Booth's Daughter by Raymond Wemmlinger

Author:Raymond Wemmlinger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Astra Publishing House
Published: 2007-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

FIVE 1883

Vivid July sunlight surrounded me as I walked across the open field that lay between the house and the Seaconnet River. I had taken off my bonnet and unpinned my hair. Our property was private, so there was no chance that someone would come on me in such an improper hatless condition, and the boats that passed in the river were far enough away to render me indiscernible.

I had not realized how warm the afternoon was until I left the river with its cool water and breeze and began the trip across the field to the house—Boothden, as Papa had named it. I noted with indifference that although the sky overhead was cloudless, far away on the horizon tiny dark clouds were starting to appear. I wondered if it was going to rain.

Inside the house, I found Papa in the center hall. His hair was disheveled from his nap.

“Have a nice walk?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Good.” He went to a window. “Some clouds are rolling in. We may have rain. I hope it holds off until Adam arrives.”

His friend Adam Badeau was coming to stay for a few days. He was due to arrive that afternoon.

“Are things in order for him?” asked Papa.

I nodded. “We’re putting him in the large front bedroom.” The room, I added silently, that should have been Downing’s.

Downing. At the thought of him, a wave of sadness rippled up inside me. I pushed the thought away. This was something I had learned to do.

On his way to Boothden to visit us that summer, General Badeau was stopping off to see his old colleague and benefactor General Grant. “To propose an idea,” he had written mysteriously to Papa.

General Badeau had received international recognition for his multivolume Military History of Ulysses S. Grant. “Adam is an interesting, intelligent man,” Papa told me, and from General Badeau’s conversation at dinner on his first evening with us, I could see that this was true.

The steady patter of raindrops on the roof of the verandah provided a soothing backdrop to General Badeau’s voice throughout the meal. That voice seldom stopped; the conversation at times approached a monologue. Papa was unusually silent with his erudite, extremely vocal friend.

The conversation outlasted the meal, and after dessert was finished we continued to sit at the table. Papa brought out a new bottle of brandy and poured some for the General and himself. Then Papa asked quietly, “And how was General Grant?”

“Fine, fine,” General Badeau replied, a little too quickly. “Quite enjoying life as a private citizen.” He then began to speak of something else. I had hoped to hear more of the mysterious proposal for General Grant about which he had written. From the abrupt way he changed the subject, however, I assumed he had been disappointed and did not wish to speak of it. I hoped Papa would not embarrass his friend by pursuing it further.

General Badeau began to complain about New York City. “It really is becoming impossible,” he said, his voice sounding very precise.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.