A Proper Pursuit

  Then I recalled offering to help Katya live “happily ever after” with Nelson. I hadn’t known what I was getting myself into.

  Chapter

  31

  Wednesday, July 12, 1893

  I needed to talk to Nelson. With only three days remaining until my father arrived, it looked as though I wasn’t going to find my mother. But if I could help Nelson and Katya find the happiness that had eluded my parents, then at least I would have accomplished something this summer.

  “I need to make social calls with Aunt Agnes this afternoon,” I told my grandmother on Wednesday morning. She was bustling around the kitchen stove, trying to kindle a fire to brew coffee.

  “What time is she coming for you?”

  “That’s the problem; Aunt Agnes doesn’t know that I want to go with her. I’ll have to call on her first.”

  Grandmother turned to face me, still holding a piece of firewood in her hand. “How can you do that? You can’t go out alone.”

  “I think it’s time that I did go out on my own, don’t you? I can’t lean on other people for the rest of my life. Aunt Agnes doesn’t live very far, and I know the way. You and Aunt Matt travel all over the city by yourselves. I can too.”

  She studied me for a long time, a look of sorrow and concern on her face. “You’ve grown up a lot this summer, Violet.”

  “Yes, I know. But I needed to grow up.”

  Grandmother turned back to the stove, shoving the wood inside and closing the cast-iron lid. “I want you to hire a cab, then. I don’t want you getting lost on the streetcars.”

  When I arrived at Aunt Agnes’ home, she was surprised and pleased to see me. “Of course you can go calling with me, Violet; that’s a wonderful idea. The other ladies have been so disappointed that they haven’t seen much of you lately, and—”

  “Can we pay a visit to Nelson’s grandmother?”

  “Certainly. She is more eager than anyone to get to know you better.”

  Her words were an unwelcome reminder that Nelson had indeed proposed to me—in spite of the fact that he loved another woman. I couldn’t imagine what he was thinking or why he would do such a deceitful thing, but I intended to find out.

  “We’re all thrilled about the engagement, Violet. Just thrilled!”

  Her words horrified me. “Y-you didn’t tell anyone else about it, did you? Our engagement isn’t even official.”

  “Now, Violet. Nelson’s grandmother and I are very good friends.”

  “I know, but please don’t say anything to the other women. Nelson should be the one who makes the announcement, don’t you think?”

  I could tell by her pursed lips and woeful frown that she was disappointed. She would have loved to stand on the tallest building in Chicago and announce the good news. I couldn’t break her heart by telling her that I thought Nelson was using me or that I wasn’t going to marry him.

  “Well, it will be very difficult to remain quiet about something this momentous, Violet, but I shall respect your wishes. Just tell Nelson not to wait too long.”

  Making social calls that afternoon seemed almost as boring and tedious as spending an afternoon with Herman Beckett, but I made up my mind to get through it and leave a note for Nelson. For the first time, I found it difficult to paste on a phony smile and pretend that I enjoyed this life of social politics and gossip. I felt awkward making inane conversation with Nelson’s grandmother and the other women as we sipped our tea and nibbled dainties.

  I knew Aunt Agnes had told Mrs. Kent about Nelson’s proposal because she gazed at me the entire afternoon as if it were her birthday and I was a chocolate cake. Meanwhile, I couldn’t seem to forget that my father would arrive on Saturday to haul me back to Lockport and into Herman Beckett’s stiff, black-suited arms. I felt like an actress— like my mother. I was still trying to adjust to that truth.

  “Might I leave a message for Nelson to call on me?” I asked when the afternoon mercifully ended. Mrs. Kent beamed with delight.

  “Why, Nelson is here, Violet. Shall I have one of the servants fetch him?”

  I was prepared to confront him angrily, telling him that I knew the truth about his love for Katya and demanding an explanation for his marriage proposal—until I saw how terrible he looked. He hadn’t shaved. His clothes looked as though he had worn them for days. His golden hair stood on end. Deep worry lines etched his handsome face, making him appear several years older. He hurried me outside to the garden, away from the scrutiny of the other women.

