Chapter Seventeen

They arrived, a trifle late, for the dinner which was intended to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Davidson’s marriage.

Daniel was immediately surrounded by the other guests all seeking the latest news of the conflict.

Davidson urged them all into the dining room where the dinner commenced with Daniel still fielding questions from the diners.

During the meal, whenever possible, Jane took Daniel’s hand and caressed his leg and whispered ‘I love you’ in his ear.

When the dinner was completed and after a number of speeches and toasts the gentlemen moved to Davidson’s study for cigars and cognac or corn whisky according to taste. Davidson suggested a game of poker and most of the guests were willing.

Daniel followed his usual practice of watching the cards for a while before starting to play and so he wandered around the study looking at the many fine leather-bound books in Davidson’s collection while the cards were collected and the card table set up and chairs were gathered for the players.

The draw for the first dealer had just commenced when Daniel’s eye fell upon a book lying upon the floor close to the chair and hidden to frontal view by the pedestal of the desk. It had been published by Box and Letterman and it was a large-type Bible in the King James Version.

No sooner did Daniel see this than the thought came into his head: Who was King David’s son? Absalom! So Davidson equaled Absalom: it was so obvious that he did not comprehend why he had not seen it earlier.

Now the big problem was how to bring this particular drama to its proper conclusion.

He would have to think this through later when his mind was not blurred by alcohol, so he set his consciousness on the cards and began to mentally record every one that was exposed on the card table. With fourteen cards exposed at every game it took him but five or six games to record the pack. When the cards were shuffled the order of some of the subsets was disturbed but that rarely made a difference to order within the sets, so that if Daniel saw the King of Hearts come up he could be fairly certain of what cards were likely to follow it and if they did, he would know that the particular subset was more or less intact. This gave him and enormous advantage over the other players who merely accepted the cards they received without any cognition of what cards might be held by the other players.

When one of the players withdrew from the game complaining that his luck had deserted him, Daniel took his chair.

As was usual for him he played quietly throwing in his hand early in the game and thereby losing minimal stakes until he received a hand that he could play and was satisfied that no other player was likely to have a better hand. He watched quietly while Davidson pushed up the ante and began to try to buy himself the game. Daniel merely met the betting and waited until Davidson asked to see him and offered a note-of-hand for the amount. Then Daniel presented his cards and took the pot.

“Captain Beauregard is a very capable player. I have played with him before. He never seems to win at all until the pot is at its biggest then in a single move he takes the lot.” Davidson remarked good-humoredly, although there was sweat on his temples on this cool evening.

“Your luck certainly seems to be in, captain.” Another commented.”You’ve cleaned us all out.”

“Let us rejoin the ladies.” Another suggested.

The group rose and began to return to the drawing room where the ladies were waiting.

Davidson caught Daniel’s arm as he was gathering up the money.

“Captain may I ask you to give me until the month end to settle the note? I find myself a trifle short at the moment.”

In normal circumstances, Daniel would have agreed but inwardly he was seething over the proof he had received that Davidson was the traitor. He was also heated by liquor to which he was not well accustomed.

“I fear not, Mister Davidson. I do not accommodate traitors!” Daniel said pointing unambiguously at the Bible on the floor. He turned on his heels and walked to the drawing room where Jane was waiting for his return.

“Whatever is the matter darling? Everyone says that you were the big winner! Why are you looking so angry and upset?” She put her arms around him as if to soothe him.

Just then Davidson stormed into the room holding a cocked pistol in each hand.

“Beauregard! You will never live to prove it!” Davidson shouted as he raised a pistol and pointed it at Daniel. Jane glanced over her shoulder and saw the cocked pistol pointed at Daniel’s chest she moved over to protect him just as Davidson pulled the trigger. The bullet entered her back and penetrated her heart.

A man dived at Davidson’s right hand and sent the gun spinning to Daniel’s feet. Daniel laid Jane down and picked up the pistol firing it from the floor. The bullet entered under Davidson’s chin and blew away the top of his skull even as he raised his left hand.

“Damnation! What on earth came over Davidson?” One man asked, as the women were hurried from the room.

“I’ve seen sore losers before but never like this!” Another commented.

“What was he talking about ‘you’ll never live to prove it’? Captain Beauregard, did you accuse him of cheating?”

“Don’t be a fool, John, Davidson lost and Beauregard won. If Thaddeus had accused Beauregard of cheating it might have made sense but we all saw the Beauregard did nothing that could be regarded as cheating. He was not the dealer, Davidson was.”

‘Well sir,” John Hammond, who was a magistrate, said to Daniel. “Are you able to tell us why Davidson should have attacked you in such a manner?”

