CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CAST OF CHARACTERS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
SOME USEFUL TERMS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO BY RITA MAE BROWN
COPYRIGHT
This novel is dedicated to the members of the Oak Ridge Foxhunt Club, some of the best people to ever throw their leg over a horse. As to what else they may have thrown their leg over, that is a subject upon which I prefer not to dwell.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to David Wheeler, who took the time to make me aware of “GAAS,” generally accepted auditing standards. His experience and insight, as he is an accountant, proved invaluable. As he is joint-master of Oak Ridge Foxhunt Club he is truly invaluable.
As always, Mrs. Mary O’Brien, MD, helped me understand insurance issues, medical terms, and procedures. She is honorary whipper-in to Oak Ridge Foxhunt Club.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
HUMAN
Jane Arnold, “Sister,” is the master of foxhounds of the Jefferson Hunt Club in central Virginia. She loves her hounds, her horses, her house pets. Occasionally she finds humans loveable. Strong, healthy, vibrant at seventy-three, she’s proof of the benefits of the outdoor life.
Shaker Crown is the huntsman. He’s acquired the discipline of holding his tongue and his temper most times. He’s wonderful with hounds. In his early forties, he’s finding his way back to love.
Crawford Howard, a self-made man, moved to Virginia from Indiana. He’s egotistical and ambitious and thinks he knows more than he does about foxhunting. But he’s also generous, intelligent, and fond of young people. His great disappointment is not being a father, but he never speaks of this, especially to his wife.
Marty Howard loves her husband. They’ve had their ups and downs, but they understand each other. She is accustomed to sweeping up after him, but she does this less than in the past. He’s got to learn sometime. She’s a better rider than her husband, which spurs him on.
Charlotte Norton is the young headmistress of Custis Hall, a prestigious prep school for young ladies. Dedicated to education, she’s cool in a crisis.
Anne Harris, “Tootie,” is one of the brightest students Charlotte Norton has ever known. Taciturn, observant, yet capable of delivering a stinging barb, this senior shines with promise. She’s beautiful, petite, African-American, and a strong rider.
Valentina Smith is the class president. Blonde, tall, lean, and drop-dead gorgeous, the kid is a natural politician. She and Tootie can clash at times, but they are friends. She loves foxhunting.
Felicity Porter seems overshadowed by Tootie and Val, but she is highly intelligent and has a sturdy self-regard. She’s the kind of person who is quietly competent. She, too, is a good rider.
Pamela Rene seems burdened by being African-American, whereas for Tootie it’s a given. Pamela can’t stand Val and feels tremendously competitive with Tootie, whom she accuses of being an Oreo cookie. Her family substituted money for love, which makes Pamela poor. Underneath it all, she’s basically a good person, but that can be hard to appreciate.
Betty Franklin is the long-serving honorary whipper-in at JHC. Her judgment, way with hounds, knowledge of territory, and ability to ride make her a standout. Many are the huntsmen who would kill to have a Betty Franklin whip-in to them. She’s in her mid-forties, a mother, happily married, and a dear, dear friend to Sister.
Walter Lungrun, MD, joint-master of foxhounds, has held this position for only a year. He’s learning all he can. He adores Sister, and the feeling is mutual. Their only complaint is that there’s so much work to do they rarely have time for a good talk. Walter is in his late thirties. He is the result of an affair Raymond Arnold, Sr., had with Walter’s mother. Mr. Lungrun never knew—or pretended he didn’t—and Sister didn’t know until a year ago.
The Bancroft family. Edward Bancroft, in his seventies, ran a large corporation founded by his family in the mid-nineteenth century. His wife, Tedi, is one of Sister’s oldest friends. Tedi rides splendid thoroughbreds and is always impeccably turned out, as is her surviving daughter, Sybil, who is in her second year as an honorary whipper-in. The Bancrofts are true givers in terms of money, time, and genuine caring.
Ben Sidell has been sheriff of the county for three years. Since he was hired from Ohio, he sometimes needs help in the labyrinthine ways of the South. He relies on Sister’s knowledge and discretion.
Garvey Stokes, mid-forties, president of Aluminum Manufacturing, has been on an acquisition spree. He now needs an extended line of credit from Farmers Trust Bank. He foxhunts and gets along with everyone.
Iphigenia Demetrios, “Iffy,” at thirty-six, is being treated for lung cancer. She is the treasurer at Aluminum Manufacturing, where she has worked since graduating from college.
Jason Woods, MD, a lung cancer specialist, keeps close tabs on Iffy and his other patients. They are devoted to him.
Donny Sweigart, Jr., mid-twenties, likes to hunt deer. He works for Sanifirm, owned by his uncle, which picks up waste from the hospital. Although he’s not a bad guy, he doesn’t much impress folks.
Alfred DuCharme, mid-sixties, is one of Jason Woods’s success stories. Free of ambition, Alfred runs the huge family estate, Paradise, as best he can, given the scarcity of funds. He loathes his brother, Binky.
Binky DuCharme, early sixties, doesn’t speak to Alfred. He owns a small gas station and lives on Paradise with his wife, Milly. They live in a dependency, a house originally built for the help, since the main house is uninhabitable.
Margaret DuCharme, MD, specializes in sports medicine. She gets along with her uncles and acts as go-between. She also lives on the estate in her own little cottage.
Frederika Thomas, “Freddie,” at thirty-four, is a stunning-looking woman and surprises people when they learn she is an accountant. She winds up on a pressure-cooker job with Gray Lorillard.
THE AMERICAN FOXHOUNDS
Sister and Shaker have carefully bred a balanced pack. The American foxhound blends English, French, and Irish blood, the first identifiable pack having been brought here in 1650 by Robert de la Brooke of Maryland. Before that, individual hounds were shipped over, but Brooke brought an entire pack. In 1785, General Lafayette sent his mentor and hero, George Washington, a pack of French hounds whose voices were said to sound like “the bells of Moscow.”
Whatever the strain, the American foxhound is highly intelligent and beautifully built, with a strong sloping shoulder, powerful hips and thighs, and a nice tight foot. The whole aspect of the hound in motion is one of grace, power, and effortless covering of ground. They are “racier” than the English hound and stand perhaps two feet at the shoulder, although size is not nearly as important as nose, drive, cry, biddability. The American hound is sensitive and extremely loving, with eyes that range from softest brown to gold to sky blue. While one doesn’t often see the sky-blue eye, there is a line that contains it. The hound lives to please its master and to chase foxes.