Chapter 3

At four o'clock that afternoon, Amanda woke up, stretched, and got out of bed to go next door to the dressing room and use the commode. Clouds of fragrant lavender-scented steam rose from a tub of water; as soon as she'd relieved herself, she pulled off her nightgown and got into the tub, sighing in delight at the feel of the water on her tired muscles.

Matthew, who had been up for over an hour, was passing by the dressing room door when he heard the splash and the sigh; he grinned and said, "I was right about the timing, McGuire."

"Aye, sir, that you were, but then, sir, you know Miss Amanda's habits very well."

"I'm learning, McGuire; I'm learning. Go down and tell Molly that Miss Amanda is in the bath and will need someone to wash her back."

"Since you can't be doin' it yourself, sir, not yet," McGuire said with an impudent grin.

"Watch it, McGuire, or I'll bust you back to private," Matthew warned.

"Oh, you'll not be doin' that, sir, since I'm only tellin' the God's honest truth, and unlike some, you'll never fault a man for tellin' you the truth."

"Go on, you impudent wretch."

"I'm goin', sir, I'm goin'."

When Amanda emerged from her room forty-five minutes later, she looked rested and refreshed. Matthew was waiting in the hallway, wanting to get the full effect from the very first moment. He stepped forward and put his hands on her slender waist, noting that her half-mourning gown was made up in dark gray wool with black braid accents at the collar, cuffs and hem. He bent to salute her on both cheeks as he always did, but she surprised him by putting her hands on the front of his uniform blouse. toying with one of the brass buttons that adorned the blouse and saying, "Matthew, would you think me terribly, terribly lost to propriety if I said I'd like to be really kissed?"

"Absolutely not," he said, as he took her mouth under his for a long, tender, satisfying kiss, then another, and then a third. At the end of the third kiss, the stunned sweethearts heard applause and turned, startled, to see Molly, Tom and Dotty standing in the hallway, smiling from ear to ear.

"Well, it's about time!" Dotty said, speaking for all of them. "I was beginning to wonder about you, Matthew."

"I was waiting for an invitation, ma'am, and I got one," he said as he put an arm around Amanda's waist and drew her to his side.

"Very proper, I'm sure, but still not before time. Now then, my dears, Molly has dinner prepared, and I'm sure you're both very hungry, since you ate hardly any breakfast at all."

The meal was excellent as always, and with their appetites sharpened by hunger, they did full justice to Molly's excellent roast beef dinner. Dotty ate more sparingly, which gave her a chance to talk.

"Matthew, may I ask you something?"

"Ask away, ma'am."

"What exactly do you do for the War Department? I know you work for Colonel Thornton, and that he's in charge of intelligence operations, so does that mean you're, well, a spy too?"

"Yes, ma'am, although we prefer the term 'intelligence agent', since 'spy' has a whole different meaning to the general public. Most of what we do doesn't involve listening at keyholes, you see. We gather information about enemy troop strengths and placements, about troop movements, that sort of thing; very little of it involves catching enemy agents meeting in dark corners to plot the overthrow of our government."

"But you do some of that?"

"Some."

"And Amanda has been helping you?"

"Amanda has not only been helping me, she's acted on her own initiative to foil the efforts of some conspirators, and in one instance, she shot and killed a traitor before he could kill me."

"Amanda? You did?"

"Yes, Mother. Well, you know Jim told me never to go anywhere in this town without the pistol he gave me, and on that occasion, I was able to track Matthew to where the man was holding him and set him free."

"After you shot the man."

"Yes."

Dotty got up from the table and went over to hug Amanda.

"Oh, darling, I am so proud of you! All this time. I thought you were just going to the hospitals to help out, and you've been doing this instead."

"Well, I have been to the hospitals, Mother, just not as much as I led you to believe."

"Because you thought it would be better if I didn't know. I know I'm a silly woman, Amanda, but I didn't faint at the idea of your shooting a man, or of Matthew getting shot right here in our own home, now did I?"

"No, Mother; I didn't give you enough credit, and I apologize for that."

"That's all right. I haven't been exactly level-headed recently, pushing that man at you like I did, but I've had a long time to think, and from now on, I'm going to do more to help the war effort. Amanda, do you think they'll let me work on the wards as a nurse? I think some of my headaches were the result of, well, boredom. I thought I should stay home and always be here when you came home from the hospitals, all tired and sore, but now I think I should try to help out too."

"Mother, of course they'll let you work! You're sensible, you're kind, and sometimes all those poor boys need is someone to talk to them and assure them that they haven't been forgotten, even if they're a very long way from home in places like Wisconsin or Michigan and their own mothers. I've had patients that are no more than ten years younger than I am tell me that my hands were soft, like their mothers'; imagine how much they'll like talking to someone like you. If you like, I'll take you to the Sanitary Commission offices tomorrow and introduce you to the people there; they're likely to put you to work right away, so be prepared."

"Oh, I'd like that."