Chapter 5

Colonel Thornton and Matthew were surprised, but they knew better than to argue when Molly Thornton informed them that they were taking the ladies to dinner at Willard's.

"I may command the men, but Molly commands me," Harry said with a smile as they walked past Lafayette Square on their way to Willard's. "Note this well, Matthew; a wise man will always listen to his lady."

"Oh, I'm learning that, sir," Matthew said as he shared a smile with Amanda.

Harry and Molly were just far enough ahead of them to give them a bit of privacy, almost certainly deliberately, and Matthew took full advantage of it. "What are you wearing under that very warm woolen cape, sweet Amanda?"

"Another of my half-mourning frocks. Midnight blue, with black braid trim and a black lace collar."

"Very nice; I'll look forward to seeing it once we get to the hotel."

As Molly Thornton had predicted, their dinner at Willard's took almost an hour, partly because they were frequently interrupted by other officers who had known Harry for years coming over to say hello and pay their respects to Molly. That meant, of course, that they also had to be introduced to Matthew and Amanda, whom Molly carefully introduced as 'my new neighbor in Georgetown, Mrs. Amanda Bishop. She and I have had a very enjoyable morning of shopping together'.

After one such introduction, Molly leaned over to Amanda and said, "I thought it better to give them the impression that you were here as my guest rather than as Matthew's lady, my dear; you know how tongues wag in this town."

"Yes, thank you. I could not ask for a better or more gracious chaperone, ma'am."

"Just exactly my point."

When they'd finished their meal and Thornton had paid the bill for all of them – over Matthew's objections, of course – they went back out onto Pennsylvania Avenue where they saw Curtis and the carriage waiting for them.

"Perfect; Curtis will drive us all back to the War Department, and then he will drive me and Amanda home," Molly said.

Matthew sat down on the rear-facing seat next to Amanda and reached for her right hand to place it in the crook of his arm, but he didn't move his hand. She felt its warmth even through her new black kid gloves, and she looked up at him and smiled. He patted her hand and smiled back; Molly and Harry looked at each other and shared a smile.

The stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue that they had to travel was very congested, which meant that their progress was very slow; Matthew thought that he and his colonel could have walked the short distance in less time than it took to drive it, but then he wouldn't have been able to sit in a carriage with Amanda, breathing in the scent of lavender that he'd come to associate with her, so he certainly didn't object to riding.

As they stopped yet again to allow a carriage to discharge passengers bound for the President's House, Harry said, "Now that we can speak freely without fear of being overheard, Amanda, I have a idea of how you can help us again. Molly told me that your disguise as "Mrs. King" was so effective that Curtis didn't even recognize you when he saw you on the street earlier today."

"It's effective, all right, sir; that time she rescued me from Dickinson I would never have known her if she hadn't given me a clue," Matthew agreed. "Eventually, someone might see through it, but even that is questionable."

"What is it that you want me to do, Colonel?" Amanda asked.

"As you know, not everyone in this town is loyal to the Union. We know who most of them are, and we've been keeping a close watch on them to prevent them from passing military secrets to Richmond, mainly by intercepting their mail. They've gotten more and more sophisticated as the war has progressed, but we usually manage to stay one step ahead of them."

"That's good."

"Yes. However, we want to maintain that advantage, so we'd like you to visit some of these homes in your disguise as Mrs. King, saying that you're looking for work as a seamstress, and see what intelligence you can gather. You'd be working here in Washington City, not in Georgetown, just in case Mrs. Rosemont said something to her secesh friends before she and her son went South. It wouldn't be every day, of course; we know you have other things to do, and you'd be compensated for your time; right now, we're paying two dollars a day, with the potential for increased pay if you can deliver information we can use. You can claim expenses such as carfare and so on, and of course anything you earn as a seamstress is yours to keep."

The cab pulled up in front of the War Department and stopped.

"Here's where we get out, but think about it, please, Mrs. Bishop," Thornton said.

"I will, Colonel."

Thornton and Matthew exited the cab and Curtis moved forward again.

"Well, my dear, what do you think? Does it sound like something you would be willing to do?" Molly asked.

"Yes, it does, and I can do the job without my mother knowing about it, at least for a few weeks, since she'll be in Boston."

"If you like, you can come to my house on days you're working for the government and change into your disguise there before you go to the streetcar stop."

"That's a good plan, thank you. Now, I'll need to have a letter of reference from someone a southern sympathizer would know and trust, but who is not easily accessible."

"Mrs. Rosemont left a whole writing desk full of her very expensive stationery behind, along with several examples of her handwriting. I think that if we practice, we can create a credible forgery."

"Forgery, Mrs. Thornton?" Amanda said with a grin. "How very shocking!"

"Yes, isn't it? But it's fun, too."