kiss.

  He shook his head, “I don’t want to touch you until I’ve been up to my neck in cool water. It seems I’d forgotten how beastly the heat is in South Carolina.” A black youth appeared at Alex’s elbow. “Tim, take this mare to the pasture. She’s had all the water she needs.” He turned to follow Olivia.

  “Alex, go to the bath house; I’ll bring clean clothes for you. Would you like something to eat?”

  He shook his head. “Lemonade would be fine.” She watched him turn into the bath house beside the kitchen door.

  When Olivia came back with the tall glass of lemonade and a change of clothing for Alex, she found him submerged in the big tin bathtub. He looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. “And now you’re huffing and puffing with the heat. Why didn’t you ask Lucy to help?”

  She stopped beside the tub, touched his wet hair, and said, “Alex, it honestly hadn’t occurred to me.”

  “Pennsylvania taught us a number of things, didn’t it?”

  “I suppose so.” Olivia sat down with her face toward the open north window. “But why the past tense? Don’t you anticipate seeing it again?”

  “It’s just seems to have happened an age ago.”

  “Tell me about your trip.”

  He shrugged, sat up, and reached for the soap. “Discouraging. I’ll give you a run-down on it later. Right now I’d rather enjoy cool lemonade and my wife.”

  “It seems months instead of weeks since you left. Alex, is there any real value in these trips?”

  “Right now I wonder. I did run into an old classmate when I came through Ashton. He’s asked us to dinner tomorrow night.”

  “From Harvard?”

  “No, prep school. We’ve known each other since boyhood. He is married to a girl we both knew.” Alex glanced up. “How is Father?”

  “Seems to be well, except for suffering from the heat.”

  “Olivia, I’d like to be out of here before the end of July. I’ll explain later. But I feel it’s important to leave Father well.”

  She glanced quickly at him. “I should have guessed. It’s war news, isn’t it?”

  He nodded. “The farther north I go, the more the rumble increases. It’s the border states—Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky. Ever since most of Virginia seceded, she’s been fighting the other half. The western part of Virginia wants nothing to do with being cut out of the Union. Of all that’s happened since April, this has encouraged me more than anything else.”

  “Your parents are in the library.”

  “Let’s go. I’ll have to give them some report.”

  When Alex stepped into the library, he looked from one face to the other. “Mother and Father, you are nearly ill from the heat. Isn’t it about time you treat yourselves better than this?” He bent to kiss his mother and clasp his father’s shoulder.

  Mr. Duncan roused himself and turned to the little slave. “Here, girl! Why aren’t you stirring up a breeze with that fan?”

  “There’s just not a sign of cool air,” Bertha Duncan said fretfully. “Alex, my lad, how good to have you safely home. You don’t look bedraggled from the heat!”

  “I’ve been up to my ears in cold water for the past half hour. Now tell me why you and Father won’t go to the mountains to get away from the heat.”

  “Because your father—”

  “Can’t leave this place in the hands of an incompetent overseer.” Mr. Duncan sat straight in his chair and waved away the child with the fan. “It appears the longer I live, the less I can trust people to do their jobs right.”

  He turned stiffly in his chair and addressed Alex. “Tell me, what did you find and where have you been?”

  “I’ve been as far as Richmond and, Father, I’ve found it in much the same frame of mind as Charleston is.”

  “By that you mean—”

  “Determined to press on with the same course. No one would give me an honest ear, but they were willing to give me a thousand reasons why the South should pursue her efforts to be completely separated from the Union.” He paused. “It’s interesting; I haven’t heard slavery mentioned all month. The Federal government is determined to hold the Union together, and the Confederacy is shouting ‘freedom.’”

  Mr. Duncan snorted. “Don’t forget that freedom includes the reason for the freedom we’ve always had.”

  “Freedom to maintain slaves for economic reasons?” Alex paused. “One thing hasn’t changed, and that’s the harsh language used to describe the North and every member of the present administration.”

  Alex leaned back in his chair and studied the carpet at his feet. Finally he said, “I wasn’t going to mention this, but I’ve heard it so often in the past month it’s starting to make me very uneasy. The avowed goal of the Confederacy right now is to capture Washington. When I expressed my skepticism initially, I was shown several newspaper articles dating back to April mentioning this goal. Considering the language being used, it is no wonder the idea seems to be exciting men nearly to a frenzy. Troops were gathering and drilling in every village and city I passed through.”

  ****

  When Alex awakened the next morning, he found Olivia, propped up on the pillows, soberly
watching him. Rubbing his eyes, he touched her shoulder and asked, “What is it, dearest? Why that expression?”

  She tousled his hair and accepted his kiss before saying, “I’ve come to a decision related to what you said last night just before we went to sleep.”

  “I said lots of things. What are you referring to?”

  “The trains being crowded with troops, the ugly reception you had in Richmond, the pressure put upon you to join the army. Alex, I’m convinced half of the difficulties you encountered would have been avoided if you had been escorting a woman.”

  “And you want to volunteer for the job?” He chuckled, tweaked her nose, and said, “No thanks, dear bodyguard; you’re going to stay safely at home.”

  She wrapped her arms around him and snuggled close. “Just think of what a good team we would be. Sometimes men listen to women when they won’t listen to men.”

  “I’m not listening,” he murmured as his lips traveled down her cheek.

  She shoved him away and sat up. “Alex, I’m bored, terrified, and lonesome. I want to go with you. Furthermore, from your description of events, I’m beginning to wonder whether or not we’ll be able to get back into the North.” Then she tried her smile on him, “Please!”

  “It’s starting to sound better all the time,” he grinned. “Go ahead, beg me some more.” His voice was light, but as she pushed him down and kissed him, she saw the shadows in his eyes.

  “Alex,” she whispered, “we’re in this together; please don’t say no. We must be together every chance we have.”

  He shoved the pillow behind his shoulders and admitted, “Olivia, I honestly didn’t believe I should take you, but I must admit it sounds worth considering. I’ve been so lonesome for you I could scarcely stand it. I need someone to talk to, and I prefer it to be you.”

  “Settled. When do we leave?”

  “As soon as I can get Mother and Father into the mountains. There’s a resort in the Allegheny Mountains in Virginia. It isn’t very far from Roanoke. Mother and Father were there years ago and have often talked of returning. We’ll take them, spend several days with them, and then our work begins.”