Free The Velvet Shadow by Angela Elwell Hunt

effect only served to make the woman appear blowsy and plump. After that, Alden decided he could do without seeing another bloomer costume…unless Flanna O’Connor could be persuaded to promenade in one. For a glimpse of that lady’s ankle, he’d—
    No. Exhaling deeply, he put a halt to his imaginings. In them, he realized, lay the real reason for his cutting comment as they parted. If Roger’s Southern sweetheart thought Alden rude and ill-mannered, perhaps she’d keep her distance from him…and he’d be better able to preserve his honor and maintain his brother’s trust.
    Alden closed his eyes against the nauseating sight of his seatmate’s chewing and spitting and turned toward the aisle, hoping to sleep.

Four

    Sunday, December 30
    In Mrs. Davis’s dining room tonight, one of my fellow students, Mary D., began a violent attack upon “this mischief-making South Carolina.” I said not a word in defense of my native land. Another girl, Jane, came in while Mary was pouring her beliefs upon me. Jane asked if she did not know I was a Carolinian. Mary flushed very prettily and reversed her tack, praising the beauty of Charleston, etc., but I knew the true bent of her opinions.
    I cannot wait to be home and away from all this. I dare not speak the things that are on my mind Heavenly father, make the days pass quickly!
    Roger Haynes celebrated the new year in a flurry of politics and merrymaking. He proudly escorted Flanna to three different holiday balls, and at each he danced far less than he debated. Like a brilliant cardinal among a flock of gray doves, Flanna sat sedately with the other women and gracefully tolerated Roger’s impassioned speeches in favor of national unity. Each time he saw her lovely face he congratulated himself again upon his fine taste in women. When they were married, they would influence the country like no other couple in history.
    The new year was scarcely nine days old when Mississippi became the second state to secede from the Union. Florida followed within hours, then Alabama. By the close of January, Georgia and Louisiana had joined the secessionists. People in Boston were so busy counting the Rebel states that they scarcely noticed when Kansas joined the Union as a free state on January 29.
    Roger knew Flanna had been too engrossed in her studies to notice much of anything. After the last ball on New Year’s Eve, she settled into her textbooks and said she could see him only on Friday evenings—and then only for one or two hours at most. She was determined not only to pass her examinations, but to graduate first in her class. “I will not have people thinking I received my degree on the strength of my father’s reputation,” she told him, her chin lifting in determination. “They must know that I am a physician in fact, not in name alone.”
    Though Roger admired her determination, he knew she could not entirely cut herself off from the world. And so with a heavy heart he climbed the steps to the boardinghouse on Wednesday afternoon, February 6, hoping she would not be so surprised by his unannounced visit that she would refuse to see him. He had an urgent message, one that might bring her pain.
    Pausing on the wide front porch, he tucked the morning newspaper beneath his arm. With one hand he yanked on the bell pull, then he stepped back and waited for the door to open.
    The white-haired landlady opened the door a moment later, her eyes squinting over the rims of her spectacles. “Yes?”
    “Good afternoon, madam.” He doffed his top hat. “I am Roger Haynes, and I’d like permission to speak with Miss Flanna O’Connor.”
    The old woman peered at him as if he were some obnoxious species of insect. “Miss O’Connor is in her room. She has asked not to be disturbed.”
    “But it is important.” The corner of Roger’s mouth twisted with exasperation as he pulled a calling card from his pocket. “Please give her this and tell her I must speak with her. I would not