Lieutenant Colonel Abner Dowling strode into the offices of the U.S. Army General Staff in Philadelphia, escaping the January snow outside. He was a big, beefy man—unkind people, of whom hed met altogether too many, would have called him fat—and walked with a determination that made other, younger, officers get out of his way, even though his green-gray uniform bore not a trace of the gold-and-black ribbon that marked a General Staff man.
He looked around with more than a little curiosity. He hadnt been in General Staff headquarters for many years—not since before the Great War, in fact. Hed spent the past ten years as adjutant to General George Armstrong Custer, and Custers relationship with the General Staff had always been . . . combustible was the first word that came to mind. The first printable word, anyhow.
But Custer was retired now—retired at last, after more than sixty years of service in the Army—and Dowling needed a new assignment. I wonder what theyll give me. What ever it is, its bound to be a walk in the park after what Ive gone through with Custer. Anything this side of standing sentry on the battlements of hell would have seemed a walk in the park after ten years with Custer. The man was unquestionably a hero. Dowling would have been the first to admit it. Nevertheless . . .
He tried not to think of Custer, which was like trying not to think of a red fish. Then he got lost—General Staff headquarters had expanded a great deal since his last visit. Having to ask his way did take his mind off his former superior. At last, by turning left down a corridor where he had turned right, he made his way to the office of General Hunter Liggett, chief of the General Staff.
Liggetts adjutant was a sharp-looking lieutenant colonel named John Abell. When Dowling walked into the office, the fellow was talking on the telephone: “—the best we can, with the budget the Socialists are willing to let us have.” He looked up and put his hand over the mouthpiece. “Yes, Lieutenant Colonel? May I help you?”
“Im Abner Dowling. I have a ten oclock appointment with General Liggett.” By the clock on the wall, it was still a couple of minutes before ten. Dowling had built in time for things to go wrong. Custer never did anything like that. Custer never figured anything would go wrong. Dowling shook his head. Dont think about Custer.
Lieutenant Colonel Abell nodded. “Go right in. Hes expecting you.” He returned to his interrupted telephone conversation: “I know what we should be doing, and I know what we are doing. There will be trouble one day, but theyre too sure of themselves to believe it.”
However much Dowling wanted to linger and eavesdrop, he went on into General Liggetts inner office and closed the door behind him. Saluting, he said, “Reporting as ordered, sir.”
Hunter Liggett returned the salute. He was a jowly man in his mid-sixties, with a penetrating stare and a white Kaiser Bill mustache waxed to pointed perfection. “At ease, Lieutenant Colonel. Sit down. Make yourself comfortable.”
“Thank you, sir.” Dowling eased his bulk down into a chair.
“What are we going to do with you?” Liggett said. It had to be a rhetorical question; the answer surely already lay there on his desk. He went on, “Youve seen a lot these past few years, havent you? By now, I suspect, you could handle just about anything. Couldnt you, Lieutenant Colonel?”
Dowling didnt like the sound of that. “I hope so, sir,” he answered cautiously. Maybe he wouldnt get a walk in the park after all. “Ahh . . . What have you got in mind?”
“Everyone is very pleased with your performance in Canada,” General Liggett said. “The assistant secretary of war, Mr. Thomas, spoke highly of you in his report to President Sinclair. He wrote that you did your best to make a difficult and unpleasant situation go more smoothly. Any time a soldier wins praise from the present administration, he must have done very well indeed.”
“Thank you, sir.” Dowling remembered that Liggett had become chief of the General Staff during the present Socialist administration, replacing General Leonard Wood. That made him watch his tongue. “Im glad Mr. Thomas was pleased. I didnt really do that much. Mostly, I just sat there and kept my mouth shut.” N. Mattoon Thomas had come up to Winnipeg to force General Custer into retirement. Custer hadnt wanted to go; Custer never wanted to do anything anyone told him to do, and he thoroughly despised the Socialists. But theyd held the high cards, and he hadnt.
“Well, what ever you did say, Mr. Thomas liked it,” Liggett said. “He wrote of your tact and your discretion and your good sense—said if you were a diplomat instead of a soldier, youd make a splendid ambassador.” Liggett chuckled. “Damn me to hell if youre not blushing.”
“Im flattered, sir.” Dowling was also embarrassed. Like a lot of fat men, he flushed easily, and he knew it.
General Liggett went on, “And it just so happens that we have a post where a man with such talents would be very useful, very useful indeed.”
