Unseemly Ambition

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Week 3, Instructor Calendar, February 1898

Upon malicious bravery, dost thou come

To start my quiet.

I.i

Concordia was enjoying a rare opportunity for quiet reading in her quarters at Willow Cottage. The girls were off at their various pursuits, with Literature Club, basketball, and ice-skating currently the most popular.

She relished the peace—no thumping over her head, no illegal cooking, no screeches. Just silence. Even Ruby was out shopping. The steam heat radiators and the bedside clock were the only background sounds. So soothing....

She was startled awake by a banging on the front door. Mercy, how long had she been asleep? She sheepishly smoothed her skirts and adjusted her hairpins as she hurried to the front door.

“May I help you?” Concordia asked the short, stocky man on the porch.

“Ahm lookin’ fer Ruby,” he said, sucking at a toothpick between his teeth.

“Who are you?” Concordia couldn’t imagine Ruby would have dealings with such a man. He was decidedly unkempt, his barrel chest straining the buttons of his grimy pea coat, his bushy gray beard untrimmed and harboring the remnants of his last meal. Concordia felt a twinge of sympathy for him, though, noting the deep scars across his balding head and the missing left ear lobe. Thank goodness the students weren’t around to see. Why hadn’t Clyde stopped him at the gate?

“Ne’er ye mind who I am, li’l miss,” he sneered down at her. Concordia’s eyes watered at the stink of cheap liquor on his breath. He waved a scrap of newspaper under her nose. “Jes’ tell the famous Mrs. Hitchcock that I’s come back. She’ll know.”

Concordia couldn’t imagine how the man had gotten past the usually vigilant gatekeeper, but she couldn’t allow him to run around loose on campus.

She had an idea. “Are you hungry? We’re serving dinner shortly, in the dining hall.”

The man wobbled a bit, but grinned. “Lead the way, li’l lady.”

Concordia grabbed a shawl from the coat rack and wrapped herself in it. The air was bone-chilling cold, but with any luck, she wouldn’t be out long. After latching the door, she took him back over the paths, but instead of the dining hall, she led him to the gatekeeper’s cottage.

“Hey! Wot’s this?” the man demanded as Concordia knocked on Clyde’s door.

Clyde stepped out. “Yes, miss?” His look swept over the drunkard in alarm. “How’d ya get in here? I told ya to get lost!”

“Can you please show this...gentleman...out, and make sure he stays out?” Concordia asked.

Clyde showed a gleam of gaping teeth beneath his bristled mustache, and put one burly arm around the man’s neck, twisting his wrist behind his back with the other. “Let me show ya where the trolley is, my good sir.”

As the stranger was being marched toward the gate, he glared over his shoulder at Concordia. “This ain’t over,” he growled. “I’ll remember yer conniving ways. I ain’t gonna be bested by a bitty thing like you.”

“That’s enough outta ya,” Clyde growled.

Concordia shivered and wrapped her shawl more firmly about her as she walked back to Willow Cottage. She had some questions for Ruby.

Ruby barely returned in time to help escort the students to the dining hall that evening. She rushed in, arms full of parcels. “Lemme jes’ put these away. I’ll be right out,” she said breathlessly, scurrying down the hall.

Concordia and the girls waited patiently until Ruby re-emerged. “Sorry,” she said, smoothing her hair back. “I’m ready now.” She grinned. “Wait ’til I show you the bargains I snapped up at Sage Allen’s white sale.”

As the girls walked briskly ahead on the path, eager to get to their suppers, Concordia touched Ruby on the arm. “A man came looking for you today.”

Ruby frowned. “A man? I weren’t expectin’ anybody. Who was he?”

“He didn’t give his name, but he asked for you specifically.”

“Me? Wot did he want?”

“He said to tell you he was back, and he waved a scrap of newspaper at me, referring to you as the famous Mrs. Hitchcock. I think he was referring to the newspaper article about your award.”

Ruby shook her head. “I never did like the idea o’ that newspaperman writin’ about me. Wot did the man look like?”

“He was a rather disagreeable character. Drunk and ill mannered. I’m not sure about his age, but close to sixty, I’d guess. Short, broad-shouldered, bushy gray beard, blue eyes. Large hands. He was nearly bald, with a big scar across the top of his forehead.”

“It don’t sound like any man I know, thank goodness,” Ruby said, her face growing pale.

The girls were holding the dining hall door open for them. Concordia and Ruby walked briskly to catch up.

“Oh, and one other thing I noticed about him,” Concordia added, “part of his left ear lobe was missing.”

Ruby hesitated at the door, stiffening. “Ya don’t say? Well, let’s hope Clyde stops him at the gate next time. It don’t sound like a man I want to know.” Without a backward look, she went inside.