Must the Maiden Die

by Miriam Grace Monfredo

  Cullen said, "Konrad Brant."

  Glynis nodded as she seated herself behind her desk.

  "So Helga Brant confessed to protect her son," Cullen murmured. "Not an unprecedented reason."

  "No, but I believe, as she stated, that she also wanted to free Tamar and Gerard Gagnon from blame."

  "But, Glynis, how did she know it was Konrad?"

  "Because she was there. For most of it, anyway. I think that when Roland Brant stormed upstairs after she'd called to him, he intended to...to brutalize her as he had meant to brutalize Tamar. Helga implied he had done it often enough in the past. But this time there was a difference. Konrad was either in his mother's bedroom, or he overheard his parents' loud voices—which was the way Tamar described them. Remember, too, that Konrad would have just heard, on Sunday afternoon, what Helga Brant characterized as a 'rancorous argument' between Roland Brant and Derek Jager."

  "When Konrad," Cullen said, "learned that his father was the mastermind behind smuggling arms to the South."

  "We know," Glynis added, "that Konrad was a patriot, dedicated to the Union. As a member of the Seneca Falls militia, he could well imagine those guns being used against his own company—his friends and neighbors."

  Cullen exhaled sharply. "I hadn't thought of it that way."

  "Plus, I think there was another, earlier factor in Konrad's hatred of his father," Glynis said. "I'd be willing to wager that when his belongings are located, among his things will be a carved wooden moth. I'm quite sure he cared for Tamar. She told me that a few weeks before Roland's death, Konrad had given her a book of poetry. He had marked two telling lines by Byron: Maidens like moths, are ever caught by glare. / And Mammon wins his way where Seraphs might despair. Mammon means wealth, and specifically the wealth that creates evil. Roland Brant."

  "And the girl was the caught—trapped—moth," Cullen added. "Trust a librarian to make that connection," he said, giving her a dry smile.

  "Not that it was what Byron had in mind when he wrote those lines, but it was what Konrad read into them. So it was probably not long ago," Glynis went on, "that he discovered what his father was doing to Tamar. And it was the gunrunning that then pushed him over the edge."

  "But why stab his father, if Brant was already dead from Konrad's blow to the temple?"

  "Perhaps, as Helga Brant said, it was to make sure he was dead. But that was another reason I didn't believe her story—why would a kitchen carving knife be in her bedroom? A knife that was part of a set, and certain to be missed? I think Konrad did it after he used the dumbwaiter to take his father's body downstairs to the library—and found those names that Derek Jager wanted. Names of the two men in the South who were to receive the rifles. The kitchen was close by, and that knife to the heart could have been an act of pure rage."

  "And then Konrad went after those men."

  "Well, they're both dead, according to the newspaper."

  "Before Konrad was fatally wounded himself."

  "Another victim of war, to my mind," Glynis responded. "On a field of battle Konrad would have been considered a hero. And, in that sense, he was."

  Sighing heavily, she rose and went back to the window, saying, "Those of us here in the North who think we'll remain untouched by this war had better take another look." She glanced back at the newspaper. An item on an inside page reported that a cannon had exploded just outside Washington, killing three Union soldiers. One of them was the young man with whom, only a week before, Faith Alden had been standing at the rail station.

  Cullen's expression was thoughtful as he got to his feet. "It's a war, Glynis, that has to be fought."

  "I wonder. Does any war have to be fought?" she questioned while she walked with him to the door.

  They went through the library proper, and stepped outside into a brilliant, sun-warmed day.

  ***

  The girl sat on a bench in the side yard of the refuge with Keeper lying at her feet. She looked down at her bandages and thought how strange it was that her heart hurt more than her arm.

  Early this morning a large man with spectacles had come to see her. He said he was a judge. He wanted to talk about something that was important.

  "Miss Jager," he had said, which startled her because no one had ever called her that. "Miss Jager, I have just spoken with your friend, Miss Glynis Tryon. She told me some things about you—things I was very sorry to hear. And now I need to know if you wish to be with your mother. To go to the Oneida Community where she lives. It's not a place where I would want to live, but I believe you should make the decision about it."

  She told the judge she did not want to live with her mother. That she wanted to see the man Gerard, but the constable had put him in jail. Gerard was not a killer, but the constable must think he might be.

  Before the judge left, he told her that he would look into it.

  It didn't matter what the judge did, though. Even if Gerard got out of jail, why would he want to see her? She was the reason he went to jail to begin with.

