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Solomon was thirsty, so Lenert found a well out behind the carriage house and pulled some cool, fresh water for him, and then gave him another of the pills Frau Schmidt had left, which the doctor had approved of.
When Solomon was asleep again, Lenert wandered around the house. In addition to the large sitting room and its attached scullery, there was the room where Solomon rested and another small box room crowded with junk.
Then he climbed the stairs to the second floor. To the left was the room where Amos slept, with a dormer window that looked out into trees. A big double bed took up the center of the room, with a quilt made of star-shaped pieces of fabric sewn together. He had an armoire for his clothing, though he seemed to rarely use it, leaving bits and pieces hung on the chair and piled on the desk.
The only things hung neatly were his uniform tunics and slacks, which reminded Lenert that he was a police officer. Was he being kind to them because of some investigation he was involved with? Perhaps he knew Graybill, and had deliberately befriended Isaac on the canal master’s behalf?
Lenert shook those feelings away. Amos had been nothing but kind to him and Solomon since finding them in that awful, dirty room. And if he had feelings for Isaac, then it was up to Isaac to handle them.
A small room nestled beside Amos’ bedroom, fitted out as a nursery with a wooden cradle. The other end of the house comprised another bedroom, with matching dormer window and sloped roof. The only furniture was large bed and a wooden armoire, and no one appeared to use the room.
Lenert marveled. Such a big house, for a single man! Obviously whoever had fitted the house out originally intended it for a family—mother and father at one end, children at the other, with a baby in between. The first floor could be for elderly family members.
It was far bigger than the farmhouse where he had grown up, which had a single chamber for his parents, another for his sisters, and a third room, the size of a large closet, where Lenert slept.
Thinking of his family made him sad, so he checked on Solomon, made sure he was asleep, and walked outside. He would see if being among trees and grass would make him feel better—or perhaps the spirits of the dead would remind him of all he had left behind in Prussia. He would not know the result of his choice until he tried.
A lovely, tree-lined path led away from the carriage house, and Lenert moved slowly, worried that someone would notice him and question his presence. He saw a family group clustered together around a grave, with a black-coated minister beside them and the wagon that had carried the coffin.
As he walked farther, he spotted a mother and two young girls. The girls darted and played between the trees, seemingly oblivious to the gravestones nearby.
This was an odd mix, he thought, a public park and a cemetery. He turned a corner and was surprised to see a mansion ahead of him through the trees. It was a huge building, with a central section painted white and stone wings on either side. Graceful arched windows and a peaked roof over the center made it seem especially lovely.
A beefy man with a pair of clippers trimmed the hedge along one side of the house as Lenert approached. “Is hot work,” Lenert said, as the man wiped his brow with the tail of his shirt.
The man must have recognized Lenert’s accent, because he replied in German, “Sehr heiß.” Very hot.
He spoke with a Prussian pronunciation, and Lenert was so excited to hear his own dialect that he began speaking rapidly. “I come from Prussia myself, but I have only been here less than two years.”
“Really? I am from outside Oldenburg.” The man stuck out his hand. “Bruno Geiger.”
“Lenert Tessmer. From Cloppenburg.” They shook hands.
“You are a farmer, too?” Bruno asked.
“My family, for many generations. When I came to America I did not know where there were farms, so I worked on the canal.” He showed off his splint. “Until I broke my leg. Then I helped at a lock.”
“Do you look for work now?” Bruno asked. “Because we need more groundskeepers here. The boss, he is very fair, and the work is much like farming. Each spring we plant flowers along the paths. In summer we cut the lawns and rake the grass, and in fall we clear up all the dead leaves. Even in winter, there is work, shoveling snow and pruning trees.”
“I have done all that,” Lenert said.
“When you are ready, come back and I will introduce you to the boss. He is a Prussian, too, so he will like you already.”
Lenert thanked him and began walking again. A job! He could stay in the city, with Isaac. They could only stay with Amos for a short time, of course, but they could find a place of their own, away from prying eyes.
He circled back to the carriage house and checked on Solomon. He still slept. So Lenert cleaned the floor and windows, making everything shine as he had done at Isaac’s cottage. He was on his knees, scrubbing a spot on the stone floor of the scullery, when Amos came in, carrying a fragrant basket of food.
“Lenert! You are a guest here, not the cleaning woman.”
“I want show my appreciation,” Lenert said, as he stood up. “What is that?”
“A colored woman makes these meals for police officers who work through their dinner shift,” he said. “I purchased a few extra for us.” The box he opened was redolent with the smell of fried chicken, roasted potatoes, and a salad made with cooked eggs, along with slices of fresh bread.
