Into the Wilderness (33 page)

"Satisfied!
The missus and me can't hardly wait till they come home and tell us what
stories you come up with. Yesterday it was that Trojan horse that got them
Greeks into such a mess." He stroked his whiskers thoughtfully.
"Wonder if our generals knew about that trick. Might of worked when we was
trying to shift the Tories out of New—York, back in the war."

This
was greeted with a sharp glance from Moses Southern, and a broad smile from
Julian. "You could have done with Lizzie's help, I'm sure," he said.
"She is a very handy tactician. Don't know how that particular skill
serves her in the classroom, but it's stood her in good stead elsewhere."

"Don't
you go criticizin' the schoolmarm," said Anna from her perch on a
stepladder. "Ain't my Ephraim reading the Good Book to me every evening?
Even that great hulk Liam Kirby is tame as a kitten these days. Don't know how
she done it, and for sure she ain't going about it the way most
would"—Anna sent Moses a narrow stare" but whatever she's up to, it's
working."

There
was an uneasy silence as Julian settled back down into his seat and Elizabeth
retreated toward the counter once again. Lately she was finding it harder and
harder to cope calmly with Julian's teasing. He seemed to take every
opportunity to goad her. The fact that Richard Todd called regularly on her now
did not seem to make any difference. Elizabeth wondered once again if Julian
had somehow gotten a hint of her plans. She was thinking this through once
again when she was called out of her thoughts with a jerk.

".
. . Nathaniel," said Jed McGarrity.

"Pardon
me?" asked Elizabeth as calmly as she could. "I'm afraid my thoughts
were—elsewhere."
What a fraud I've
become
, she thought.

"I
said, Nathaniel is moving along quite smart on the new schoolhouse. He's got
Otter helping him raise the walls, and I'd warrant they'll be done with the
bulk of it in a week. You'll be in that school come mid—April, no doubt."

"Well,
that is good news," Elizabeth said, trying to sound prim and pleased at
the same time. "I haven't been by to see in a long time, I've just been
too busy with teaching."

"You
should go on along, then, have a look."

"I
think not," Elizabeth said, looking down at the wares on the counter.
"Nathaniel has made it quite clear that he doesn't like me
interfering."

"Is
that so?" Jed asked slowly, his head tilted to one side. "That don't
sound much like Nathaniel."

"Oh,
well." Elizabeth wondered how she could remove herself from this
discussion of Nathaniel before she said something completely incriminating.
"Perhaps I misunderstood. But I am glad to know that the schoolhouse will
be finished soon."

"Injuns
in the classroom," muttered Moses Southern behind Elizabeth.

"I
beg your pardon?" She had heard him quite clearly, but she wanted to give
the man an opportunity to back down. Elizabeth had realized for weeks that this
confrontation was waiting for her, and she dreaded it. The scowl on Moses
Southern's face made it clear that her worries had been well founded.

She
straightened her shoulders and met his gaze full on.

"Did
you have a problem with the school you wanted to discuss with me?"

"Moses
is of the opinion that Indians don't belong in the classroom." said Julian
easily, his eyes fixed on Elizabeth's face.

"Your
Jemima is doing very well in my class, Mr. Southern," Elizabeth said
quietly. "I am very pleased that you decided to send her to school after
all. I don't think you have to worry that her education is suffering in any
way."

"Jemima
ain't the problem," Moses barked, causing Anna to come out from behind her
counter, a yardstick clutched in one fist.

"You
watch yourself in my place," Anna said. "I won't have none of your
tricks."

Moses
turned on Anna. "If she wants to teach redskins, then she should do it
somewhere else. She brings them two niggers into her own house to teach 'em;
she could do the same with the Bonner half—breed. And what that young squaw is
doing there, I want to know. That Mohawk ain't got a thing to teach a decent
Christian girl."

Julian
had been following this outburst with a look of mixed amusement and curiosity,
but now he looked away.

