Page 34 of Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Her breathy voice snapped me to attention. I nodded to the family and slipped out of the room.

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By the evening meal, I hoped that the family had forgotten about what happened in the parlor. It appeared that they had. No one said a word to me as Margaret and I served the meal.

“Have you read in the paper about the slave catcher who is in Amherst?” Miss Lavinia asked. “How terrible that he should be here walking our quiet streets.”

Emily stiffened. “I did see that in the paper. What business does a man like that have here? We are a free society.”

“According to the law, he is within his rights to collect runaway slaves and take them back to the South,” Austin said. “I do not agree with the philosophy behind it, but law is law.”

“And the law is a living, breathing thing. As such, it can change,” Emily said. “They should not allow slave catchers in the North. They should not allow slavery at all.”

Mr.Dickinson cleared his throat as if he was uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was headed. “I will be leaving to return to Washington tomorrow, and Austin, I would like you to bring your mother and sisters to the Capitol for a visit before the end of my term.”

“Father, I have studies in Cambridge.”

“I know you do, Son, but this is your chance to see the politics and the practice of law in action.”

Austin sipped his water.

Miss Lavinia’s eyes were wide. “We are going to Washington?”

“You will leave in one week. I have made all the arrangements.”

Mrs.Dickinson’s face appeared pinched at the very idea, and Emily also looked slightly pained.

“I know you might not want to go, Emily,” Mr.Dickinson said more gently than I had ever heard him speak. “But I would like you to see the city.”

Emily moved a carrot around her plate with the back of her fork. “I’ll go.”

Those two simple words made her father smile.

The family finished their meal with a much more genial conversation about plans for the homestead, and everyone seemed at least to be in brighter spirits.

After I cleared, washed, and put away the supper dishes, Margaret came into the kitchen. “Miss Dickinson was asking after you. She and Miss Gilbert are in the parlor.”

I wiped my hand on a tea towel and hung it on a hook on the wall. “Did she say what she wanted?”

Margaret pressed her lips together. “No, but when you are finished with whatever it is she wants, I have some extra tasks for you. Even though Mr.Dickinson is home for just a day, there is much to be done.”

I told her that I would be back just as soon as I learned what Emily wanted, and I left the kitchen. I found Emily and Miss Gilbert in the parlor as Margaret said they would be. The two young women sat close together and spoke in whispers. I felt like I was interrupting an intimate moment between sisters.

I cleared my throat. “Miss Dickinson, Miss O’Brien said you wanted to see me.”

Emily looked up from her whispered conversation with Miss Gilbert. “Willa, yes, come in, shut the door, and sit down. I was just filling Susan in on all the circumstances surrounding your brother’s death.”

I did as Emily asked, but it always felt wrong to sit on what I had come to think of as Dickinson family furniture. I perched on the edge of a chair across from the two women on the settee.

Miss Gilbert studied me with intelligent hazel eyes. “You are a nervous young woman, aren’t you?”

I straightened my back. “I think anyone would be nervous speaking of her brother’s death. Wouldn’t you be?”

Miss Gilbert smiled at my reply. “I’m glad to see that you have a backbone. I was wondering if you did when I saw you in the parlor before dinner.”

I made no comment to this.

“Emily told me everything she knows about the circumstances of your brother’s death, and it very much sounds like a fantastical tale. Someone burns a horse to kill a man? It’s hard to believe.”

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