Again, Nora sighed. “Well Eden, I did see something that shocked me. I suppose it caused my fainting. Close the door. I’ll tell you. I suppose you’ll repeat it to Rafe?”
“Well, we don’t wish to keep secrets from each other.”
“Wise decision. It doesn’t matter. I think he already knows well enough. In fact, he knows even more, and so does Zachary.”
Eden closed the door and sat opposite Nora. She leaned forward, hands folded on her lap, watching Nora.
Nora looked up at the ceiling as if gathering her thoughts into words and then began quietly.
“I feel like a Benedict Arnold, but when the truth must be spoken what can one do but speak? I discovered something that night that is most dismaying. It alters my opinion of Queen Liliuokalani.”
Eden took her hand. Did this have anything to do with the late night visitor? “Yes?”
“It’s shameful, really. I was convinced Oliver was a gentleman, as you know. But Oliver Hunnewell is a spy. He’s mixed up with the powerful gambling syndicate from the American mainland.”
Eden wasn’t surprised. In fact, she knew that to be the case, as did Rafe and Zachary. But why did Nora believe this?
“What happened to convince you, Aunt Nora?”
“First of all, the scoundrel met a woman who entered the court by way of the royal guardhouse. And how could she get through the guardhouse area without someone high up helping her? Otherwise, she would need to come by the civil gate, like the rest of us.”
Eden asked quietly, “You saw her then? Do you know who she is?”
“Oh, yes. I’ve seen her before at the Royal Hotel. She’s a soothsayer.”
The facts seemed to be straightforward enough. Nora had actually seen the tarot card reader arrive, and Eden had seen the woman as she came up the stairway into the private living quarters.
“Her name,” Nora said softly, “is Madame Wolf—actually Fraulein, since she is of German ancestry. I don’t know whether she is married or not, but I’ve seen her at the Royal Hotel twice since I’ve been there, and both times with a man. I don’t know his name. I’m sure Rafe has seen her as well.”
“Yes, and I saw the couple speaking with Silas in the garden here at Kea Lani.”
“A dreadful revelation. My suspicions about Silas now appear to be certain. You’ve told Rafe of course?”
“Yes, but he already knows enough about Silas to show that he, like Oliver, was involved with the cartel out to influence the queen.”
“Well I’m grieved to say this, my dear, but it seems clear that Liliuokalani is being influenced, whether she knows it or not. They are out to get those horrid gambling and opium bills passed by the Legislature and then signed by her into law.”
“And they are using the tarot card reader to influence her?”
“Yes, that is what shocked me. I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen her arrival and the queen looking in her direction with approval.”
“And you saw Oliver, too?”
“Oliver and another man meeting Fraulein Wolf. Oliver handed her some papers. Then the three of them walked back into the palace through another route, the man showing the way.”
“Who was he?” Eden begged.
“Well that’s it, dear, the frustrating thing was I couldn’t see the man’s face. But I recognized the woman, as I said. By shuffling tarot cards and drawing from the pack, she supposedly reads the past and predicts the future. It is all nonsense, quite absurd. And very reckless of the queen to listen to her. Imagine! That is what had me so upset. It still does.”
“And rightly so,” Eden soothed.
“To think that my friend, the queen, would trust what she is told from cards!” She put a hand to her forehead.
“We don’t know for sure if she does listen to her, Aunt Nora. We mustn’t rush to judgment.”
“No, but I fear that she does. The odious question is: Who decides what information will be given to the fortune-teller?”
Yes, and who was the man with Oliver Hunnewell who gave her the papers? And what role did Oliver hold in this dark scheme?
“I fear the queen may secretly meet with this Fraulein Wolf often. I am most disappointed. Ainsworth is right about some of his beliefs concerning the queen. Whereas I—” She looked pained. “Whereas I have put too much confidence in frail human flesh. ‘Put not your confidence in man,’ Scripture teaches us, and I’ve unwisely put too much in the monarchy.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Seeds of Deceit
The evening lights were coming on in Kea Lani plantation house, golden against a darkening sky. A silvery star winked down.
