• • •
An answer came in March. Dieter was making the journey. Armenius worked it out that his cousin was at that moment on the high seas and with fair weather would arrive within two weeks.
• • •
With his dog, Hans Carl von Carlowitz, beside him he stood on the wharf staring, as he had for the last half hour, at the docked Hansa. Passengers lined the rails, eager to get off. He looked for Dieter’s head, which should be among the highest, but did not see him. Nor did he see him in the flood of passengers. He was startled when a hand closed on his shoulder and the familiar voice said, “Wie geht’s, Menius?”
“Ach. You startled me. I was looking for you.”
“Yes, I saw you staring. I tipped my hat. Sehr kalt hier.”
“It is. Amerikanischer Frühling. Komm, komm, we’ll be at my house very soon.”
“You have your own house? And is this your Hund?” He patted Hans Carl’s head.
“Ja, this is Hans Carl von Carlowitz, who goes everywhere with me, and as for the house, it was my parents’ and I am not often in it as I spend most of my time in the forest making computations of board feet. As I mentioned in my letters.”
“Ideal name. So the observant one is always at your side, nicht wahr?”
“Ja, ja. Always. And on cold nights— Ach, Dieter, I can’t say how glad I am you have come, and with time enough for me to show you everything.”
“I have always wanted to see the famous forests of North America, and the Graf, who is a second cousin, though reluctant to see me go, was generous with the time — because of your letter, which I showed him. ‘See everything,’ he said, ‘and if you find good timber investments for me write at once.’ ”
“Ah, he is just like the Dukes. Just like the Americans.”
“I think not,” said Dieter, laughing, his pronounced Adam’s apple rising and falling, his gooseberry eyes trying to see everything at once. “He suffered a great deal from the Peasants’ Uprising a few years ago. They reject his control of the forest, the laws, they hate the managed plantations.”
“As soon as you have rested from your voyage we will start for Michigan. But first I will introduce you to the Dukes and Lennart Vogel. We will go to the Duke office tomorrow morning.”
“Dear cousin, while I get warm with some hot spirit and water you will tell me all about the Dukes, their plan to seize the forests of the earth, their fiendish little ways.”
In half an hour the two cousins had finished Frau Stern’s boiled pigs’ feet and kraut and settled in front of the Franklin stove with their pipes and the port decanter to talk about the Dukes and forestry while the wind shrieked around the corner of the house.
• • •
Edward Duke did not take to Dieter Breitsprecher. Later he complained to Freegrace. “Why, he looks like Ichabod Crane, a great thin tall gawk. And how he stares!”
“Yes, but Armenius says he is a forester on a great estate in Germany. He manages a large forest. He might be useful to us.”
“God’s sake, how on earth does he ‘manage’ a forest?” snorted Edward. “Cut ’em down! That’s forest managing. Tell Ichabod to take his managing back to Germany. No use to us.”
• • •
James sat at the breakfast table with his plate of toast and the honey jar. He smiled when Lavinia came in. She had changed from a child with a sullen expression to a young woman whose greatest charm was the bloom of youth. Her mustard-colored wool dress caught the stream of sunlight as she passed the window.
“My dear Lavinia,” he said. “How very well you look. Well kempt and soigné. Will you join me at breakfast this morning and tell me all your secrets?”
“I have no secrets,” said Lavinia, turning scarlet, tears suddenly brimming over and running down her cheeks.
“Good lord, girl, I do not mean to pry. I only wanted to be agreeable. I have seen so little of you since I came back and I cherish each hour in your company.”
But Lavinia was weeping loudly into her napkin. It seemed a long time until she stopped and James felt it was rude for him to attack his toast while his daughter wept. So he waited.
“Papa,” she said, mopping the tears. “I do have—” She wept again.
“For God’s sake, child, what is it? Tell me. And here, have a piece of toast.” He buttered a now-cold slice and dabbed on honey, handed it dripping to Lavinia. She took it and held it at arm’s length as though it were a poison snake, then put it on the edge of his plate.
“It drips honey,” she said and unaccountably began to laugh at James with his tower of cold toast when the whole world knew he liked it hot and crunchy.
“Yes, that is a known property of honey — it drips. Would you care for toast without honey?”
“Yes.” She took the toast, put it on a plate, went to the sideboard and slid a poached egg onto the toast, brought the plate back to the table and began to cut up her breakfast. James observed that the egg also dripped, perhaps more fluidly than honey. They sat in companionable understanding while they ate.
“Papa,” said Lavinia. “I do have a secret.”
“Yes, I thought you might. We all have ’em. What’s yours?”
“I think I might shock you.”
“Oh try, dear girl, do try. It has been years since I was shocked and I am keen to know the sensation again.”
“You are too silly.” She was a trifle fat, with dimpled hands and a plump chin.
“Not in the least. Silliness finished. I am your adoring papa and wish to know if there is any wish, no matter how picayune, I might grant you. You have only to speak.”
“Very well. It is this: I do not want to be ‘finished.’ Nor do I want to ‘come out’ nor catch a beau nor marry.” She took a breath. “I want to learn the timber trade.”
His hand lurched and coffee spilled. If she had said she wished to learn how to slaughter pigs she could not have startled him more.
“But my dear girl, there simply are no women in the timber trade. It is a man’s affair from ax to beeswax. If you were a boy we might place you in one of the lumber camps for a season so you could know the work, but I can’t imagine what role a girl — a woman — could have in the timber trade. I just cannot! Have you considered what you might do as a ‘timberwoman’?” He smiled at the preposterous image the word raised. She did not return the smile but scowled.
“Mother helped her father in his timber business. She learned a great deal and was considerable use in all those affairs. She said she even helped you when you came from commanding ships. Papa, I know I would be good at it. I am very good with mathematics. I could work out problems with board feet and measurements. I am good at compiling papers and sorting them into categories. I am interested in finance, in banks and loans, in credit and assets, in prices and factors that change them. I know I could do something of value. And I will not get married. Mama is harping on marriage day and night and I shall run away rather than marry. I am quite, quite serious about this. I think of nothing else. Why cannot I do something in the office of Duke and Sons? I know you have clerks — I could be a clerk. I would learn much that way. You say the company is going to open new offices in Detroit. I will be a part of this. I will!” Now she resembled Posey, eyes flashing dangerously, bosom heaving.
For a very brief second James considered how a lumber buyer might respond to such a display. Ye gods, he thought, ye gods, what can I do, what say? He ate the last piece of toast, very poor toast now, cold and somewhat sodden from spilled coffee.