Alex and Eliza: A Love Story(43)
“Indeed,” said Angelica drily. “He comes from one of the wealthiest families in the state of New York.”
AT ANGELICA’S SMART jibe, Alex felt his ears burning. Could he himself be justly accused of similar selfish calculations in regards to his feelings for Eliza, the second Schuyler daughter?
“Nevertheless, Angelica dear,” Aunt Gertrude wisely intervened, “is that reason enough to tie oneself down to a lifetime of masculine silence?”
Alex watched Angelica flinch. He thought her reply seemed touched with an unflattering tinge of bitterness.
“Well,” said Angelica, “I for one think they are perfectly suited to each other—he’s as passive as a sheep and Peg is a pretty shepherdess.”
Nervous laughter streamed around the table at Peggy and Stephen’s expense before the topic quickly moved on to some of Morristown’s more scandalous gossip.
Alex noticed Eliza had remained silent and did not seem eager to go along with the unkind joke.
Aha, thought Alex. Here beats a softer heart than Angelica’s unsentimental one.
The room was suddenly too hot for his taste, and he excused himself from the table, saying he needed a bit of fresh air.
He went out and took a few deep breaths, his cheeks hurt from smiling at Eliza Schuyler all night. But he was worried, too, that she was too far above him in station for him to even think about courting her.
Lost in his own thoughts, he didn’t notice Stephen Van Rensselear stride past, red in the face, and disappear around the corner.
Peggy followed him, looking upset. She stopped when she saw Alex. “Oh! Colonel Hamilton.”
“Everything all right, Miss Schuyler?”
She nodded, then changed her mind and shook her head. “No, Stephen doesn’t like Angelica’s teasing,” she confided. “My sister can be a little too sharp-tongued than is good for her.”
“She is only being protective,” he said soothingly. “Older sisters tend to be.”
Peggy drew herself up to her full height. “Perhaps,” she said. “But you will see one day, when the lash falls on you.”
He raised his eyebrows, not quite knowing what to say.
“I spoke out of turn, I apologize,” said Peggy.
“There is no need,” he assured her. After a short silence, he said, “You know, maybe if you told your sisters how you felt about the young man, they would be a little more gentle with him and your feelings.”
Peggy appraised him, as if taking his stock for the first time. “Thank you, Colonel. I might just take your advice.”
WHEN ALEX RETURNED to the table, Eliza’s aunt was standing at the head of it. “Ah, lovely,” she announced. “Dessert is ready.”
Laurens walked around the table and clamped a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “So, Ham, what do you think of my plan to free southern slaves who are willing to join the fight for independence? Let’s take these men out of the fields and let them live like human beings. Free them and train them to fire a musket! Pay them to maintain their loyalty like any enlisted man! Think how it would swell our ranks against the British overnight!”
Growing up in the West Indies had given Alex a hatred for slavery and the vile practices he had witnessed firsthand. He admired his wealthy southern friend for feeling the same way when Laurens came from a long line of slaveholders himself and had much to benefit from the practice.
“I support it duly, John, not as your closest friend, but as someone who has seen the depravity of slavery during my childhood. No man could ever find satisfaction in being owned by another. We are all the same in God’s eyes, are we not? And General Washington agrees with me. If only I could persuade him to act on it . . .”
“Yes, there’s the rub. Too much talk when immediate action is needed. Tell me true, Alex, is the plan anything more than futile?”
Alex turned his palms up to the ceiling. “Ah, friend. I am doing all that I can and yet—”
Eliza cut in on the conversation. “Though you will continue to press the idea upon him, yes, Colonel? It is the right thing to do. Surely, His Excellency understands that?”
Alex and Eliza shared a moment of mutual surprise.
“You support the abolitionist cause?” he asked.
“Fervently,” she said. “We Schuylers have always, always espoused a belief in the equality of black and white souls.”
It moved him to hear the same perspective coming from this young maiden. Here was something concrete that spoke volumes to the natures of their respective souls.
“I am glad to hear it,” he told her. Without thinking, he reached over the table and grasped her hand, giving it a meaningful squeeze.
Laurens coughed and turned away with a smile, and for a moment, Alex enjoyed the feeling of Eliza’s small hand in his.
Though Mrs. Cochran was seated too far away to have heard their conversation, it was clear that she noticed something had changed between the soldier and her niece. In a moment, she all but confirmed his supposition with one arched eyebrow. “Cook has discovered a recipe that should put a smile on everyone’s face. Tonight we’re having a little tart.”
19
Girl Talk
Eliza’s Bedroom
Morristown, New Jersey