Rafe watched guests conversing with each other on the front lawn of the great white house, discussing everything from sugar prices to politics. He stood with Keno and Zachary behind the chairs where Eden, Candace, and Claudia Hunnewell were talking.
“If she tries to banish the Constitution of ’87, we won’t stand for it,” someone announced.
“Careful how you speak of the queen,” Zachary commented sarcastically, “you might be accused of treason and hanged from the downtown coconut trees.”
“Treason, bah! They’re the ones who want to commit treason against us planters. We are all first-, second-, and third-generation Hawaiians, but you wouldn’t know it to hear some of them talk. What do they call us, reformers? The ‘missionary party,’ and you can hear the scorn in their voice. They say we’re thieves and robbers, too.”
“If the truth were known,” another said, “we’re the men who built Hawaii.”
“Absolutely.”
“Quite so, quite so,” Ainsworth said.
“We made it what it is today, everything from Easton pineapples to Spreckels and Derrington sugar. We brought the good hotels, established the schools and hospitals. Now that the Islands are productive, we’re not going to have our rights taken away. If they think they can now control our harvest by claiming we stole it from them, then they’re the thieves!”
A strained hush of voices followed. Ainsworth frowned. “Now, Sam. Let’s not get too riled. There won’t be a new Constitution. No one is taking away our rights. The Legislature just won’t allow that to happen.”
Zach leaned toward Rafe. “How can he say that? Whoever is feeding information to the soothsayer has one goal: getting the queen’s pro-lottery and opium cabinet approved by the Legislature. Once that’s done, the next step is the new Constitution.”
“I know that. So does Ainsworth. We need to be cautious what we say here. There’s bound to be individuals who will report anything Ainsworth says to the queen.”
“Silas! Who else? Have you seen him tonight?”
Rafe smiled and said, “The culprit is standing by your elbow, just behind Claudia’s chair.”
Zach turned and looked at his half brother as if a viper had slithered its way beside his ankle. He moved away from Silas and sat down beside Claudia, who smiled sweetly.
“Once again I’m persona non grata,” Silas murmured to Rafe.
Rafe said, “At least you’ve convinced him to declare his intentions to Claudia.”
Silas chuckled. “My real intent. I’m surprised you noticed—no one else did.”
Rafe looked at him with an easy smile. “Looking out for your little brother?”
Silas stared back. “If I were that charitable, I’d board the next steamer to the mainland. That’s the only way Zach will be content.”
There was wearied cynicism in his tone, as if he would prefer a mended relationship with his brother.
“Let’s just say Miss Claudia is a fine Christian girl; too good for me. Besides, she’s in love with him. The trouble with Zach is that he is dense on matters like Claudia, but sharp when it comes to the danger he’s rousing with his snooping.”
Rafe looked at Silas. “Better explain that.”
Silas shrugged and looked at the guests milling about.
“If anyone knows what I mean, it’s you. He’s snooping to
o close to big names in the cartel. Where big money is at risk, the sharks come out to protect their feeding ground.”
“If anything serious happens to Zach the sharks will wish they’d never ventured into these waters. You can tell that to dear old Oliver the next time you meet with him.”
Silas stared at him.
“Yes I know about Oliver and about Fraulein Wolf duping the queen. Listen Silas,” Rafe said in a low, even voice, “you’re a bigger fool than I thought if you keep marching to their drumbeat. The march ends at the cliff’s edge. They’re going over one of these days and you’ll go with them unless you get out. Ambrose has warned you. We’ve said nothing because we’re giving you time to act wisely. And I know you helped Townsend escape.”
Silas’s fingers moved compulsively up and down the buttons on his shirt. He looked ashen.
“I had no choice. I didn’t want to help him. I tried my best to get out of it but they threatened to go to Ainsworth. That will be my ruin, and they know it. They know I like being part of the family.”
“So that’s the method they used to arm-twist you into helping Townsend?”
He gave a nod.
“We need to talk elsewhere,” Rafe told him. “C’mon, let’s walk toward the road.”
