Chapter 15

Chapter 16

 

David and Evelyn exchanged few words as they ate a late lunch that day, both picking at their food, both wrapped up in their own very personal sorrow and grief. For death is a thief, that steals life and happiness and recollection away, leaving nothing but an empty void, and the bereaved must mount guard on their memories. They were trying their best to stop Franny slipping away from them, like some wraith swallowed up in an encroaching mist. But both knew that her presence was ebbing, and that soon her smile, and the sound of her voice and her laughter, would be only matters for reminiscence. Iris sat with them at the table for the first time, but neither spoke nor ate, only sitting bolt upright with her hands clasped in her lap. The three little girls looked very sad and solemn.

Evelyn glanced at Iris from time to time, but she might have been carved in stone. Perhaps the burden of having to grieve for a lost child, and a husband, and a woman who had come to her with wholly undemanding kindness had taken all power of speech from her. Franny�s mother felt her heart melt. Age brings familiarity with death, and a certain stoical acceptance, as family members and acquaintances pass from this life to the next. But the young are not yet accustomed to loss.

The meal came to a desolate end, and Iris looked at David. �I think I should take the girls up to the schoolroom, sir, and pass some time reading from the Good Book. It will help rest our minds.�

David nodded abstractedly, and Evelyn marshalled her thoughts and plans in her mind. She had already decided to set back her dream of travelling to Europe for at least a year, for she visualized herself continuing to help look after her grandchildren until David and Iris wed, and would not allow herself to miss that event for all the world. She also thought she might usefully be able to help Iris make a smooth transition from country to city ways. Men like their wives to look nice, and run their homes smoothly and comfortably, but they are not always conscious that cygnets have to learn to paddle strongly if they are to glide along smoothly when they grow into swans. She was already forming some ideas, and judged that Iris would prove an attentive and hard-working pupil.

She cleared her throat. �Will you take Iris with you when you take Franny back to Baltimore?�

David seemed to surface from a chasm somewhere in his mind, and nodded. �I will, if she will come. I think I should make her as much of my life as I properly can.� He was silent for several minutes, and then took a deep breath. �But I think she has much to grieve about first, and much to learn.�

Evelyn reached out across the dining table to rest her hand on his sleeve. �I think her learning is something I might help manage for you.� She was also silent for a while, remembering the past few weeks. She had been very close to Franny, but paradoxically she had also felt a sense of relief on her passing, for Franny had spent her last days in great pain, suffering more than any woman ought to suffer. Now she knew that her duty lay in helping fulfil her daughter�s dying wish. �I think, in the first instance, we must make Franny�s final wish public.�

David smiled faintly. �I think Doctor Carter, Pastor Macdonald and Alice and Turner will take care of that. They are good people, and Franny bound them.� He did not add that Pastor Macdonald also liked to be in the forefront of local news, and that word of Franny�s dying wish would soon be the gossip of the whole county.

�She bound us all.� Evelyn was silent for a moment. �Will you have her funeral at Grace and St. Peter�s?� St. Peters was the foremost Episcopalian church in Baltimore, and would provide a fitting place both for all Franny�s kin in the Kingman and Iverson families to bid her farewell, and also a fitting place for David and herself to present Iris as his prospective bride.

�I will.� David caught his breath, as though he were on the verge of breaking. It is a hard thing for a man to have to make plans to close off a love that he has held most dear for many years. He was silent for a moment, and then blew his nose hard. �I am sorry, I keep thinking of Franny lying there and coughing. She was so brave.�

Evelyn did not reply. There are times when it is right to speak, and times when it is right to be silent, and this was one of the latter.

Then he regained control of himself. �I will telegraph for Joshua to make the necessary arrangements. Do you think Cousin Stephanie will help?�

Evelyn smiled wryly. �I�m sure she will. Franny told her a great deal about Iris in her letters, and Stephanie sounded very intrigued when she replied. I am sure she will take very warmly to her, because they both have good hearts, and we will have great fun launching her.�

Joshua Kingman was David�s younger brother by two years, and a successful Baltimore merchant, whilst Cousin Stephanie, an elderly spinster, had taken charge of Evelyn�s large Mount Vernon town house in her absence. Evelyn imagined that Stephanie might greatly enjoy hostessing a leading social event, for both the Kingmans and the Iversons ranked high on the Baltimore social register, though she wondered what she would make of Iris. But Franny had been well loved in the city, and her deathbed wish would carry great weight.

They both looked up as the diningroom door opened. Eulalia looked in at them, and Evelyn noted that she had changed into her best black dress, with Franny�s ring her only adornment.