Everyone
was looking at Elizabeth, waiting for her to reply to Moses. Even Jed
McGarrity, who had supported Elizabeth in every one of her ventures and at
every turn, looked as if he needed an answer to this question. They all wanted
to know what Many-Doves had to do in the classroom.

She
drew in a breath and clutched her gloves tighter in her hands to control their
trembling. Anger could be a very good thing, she knew, if she could just
harness it and turn it to her advantage.

"Abigail
is my assistant," she said slowly. "She has been a great help to me.
She works with the younger students while I have lessons with the older
ones."

Moses
began to bluster again, but Elizabeth held up a hand to stop him, and something
in the set of her face told him that she was serious.

"Now,
Mr. Southern. I run my classroom the way I see fit. Thus far, I have had good
success with my students, your daughter included. You will concede, sir, that I
do not tell you how to set your traps, or what game you should hunt. I ask the
same courtesy of you, that you allow me to judge where and when and whom I
teach. And since you are so interested in the tutoring that goes on in my home,
let me tell you that you are welcome to come by and join us at any time. We are
reading the works of Thomas Paine at the present. You may be familiar with his
philosophy on the rights of man?"

Moses'
mouth opened and closed awkwardly, and then snapped shut suddenly.

"I
don't like this business," he said. "And I ain't the only one. Just
wait and see—"

"And
I acknowledge your objections," Elizabeth countered icily. "Now, if
you will excuse me———" And she turned back to the counter, where Anna
stood with both fists on her hips. She had found a basket of cloth rests and
Elizabeth looked through them. "These will do nicely," she said,
fingering the squares. She did not flinch when Moses Southern thundered past
her and out the door.

Elizabeth
looked up into Anna's eyes, and she saw there a look perhaps not of complete
agreement, but of grudging acceptance. She knew that she was testing the limits
of the villagers' tolerance, and knew too how much she depended on the support
and goodwill of those who would defend her in public.

"Thank
you," she said softly.

Anna
folded her mouth into a straight line, as if she were considering taking up the
subject Moses had dropped. She would do it less combatively, Elizabeth knew,
but the end result would be the same: she was uncomfortable with the fact that
Many-Doves had a hand in the teaching. They all were. Elizabeth was suddenly
very tired of the struggle. She looked down at the basket of handkerchiefs.

"What's
this?" she asked, pulling out a solitary piece of fine embroidered lawn.
It was edged with knitted lace and slightly yellowed with age.

"Oh,
Lordy, I forgot all about that. Bought it in Albany some many years ago. Never
found nobody wanted to buy it, though. Too fancy for the folks around here. Old
Olga Schlesinger used to come by regular, offer me a bushel of taters for it.
But I couldn't part with it at that price. Since she died ain't nobody been
interested in such a fancy piece."

Anna
glanced up at Elizabeth with amusement sparking suddenly on her broad face.

"Looks
to me like a hankie a bride might need on her wedding day. If only we had a
bride in these parts, maybe I could sell it."

Elizabeth
saw too late that she had extricated herself from one difficult subject only to
land in a topic area even more sensitive. Her first impulse was to deny hotly
that she was anywhere near being a bride, but she could not do that. Richard
had been a steady visitor to her father's home for the past weeks, and
Elizabeth had encouraged him. They had walked out together. She had visited his
home. All this was common knowledge. Of course, Anna was thinking about a
wedding party. What was worse, Elizabeth needed to encourage her further.

Julian
roused himself to come look over Elizabeth's shoulder. "Thinking about
your bridal clothes already, sister? I had no idea Todd was quite so quick off
the mark." His tone was light, but he watched Elizabeth very closely.

"Now,
you leave Miz Elizabeth alone," Anna said, shooing Julian away, but she
grinned broadly. "This here is women's business."