  “What’s wrong, Nelson? You look unwell.”

  “I lost it all, Violet. Everything!”

  I wondered if he meant Katya. If so, I knew where he could find her. “What did you lose?”

  “My luck was terrible the other night. I didn’t have you for my good-luck charm and I lost everything!”

  “Oh, money,” I mumbled. “I might have known. Look, I’m sorry, but I was afraid that would happen. That’s why I didn’t want to come with you the other night.”

  “You don’t understand. I borrowed the money from my father’s business. I was supposed to deposit it in the bank but I … I diverted it. And now I’ve lost it all. I stayed home from work today so I could figure out what to do. It wasn’t hard to play at being sick because I am sick. I have to pay the money back before he finds out, but I can’t because I’m broke!”

  I sank down on a stone bench in the garden to ponder this news, but Nelson couldn’t seem to sit. Nor could he stand still. He paced in front of me, running his hands through his hair—which explained why it stood on end.

  “If I could just scrape a couple of hundred dollars together, I could go back to the fairgrounds on Friday night and win it all back before my father finds out.”

  “Or you could lose even more,” I pointed out.

  “I don’t know what to do.”

  “What about a bank loan?”

  “Every banker in the city knows my father. Besides, I have no credit and nothing for collateral. I’ve heard there are loan sharks I could go to, but they charge high interest rates. It wouldn’t matter, though, because I can win it all back on Friday night… .”He seemed to be talking more to himself than to me. I decided to confront him after all.

  “You were gambling because of Katya, weren’t you?”

  His pacing stopped abruptly. “What did you say?” I didn’t think it was possible for Nelson to look more unwell, but he did.

  “I know about her, Nelson. Whenever I was at your house I watched the way you gazed at each other from across the room and saw how you followed each other with your eyes. I also saw you kissing her.”

  “It’s not what you think, Violet.”

  “What do I think?”

  “That it was a seduction. The rich, spoiled son seducing the innocent immigrant girl. It happens all the time in our circle and usually ends with paternity suits and payoffs and covered-up scandals. But this isn’t like that. I haven’t touched Katya—well, aside from a few stolen kisses. I love her. But she left. She quit. And I have no idea how to find her.”

  “I know where she is.”

  He grabbed my shoulders, gripping them tightly. “Where? Tell me, Violet. I have to see her.”

  “Why? What are you going to do when you find her?”

  “I-I don’t know …” He released me and his head sagged as he started pacing again. “Remember when you asked me whether I would choose true love with poverty or wealth and success without love? I’m living that dilemma, Violet. I love Katya … but I’m too much of a coward to give all this up.” He gestured to his grandmother’s mansion behind me.

  “And where do I fit in?”

  “You came to Chicago to marry a rich husband, so I thought that … Oh, never mind,” he said, waving his arms. “It doesn’t matter. I couldn’t make up my mind what to do about Katya, and so she left, and I don’t know where she went. She said it was better this way. We could never marry.”

  “Why not?”

  “Don’t you
see? It’s not just the money—it’s my family. Their hold over me is very powerful. I have three sisters. I’m the only son. My father is counting on me to take over his business, but if I choose Katya, I’d have to turn my back and walk away from them forever.”

  “I understand,” I said quietly. “But I talked to Katya, and do you know what she told me? She said she left you because she loves you. What a thought! She was willing to give up what she loved the most in the world—you—so that you could be happy and have all of this. That sounds like genuine love on her part, doesn’t it? So the question is, would you be willing to do the same for her? To give up everything— even your family—in order to be with her?”

  Nelson sank down on the bench beside me as if he had suddenly run out of strength. “I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t know.”

  “There is a way out of your dilemma. You could make your own fortune. You’re certainly smart enough. Isn’t your love for Katya motivation enough? You told me all those other rags-to-riches stories about Mr. Fields and Mr. Harvey. Didn’t you say you wanted to invest in some of the modern inventions you saw at the fair, like Mr. Edison’s music-making machine?”

