River Queen (5 page)

“I hadn’t heard such,” Archie replied to her observation with interest, “but I’m not at all surprised. All of their money was from Winifred Tannehill’s family. When the Married Women’s Property Act passed, old Ambrose Tannehill made Mr. Moak put everything in his daughter’s name. And Winnie Moak rules that money with an iron hand.”

Archie Leggett’s father, in addition to having one of the biggest and most profitable cotton plantations in the South, was on the Board of Directors of Planter’s Bank, so Archie often had inside information about people’s finances, which he gleefully shared with all and sundry.

“I can’t believe this line of carriages,” Julienne said impatiently. “It looks like everyone in Natchez is going to the
Columbia Lady
tonight.”

They were crawling down the crazily crooked old path, now named Silver Street, that went from the high bluffs of Natchez proper down to the docks, and Natchez-Under-the-Hill. Ahead of the long lines of carriages Julienne could see the steamer, a grand mountain lined with red and green lanterns. It took several minutes for them to reach the
Columbia Lady
, but at last Archie was handing her out as she stared, her dark eyes wide and glowing.

The
Columbia Lady
was indeed a
grande dame.
She had four decks instead of the more prosaic three, and all four decks were brightly lit with lanterns every three or so feet. Her black smokestacks were sky-high, and topped with elaborate floral wrought-iron crowns. As Julienne and Archie walked across the landing stages to board the boat, they saw that the main doors of the main deck were wide open, and the cargo hold had been emptied and cleaned and turned into a ballroom, though it more properly might be called a dance hall. The only instruments were a loud piano and a shrill trumpet. Obviously this deck was for the lower classes, for tough-looking men in rough clothing were dancing with underdressed women with garish makeup and wild hair.

Meanwhile, a steady stream of people were mounting the mahogany and brass stairwell up to the second deck, in river parlance called the boiler deck because it was above the boilers, but when the steamers had started carrying well-to-do passengers, the owners changed the name of this somewhat superfluous deck to the Ballroom Deck. The people mounting the stairs were dressed in evening dress, the women in every shade of silks and satins, the men in tailed coats with starched white shirts, neat white bow ties, slender-cut black breeches, white gloves, and tall black satin hats. Archie and Julienne followed them, greeting acquaintances and admiring the boat. “It’s so luxurious,” Julienne said. “Like a home of royalty.”

“I’ve heard it said that the best steamers are sometimes called floating palaces,” Archie told her. “Personally, this is the first one I’ve seen that would qualify.”

They reached the double doors of the enormous room that was alternately a dining room or a ballroom. Two tall sturdy Negroes stood on both sides of the door. The
Columbia Lady
’s colors were red, blue, and gold, and they were dressed in a sort of matching livery, with blue coats and trousers and red waistcoats. One of the men took all of the gentlemen’s hats and gloves, and placed them precisely in lines on a long table with a white tablecloth. The other Negro man bowed and offered each lady a fan, a lovely cream-colored silk with a design worked in it in gold thread with a gold tassel. Along one edge was printed in gold thread
Columbia Lady
.

“Come on, Archie, let’s go find our seats,” Julienne urged him. He was already starting to head off toward a group of men standing at one wide window, all of them dressed in evening clothes and talking with animation. Julienne never had to worry about Archie being over-attentive at parties; he always found a group of men to talk about his favorite topic, business, whether it was banking or the price of slaves or the crops or the Cotton Exchange.

“Hm? Oh, all right, Julienne,” he said absently and allowed her to pull him by the arm toward the front tables of the dining room. She saw her father standing behind the head table, talking to Elijah Moak and several other men. Many women had already been seated and deserted. They admired their fans and drank red punch. The head table sat across the top of the room, but all of the other tables were round, each with blinding white ruffled tablecloths and four candlesticks in a circular silver holder. The place settings were of china with a blue morning-glory pattern, gold napkins, and gleaming silverware.

“Julienne!” she heard a sweet voice call. “Here, Julienne, you’re seated with us.” At a table located in the center-front of the head table were Julienne’s friends, the Moak sisters, motioning to her. She hurried to the table, pulling Archie mercilessly by the hand. “Felicia, Susanna, how glad I am to see you! From the talk around town I thought I might be the only lady here, surrounded by persons of doubtful morals and low reputation!”