"That's
quite all right," Elizabeth said with a prim smile. "Please do wrap
up the handkerchief. I may well have a use for it one day in the not too
distant future." And she sent her brother a cool stare, thinking how
surprised he would be if he only knew what she really had in mind.

The
door opened behind her. Elizabeth tensed, suddenly sure that Nathaniel was
standing there. She hadn't seen him at all since their long talk in the barn,
four weeks ago. In the past few days, she had started taking walks she thought
might put her in his path, but with no success. Nathaniel was as good as his
word: he avoided her completely. When the sugar—maple sap rose a week earlier
than expected, Hannah had asked her to come to Hidden Wolf for their
celebration, but close questioning had made it clear that this was her idea and
not an invitation passed on from Nathaniel. As much as it hurt her to
disappoint the child, she had found excuses enough to stay away.

Making
every effort to settle her face in a neutral expression, Elizabeth turned.

"Dutch
Ton!" exclaimed Jed. "What the devil are you doing in Paradise?"

Elizabeth
recognized the trapper immediately as the man who had run the betting at the
Barktown lacrosse game. His blue eyes squinted out at them from a network of
grimy wrinkles in a face sprouting tufts of dun—colored hair. Even from where
she stood across the room, Elizabeth took in the waves of odor which drifted
off the man. Her students had taught her that an acute sense of smell was a
luxury she couldn't afford, but even the worst of the children had nothing on
Dutch Ton's aged fragrance. She pressed one of the new handkerchiefs to her
nose, closed her eyes and counted to ten.

"Close
the door!" Anna barked, bustling forward. "You old fool! What do you
mean, standing there like a mummy! Speak up! If you came for a bath—which I
must say is the one thing I would recommend for the sake of our noses—you're in
the wrong place. I don't rent out tubs no more."

Elizabeth
opened her eyes once again. Dutch Ton looked much as he had when she last saw
him: a barrel of a man wrapped in rags and tattered pelts, every sort of weapon
and implement dangling from the confusion of leather belts crisscrossing his
torso and waist. He was squinting as he looked around the room. When his gaze
finally reached Elizabeth, his mouth fell open to reveal a few blackish stumps
of teeth.

"What
do you mean, staring at Miz Elizabeth that way? You're putting the fear of God
in her, can't you see that, you ijit! Speak up, man. I heard you was in Fish
House. What brings you all the way here?"

The
man blinked slowly, his gaze still fixed on Elizabeth.

"I
got a letter," he said finally in a strangely high and cracked voice.
"I'm lookin' for the schoolmarm to read it to me. It's from my
sister."

* * *

There
was a pause, in which Anna turned and sought out Jed McGarrity.
"Jed," she said. "Take this old fool out of here."

"But
I got a letter," Dutch Ton protested, holding up something that might have
been paper. "From my sister. And I cain't read."

To
Elizabeth it looked like a hunk of old newspaper which had been left out in the
rain, but the look on the man's face moved her.

"I
could have a look at it," she said to Anna.

The
trapper was quick for such a big man; he was halfway across the room to
Elizabeth before Anna and Jed's protests began.

"Now,
Miz Elizabeth," Jed said. "Let me tell you about that letter."

"I
may as well look at it," Elizabeth murmured.

"Well,
you won't be the first," Anna said, disgruntled. "He shoves that
nasty thing in everybody's face, has been for the last twenty year. Nobody can
read it. It ain't in English."

"Lizzie's
good at languages," said Julian, who had situated himself in the corner,
uncharacteristically out of the conversation. He looked a little flustered when
Dutch Ton glanced his way, and then relieved when the man looked away without
seeming to recognize him.

"Is
it German?" asked Elizabeth, who had taken the letter from the trapper and
retreated behind the counter, both for a surface where she could lay the letter
out, and because her eyes were watering with the smell of him at close
quarters. "Could your father read it?"

"He
can't read," said Anna. "Never learned. I tried to read it to him,
figured it was German. But no luck." She looked across the room to where
her father slept on, oblivious.