Page 17 of Because I Could Not Stop for Death

“Come with me,” Jeremiah said and walked into the stable.

As soon as I stepped into the large building, the smells of horse, manure, hay, and animal feed hit me like a brick wall. I glanced at Emily to see if the scent bothered her, but it did not seem to. This wasn’t the typical place for a young lady such as herself to be.

Horses hung their large heads over the stall walls and studied us with hopeful eyes. Maybe they wished that we had carrots in our coat pockets.

In one stall, I heard the bang, bang, bang of a hammer on metal. As we walked by, the local farrier with his white shirtsleeves rolled up was shoeing a dark brown horse with a blond mane and tail. He didn’t even so much as glance in our direction.

I took care where I stepped. There was hay on the dirt floor, and I didn’t know what it might be covering. A ginger-colored cat walked the length of the stables with us at Jeremiah’s side.

Carlo’s body tensed at the sight of the cat, but Emily snapped her fingers and said a fierce, “No.” The big dog remained at her side.

“That cat doesn’t seem to be afraid of my dog,” Emily said. “My sister has many cats, and they all scatter when Carlo is near.”

Jeremiah glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, that’s Caesar. He’s been a fixture in the barn longer than I have worked here, and I have been here for a year. I started as a stable hand just like Henry was and worked my way up to apprentice.” He said this last part as if he was proud of his advancement, as he should be.

I could understand why. I would have great pride if I worked for the Dickinson family for as long.

“You can tell a lot about a person by the way an animal reacts to him,” Emily said. “It seems that Caesar approves of you.”

“We have been friends from the start.”

“How did he get the name Caesar?” I asked, happy for the distraction to get my mind off what we were about to see. “It’s a grand name for a small cat.”

“I don’t know, to be honest. It was his name when I met him. It certainly fits him. He’s the boss of this place and lets everyone know it. I saw him once chase a new stallion into the pasture. The horse was petrified of the little cat.” He laughed at the memory.

Jeremiah stopped walking when we reached the back of the barn. There was a large stable, and when I peeked inside, I saw mats on the floor. Men’s clothing hung from pegs on the wall. He glanced at me. “This was the stall that I shared with Henry.”

My heart sank as I saw the straw just covered with a wool blanket that my brother or Jeremiah must have slept on. Despite being a horse stall, the space was neat. It was clear that the boys tried to make it as homey as they could. There were even illustrations from magazines of horses and grand buildings tacked to the wooden walls.

“Now, I can tell from your face that you don’t like your brother living here, but it’s actually very clean, and we received extra pay for staying in the stables. If there was ever a problem with the horses in the night, we were there to care for them. Mr.Johnson was very firm on the fact that anyone who boarded their horse here would have the best care possible. We have always tried to do that.”

I tore my eyes away from the straw mat on the floor. “Was that what happened with my brother?” I asked. “Was there a problem with a horse and he was trying to care for it when he died?”

“I would guess that is what happened.” Jeremiah pushed his glasses up his nose. “I do not know for certain.”

“Why not?” I asked. “Where were you when he was killed?”

Jeremiah’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “I—I wasn’t here that night.”

“Why not?” I asked a little more harshly than I intended to. “If the two of you received extra payment to stay in the stables all night, why did you leave him?”

Emily placed a hand on my arm, and I let out a breath. Jeremiah was staring down at his scuffed and worn boots, which were likely too small for his feet based on his height.

“Was anyone here when Henry died?” Emily asked.

Jeremiah looked up from his boots and shook his head. “No, not that I know of. I was... out... I was out that night, and I came back around five in the morning.”

What could Jeremiah be doing until five in the morning? Nothing good in my opinion. Who was my brother living with? What kind of mess did Henry get himself into this time, the last time?

“When I came home, I was the one who found him.”

“What did you do then?” Emily asked.

He broke eye contact with her. “I ran to the house and woke Mr.Johnson. He was not happy about it, but it couldn’t be helped. Most of the servants were up at that time. The day begins at four here.”

“Was anyone else in the stables when you found the body?” Emily scratched Carlo’s head as she asked her questions.

I was grateful that Emily was there to make the inquiries. I couldn’t comprehend what had happened. I couldn’t even comprehend my brother sleeping on a mat on the floor. When our mother died, we had promised ourselves we would always have a bed to sleep in. It wasn’t a lofty goal, but to two motherless children, it was a difficult goal to reach, and one that could only be attained by hard work. And my brother’s final bed was the floor.

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