City of Schemes
Page 28
White-coated waiters served the guests, and everyone enjoyed chatting while they balanced plates and glasses. The bride and groom’s final task was to cut the wedding cake, which was a beautiful, three-tiered concoction decorated with wreaths of orange blossoms and topped with a plume of feathers. Inside, it was dark, rich fruitcake. Most of the guests took theirs home in little boxes the waiters provided.
Finally, it was time for Elizabeth and Gideon to leave. Elizabeth and Anna stole upstairs, where Anna helped her change into her traveling suit, a lovely ensemble of maroon wool trimmed with satin. Since she would only be traveling a few miles uptown this evening, Elizabeth found the name “traveling suit” a bit silly, but she adored it nevertheless. By the time they got downstairs, Gideon was waiting for them. He helped Elizabeth and Anna with their coats. Elizabeth thought all the guests must have left, which was a bit disappointing, but when he opened the front door, she realized they were all outside and had formed a gauntlet.
At the sight of them, everyone began to cheer, and Elizabeth and Gideon ran down the steps and through the aisle they had created, showering them with confetti. Jake had brought his bright red motorcar, and he stood waiting, holding the back door open for them. When they were safely inside, he helped Anna into the front passenger seat and, with another whoop of cheers from their guests, they were on their way.
Gideon slipped his arm around her and pulled her close. Elizabeth looked up into his beloved face. “It’s too late to change your mind now.”
“What makes you think I’ll ever want to change my mind?” he scoffed.
“I’ll ask you that the next time she comes up with a scheme,” Jake called back to them.
“But I’m not going to come up with any more schemes,” Elizabeth promised. “I’m a respectable society matron now. All of that is behind me.”
Gideon just gave her an adoring smile. “We’ll see,” was all he said.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I had a lovely time researching this book. Engagement and marriage customs were the most fun, of course, and Mrs. Ordway really does recommend an arch made of greenery and possibly flowers for a home wedding. She also feels confetti is superior to rice for throwing at weddings.
The Spanish Prisoner is a classic con that was run for generations, and I’ve been wanting to use it for a while. I had decided to use it for this book, and when I started plotting, I realized I could show three different versions of it here. What fun!
One of my research books was a history of the American Protective League that was actually published in 1919. I got the book from interlibrary loan, expecting it to be a reprint, but it turned out to be an original copy. A hundred-year-old book! The pages were yellow with age and almost too fragile to turn, but the most amazing part of the book was the hatred for immigrants that was expressed in those pages. The author rails against “hyphenated Americans,” questioning their loyalties and demanding that America close its borders to all immigrants for at least twenty years to protect American heritage and values. Ironically, the “hyphenated Americans” the author was deploring were German-Americans, which is not a group modern folks would consider a threat. Of course America did not close its borders and American heritage survived for the next hundred years. The lesson for us here is that every generation has been certain that some group of immigrants were going to ruin American, and none of them ever has.
One group that post–World War I Americans were particularly concerned about were the Bolsheviks, as I explained in the book. The Russian Revolution had sent a wave of fear throughout Europe, and even America. After WWI, American workers started to demand better working conditions and minorities began to demand fair treatment, and the resulting strikes and demonstrations were blamed on Bolshevik and communist influence. Archibald Stevenson was a real person, and he was convinced the German government had made a secret pact with Russia when Russia withdrew from WWI because the revolution had caused so much upheaval in the country. Stevenson believed the Germans—who were virtually bankrupt from the war—were financing the Russian Revolution, so he was able to take advantage of the country’s mistrust of the Germans to convince people of his unlikely theories. Stevenson’s “list” of supposed subversives is tragically similar to the McCarthy Era after WWII and also resulted in innocent people being falsely accused of disloyalty to America.
Please let me know how you enjoyed this book. You can follow me on Facebook at Victoria.Thompson.Author, on Twitter @gaslightvt or e-mail me through my website, victoriathompson.com. If you e-mail me, I’ll put you on my mailing list and let you know whenever I have a new book coming out.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Victoria Thompson is the Edgar® and Agatha award-nominated author of the Gaslight Mysteries including Murder on Pleasant Avenue, and the Counterfeit Lady Mysteries including City of Scoundrels.
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