Eden, back with the guests after helping Nora to bed, noticed Rafe and Silas walking away from the lawn. It was difficult to maintain her smiling attitude as various people came to impart their well wishes for her marriage to Rafe Easton. Eden was anxious for the evening to end. She wondered how Rafe’s conversation over Kip had ended with her grandfather, and now, her cousin Silas would have to tell him about the cartel.
When the evening of celebration ended and Eden stacked their wedding gifts on her dresser in the bedroom, she lingered with amazement over the diamond necklace and earrings Ainsworth had bestowed upon her as a family heirloom.
In a lovely little ceremony at the height of the party, her grandfather had presented Eden with her great-grandmother Amabel’s diamonds from South Africa.
“My dear granddaughter has joined her life with one of Hawaii’s best treasures, Rafe Easton,” he had announced. “And now Eden deserves some of the best treasures of the Derrington family legacy.”
The tears had filled Eden’s eyes and she’d almost fainted at the surprise and joy of the honor.
Now as she looked at the diamonds, she wondered where her great-grandmother Amabel had gotten hold of these treasures. Great-grandmother had probably received them from her great-grandfather. But where had he gotten them? Had he been to South Africa when a young man?
“Pondering your own diamond mine in the Transvaal, my sweet?” Rafe asked as he entered the bedroom.
“I’d much rather hear what Silas and Ainsworth told you tonight—and I’ve something interesting from Great-aunt Nora.”
He removed his jacket and looked around for a place to hang it. He opened the wardrobe and what seemed like a hundred dresses, hats, and shoes seemed to take up every inch of available space.
Eden noticed none of this as she hurried to tell him the details of her meeting with Great-aunt Nora.
Rafe looked at his jacket again. He tossed it on the chair and poured a cup of coffee. He drank it, watching her. She explained about Oliver Hunnewell meeting the soothsayer at the ball.
“Of course,” he said. “The insider!”
“Oliver? But—”
“Not Oliver. The Hawaiian who brought Oliver to meet the tarot card reader near the royal barracks.”
She searched his face. “You simply can’t mean—?”
“I do mean. Samuel Nowlein, captain of the queen’s Household Guards and a resident at the Royal Barracks. He’s a solid royalist, known to be working with the lottery’s foreign promoters. He’ll do whatever he needs to secure Liliuokalani on the throne.”
Perhaps Rafe was right, she decided. From what little she knew of royal society Samuel Nowlein was a dependable friend to the queen. “But was he the man Great-aunt Nora claims to have seen?”
“I can’t be sure, but I believe he’s the mystery man within the walls,” he said.
“It’s true that he, above some others, would understand the queen’s mind. He would know her daily routine, too.”
“Giving him ample opportunity to pass on private information to Fraulein Wolf for good usage in her card readings. Silas assures me the queen has fallen for Fraulein Wolf’s deceit.”
Evidently she could use some wisdom from the Scriptures, Eden thought. King Saul lost his kingdom by going to the witch of Endor. Was the queen of Hawaii any better than the king of Israel? She knew the queen was not.
“Unfortunately she doesn’t see through these shrewd individuals taking advantage of her,” Rafe said. “Nowlein supports one of the queen’s main goals—to introduce a new Constitution in January. If she can do so, she’ll have regained the sovereign control over Hawaii that Kalakaua lost in ’87. In the minds of the royalists, the money offered by the lottery and opium dealers will end Hawaii’s debts. They think it will supply a huge bank account from which to draw funds, and grant complete independence from the haole Hawaiians.”
Eden’s hopes spiraled. She was almost sure now there would be a revolution as there’d been in 1887. When the unwavering Great-aunt Nora became disillusioned with the monarchy, matters were serious indeed.
“Sit down, sweet. Let me tell you just how much money the dear boys from the Louisiana gambling clique have dangled under the nose of the queen and her allies.”
Rafe pulled a sheet of folded paper from his pocket.
“Where did you get that?” she asked in a low voice.
“Silas. And don’t ask me how he got hold of it; he wouldn’t explain.”
Eden was surprised. “He’s helping you? May I ask, why?”