“Mister Hammond if there was a reason it would have had to do with the Presidency and I am unable to venture a guess until I have first discussed it with the President.”

“May I help you with Mrs Arbuthnot’s body, Captain?” Hammond suggested. “I am sorry for your loss. She was very much in love with you as we could all see. I believe that she saved your life. She moved her body to shield you from Davidson’s bullet.”

They carried her body out to the carriage.

“I think that I shall not return inside, Mr Hammond, please convey my apologies to the guests. I cannot think of what I could possibly say to poor Mrs Davidson: it was her wedding anniversary.”

“Do not give it another thought, sir. You could not have done otherwise. You may well have done the poor woman a favor. How much worse would it have been for her to have her husband live to be tried for attempted murder and manslaughter? There were too many highly credible witnesses for the outcome to have been anything other than disastrous for her. If I know the President he will be kind and generous to her. whatever her husband did it was no fault of hers.”

Daniel rode back to Jane’s house alongside her body in the carriage. The servants were in turmoil when the coachman informed them of what happened as reported to him by the Davidson servants.

Daniel locked himself in his assigned bed chamber, in which he had yet to sleep, and spent the night in sorrowful contemplation of his short time with Jane.

In the morning the household resumed its normal tenor under the control of the butler who informed Daniel that he had sent for the undertaker to attend to the funeral arrangements.

“I do not know who will be the heir to Mrs Arbuthnot’s estate, Simmonds. Her lawyer will have to attend to the payment of the staff.” Daniel told the butler. “I shall be moving to my previous quarters. Should I be required for any reason I may be contacted through the office of the Presidency until I return to my post with the army.”

Daniel changed into his uniform and rode to the Presidency to ask for an interview with the President.

“Sir, I doubt me that he will come in this morning. It appears that Mister Davidson, his long-time friend and adviser, died last night. I imagine that he will be offering his condolences to Mrs Davidson.”

Daniel rode to the Davidson household and stood outside with the uniformed Presidential guard until at great length the President returned to his carriage.

Daniel stepped forward and presented himself to the President.

“Captain Beauregard, you display an enormous amount of indelicacy to be standing outside the door of a man that you killed.” The President said somewhat harshly.

“Sir, I am obliged to be here under orders from General Lee. If I may have a private word, please sir.”

“What, is the army in trouble? Perhaps you had better ride with me. Come on.”

Daniel sat opposite Jefferson Davis and told him the story of the large-print Bible and how he had established that an agent known as Absalom was passing information obtained from within the Presidency of the Confederation to the Federals.

“We must find this blackguard and bring him instantly to justice, sir.” The President declared.

“Sir, have you heard the full story of what happened last night when Mister Davison was killed?”

“I have had it reported to me in full by John Hammond the magistrate. He imputes no guilt to you, Captain.”

“What you do not know, sir, is why Mister Davidson came after me with two pistols.”

“Then pray proceed with that explanation.”

“Were you aware that Mister Davidson was an inveterate gambler and that he had been losing much more than he was earning?”

“Captain, I knew that he enjoyed playing poker but not that he had been losing heavily.”

“Last night, before I sat down at the poker table I was perusing the very impressive book collection in Mister Davidson’s study. Quite by accident I stepped behind his desk and there on the floor by his chair was a copy of the very special edition of the Bible of which I have been telling you. It was only then that I realized how the code name Absalom had been derived. Absalom was the son of King David.”

“Of course he was. I remember that story well, captain.”

“You see, sir: David-son was Absalom!”

“Oh my great God! Davidson? But the man has been my friend and adviser for years. It is not believable!”

“He was desperate for money, sir. After I had won a considerable sum from him he asked me to allow him until the end of the month to pay it. We had all been drinking and I am not a practiced drinker so I suppose I replied over-hastily in the negative saying that I would not offer accommodation to a traitor as I pointed to the Bible. I walked out of the room and he must have thought at that time that all was revealed. He came to the drawing room carrying a pistol in each hand and he stated aloud ‘Beauregard! You will never live to prove it!’. Possibly he thought that he could shoot me dead and then concoct a reason for his action. By doing so he would ensure that his secret was safe.”

“Captain, I can see why General Lee holds you in such high regard. I do not want you to mention this story to anyone. I shall put out the story that Davidson had been ailing for some time and have a medical doctor to state the opinion that he had a ‘brainstorm’ after losing more at poker than he could afford. I shall give him a state funeral and let the matter be closed for the sake of his widow. Is that acceptable to you?”

“Of course, sir, the fewer that know we had a traitor in our midst the better.”