Will inspected Daniel’s sleeping face. “I have a feeling you’re not going to have to worry about that now. And you don’t have to carry the secret alone any longer.”
“Thank you, Will.” She sighed heavily. “It was Charlotte, you know, who said I could tell you. She said, ‘If you trust Mr. Edwards, then I trust him.’”
“I’m honored at her confidence.”
“I do have a question,” Lucy said. “You knew I wasn’t at the orphanage on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but you never asked where I was. Then you knew something was going on with Charlotte, but you didn’t ask me what. Why didn’t you ask?”
“That’s not the way trust works,” he said simply. “Or love.”
They soaked up each other’s features in the silence.
“You must be exhausted,” Will finally said.
“I am, but we have a long night ahead of us. I’ll call Howard and Irene as soon as we get home. We can’t leave Daniel alone even for a moment.”
“We still have a couple of hours before we get back to Chicago,” Will said. “Why don’t you put your head back and doze. I’ll watch him. It’s not as if he can go anywhere.”
“He might try to jump out of the carriage.”
“I won’t let him,” Will said. And Lucy believed him.
Lucy did not think she would sleep.
She did.
It was well after three in the morning when Archie pulled the carriage up to the front of the Banning house on Prairie Avenue. Daniel had hardly stirred in more than two hours. Lucy woke when the carriage slowed and roused him enough to cooperate while she and Will walked him into the house, his arms slung around their shoulders.
Charlotte was waiting in the parlor, still fully dressed, and jumped to alertness when the odd trio came through the front door.
“You found him!” Charlotte said in full voice.
Lucy put a finger to her lips.
“Everyone was in such a tizzy at dinner,” Charlotte whispered. “I didn’t know what to tell them because I didn’t know where you’d gone—only that you went to find Mr. Daniel.”
“Everything’s fine now,” Lucy whispered, “or it will be.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Banning retired about midnight,” Charlotte said. “I knew I couldn’t sleep. I’ve been sitting here waiting for you and haven’t heard a sound from down the hall.”
“Perhaps that’s best. Archie is putting the horses away. Will, maybe you should go upstairs and wake Leo.”
Charlotte and Lucy settled Daniel on the settee in the parlor. He was dozing again before Lucy could spread a coverlet over him.
Leo entered the room, pulling his chocolate-colored silk robe closed, his eyes full of questions. Will was right behind him. Speaking in low tones, Lucy gave a quick summary of the night’s events.
“I have to call his parents,” she finally said.
“I’ll find the number.” Charlotte moved quickly to the desk where Flora kept a small carved board with jewels embedded at the top. It held about twenty addresses and telephone numbers.
“Good,” Lucy said, “then I want you to find Archie. He’s probably still in the coach house cooling the horses. Take a fresh horse and the small carriage and go for Dr. Carson. He has rooms above his surgery on Wabash Avenue. Tell him I sent you and he won’t ask any questions.”
“Yes, miss. Here’s the number for the Juleses.” Charlotte was out of the room in a smooth motion.
Leo and Will were both gawking at Lucy with their jaws gaping.
“What’s the matter with you two?” she asked.
Will found his tongue. “How is it that you know a doctor who won’t ask any questions when you send for him in the middle of the night?”
“Just to clarify,” Leo added, “this Dr. Carson is not our usual family physician.”
“It’s a complicated and not very interesting story,” Lucy replied, “about something that happened at St. Andrew’s last year. Suffice it to say, I am counting on the Banning name to mean something in these circumstances.”
Will expelled his breath. “I’m sure it will.”
“I’ll make that telephone call now.”
Lucy was back a few minutes later. “They’re on their way. They should be here in about an hour.”
“How much did you tell them?” Leo asked.
“I didn’t want to frighten them,” Lucy answered. “It’s difficult to explain on the telephone. It’s better if they see for themselves when they get here. By then we should have a doctor on hand as well, and he may be able to explain things.”
