A Perilous Proposal (43 page)

If the United States government, now that there was only one government again, entrusted her with so sacred an obligation as to distribute its mail, then it was her solemn duty to know everyone in the community so that the mail went where it was supposed to.

Along with that duty, she also tried to know everything
about
everyone.

Whether or not the government would have felt it important, that was the greatest benefit of her job. It was certainly more rewarding than the small fee she received each month for her services. Her deepest satisfaction came from the knowledge that her gossip-loving mind managed to pick up from day to day. It gave her the delicious power in the community she imagined she held.

She gained her information any way she could. It might be from snatches of overheard conversation or the memory of a return address—and she read every one the moment the mail was delivered and had a brain that never forgot such details. Or it might be from a letter held up to the light to see what she could see through the envelope. Or she might learn something from all the informal questions—seemingly innocent
but each calculated to add to her storehouse of information on every resident for miles—she made part of her transactions with every man, woman, or child who walked through her door. However she did it, Mrs. Hammond's devious mind was in a constant state of activity concerning everyone
else's
affairs.

But it was not merely possessing information that fed her obsession. She must do something with it. Thus she doled it out in whatever circumstances would add to her own supposed stature in the minds of those she chose to share her secrets with. She liked to be seen as the one “in the know.” To hold such influence placed her at the center of the life of the community.

That her preoccupation with town gossip was but a disguise for her own loneliness was a sad fact Mrs. Hammond would not have guessed in a hundred years. Whether there was anyone she would have regarded as a friend, it was certain that no one in the town considered her
their
friend. She had not been invited to dinner after church except once, and that was years ago, by Reverend Hall and his wife. Whether she felt the aloneness of her existence during the long winter nights in her small sitting room above the store, no one could have said. But when every new day came, she was there to greet the morning's first customer when he or she walked through her door with the optimism of her twin callings—to sell and to learn.

But even Mrs. Hammond had her scruples.

She was a Southerner through and through. She didn't like all this business with colored people coming and going as if they were like everyone else.

She couldn't decide whether it was the war and President Lincoln who had changed everything in Greens Crossings, or those two girls out at the Rosewood plantation who went around like they were friends, pretending that skin color didn't matter.

There was no doubt—things had changed because of them. And those two Daniels brothers! They were the worst of the lot. They should know better.

It seemed that there was always somebody new coming to town, and that it always had to do with those two girls! First it had been the dandy from the North, Rosalind Clairborne's brother, God rest her soul. Then Mr. Clairborne's brother from Charlotte, God rest Rosalind's husband's poor soul too. Then Rosalind's other brother from California. Then that son of Henry's.

Would it never end!

For all she was concerned, everyone at Rosewood could just stay away from Greens Crossing forever!

Yes, Mrs. Hammond had her scruples. And most of them had to do with black people and poor people. She had no use for either.

So when the bell rang and Mrs. Hammond glanced up to see who was walking through her door early in the year 1869, her first response was to tilt her nose slightly in the air. No smile would greet
this customer on this
day.

Whatever information he might either need or possess, she wasn't interested. For he was a black man. She had never seen him before, and good riddance.

“Morning to you, ma'am,” he said. “Might you point me in the direction of the livery?”

“It smells like you just came from there,” she retorted. She sniffed once or twice with an unpleasant expression.

“Sorry, ma'am. I've been traveling awhile.”

“It's down that way,” said Mrs. Hammond, pointing along the street, wrinkling her nose again.

The man thanked her, turned, and left. From force of habit, she wandered to the window and watched him slowly make his way in the direction she had pointed. She muttered a few comments to herself, then returned to her counter.

Hoping she had seen the last of him, Mrs. Hammond
could not know that this stranger would cause a greater stir in Greens Crossing than all the rest.

He did not yet know it himself. But his presence would bring mysteries to light that Mrs. Hammond herself could never have dreamed—secrets that would turn this community, and even the whole state, on its ear.

A
UTHOR
B
IOGRAPHY

C
ALIFORNIAN
M
ICHAEL
P
HILLIPS
BEGAN HIS DISTINGUISHED
 writing career in the 1970s. He came to widespread public attention in the early 1980s for his efforts to reacquaint the public with Victorian novelist George MacDonald. Phillips is recognized as the man most responsible for the current worldwide renaissance of interest in the once-forgotten Scotsman and is one of the world's foremost experts on MacDonald. After partnering with Bethany House Publishers in redacting and republishing the works of MacDonald, Phillips embarked on his own career in fiction, and it is primarily as a novelist that he is now known. His critically acclaimed books have been translated into eight foreign languages, have appeared on numerous bestseller lists, and have sold more than six million copies. Phillips is today considered by many as the heir apparent to the very MacDonald legacy he has worked so hard to promote in our time. Phillips is the author of the most widely read biography of George MacDonald, entitled George MacDonald, Scotland's Beloved Storyteller. Phillips is also the publisher of the magazine
Leben
, a periodical dedicated to bold-thinking Christianity and the legacy of George MacDonald. A
Perilous Proposal
is Phillips' 48th original novel and 102nd published work. Phillips and his wife, Judy, alternate their time between their home in Eureka, California, and Scotland, where they hope to increase awareness of MacDonald's work.

M
ORE FROM
M
ICHAEL
P
HILLIPS

If you enjoyed A
Perilous Proposal
, you will be sure to enjoy the companion series to C
AROLINA
C
OUSINS
—S
HENANDOAH
S
ISTERS
, the four books about Katie and Mayme and their scheme at Rosewood. The first book in the series is entitled
Angels Watching Over Me.
And don't miss Michael Phillips' other newest titles
Is Jesus Coming Back As Soon As We Think? and Dream of Freedom
.

Books by Michael Phillips

Is Jesus Coming Back As Soon As We Think?

Destiny Junction • Kings Crossroads

Make Me Like Jesus • God, A Good Father

Jesus, An Obedient Son

Best Friends for Life
(with Judy Phillips)

George MacDonald: Scotland's Beloved Storyteller

Rift in Time • Hidden in Time

Your Life in Christ
(George MacDonald)

The Truth in Jesus
(George MacDonald)

A
MERICAN
D
REAMS

Dream of Freedom • Dream of Life • Dream of Love

T
HE
S
ECRET OF THE
R
OSE

The Eleventh Hour • A Rose Remembered

Escape to Freedom • Dawn of Liberty

S
HENANDOAH
S
ISTERS

Angels Watching Over Me

A Day to Pick Your Own Cotton

The Color of Your Skin Ain't the Color of Your Heart

Together Is All We Need

C
AROLINA
C
OUSINS

A Perilous Proposal • The Soldier's Lady

Never Too Late • Miss Katie's Rosewood

N
OTES

[1]
. This “nigger dog” description was recounted in the book
Black Bondage: The Life of Slaves in the South
, by Walter Goodman. Published by Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1969.