  So she would never see Gerard again.

  She felt tears, always there behind her eyes, start going down her face. To stop them she pushed the heels of her hands against her eyelids. So she didn't see the dog leave her. But she did hear him barking. Barking and barking, and through a blur she could see him running around in circles. She wiped her eyes and looked up.

  Gerard was coming across the grass. And he was smiling at her.

  ***

  "Before I forget," Glynis said to Cullen as they stood in front of the library., "Did Rhys Bevan learn if the Oneida Community knew where their steel bayonets were going?"

  "He said John Humphrey Noyes absolutely denied it," Cullen answered. "Hell, naturally he did. Noyes is a degenerate scoundrel. Bevan told him that Treasury would be watching him. I don't know about Bevan, but I sure won't be on that watch!"

  As they walked up the steps to Fall Street, the scent of village roses reached them and silken clouds floated before the sun like white balloons. Hay wagons rumbled past, soon to be weighted down with the harvest of winter wheat. A glorious summer was promised, and the great storm gathering in the South seemed distant from Seneca Falls. But what would the morrow bring? A morrow, Glynis feared, that would fast be upon them.

  Cullen took her arm. "Miss Tryon, may I have the pleasure of your company at lunch?"

  "You may indeed, Constable Stuart."

  Seize the day, she thought This day is the one we have.

  Afterword

  But to you, women, American women, a few words may not be addressed in vain. One here and there may listen.

  —Margaret Fuller

  The fears of Emma proved to be valid, and the predictions of Orrin Makepeace Polk all too accurate, when, in a chilling lesson for women of all times, the New York state legislature, in April of 1862, adopted "Chapter 172: To Amend the Act Entitled 'An Act Concerning the Rights and Liabilities of Husband and Wife."'

  With this amendment, the Eighty-fifth Session of the male legislature effectively nullified Chapter 90.

  HISTORICAL NOTES

  Ballooning Western New York State has a long tradition of ballooning and for 125 years has been a hot spot for the sport. Its tradition began with the Civil War when Ira Allen of Dansville met Thaddeus Lowe (see Lowe) and assisted in Lowe's reconnaissance balloon flights for the Union. After the war Allen went home to Dansville and developed, among other things, the smoke balloon. The Allen name is still one of the best known in the history of ballooning. It was my pleasure to meet one of his descendants, Florence Allen Wood, of the renowned "Flying Allens," who began her ballooning career when in her early teens. This intrepid woman, when relating a number of her flights, told of being shot out of a cannon as part of the Allen repertoire.

  Carr's Hotel This tavern and inn, originally called the Clinton House, was built in Seneca Falls in the 1850s. Thomas Carr, an Englishman, purchased the property in 1856 primarily to serve travelers on the stagecoach, railroad, and
canal. After changing hands again in 1866, the hotel burned in the "Great Fire" of 1890. It was rebuilt by Norman Gould of Gould Pumps, and, as the Hotel Gould, subsequently changed hands a number of times. Although the building still stands on a corner of Fall Street, its future as of this writing remains uncertain.

  Coman, Charlotte Buell (1833-1942) Born in Waterville, Oneida County, New York, Coman studied in Paris and is often cited as one of the artists responsible for bringing the Barbizon landscape tradition from France to the United States. She created misty landscapes, usually done in greens or blues, influenced by the tonalist movement. By the time of her death, she was considered to be the dean of American women landscape painters.

  Enterprise Yes, fans of Star Trek, one of Lowe's favorite silk balloons was the first spaceship by this name to explore the heavens. It is said there is nothing new beneath the sun.

  Fuller, Margaret (1810-1850) Feminist author and essayist who, with Ralph Waldo Emerson, edited the Dial, a Transcendentalist journal considered to be the criterion by which to judge early nineteenth-century American literature. She later became the political and literary editor of Horace Greeley's New York Daily Tribune. Susan B. Anthony considered Fuller to be the earliest and most influential author in the embryonic women's movement.

  Lowe, Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine (1832-1913) His research flights with aeronautical balloons made him a forerunner of modern aviation; during the Civil War he also pioneered the use of the balloon for espionage reconnaissance and aerial photography. The Lowe Observatory in California is named for him. For some reason, this man has remained largely unknown, and yet he is one of American history's most interesting characters. My research suggests that Jules Verne likely created Phileas Fogg, the main character of Around The World In Eighty Days (1873), with Thaddeus Lowe in mind. Eyewitness accounts describe the brilliant, eccentric Lowe as stepping from his various balloon flights dressed in an elegant Prince Albert coat and tall silk hat.

