A Desire to Hide Part 47

“Please dress well for tonight,” said Ann to Mary, voicing a concern that had been nagging at the back of her mind the entire day. “We must make a good impression on Charity’s family.”

“I will naturally do nothing to embarrass my dear sister,” said Mary, her voice full of sarcasm. Ann might have responded but Peter came in at that moment, and Ann did not want him to hear that she and Mary had been arguing. Mary began to flounce out of the room the instant that Peter entered but he noticed the move and stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“Just a minute there, Mary,” he said. Mary looked back at him, her face startled, but she did indeed stop. “I would like to speak to both of you,” Peter continued.

“If you are going to lecture me on how I am to act in front of our hosts tonight, you need not bother, Ann has spent the day at it,” said Mary, pulling her arm from Peter’s grasp.

“If you act badly, it will only reflect on yourself, and if tell you to act well, you will act badly to spite me. I am tired of that and have no intention of bringing into our discussions again. You may waltz to Hell with the Devil for all that I care, I will not say a word,” said Peter, his voice flat.

“What are you saying Peter, how dare you say such things?” demanded Ann, her fists clenched with fury. Mary simply stared at her brother, speechless.

“I am tired of this selfishness,” said Peter, his voice still chilly in a way that neither of his sisters had heard before. “I have done everything in my power to see that you both had the best of educations and opportunities, and the thanks that i have received for this is to have my marriage threatened by Mary’s petty fits. It is well that I do not think that Charity will think ill of me due to your behavior. However, I would like you to believe Mary, that at times I might wish to speak to you on a subject that does not have you at its center. As you have chided me for not speaking to you on important matters, I would like to do so now, if you will listen to me. If you will not, then you have no one to blame but yourself.” Peter had hardly taken a breath during this tirade and how he found himself panting, while Mary stared at him.

“What is this important matter?” asked Ann, trying to figure out what had caused this dramatic change in her brother.

“I have lost my employment,” said Peter, sinking into a nearby chair. Having gotten more upset than he had in a long time, he now felt drained. “Mr. Hendley has told me that they no longer have need of my services. I suspect Charles Hendley behind this, but I have no proof and it would not matter in any case.”

“What will happen to us?” wailed Mary, now looking like she was going to become hysterical.

“Why would Charles Hendley like to see you out of your position?” asked Ann, her voice slightly more shrewed. Peter had torn the article from the Daily to show to Charity, but now he pulled it from his pocket, and handed it over to Ann, without a word. He had not told his sisters about this angle of his romance with Charity after Mary’s initial reaction to the news of his engagement because he had feared what the reaction might be. Now it did not seem likely that he would be able to hide these details, even if he wanted to. It seemed fairly likely that reporters would be around to speak to this supposed villain who was blackmailing a well-to-do young man of the community, and it would be best if his sisters were ready for it.

“Of course this is not the true story, I would not think this of you or Charity,” said Ann, looking up once she had read the article. Peter did have to admire how she remained calm. Mary meanwhile was sobbing while sitting on the floor, and Peter felt the need to comfort her.

“Mr. Seay, Charity’s father, has given me a job for the time being at his saloon as a bookkeeper, so no Mary, we will not go hungry. He is paying me rather more than I think he would otherwise, but as I am marrying his daughter, he is paying me almost as much as Mr. Hendley did. We will not suffer. What I would like you to remember tonight however, is that you will be in the presence of my employer tonight, the man who does stand between us and starvation.” Mary looked up, still sniffling.

“You told Charity that you lost your job before us?” she demanded. Even Ann looked at her with exasperation.

“No,” said Peter, his voice dripping with patience. “I still have not told Charity that I lost my place, I told her father. He can be a rough man, and I wanted him to know that I would release his daughter from her promise to me if he did not wish her to marry a man with no employment. He knows men who might be willing to see to me as a favor, not the sort I will willingly upset.” Much to Peter’s surprise, this seemed to comfort Mary, who simply set about cleaning herself up and making ready to go join the Seay family for dinner after this news.

A Desire to Hide Part Three

“What do you have that you might hold over her?” asked Peter, confused.

