Free American Blood by Jason Manning Page A

appropriations because the president was determined to have a war, and I would not be responsible for denying our boys in uniform the provisions and reinforcements they required."
    "I suppose I must be a Whig, then," said Sarah Bledsoe, "because I agree with Mr. Sterling. Mr. Polk provoked this war. He is a Southerner, and he wants to create a slave empire. He will seize all of Mexico if given the chance, and Cuba, as well."
    Thunderstruck, Jacob Bledsoe stared open-mouthed at his daughter. Then, with an apologetic glance at his gentlemen guests, he cleared his throat and said, "Perhaps the ladies would like to retire to the parlor, since it seems we have all finished with our meals."
    "I would prefer to stay," said Sarah, even as Mrs. Pilcher and Mrs. Lowry began to rise from their chairs accompanied by a rustling of petticoats.
    "Really, my dear," said Bledsoe, discomfited. "What has come over you?"
    "Oh, I see," replied Sarah, archly. "You gentlemen persist in thinking that women are merely brainless porcelain dolls, pretty adornments for your arms, and pleasant company in your beds, but not worth much else—"
    "Sarah!" Bledsoe turned white as a sheet before a storm cloud of anger threw its dark shadow across his features. "Gentlemen, ladies, I beg your forgiveness and extend my most heartfelt apologies for my daughter's outrageous conduct. I can make no excuse for her other than to say that she has been away for more than a year, attending an academy near Philadelphia where I
thought
shewas receiving instruction on how to be a proper young lady."
    "I have learned that I am a human being," retorted Sarah with, in Delgado's opinion, a very fetching blush to her cheeks, "as well as a citizen of this republic, and that I am endowed with certain rights. Do you know that hundreds of women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott are planning to meet soon to adopt resolutions patterned on the Declaration of Independence—resolutions which will demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt to any thinking person that men and women are created equal? The history of mankind is the history of the male's absolute tyranny over the female, and—"
    "Enough!" roared Jacob Bledsoe, apoplectic. "I will not tolerate such talk at my table."
    Sarah smiled frostily. "A perfect case in point."
    "Leave this room this instant, young lady."
    "I shall not." Sarah settled sulkily in her chair, as though prepared to resist any attempt to physically remove her.
    Impulsively, Delgado rose from his chair. "Perhaps Miss Bledsoe would be kind enough to honor me with a stroll in the garden. It is too pleasant an evening to waste and would be made infinitely more pleasurable by her company."
    As he made the invitation, he moved around the table, so that when he was done he stood beside her chair with extended arm.
    Sarah hesitated, stubbornly inclined to stand her ground, and Delgado realized how foolish he would look if she refused.
    "I think these gentlemen could speak more freely what is in their hearts concerning the warif I was absent," he told her, bending close to her ear and speaking in a conspiratorial whisper.
    In this way he addressed her as one undesirable to another. Sarah smiled and placed her hand lightly on his proffered arm.
    "If you will excuse us, ladies and gentlemen," said Delgado.
    "A bold move," murmured Jeremy approvingly as Delgado escorted Sarah from the dining room.
    2
    Behind the Bledsoe house a small, immaculately tended garden provided a perfect setting for two people to enjoy the summer evening. A big yellow moon hung suspended in a brilliant field of stars, and a cooling breeze sighed in the tops of the sycamore trees, carrying the sweetly mingled aromas of rambling rose and climbing jasmine. Curving walkways of crushed rock lined with bricks led to whitewashed benches nestled beneath vine-laden trellises. Delgado thought this a most romantic spot, and he was in a romantic mood. How could he be otherwise, in the company of a