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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781481718622 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 02/22/2013 |
| Pages: | 324 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.73(d) |
Read an Excerpt
Treason Afoot
A CIVIL WAR ROMANCE
By Nikki Stoddard Schofield
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2013Nikki Stoddard SchofieldAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4817-1862-2
Excerpt
CHAPTER 1The Raid on Dodd's
Saturday, August 20, 1864
Wherein Emeline is discouraged in her search for employment; Union soldiers raid Dodd's and remove guns; Jay rescues Emeline.
Emeline Tanner was hot, tired and frustrated. Her search for employment in Indianapolis had been futile. Her feet ached from new, tight shoes. Stopping on the sidewalk, she pulled a dainty watch out of her drawstring bag.
Nearly five. Businesses will be closing. I'm hungry. Time to head back to the boarding house. I need to soak my sore feet.
Stepping around a rain barrel as she returned her watch to her reticule, she almost collided with a man.
"Sorry, Miss," he mumbled and moved on, but not before noticing what a pretty young woman she was.
Not much of an apology, she thought.
Emeline, a stranger to the city, wore her best outfit, a new skirt and blouse with small blue and white checks. Her thick brown hair was twisted and pinned under her small straw bonnet, which shaded her smooth complexion from the glaring sun.
The four-foot-wide wooden sidewalk along Washington Street held people, crates, barrels, and, here and there, chairs with slanted backs and wide arm rests.
Are the chairs for patrons or proprietors? Emeline wondered. She had many such questions about city life, which was much different from her hometown of Danville, Indiana.
Part of the National Road connecting Maryland to Illinois, Washington Street was the main east to west commercial thoroughfare through Indiana's capital. From sidewalk to sidewalk, the roadway measured one hundred and twenty-five feet. The boardwalks were raised six inches above the surface of the roadway, which had been paved with stone for two blocks in 1859. Horses' hooves, wagons and buggies clattered over the rough, noisy pavement.
What is that smell? Horse droppings. Ugh!
At that moment, a wagon wheel sped close and flung manure up, barely missing Emeline's hem.
With all this space, did you have to come so close to the sidewalk? If I was wearing my hoop, that would have hit me.
In the same block, a few doors east of Meridian Street, which dissected Indianapolis north and south, Jay Hadley was waiting on his last customer of the day at Wise Readers Bookstore. The red brick building at 15 East Washington Street was two stories with a peaked roof and appeared like a cozy cottage amid three and four story box-shaped structures. Wise Readers shared a common first-floor wall with a china store to the east. Its west side bordered an alley leading to Pearl Street. Across the alley was Rosberg's Bakery, three floors high, with the eight Rosberg family members living on the upper floors. Pleasant odors of baking bread wafted across the narrow alley, but could be enjoyed only if the bookstore's doors or windows were open.
"I hope you enjoy Mr. Newton's book," Jay said to Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, who paid him one dollar for the leather-bound volume. "I read Out of the Depths while I was in Virginia. Our chaplain loaned it to me. It's very good."
The attractive widow of Caleb Smith said, "I'm grateful for your recommendation, Mr. Hadley. My pastor also spoke well of it." She smiled.
Jay Hadley was a well-built man with broad shoulders and a trim waist. In his mid twenties, his face was tanned and clean shaven. Having been wounded in June, Jay received an honorable discharge from the United States Army and returned home last month. He purchased the bookstore from Ernest Dalyrumple, who retired to live with his married daughter.
Coming to Mrs. Smith's side, Silas Embree, a young veteran, said, "I heard you're building a mausoleum for your husband at Crown Hill."
"Yes," said Elizabeth, turning to the man who stood next to her. "It is almost complete. There are Egyptian symbols in the stonework. You will have to come and see it when next you're there."
After several more remarks about the new cemetery, Elizabeth left the store and Silas said to Jay, "I wonder where Mr. Smith's body lies while his mausoleum is being built."
"Perhaps in a temporary grave in that overgrown and ill-maintained Greenlawn Cemetery," replied Jay.
"Our comrades are in many of those," mumbled Silas.
Silas did not come to purchase a book, but to tell Jay that another draft for Indiana soldiers would begin in September. Having shared this news, the veteran left the bookstore.
"I put out hay for Jehu and brushed him down!" called David Fields, coming from the storage room as Silas Embree departed through the opposite doorway onto the sidewalk. David was a lanky teenager with a cheerful demeanor. His straight brown hair dusting his collar looked like it needed combing, except on Sunday. Because his father died in the first major battle of the Civil War, David dropped out of school and worked to support his mother and younger siblings. He ran errands for merchants along Washington Street. Taking Jay's horse Jehu to and from pasture was one of those daily errands.