Slowly the house came to life, whether Lucy meant for it to happen or not. A groomsman from the coach house had seen Archie’s movements and felt Penard should be alerted. Once he understood the situation, Penard woke Mrs. Fletcher to prepare coffee and rolls. Despite Lucy’s efforts to keep things peaceful, Flora and Samuel heard the commotion in the parlor from their bedroom just down the hall and appeared in their robes, insisting that they had not slept a wink. Even Oliver and Richard found their way downstairs, and before Lucy could contain the tumult, Bessie and Elsie were up as well.
Lucy shooed everyone out of the parlor, except Will and Leo, and insisted that the lights be kept dim. Daniel was sleeping, and she wanted him to continue sleeping at least until the doctor arrived. She had no way to know what he would do if he woke in the midst of the hubbub. The rest of the Bannings moved to the dining room to speculate on what Daniel’s behavior meant, while Lucy stood guard at the parlor window that looked out on Prairie Avenue. The street was motionless, empty, dimly lit. Lucy’s ears still tolled with the rhythmic waves of Lake Michigan outside Lake Forest, where the water slapped the rocks countless times a day. Water will never be a soothing sound to me again, she thought.
When she saw Archie arrive, she had the front door open before Dr. Carson could get out of the small carriage. Charlotte followed the doctor up the short walk to the front door.
“Dr. Carson, thank you for coming.” Lucy welcomed him to the foyer.
“I only hope I can help. Your maid has given me a brief summary of recent events. I’d like to examine the patient.”
“He’s right in here.” Lucy motioned toward the parlor. “His parents are on their way.”
The doctor encouraged Daniel to wake up and converse. Charlotte brought Daniel a glass of cold water to help him rouse. Lucy read the concern on the doctor’s face in response to the disjointed answers Daniel gave to his questions. The answers rarely matched the questions, and sometimes Daniel merely stared in silence until Dr. Carson tried another question. In between questions, the doctor felt for Daniel’s pulse, looked into his wide eyes, and listened to his heart. Charlotte quietly rolled a tea cart into the parlor and began pouring coffee. Lucy was once again standing guard at the window, watching for Howard and Irene.
It was after four-thirty—closer to five—in the morning when they arrived, frantic and grateful at the same time. Leo let them in the front door, and they burst into the parlor and fell upon their son, calling his name and asking questions. He did manage to say, “Hello, Mother,” at one point, but otherwise did not respond to their efforts.
The family members banished to the dining room emerged with a fresh endeavor to discover the details of what was going on.
“If I’m going to be up in the middle of the night, I at least want to know why,” Richard complained.
“Nobody forced you to get up.” Lucy turned his shoulders back toward the dining room and herded the others. “I promise I’ll come and explain everything as soon as I can. Right now the last thing Daniel needs is a mob scene.”
“We’re just concerned, dear,” Flora protested but retreated to the dining room.
Lucy stood with her hands on the pocket doors, ready to pull them closed. “Mrs. Fletcher, perhaps you might as well make a hearty breakfast despite the early hour.” It was the first thing she could think of to keep them all occupied. Eating would give them reason to stay in the dining room.
>
Returning to the parlor, Lucy motioned that Howard and Irene should step into the foyer with the doctor, leaving Daniel under the vigil of Will and Leo.
“He’s obviously disoriented.” Dr. Carson twisted his stethoscope in his hands. “I don’t find anything wrong physically. I believe he has a basic awareness of where he is and who is present. However, he doesn’t seem to understand the circumstances that brought him here and is not able to answer questions in a meaningful way.”
“What can you do for him?” Irene asked. “Is there a medicine you can prescribe?”
Dr. Carson shook his head. “These kinds of cases are complex. A young Austrian doctor named Sigmund Freud has done some work in the field of what happens in the mind, but the truth is, we understand very little of it. I don’t have a compound to recommend.”
“We’ll take him home,” Irene said. “He needs to be in his own home, to sleep in his own bed.”
“I’m afraid I can’t advise that, Mrs. Jules,” the doctor said. “I believe your son needs to be in a sanitarium where he can be properly observed and evaluated.”
