Love and War nas-2 Page 18

  "The widow Barclay's been to Washington City," the farmer's wife said. "A secret errand of mercy for —"

  "Sssh, don't say no more," the old farmer interrupted.

  "Oh, why not?" snapped the young woman, whipping out packets. "Perhaps if he knows what we're doing, he'll help us instead of standing there like some stately pine, waiting to be admired."

  The blue eyes shot Charles a look so scornful it left him unable to speak. To the old couple, the young widow continued: "I was wrong to arrange a rendezvous this close to the Potomac. I feared someone was on to the scheme when they took ten minutes to examine my papers at the bridge. One sergeant's eyes kept boring holes in my skirt — and I'm not that attractive."

  "I want to know what's in the packets," Charles said.

  "Quinine. Plentiful in Washington, but scarce in Richmond. It will be desperately needed once the real fighting starts. I'm not the only woman doing this work, Captain. Far from it."

  Spurs jingling, Ambrose crossed the parlor. The widow Barclay's prettiness and patriotism pleased Charles but not her sharp tongue. He was reminded of Billy Hazard's sister Virgilia.

  He had been a mite rough on the old couple. To the woman he said, "You may certainly help her if you wish." The woman lumbered past, knelt behind Augusta Barclay and put her head under the widow's outer skirt. Packets appeared twice as fast.

  Addressing Charles, and still with sarcasm, the young woman said, "Generous of you. I was serious when I said there might be pursuit."

  "Damn if there isn't," Ambrose exclaimed from the parlor's north window. Tense, he motioned for Charles, who peered over his shoulder and saw dust rising behind a hill a mile or two down the road.

  "Must be Yanks, riding that fast." He let the curtain fall. To the women struggling with the packets he said, "I regret my sharp words, ladies —" He hoped the widow Barclay understood he meant that for her; a slight lift of her head said perhaps. "I don't want this commendable work undone, but it will be if we don't move quickly."

  "Just a few more," the fat woman panted. Packets flew right and left.

  Charles signaled for the farmer to gather them, asking: "Where's the safest place to hide those?"

  "Attic."

  "Do it. Ambrose, go out and take that buggy into the trees. If you can't get back before those horsemen come into sight, stay put. You finished, Mrs. Barclay?"

  She smoothed down her outside skirt as the farmer's wife loaded her husband's arms with packets. "It only takes two eyes to answer that, Captain."

  "Kindly spare me the banter and go out to the woodshed in back. Get inside and don't utter a syllable. If that's possible." Surprisingly, she liked the sally and smiled.

  The farmer tottered up the hall stairs. Outside, wheels creaked as Ambrose moved the buggy. Augusta Barclay hurried out.

  Charles ran to the north window again. He saw the riders clearly now, approaching at a gallop. Half a dozen men, all wearing dark blue. Under his cadet gray jacket, sweat began to pour.

  The farmer came down again. "Is there water in the kitchen?" Charles asked the woman.

  "A bucket and a dipper."

  "Fill the dipper and bring it here. Then both of you keep still."

  He tossed his shako aside and moments later strolled out to the porch, shotgun hanging in the crook of his left arm, dipper in his right hand. He saw the riders react to the sight of him by drawing swords and side arms. The lieutenant in charge of the detail held up his hand.

  The moment in which Charles could have been shot passed so quickly, it was over before he realized it. He leaned on one of the porch pillars, the beat of his heart pounding in his ears.

  26

  The horsemen spilled in from the road, raising dust that blew away on the breeze. The barrels of several army revolvers pointed at Charles's chest.

  Red as an apple in the heat, the lieutenant walked his horse to the porch. Charles drank from the dipper, then let his hand fall laconically. He pressed his right sleeve against his ribs to hide a tremor. He had seen the young Union officer before.

  "Good day, sir," the lieutenant said. His voice broke into a squeak as he spoke. Charles didn't laugh or smile. A nervous man — or one humiliated — often reacted without thinking.

  "Good day," he answered with a pleasant nod. His gaze drifted from face to face. Four of the Yanks were barely old enough to use razors. Two refused to meet his eye; they would be no threat.