“Where is Isaac?”
“He went to his parents. He say he will come back today.”
“Well, we shouldn’t wait for him. The chicken will get cold.”
Lenert went to rouse Solomon and bring him out of his room, while Amos set the table and pulled in two extra chairs from the crowded box room.
Just as they were about to sit down to eat, Isaac came in, tired and dusty from the long day, carrying his bag. “That smells delicious!” he said. He turned to Amos. “Do you cook?”
“I purchase,” Amos said with a smile. “Get cleaned up and join us.”
Isaac went out to the well and Amos addressed Solomon. “How do you feel, my friend?”
“My body aches and I have trouble catching my breath, but I am amazed at what a comfortable bed can do to heal the body and the spirit,” Solomon said. “Plus the ointments Mrs. Schmidt gave me are helping me heal.”
“Very good.” Isaac joined them then, and Amos held out one hand to him, and the other to Solomon. “It is the custom in my family to hold hands before a meal and say a moment of silent grace, to thank the Lord for food in a world where many hunger.”
The four of them joined hands and closed their eyes. Silently, Lenert thanked the Lord for bringing him to this place, among these people, to the feeling of love that they all shared for each other, when so many in the world walked alone or in fear.
The chicken was delicious, better than any Lenert had ever eaten. “What do you think, Solomon?” Amos asked. “This is your people’s cooking.”
“I don’t remember my mother very well, but everything she made for us was delicious,” he said. “Even when we had no more than a handful of greens to boil in water.”
“Where did you grow up?” Amos asked.
“I was born on a plantation in South Carolina,” he said. “Lowlands, near the ocean. I can still smell the salt water sometimes when I sleep. When I was nine I was sold to a farm in Virginia. When I was sixteen I ran away, and your people helped me get to Philadelphia.”
“The Quakers?” Isaac asked.
“Yes, sir. Found me work, eventually with Mr. Rayburn some years ago.”
They continued to talk, and Lenert was pleased to see a growing interest between Amos and Solomon. They were both such kind men that it would be good if they were together.
There were slices of a lemon cake for dessert, and Isaac made tea again for them.
“This afternoon I spoke to a man I know who does some legal work for the canal,” Amos said, between sips of his tea. “I have helped him when there were criminals to be prosecuted.”
Isaac leaned forward “What did he say?”
“That if you have proof of criminal activity, he would like to see it. But mind you, he can’t do anything without a client. The canal board would have to authorize him to look into it.”
“I can ask Professor Branson,” Isaac said. “The man who mentored me at Penn. He serves on the canal’s board, and he is the one who recommended me for my job.”
“There is no guarantee he will accept your challenge,” Amos said. “These professional men, they often stick together.”
Isaac shrugged. “He has always been a kind and upright man to me. I can but ask him, and see what he says.”
After dinner, Amos led Solomon back to his bed, and Isaac and Lenert worked together to clear up. “It is a beautiful night,” Isaac said. “Would you like to go for a walk, my dearest?”
“If you are not frightened by the spirits of the dead.”
“The Friends do not believe in ghosts,” Isaac said. “We believe that the spirits of those we have lost live on within us. So I have no fear of walking among those who have passed.”
Lenert led him outside, and on the path that led up to the mansion. “I met a fellow Prussian today,” he said.
“Really? How wonderful. It must have made you feel so good to speak your language to someone who understands.”
“Yes, was very nice. His name Bruno and is from Oldenburg. Not far from Bremen.”
Isaac took his hand and squeezed. “I know you have bad memories of that place.”
Lenert shrugged. “It is place like any other. And Bruno, he is from farm, like me, not city.”
They walked on for a few moments, lulled by the gentle wind in the trees. “He say to me maybe I can get job here, at cemetery. They need man to work grounds.”
“Would you like that? It wouldn’t remind you too much of home?”
“My home is with you,” Lenert said. “So I cannot think of job here unless I know you will be here, too.”
“I have been thinking about going back to the university,” Isaac said. “If Professor Branson will have me back, and help me with the finances. Before I left, he said he could get me a scholarship, and that I might study longer and be able to be a professor, like him.”
“Oh, Isaac,” Lenert said. “Would be wonderful, yes? Take you away from problems at canal. And in city, you say, we can be safer together.”
“Do not hope too much, my dearest,” Isaac said, with a squeeze of his hand. “We must do justice with Mr. Graybill, and see what Professor Branson says.”
A night bird chirped in the trees, and Lenert took that as a sign. Isaac and Amos were both strong, good-hearted men. They would make things better, he was sure of it.
