Read Online Beloved Enemy by Mary Schaller - Free Book Online Page B

was to loiter in a girl’s garden like a lovesick swain!
    As he turned to leave, his sudden movement startled the cat. With a low yowl, it hopped from the stoop to the side lattice that supported a dry, brown vine. Displaying swift agility, the cat climbed up the lattice like a ladder to the windowsill above—the same window where the oil lamp still burned. Once perched on his place of safety, the cat scratched at the glass pane like a dog. Holding his breath without realizing it, Rob waited to see what would happen.
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    Julia cocked her head; again she heard the sound that had disturbed her musings. She smiled to her reflection. The scratching at the window signaled Tybalt’s impatience. Outside on the ledge, the orange striped cat stared in at her with wide amber eyes. He lifted his paw and scratched the glass again. Julia unhooked the latch then lifted the sash. A wedge of cold air blew in through the opening.
    â€œHello, Tybalt,” she greeted him in a low voice. “Too chilly for you tonight?”
    Mewing an answer, the cat slipped inside and landed softly on the floor. Julia started to lower the window, then stopped when she saw something flash in the darkness below. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled. Warningspasms of alarm erupted in the pit of her stomach. She had the instinctive feeling that someone was down there, though she could see no discernible shape in the garden’s shadows. Her first impulse was to wake Perkins. The bounty of the holiday season was enough to tempt many a burglar, especially now that Alexandria was full of louts from the North.
    Something flashed again. A man stepped out from the overhang of the large magnolia tree, took off his hat and bowed to her. Covering her mouth, Julia swallowed her scream. Replacing his hat, he stepped closer.
    Julia gripped the window frame. “Who…who’s there?” she whispered through the opening.
    â€œWhat light from yonder window breaks?” the man asked in a low, but distinct voice. “It is the east and fair Julia is the sun,” he continued, improvising the opening lines from the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet.
    Julia released her breath. Though the speaker’s face was in deep shadow, she instantly recognized his Northern accent. Her heart leaped to her throat and blood pounded against her temples. Casting a quick glance at the sleeping Carolyn, she knelt on the floor by the narrow open window.
    â€œYou have changed your identity, Major Robin Goodfellow. Are you now Romeo?” she responded, praying that her sister would not wake up.
    He chuckled. “My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, because it is an enemy to thee.” As if to accentuate his point, the brass buttons of his uniform greatcoat caught the light of the moonshine and flashed in return.
    Julia hugged herself. This unsuspecting Yankee was certainly taking his life in his hands to come into their garden, especially in the dead of night. Though Jonah Chandlerwas a mild-mannered man, he would not hesitate to use the shotgun hanging in the back hall to protect his family.
    â€œYou had best go quickly before you waken my father. He has a gun,” she warned.
    The major chuckled again. “There is more peril in thine eye, than in twenty of his swords,” he continued, using Romeo’s words.
    Julia wanted to scream at him, this time in frustration. Didn’t this Yankee have any sense at all? Perhaps midnight visits were a common practice in New York, but such outlandish behavior just wasn’t done in Virginia. The man was apt to get his handsome head blown off.
    â€œYou are too rash, sir,” she told him. “So then, good night,” though she hated to close the window and turn away from him. This would never happen to her again, especially if she married boorish Payton and had to live in the midst of his tobacco fields.
    The major stepped more into the moonlight, then went down on one knee.