Free Wishful Seeing by Janet Kellough Page B

day.”
    Mrs. Gordon seemed to grasp what he was asking right away. The women always did. “And you’re wondering how it happened?”
    â€œShe claimed that a cow kicked her, but it didn’t look like it to me. It looked like the sort of bruise that would be left by someone wrenching her arm. Violently.”
    â€œAnd you’re asking who might have done that?” Leland said. He thought for a moment before he shook his head. “I haven’t seen any other marks, but it’s not like I see her every day or anything. I go there only when there’s work to do on their fields. Even then, I wouldn’t see her unless she asked me to split some wood or do some other chore for her.”
    â€œYou probably wouldn’t see anything anyway,” Mrs. Gordon said. “In my experience, women try to hide those kinds of bruises. They don’t want anyone to know.”
    â€œAnd that’s the problem,” Thaddeus said. “I’m by no means certain, and unless it happens frequently, it’s very difficult to come up with enough evidence to make an accusation. And sometimes bringing it up only makes matters worse.”
    Leland looked dubious. “I don’t like Major Howell, but he doesn’t strike me as the type. Too much of a gentleman — in his own estimation if in no one else’s.”
    â€œSometimes those who profess to be gentlemen are the worst offenders,” Thaddeus said. “In any event, I thought I’d just mention my concerns, and perhaps you could keep a little closer eye on things, when you’re there. Even so, I’m not sure what I could do. They aren’t members of our church, after all, but perhaps I could ask their own minister to intervene if there’s a problem.”
    â€œThat would be the Anglican man, Reverend Barris, if it comes to that,” Mrs. Gordon said. “That’s where people like the Howells go.”
    â€œShould we be concerned about the girl, as well?” Thaddeus asked. In his experience, violence in a family was seldom limited to one member. Most often, everyone felt the brunt of it.
    â€œNow, that I really couldn’t imagine,” Leland said. “The girl follows her father around like a puppy. She seldom seems to notice anyone else. I doubt she’s ever said more than two words to me. Only occasionally do you see her with her mother, and when you do it’s clear she doesn’t want to be there. The Major seems to be the only human being she can be bothered with. She wouldn’t be like that if he was beating her, would she?”
    Thaddeus wasn’t so sure. These cases were so complicated. Sometimes the victims were the staunchest defenders of the abusers. “Well,” he said finally, “I’d appreciate it if you could keep your eyes open. And let me know if you see anything.”
    As he rode away from the Gordon farm, he puzzled over what possessed men to use their fists on their wives, and why there were so seldom any repercussions as a result of it. Except in cases of extreme injury, the law took the view that a husband was within his rights to raise his hand against anyone in his family, but why it should countenance even that was beyond his understanding. The Church declared that the Lord had given men dominion over women, but to protect them, not abuse them. He couldn’t imagine any circumstance that would ever have inclined him to strike his wife, and he had never disciplined his children with more than a word. He had scarcely disciplined them at all, truth be told. He was never at home to do it. He had left it all to Betsy.
    If the Gordons were correct in their assessment, it seemed unlikely that George Howell was a brute who beat his wife. But why would Ellen Howell manufacture such a flimsy story about the bruise on her arm unless she was attempting to hide its true origin? It was his duty to interfere if he thought she was in danger, but in