Archie held her chair and she sat down by Felicia Moak, who laughed and said, “Leave it to Julienne to come right out with it. Mr. Leggett, after so long it’s plain that you haven’t succeeded in taming Julienne.”

“But I will,” he said with his customary seriousness. “Good evening, Miss Moak, Miss Susanna.”

“Good evening, Mr. Leggett,” Susanna said with particular emphasis, staring up at him in what might only be termed longingly.

Julienne was amused, for she had known for a while that Susanna Moak had a crush on Archie Leggett. It seemed that Nature had played a rather unkind trick on Susanna Moak, for her older sister Felicia had inherited their mother’s beauty. She was a dark-haired, velvety-eyed, curvaceous woman of a lively and delightful charm. Susanna, on the other hand, didn’t really resemble anyone in the Moak family. She was nondescript, with medium-brown hair, brown eyes, unremarkable features, and a frame so thin that she had virtually no figure at all. Her eyes were weak, and she required eyeglasses to read even large print, but she refused to wear them in public. Unfortunately this gave her a tendency to squint. Tonight Felicia wore a dark green that made her look like a woodland goddess, and Susanna wore a deep coral shade that was lovely in itself, but unfortunately it made her complexion look sallow.

Archibald Leggett never seemed to notice Susanna beyond the formal greetings he gave her at social gatherings, and now as usual he forgot her and turned to Julienne. “As you’re in excellent company, Julienne, I’m sure you won’t mind if I join some of my associates over there.”

“Certainly, Archie, go ahead.”

With an awkward bow to the ladies, Archie hurried back to the group of men standing close to the entrance of the dining room. Susanna watched him, then with a start turned back to her sister and Julienne with an air of exaggerated carelessness.

Felicia was saying, “He called you ‘Julienne.’ This is an important step, especially for Archie. It only took him a year to come around to it.”

“If you only knew,” Julienne said mischievously.

Felicia’s winged eyebrows shot up. “Knew what? Bigger news than that Archie has taken such liberties as to call you by your given name? What is it? Tell, tell!”

“Yes, tell,” Susanna echoed with much less enthusiasm.

The three girls huddled close together and Julienne murmured, “He asked me to marry him tonight. That is, I think he did. You know him, it took him a paragraph or two, and it ended with something about talking to Papa.”

Susanna looked downcast, but Felicia smiled delightedly. “Of course he proposed! That’s just Archie’s way. So when is he going to speak to your father? When can we expect the big announcement?”

“Mmm, not any time soon. I told him I had to think about it.”

Felicia sat up straight again and burst out, “Not again! What is this, the third time?”

“I suppose it would be the fourth, if you count Rich Darden,” Julienne said, concentrating. “Of course, he never actually proposed, but—”

“That’s because out of nowhere one day you tossed him over for Jonathan Nesmith, and he didn’t last six months,” Felicia interrupted her.

“Four marriage proposals,” Susanna said wistfully. She looked so woebegone that her sister reached over and patted her hand.

“Don’t worry, Susanna, you’ll find a man perfectly suited to your tastes and that’s as smart as you are, so you won’t be bored,” Felicia said. The hard truth of the matter was that no man would pursue Susanna while Felicia was unmarried. But the Moaks were so wealthy that one day it was inevitable that young men would be lining up for Susanna’s hand too.

As they talked about the grandeur of the
Columbia Lady
, Felicia confirmed that her father was indeed having entirely too much fun on his excursions to New Orleans and her mother had put a stop to it. Julienne admired the dozens of Negro servants lining the walls, all in livery, and the china and silverware. “And I am so excited about the dance and fireworks!” she gushed.

“We’ll probably set fire to ourselves and half a dozen other boats too,” Susanna said glumly.

“Of course we won’t,” Felicia said, then turned to Julienne. “Wait until you see the promenades. Father brought all the children from the plantation and dressed them up in livery. There are over a hundred of them, and they’re lining the decks, tending to the lanterns, and each of them have a bucket of water in case any sparks land on the deck. They’re so cute!”