�Mass� Evered is waitin� outside, sah.�

�Oh, heavens.� David Kingman stood up. �I clean forgot. Turner agreed to make all the arrangements for Uriah Hitt�s funeral. It is planned for tomorrow, and we shall leave for Baltimore after the reception. Will you tell Iris?�

Evelyn got to her feet as well. �I must just have a word with �Lalia first.�

She watched David go out, and then turned to Eulalia, reaching for her purse and shaking her head a little. �I don�t think you should wear your best black bombazine in the kitchen, �Lalia.�

�I wanted to show respec�, miz.�

Evelyn held out a couple of bills. �Take these, and go and see if you can find a black workdress in the stores. Mrs. Whiteside might have something suitable. We�re leaving for Baltimore for Franny�s funeral tomorrow afternoon. Will you come with us?�

Eulalia looked doubtful. �Will they admit me?�

Evelyn stared at her.

�I�m a woman of color, miz.�

Evelyn smiled gently. �Well, so you are. But I believe Baltimore feels rather less strongly about such things than Tennessee. The churches there seem to take little account of color, and you can help out by tending to the children and perhaps serving food at the reception after the funeral. I don�t think anyone will judge the food by the hand that handles it.�

She thought for a moment. Iris would also need a black dress for Uriah�s funeral, something simple enough, with a blouse top and a full skirt, and a simple black bonnet. She imagined Mrs. Whiteside would have a quantity of such things. But she would also have to find her a second mourning dress in Baltimore, for Baltimore would expect them to be rather more fashionable, in keeping with the family�s standing, and would also count on them being fully veiled. Perhaps they would have a couple of hours before Franny�s funeral to visit Hutzler Brothers. Or perhaps Cousin Stephanie might have something in her closet. �You go to the store, and see if Mrs. Whiteside has something a little slighter as well, to suit Iris. I�ll go up to the schoolroom.�

Eulalia beamed. Two, perhaps three, Irises could be fitted into one of her own dresses. �Miz Iris is readin� the Good Book with them.�

�I know. I shall go up and watch.� Evelyn paused. It was the first time she had heard Eulalia talk of Miz Iris, and the cook�s words represented another plank for a bridge taking Iris from her old life into a new one. �I hope you will help me teach her some fancy cooking when we come back.�

�It�d be an honor, miz.� Eulalia suddenly beamed, her first smile since Franny�s death. �She�s a fine, fine young woman.�

Evelyn sighed. �I could not think of a better description.�

She found Iris reading with Harriet, Jemma and Ellen. It was plain that none of the four had any heart for learning that afternoon, but were just attempting to fill their time. She sat down at a small table that David had brought up to make Iris� room something of a schoolroom, and listened to each of them take a turn at reading - they were gathered around the Kingman family Bible, in which Franny had carefully noted her three daughters� birth dates, reading from the Book of Job, and it seemed strangely fitting. She put up her hand as they came to the end of a page, and all four looked up at her.

�I think you have read enough for today.� She smiled at her grand-daughters. �You can have a dime apiece and treat yourself at the Whiteside store.�

The three girls stood up. Ellen was holding onto Iris� hand � she seemed already to have formed a special attachment to her. �Can we take Iris?�

Evelyn shook her head. �No. I must talk to her.�

The two women sat in silence for a while after the girls left. Evelyn was not sure how to begin, and Iris showed no inclination to speak.

Evelyn drew a deep breath. �David says Uriah will be buried tomorrow.�

Iris inclined her head. Somehow Uriah was already just a memory, pushed back in her mind by Franny�s death and the vow she had made.

�He would like you to come to Baltimore with us for Franny�s funeral.�

Iris looked up quickly, her eyes clouding with alarm. �Baltimore?�

�All the Kingmans and their wives are buried there. David�s family will expect it.�

Iris� mind filled with sudden alarm. She pictured rows of Davids, all strong and upright and handsome, with wives in the image of Franny. �What will they think of me?�

Evelyn took her hand. �They will think David very lucky. Franny wrote to them, when you were confined to your bed, telling them all about you, and I think they were impressed.�

�But�� Iris hesitated. �I�m not the same as you are.�

�You�re a fine girl.� Evelyn was silent for a moment, still holding her fingers. �You�re strong, and you love the girls.� She spoke hesitantly. �I think you will come to love David very dearly.�

She saw that Iris had begun to weep silently, tears running down her cheeks, and relinquished her hand to kneel a little clumsily beside her, surrounding her with her arms. �He will need you, and they will admire you, and love you as well.�

Iris wiped her eyes. �Oh, miz Evelyn, I do so hope they will.� She began to speak in a low voice, as though almost to herself, and Evelyn had to strain to catch her words. �I never knew what it was to love, and be loved, before I come here. Ma kinda folk jes� got on with life, and their livin�. They took, when they wanted, an� sometimes gave, but not very willin�.� She had relapsed into a country manner of speech, drawling out her words. �Ma uncle took me when ma Maw passed over, but he din� care much fer me, I wuz jes� a pair of hands �round the cabin, and he sol� me to �Riah fer a few gallons of �shine, when he begun courtin� a widder-woman. Ma life wuz jes� workin�, from day to day. Cookin�, washin�, and tendin� ma cabbage patch an� ma livestock. Uriah took me fer wife, an� it were hard. We lived with his Maw and Paw, and he beat me pretty reg�lar. They all beat me. It were better when we moved out an� took over ma uncle�s place. I fed him good, and give him what he wanted. But there weren�t no love in it. Love never come near me. I thought, mebbe, when I come to term, mebbe then I�d have love. I�d love ma boy, and ma boy w�ld love me. But it never came to pass.� She shook her head slowly. Now her tears had dried, and she spoke with a kind of dull certainty. �Heaven didn� allow me no fine feelin�s�.

Evelyn was watching her carefully. She had heard something of Iris� youth and marriage from Cornelia Whiteside and other good people in the town, but she had never heard it put in quite such harsh and brutal words. �And now?�

�Now?� Iris repeated the word softly as though to invest it with some magic significance. �Now? I�m goin� to be good to David and ma girls. I goin� to try ma very best to mek them happy, an� the Good Lord allow it.�

Evelyn smiled. She noted the way Iris talked of �my girls�, and she knew that a flower had begun to bloom. �Will you love them?�

Iris looked at her as though she had asked a wholly unnecessary question. �Miz Evelyn, I�m going to love them with ma whole heart an� soul.� She drew in a deep breath, because she wanted to set out her own vision of her life ahead, and she wanted no mistaking. �I watched David be brave and gentle and kind while Franny wuz goin�, and I never see�d a man think so little of himsel�. He wuz a good man, an� a strength to her, an� she loved him fer it. He loved her dearly, an� I hope he will come to love me as much.� She paused. She had thought much to herself, when she had been lying abed in her first days in the Kingman home, of she would have liked just such a man as David. But she had always pushed the thought from her mind, because it might have then tempted her along forbidden paths. But Franny had committed her to a new life. �I hope the girls will grow to love me as well. I shall try ma best to be a good, an� kind, an� gentle mother to them, an� I will give them all ma heart.�

Evelyn hugged Iris to herself. �And I will be a mother to you, if you will be a daughter to me.�

�I will.� Irisspoke gravely, with tears in her eyes. She had bitten short the �Miz Evelyn� she had all but added to her words. She rested her own cheek against Evelyn�s, and it was the first time in her life she had made such a gesture, and she repeated her two words very softly, but adding a third. �I will, Mother.� And in that word she buried all the hardness and distress of her past.

Everyone in Coates agreed that the railroad gave Uriah a good send-off. Turner Evered hired Slew Grant and his coronet band to walk in front of two railroad horses draped in black, pulling a spring wagon equally festooned, from the railroad depot to the Baptist chapel. Grant and his men walked slowly, and they were also all in black, with black favors tied to their instruments, playing solemn hymns. Two railroad carpenters had knocked Uriah up a fine coffin from some red cedar, varnished it to a peak of reflection, and found a pair of bright brass handles to go with it. They hadalso set a fireman�s overalls and cap and lunchpail on top of it, and the lunchpail contained enough meat stew for a meal to tide Uriah into the next world.

Iris walked first behind the wagon, looking very sombre. Eulalia had found her a simple black dress and bonnet, and Mrs. Whiteside had lent a plain black veil. David Kingman followed her, as the railroad�s representative, dressed in a stiff black Sunday suit and a black stovepipe hat, with Mayor Brent at his side, also in black, to represent the town. Turner Evered followed a couple of steps behind them, similarly dressed, and wearing a silver star pinned to his coat, for Mayor Brent had appointed him part-time head of a new Coates police department on the strength of his resourcefulness and bravery, pending the arrival of a new sheriff from Gallatin. The depot employees followed, black favors tied to their caps and hats and coat sleeves, and then Evelyn and Alice Evered, both also in black, but not veiled, with David�s three little girls between them, and then all the wives and children of the other railroad men, and then the general populace of Coates. It was really quite a procession, and signified much both for the railroad�s importance in the town, and the respect the good people of Coates held for its local officials.

Ezekiel Hicks stood waiting on the steps of his chapel with a gleam in his eyes. He expected the railroad to make a handsome donation, and the good people of Coates to open both their hearts and their pocketbooks. He had prepared a rousing oration, taking as theme the heavenly rewards that waited on good and faithful employees and servants, excising only a passing reference to the duty of the elect to reject utterly all false idols and temptations, for he was now close with Mayor Brent, and Jefferson had seen the thought as an unnecessary reference to events at the Hitt farm following Jedediah�s death.