“You mean a lunatic asylum?” Howard asked. “Has he completely gone round the bend, then?”
“I’m not saying that,” the doctor responded carefully. “I’m simply saying that I don’t think he’s going to snap out of this with a few days of bed rest, and his behavior is likely to be unpredictable. I’ve read a number of journal articles about Dr. Freud’s ‘talking cure.’ I can suggest several facilities that would serve your son well with this approach.”
Lucy saw the blanched, stricken faces of Howard and Irene and said, “Dr. Carson, I’m sure you appreciate the need for discretion.”
“Of course. I know of a place in Wisconsin that takes particular care to guard privacy. We can make the arrangements first thing in the morning. It might be a few days before we can transport him, though. I would not suggest trying to move him on your own.”
Lucy glanced out the window. “From the look of the sky, first light is not far off. He can stay here until the arrangements are complete. Please telephone as soon as you can with instructions, and ask to speak to me.”
Dr. Carson took down the telephone number for the Bannings, and Lucy dispatched Archie to take the doctor home.
“Let’s make Daniel comfortable in his room upstairs while we wait for the arrangements,” Leo suggested. “We’ll pull in some armchairs for Howard and Irene and make sure they have everything they need.”
“Thank you, Leo,” Lucy said, and Howard and Irene murmured their appreciation.
“Come on, Will,” Leo said. “You’re in too deep to back out now.” Leo turned back to Daniel.
Will stepped close to Lucy to whisper, “When this is all over, remind me to tell you how wonderful you are. Oh, and I love you.”
She turned her face up for a kiss, not caring that her parents were behind merely a pair of pocket doors.
35
Through the window of the train, where Charlotte sat across from Lucy in a private compartment, Charlotte’s eyes feasted on the budding greens as bushes and trees along the track established themselves for a brilliant summer. March had been such a difficult month, the likes of which Charlotte hoped not to see again for a long, long time. By the third week of April, she had been part of the Banning household staff for six months and her position seemed secure. Henry was thriving, and she saw him on Thursdays and every other Sunday. When Lucy rang for her, she felt the warmth of friendship, not the dread of what might go wrong. Finally, only a week ago, she had taken her grandmother’s Bible out of the carpetbag in the closet and laid it, open, on the table next to her bed. Did she dare acknowledge she was beginning to feel safe—even hopeful? This train journey could not have been less like the one that had carried her to Chicago six months ago.
“Mr. Daniel seemed well.” Charlotte searched Lucy’s eyes for confirmation. Only a few minutes ago they had left the sanitarium after a visit of two hours.
Lucy nodded. “I was not sure what to expect after the way we found him three weeks ago. The doctor didn’t think he should have visitors before now, but he seems to be making progress.”
“He seemed glad to see you.”
“I believe he was,” Lucy said.
“Will you visit him again?”
Lucy tilted her head thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I would not want him to misinterpret my attentions. That would only make his recovery more difficult. And I don’t want to draw attention by frequent trips to Wisconsin and have the wrong person discover why I go. So far we’ve managed to keep this out of the papers.”
“Even the rest of the staff don’t know where we went today,” Charlotte assured her. Lucy had kept Charlotte’s secret for six months. Charlotte would guard anything Lucy asked her to, including where Daniel was. The missing ink drawing had turned up in Daniel’s briefcase, just as Charlotte was sure it would. The bag contained assorted other drawings Daniel apparently made himself, though no one was quite sure what they represented.
“They saw what Daniel was like that night,” Lucy said, “so of course they can guess what sort of place he’s in. It’s just better if they don’t know the location.”
“Mr. Penard made it clear to all of us that we would never find another position in service if he discovered any of the staff told a soul about that night.”
“I certainly hope it won’t come to that. The important thing is to recognize he’s ill and pray he gets better. Even Will wants that for him.”
Charlotte smiled slyly. “Mr. and Mrs. Banning seem to be warming to Will.”
Lucy made no effort to disguise her grin. “Yes, they are, and it’s about time.”
