The Jewel Cage

by Jane Steen

  “You’re right,” I said. “I don’t suppose I can do much for Thea by worrying.”

  “Nor should you.” Joe frowned. “You’ve done enough for that child as it is.” His expression softened. “Don’t worry, Nell, none of us have any intention of leaving an employee—a young girl—at the mercy of the police. Go get your fitting. I’ll take care of Miss Lombardi. Martin, go with her and forget you’re the owner for a while. Heaven knows the two of you could do with some time together.”

  41

  Wisconsin

  Dawn had not quite broken when we sat down to breakfast as a family. Martin was with us briefly; after ingesting an impressive number of sausages and buttered biscuits, he dispensed kisses and hugs with many expressions of how glad he was to have us home. His lips lingered on mine longer than usual before he remembered where he was and hurried off to his meeting at the store.

  “He’s in a very good mood.” Tess reached for another biscuit, which she split and smothered with grape jelly. “You look happy too, Nell. Your face is all pretty and your cheeks are pink.”

  I took a sip of my black coffee. “It’s warm in here. What are your plans for today?”

  Sarah was the first to reply because she thought so much faster than Tess and could always start speaking before my friend had drawn breath to begin.

  “We’re going to begin the day with the Eclectic Reader,” she announced. “That usually takes up a lot of time, Mama, because there are so many things to ponder when you read a story. And then I always do some penmanship lessons, which is so hard because I like to write with my left hand. Miss Baker says I have to try with my right hand as well because that’s the normal way to write and I won’t smear the ink, and she’s right because in Lake Forest, Orton the Third called me a chickie paw when he saw me write something, and I don’t want to be called a chickie paw. And then we’re going to do mental arithmetic, and then we’re going to do real mental arithmetic, not just from a book, because we’re going to go to the cake shop and spend the four dimes Papa gave me, and I have to get my sums right before I can buy anything. And then, oh, I don’t know, we’ll learn something else.”

  “Don’t put your thumb in your mouth, Sary,” Tess said as Sarah ended her speech by inserting that digit in her mouth with a frown. “Babies do that.”

  “It’s just because my mole is loose, Tessie. It annoys me so. My big teeth are pushing out my baby teeth and now it’s my mole’s turn, and it slips while I’m eating and hurts a bit.”

  “Your molar. Let me see.” I held out my hand.

  Sarah obligingly jumped out of her chair and stood beside me, her mouth wide open so that sausage-and-milk-scented breath filled my nostrils. I winced, but only slightly, remembering when such a fragrance would have sent me bolting for the washroom.

  “It’s all right. Don’t wiggle it and it’ll stop hurting in a bit. Now sit down again and let Tess tell us what she’s going to do.”

  “I want to write some lists, Nell. I want to hold a dinner party for my family.”

  “What a good idea. We don’t use that huge table often enough. Do you mean to invite everybody?”

  “All the grown-ups, even Deirdre and Joseph.” Tess beamed. “And Mary’s and Aileen’s husbands, and Billy’s Kathleen.” Billy had begun walking out with a young lady over the summer, and we hadn’t met her yet. “But we’ll tell Mary to get one of our cousins to mind the boys because they’ll spoil the party. You can come of course, Sary, because you live here.”

  “I might.” Sarah pushed her springy curls back from where they’d fallen forward over her shoulders. “I mean, I’ll come and say hello to everybody and meet Kathleen and especially talk to Grandpa O’Dugan.” Sarah had a soft spot for Tess’s father, who told her endless stories about Ireland. “But if Mama and Papa let me have a little picnic in my room, I promise faithfully I won’t hide any candy for later this time.” She gave me her most winsome smile, then spoiled the effect by absentmindedly wiggling her loose molar with her tongue. “May I be excused now? Miss Baker won’t be here for a whole hour, and I want to play for a while. I like early breakfasts.”

  She kissed me in a careless, distracted manner and drifted out, humming tunelessly.

