Soul

‘I know her only as Meredith. She would be about forty years of age. I believe she was originally from Anascaul.’

Polly, watching her amazed face through the looking glass, slipped the paper scrap into Lavinia’s hand.

The bell rang for the next act. With no more to say, the two rose.

46

ALOYSIUS OPENED THE CARRIAGE door. As he helped Lavinia down, he held her gloved hand longer than necessary.

‘Pardon the impudence, madam, but another letter has arrived from my brother and I was wondering whether you had the time…’ His voice trailed off as his courage failed him.

Lavinia, distracted by the events of the evening, had entirely forgotten his presence.

‘Of course, come to my study once you have seen to the horses. No one will be about at this time.’

She smiled sadly, leaving the coachman wondering about her happiness.

‘The tenth of May, in the year of our Lord eighteen sixty-one.

It was a week ago, brother, that the bugle call took us into battle, the first real engagement in over two months. The Union was to storm Camp Jackson, outside of the Confederate city of St Louis, and there was much civil disorder. I had not slept the night before, knowing that the infantry would be the first to face the muskets and bayonets of the enemy. We Irish had armed ourselves with prayer, hardtack and some good whiskey a rogue foraged from the other side, but there was not a man amongst us who did not feel fear in that terrible silence as we waited for the order.

As for the fighting itself, Aloysius, I am beginning to believe there are fellow soldiers who feel a horrible excitement at killing. I have seen them slaughter the enemy as if he were less than a hog. I am not one of them. It is only the loss of a comrade that can madden me enough to treat the dead like wood and the living like animals. There is no joy in bayoneting another man, be he Confederate or otherwise. It was terrible. A quarter of our platoon was slaughtered by musket fire, and many will die later under the sawbone’s knife, but we have secured the camp.

Now there is rioting in St Louis itself. The Union is the invader here, not the liberator, and I see the hatred in the faces of both men and children. Ireland is as distant as the night stars.

I am glad to hear of your employment and that you have not gone the way of many a young Irishman in a city not renowned for its hospitality. I trust that you have remained a good Catholic and ask you to remember me in your prayers.

In great affection, your brother Seamus.’

Lavinia folded the letter and pushed it across the desk towards Aloysius, who stood with his back to the fireplace, his hessian shirt tucked into his riding trousers. Picking the paper up awkwardly, he hid it in a pocket.

‘Thank you, madam. I would have asked Mr Poole to read it, except I have no desire to confirm his prejudices about the uneducated Irish.’

‘Indeed, he is a withered stick of a man who worships nothing but the starch in my husband’s collars.’

‘As for the housekeeper…’

‘Pray have no inhibitions for my sake.’

‘Well, they say she has the second sight, which speaks through her gout-ridden knee. If I were you, madam, I’d be careful.’

They laughed, the constraints between them vanishing momentarily. Lavinia rose and walked towards an octagonal cellaret; opening the lid, she took out a decanter of sherry and two glasses.

‘Not for me, madam. I should get back to the stables.’

She poured two glasses anyway.

‘I’m sure the horses can wait.’

Handing the crystal glass to Aloysius, she took a sip herself, thankful for the spreading warmth that briefly suspended any outside concerns.

Aloysius, amazed at the delicacy of the glass, held it up to the candle.

‘It is for drinking, not for gazing at,’ Lavinia said, amused.

The coachman, determined not to be considered vulgar through any haste to taste its contents, placed the glass on the desk and, covering his embarrassment, picked up the stereograph sitting there. Turning it sideways, he tried to see how it worked.

Lavinia slipped a stereoscopic card into the gadget, then held it up to his face, enveloping him in her perfume. Its scent disoriented hi