ride to Washington to attend the party for his inauguration in January. Then, in December, the politicians in Raleigh appointed David L. Swain to a special one-year term as governor of North Carolina, so in the end no one got to vote for him, but he became governor all the same, and in the main Will Butler was wrong about David Swain’s attitude toward the mountain counties. He was to prove a loyal friend to his home region, and he favored the advancement of the railroads into the western territories of the state, which would be a great boon to progress for the region, but he did not right all the wrongs in our portion of the state. Not by any means.
“Mrs. Silver is quite delighted to hear of Governor Swain’s election to office,” Elizabeth remarked at breakfast one morning early in the new year of 1833. “My sister Mary tells me that she wept for joy when she was told.”
I replied that I had not realized that Mrs. Silver took such an interest in politics, particularly since she was not likely to live long enough to enjoy the governor’s performance.
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. “You are quite a bear this morning, Mr. Gaither,” she said. “Did last night’s rum punch not agree with you?”
“It is wearing out its welcome,” I admitted, “but that does not alter the fact that I am concerned about all the attention you ladies are paying Mrs. Silver. She is quite unused to the society to which you expose her in your visits, and I do not know what she makes of all of you. Still, she should be using this time wisely to prepare her soul for the Hereafter, and I think you ladies are at best a distraction from that purpose.”
Elizabeth laughed. “But she is not yet twenty! She has a long time to prepare for eternity.”
“She has until March, and perhaps six weeks thereafter, for preparations to be made, and the execution to be carried out. A sentencing hearing is merely a formality, Elizabeth. There will be no new evidence, no jury, no appeal. It is a matter of scheduling, nothing more. Her fate has already been decided.”
My wife favored me with a tolerant smile. “Her fate was decided before the new governor was appointed. Now, of course, everything has changed.”
“Nothing has changed.”
“But of course it has, dearest! David Swain of Asheville is now the governor of North Carolina. In short, he is one of us. And you must not forget that Mrs. Silver’s own attorney, Nicholas Woodfin, read law under Mr. Swain. A personal appeal can be made. That’s how these things are done.”
Elizabeth smiled at me, the gentle, condescending smile of an Erwin with four aces. Her grandfather Sharpe had been a member of the Continental Congress, and she counted generals, legislators, and wealthy planters in her bloodline. Who was I to tell her that she was mistaken? So I merely nodded and let it pass. I was thinking, though, that if Mistress Elizabeth Erwin Gaither took an ax to her husband, she could very well get herself pardoned by her father’s good friend the governor, but it was not so with Frankie Silver. All the influential supporters in the world could not make her a woman of substance. And
the sheltering wing of the Erwin ladies might not be enough to save her.
Chapter Six SPENCER ARROWOOD had not been to church in many months, but this Sunday, despite his difficulty in getting around and the doctor’s misgivings about his leaving the house so soon, he had come. His family had belonged to the little white frame church for generations, and he felt that any thanks offered up for his continued existence should be said here. As usual, though, he came more with the intention of making additional requests than in thankfulness for mercies already bestowed.
The sight of so many people whom Spencer had known for most of his life was reassuring to him in his new awareness of mortality, as if their concern and good wishes could keep death at bay for a little while longer. He sat in the pew beside his mother, uncomfortably warm in his navy sport coat and tie, still pale and weak from his injuries, but trying to seem as if nothing were amiss. From time to time members of the congregation smiled and waved to him from neighboring pews, and he tried to smile back, but perhaps he had ventured out too soon. He felt