“They thought you were marvelous, the way you looked after Daniel,” Charlotte said.
“And they saw that I can be quite stubborn! I love Will, and I’m not giving him up.”
Charlotte nodded, wondering silently why it had taken Lucy’s parents so long to understand how tenacious she was.
Two days later, Lucy’s Friday at the orphanage sped by. Late in the afternoon, Benny, who recently had turned seven, wandered into the volunteers’ office.
“It’s time for Mr. Will,” Benny said. “Why hasn’t he come?”
Lucy glanced at the clock. It was indeed past the time Will usually arrived.
“You’ve learned to tell time so well!” Lucy said to the boy.
He shrugged. “It’s not hard. Where is Mr. Will?”
“I’m not sure,” Lucy said. “Perhaps someone he didn’t expect called for him at his office, or some urgent work came up.”
“But it’s Friday. He’s supposed to be here.”
“I’m sure we’ll hear from him,” Lucy said. As the boy, still grumpy, turned on his heel and walked out, Lucy looked at the clock again.
“Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Banning.” Will shook Samuel’s hand in his downtown office. He could not judge from Samuel’s expression what kind of mood the older man was in. Their interactions for the last several weeks had been increasingly congenial, and Will was counting on that foundation for this conversation as he took a seat in an overstuffed chair.
“What can I do for you?” Samuel arranged a blank page in front of him and picked up a fountain pen. “Have you come on a legal matter, some agreement you wish to enter?”
“As a matter of fact, I have,” Will answered. “You know by now that Lucy and I have become quite fond of each other.”
“My daughter has made that plain these last few weeks. What is the legal matter on your mind?”
Will decided he might as well get right to the point. “I love Lucy and I’m sure she loves me. I’ve come to ask for her hand in marriage.”
Samuel’s eyebrows lifted briefly, then fell back into place. “I concede that I am not entirely surprised. I assume you are predisposed to think Lucy would accept this offer?”
“We have not spoken of it directly,” Will said. “I felt I should come to you first. But, yes, I do
believe she will accept.”
“So you’ve come to ask me to give you my daughter’s hand in marriage.”
“Yes, sir.”
Samuel turned his head to one side and laughed. “Mr. Edwards, I would have thought that by now you would realize Lucy’s hand is not mine to give you. Goodness knows it took me long enough to figure that out. She has a mind of her own.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You understand she is utterly determined to earn a college degree.”
“I do, and I think it’s a fine idea.”
Samuel nodded. “Yes, it seems less far-fetched to me than it used to. I’m glad to hear you express support. Anyone who is married to Lucy will have to be ready for anything.”
“I want whatever will make Lucy happy.”
“Then I suggest you take this question directly to Lucy.”
“Yes, sir. I presume I have your blessing to do so.”
“If you feel you need it, yes.”
“Thank you, Mr. Banning!” Will jumped out of his chair, grabbed Samuel’s hand again, and pumped it.
Samuel tilted his head toward the door. “If I’m not mistaken, Lucy is expecting you at St. Andrew’s by now. She doesn’t like it when people turn up missing. Not one bit.”
Will shot out the door and ran for the streetcar.
The diamond was small, but Lucy did not care. She wore it only because Will insisted on giving her an engagement ring. If she had her way, they would be married in short order, ring or no ring. Even Flora had not argued when Lucy insisted she wanted no part of an extravagant wedding that took months to plan. She simply wanted to be married to Will Edwards—soon.
Small though it was, the stone glinted in the reluctant sun on the cool, misty morning of opening day of the World’s Columbian Exposition. The Bannings, as well as many of their Prairie Avenue neighbors, had been wrapped up in planning the fair for two years. It hardly seemed real to Lucy that opening day had come at last—months after the dedication ceremonies. Lucy, of course, had seen the progress of the fair during construction because of her involvement with the women’s building. Nevertheless, she was not prepared for the breathless panorama of May 1.
The Pursuit of Lucy Banning,A Novel (Avenue of Dreams) Page 24