“She wrote me in return you see. She is not the only one with indiscreet letters.”

“It won’t work,” said Peter, shaking his head. “It matters very little whether what she wrote to you in her love letters, what matters to a court of law is that you said that you were going to marry her, and now you have been seen with other women. Indeed,” said Peter, remembering something his father had once said about a case that had made all of the papers, “it will only excite sympathy for her. She was a woman, writing to the man that she thought would marry, while you will simply be a man who was writing things to her to pass the time.”

“I knew that you were the right man,” said Charles, looking pleased. Peter was growing even more confused now. “You would be a fine lawyer.”

“I am afraid I do not understand,” said Peter.

“I need someone to be a go between her and me, I am not entirely welcome at her house anymore. She has a father who people have heard say he would shoot me if he saw me again.”

“You ought get yourself a true lawyer,” protested Peter, realization dawning.

“They are not always discreet as I should like when they are cheap, and they are expensive otherwise. I would rather have someone I know and trust doing the negotiations. I have long thought of you as a friend,” Charles added.

Peter was torn, it was flattering in more ways than one. The request was a credit to his intelligence, his hard work, his close relationship with his boss. The problem being it was also likely to get him involved in an unpleasant situation that stank of scandal, and possibly shot at if the father was truly as irate as Charles represented. Though he would never admit it in the future, it was curiosity that fueled him in the end. He was very interested to discover what in a woman could have made Charles write indiscreet letters that his strict father would be certain to find out about in the end, even if things had not blown up in such a way. Peter strongly suspected Charles was close to being cut off and only the fact that he was the only child of the family had protected him thus far.

“I make no promises,” Peter said carefully. “If you allow me her address, I will go and speak to her and see if she would be willing to settle this matter between you two, out of court.”

“I knew that I could count on you,” said Charles, happily. This answer only made Peter more nervous. Though he had said clearly that he made no promises, it was clear that Charles expected some results from him, and Charles could be a spoiled child when things did not work out for him as he expected. There was no way to get out now however, Peter had, even if it had been unintentionally, committed himself to acting as an intermediary between Charles and this thus unnamed woman, who in all honesty he suspected had every reason to complain of Charles’s treatment of her. If nothing else the comment that Charles had made about her not being of his set had made Peter squirm, Peter was acutely aware that he was also not a man of Charles’s set and it made him wonder how long the man intended to keep him around.

Peter was very quiet for the rest of the walk back to the office, though Charles was as bubbly as was to be expected of anyone who had just forced a rather large problem into someone else’s lap. Everything had now become Peter’s problem, though Peter had done nothing to deserve it. As soon as they were at the office, and before Mr. Hendely could arrive, Charles wrote the lady’s address down and gave it to Peter. Peter thrust it into his pocket right before Mr. Hendely walked through the door. He did not think that his boss would be pleased to hear that he had undertaken such a task. It was not very respectable.

Peter returned home with a far heavier heart that he had left. Mary and Ann were out, visiting a friend their land lady told him. He did seem to remember them mentioning that one of their friends was about to get married and that they were going out shopping with her to pick out household things. Peter had encouraged this, hoping that it would lead his sisters to consider what they were missing by not looking for husbands. He was finding it rather troubling.

Ms. Charity Seay was the name on the paper that Charles had handed him, above the woman’s address. He had seemed to think that Peter would simply walk over to her house and speak to her, but that did not strike Peter as an idea that would end well. If Charles had been telling the truth about the girl’s father, that might end with him getting shot. Instead he sat down to write her a letter. If he posted it soon, it would reach her by the morning post, and assuming that she was prompt with her response, he would know if she would welcome his visit by the evening, once he arrived home from work. If she was willing to speak to him, he could see no reason why everything could not be sorted out amiably, and if she was not, then he would be able to tell Peter that he had tried in any case. No matter what Peter seemed to think, all he had promised to do was try. He made sure that his letter was as polite and business like as possible, wanting to give a good impression of himself as possible, explained his business and asked for permission to call on her. He posted the letter, feeling entirely pleased with himself, and spent the evening with an easy mind.