The Best Medicine #3
Before he could say anything, Bessy smiled a radiant smile he had not seen from her in months. “Father! Just look what Mr. Thornton brung me!” She gestured to where an arrangement of flowers stood on the kitchen table – the one and only table in the small house.
“Roses,” said Margaret, in a tone of disbelief. “Just like Bessy mentioned yesterday.”
“It was the least I could do,” Thornton answered, looking not at Bessy but at Margaret, who flushed slightly.
Nicholas was silent, standing with his arms across his chest. He noted that Bessy’s color was better, with more red in her cheeks than he had seen since she was first ill.
She looked exhilarated, not exhausted by the short walk around the room.
Her coughing the night before had been considerable, but at least it had been productive.
And best of all, she was walking! Nicholas had given up on her ever rising from her sickbed, certain that her days were numbered.
“Thank ye for lookin’ after my girl,” he finally said, nearly grunting the words out. “I’d be here meself, only there’s a strike on, in case yo’ hadn’t noticed.”
So that’s where she gets her sense of humor, Lawson thought. He had come to appreciate Bessy’s droll remarks and amusing observations, so different from the reserved ladies he met everywhere else.
The dry humor eased the tension in the room noticeably, and Bessy finished her steps around the room with help from her two companions. When she finished her circuit, Margaret and Thornton again led her to the doorway of the room.
This time she stepped all the way out the door, shielding her eyes from the afternoon sun. “Ach! Never thought I’d see the plain day outside like this again! ‘Tis almost as good as medicine, bein’ out in the fresh air!”
“Fresh air is the best medicine for the white fluff, isn’t it, Lawson?” Thornton asked, still supporting Bessy.
Lawson shook his head. “The best medicine for any ailment is love.”
For the next week Margaret, Thornton, and Lawson continued to visit Bessy every day, and every day they saw more improvement in her symptoms.
The strike, however, only worsened. And as Bessy spent more time out of doors, walking longer distances up and down the sidewalk outside her house, Thornton’s presence began to draw attention.
A half dozen or so union men gathered across the street from Higgins’ home one afternoon after Thornton had gone into the house.
They waited impatiently for him to emerge.
They did not have to wait long. After several minutes, the front door opened, and the usual trio appeared –Bessy in the middle, Margaret on her left, and Thornton on her right.
All three stopped upon spying the small crowd across the street.
It was Margaret who spoke first, hesitating in the doorway. “Perhaps we should stay inside today.”
Bessy answered, defiant despite her illness, “I guess I’ve a right t’ walk down me own street if I want wi’out bein’ bothered by the likes of ‘em!” Margaret and Thornton exchanged a look of concern, but the girl’s determination was hard to resist and they allowed her to step over the threshold, supporting her on either side.
Nicholas Higgins had just turned the corner of his street when the pending confrontation caught his attention.
His sweeping glance took in the whole scene – the angry men standing with their fists clenched, glaring at the little trio across the street that happened to include his daughter.
Without hesitating he crossed the street and confronted them directly.
“What be ye doin’ ‘ere?” he challenged, putting his hands on his hips and drawing himself up to his full height.
The men were abashed by his unexpected presence.
After all, he was one of the union leaders, the main one holding the strike together.
And he was a large man – not tall, but rough and big boned.
“We mean t’ talk t’ Thornton, Higgins,” one, bolder than the rest, finally answered.
“Tisn’t right for him t’ be paradin’ about ‘ere in Princeton with all ‘is fine clothes and ‘is fine friends while we sit ‘ere starvin’.”
“Where else is hoo supposed t’ be, with no work t’ look after at the mill? Hoo’s ‘ere t’ help me daughter, as ye can see, and I don’t see no ‘arm in that,” Nicholas countered.
“But yo’ be a union man!”
“Aye, I’m a union man, but I’m a father first. If yo’ attack Thornton we’ll all go t’ jail, and then who’ll feed the families we leave behind?
If yo’ want ‘omething useful t’ do, go t’ the better parts of town and beg money for the strike fund ‘stead o’ standing here lookin’ like mischief.
Least that way, people’ll ‘ear ‘bout our cause.”
The men considered Nicholas’ words briefly, shuffling their feet and looking at each other uncomfortably before drifting away. Watching them retreat, Nicholas knew he had not seen the last of them.