  The Millville Rose In the mid-nineteenth century, glass paperweights became extremely popular. Miniature fruits, reptiles, birds, commemorative portraits, and flowers were encased in heavy domes of clear glass that served to magnify the objects. The Millville Rose became possibly the best-known American-made paperweight.

  Montezuma Marsh (and Black Brook) At one time, Black Brook was a body of water of substantial size. Although sections of it today can still be traveled by canoe, it has been 90 percent channelized for irrigation, so its flow is greatly diminished. The brook flows north from Seneca Falls into what is called today the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. Prior to the turn of the twentieth century, the Montezuma Marsh extended twelve miles north from Cayuga Lake and was, in some places, eight miles wide. During construction of the New York State Barge Canal, which included a dam at the outlet of Cayuga Lake, and subsequent alterations of nearby existing rivers, most of the swamp was drained. In 1937 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service purchased 6,432 acres of the former marsh. Since Montezuma lies in the middle of one of the most active flight lanes in the Atlantic Flyway, it is today an important refuge and feeding ground for migratory birds.

  New York Infirmary for Women and Children The infirmary was founded on New York City's Bleecker Street, in 1857, by Drs. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell and Marie Zakrzewska. It was the first infirmary to be run entirely by women, and its practice consisted of both medical and surgical services. Despite criticism from the male medical community, threatening mobs, and financial uncertainty, the infirmary quickly outgrew its original facilities, and in 1859 moved to a new location on Second Avenue, with a dispensary as well as space for female medical students.

  Noyes, John Humphrey (1812-1886) The charismatic leader of the Oneida Community (see Oneida Community) as described in the novel. He also authored the weighty tome History of American Socialisms, published in 1870, which studies the nineteenth-century socialist community movement, also referred to as "Utopian Socialism."

  Oneida Community This was but one of many religious groups that experimented with Utopian communities during the early to mid-nineteenth century. The western section of New York State is often called by historians "The Burned-Over District," which refers to the flames of religious revivals which swept the area beginning around 1825, fanned by the period of the "Great Awakening". Oneida and John Humphrey Noyes rose out of that fervor. Oneida was unquestionably one of the most successful of these communes, as it lasted for more than a generation after others disbanded. Its success was due in large part to the leadership of Noyes. And it left its mark, as Oneida Ltd. became one of the world's largest manufacturers of stainless steel knives, forks, and spoons. The community prospered financially during the Civil War, and while questions were raised as to where its money originated, no charges of treason were ever substantiated.

  Scientific American Founded in 1845 by Alfred Beach, Scientific American is one of the oldest of American periodicals still being published.

  Discussion Questions

  1. What was the reason given for Tamar Jager’s father selling her as an indentured servant to Roland Brant? What other factors may have entered into his decision?

  2. Why was it so difficult for people in Seneca Falls to believe that Roland Brant was not the kind of man he pretended to be?

  3. Bronwen and Emma were referred to as having little in common, yet both could be considered unusual women for their time. How were they alike? How were they different? What about each seemed to most annoy the other? Why do you think that was so?

  4. Bronwen makes a spectacular entrance into Seneca Falls on a hot air balloon, then uses the balloon to great advantage spying on gunrunners. Imagine a modern-day version of Bronwen. What might her job be? Who (or what) might she be pursuing? What tools might she be using?

  5. What was Glynis’s dilemma (in court) concerning “being a lady?” How did the cult of the lady work for men who wanted to keep women in their place?

  6. How did Chapter 90 work in Emma’s favor? How might it have changed Tamar’s life if it had been passed earlier?

  7. What was the likely cause of Helga Brandt’s “ill health?”

  8. Describe some of the ways in which Cullen Stuart benefitted from Glynis’s unofficial “deputization.” In what ways was Glynis’s gender a help? What limitations did it impose?

  9. At one point, Glynis reflects that “the minds of many women seemed to run on more than one track, invariably changing course to accommodate the needs of those in their path.” How did that quality help women of the 1860s in their day-to-day lives? How does it help women today? What was the “downside” then? What is it now?

  10. Briefly describe The Oneida Community’s stance on sex, marriage, and parenthood. Name at least two other things the Community was known for. Why do you think the neighboring farmers supported the Community?