Chapter Six

The next day, the air was pregnant with foreboding, as clouds hung low over the eastern sky, and a southeasterly wind began whipping across the area. Carrie came blustering in, sweaty and puffing after the morning’s shopping at the market.

“Lordy, I feel like I done been slapped in the face by a soppy wet dishrag. This weather is about to do sumpthin’ that it don’t usually do. I feels it in my bones. There is sumpthin’ bad comin’, Missus.”

“Well, thank you for that weather report, Carrie, but don’t forget that Mrs. Mary Alice Higgins is coming over for a visit this morning at ten o’clock. Please be sure to have a light snack for us and something cold to drink.”

Mary Alice had been true to her word. She had kept in close touch with Darcy since the days prior to the funeral. Eva seemed a little more amiable today as well. Having someone come to visit made Darcy feel almost normal. She was always glad when Mary Alice came over because she would deliver all the latest gossip, and sometimes it pertained to Darcy.

Promptly at ten o’clock that morning, the doorbell rang, and Eva opened the door to the smiling face of Darcy’s sister-in-law. All three women exchanged cheerful greetings then settled down in the parlor with some lemon cookies and iced tea for refreshment.

“Mary Alice, dear, it is just wonderful seeing you again. Please, tell us all the news. We are just dying to hear!”

“Well, let me think where to begin. Oh! Cecelia Braddock is expecting another baby. I believe this is number eight. Her husband doesn’t look robust enough to produce so many offspring, but I guess looks can be deceiving.” The two women chuckled, but Eva remained solemn.

“You know those two old maids, Tillie and Lucy Bass? Well, they are very involved in politics and follow all the activities of the Women’s Rights activists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. They are both Yankees.” She made a face with the word ‘Yankees.’ “But they are trying to bring about much-needed improvements to the status of women. They are campaigning for equal wages for equal work, government subsidies for families, and of course, the right to vote for women in this country and around the world. Another thing they want is to remove the double standards that give men the unfair advantage right now. You girls should come to the next meeting. I admit I have gone, and I like what I am hearing.”

“Not having to obey men would be a welcome change. I know I have had enough of it,” Darcy interjected pointedly. “I heard something about a senator from California who actually submitted a bill to the legislature this year to allow women to vote. Things are definitely changing for the better where women are concerned. I know they certainly have in this household.” Darcy and Eva immediately exchanged glances and a conspiratorial giggle. Mary Alice smiled warmly, as the two women shared their private joke.

“President Hayes has been very sympathetic toward the South since taking office last year. Starting the first of January, the government is going to begin exchanging worthless Confederate scrip for gold. That will help struggling Southerners recover from the war much more than the lying, sneaking carpetbaggers from the North that have descended on us like a plague of locusts. He promises to end Reconstruction, even if it requires military intervention.”

“Thank Goodness, someone is looking out for the South since we no longer have the strength to stand up for ourselves.”

“Yes. And his wife toured the South with him. She endeared herself in the hearts of Southern women by hugging them and letting them cry on her shoulder of the injustices they have suffered. She has indeed become a hero to Southern women everywhere, and her empathy regarding our situation has helped bind the wounds of the nation’s women.”

“I am so glad things are looking up. Things have been so bleak for so long.”

“Yes, the past decade has been a terrible struggle. I wondered at times if we would make it through at all. Looking back, I don’t know how we did it and certainly understand why so many gave up and left the country or this world.” Mary Alice concluded.

The other women nodded sadly.

Perking up, Mary Alice heard the chiming of the grandfather clock in the hallway and chirped, “My, my, it is nearly lunch time. I really must be going. I have errands to run and more visits to make. Thank you my dears for a lovely chat and delicious refreshments. Tell Isabella that her cookies were divine as always,” she called out loudly, in case the cook was lurking around the corner eavesdropping as Susannah does at the other Higgins’ household.

“Thank you, Missus,” a voice called from somewhere toward the back of the grand house.

“Thank you so much for coming. Please come back again soon. You know our social circle is quite small, so we are grateful when you can squeeze time for us into your busy social calendar. Please visit whenever you can. We love seeing you, even if you do not have any news from outside our walls.”

Hugs and kisses were passed all around as they said their goodbyes at the door with promises to get together again soon.

“See you soon,” she called back over her shoulder as the wind whipped dust devils around her feet pattering quickly down the sidewalk. The sky was dark and ominous as Mary Alice waved goodbye one last time before she disappeared around the corner. The day was August 22, 1879, a day Darcy would never forget.

Darcy called the household staff together.

“By the looks of that sky, we could be in for a bad storm. Better close the shutters before it gets here.” The rest of the day the servants, Eva, and Darcy spent battening down the hatches in preparation for a bad thunderstorm. That night, their anticipation of a bad summer storm would have been a pleasant alternative to the immense hurricane, which struck the southeastern section of Louisiana with tremendous force. Eva and Darcy huddled together in the alcove under the stairs as the winds howled like a woman in labor, and the rafters moaned as if some huge, wild beast was trying to rip the house apart. Rain pounded against the shutters like hundreds of tiny hammers.