  “She’s changing, Tess.” I sighed as I looked at the empty doorway, but I was too happy this morning to regret Sarah’s growing independence. “It’s as if she’s realized that her grown-ups are just people, not some kind of magical authority for everything. Oh well. When do you want to have this party? Do you even want us there? Perhaps you should simply enjoy being the hostess. After all, this is your home as much as ours.”

  “I will be the hostess.” Tess looked pleased. “And sit at the head of the table, and Da can sit at the other end. Or perhaps Donny should sit at the other end? But it would be nice if you were there in case Aileen says her sharp little things to Donny. I can sit you right next to Aileen.”

  That wasn’t the most pleasing prospect; I tried hard not to react. I opened my mouth to reply, but for once Tess was quicker.

  “And if you’re going to say something about Donny not being family and he shouldn’t be invited, you can think again. You’re probably right that he’s not good enough for the likes of the Palmers and the Lindgrens and the Pullmans and the Deerings, but he’s good enough for my family.”

  “I have never said anything about Donny being not good enough for society.” My voice rose to an indignant squeak. “He’s not comfortable in society, as you’re very well aware. But as for good enough—who am I to judge anyone’s suitability for good company? And I never have, Tess. It’s unfair of you to say that.”

  Tess pushed back her chair and ran to hug me. “I didn’t mean it like that, silly. Don’t frown.” She kissed my forehead. “I just figured out that was the best way to be sociable, that’s all. We got to be such good friends in Lake Forest, and I want it to stay that way. Even if Donny never wants to kiss me.”

  “It’s a wonderful notion. If you ever want to invite him to a family dinner, you must do so—or invite him along when we’re hosting the Fletchers or the Parnells or the Salazars. They’re all sensible people who would never think less of Donny for working in our stables, and I’ve noticed he likes their company. Then if he becomes less shy, we can introduce him to some other friends.”

  Tess’s eyebrows rose. “I thought you might say, ‘No, Tess, you can’t invite him to dinner with your family.’”

  “Why?” I smiled at my friend. “You can invite anyone you please to our house. Your house. Invite your family more often, for example.”

  Tess wrinkled her nose. “I mostly like seeing my family where they are, except for Billy. When I hadn’t seen them for years and years, I used to dream they were like angels in heaven, always perfect. I told that to Donny, and he said he knows exactly what I mean. Sometimes he wonders if he might still have a ma or a da somewhere. When he was a boy, he used to think maybe they would come to the Poor Farm and find him, and his ma would be pretty and his da would be rich. But he says he’s a man now, and if he were ever to meet them, he would meet them as just acquaintances, because he can be happy without them.”

  “That’s sensible enough. Is Donny happy here, Tess?”

  Tess beamed. “He’s very happy here. He says he doesn’t want anything more than what he’s got, except maybe one day he’d like a sitting room. I told him about my sitting room. Nell, would you come up to my sitting room? It would be nice if you could help me plan my dinner. Were you going to rush off to the store again?”

  “No-o-o-o.” I had intended to go to the store, but one more day wouldn’t make such a difference. “I want to find out what’s happened to Thea, but Martin said he’d let me know, and he’s coming home for luncheon anyway unless there’s an emergency.” Indeed, Martin had been as attentive that morning as if we’d only just gotten married. “Would you mind if I peruse the fashion journals Martin gave me yesterday while we talk and perhaps do some sketches? I must exercise my mind a li
ttle—I’m starting to see dresses in my head.” I grinned, and Tess rolled her eyes.

  “I suppose that means you’re quite well again. All right, Nell, let’s go upstairs. We can get lots done before Martin comes home.”

  The morning passed pleasantly. By eleven o’clock, Tess and I had sent for more coffee and were taking a little refreshment before we returned to our occupations. At my elbow was a pile of sketches, although none of them were definitive ideas. I realized I needed to spend at least a day looking at the dress goods in the store and talk with Madame about which fabrics were the newest and most exciting. Or with Martin; my husband did not quite have Madame’s encyclopedic knowledge, but he spent a great deal of time talking to the lady customers, and he was in constant touch with the buyers.

