“Oh yes, and I’m in a position to make sure she is.”
“But you’ll want to protect her from someone who might squander her dowry and make continued demands on your generosity,” Gideon said.
Mr. Pike gave him a grateful smile. “Yes, exactly, Mr. Bates. You understand me completely.”
“We can accomplish all that with a simple trust.” Gideon explained how it would work, but he had the distinct impression that Pike didn’t really care, even though he was nodding enthusiastically. “We can draw up the paperwork for you to examine before you decide, but I think you and your daughter and her future husband will all be very satisfied.”
“Thank you, Mr. Bates. I can see I was advised correctly by those who assured me you were the perfect attorney to consult.”
Gideon knew he hadn’t done anything particularly impressive, but he accepted the compliment graciously. “I’m happy to be of assistance.”
“I’d like to express my appreciation in a more tangible way, if I may, Mr. Bates. Perhaps you could join me and my family for dinner some evening. Eugenia could perform. I know you’d enjoy it.”
This time Gideon straightened cautiously. So that’s why Pike had asked to see Gideon specifically. Pike had done his homework, ferreting him out as the scion of one of the oldest families in the city, one of the families whose fortunes had faded through the generations until this scion was forced to earn his own way. And to close the deal, Pike had made it clear exactly how comfortable he intended to make his only child and the lucky fellow who married her.
Gideon was not going to be that fellow, but he also wasn’t going to lose a client. “I appreciate your kind invitation, but I try to make it a policy never to mix business with pleasure, Mr. Pike. Perhaps when we have concluded with our business, however . . .”
“Of course, of course,” Mr. Pike agreed happily.
Maybe the fair Eugenia would meet another eligible, if needy, young man before then. If not, Gideon was more than happy to make her acquainted with several of his friends who were actively seeking a wealthy bride to settle their debts and provide a nice income for them for the rest of their lives.
All three of the men looked up in surprise when someone tapped on the office door and opened it without even waiting for permission. No one at Devoss and Van Aken ever interrupted a client meeting unless the building was on fire.
“Excuse me, Mr. Bates, but you are needed urgently,” one of the other clerks said, obviously terrified. Maybe the building really was on fire.
Before Gideon could even think how to take his leave from Mr. Pike, David Vanderslice pushed past the clerk and practically exploded into the room. “Gideon, Anna has been arrested!”
Not a fire, but certainly cause for alarm, at least for David. Gideon rose with as much dignity as he could muster. “Would you excuse me for a moment, Mr. Pike? Smith here will take down some information that will help us draw up the paperwork.” Gideon cast his clerk a pleading look, which he returned with an understanding nod. “David, let’s step into the conference room.”
He took David’s arm in a death grip and steered him, unresisting, out of the office and down the hallway. He glanced up at his friend, furious at him for behaving so hysterically, but when he saw how distraught David was, he didn’t have the heart to chasten him. Instead he pushed him toward the open doorway to the conference room and followed him inside.
When he’d closed the door behind them, David repeated his lament. “Anna’s been arrested!”
“Of course she has. We knew that yesterday.”
“No, you don’t understand. She’s been arrested again, and this time she’s been sent to jail for three months!”
“Where did you hear this?”
“I got a telephone call this morning from someone at the Woman’s Party headquarters in Washington. They said forty-one of the demonstrators had been arrested yesterday, and that the judge sentenced them to three months in the district jail.”
This was a much longer sentence than the women had ever received before, but still not cause for alarm. “I assume my mother was among them.”
“They haven’t telephoned you?”
“No, but perhaps they tried to reach me at home. I don’t understand. I thought the demonstrators had been released yesterday. That’s what the newspapers said.”
“They were released, but they went right back to the White House, and the police arrested them again. At least that’s what they told me on the telephone.” David was a tall man, but he suddenly seemed to shrink, as if all the air had gone out of him.
“Sit down and we’ll sort this out.”
“Poor Anna. The thought of her locked up in some awful jail . . .” He rubbed a hand over his face.
Gideon took David’s arm and forced him toward the closest chair. “Sit.”
He sank into it wearily. He looked like he’d been running his fingers through his fair hair. Or maybe he just hadn’t combed it yet this morning. “I didn’t want her to go. I knew something like this would happen.”
“Of course something like this would happen,” Gideon said. “The women get arrested regularly, and just as regularly, they get released.”
“They didn’t release that woman, what’s her name? The one who’s on the hunger strike.”
“Miss Paul. But she’s one of the leaders. They won’t keep Anna.”
“How do you know? They’ve never sentenced any of them to such a long term before.” David looked up at him, despair clouding his pale blue eyes. He was a complete mess. He hadn’t even shaved yet. “We have to get her out, Gideon. If anything happens to her, it will kill Mother.”
“Nothing is going to happen to her. My mother is with her, and she’ll look after her. They’ll probably be released today in any case. I’ll telephone some attorneys I know down there and find out what’s going on.”
“Would you? I’d be very grateful.”
They both started when someone knocked on the door. The clerk who had escorted David stuck his head in. “Mr. Bates, there is a telephone call for you from Washington City. They said it’s very important.”
“That’s probably headquarters calling to tell you about the arrests,” David said.
Gideon followed the clerk out to the front office, picked up the candlestick telephone from the desk and held the earpiece to his ear. “Hello? This is Gideon Bates.”
The operator connected him to a member of the Woman’s Party, who told him what he already knew.
“They were sentenced to three months in the district jail, but they aren’t there,” she concluded.