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.”
As Alex and Olivia sat down to breakfast, Mike Clancy’s letters were delivered. Alex held them in his hands and turned them over. The first letter was crumpled and spotted with moisture. The second bore a recent postmark. He opened the crumpled one while Olivia leaned over his shoulder to read. “This was written months ago!” he declared.
“Mike’s taken the boat back to Pennsylvania. Sounds as if he’s done quite a bit of observing and listening. Mike’s a smart lad, and I trust his decision. Seems the rumbles had him running for Pennsylvania just before all the April events. That’s good.
“From the sound of things, I’ve a feeling if he’d waited another month we wouldn’t have a boat. Well, we won’t need to worry about going to Vicksburg for the Golden Awl. Most certainly he made a good decision, and it’s out of the question to consider taking more people out.”
Olivia was scanning the second letter. “Alex, you need to read this. It sounds as if we could use a trip to Tennessee and Kentucky.”
Alex took the letter, and she watched his eyebrows lift. “So, there’s strong Union feeling in the two states. For the sake of North Carolina and Tennessee, it’s too bad I didn’t go up there this spring.”
“And any secession that’s been done can be undone! Too bad we didn’t come up with this brilliant idea last April,” Olivia said.
Alex grinned. “We? I guess I should have listened to my wife.”
The senior Duncans came into the breakfast room. “And what grand plans are you two making now?” Alex studied his father’s face before answering.
“Father,” Olivia said, “you look as if you didn’t sleep last night.”
“It was too hot, and mosquitoes buzzed around my head all night.”
“Too hot even now,” Bertha breathed, waving her handkerchief. “How I would love to escape this place!” She threw a quick glance toward her husband.
“Olivia and I have an idea,” Alex said. “Father, remember the Misty Mountain Inn? For years you and Mother have talked about returning there. How about all of us going now? Olivia and I will need to be returning to Pennsylvania shortly, but we’ll spend at least a week with you in the mountains.”
Olivia saw both of their faces brighten, and she beamed back at them. “Let’s go now before another hot week passes!”
That evening as they dressed for dinner with Alex’s schoolmate, Olivia asked, “Is this evening simply social?”
Alex turned to look at her. “I honestly don’t know. But if I’ve a friend in the area who’ll be candid with me, it’s Henri Classone.”
She pinned the brooch to the low neckline of her pink silk organdy. “I’m ready.”
“You look as cool as a peppermint.” He kissed her cheek. Taking her arm, they started down the stairs. “I have some hard questions to ask Henri tonight, but let’s also plan to enjoy the evening.”
He helped her into the buggy. “I hoped to stir up a little cool air with this rig. Do you have something to cover your hair?” Olivia nodded and shook out the folds in the pink lace scarf.
She turned with a smile. “If it’s only to Ashton, I haven’t much time to learn about Henri and his wife.”
Alex nodded and flipped the reins along the horse’s back. “To begin with, Henri is managing his father’s South Carolina property now. During our growing up years, the family lived here. Now his people are in Louisiana. They have a little scrap of land there—just enough, Henri said, to make his father feel useful. I’d like Father to consider something on the same order—” quickly he glanced at Olivia “—except that I wouldn’t want to be the one running his place.”
“How would it be possible without slaves?”
“It’s not out of the question. We’d be paying wages to people motivated to work. I’m convinced freedom and the security of a home and family would help give these men a sense of pride and accomplishment. I’d need to build decent cabins for the families.” He grinned down at her.
“But, frankly, I can’t see myself content with being a gentleman farmer. I’ll have to admit, after being away from Boston, I’m getting a desire to get back into law again…maybe politics.” He glanced at her, then rambled on. “Seems when I complained to the Lord about how things were going in Washington, He indicated that if I saw the problem, I needed to do something about it.”
They rode in silence. Olivia smiled and touched his arm. “Alex, talking about the future is exciting. I do believe the Lord has a place for us, and also interesting things to do the rest of our lives.”
“But there’s the present to get through first.”
“I was also thinking that, I just didn’t know how to say it. Is it significant that we’re able to look ahead with excitement?”
“I don’t know, my dear. Right now there are enough difficulties to make me prefer postponing my thinking for the time being.”
Henri met them at the door. He bent over Olivia’s hand and said, “My wife, Clarissa, will be with us in a moment. We have a month-old baby boy and she wants to show him off.”
He led them into the drawing room. Olivia was still admiring the pastel beauty of the room when a round, dark-haired woman came into the room carrying a fussing baby.
With one glance at Olivia’s face, she deposited the infant in her arms. “Oh,” Olivia sighed, “he’s so little and soft. What adorable hands. He’ll be blonde like your husband.”
“Now Andrew, don’t fuss.” Clarissa patted the baby and explained, “He’s hungry, but I did want you to see him awake. I’ll be back shortly.” With the baby snuggled against her shoulder, she smiled at Olivia and left the room.
“Come have some fruit punch while we wait for Clarissa.” Henri led Olivia to a chair and a slave placed a tall, cool glass beside her.
As she sipped the punch, Henri turned to Alex. “I was surprised to hear you’d left the area. Didn’t think a true son of South Carolina would do such a thing. Have you returned to take over the family farm?” He chuckled at his joke and sipped punch.
“No. As a matter of fact, Olivia and I will be returning to the North as soon as we’ve finished here.”
“North?” Henri looked startled, his grin faded. “Man, you can’t be serious about returning to the North now! They’ll eat you alive. What is your business here?”
“We came primarily to visit the folks. Mother and Father hadn’t met Olivia. Last December seemed a good time. Certainly we didn’t expect events to move as rapidly as they have.”
Henri nodded. “The war.”