�People�ll say yo�re trying to stir up a storm on his mother, an� they won� tek it kindly.� Brent had been insistent. He wanted the whole sorry business forgotten as quickly as possible, for he feared that gossip about Benton and Wilkes might lead people back to himself. He had been close with Joe Wilkes, possibly closer than a mayor and a sheriff should be, because they had shared some financial interests in land around the town. But Benton was now dead, and Wilkes had fled heaven alone knew where. Becky Wilkes and her two fat daughters had also left town, and word had it that she had gone to keep house for Judge Pelligrin. Some parts of the past were best forgotten.

So he had postponed calling down heaven on the followers of evil spirits for another day � a good preacher always sets a few ideas on the side � and looked grave as Uriah�s cortege came towards him. He would be compassionate, and call down divine mercy on those unfortunate enough to suffer as a result of their labor, he would laud up the virtues of those extending a cloak of generous protection to the poor and the deprived. He imagined that might tease a nice little sum out of Kingman, for all he was Episcopalian. Every man likes to be praised, however indirectly.

The service went well. Several railroad men and their wives answered the call, and the chapel�s ushers had to march up to the front and empty their collection plates whilst they were still only half way through their tasks, to march back again and begin collecting again. Ezekiel eyed the heap of coins and bills, and was wholly genuine as he called down the blessings of the Lord on his congregation. Heaven can sometimes be a little opaque on its intentions. But on this day the Lord decreed generosity, and Coates gave freely.

Heaven smiled, and Ezekiel waxed eloquent. He even dared send his ushers out on a second foray, after he had ended, and was gratified to see some more money come in, though somewhat less than on the first collection.

He blessed Uriah�s coffin, even though he knew that it was due to ride back to the Hitt farm, and his congregation adjourned to the Commercial Hotel, led by a preacher who might have looked grave outside, but was rejoicing within.

The spring wagon then set off, with a burly railroad man holding the reins, and another at his side. David had told them to meet the train at a point where a track from the Hitt farm crossed the grade out of Coates, so that Iris, Pastor Macdonald, and himself could travel up to the farm to bury Uriah, and then return to their car.

Iris and David only stayed at the funeral reception for a little while. Iris stood silent at David�s side as the people of Coates filed past, only occasionally ackowledging their condolences with the briefest of murmurs, though she smiled warmly for Cornelia Whiteside and clasped her by the hand. But for the rest she barely smiled or spoke, and the good people of Coates agreed both that she looked mighty sad, and that she carried herself with great dignity. Then they both left the hotel by a side door, leaving Turner Evered to preside for the railroad.

They found Evelyn, the three girls, Pastor Macdonald, and Eulalia already waiting at the railroad depot. The good pastor had readily agreed to travel with them for a small emolument, for whilst Uriah followed another path, he saw no bar on burying a son when he had buried the father. His willingness to perform these last rites might also have stemmed from an unwillingness to attend the Commercial Hotel reception. No clergyman worth his salt likes to watch a rival coining cash.

All went smoothly. The spring wagon stood waiting for them at the side of the track, and they left the train puffing to itself, much as it had puffed when a brakeman had put his hand under Iris� chin and kissed her � except that she knew now that what she felt for David far surpassed any passing temptation any brakeman could offer.

The two railroad man dug energetically, and then the cedar coffin with its bright brass handles slid into the grave. Pastor Macdonald hurried through the words of the Lord�s Prayer so fast that Iris and David could barely keep apace with him, and the two railroad men filled the grave quickly, tamping the dirt down with their shovels. Then it was done.

Iris felt David�s hand tighten on her arm. A ghostly figure stood watching them from the trees where Benton had lain to fire the shots that had killed Jedediah and Preacher Conover.

�Yo�all killed ma man, an� yo�all killed ma boy.� The voice was a kind of unearthly wail, a voodoo shriek of pain.

Iris involuntarily moved closer to David. He raised his hand, for one of the railroad men had started towards the apparition. �No, let her be.�

�Yo�all hev ma curse on yo.� This time Capitola�s voice was lower, but filled with menace.

Iris shivered, sheltering against David�s side.

David took a deep breath, and spoke with determination. �No. Hatred killed them both. But love is a shield.�

Capitola stared at him. �Yo love ma son�s wife?�

�I do. And I am not afraid to acknowledge it.�

Now his voice was strong. But Capitola was gone, melted away amongst the trees. For hatred has no power when hearts are true,and love conquers all curses.

Chapter 17