Shadows at the Fair 01 by Wait Lea

Author:Wait, Lea [Wait, Lea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 2002-04-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

The First Day of the Season, a hand-colored wood engraving by John Leech, who was known for his humorous sporting illustrations, published in The Illustrated London News on November 22, 1856. Group of elegant gentlemen on horses in hunting attire greeting each other before the fox hunt begins. Price: $75.

The minister and her husband were thrilled when they saw Maggie’s N. Currier (the company originally founded by Nathaniel Currier in 1835, before he formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, James Ives, in 1857), The Tree of Intemperance (1849). Originally part of a pair (the other half of which was, of course, The Tree of Temperance), the print was of a dark green tree emerging from roots labeled “Wine,” “Beer,” “Cider,” “Rum,” “Gin,” and “Brandy,” its trunk encircled by the snake named “Alcohol.” Its branches, Lea Wait labeled “Disease,” “Misery,” “Poverty”—and Maggie’s personal favorite—“Insanity,” were broken and yielded fruits ranging from “Degradation,” “Ignorance,” and “The Wrath of God,” to “The Alms House,” “Robbery,” “Murder,” and “The Gallows.” On the right side of the tree were a sobbing woman and her three children. On the left side were two men brawling in front of a tavern.

“I love it!” the minister said as she read yet another “fruit”: “‘A Feeble Body.’ ‘Blasphemy.’ ‘Failure in Business.’ My husband and I have been collecting temperance materials—posters, books, political buttons. We hang them on the walls around our bar. This is perfect!”

Her husband agreed. They left their names in case Maggie found a copy of the matching print. “It would be lovely to have the pair,” the young minister said, smiling. “And if you ever have any other temperance or Prohibition materials, please, give us a call!”

Maggie filed their names with her list of customers looking for specific materials, then turned the sales book to a clean page.

Her booth had been busy since she’d returned; both Will and Gussie were no doubt glad she was back. Sales, after all, were why they were all here. Being asked to watch a friend’s booth was not an unusual request, but it could mean having to choose between your own customers and those in another booth. Not an easy choice.

Maggie glanced around. The early steady stream of customers had abated, but a good number of people were still browsing through the aisles.

Gussie was talking with an elderly couple who had brought two dolls to the show, hoping to sell them to a dealer. Will was reading a book in between customers. Maggie couldn’t see Susan, but occasionally her voice rose above the partition separating her booth from Maggie’s. Abe Wyndham must have gone for a walk; Lydia was showing berry forks to a young woman.

Maggie straightened her cash box and reorganized a few prints that customers had left in the wrong piles. It was hard to concentrate on keeping her booth arranged and smiling for customers when she knew a killer was nearby. A killer who was no doubt relaxing, since he—or she—knew the police had a suspect. She wondered if Gussie’s friend Jim had been able to get Ben out of jail.

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