Angie of the Garden

Chapter Two-3

She was the author of the diary.
She thinks that Ellsworth still owns Fairhaven, so Angelica must also believe that she's still in the 1800's. I wonder if this spirit knows she's dead, Hollis thought to himself.
"The trees here remind me of home," Angelica told him. "Especially that one. I played in a tree just like it as a child."
She pointed to the grand old man, which had been here during Angelica's lifetime.
"You're from Boston, aren't you?" Hollis asked with a smile.
"How did you know that?"
Hollis was about to mention the diary, then thought better of the idea. This woman might not be comfortable with the idea of someone knowing her innermost thoughts. He would have to gain her trust first before broaching that subject. The doctor came up with another explanation instead.
"I recognize your accent, even though it's not very pronounced."
"That's because I've lived in many different places," she explained. "But I was thinking of Boston when I mentioned home before. The beautiful trees here remind me of the ones that Mayor Lyman had planted along the commons when I was a girl."
There was a distinct melancholy in her voice as she thought back to the days on Tremont Street. Angelica Barton had lived in a townhouse there with her father and nanny. Her mother had died while giving birth to her only child. As a young girl she clung to her father, which became increasingly difficult to do as the years went by. Reginald Barton was a man on the rise. He was an attorney who won some very important cases for some equally important people. As his reputation grew his services became in ever-greater demand. Young Angelica saw him less frequently as time went by.
She found her solace in the long afternoons at the Boston Common. Angelica and her friends could often be seen running along the promenade amongst the more casual adult walkers. In the winter they would slide down Flagstaff hill. There was nothing in her early years that compared with the sensation of flying down the steep slope with the frigid air roaring by. These activities filled her days, and made the absence of the child's father tolerable. Then his new found success took the Boston Common, and her friends, away from Angelica.

Reginald Barton decided to spend some of his newly acquired wealth. He bought a mansion on Beacon Hill. The move from Tremont Street to Mount Vernon Street did not involve any great distance. Nonetheless it made his daughter feel as though they had journeyed to the other side of the world. This was due to the fact that Reginald insisted she find new friends in the mansions next to their own while forsaking her old companions. Angelica brooded for a long time, and made few acquaintances among her contemporaries there to spite her father. She was now 16, and was becoming a very strong willed, some would even say difficult, adolescent. In contrast the potential friends who lived in the houses next to her own struck Angelica as being mere contrivances of their parents. Tension grew between father and daughter: the only time there was any affection between the two was when attending Sunday Mass. Angelica loved the emotional release the hymns provided, and could imagine herself as a little girl once more with her then doting father's baritone voice singing the praises of the lord at his daughter's side. Still, she could not help but realize that Reginald had become like the beautiful blue dress he had given her several years before. Angelica loved the garment but had outgrown it, just as she was now outgrowing her father as well.

In Angelica's opinion the only redeeming feature about their new home was a red-haired chambermaid named Cassia Johnson. She was Angelica Barton's age, and had been hired with several others to maintain the much larger home on Beacon Hill. This young girl had an imagination to match Angelica's. She also had a fondness for the wilder side of life. That his daughter had formed such a close personal relationship with one of the servants would have distressed her upwardly mobile father, but he didn't have the time to notice it.
Angelica was reading Godey's Lady's Book one evening when Cassia knocked on the door of her room. She had been invited to the birthday party of another Beacon Hill girl, but claimed to be ill in order to avoid going. Cassia was aware of her ruse, and had come with an alternative suggestion about how to spend that Saturday night.
"We can go down to Ann Street," she suggested. "They'll be dancing down there for sure."
Ann Street was part of the waterfront district. Angelica had never been there, but she had heard all about the raucous nightlife there. The area was notorious for its barrooms and bordellos. While they were filled with disreputable characters, many hard- working souls like Cassia went there for the fiddle playing and spirited dancing. She was fond of the whiskey as well.
Angelica had missed a birthday party for the daughter of one of her father's closest associates. Reginald Barton would be outraged if he discovered that she had gone to Ann Street instead. A year ago or more the threat of his wrath would have stopped her from accompanying Cassia. Presently his influence had become greatly diminished, however. Angelica left the house with the chambermaid.
The bawdy noise form the waterfront reached their ears long before the two women arrived at their destination. Cassia and Angelica entered the first saloon they came to, immediately joining the large crowd of people who were dancing there. The chambermaid fit right in with the other patrons, but her companion drew stares as she danced across the room. They could see that the woman in the striking green dress was unaccustomed to such places. She attracted many suitors, who were very generous when it came to offering her drinks. Angelica politely turned down most of them, as she was not used to spirits at the time.
"Isn't this the best time you've ever had?" Cassia breathlessly asked after a long session on the dance floor.
"It certainly is," Angelica agreed.
A man who was sitting at a nearby table caught her attention. He was a powerful looking individual with a kind face. Angelica asked Cassia who he was, but she had never seen him before. Fortunately for Miss Barton the object of her curiosity walked over and asked for the next dance.
"You don't come here very often, do you lass?" he said to her after they finished dancing and sat down at a table "No, this is my first time." "Mine too. I'm from Nantucket." "Are you a whaler?"