“I put him on the spot. It was either cross the line and come clean, or he was going to be hung out to dry. He admitted tonight, as he has to Ambrose, that he spied for the cartel.”
“I was convinced of it,” she told him. “The couple in the garden at Kea Lani were threatening him about something.”
“It was about getting him to help Townsend,” he said flatly. “Silas aided his escape.”
Eden stood. “That evening after I left the Kalihi hospital where I spoke with Lana.” She shuddered. “Townsend was in the boathouse?”
Rafe drew her into his arms, his hands reassuring as he stroked her soothingly. “No. Townsend wasn’t in the boathouse. He was at Koko Head waiting for the cartel to get a boat and take him to the other side of Oahu, to Rabbit Island. From there, a ship eventually picked him up. He’s probably somewhere on the mainland.”
“And Silas?”
“He took care of him at Tamarind House. I always suspected Townsend was hiding there. What better place, with Nora keeping a room here at the hotel? Silas helped him aboard the boat. Do you remember when I went to Tamarind?”
“Yes, you took Bernice there. I was very disappointed.”
“I didn’t take her there to suggest she buy Tamarind. In fact, I didn’t take her with me at all. She invited herself along. I went there to see if I could find evidence of Townsend’s stay.”
“And did you find anything?”
“Yes. He always was a heavy smoker of Cuban cigars. He left bits all over the cellar. I knew he’d been there. If the marshal had gone—well, he didn’t. Zach went there with you, didn’t he?”
“Yes, but I don’t think he found anything.”
“Regardless, Townsend’s reckoning awaits the proper hour. Silas told me tonight that he’s going to work on our side while appearing to serve the other cause. Ambrose has made an impression on him.”
“Is it safe for him to be a spy?”
“They may continue to trust him. Remember, his name was in the Gazette, not Oliver’s or any of the others. They may think they’re still in the shadows.”
“What did Silas write on the paper you have?” she asked.
Eden listened, surprised,
then amazed as Rafe explained the lottery scheme as Silas had explained it in his report.
“Fraulein Wolf read her tarot cards and convinced Liliuokalani that a certain man with the initials ‘T.E.E.’ would call on her the next morning, July 8, at ten o’clock. The man would bring a packet of papers. If the queen cooperated she would receive a large amount of money from across the waters. The fortune-teller told her she must have the Legislature accept the lottery bill. If they did, the gambling franchise would bring one million dollars!”
Rafe paused in his reading to look at her. “A million bucks.”
Eden shut her eyes. “Wait until Ambrose learns this.”
Rafe read on: “The fortune-teller came back to Iolani the next morning, arriving at nine o’clock. She remained until she felt the presence of T.E.E. in the palace and then left. The queen said, ‘Sure enough, he showed up just as she said he would.’
“T.E.E is an unknown. He came as a lottery promoter for those who were forced to stop their operations in Louisiana. I, Silas Derrington, know this because I was one of them. We came to Hawaii to interest several powerful men in Honolulu to seek a gambling franchise.
“Queen Liliuokalani told T.E.E. to send her a copy of their proposal.
“In payment to gain the gambling franchise, the cartel offered to give fifty thousand each for building railroads on Oahu, and the Big Island of Hawaii. And they said they would also improve Honolulu’s harbor. There would be another $175,999 to urge industries to come to the Islands, and $25,000 for tourist travel and immigration.”
Rafe paused and Eden said, “No wonder the queen, Samuel Nowlein, and the others are so determined. She must have been stunned by their offer—”
“Stunned enough to swallow the bait. This offer must look to her and the others like the solution to all of Hawaii’s financial woes. All they do in return,” he said, “is to sell to the highest bidder the right to turn the Islands into a gambling paradise. After all, who cares about the degradation of culture? A leader’s responsibility to rule under God, for the betterment of the people doesn’t enter their consideration. Along with attracting gamblers, the kingdom can make even more money by having brothels well supplied with prostitutes. And don’t forget to sell a franchise to dish out opium and more alcohol. After all, we’re doing this to save Hawaii from going down in debt.”
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