Read Online Songs of the Shenandoah by Michael K. Reynolds - Free Book Online Page B

Davin found this girl intriguing.
    â€œJust me.” She twisted her lip and rested her hand on the banister. “They are all back home. Outside of Dublin a ways.”
    â€œWhy move here? Why New York?”
    Muriel gave him the look again, as if she found his questions somehow insulting. “You already know. It has one of the only medical schools that admits women.”
    â€œSo all of that about you studying to be a doctor. That’s true?”
    She tightened the bow on her apron. “I’ve wanted to be a healer. All of my life.”
    â€œAnd you would see yourself as being capable of . . . something like . . . sawing off a man’s leg?”
    â€œI suppose that would depend on whether the rest of him was worth saving.”
    He gave her a congratulatory nod. She was unnerving him. Had he met a woman like this before who seemed . . . more intelligent than him? What man would ever want to commit to a life with someone like Muriel? Where he would always be made to feel inferior?
    His nephew showed up with a plate full of scones.
    â€œThank you, Garret.” Muriel took them from him. “Your uncle was just getting ready to leave. I will get a small tin so you can bring them with you.”
    Before Davin could protest, she was gone.
    â€œHow much do you have?”
    â€œHmm?” Davin looked to Clare’s son and could see some of himself in the boy.
    â€œHow much gold?”
    â€œYou know what?” Davin reached into his breast pocket. He curled a finger in there, pulled out a small rock, and laid it out on his palm.
    Garret’s blue eyes widened. “Can I touch it?”
    â€œBetter than that. You can have it. It’s one of my lucky ones. It’s brought me good fortune wherever I go.”
    â€œReally? Can I?”
    â€œA gold nugget?” Muriel held out a small circular red tin to him.
    He took it from her, opened the lid, and gave it a sniff. It still smelled as if had just come out of the oven. “Seems like a fair enough trade.”
    Davin put his hat on and turned to go but then paused. “Good luck with your schooling. I think it’s a fine thing for the world to have another doctor.”
    With that he turned and left, having forgotten the intentions of his visit.

Chapter 9
    The New York Daily

    â€œSounds a bit gloomy, doesn’t it?” Andrew slumped back in his office chair.
    Clare glanced over his shoulder and read the headline in the paper he was holding, still moist with ink: War Inevitable . “Yes. But sadly, it’s also true.” She rubbed the back of his tense neck, and he responded to her touch with a groan of relief.
    â€œWe received a wire from Washington,” Clare said. “General McDowell has ordered the soldiers to prepare for departure. The camps are breaking, and the batteries are being prepared to roll. May God forgive us. They are just a few days away from blood being spilt.”
    Andrew leaned back. “You’ve taken a peculiar interest in this war, have you not?”
    â€œI . . . still can’t believe it’s risen to such contempt. Even an eagerness for violence. How can a nation be so broken?” Clare noticed the lines formed under his eyes. He had aged so much since taking over management of the newspaper following his father’s death.
    â€œThe Irish certainly are no strangers to rebellion.” Andrew folded the paper and rested it on his large desk, which was covered with ledger books, ink drawings, and scattered notes.
    â€œAt least my people aren’t threatening to kill one another.” She walked over to the wall and straightened a framed photograph. “What have we become? I never believed I would say this, Andrew, but I sometimes wish we were back home in Branlow growing potatoes.”
    A firm knock sounded on the glass of the door. They turned to see the newsboy cap of Owen Kavanaugh, who though he was in his early thirties, had the kind of face