“You asked about my business now,” Alex said slowly. “I’m a self-appointed committee of one for the purpose of trying to talk sense into people.”
“Specifically what do you mean?” Henri asked cautiously.
“I believe there are strong Union people in the South. My intention is to talk to as many as possible. Henri, it isn’t too late. If there’s a strong enough voice, the Southern confederation will be forced to listen to us. I intend to unite those opposed to secession, those determined to preserve the Union.”
Henri’s chuckle started with a mirthless shaking of his shoulders. Olivia watched it erupt into an explosion of sound. She straightened in her chair, carefully placed the glass on the table and said, “I beg your pardon, sir; what do you find so hilarious?”
Henri wiped his eyes. “I would apologize if you weren’t both Southerners. I spent weeks at the convention in Richmond as a delegate from South Carolina. Actually I had no legal involvement with it. I was there only to encourage the members of the convention to seriously consider secession. Alex, will you believe this? Of the members of the convention there was a large majority who were dead set against secession. They were entertaining the hope of being a liaison between the North and the South. Of course all of us from the deep South were determined to sway the opinion toward secession. I must say we did our job well. I might add, they were bombarded with reasons to side with us. So you see, I’m not the one to be hearing your cause.”
He got to his feet, bowed to Olivia. “I hear Clarissa coming, and my man indicates dinner is served.”
During dinner, Henri kept the conversation light. As they finished their compote of fruit, Henri looked at Alex and asked, “Shall we retire to the library and allow the ladies to talk about babies, or shall we invite them to join us? Clarissa hasn’t heard the tale I wish to give you.”
“Oh, let’s stay together!” Olivia exclaimed. “I’d like to hear it too.”
Clarissa nodded. “I was here during that time in April. It was just before the baby was born.” She wrinkled her nose as she added, “And a tiny baby certainly can occupy time—I’ve still not heard much of his fascinating story.”
As they sat down in the drawing room, Henri waved his hand and said, “In all fairness, I must state your cause of attempting to hold the Union together is admirable. But for the most part, we Southerners are forced to choose between two good things: the Union or the sovereignty of the state. Alex, you know that. Most certainly, state sovereignty must prevail.”
Clarissa spoke softly. “Little as I know about financial matters, I do know without our slaves, we would be ruined.”
“Well said, my dear.” Henri smiled at her and turned to Alex. “It sounds selfish and narrow-minded to outsiders, but you know the complete impossibility of maintaining life to this standard without slaves.”
As Henri spoke, Olivia watched the black butler move slowly around the room. His motions of tidying and setting out liquor bottles seemed contrived. Henri turned with a frown. “James, we won’t want anything except iced fruit punch. The heat makes liquor unappealing,” he added to Alex.
They watched the man leave the room. Alex caught Olivia’s eye, and she knew he was thinking of Caleb.
As the door closed, Henri turned to Alex with a grin. “Now I’ll tell you why I can’t support the Union; indeed, why the idea is laughable.
“When I was convinced the Virginians would endorse secession, I immediately started for home. At Charleston I stopped at the military academy. When they discovered I’d just returned from Virginia, they commandeered my services to lead them against the Union. Of course—” He glanced at his wife with a smile “—I extracted a promise that I’d be home for the birth of my son.” Looking at Alex, he added, “It was mostly a token gesture, sending troops into Virginia to join with theirs in our first assault against Federal forces.”
“If this was in April,” Alex said slowly, “then it must have been the Harper’s Ferry incident. I read about it in the newspapers. Needless to say, the newspapers were from South Carolina, and I didn’t believe the accounts.”
Henri leaned forward. “Alex, I assure you they were true. I was there. When our small detachment moved on Harper’s Ferry, it was an arrogant, stupid thing to do. Had we not filled ourselves with all kinds of bravado, we would have seen how preposterous it was.
“Here we are, moving against one of the largest arsenals in the country. In addition, there is also an arms factory there. We knew the arsenal contained the Union’s largest store of arms. In the same location was the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, the linkage between the western rivers and the east coast. Close by was a flour mill, one of the largest in the country, and fully operational. I think you get the picture. It was one of the most important military posts in the country.”
Henri chuckled again. “Would you believe that a little group of men captured the entire Union holdings? There was only a handful of us from the South Carolina unit. We met at Halltown with the Virginia troops; together we counted two hundred and fifty. Fortunately, a squad from the Fauquier County Cavalry joined us with a piece of artillery. It appeared some residents of Halltown would join us if we needed them.
“About nine o’clock we moved up on the Ferry. Evidently they’d received warning, because we were challenged by sentry after sentry. We’d just realized we were in over our heads and decided to send in a flag of truce when the whole place exploded! We found out later the fellow in charge had concluded we were a multitude. He laid charges throughout the arsenal and the factory; he also lined up the trains, and when the fuse was lit, the whole place went up. We tore out of there, went back to Halltown where they told us all the fellows stationed at the Ferry had been seen crossing the Potomac. Some of the Virginian troops took off after them. Guess they chased them all night.”
He paused to laugh. “One additional thing; we put out the fires in the workshops and saved a large number of the rifles, so the South was well paid for their efforts that night.”
There was silence in the room. Just beyond the open window, Olivia could hear the peaceful chirping of crickets.
After a moment Henri said softly, “Alex, give up your crusade; we need you here.”
They were nearly home when Alex straightened and flicked the reins along the back of the horse. Olivia stirred beside him and he turned to look down at her. “I’m very angry,” he murmured. “I’ve nearly allowed myself to be blinded by wishful thinking. Things are much worse than I’d guessed.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Go home. But first I want to stir up every loyal Unionist.” In a moment he added, “I’d hoped to influence Henri for the Union, but instead he’s made an even more ardent Unionist out of me.”