Alex and Eliza: A Love Story(55)
Angelica listened to Alex rattle off his list with a growing smile on her face.
That put her in her place, he thought. But he had underestimated the eldest Schuyler sister.
“That’s quite an impressive roster of names, sir,” she said when he had finished. “It sounds like my mother’s Christmas card list.”
It took Alex a moment to realize she was toying with him—Christmas cards?—but it was not until Peggy tittered and Eliza covered her eyes with her hands that he realized her joke had undone all the work of his list of accomplishments and contacts. The reaction from the others came gradually with Church spitting out an uneasy chuckle while Stephen searched everyone’s facial expressions for clues as to how to respond. When Aunt Gertrude joined in with an almost masculine guffaw, Alex realized Angelica’s trick had hit its mark again.
But someone came to his rescue. “Oh, come now, Angelica, you know Mama has only ever corresponded with two kings, and one of those was an exile from some Italian isle that is hardly larger than the Pastures,” said Eliza, setting the joke squarely back on her sister.
Alex smiled, relieved, and the merriment gradually ran its course and the rest of the evening passed in a noisy swirl of cigars and hard cider. He made the effort to be the bon vivant but Angelica had unintentionally struck his Achilles’ heel. It was true; he belonged to no one.
IT WAS NEARING midnight when Alex headed toward the coat closet, steeling himself for the cold outside air. Angelica rounded the corner like a nighthawk and caught his arm, fixing him with a smile that was both challenging and a little sad.
“In truth, Colonel Hamilton,” she said, “you haven’t got a penny to your name, do you? A pity, for it appears you are quite taken with my sister, and it bereaves me to say that the feeling is mutual. Alas.”
And for the second time in his life Alex found himself struck speechless by a Schuyler girl.
24
Mother’s News
Eliza’s Bedroom
Morristown, New Jersey
February 1780
With Aunt Gertrude tucked away all cozy in bed, Eliza pulled both sisters into her second-floor room. She shook her head and punched a pillow, bouncing on the bed. “Angelica Schuyler!” Eliza began. “What were you thinking?”
Angelica sighed and didn’t say anything for a long moment, then pulled a letter from her purse and handed it to her sister in silence.
“You need to hear this, too,” she said to Peggy. “It concerns all of us.”
It was chilly in the room, and Peggy joined Eliza beneath blankets that had been warmed by a brazier. Angelica slipped behind a screen and began changing into her nightclothes as Eliza read their mother’s letter aloud:
“My dear Angelica,
“I write to you as the eldest of my daughters, not because I think that the information I am going to share with you is the sort of thing that a girl of your age should concern herself with, but because there are times when a girl of any age must concern herself with things that seem masculine, or foreign, or otherwise unpleasant. I speak frankly when I say that you are not as intelligent or educated as your sister Elizabeth, but you possess a capacity for captaincy that she, who is independent rather than a true leader, does not. I therefore confide this information to you with the trust that you will see that it is put to its proper use.
“I am informed by General Schuyler that, though the house at Saratoga has been rebuilt and the fields and orchards replanted, the harvests have not yet reached fruition, and as a result the farm is consuming far more money than it is bringing in. General Schuyler has considered selling it, but there is no one in these conditions of uncertainty who is willing to pay even a tenth of its worth, and parting with it would only be cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. Additionally, General Schuyler has not received his stipend from the Continental Congress for nearly two years, and though there is every reason to believe that he will be rewarded amply with land and other in-kind goods when the war is concluded, it is impossible to say when that day will come, or even if it will be decided in our favor.
“What I am trying to say, my dearest daughter, is that we are on the verge of ruin.
“It is therefore imperative that you and your sisters marry immediately, and marry well. In this regard, only Margarita is fulfilling her duty, but Master Van Rensselaer is still some years away from attaining his majority. Though the connections between his family and ours go back several generations, I worry that the Patroon will discover to what circumstances we have been reduced and will call off the engagement. So great is my fear that I urge you not to share this information with Peggy, who has not the discretion the Almighty gave to a screech owl and is likely to unnecessarily share this information with young Stephen, who would then be well within his rights to communicate it to his father.”
“Mama!” Peggy exclaimed when Eliza reached this point. “You libel me!”
“Oh, hush,” Eliza said. “You know you’re an unrepentant gossip.”
Peggy hushed. It was true.
“As for you, Angelica, I am going to advise you to do something that directly contravenes General Schuyler’s wishes for you and, as such, causes me no amount of consternation. Though Mr. Church’s family connections remain hazy to us, as do his business dealings and debts from his time in England, his successes here in America are plain enough to assess. Even General Schuyler has admitted that, though he dislikes Mr. Church personally, the man is remarkably adept at providing munitions to the Continental army at reasonable prices while simultaneously retaining a handsome profit for himself. I am told by both General Schuyler and other sources that those profits number in the thousands, and as such they outweigh any marks against him. Therefore it is with a heavy heart I am advising you—nay, directing you—to accept his offer of marriage and to finalize the union posthaste. If necessary, you should elope with him, for, though the news will wound your father, the general will take comfort in the fact that you are paired with a man whom you respect, and who can provide for you and ease the lot of his relations.”