  Alongside Tess’s list of possible dishes for her family dinner lay my list of the features and embellishments that I intended to study closely in the coming days. Stripes, high necklines, little lace jabots—I smiled since I had anticipated their popularity as early as spring—and the perennial attraction of a long row of simple buttons that descended from the neckline, now almost to the knees, and required extremely good cutting and piecing not to produce gaping edges as the wearer moved. So deceptively easy to imagine when one looked at the tiny-waisted ladies in the fashion plates; so very difficult to execute well for real women. I needed to consider all the possibilities of the poufs and swags that were now just above the knee, making the waist appear even smaller and drawing attention to the lower half of the body in a way that would probably have made my own mother blush, so hidden were the nether limbs in her youth.

  I was staring at the fashion plates spread in front of me and contemplating the intricacies of trains, half trains, and no trains at all when Martin entered. Tess, who had been sipping her cream-laced coffee and staring at the seating plan I had helped her draw, looked up with a beatific grin.

  “You’re early. You can answer some of Nell’s questions. She’s been muttering.”

  I stared blankly at my husband, momentarily seeing him clothed in a straight fall of wide pleats and wondering how to piece them so they gave the effect of a crystal vase. I should try that on myself—it was so interesting that I had gained an inch in my bust but lost an inch from my hips. Martin’s hips were narrow . . . I shook myself mentally.

  “You are early.” The small clock on Tess’s dainty little desk was striking the half hour. “Couldn’t you bear to be away from me?”

  I gave him a sweeping glance from under my eyelashes, knowing well how striking my large blue-green eyes could be when seen from that angle. I saw his face change from its business-day expression to one of irresistible amusement. He came forward to plant a hearty kiss on my lips.

  “You are a disgraceful flirt. And yes, I looked forward to seeing you—but I’m afraid I have news, and I thought you’d better have it here rather than at the store. You’re not going to like it.”

  “It’s about Thea, isn’t it?” asked Tess. “That girl is just trouble, Nell.” She folded her arms, jutting out her chin in a way that reminded me strongly of her father.

  Martin pulled out a small, dainty chair and sat down, looking incongruously tall and long-legged and male in the pink-and-white room. “The police do harbor some suspicions that the details were somehow passed on to Thea’s thespian friends,” he said. “By default, mainly; they can’t think of any other way the trick was worked. But they can’t prove a blessed thing. They’re an incompetent lot at the best of times, although that Culshaw fellow is better than most. He should be in the detective force.”

  “So are they holding Thea?” I frowned. “That can’t be right. You know better than anyone that a jail is no place for a decent person. Can’t we do something?”

  “We have done something, remember? Or were you too distracted?” Martin’s smile was intimate but fleeting. “Joe arranged for an attorney to find out where Thea was and ensure she was properly treated. The attorney objected strongly to her being housed in a cell and won. She spent the night in a temperance hostel, a nice clean one, with the police matron sharing her room.”

  “She won’t have liked that—oh, I’m having uncharitable thoughts.” Tess grimaced. “Didn’t the detectives talk to her, Martin?”

  “They did, this morning.” Martin sighed. “They didn’t think they had enough evidence to charge her—but here comes the bit you won’t like, Nell. Culshaw sent for Teddy last night and took him to consult the denominational office this morning while the detectives and police matron were with Thea. The denomination naturally gave its full backing to whatever course of action Teddy might decide—”

  “Why ‘naturally’?” I interrupted.

  “Because they extend the stipulation in Genesis that a husband rules over his wife to any close relationship between a man and a woman.” Martin shrugged. “Are you surprised?”

  “Genesis chapter three, verse sixteen.” Tess had been listening intently. “Anyway, men rule the denomination, don’t they? So they’re bound to choose Teddy over Thea.”

  “And they have authority over her under the terms of the will, and that authority now devolves upon Teddy. Who is handicapped by the fact that Thea comes into her majority some months before Teddy comes into his under Illinois law. So, with encouragement from Captain Culshaw, he’s taken her to Wisconsin, where the age of majority for a woman is twenty-one.”

  “What?” I pushed back my chair and stood up. “And you let him?”