After about half an hour, the two Negro butlers simultaneously struck three
tings
on small silver bells as a signal for dinner to start, and everyone began to take their seats. Archie was seated by Julienne. Felicia’s current admirer, a fine-looking, easygoing man by the name of Terrell Catlett, and whom everyone called “Lucky,” came in from the card room and was seated by her. To Julienne’s surprise her brother Darcy was with him and joined them as Susanna’s dinner partner.

“Hello, Jules. Good evening, Miss Moak. Miss Susanna, I see I have been chosen to be your dinner partner this evening, it’s an honor.” He seated himself and smiled at Susanna winningly. She blushed deeply and dropped her head. He was a very handsome young man, with thick dark hair and blue eyes, his features clean and striking. He was of average height and build, but he had a lean, sinuous grace. Susanna always blushed when she was around him, partly because he was so good-looking, but he also had a somewhat cruel streak and teased her sometimes. As in his greeting to her, he idly pointed out that she had no escort.

“Evening, Leggett,” he said shortly.

“Mr. Ashby,” Archie said stiffly. The two men despised each other.

“I didn’t know you were back,” Julienne said. “How long have you been back? Why haven’t you been home?”

Darcy shrugged carelessly. “Living on the
Columbia Lady
is like living in a grand hotel. I’m staying until she’s sold.”

“I would imagine that paying a stateroom fare every night would be a much more exorbitant cost than staying in any fine hotel,” Archie sniffed.

“Yeah, you just go on and imagine that, since it’s not really your concern, is it, Leggett?” Darcy said coolly. The truth was that Elijah Moak, and in particular Winnie Moak, didn’t know that Darcy was on the
Columbia Lady
every time she sailed. He had been staying in New Orleans with their son Stephen, and Stephen indulged Darcy and let him go on the cruises without paying the fare. The
Columbia Lady
had an elegant card room, always filled with wealthy men, and Darcy loved gambling.

The first course was served, a bowl of steaming turtle soup, followed by the fish course, a specialty of the house, a casserole called Peppered Oysters Gruyere. The main course was a steak filet with a thick, rich cognac sauce, with bacon-wrapped asparagus spears on the side. Dessert was Italian brandied pears with heavy cream.

As they finished up Julienne told Felicia and Susanna, “I believe this has been one of the most sumptuous meals I’ve ever had. You must tell your father, and thank him for me.”

“You should thank him yourself, Julienne, I know he’ll want to say hello to you,” Felicia said.

As the diners had finished, most of the men had again stood and gathered in groups, and Elijah Moak was surrounded by men, including Charles Ashby. Julienne said, “He’s so busy, but perhaps I will get a chance to speak to him this evening.”

Darcy rose and gave a cursory bow. “If you’ll excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, I’m sure I’ll see you all later.” He left, weaving his way between the tables to the door on the starboard side of the dining hall. Julienne knew that led to the card room and the smoking room, which was also a bar. She sighed, but then her attention was caught by a man standing in the group with Elijah Moak and her father. He was very tall, well over six feet, and as brawny as a bare-knuckle boxer. But he was dressed elegantly, and as he talked he gestured with one thick hand that had a large twinkling diamond pinky ring.

“Who is that gentleman that’s talking to your father?” Julienne asked curiously.

Felicia turned to take a discreet look, then answered, “His name is Lyle Dennison. He lives in New Orleans, but he’s moving here. He’s a widower, I understand, I believe his wife died four years ago. Father says he is the most likely buyer. He’s very wealthy.”

Seeing Julienne’s intent expression, Archie said with ill humor, “He’s nothing but a slave trader. He owns the second-largest market in New Orleans, and he’s buying into the Forks of the Road. He has no people, he comes from nothing, Julienne. He’s not our sort at all.”

“I just wondered who he is, Archie,” she said impatiently. “I wasn’t going to go ask him to buy me a drink and give me a cigar.”

“Of course not,” Archie said, shocked. “It’s not seemly to even joke like that, Julienne.”

“You sound like my maid,” Julienne retorted.

Felicia stood and everyone else stood up with her. “You two argue all the time, you’re like spoiled children. Everyone come along, it’s time for the fireworks up on the hurricane deck. While we’re all up there, they’ll clear the tables out and set up the musicians, and then we’ll dance!”