A LADY NAMED ROSE
Chapter Thirty-Three
The punishment, mercifully, was not severe.
Miss Henderson knew Rose to be typically reliable, an excellent student and not
one to break the rules. Still, the administration had made a scapegoat of the
dorm matron in the aftermath of Charlotte's disappearance--and she wasn't
convinced her friends were as innocent in that mess as they claimed--so she was
forced to take action. Rose was prohibited from seeing Sebastian on campus for
the remainder of the semester, and for one month was not to leave the dormitory
after dark unless she needed to do so for a school activity.
But Rose couldn't be prevented from working,
so on weekends, she would pack one of her finest dresses to wear for a night on
the town with Sebastian, and every weekend, he would pick her up at the
Scotts'; usually on Saturdays when her chores were done.
She worried at first what the family's
reaction would be to her receiving a gentleman caller at their house, but she
needn't have. William was spending an ever-increasing amount of time away from
home. Gossip among the servants had it that he was keeping a mistress in an
apartment in New York. And Rose, much to her own dismay, had to believe it was
true, for Victoria locked herself away in her bedroom for hours at a time,
playing melancholy ballads on the Victrola and singing to herself, the pitch
and volume of her voice depending upon how much she'd had to drink that day.
Her mother used to stand at the door and try to coax her out, which sometimes
worked, but after Christmas, Lucille Hammond moved on to the home of another
daughter. Bridie was occasionally allowed into Victoria's private sanctuary,
but what was said she kept to herself.
Rose wondered what Bridie's reaction would be
to the news of Sebastian--and how soon it would get back to the rest of the
Quinns--but she needn't have worried. Bridie still spent weekends at home with
her husband and son.
The children were the only ones who paid any
real attention to the dashing theater director who'd swept Rose off her feet.
Lucy, whose figure had matured into that of a young woman (but her manners had
not caught up) always made it a point to be in the parlor when he arrived,
pretending to be engrossed in a novel or knitting or some such. Sebastian found
it amusing, so Rose kept her temper in check.
Josephine and Richard were fascinated with
Sebastian's stories of his travels with the Geisels. They hadn't been nearly as
taken with Angelica when she'd spent a weekend here and there in Tarrytown
during the summers; Rose had been surprised at this, but now she'd seen beneath
the surface of her roommate's carefully polished exterior.
The only member of the household who showed
any disapproval at all was Bill. He was home so infrequently he and Sebastian
didn't meet until spring. Then, all of a sudden, he was making the journey from
New York much more often. He attributed the overnight change in habit to
concern for his mother, but Rose knew better. She recognized the dark, brooding
stares he gave Sebastian; they were remarkably similar to the ones Angelica was
giving her these days.
He cornered her one evening as she prepared
for her weekly rendezvous. Applying rouge to her cheeks, she didn't hear Bill
approach until he appeared behind her in her vanity mirror.
She gasped and spun around, hand at her
throat. "Bill, you mustn't startle me like that!"
"I'm sorry. Your door was
unlocked."
"Well, I'll need to remember to fasten
the latch more securely in the future." She lowered her voice.
"Really, you shouldn't be up here. If Belinda or Lucy saw you, they'd run
and tell your mother."
Bill's laugh was short and brittle.
"They could tell Mother the house was burning down, and she wouldn't
care."
Rose looked away. It was embarrassing to hear
Victoria's own son speak of her that way.
"I just came up to tell you that
Sebastian's here," Bill was saying. "I saw his car turn into the
drive."
"Thank you, Bill, but it wasn't necessary
for you to come fetch me. Randolph would have done that."
"Well, maybe Randolph isn't as concerned
for your well-being as I am."
"I beg your pardon?"
"What do you know about this...friend of
yours?" Bill pressed on, despite the warning that was beginning to flash
in Rose's eyes. "Has he told you anything about his background, his
family?"
She realized then that he hadn't, really.
Sebastian never mentioned his family. She didn't even know how old he was.
"What Sebastian and I discuss is none of
your concern," she fired back at Bill. "Really, I don't know what's
gotten into you. You sneak in here, you make a disrespectful remark about your
mother, and then you insinuate that I should be concerned about
Sebastian?"
Polite tapping at her door saved Bill from
having to respond. "Rose?" Randolph called. "Mr. Garrett is
here."
Rose lifted her reticule from a chair.
"If I were you," she informed Bill in a chilly tone, "I would
think twice before putting in an appearance."
He heeded her advice and retreated to his
room, where he remained for the rest of the night. But when Rose entered the
parlor, she found all four of the other Scott children in residence.
Sebastian kissed her hand. "You look
lovely."
The younger girls giggled, and Lucy sighed
loudly. "She's wearing too much makeup. Mother says--"
"Look who's talking about too much
makeup," Richard interrupted. "How many hours did you spend in the
mirror today?"