Although weary and dejected, Emeline was nevertheless glad that she had made the decision to move to the city. Life with her aging father had become unbearable. Welford Tanner believed a woman's sphere meant remaining in the house under the domination of her father or husband. Conflicts increased to the point that Emeline could endure no more. Moving away from Danville had been her solution.
She recalled the jobs for which she had applied today. On the Circle, so called because a circular street surrounded a park-like area where the governor's residence stood until recently, she found no job. In the block just south of the Circle, Washington Street, the main business district, she found no job. Emeline heard talk about the war and politics, but she did not hear the desired words: "Yes, you are hired."
The men here sound much like they do at home, she thought. Republican, Democrats, peace advocates, war mongers, what does all that matter? I need a job.
Looking at her list of places where she applied, Emeline took a pencil from her reticule and checked off Wheeler & Wilson Sewing Machine Company, the National Photograph Gallery, and Hannaman's Drug Store. Her steps were slow as she crossed an alley.
Jay Hadley tucked the cash box key in his satin vest pocket and turned his door window sign from OPEN to CLOSED. David Fields chatted as he swept the wooden boards of the bookstore's showroom.
Sales have been good. I should advertise for an assistant to help me, thought Jay, while half listening to the boy's news of the day.
Brushing a lock of unruly hair off his high forehead, Jay noticed four Merchants' Dispatch wagons drive up.
"You expecting a delivery, Jay?" asked David, who heard the wagons and stopped at the large display window to watch them.
Although the teenager called the bookstore owner by the title "Mr." when they met, Jay had asked to be called by his first name.
"No, David, I'm not," answered Jay, loosening his emerald green cravat. "It looks like the delivery is for Mr. Dodd."
H.H. Dodd and Company, a four-story yellow brick building located at 16 East Washington Street, was directly opposite Jay's bookstore. In 1862, the Dodd Printing Company had published the city directory. It did a thriving business.
Even if I were expecting a shipment, it would not require four wagons, thought Jay.
"Maybe they need help," said David. "Can I finish sweeping later?"
"Of course."
Propping his broom against the wall, the boy hurried out, leaped down from the sidew
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Treason Afoot by Nikki Stoddard Schofield. Copyright © 2013 by Nikki Stoddard Schofield. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements.................... xiii
About the Author.................... xv
Preface.................... xvii
Characters by Chapters.................... xix
Chronology of Historic Events.................... xxvii
Chapter One—The Raid on Dodd's Saturday, August 20, 1864.................. 1
Chapter Two—"Get a Doctor!" August 20, 1864.................... 12
Chapter Three—A Long Night Saturday and Sunday, August 20 and 21, 1864.... 24
Chapter Four—Staying Awake Sunday, August 21, 1864.................... 42
Chapter Five—Rock through the Window Sunday, August 21, 1864.............. 64
Chapter Six—Indignation Meeting at Circle Park Monday, August 22, 1864.... 78
Chapter Seven Violating Section Twenty-One Tuesday, August 23, 1864....... 92
Chapter Eight Disturbed by Talebearers The Last Week of August 1864....... 107
Chapter Nine Chicago Fizzles Monday and Tuesday, August 29 & 30, 1864..... 119
Chapter Ten Dodd Is Arrested Saturday, September 3, 1864.................. 127
Chapter Eleven "Wake Up, Jay!" Friday, September 16, 1864................. 143
Chapter Twelve Visiting Confederates Tuesday, September 27, 1864.......... 156
Chapter Thirteen Star Witness Tuesday, September 27, 1864................. 167
Chapter Fourteen The Sanitary Fair Saturday, October 8, 1864.............. 187
Chapter Fifteen "It Is Not Fair!" Tuesday, October 11, 1864............... 201
Chapter Sixteen Sheridan's Ride Monday, October 24, 1864.................. 215
Chapter Seventeen Lincoln Is Elected! Tuesday, November 8, 1864........... 225
Chapter Eighteen "Mama Can't Breathe!" Tuesday, November 15, 1864......... 239
Chapter Nineteen The Black Wreath Monday, November 21, 1864............... 258
Chapter Twenty Snowstorm Saturday, December 10, 1864.................... 276
Epilogue.................... 287
Resources.................... 289
Book Club Discussion Questions.................... 293
Index to Historic End Notes.................... 295