Soldier Boy's Discovery (16 page)

“I like it too,” Leah said. “But I like the little violets down by the creek in the spring the best. The wild kind that grow with the moss out in the deep woods. Wish we could find enough today to make a little bouquet.”

They did not find violets, but they had a fine walk. When they headed back and came in sight of the house, Leah said, “Look, there's a buggy!”

Jeff at once recognized it. “That's the Driscolls' buggy, I think.”

“The Driscolls'?” Leah sounded shocked. “What is Mr. Driscoll coming for? To see Uncle Silas, I guess.”

Jeff did not answer. He had not told Leah about Lucy. There had not been time for that, but he decided to make up for it now, as well as he could, in case Lucy had come along—though he couldn't imagine how she could know he had returned. “Leah, I have to tell you—before I left here, I got to be kind of friends with Lucy.”

Leah stopped dead still.
“Friends?
With
that
girl? After what she did? How could you?”
Jeff said hastily, “I know. I was about as mad as you. She was wrong to tell that captain about Ezra. But she told me she was sorry.”

Leah's face was stiff with anger. “Sorry? A lot of good that would have done if Ezra had been caught. And we might've been hanged as spies!”

Jeff kicked at the dust, not knowing what to say. “Well,” he said slowly, “she did say she was sorry. I went to church with Uncle Silas, and her folks invited us home. After that Lucy and I had a little talk.” He turned to look at her. “You know, I think I discovered something from having that fight with you, Leah. It taught me it doesn't do any good staying mad at people.”

But his words seemed to flow over Leah's head. He knew she had been furious with Lucy. She had never liked the girl, and her dislike came perhaps from personal reasons. She had never forgotten how Lucy had made fun of her at the birthday party.

Now she said, “She's spoiled. She always has to have her own way.”

“I expect some of that's so,” Jeff agreed. “But anyway, she said she was wrong to do what she did. What could I do? I had to say it was all right—that I forgave her. Isn't that what your father would have done?”

By this time they had reached the porch, and as they entered the house, Lucy jumped up, saying, “Jeff!” Her eyes were bright. She was wearing an attractive white dress trimmed in green lace. She looked very pretty coming up to him.

“I've been stopping by Uncle Silas's house almost every day, hoping he'd heard from you. Imagine my delight when he told me you were actually here! I'm
so glad you're back. I was so afraid that you'd been shot or something awful.”

“Nope, just got sick.” Jeff grinned shyly. Then he turned and said, “If it hadn't been for Leah here and … another friend … I guess I never would've made it. They took care of me and Mr. Carter all the way back from the battle.”

Lucy turned with a smile to Leah, but when she saw the stony expression on the girl's face she halted abruptly. “Well,” she said slowly. “That was very nice of you, Leah.” She bit her lip, then said, “I want to tell you how sorry I am for what I did. It was awful!” Then she tried to smile. “I hope we can see more of each other. At least we have Jeff in common!”

“I doubt that.” Leah shrugged, leaving unclear whether she doubted their future social engagements or that she was willing to share Jeff. “I'll be pretty busy taking care of things around here.” She moved closer to Jeff, touching his sleeve possessively.

Lucy turned pale, and her eyes went to Jeff's face.

Jeff dropped his head and shrugged his shoulders. He whispered to Lucy, “Leave her alone. She'll have to discover what's the right thing to do just like I did, Lucy.”

Lucy gave no hint that she had heard Jeff but turned to the assembled group and said quietly, “I'll have to be going. Good-bye, Mr. Carter—nice to have met you. Uncle Silas, good to see you.” She went out the door, and there was an uncomfortable silence.

Everyone looked at Leah, and she flushed. “Well,” she said stubbornly, “I know I wasn't very nice. But how do we know that she won't run right
to that Wesley Lyons and tell him that Ezra's here? She did it before.”

Jeff said, “She already told me she was sorry about that, Leah. And nobody's told her Ezra is here. I don't think she'll do anything. She's a pretty nice young lady.”

But Leah said, “I don't trust her.”

She flounced off to the kitchen, and Ezra came in and looked at Jeff. He'd stayed out of the living room, and his presence hadn't been mentioned by the Carters the whole time Lucy had visited. Ezra was still cautious.

