went away in the spring to take up a position at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. Lavinia, a woman who did seasonal cleaning for them, Esther Malone, and Margaret were out in the side yard, washing all the sheets, towels, blankets, curtains, and petticoats from the winter. Margaret was stirring the clothes in the hot water, and Esther and Lavinia were feeding them through the wringer. They had already wrung out the less soiled items and hung them up to dry, when Captain Early, dressed informally in a floppy hat, light-colored loose trousers, and muddy boots, walked by, carrying a stick. He stopped and stood for a moment without speaking, then greeted them.
“I’ve been down to the river,” he said.
The Missouri River was three miles and more from where they stood, so that qualified as an active morning’s excursion, Margaret thought.
“It’s somewhat higher than I expected it to be, but I understand that the snowpack upriver was greater than I had heard.”
“Goodness,” said Lavinia.
“Even so, there’s no danger here,” he went on. “That’s my guess. But it’s an educated guess. What will happen below St. Louis, though, I don’t like to think of.”
“That’s always …,” began Lavinia.
“It’s well known that the levee system is jerry-built below Cairo, but people in general, not just in Missouri, live with their heads in the sand. Not only officials. Officials aren’t entirely to blame if the citizenry is itself indifferent or uneducated. I don’t mind levees per se, but I’ve got my doubts about willow mats. And about dredging, too, I must say.”
“They’re dredging the river?” exclaimed Lavinia. “Around here?”
“No, ma’am. I was referring to the lower Mississippi.” He fell silent, and seemed to watch them, passing his stick from hand to hand. Finally, as Margaret pressed the clothes down with her paddle, he said, “Did you know that the Romans cleaned their clothes by having slaves walk about upon them in vats of human urine? Urine was a rich source of ammonium salts and was sold and taxed in Roman times. I often think we moderns could take that as an example of how we could make better use of our own products.”
Lavinia said, “No doubt that is generally true.” She coughed, and maintained a personable smile. After a bit, Esther muttered, “Well, is he going to be helping us, now? What’s he standing about for?”
Finally, he said, “Miss Mayfield. I hope you will feel at liberty to borrow more books from our family library. I can recommend two in particular. One is one I have been reading myself and have now finished, entitled Visits to High Tartary, Yârkand and Kâshgar, by Mr. Shaw. It has very nice drawings of Central Asia. I’ve set it out for you. And another is Dracula, by Mr. Bram Stoker, who is a friend of my brother in England. He runs a theater, and is a very able man. You enjoyed Mr. Holmes?”
She stopped pushing her paddle. “Yes, I did.”
“Mr. Stoker is rather more daring than Mr. Conan Doyle, both in his formulation of the story and in his sensational effects. Good day.” He tipped his hat and walked on.
Esther looked after him, then said, “You may say what you like, that he’s a genius and all, but if I am asked, I will say that he’s a strange one.”
“But harmless, I’m sure,” said Lavinia, with a glance at Margaret.
Margaret herself said, “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to know things.”
“Certainly not,” said Lavinia. “The Mayfields have always been interested in knowing things. A man with some ambition, like your father, is much more eligible than a man who is content with what he has already.”
It was perfectly clear to Margaret that Lavinia had made up her mind that Captain Early was not only an excellent prospect, but also a promising one. That he was neither attentive nor comfortable she put down to his eccentric education and his universe-altering occupation. Every so often, she would make some unexpected remark that indicated to Margaret that she was saying much less than she was thinking—one of these was “When all is said and done, my dear, a busy man leaves his wife considerable leeway to follow her own impulses.” Another one was “I always thought a masculine presence in the house had a warming effect.” Another: “Look at Robert! Not the most promising specimen at first, but thriving now.”
Margaret began to have a fated feeling, as if accumulating experiences were precipitating her toward an already decided future. Once, shortly