Alex and Eliza: A Love Story(35)
Eliza stopped reading, her eyes trembling with tears. But then something strange and wonderful happened. She looked into her sisters’ faces expecting them to fall apart, but instead was surprised to see something she’d never seen in them before: total resolve. They had come to Morristown not in surrender, but to continue the good fight by supporting the brave patriots the only way they knew how. They would stand with Eliza and do the work—sew the torn overshirts, mop the fevered brows, provide inoculations—whatever must be done to help set to rights their broken world.
“All right, ladies. We’ve all had an exhausting day. We’ll get started on the officers’ inoculations first thing in the morning. But for now? Let’s take the chill off your bones. Come, step out of your furs and settle down next to the fire. Cook has the most extraordinary gift with glazed scones.”
Aunt Gertrude rang the tiny silver bell, and a shy servant girl appeared with more cranberry scones.
“Thank you, Louisa,” said Aunt Gertrude with a twinkle in her eye. “I’ll handle it from here.”
It was 1780 after all, and the vibrant and spirited Schuyler sisters were joining the fight for independence—their proud and unruly young nation’s as well as their own. Plus, each one of them had her own dream to follow, and it was high time to get started.
15
Ministering Angels
Continental Army Headquarters
Morristown, New Jersey
February 1780
The next morning, an arctic chill blew in as Eliza led her sisters up the front walk of the old Ford mansion, appropriated for General Washington’s headquarters. The stately white house sat on an estate owned by a local judge who had died. While the general had use of the master’s quarters, Colonel Hamilton and the other officers slept in the smaller upstairs bedrooms, sometimes two to a bed, and worked in a log office annex by day.
Would he be there this morning? Remain cool headed, Eliza reminded herself. The thought of seeing Colonel Hamilton again confused and excited her, but she hadn’t had time to think it all through before her aunt bundled her and her sisters out the door, their heads swimming with directions for the treatment.
As the sisters stepped inside the mansion, a cloud of warm air rolled out with the heady scent of tobacco smoke. Down the hallway they overheard the boisterous voices of men unrestrained by the presence of women. Eliza walked to the doorway, which opened into what had once been the judge’s study, and knocked on the doorjamb.
“Good morning,” she said. “Dr. John Cochran sent us—”
Her voice faded as she made out the room’s occupants, a pair of young men hovering awkwardly over a disheveled desk. Loose papers and an inkwell had been pushed in a jumble to one side. The men sprang up guiltily, and it was only as they were straightening their vests and jackets that Eliza realized they had been arm wrestling.
“That’s funny, Larpent,” the fellow beside the desk said. He was a pale blond youth of no more than nineteen. “Usually it is the man who saves the damsel from distress, but in this case it is you who have been rescued by the arrival of this fair young lady.”
The other fellow behind the desk was as fresh faced as his companion but thin and soft. A redness of his cheeks revealed that he had been on the losing side of their struggle.
“Good morning, miss!” The one called Larpent ignored his friend’s jibe. “How may we help you today?”
Eliza smiled officiously as she walked in the room. “My name is Eliza Schuyler, and these are my sisters, Angelica and Peggy. Dr. John Cochran requested that we administer the smallpox inoculation to the men working in this office today, in compliance with General Washington’s orders.”
Larpent frowned. “The Schuyler sisters? I had been told that Mrs. Cochran assisted Dr. Cochran in administering the inoculation, Misses, ah . . .”
“Schuyler,” Eliza said. “As in General Philip Schuyler?”
The name did the trick for the heavier fellow.
“Of course, Miss Schuyler, Miss Schuyler, and Miss Schuyler. I’m Corporal Weston. Please give me a moment to collect the men. Where would you ladies like to perform the procedure?”
“Over there by the fireplace,” Eliza said with immediate confidence. “The room is sufficiently warm that the men won’t be chilled when they remove their jackets, and there are extra chairs, which I shall need.”
Peggy held the supplies basket while Angelica looked around with an unimpressed air.
“May I?” Angelica sat herself down on the nearest chair. Peggy followed suit and moved to unload the supplies in the basket.
“Stop, Sister! Germs! Germs!” Eliza blanched. “First clear the table for our equipment. Nothing must touch the floor.”
Angelica was taken aback by her middle sister’s bold new confidence in this strange arena. Clearly in the brief time she had been away from Albany, she had taken on some impressive new strength, but then Eliza had always been the quickest study of the three of them. Angelica turned to Peggy, who was staring openmouthed at Eliza.
“Well, what are you waiting for, Peggy? You heard Sister. Put the basket on a chair and help me clear this table for her. She’s got important work to do!”
Corporal Weston glanced nervously at the basket and gave it a wide berth as he headed for the door. Eliza thought him a bit dim. His companion looked equally skittish and made to follow his friend, but Eliza stopped him.