Dearest Margaret,
Thank you for your kind letter. I am relieved that you now understand Cal better. As for the rest of his tale I believe I am now of a mind to tell it, for myself time does heal and it may be better to talk about him than not.
Cal stayed with Papa and myself for a week or so; he had become dreadfully weak after being out so long in the rain. Papa questioned Mr Lovejoy about his dealings with Freddy's family and his position with the Pinkertons. Papa discovered that Lovejoy was only on a weekly retainer with Freddy's family and he was about to be retired from the police department. He proved to be a very discrete man, he would not divulge too much to Papa and myself about what exactly happened that night, he left that to Cal. Papa always knew when an opportunity arose, he sensed this in Mr Lovejoy. Mr Lovejoy was promptly offered a position within the household. His main duties were to keep Cal from causing a scandal, but he would also be in charge of investigating prospective help and any other so called "gentleman's duties". Mr Lovejoy informed Freddy's father that he would no longer be able to remain in his employment. Papa gave him a set of rooms on the top floor. It was quite a comfortable apartment with a flight of stairs of its own leading from the outside of the house to the living area. This also happened to be down the hallway from Cal's own suite.
Cal decided against going back to the college in New York and changed to the College of Philadelphia. This also enabled Cal to spend some time at home, although Papa was away again I thoroughly enjoyed having Cal home for a while. It was about this time that I noticed Cal become more callous and hardened, Sarah and Freddy had really hurt him.
We went out riding every Sunday and Mr Lovejoy always accompanied us. About 3 months after Cal came home we were riding through the Philadelphia Gardens when suddenly this contraption came noisily towards us, it was not very fast but the noise it made was awful. My horse spooked and threw me to the ground, I fell painfully on my arm, crying. Cal bellowed at the poor chap driving this horseless carriage, and galloped up to him. Oh what a dreadful scene that was, I was lying on the ground crying and Cal was hitting this man about the head roaring and shouting that how dare he injure his sister, and just who did he think he was. Mr Lovejoy actually had to pull Cal away from the now bleeding man. I turns out he was the new chauffeur for Mr Carter and he was not supposed to be driving the new car at that time; Mr Lovejoy and the driver reached an agreement mutually beneficial to both. Cal would not inform Mr Carter that the chauffeur had been driving the car without permission and the driver would say nothing about this incident, of course he took some coins from Mr Lovejoy. We returned home and the housekeeper called for the doctor, as my arm was in fact broken.
My maid had to leave as her mother was very poorly, and Mr Lovejoy with Miss Walters the Chief maid began interviewing suitable replacements. Eventually they hired a lovely girl my own age 18 named Colleen. She had just arrived by steamer from Ireland and was eager to start with ourselves. I really liked her, she was always very quiet if Cal was with me, I could not understand this. I did however notice her arms occasionally had bruises on them. After a year Colleen became quite ill, she was with child. It was awful the poor girl was not married and had no family to turn to. She refused to name the father and it was only later that I suspected Cal may have been with her. Mr Lovejoy found a nice family in Denver who would take her in until the baby was born and then she could work for them. It was only after Papa passed away that I found out he was still paying Colleen's salary, and that was the main reason I became suspicious.
Cal had now finished with his studies and was working with Papa traveling all over the country securing mining rights and contracts with the new railway companies. When they came home there were endless parties at our house, mostly to find a suitable wife for Cal and later a husband for myself. These parties were the talking point in society circles for quite a while. We would have full orchestras and everyone had to wear their best gowns, I loved all those swirling dancing evenings, as I was growing up.
At one party to welcome Cal and Papa home we were introduced to Mrs DeWitt Bukater and her daughter Rose. Mrs DeWitt Bukater had just been newly widowed and was trying to bring her daughter out of her melancholia, hence the appearance at the party. As soon as Cal saw Rose he went bright red in the face, and turned away. She looked exceptionally elegant, nodding to each person she met, her auburn hair was piled up in loose curls framing her delicate features. When Cal was introduced to Rose he acted the perfect gentleman, unlike when he is with ladies of a; how shall we say, lower moral standing. Rose's mother Ruth positively encouraged her daughter to spend all evening with Cal, which she dutifully did. After that evening Cal began calling upon Rose and to escort her to the theatre or the opera.
There continued to be incidents however that dear Mr Lovejoy had to become involved in. The most severe was when Cal found Rose talking to another young man while waiting for their carriage to arrive. Cal put Rose into the carriage and bade her goodnight. He just turned on this poor chap and beat him soundly to the ground, then simply walked away shaking his gloves into shape. The unfortunate man suffered from memory loss due to the blows rained down on his unprotected head; thank goodness. Mr Lovejoy took care of that nasty business, but both he and Papa thought it would be prudent if Cal took a journey to Europe with Rose and her mother until any possible fuss had faded. At that time I was about to start school in Paris so we all took the journey together. That is how we came to be touring Europe and for Cal and Rose to be returning home on that accursed ship.
I promise to write again soon.
Ever your friend
Miss Elizabeth Hockley