Lucy's face flushed. "Why don't you go
upstairs and play with your stupid mutt!" she sputtered.
Rose glanced at Sebastian and smiled
apologetically. He shrugged. Meanwhile, Lucy had picked up her copy of Jane
Eyre from the window seat and was flouncing out the door when something slipped
from between the pages of the book and fell to the floor. Richard ran over and
lifted what looked like an old-fashioned dime novel. He read aloud from the
cover, "True Confessions of a Preacher's Daughter," then began
laughing hysterically.
"Give me that, you cretin!" Lucy
made a mad dash for her brother, who tossed the book over her head. Josephine
caught it easily. As Lucy advanced on her sister, Josie hid it behind her back.
Cecilia laughed and clapped her tiny hands at the clever game her siblings were
playing.
"Give Lucy her book back," Rose
instructed wearily. "On second thought, give it to me." Josephine
handed it to her reluctantly. "Lucy, I take it you're to read Jane Eyre
for school?"
Lucy, scowling, nodded once.
"Well, I suggest you get to it
then," Rose said. "It's a wonderful story--you'll be through it in no
time."
Lucy pouted, but she'd learned long ago that
Rose was not one to be trifled with. After she'd left the room, Rose turned to
Richard. "Why is Cecilia down here?"
"Miss 'Linda's sleeping," Josephine
volunteered. "I'll take her upstairs." She attempted to lift her
sister, who kicked her in the shins. Josie cried out in pain and dropped her.
"Richard, take your sisters
upstairs," Rose sighed.
When they were finally alone, Sebastian
applauded softly. "You handled that superbly."
Rose rolled her eyes and collapsed onto the
divan. "They're always like this. I'm sorry you had to see it."
Sebastian sat beside her. "It's not your
fault."
"I just wish we had some privacy!"
Rose slid her left hand into his right. "I'm really looking forward to
this evening."
Sebastian averted his eyes. "Er--Rose,
an emergency has come up and I won't be able to take you to dinner this
evening."
"An emergency?"
"Yes." Sebastian glanced at his
pocket watch and stood abruptly. "I'm sorry, but I'm rather late."
Rose swallowed. "Late for what?"
Bills words echoed in her ears: What do you know about this friend of yours?
"A very important appointment."
Sebastian kissed her lightly on the mouth. "I'm sorry to have to cancel
like this, but this came up suddenly and I did want to tell you in
person."
"Well, thank you for stopping by."
Rose's voice sounded stiff, almost foreign.
"I'll be here next Saturday, I
promise," Sebastian said. He was already on his way to the door. Rose
could only wave good-bye.
Arnolde had already left for a romantic
outing of his own, so Rose prepared a sandwich and retired to the attic room
for a lonely supper. As she ate she tried not to dwell on Sebastian's odd
behavior. The dog-eared copy of True Confessions of a Preacher's Daughter,
lying on her night table, caught her eye and she examined the ornate script on
its cover, finally opening it.
After a few minutes of reading, she tossed it
back. "Such trash!"
Seconds later, curiosity got the better of
her and she picked it up again.
*****
Sebastian never explained why he'd canceled
their date, but by the following Saturday Rose had forgiven him. He'd had a
dozen red roses delivered to her dormitory with a note of apology. Rose made
sure she displayed them in such a fashion that Angelica would see them the moment
she walked through the door.
This Saturday, he was taking Rose to see a
movie, The Birth of a Nation, which starred an acquaintance of his, Lillian
Gish. Rose had heard some debate about the film on campus, but had tuned it
out, as she did with much these days. But she knew enough not to mention the
movie to Vera, who had denounced it at the last Suffrage Club meeting.
Rose was in high spirits and very chatty on
the way to the midtown Manhattan movie house, but the sight of a crowd gathered
outside silenced her.
Sebastian found a parking space and the two
of them slowly approached the theater. A group of some thirty or forty
protesters, most of them Negroes, paraded in a circle in front of the ticket
booth. Some bore signs reading, "Birth of a Racist Nation," and
"Boycott KKK Propaganda."
Rose leaned in close to Sebastian. "What
is the KKK?"
Before he could answer, a man in a dapper
suit rushed over and handed her a pamphlet. "Please, I would urge you not
to pay money to see this film."
Sebastian put a protective arm around Rose
and drew her away from the man. Before he moved on to the next bystander, Rose
caught a glimpse of the NAACP button pinned to the lapel of his shirt. She
didn't know what those initials stood for, either.
It all happened so fast. A man shouted
epithets at one of the protesters, who yelled something back. The first man
attacked the protester and grabbed his sign. Several men, one of them white,
hurried to the marcher's aid as the cameras of news photographers flashed.
Sebastian was unable to keep Rose out of the
line of fire and she found herself standing face-to-face with the white man
who'd helped his fellow marcher retrieve his sign. It took her a moment to
fully register that he was not a man at all, but a teenage boy.
"Bill?"