“Ye’d better not come here anymore, Master Thornton,” Nicholas advised. He entered his house just after Bessy and the others finished their short excursion. Lawson waited for them inside. “The longer this goes on, the more dangerous it gets fo’ ye. For all o’ us,” he added soberly.
“Do you wish to keep coming to Princeton, Miss Hale?” Thornton turned to Margaret, who nodded. “Then I will, as well. Your father would not like it if I let you put yourself into harm’s way.”
“There be no need fo’ all this trouble on account o’ me!” Bessy exclaimed. “I can get around on me own just fine now!” A fit of coughing belied her words.
“No, you cannot,” Margaret contradicted. “You are getting stronger, but you still need help. I will keep coming as long as you need me to.”
“And I, as well,” Lawson added, “though there is no danger for me. If the men know I am a doctor, then they know I am here to help.”
“Ye been seen with Thornton so much it won’t matter t’ ‘em,” Higgins told him. “Make no mistake, if there be trouble or mischief it’ll touch all o’ us. Master Thornton, yo’ll need t’ watch yo’ back.”
“If only the masters and the workers could sit down together to talk over their differences!” Margaret exclaimed. “There is no need for such violence and danger. I feel sure they could come to an agreement if they would just listen to each other.”
“Do you, Miss Hale?” Thornton asked. He pulled his gaze from her eager, impassioned face to Higgins’ more sober one. “What do you think we should talk about first?”
Higgins’ eyes glinted sharply and he pulled his chair closer to the table. “We might start wi’ the profits the masters been makin’ the last few years, profits ‘at ne’er make it t’ the worker’s paychecks.”
Thornton did not flinch. “And I think we should start by talking about the rising costs of production, something you unionists do not wish to discuss!”
“Please, Mr. Thornton, Nicholas,” Margaret pleaded.
She looked imploringly between the two of them, but it was the gentle hand she laid on Thornton’s arm that did the trick.
Thornton looked down at her hand for a moment and then pulled his own chair closer to the table.
He directed his sternest master’s gaze at Nicholas.
“For the sake of all the workers of Milton, let us make a beginning.”
Bessy drew Lawson’s attention as Nicholas and Thornton began to talk. “Mr. Lawson, what’d ye mean when ye said yo’ are ‘ere t’ help? I thought ye were only looking after me because Mr. Thornton brought yo’ ‘round.”
“I am here to give aid to whoever needs it,” Lawson answered firmly. “In fact, I am looking for rooms to rent right now. I plan to hang my shingle in Princeton if I can.”
“In Princeton! Who’d come t’ Princeton when they could set up a practice anywhere else? Yo’ could make more money in some other part o’ town.”
“I intend to make a living, but my mission will always be to the poor. There are some things in life more important than making money.”
Several days later, after their regular visit to Bessy and her father, Margaret finally gave Thornton permission to walk her home for the first time.
He was nearly overwhelmed at the thought of being allowed to claim her attention for the time it would take to walk to Crampton.
“What do you think of the discussions Higgins and I have been having together?” Thornton asked her as they began to walk.
Margaret looked up at him with her eyes glowing.
“I think it is splendid that the two of you have been able to talk over the complaints between the masters and the workers. Nicholas finally understands how the rising costs of supplies have affected your profits, and you now appreciate how hard it is for workers to support a family on the wages they earn.”
“I wish we had had these talks earlier,” Thornton answered, gratified by her response. “Perhaps this whole ugly strike could have been avoided had we sat down together earlier in the process. You have taught me an invaluable lesson, Miss Hale. I shall not be so hasty with my workers again.”
Margaret flushed. “And perhaps Nicholas can convince the other union leaders to be more reasonable now. There has been too much suffering. By the way, I have been meaning to ask about the yellow roses you bring Bessy. There is a new arrangement almost every day. Where do you find them?”
Before Thornton could respond, he heard a whistling of something flying past his head.
Fragments of stone bounced off the brick wall behind him and fell to the ground around his feet.
Looking frantically around, Thornton caught sight of a group of rowdy men in rough clothes coming out from between two buildings a little ways ahead of them.
Another group emerged from the opposite direction, and Thornton heard a second projectile strike the building, sending shards of stone through the air.
He tried to push Margaret behind him, out of danger’s way, but she moved too quickly.