  By waiting, Charles forced the first identification: "Second Lieutenant Prevo, Georgetown Mounted Dragoons, Department of Washington, at your service."

  "Captain Main, Wade Hampton Legion. Your servant."

  "May I inquire, sir, what a rebel officer is doing so near the Potomac?"

  "I don't care for the term rebel, sir, but the answer to your question is simple. My nigra bond servant, whom I brought all the way from South Carolina, ran away day before yesterday — heading for the blessed freedoms of Yankee territory, I presume. I have now concluded I can't catch him. Trail's gone cold."

  The lieutenant indicated the two tethered horses. "You didn't undertake the pursuit by yourself, I see."

  "My first lieutenant is inside, napping." Where the devil had he met this green youngster?

  "You say your nigger slave ran away —?"

  "These rebs got all the luxuries, don't they, Lieutenant?" said a toothy corporal with a huge dragoon pistol. Bad eyes on that one, and a side arm that could blast Charles to pieces. Had to watch him.

  Charles's tactic was to ignore the corporal and say to the officer, "Yes, and I'm goddamn angry about it."

  The corporal persisted. "That's what the war's all about, ain't it? You boys don't want to lose your boot polishers or them nigger gals you can fuck anytime you —"

  The lieutenant started to reprimand the noncom. Before he could, Charles flung the dipper in the dirt. "Lieutenant Prevo, if you'll ask your man to step down, I'll reply to that remark in a way he'll understand." He stared at the corporal while reaching across to his saber hilt. It would be stupid to bluff his way into a fight. But if they smelled fear and dismounted and spread out, Mrs. Barclay was a goner.

  "Not necessary, sir," Prevo said. "My corporal will keep his mouth shut." The toothy noncom grumbled, glaring at Charles.

  The Yank officer relaxed somewhat. "I confess I'm not entirely unsympathetic to your feelings, Captain. I hail from Maryland. My brother had two slaves on his farm there, and they've run away, too. When this militia unit was mustered, about a third of the boys refused to take the loyalty oath and resigned. I was tempted. Since I didn't, I must carry out my duty." Like a weathervane in a gale, his mood swung again. "But I can't escape a feeling we've encountered one another before."

  "Not in Maryland." His memory suddenly made the connection. "West Point?"

  "By God that's it. You were —?"

  "Class of '57."

  "I reported just before you graduated." Prevo paused. "I had to take the Canterberry Road after my plebe year. Couldn't handle the studies. I wish I'd been able to last the course. I loved the place — Well, the mystery's cleared up. If you'll pardon us, we'll get on with our job."

  "Surely."

  "We're pursuing a female smuggler. We believe she brought contraband medicines out of the district and came this way. We're searching every farm along this road." He prepared to dismount.

  "Female smuggler?" Charles hoped his stifled laugh sounded convincing. "Save yourself, Lieutenant. I've been here an hour, and I give you my word, there's no such person inside this house."

  Prevo settled in his saddle again, hesitating. The gun muzzles remained trained on Charles, the toothy corporal's steadiest.

  "My word as an officer and Academy man," Charles said in an offhand manner that, he hoped, lent conviction to the carefully delimited truth.

  Seconds passed. Prevo took a breath. It didn 't work. Now what will they —?

  "Captain Main, I accept your word and thank you for your gentlemanly cooperation. We have more ground to c
over, and you've saved us time."

  He sheathed his sword, shouted orders, and the detachment wheeled back to the road and moved on southward. The corporal's disappointed face disappeared in dust. Charles retrieved the dipper and leaned against the post, momentarily dazed with relief.

  27

  Charles waited ten minutes in case the soldiers returned, then called Augusta Barclay from her hiding place and whistled Ambrose out of the woods. "Leave the buggy there. Those Yankees might take the same road home."

  "I gather your eloquence was persuasive, Captain," Augusta said as she brushed wood splinters from her skirt.

  "I gave them my word there was no female smuggler in the house." He gauged the distance between the white building and the woodshed. "It missed being an outright lie by about seven feet."

  "Clever of you."

  "That compliment just makes my day, ma'am."

