Read Online Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati - Free Book Online

"From the village,"
she added.
    Elizabeth
raised an eyebrow and waited, for it was clear that Katherine had something
else to say.
    "There
is one more name I haven't given you, because that child doesn't live in the
village; she lives with her family on the other side of Half Moon Lake, up on
Hidden
Wolf
Mountain
."
    Elizabeth
made
ready to write. "I would like to have her name," she said. "I
wouldn't want to exclude her if she would like to come."
    Again
Katherine hesitated. "I am surprised you don't know of her yet."
    "Why
would I know about this little girl?"
Elizabeth
asked, puzzled.
    "Because
she is Nathaniel Bonner's daughter," Katherine said.
    Elizabeth
smiled thinly. "His daughter?"
    "Her
name is Hannah, almost nine years old. A bright little thing."
    "Mr.
Bonner is unmarried,"
Elizabeth
said, and
then wished she had not, because Katherine was looking at her with a kind of
understanding that made
Elizabeth
uneasy. "Perhaps I misunderstood him. No matter."
    "Everyone
calls him Nathaniel," Katherine said easily. Then, without prompting:
"She died in childbed," she said in a low tone. "In spite of
everything Cora Bonner and Curiosity and dr. Todd could do for her. Nathaniel
has never recovered. She came down with a fever, you see—"
    "How
very sad,"
Elizabeth
interrupted her gently.
    Katherine
dropped her eyes, perhaps to hide the eagerness there. She knows it is unseemly to gossip , thought
Elizabeth
, but she can't help herself.
    "Nathaniel's
mother—in—law keeps house for them since his mother passed on," Katherine
volunteered, her voice trailing away reluctantly. With a nervous smile, she
looked up at
Elizabeth
.
    "Did
my brother say where he was going?"
Elizabeth
asked suddenly.
    There
was a little sigh from the younger woman—relief? Disappointment? But Katherine
followed
Elizabeth
's
lead and put the subject of the Bonners aside. "An appointment in the
village, he said. Let me tell you, Elizabeth, although I would not say it to
him, that it is truly wonderful to have a young man of fashion and taste in
Paradise
."
    Elizabeth
smiled at this description of her brother. "What about Dr. Todd?" she
asked."He seems a very likely young man."
    Katherine
reddened and sat back to sip at her tea.
Elizabeth
saw clearly that she had disconcerted her visitor. Now it is my turn to want more information than is seemly,
Elizabeth
thought. A good lesson.
    * * *
    In
the early evening her father came to find her where she read in the study, all
excitement about the coming party and eager to share his enthusiasm with her.
    "Well,
Lizzie," he said, trying very hard to appear solemn. "What are you
wearing this evening?"
    Elizabeth
put
down her paper and quill and looked up at her father where he paced back and
forth before the fire. At more than sixty he was still a very fine looking man,
with an imposing figure, a high forehead, and a mane of gray hair bound at the
nape of his neck with a simple black band. Powdered wigs were going out of
fashion, and he had been quick to give them up; his full head of hair had
always been a point of pride. Her father's color was very high,
Elizabeth
noted, and she
wondered about his health, although she was pleased to see that he was in good
spirits.
    "Do
I need to change, Father?" she asked, looking down at herself.
    "What!"
he cried out. "Gray for a party?"
    Elizabeth
smiled. "I usually wear gray, Father, but I have another gown which might
please you better. I will wear that."
    "Good!"
he said, satisfied.
    "I
want to show you off this evening."
    She
hesitated. "Father, I hope you will not think me forward, but I have
invited Mr. Bonner and his son to the party. So that we can discuss the
building of the schoolhouse." Her father had no objection to this, she
could see, and so she continued.
    "I
am very much looking forward to meeting all your friends," she said.
"But I would like to remind you that I have no intention of
marrying."
    The
judge drew up, surprised, and turned to her with his hands