  “Yes, but I have no capital to start my own business. That’s why I started gambling. If I make my own wealth, I can marry whomever I want.”

  “Where do I fit into this picture? You asked me to marry you, remember?”

  “It was never my intention to hurt you, Violet. You wanted a rich husband and I wanted Katya. I thought we could both get what we wanted.”

  “So I was supposed to share you? That isn’t fair to me or to her.”

  “I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was desperate. As long as my father thought I was settling down and was about to be married, he would give me access to his money. So I borrowed some, hoping to gamble with it and win more. You seemed reluctant to get married right away, unlike all of the other girls I know, so I hoped we could delay the wedding long enough for me to make my own money.”

  “You never intended to marry me?”

  “I thought about it. I’m ashamed to say that I thought about marrying you and having Katya for my mistress. But I couldn’t go through with it. Besides, Katya kept telling me that it was wrong to deceive you. I like you, Violet. That’s why the only solution was to win my own fortune.”

  “But you lost.”

  “Yes. And unless I can get a loan, I’m going to be in enormous trouble. I’ve been trying to locate a loan shark, but I don’t know anyone in the world of crime.”

  I felt sorry for him. And sorrier still for Katya. But after discovering some of the truth about my mother, I wanted to help them, for her sake.

  “I might know someone who could help you.”

  “You do? How on earth do you—?”

  “Don’t ask. Mr. McClure is an … an acquaintance. I don’t know him very well, but he seems to have a lot of connections in the criminal world. He might know how you can contact a loan shark.”

  “I’m starting to think that it’s true what they say—that money is the root of all evil.”

  “Actually, a preacher friend told me that money itself isn’t evil. It’s the love of money that’s at the root of all evil.” I was about to ask him if he loved Katya more than he loved money when he interrupted.

  “Listen, how can we contact this acquaintance of yours?”

  “He’s staying at a hotel here in the city. We can probably reach him there.”

  “How? When?”

  “Let me think …” I had learned a lot during these past six weeks about detective work and stealth and getting around town. Before I arrived in Chicago it would have taken me hours or even days to figure out what to do. Now I was able to quickly concoct a plan.

  “We’ll tell my aunt that you want to escort me home. She’ll agree because she’s very eager for us to get together. We can go to Mr. McClure’s hotel on the way—even though it’s actually out of our way—and we’ll leave him a note asking him to contact you.”

  We proceeded with my plan. Mrs. Kent and Aunt Agnes were indeed very obliging, imagining that we were in love and longing to spend every moment together. I borrowed paper and a pen to compose the note we would leave for Silas while Nelson returned to his room to attend to his appearance. He called for his grandmother’s carriage and driver, and we set off downtown.

  I had imagined Silas’ hotel to be a shabby flea-bitten place, but the modest establishment had a quiet, understated elegance—and wasn’t at all what I expected from an elixir salesman. I glanced around at the bright Turkish carpets, the gleaming brass fixtures and fresh flower arrangements, and wondered if Silas was staying here in order to rob the other hotel patrons. Nelson and I strode up to the front desk together, and I handed the clerk the envelope.

  “Good afternoon. Would you please give this note to Mr. McClure when he returns?”

  “Mr. McClure returned just a few minutes ago, miss, if you’d like to give it to him yourself. I just gave him his room key. Shall I send a bellboy upstairs for him?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  I gave the bellboy one of my calling cards and sat down in the lobby with Nelson to wait. I was remarkably calm compared to Nelson, who rapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair as if auditioning to be a drummer at the Javanese Village. I had a view of the elevator doors and I watched as they opened and Silas stepped out. To say that he looked pleased to see me would have been an understatement.

  “Violet! What are you—?” He never had a chance to finish.