Nodding in the direction Leah had stomped, Ezra remarked, “I guess she's pretty mad. I wish she wasn't, though. It's not good for her, even if Lucy isn't very predictable.”

Dan Carter looked toward the kitchen where his daughter had disappeared. “Yep, she's wrong this time. But nobody can talk to Leah. She's as stubborn as a blue-nosed mule when she gets her back up. We'll all just have to pray for her.” He sighed heavily. “It sure is hard to raise a daughter.”

E
verything went well at the home of Silas Carter for the next two days—except that Leah was impossible. Jeff tried more than once to get close to her, but it never worked.

“She's not mad at me anymore,” he said to her father. “But she just can't get over the way she feels about Lucy Driscoll.”

“I know,” Mr. Carter said regretfully. “I've tried to talk to her about it. All she'll do is squint her eyes and shake her head and say that Lucy's not to be trusted.”

“Looks like she'd realize that if Lucy did know Ezra's here and was going to turn him in, she would've done it already.”

“Well, when people let anger and bitterness get in them, they do foolish things.” Dan shifted in his rocking chair and looked down at the piece of cedar he'd been whittling. The shavings made a sweet-smelling pile at his feet. “Always did like the smell of fresh-cut cedar,” he murmured. He sent another curled shaving to the floor. “We've got to do something about her, boy. She's just dead wrong.”

Later in the day, Ezra made another appeal to Leah. The two of them were out looking for guinea hen eggs in the sprawling hen yard. Leah seemed to be enjoying the sunshine and being outside. “These guineas think every day's Easter, hiding their eggs
like they do.” She laughed. “I don't see how they remember where they are themselves.”

“Here's one.” Ezra reached into a pocket of dried grass and drew forth a small egg. He stared at it, holding it between his thumb and forefinger. Then he grinned. “Take a lot of these to make a dozen, wouldn't it?”
Leah laughed. “You're crazy, Ezra. But it would take a lot to feed an appetite like yours.”

They continued to search for eggs until finally Leah said, “I guess this is all we're going to find. Maybe there'll be enough for an omelet for Pa and Uncle Silas.”

Ezra stood lazily in the sunlight, his face relaxed. His eyes were reflective, and he said, “You know, I remember what I was like when you found me the first time. Skinny as a rail, sick and hardly able to hold my head up. I think about that a lot, Leah.”

Leah turned to face him. “I'm glad I did find you, Ezra,” she said softly.

“You're the kindest girl I ever saw.”

“Oh, I am not.”

“Sure you are.” Ezra hesitated, then said, “I guess it's not my place to say so, but I hate to see you feeling like you do about Lucy.”

At once Leah's face grew tense. “You don't know her, Ezra,” she said. “She's spoiled. She learned how to fool her parents probably when she was a year old. She's been doing what she pleased ever since. She knows how to fool other people too. I've seen her. The boys fall all over themselves to make her happy—and that's what she's doing to you and Jeff. You're just too blind to see it!”

Ezra shoved his straw hat back, and his curly hair fell over his forehead. He fingered the brass buckle at his waist for a moment uncertainly, then shook his head. “I don't doubt she's spoiled. She's the only child of rich parents—and a pretty girl. It'd be a wonder if she wasn't.” He suddenly dropped his hand and looked directly at Leah. “But that's no reason she can't be sorry for a mistake, just like us poor ugly folks.”

He tried to grin to make his words softer but saw the stubbornness on Leah's face. “Well,” he said, “I'm not going to say anything else about it. I know you'll think better of the way you've been acting.”

“I've been acting just right!” Leah said sharply. Then she forced herself to smile. “Come on, let's go down the road. I want to show you where the big woodpecker lives. He's three times as big as a redheaded woodpecker and has a striped back and has a tuft of a feather on his head. I don't know how to tell you. Come on.”

Ezra and Leah walked down the road. They passed several wagons, but were so engrossed in their conversation that they did not notice that one wagon was driven by Rufus Prather, the overgrown boy hired by the Driscolls.

