THE IMPERIAL ENGINEER by Judith B. Glad Read Free Book Online Page B

instead of yes Sunday afternoon
when he'd asked her to the ball. "Good evening, Mr. Correy."
    "Good evening." He bowed and held out a small nosegay. "These are for
you."
    Touched, Lulu accepted the flowers and buried her nose in them. Sweet Williams
and asters. "How thoughtful. Thank you." Lacking a vase, she filled a pretty cream pitcher
with water and set the nosegay in it on the table beside her rocking chair.
    They walked the few blocks to the livery stable where they boarded a stake-bed
wagon fitted with seats to accommodate twenty or so people. It gradually filled, and soon
they were on their way to Ketchum. "I trust your latest journey was fruitful," Mr. Correy
commented, once they were moving.
    "Very much so. Women in the West are determined to win the right to vote."
    He cleared his throat. "Miss King, I know you and Mrs. Teller believe in your
cause, but do you...do you honestly believe most women are capable of voting
intelligently? After all, few have the education you have, and even fewer have such
superior understanding."
    As always, Lulu had to choose her words carefully. It was so easy to alienate those
who were only mildly disapproving. "Mr. Correy, how many men do you know who have
your education or superior understanding?"
    She saw the flash of his teeth in the twilight. "Thank you. Knowing one's
companion considers one to be intelligent is gratifying."
    "You are welcome." She waited. When he said no more, she said, "Mr. Correy,
you didn't answer my question. Do you honestly believe all men are qualified to cast an
intelligent vote?"
    "Well, I..." He cleared his throat. "Put that way, I suppose not. But we men, by our
very nature, are better suited to governance. It is our duty, our privilege, to do what is best
for weaker members of our society."
    He sounded so pompous and so certain that Lulu knew further argument would do
no good. She made a noncommittal noise and resigned herself to playing the delicate
flower this evening.
    After hearing his opinion, what she would like to do was jump out of this wagon
and run home, where a good book and jasmine tea would suit her far more than an evening
of dancing and pretending to enjoy herself with a man who obviously thought of her as
witless.
    A comment by one of her early mentors came to mind. You must do all you
can to convince them you are neither a hoyden nor a revolutionary. Winning this
particular battle will depend strongly on our being perceived as logical, rational, and
civilized.
    So she'd behave as a lady tonight, and not accept any future invitations from Frank
Correy. Nice as he otherwise seemed, he was not a man who, upon further acquaintance,
was likely to become converted.
    The first person she saw when she and Mr. Correy entered the Coffin Brothers'
Hall was Tony. He was dancing with a pretty little blonde girl, smiling down on her as if
she was the only person in the room. Good. I'm glad he's not pining away for me. She did her best to ignore him, but it seemed as if every time she turned around, there he
was.
    Standing with Mr. Correy's friend, Patrick Newell, at the refreshment table after a
particularly energetic polka, she fanned herself with her hand and said, "I'm really enjoying
myself. There's been little time in my life for play, these past few years."
    Mr. Newell's eyebrow went up. "Oh? Have you been so busy promoting the cause
of women's suffrage, then?" Had his lip curled along with his eyebrow?
    "No, I--" Lulu wasn't sure she wanted to reveal exactly what her previous job had
been. He impressed her as having little sympathy for the less fortunate. "I was working for
a...a relief society, helping people who had been displaced find new homes."
    "Really? How noble of you." His drawling tone dismissed her efforts and told her
he didn't care to learn more.
    If only she could simply abandon him to the punchbowl. Unfortunately she had
better manners. Before she could think of an innocuous topic of conversation, Tony and
the pretty blonde