  Nelson leaped from his chair and thrust out his hand to introduce himself. “Good afternoon. I’m Nelson Kent. I understand that you are acquainted with my fiancée, Miss Hayes?” Silas’ customary grin vanished. He looked as though Nelson had punched him in the stomach. He glanced at me as if to ask if it was true, but I looked away.

  “Yes … Miss Hayes and I are acquainted,” Silas finally said.

  “Look, I’ll get right to the point. I need a loan, and for reasons that I’d rather not explain, I can’t go to a bank. It would be a shortterm loan, but I’d need the money by Friday night. Can you put me in touch with someone?”

  “Possibly. Why don’t you sit down, Mr. Kent?” He gestured to the chair beside mine and then sat down across from us on the sofa. “I’ll be blunt, Mr. Kent. Most men of your obvious wealth don’t go around asking for loans unless they’re in trouble. I’ll wager it’s a gambling problem—am I right?”

  “It’s none of your business. Can you arrange a loan or not?”

  “I’ll need a few details about the casino first.”

  Nelson’s gray pallor returned. He looked even worse than when I had arrived at his house. He ran his hands through his hair and leaned forward in his chair, staring at the floor as if he might need to vomit.

  “Go ahead and tell him,” I urged. “What do you have to lose?”

  Nelson exhaled. “It’s a private game in a rented hall at the World’s Fair. By invitation only.”

  “Hmm. I heard rumors that there was a game going on there… . Let me guess—at first you lost, but then your luck changed and you won back all the money you’d lost and a little bit more. But it was closing time.”

  “That’s right,” I said. “How did you know?”

  “That’s the scam, Miss Hayes. The dealers can spot someone who’s desperate a mile away. They’ll let you win a little money so you’ll come back another night and play for even bigger stakes. I gotta tell you, Mr. Kent—you’d be a fool to gamble away any more money at that place if it isn’t legitimate.”

  “Look, I don’t need a lecture,” Nelson said. “Can you help me get a loan or not? I’ll take my chances on winning. I have to.”

  “I’ll tell you what.” Silas leaned forward, his manner surprisingly sympathetic. “I have a friend who knows a thing or two about rigged games and weighted dice and marked cards. We’ll meet you at this place, and he can check it out for you before you lose any more money.”

&nb
sp; “I told you it’s private. Invitation only.”

  “Just get us in, okay? If my friend says they’re not scamming, then we’ll talk about a loan. Why throw away more of your money—not to mention a loan shark’s—at high interest rates? Can you get us in?”

  Nelson hesitated.

  “I think you’d better take his advice,” I told him. “What if you borrow money and lose it?”

  “Okay, fine,” Nelson said. “Just bring the money with you. And wear a tuxedo, if you can get one. The game is for high rollers only.”

  We all agreed. Nelson would pick me up on Friday night, and we would meet Silas and his friend at the fair.

  “Tell me where I can find Katya,” Nelson said as soon as we climbed back into his carriage.

  “I think you need to decide a few things first. Don’t lead her on, Nelson, if you have no intention of marrying her. It isn’t fair to her. And you need to figure out how your marriage is going to work since you come from such different backgrounds. Katya doesn’t know all the social rules that you take for granted. She would never survive the scrutiny of your grandmother and her friends. They would never accept her. And what are you going to do about Katya’s family? Are you going to ask her to give them up along with all of her traditions? Would you be comfortable with her family, visiting their home, eating their food?”

  “I told you, I don’t know what to do. How do I separate my duty and loyalty to my family from my right to live my own life?”

  “I’m sure your family only wants what’s best for you. They’re thinking of all the problems you would face if you made a bad choice.”

  As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I recalled my father saying something very similar to me. He wanted to prevent me from making a huge mistake and being hurt, as he had been.

  “Why is it any of their business whom I marry?” Nelson asked.

  I started to reply when I suddenly thought of Murderous Maude. I had been intent on preventing Father from marrying her, but was it any of my business whom he married? If I didn’t want my father to choose a partner for me, what right did I have to choose one for him?