  He didn't mean to be biting, but it came out that way as the tight-wound tensions of the last half hour let go. He turned and quickly bent over the water trough to splash his face. Why did he give a damn what she said or didn't say?

  A touch on his shoulder. "Captain?"

  "Yes?"

  "You have a right to be irked. I spoke out of turn earlier. And more than once. You acted bravely and performed a valuable service. I owe you thanks and an apology."

  "You owe me neither one, Mrs. Barclay. It's my war, too. Now I suggest you go indoors and stay there till it gets dark." Responding with a small nod, she let her blue eyes hold his a moment. He felt a deep and unfamiliar response; unsettling —

  About four, he was watering Sport and Ambrose's bay at the trough when noise and dust signaled the approach of northbound riders. Prevo's detachment galloped by. The lieutenant waved. Charles waved back. Then the house hid the blue horsemen.

  The farmer and his wife invited the cavalrymen to stay for supper. They agreed, the more readily because Augusta Barclay seconded the suggestion. Charles washed up as the sun sank and the heat went out of the day. A refreshing breeze blew through the house when they sat down to a plain but tasty meal of cured ham, potatoes, and pole beans.

  He kept glancing at Augusta there beyond the chimney of the table lamp. Tonight she kept her eyes averted, like any proper girl from a proper Southern family. A delicate femininity was cultivated by such women and prized by their suitors; some females, the best example he could think of being Ashton, even playacted shamelessly to convince others of their conformity to the ideal. This yellow-haired widow didn't conform. She was too outspoken. Too robustly built, when you came right down to it. He wondered about the size of her feet. Any girl with big feet was done for socially and romantically.

  Shyly trying to strike up a conversation, the old farmer said to Ambrose, "That's a fine-looking horse you ride."

  "Yes, sir. South Carolina saddle horses are the best in the world."

  "Don't say that to a Virginian," Augusta told him.

  "Amen," said Charles. "I get the feeling some people in this part of the country think Virginia invented the horse."

  "We're mighty proud of men like Turner Ashby and Colonel Stuart," the farmer's wife said, passing the beans. It was her only statement during the meal.

  Ambrose finished a second potato. "I do agree with Charlie, though. Virginians are pretty good at making you feel like an outsider with no more than a word or a look."

  Augusta smiled. "I know the type. But as the poet says, Lieutenant, to err is human, to forgive, divine."

  "You like Shakespeare, do you?" asked Charles.

  "I do, but I was quoting Alexander Pope, the Augustan satirist. He's my favorite."

  "Oh." Smarting from his show of stupidity, Charles lunged for more ham with his fork. "Always did confuse those two. Not much of a reader of poetry, I'm afraid."

  "I own a copy of nearly everything Pope wrote," she said. "He was a magnificent wit, but sad in many ways. He was only four feet six inches tall, with a deformed spine. Curved like a bow is the phrase used by his contemporaries. He knew life for what it is, but he could push away the pain by mocking it."

  "I see." The two murmured words hung in the silence. He didn't know Pope except by name, but now he thought he knew her better. What pain did her jibing conceal?

  The fat woman served a pear tart and coffee while her husband asked Augusta when and how the quinine would be taken to Richmond. "A man should be here for it in the morning," she replied.

  "Well, your bed's made up in the spare room," the wife called from the kitchen. "Captain, will you and your lieutenant stop overnight with us, too? I can fix pallets on the floor of the parlor."

  Augusta turned in his direction. Her face, bisected by the lamp chimney, seemed expectant. Or did he merely imagine that?

  He felt duty and personal desire pulling against each other.

  Ambrose awaited guidance from his superior. None being forthcoming, he said, "I wouldn't mind a good night's rest. 'Specially if you'll permit me to try that melodeon in the parlor."

  "Yes indeed," the farmer said, pleased.

  "All right, then," Charles said. "We'll stay."

  Augusta's smile was restrained. But it seemed real.

  The farmer's wife produced a stone jar of excellent apple brandy. Charles took some, and so did Augusta. They sat in facing chairs while Ambrose experimented with the old squeeze-or­gan. Soon he started a lively tune.

  "You play well," Augusta said. "I like that melody but don't recognize it."

  "The name is 'Dixie's Land.' It's a minstrel piece."

