Alex and Eliza: A Love Story(28)
“And they left it behind!”
“Indeed they did! When General Washington’s forces took northern New Jersey, the Kitcheners, like all the other loyalists, left in such haste that they took naught with them, save their clothes and jewels, and not all of those.” Aunt Gertrude tapped a cameo on her dress. “I found this precious bauble upstairs, fallen behind a bureau.”
The butler, Ulysses, entered. Once his presence had been acknowledged, he said, “A Colonel Hamilton is here to inquire after Miss Schuyler’s well-being.”
A bright smile flashed on Aunt Gertrude’s face, but it disappeared as soon as she saw Eliza’s. The blush had come back, and she was shaking her head rapidly. She wasn’t ready to see him, not at all, not when her mind was still a confused jumble of emotion, from irritation to embarrassment to something too much like excitement at the prospect of seeing him again.
It was clear that Aunt Gertrude wanted to ask the reason for Eliza’s objection, but declined to do so in front of Ulysses.
“Tell Colonel Hamilton that Miss Schuyler is well. Well, but tired, and resting after yesterday’s ordeal. Please convey Dr. Cochran’s and my immense gratitude for his assistance and inform him that we look forward to thanking him properly for his chivalry when Miss Schuyler is fully recovered.”
Ulysses nodded, closing the door behind him to keep the heat in the room. Eliza listened intently to the voices in the hall, but the walls were too thick to admit more than a faint murmur. The conversation did go on for longer than she expected, though; she thought she heard the colonel insisting that he wanted to check on her with his own eyes before finally being persuaded to leave. At length there was the sound of the front door’s opening and closing.
Eliza turned to the window, half expecting the colonel to appear, but nothing came in save the light of a late winter’s morning. She was strangely disappointed even if she was the one who had sent him away.
When she turned from the window, she saw her aunt regarding her quizzically.
“So tell me, dear. Did Colonel Hamilton happen to say how came he to be on the post road yesterday?” she asked lightly—too lightly, Eliza thought—as though she were not seeking information, but was already in possession of all the facts. Apparently, even the saintly Aunt Gertrude wasn’t above enjoying a little innocent gossip.
“He said that he was making the rounds of the outposts along the Hudson River.”
“Really? I would have thought it was the outpost’s job to report to him, and not the other way around.”
Eliza hadn’t considered this, though now that it was said out loud, it did make sense to her.
“Perhaps he felt that their diligence needed the extra prod of supervision. Papa has remarked on more than one occasion that nothing maintains both discipline and morale like the occasional unexpected visit from authority.”
“Perhaps,” her aunt said. She snapped the thread on the button she had just sewn on, set the jacket aside, and retrieved another from the pile beside her.
“You sound unconvinced.”
“It is just that your uncle John remarked on Colonel Hamilton’s absence yesterday. Or, more accurately, he said that General Washington had noticed the colonel’s absence. So if this were a surprise visit, it would seem that his superiors were as surprised by the errand as his subordinates.”
Eliza felt a flush coming on. “I am not sure I understand, Aunt.”
“Your father wrote to General Washington to tell him of your trip, did he not?”
“Of course, but Papa would never let me take the trip without our family coachman, Mr. Vincent. For my sake, the dear old soldier pretended that he was carrying military information, but given my father’s two-year absence from a command post, this seemed merely a ruse to keep me from being alarmed.”
Aunt Gertrude nodded. “I wouldn’t want to speak out of turn, but I always felt you were your father’s favorite—even more than John or Philip Junior or the other boys. Of all his children, you are most like him in spirit. So, it makes sense that he would go to the extent of informing the commander in chief of the Continental army that his daughter was coming to visit his aunt. Although, let me see, hmmmm . . . a letter to General Washington would not be first read by him. It is initially vetted by—”
Eliza interjected before she could help herself. “Are you telling me Colonel Hamilton knew I was coming?”
Aunt Gertrude gave Eliza an impish shrug.
“Dr. Cochran remarked last week that he asked after your trip. At first I thought nothing of it—your uncle and the colonel are in regular communication, and I thought it was simply a pleasantry between colleagues. But when I saw you in his arms yesterday, well, you can forgive an old woman for wondering whether romance was in the air.”
Now Eliza was blushing wildly, and her heart was beating too fast to be healthy. “While I admire the romantic spirit that leads you to such a conjecture, Aunt, I have to doubt its veracity. If Colonel Hamilton had, in fact, read my father’s letter to General Washington, he would have known I was due to arrive not yesterday but the day before. So it seems likely that he was on the road yesterday on official business.”
It seemed to Eliza that her aunt’s expression was almost pitying, as if her niece were too guileless to be believed. “Perhaps. But Dr. Cochran did say that Colonel Hamilton was missing for several hours the day before yesterday, much to the consternation of General Washington.”