  Martin rose more slowly to his feet, resting a hand on my arm. “We’ve already established that you and I have no authority whatsoever, remember? Our man from Isaacson’s did his best to follow his instructions, which were to act on Thea’s behalf to have her released at the earliest opportunity. He protested such a conditional release into Teddy’s custody, as it were, given that they were unable to prove anything against her.”

  He stroked his chin, looking through me into some imaginary distance. “But the denomination coming down so hard in Teddy’s favor was an insurmountable obstacle, and Culshaw was clearly eager to make sure Thea had no further opportunities to get into any kind of trouble. Whether that was a sincere effort to protect her or simply the fellow-feeling of a man who knows what it’s like to have wayward daughters is anyone’s guess.” He sighed heavily. “Apparently, those Galloway friends of Teddy’s have moved to Wisconsin because Mr. Galloway inherited a farm. Teddy’s taking her to stay with them.”

  “But we can stop them.” I whisked away from the table, heading for the bell button. “Where are they now? I’m sure Teddy will see sense if we talk to him. Thea will just have to move back into the residence and undertake not to make any more attempts to go against her brother’s wishes. I’m sure I can make her see she’s being foolish. And that’s all it is—girls of her age are foolish.”

  Martin shook his head. “Culshaw no doubt expected we’d intervene on her behalf again. He sent the lawyer packing, put the two of them into a hired carriage with the police matron for company, and gave orders to take them straight to the station and get them on the next train on the Milwaukee Road. They’ll have gone to Clinton Street, and there are plenty of trains.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “They had an hour’s start on us before I heard the news, Nellie. I don’t see the point of rushing after them hoping to stop them.”

  “But if they think Thea told her friends about your vault, why would they let her go?” Tess, still seated, looked at the two of us over the top of her spectacles.

  “If I were looking for the bigger fish and thought I’d caught a sprat, I might want to get that sprat out of town before it warned the others that the police were casting a net.” Martin considered what he’d said for a moment and then nodded emphatically, as if sure he had hit on the correct explanation. “If I were Culshaw, I’d probably have told Thea I’d arrest her if she gave Teddy any trouble. I wouldn’t be surprised if the detectives were watching the Jewel Box carefully from now on.”

  He put his hand
on my shoulder and squeezed it gently. “In any case, Nellie, she’s gone—and she won’t come to any actual harm in Wisconsin. Try to rein in your desire for instantaneous action and let’s talk to Teddy when he returns. Perhaps we can change his mind.”

  Martin sent a note to Teddy’s boardinghouse on Washington Street asking for Teddy to contact us when he returned. He was right, of course, that rushing off to find Thea would be difficult without Teddy’s cooperation.

  And just how much did I want to find her? I asked myself that question as the days passed without news from Teddy. I caught myself thinking often of my own mother, who had let me be taken to the Prairie Haven Poor Farm with very little protest, convinced as she was of my stepfather’s authority as head of our little household.

  I had not protested either. Looking back, it seemed strange that I had unquestioningly trusted Hiram’s assertion that the institution of which he was a governor was a good place. That puzzle gnawed at my brain as I went about my daily tasks. I found myself wondering why I had become so obsessed with my own past until the answer presented itself one morning while I was cutting a particularly fetching silk taffeta with narrow stripes, gold on gold.

  “I see myself in Thea, I think,” I said later to Martin as we reclined against the comfortable seats of the landau, which rocked in a smooth swaying motion as the matched pair of white carriage horses broke into a trot under Capell’s expert hand. It was a glorious mid-September afternoon; the glass panes of the Exposition Building sent back blinding flashes of reflected sunlight, and its pennant flags fluttered bravely in the cool breeze.

  “Have you only just realized that?” Martin gave me a sideways smile. “I’m certain I told you so myself some time ago, but you’ve forgotten. And now Thea’s been dragged off to a remote location for misbehavior, just as you were.” He glanced at the front of the carriage, where Capell and Donny sat side by side in matching maroon jackets and smart top hats; Donny was taking lessons in driving a pair. “Let’s remember that according to you, that time of your life was the making of you.”