  "They played it all over the North when Abe stood for election last fall," the farmer added. "The Republicans marched to it."

  "Might be so," Ambrose agreed, "but the Yankees are losing the song as fast as they'll lose this war. Everybody is singing and playing it in the camps around Richmond."

  The lively music continued. Augusta said, "Tell me something about yourself, Captain Main."

  He chose words with extreme care, wary of being spiked again by some smiling sarcasm. He mentioned West Point, and how he had gone there at his cousin's urging and with his help; in a few sentences he covered his service in Texas, his friendship with Billy Hazard, and his doubts about slavery.

  "Well, I have never believed in the institution either. When my husband died a year ago last December, I wrote manumission papers for both his slaves. They stayed with me, thank heaven. Otherwise I would have been forced to sell the farm."

  "What do you raise?"

  "Oats. Tobacco. The eyebrows of the neighbors. I do some of the field work, which my husband always forbade because it wasn't feminine."

  She leaned back in the old rocker, her head resting on an embroidered pillow. How fair and soft she looked in the lamplight. One of Charles's fingers tapped, tapped his glass of apple brandy. Not feminine? Had she married a crazy man?

  "Your husband was a farmer, I gather?"

  "Yes. He lived on the same property all his life — and his father before him. He was a decent man. Kind to me — although he was definitely suspicious of books, poetry, music —" She inclined her head at Ambrose, who was lost in some sweet classical air Charles couldn't identify. Augusta continued. "I accepted his proposal seven months after his first wife died. He went the same way she did. Influenza. He was twenty-three years older than I."

  "Even so, you must have loved him —"

  "I liked him; I didn't love him."

  "Then how could you marry him?"

  "Ah — another disciple of the romantic Sir Walter. Virginians worship him only slightly less than the Lord and George Washington." She finished her brandy quickly. The combative glint had returned to her eyes. He had a deformed spine. He could push away the pain by mocking it.

  "The answer to your question is very plain and unromantic, Captain. My father and mother were dead, and my only brother, too. A hunting accident took him when he was sixteen and I was twelve. I had no other kin in Spotsylvania Leonard County, so when Barclay came to propose, I thought it over fo
r an hour and said yes." She gazed in the empty glass. "I felt no one else would ever ask me."

  "Why, of course they would," he said at once. "You're a handsome woman."

  She looked at him. Feeling leaped like lightning between them.

  The little mouth curl, the smile of defense, slipped back as she broke away from his steady gaze, standing abruptly. Her big breasts swelled the bosom of her dress, which she tugged self­consciously. "That's gallant of you, Captain. I know I'm not, but I always wanted to be. Hope springs eternal. That, too, is Mr. Pope. Now, whatever else I am, I'm tired. I will thank you again for saving the quinine and ask you to excuse me. Good night."

  He rose. "Good night." When she was out of sight, he said to Ambrose, "Damnedest female I ever met."

  Ambrose laid the melodeon aside and grinned. "Don't get smitten, Charlie. Colonel wants you to tend to business."

  "Don't be an idiot," he said, hoping he sounded convincing.

  Charles slept well and woke at dawn, filled with an unusual eagerness to be up and doing. He left Ambrose snoring, stole outside and whistled "Dixie's Land" softly while he fed and watered Sport and the bay. He studied the upstairs windows of the farmhouse. Which was the spare room?

  A red sun rose over the gentle hills and woodlands east of the road. Birds sang, and Charles stretched, exhilarated. He' hadn't felt so fit and good in months. He hoped the change would last a while. He didn't need to speculate about the cause.

  Wood smoke, pale and pungent, rose from the kitchen chimney; breakfast working. He was starved. Going in, he remembered he must unpack his personal pistol from his camp trunk. With a battle surely coming soon, he must clean and oil it. He hadn't worn the weapon since he returned from Texas. It was an 1848 army Colt, six shots, .44 caliber, to which he had added several expensive options, including walnut grips, a detachable shoulder stock, and a cylinder engraved with a depiction of dragoons attacking Indians. With the revolver, his shotgun, and the regulation legion sword, he had everything he needed to whip Yankees — a task he was eager to undertake this morning.