Rufus Prather was fat and lazy and totally untrustworthy. He'd been the instrument of almost getting Ezra captured. He had been soundly reprimanded by his employer for that. And when he saw Ezra he recognized him instantly.

“It's that escaped Yankee prisoner!” he whispered to himself. His little eyes glinted, and he said angrily, “This time we'll get him for sure!”

He whipped up the horses and made his way into Richmond, where he found Captain Wesley Lyons in his office.

“Captain Lyons, you know that Yankee soldier that escaped? The one that got away with Leah Carter?”
Lyons was a tall man with brown hair and a rather childish face. He'd had bad experiences with both Sarah Carter and Leah. Now he turned and said abruptly, “There wasn't anyone with her except Jeff Majors. You made a mess out of it and got me in trouble with the colonel.”

“But,” Prather said, “you can get him this time. I seen him plain as day, and he didn't see me.”

“All right, where is he?” Captain Lyons demanded.

“He's at Silas Carter's place. I seen him walking along the road with Leah Carter. You can get them this time, Captain. I'll bet you can.”

Captain Lyons rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and a smile turned up the corners of his thin lips. “All right, I'll see to it. Now get out of here.”

Rufus left at once, and all the way home he enjoyed thinking about his revenge when he would see the Yankee soldier caught and Leah humiliated, even arrested as a spy.

“That'll show her she ain't too good for me,” he chortled. Then he said, “Git up, horse.”

He arrived at the Driscoll house and was unhitching the horse when Lucy came in from her afternoon ride on her small gray mare.

“Miss Lucy,” he said excitedly. “Guess what? We're going to get them this time.”

Lucy had not yet dismounted. She said, “Get who?”

“That Yankee prisoner. I seen him and Leah Carter walking down the road.”

“You must've made a mistake, Rufus.”

“No,” Rufus insisted. “I seen them—it was them, and I done told Captain Lyons. We'll get them this time. That'll be something, won't it? Last time they got away from us, but we'll get them this time!”

Lucy smiled and said, “I expect so. Captain Lyons will take care of it.” She did not dismount but said, “I think I'll ride a bit more. My mare's not tired yet.” She turned her horse and rode out of the yard at a fast walk.

As soon as Lucy was out of sight of the house, she said, “Come on, girl! Let's see how fast you can go now.” She rode at a gallop to the house down the road. It was a tall, two-story home belonging to the Taylors. She drew up, and when a maid came out to inquire, she called, “Is Cecil here?”

“Yes, ma'am, he here. I'll send him right out.” The maid turned and walked back inside.

Soon Cecil Taylor came out the door. “What is it, Lucy?”

Lucy said, “Come on, Cecil, get your horse! Hurry!”

“What for? Where we going?”

“I'll explain to you on the way. Hurry up! We've got to go as fast as we can.”

Leah was setting the table for supper when she looked out the window and was startled. “Well, what does she want?” she muttered under her breath.

Jeff, who had been sitting at the table, got up and walked to the window. “I know him. That's Cecil Taylor. And Lucy …” He watched the pair approach and said, “They're riding like Old Scratch is after them. What's their hurry, I wonder?”

Now Ezra came to peer over Leah's shoulder as the horses thundered into the yard. “Well, they're coming here—and look how them horses are lathered! There must be something wrong.”

The three of them were turning to go to the door when it burst open, and Lucy and Cecil ran in.

“Ezra, you've got to get away!” Lucy cried. “Captain Lyons knows you're here. He's coming after you!”

Leah stared at the girl. “I
knew
she would tell them! I just knew she would!”

But Cecil Taylor turned his bright blue eyes on her. “You're wrong about that. It was Rufus. Rufus told the captain, and then Rufus told Lucy.” His voice was accusing, and he said, “I'm surprised you'd think such a thing, Leah.”

Leah was stopped dead in her tracks, but she had no time to say more.

Lucy said, “They're expecting to see a stranger here. Get away as quick as you can, Ezra. That's what I brought Cecil for. When Captain Lyons comes, he'll find him here and not you.”

Dan Carter, who'd said nothing so far, now spoke up. “Lucy's right. You've got to get out of here, Ezra. Take one of the horses and head on out. Hide out until dark. This ain't safe territory for you.”