Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati Read Free Book Online

Elizabeth
Middleton, the judge's girl."
    Elizabeth
tried hard to keep up with the hands that were thrust at her, the questions and
good wishes. Confronted with the friendly curiosity of a roomful of people,
Elizabeth was ashamed of herself for her less—than—generous thoughts about the
village.
    A
woman of substantial height and breadth pushed easily through the small crowd
to grasp
Elizabeth
by both shoulders and peer into her face.
Elizabeth
tried not to pull away from this unusual form of greeting, and focused instead
on a pair of curious blue eyes on either side of a nose so small and dainty
that it seemed it had somehow wandered onto the wrong face.
    "Well,
aren't we glad to see you!" she said for the fourth or fifth time, shaking
Elizabeth
a
bit. "Aren't we all!"
    Then
she stood back and inclined her head hard to the right."You'll have caught
not a single name in all this commotion. I'm Anna Hauptmann. This was my
husband's trading post until he took the putrid sore throat and died. Lost my
three oldest, too. That was four year ago and I been running things ever since.
Do some farming, as we all do here. D'you like cheese? You'll want to try mine,
it's worth the trouble, if I do say so myself who shouldn't. My folks come over
from the
Palatinate
back during King George's
war. That's my father over there. Däta!" She shouted so loudly at an old
man asleep in front of the hearth that
Elizabeth
jumped.
    "Däta,
pass auf. No, don't you bother yourself about niceties, Miz Middleton, he's a
solid sleeper, is Pa. Däta!"
    This
time the whole room jumped, but the bony shoulders of the old man hunched over
his clay pipe continued their gentle rise and fall without a tremor.
    "Miz
Hauptmann—" Galileo called softly, and just as quickly as she had claimed
Elizabeth's attention, Anna turned away and fought her way behind the counter
between barrels and boxes. With a little fold of concentration on her forehead
she began to gather things together in response to Galileo's polite and
low—voiced requests.
    There
was a lot to look at: the ceilings were hung with hardware of every kind from
stirrups to a plow, barrels and boxes piled everywhere. On one wall a profusion
of hand—painted signs crowded together, and
Elizabeth
looked them over with great wonder
and amusement. Trust in the LORD your GOD ,
read a prominent one, surpassed in size only by wonder Full is the MERCY of the Savior , surrounded by more earthly
sentiments: No Papper Notes but Pigs Took
in Trade; 1 lb. = $3 & 50 NY; Good Strong Vinegar; No Cofee Til Spring;
Turlington's Balsam of Life and Daffy's Elixer in Stock Permanent. And a
very large one done in severest black letters: NO spitting and that means YOU! In English, Dutch, German, and
French.
Elizabeth
marveled at the translation of both the meaning and the sentiment.
    In
the time it took her to read through the placards,
Elizabeth
felt the room fall silent around
her. She knew that they were looking at her, and so she straightened her
shoulders and turned to meet them. The group of men sat around the hearth on
makeshift stools, and in their center two young children huddled by the fire,
one with a corncob doll, the other with a penknife and piece of wood. Anna was
the only other woman; the others were all men of various ages, clearly farmers
here to share news and the heat of the hearth on a snowy winter morning. She
introduced herself to each of the adults, making a conscious effort to mark
their names and faces: Henry Smythe, who had a tic; Isaac Cameron, who, while
young, was losing his hair and who had a mouthful of poor teeth; Jed McGarrity,
so tall he stooped and had the largest hands Elizabeth had ever seen on any
human being; and Charlie LeBlanc, younger than the rest, who was missing both
his upper front teeth and whistled when he talked. He avoided her gaze,
blushing furiously as he shook her hand. Only Moses Southern seemed to give her
his hand reluctantly, scowling at a point on the ceiling as he