The Roswell Legacy by Frances Statham (parable of the sower read online .TXT) 📗

Ginna responded. “Because I didn’t bring very much.”

That evening, with her mother alerted to Ginna’s new history, Martha walked downstairs with her friend. Mrs. Beauchamp was already in the parlor with Miss Alma Counts.

“Mrs. Beauchamp, Miss Counts, may I present another boarder, Miss Biggs.”

Mrs. Beauchamp looked Ginna up and down. “And where did you come from, my dear?”

“From England, madam.”

Martha hurriedly filled in her brief resume. “Ginna is staying here with Mama until her guardian can come for her.”

“I had a guardian once,” Miss Counts remembered. “Treated me abominably he did, taking all my money. I would have had a comfortable married life, but the man left me with no dowry. So, of course, I’ve had to work for every penny since then. Don’t let your guardian treat you the same way, my dear.”

Mrs. Beauchamp sniffed. “We’re well aware of your reduced circumstances, Miss Counts.” The gnarled little woman’s attention returned to Ginna. “So when do you expect your guardian to arrive?”

“Not for several weeks, Mrs. Beauchamp.”

“He must be awfully far away.”

“San Francisco,” Martha said hurriedly. “But he has business interests in … in Hawaii.”

“Oh, my dear,” Miss Counts said. “Is he one of those American businessmen who dethroned Queen Liliuokalani? That was such a shame. So few women monarchs left in the world now besides Queen Victoria and the empress of China.”

Mrs. Beauchamp sniffed again. “Miss Counts is an avowed suffragist,” she said to Ginna. “She doesn’t intentionally mean to insult your guardian.”

“I quite understand,” Ginna said, frowning at Martha for being a little too inventive with her biography.

“I see that you have already met Miss Biggs,” Maggie said, coming into the parlor. She smiled at both women as they nodded. “Mr. Wells is on his way from the Capitol, with Mr. Hathaway. So as soon as they arrive, we’ll have supper—just the seven of us tonight. Ethel has prepared an excellent beef fillet, with peach ice cream for dessert.”

With the announcement of the menu, both women forgot Ginna. “I do hope Ethel doesn’t make the beef too rare,” Mrs. Beauchamp suggested.

“Or the ice cream too soupy,” Miss Counts added.

“She’s well aware of your specifications,” Maggie said pleasantly. Then, in a low voice, she remarked, “Since Ethel wasn’t sure just when the men would arrive, she cooked the meal to please us women. And if the beef is a little too well done to suit them, I’m afraid they’ll just have to bear with it.”

Both women beamed while Ginna looked on in amazement. Martha’s mother had absolutely charmed the two boarders and brought happiness to them with a few well-chosen words.

There was an element of anticipation as the delicious cooking odors from the kitchen drifted through the house. The ceiling fan in the dining room hummed steadily like the contented purr of a jungle cat. And Ginna listened to make sure another purr wasn’t coming from the two women in the parlor chairs.

How different from her own home, Ginna thought, with everyone treading on eggs so as not to make her mother upset. And with that sudden insight, Ginna realized that her education in a totally new world had begun.

CHAPTER

21

Within two days, the town of Washington took on its usual hustle and bustle with the arrival of the power brokers, legislators, and lobbyists for the special session that would pit Silverites against the rest of the country.

The boardinghouse on Pennsylvania Avenue suddenly swelled with full occupancy, and Ginna became a mere decoration at the evening table, as the men, totally wedded to power, acknowledged another face—however, a pretty one—and then promptly returned their attention to the business of politics.

For Ginna, meeting Martha’s Mr. Wells was a disappointment. He was far older than she’d imagined. And she could understand why Maggie Gregory had finally given up trying to interest him in Martha. Why would he want a wife when he was so totally occupied with an exciting, capricious mistress, politics, which could stir a man as no woman was capable of doing?

“I think your Mr. Wells is a confirmed bachelor, Martha,” Ginna said as she got ready for bed that second night. “But have you noticed how Mr. Hathaway seems to create opportunities to speak with you?”

“I hadn’t noticed particularly.”

“I think you should start cultivating his friendship, Martha. He seems much more susceptible to your charms.”

“He’s certainly younger. And nicer-looking, too, don’t you think?”

Ginna laughed. “Don’t tell me you haven’t felt his interest. I think you’ve known all the time.”

“But there probably isn’t any future to the friendship, Ginna. He’s lobbying for the mine owners. And you know he won’t win. He’ll lose his job at the end of this session. And Mama will probably lose him as a boarder as well.”

“But he can’t be blamed if he’s fighting for a lost cause. And that’s what it is. If he’s a good lobbyist though, then someone else will more than likely hire him.”

“That’s true. I hadn’t thought of that.” Martha was silent for a few minutes. Then she said, “Did you hear from anybody in your family today?”

“No. I doubt that Papa has told Mummy yet that I’ve gone. She’s so occupied with Cassie and the baby. And as for Papa, he would respect my wish not to be contacted just yet.”

“But what about Jonathan?”

“I told you he had to go back to Kentucky. He’ll be busy for the next several weeks seeing to the tobacco. So that gives me time to go to secretarial school and then leave town before he returns to Washington.”

“I wish things had worked out differently. It’s such a shame that—”

“Martha, I don’t want to talk about Jonathan.”

“All right, Ginna. And I guess we’d better go to sleep since we have to get up so early.”

“Yes. Tomorrow will be a busy day at secretarial school.”

“And at the law firm. Ginna?”

“What is it, Martha?”

Martha was still wrestling with the letter that Stanley Quail had sent to Senator Meadors. And it was on the tip of her