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Elizabeth entered the Bateses’ home quietly, half-afraid of attracting Gideon’s attention and half-afraid of not attracting his attention. But apparently he wasn’t home yet. Mrs. Bates was in the parlor, reading her mail.
“Did you have a nice day, dear?” Mrs. Bates asked.
“Yes,” she lied. “Did they wear you out at the hospital?”
“They always do.” She held up the letter she’d been reading. “I received a note from Mrs. Belmont herself about the Woman’s Party conference this weekend. She is urging me to attend. It’s going to be a very big celebration.”
“Then you should go.”
“You and Anna should go, too. You both suffered far more than I did at the workhouse.”
Elizabeth sat down beside her on the sofa. “I don’t think Anna and I would enjoy a conference nearly as much as you would, and quite frankly, I don’t think Anna is strong enough yet for another trip. I wouldn’t dream of going without her, either.”
Mrs. Bates smiled and patted her hand. “I can understand that. I do hate to disappoint Mrs. Belmont, though. She’s done so much for the cause.”
“Then don’t worry about us. Surely, I can stay with the Vanderslices while you’re away.”
“I’m afraid not, but perhaps Anna can stay here with you and Gideon can stay at his club.”
That sounded perfect. Anna would be delighted to spend time with her, and she wouldn’t have to worry about seeing Gideon. Only one thing sounded strange. “Does Gideon have a club?”
“Everyone has a club, dear,” Mrs. Bates told her with a grin. “Some men have more than one. Gideon doesn’t spend much time at his, but he does belong to one.”
Well, then. “I’ll ask Anna tonight! That is, if you don’t think Gideon would mind.”
“It doesn’t matter if he does or not. He’ll do the proper thing.”
Yes, that’s exactly what Elizabeth was afraid of.
Elizabeth took the coward’s way out and hastily changed her clothes so she could go right over to dine with the Vanderslices before Gideon got home. She’d have to face him sooner or later, but later seemed like a much better idea. As she had predicted, Anna was delighted at the prospect of spending more time with her. They passed a quiet evening playing cards and ignoring Mrs. Vanderslice’s hints that they should invite the general over again very soon.
When David walked Elizabeth home, the hour wasn’t late, but she felt oddly weary. The pressure of her plans weighed too heavily, she was sure. At the Bateses’ doorstep, she lifted her face for David’s chaste kiss, but he said, “You were awfully quiet tonight. Is something wrong?”
She hadn’t expected David to be observant. How inconvenient. Now she had to make up a lie for him, too. “Not a thing. Perhaps I used up all my energy last night on the general.”
“He is certainly an interesting man.”
“Do you suppose your mother is really interested in him?”
“I’m sure she could be, if he were interested in her,” he replied with a smile.
“I can’t imagine they’d suit.”
“Certainly not as well as you and I,” David said with more confidence than he had any right to. “I wish you’d set a wedding date. People keep asking me, and it’s embarrassing that I don’t have anything to tell them.”
What a stupid reason to set a wedding date! But she said, “I’m sorry. I had no idea it was such a trial for you. I promise to set one soon. Anna and I will put our heads together while she’s staying with me, and we’ll figure it out.”
He smiled, pleased to have gotten his way. He kissed her cheek and waited until the maid let her in before setting out for home.
When the maid had taken her coat, she looked up to find Gideon standing in the parlor doorway. “May I have a word with you before you go up?” It didn’t sound like a request.
She laid a hand over the sudden quivering in her stomach and stepped into the parlor. Once again, he closed the door behind her. “Mother has already gone up,” he said, so she knew they could speak freely.
He looked as uncomfortable as she felt, but she didn’t give him any help. She just waited while dread coiled ominously through her limbs. After what seemed an age, he said, “I feel I should apologize for my behavior this morning.”
Not what she wanted to hear. “What behavior is that?”
Was he blushing or was that just a trick of the light? “For laying my hands on you.”
“Are you sorry for that?” she asked with some disappointment.
“Not really, but I should be, so I’m apologizing.”
The coiling dread slipped silently away. “Is that all you wanted to say?”
“Of course not. I’m aware that you are most likely waiting to hear my decision about informing Oscar Thornton of your little scheme.”
“Is that what you think it is, a little scheme?”
“Of course not. I’m just trying to annoy you.”
“You hardly need try!”
“But you don’t look very annoyed.”
“Well, I am. In fact, I’m furious with you. I can understand that you think your principles are important, but I can’t understand why you’d protect a man who’d sell faulty rifles to the U.S. Army and who murdered a woman—a woman who was your relative, no less—and who threatened to murder another.”
“When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound very logical, does it?”
“No, it does not. It also doesn’t sound kind or generous or . . . or . . .”
“Loving?”
“Or loving.” Why had she said that? Now she was blushing.
“You’re right. It doesn’t. Do you think a man should put aside his principles for love?”
Why was he looking at her like that? Like he could see into her soul? She didn’t want anyone to see into her soul, least of all saintly Gideon Bates. “Why do you care what I think? You already know I don’t have any principles.”
“I think you have principles. They’re just different from mine. And I’m curious. I want to know what goes on in that beautiful head of yours.”
No, he didn’t, or at least he wouldn’t once he found out. “I think . . .” What did she think, really? She looked at him standing there, so upright and respectable. If she was unlike any woman he had ever known, he was unlike any man she had ever known, too. He cared little for money or power, and he always spoke the truth. He was, as she had said, disgustingly honest and honorable in a way she could hardly even understand. Could she change that? And even if she could, did she want to? “I think you should do what you think is right.”
Surprise flickered across his face but it quickly turned to suspicion. He was right not to trust her, of course. “I suppose you’re going to tell me what you think is right.”
“No, I’m not. I already told you what I want you to do, but I’m not going to try to persuade you. The general . . . Well, I saw him today, and I told him that you know everything. He said I should . . .” Her voice broke but she cleared it and went on. “He said I should tell you I’m in love with you so you’d do what we want, but I’m not going to.”