“I wonder where everyone else is?” Darcy fretted.

“If they smart they are under sumpthin’ strong.”

The storm raged for hours. After daybreak, the noise subsided as quickly as it had come.

The two women had spent the night huddled together like peas in a pod in their small hiding place as the storm waged war around them. In the morning, they awoke and crawled out of their sleeping nook to find a broken tree limb jutting through the stained glass of the front door.

After struggling to get the door open, they both gasped. Outside was an unrecognizable scene of utter devastation. Once outside, it was eerily silent, no birds were singing, no dogs barking. Everything seemed muffled.

Uprooted trees were lying across the roofs of churches, businesses and houses, and blocking flooded streets. Debris was everywhere. Broken glass, tin and wooden shingles, clothing, tree limbs, and untold personal articles were strewn up and down the yards and sidewalks, hanging from straggling tree branches and rooftops.

Soon all of her servants appeared, unharmed.

“Oh, thank goodness. You are all here. Is anyone hurt? I was so worried about you. I didn’t know where any of you were.”

“We are all fine. We hid in the root cellar. We didn’t know if de house was blowin’ away or what wuz happenin’ in all that ruckus.” The residents of the mansion looked in disbelief at the damage that had occurred overnight.

“Have you checked the house for any damage, Alfred?”

“Yes’m. Some of the roof is missin’, and a bunch of limbs is blowed down. We can fix it easy nuff, tho.”

“That’s good news, Alfred. Well, let’s take a look around and see if others might need our help.”

Looking up the street to where Mary Alice and Andrew lived, she saw a large group gathering outside. An ice-cold fist gripped Darcy’s heart.

“No, no, please God, no.” Darcy let out an agonized scream and began to run with Eva close behind her. Shortly they were in the front of the other Higgins’ house.

“What is it? What has happened?” she was practically shrieking at the group milling around, sobbing and looking like lost sheep.

“The Master and Misses, dey be gone, ma’am.” Jim, the houseman answered her as the rest of the servants and some neighbors were weeping and distraught. “Dey was coming home from late supper and de storm hit and knocked their buggy over. We found ’em early dis morning.”

“Oh, no, no!” Darcy held her hands to her face and sobbed.

“Looks like da Missus broke her neck. She was layin’ in a most peculiar way, and de Master, he was crushed under a buggy wheel. Dose poor folks didn’t have a chance.” Loud sobbing cut off any further explanation. Jim wandered away looking like a forlorn, little boy.

“Where are they?” Darcy finally thought to ask Emma, their housekeeper, as tears continued pouring down her face. She cared deeply for Mary Alice, her one and only friend outside of her own household.

“We has them laid out in de house. Fixin’ to call the undertaker if we can find him in dis mess. I reckon as how he is gonna be mighty busy by da looks of things.”

“Yes, Emma, I think you are right. Please, I must see Mary Alice.”

Eva immediately grabbed Darcy’s arm in protest. “No, Missus, please don’t go see her all broken up. Don’t get yourself all upset. Best to just remember her like she was, a beautiful person inside and out.”

But Darcy glared at Eva and pulled her arm away. With a purposeful stride, she entered the house that suffered smashed windows, a hole in the roof, broken shutters, a yard strewn with debris, but worst of all the tragic loss of its master and mistress.

Immediately on seeing the dark blue face of sweet Mary Alice, Darcy sobbed uncontrollably. This was the only woman in New Orleans who had extended a hand of friendship to Darcy, and she would never forget how this dear woman had helped her through every step of Edgar’s funeral. She had been a guiding light to Darcy, only now that light was snuffed out far too soon.

“What am I to do without her?” Darcy wailed. “Poor, sweet Mary Alice. My only true friend.”

Eva, standing stiffly at Darcy’s side, visibly bristled at her mistress’s words.

Taking the dead woman’s hand, Darcy bent down and kissed it, then laid it gently at the woman’s side.

“This is too awful for words. I never even considered that the first tragedy we would encounter would be our own. Where are the children?”

“Dey is wid dare nursemaid, Annie. She done took ’em to de neighbor’s house to get away from all dis.”

After finding out about Andrew and Mary Alice, Darcy had no interest or stamina for helping others. Oh those poor children. Two of the four Higgins children were away at boarding school, and the other two were in private Catholic school here in New Orleans. What should I do? They don’t really know me, but I am their only relative here in New Orleans. Should I offer for them to come live with me? They can’t stay alone with just the servants! Oh, I wish I had someone to help with all of these strange and awful circumstances.

Immediately, Cole sprang to mind. He had offered to help her in the past; perhaps he would be willing to lend a hand in getting her loved ones buried and the children taken care of properly. On thinking of Cole, a little warm spot formed in her chest. It was a new, wonderful concept. She actually did have someone to turn to in times of trouble.

The two women and Darcy’s handful of servants walked numbly back toward her house, carefully picking their way through the hazardous debris. Looking up, Darcy saw an answer to her prayer.