When This Cruel War Is Over by Thomas Fleming

Author:Thomas Fleming
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2011-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-ONE

Is SHE STILL HALF IN love with Adam Jameson? If so does that oath you swore last night mean anything? As oaths go, it did not mean very much in the first place. You had no trouble adjusting your conscience to swearing allegiance to a Southern version of liberty. It’s more or less the basic credo of the Democratic Party, to which you already belong by birth, blood and conviction.

These thoughts paraded through Paul Stapleton’s head as he sat at a table in Hopemont’s oak-paneled library listening to Gabriel Todd describe the routes that the various county brigades of the Sons of Liberty were planning to take for their march on Indianapolis. He made random notes but he was not paying serious attention to Colonel Todd. He kept seeing the expression on Janet’s face as she watched Adam Jameson stumble down the hall to Hopemont’s front door. Jealousy mingled with an unnerving realization that the Sons of Liberty were a far more serious conspiracy than he had imagined. The confidence with which Gabriel Todd was reeling off the number of recruits on the enlistment books of each brigade was impressive. Adam Jameson had an electrifying impact on the colonels of the George Rogers Clark Brigade. After he left they had talked in awed tones of their admiration for him and the confidence his presence would give their amateur soldiers.

The sound of hoofbeats on Hopemont’s drive brought Paul to the window. Instead of Janet, it was one of his black troopers from Keyport. He handed Paul a message from Henry Gentry: General Carrington has arrived. He wants to complete the court-martials as soon as possible. He is in an extremely unpleasant frame of mind. Please return immediately.

Paul showed the message to Colonel Todd, who agreed he had no alternative to a rapid departure. “I hope you can come back without delay. We have a great deal to discuss,” he said.

Paul assured him he would do his best to return swiftly. He packed his small valise, strapped it on his saddle and rode down the hot dusty river road to the steam ferry across the Ohio. He caught the clumsy boat just as it was leaving the Kentucky shore. Within an hour he was at he Grange. Gentry met him in the hall and led him into the front parlor, where General Henry Carrington was pacing the room, indifferent to the magnificent view of the river. Two submissive-looking staff officers sat on a love seat, along with a shaggy-haired civilian in a dirty white suit.

Gentry introduced Paul and they shook hands. The officers were both colonels, the first a gray-haired heavy-jawed man named Slocum, the second a short rotund redhead named Brewer; the civilian was named Dawes—a reporter from the Indianapolis Journal, the state’s chief Republican newspaper.

General Carrington’s lean bony face was decorated at the chin by a scraggly black beard. His torso was similarly lean. He emanated a foxy quality, especially around the eyes. He looked like a man who knew what it was to be both predator and quarry.

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