“Does it? Do you?” Dowling said, and Liggett gave him a genial nod. Dowling had a fair notion of where such a post might be. Hoping he was wrong, he asked, “What have you got in mind, sir?”
Sure enough, Liggett said, “Ive had to relieve Colonel Sorenson as military governor of Salt Lake City. Hes an able officer, Sorenson is; dont get me wrong. But he turned out to be a little too . . . unbending for the position. By President Sinclairs orders, we are trying to bring Utah back towards being a normal state in the Union once more. A tactful, diplomatic officer running things in Salt Lake could do us a lot of good there.”
“I . . . see,” Dowling said slowly. “The only trouble is, sir, Im not sure I think Utah ought to be a normal state in the Union once more.” The Mormons in Utah had caused trouble during the Second Mexican War, back at the start of the 1880s—as a result of which, the U.S. Army had landed on them with both feet. Then, in 1915, perhaps aided and abetted by the Confederates and the British from Canada, theyd risen in open rebellion. The Army had had to crush them one town at a time, and had made a peace only in the Tacitean sense of the word, leaving desert behind it.
“Between you and me and the four walls of my office, Lieutenant Colonel, Im not sure I think so, either,” Liggett answered. “But the Army doesnt make policy. Thats the presidents job. All we do is carry it out. And so . . . would you like to be the next military governor of Salt Lake City?”
Maybe I should have been a nasty son of a bitch when I was working for Custer, Dowling thought. But he said what he had to say: “Yes, sir.” After a moment, he added, “If Im being diplomatic . . .”
“Yes?” Liggett asked.
“Well, sir, wouldnt you say the good people of Salt Lake City might see it as an insult to them if a full colonel were replaced by a lieutenant colonel?” Dowling said. “Couldnt it lead them to believe the United States Army finds them less important than it once did?”
Amusement glinted in Liggetts eyes. “And how do you propose to make sure the good people of Salt Lake City—if there are any—dont find themselves insulted?”
“I can think of a couple of ways, sir,” Dowling replied. “One would be to appoint somebody whos already a bird colonel as military governor there.”
“Yes, that stands to reason,” Liggett agreed. “And the other?” He leaned back in his swivel chair, which squeaked. He seemed to be enjoying himself, waiting to hear what Dowling would say.
Dowling had hoped the chief of the General Staff would come out and say it for him. When Liggett didnt, he had to speak for himself: “The other way, sir, would be to promote me to the appropriate rank.”
“And you think you deserve such a promotion, eh?” Liggett rumbled.
“Yes, sir,” Dowling said boldly. After ten years with Custer, I deserve to be a major general, by God. And if he said no, he knew hed never be promoted again.
General Liggett shuffled through papers on his desk. Finding the one he wanted, he shoved it, face down, across the polished expanse of mahogany to Dowling. “This may be of some interest to you, then.”
“Thank you,” Dowling said, wondering if he ought to thank Liggett. He turned the paper over, glanced at it—and stared at his superior. “Thank you very much, sir!” he exclaimed.
“Youre welcome, Colonel Dowling,” Liggett replied. “Congratulations!”
“Thank you very much,” Dowling repeated. “Uh, sir . . . Would you have given me this if I hadnt asked for it?”
Liggetts smile was as mysterious as the Mona Lisas, though a good deal less benign. “Youll never know, will you?” His chuckle was not a pleasant sound. He found another sheet of paper, and passed it to Dowling, too. “Here are your orders, Colonel. Your train goes out of Broad Street Station tomorrow morning. Im sure youll do a fine job, and I know for a fact that General Pershing is looking forward to having you under his command.”
“Do you?” All of a sudden, Dowlings world seemed less rosy. During the war, Pershings Second Army had fought side by side with Custers First in Kentucky and Tennessee. The two armies had been rivals, as neighbors often are, and their two commanders had been rivals, too. Custer was suspicious of his younger colleague, as he was suspicious of any other officer who might steal his glory. Dowling had forgotten Pershing was military governor of Utah these days.
“I think I know whats bothering you, Colonel,” Liggett said. If anyone knew about rivalries, the chief of the General Staff would be the man. He went on, “You dont have to worry, not on that score. I meant what I said: General Pershing is eager to have you.”
But what will he do with me—to me—once hes got me? Dowling wondered. He couldnt say that. All he could say was, “Thats good to hear, sir.”
“Which means you dont believe me,” Liggett said. “Well, thats your privilege. You may even be right. I dont think you are, but you may be.”
Dowling was by nature a pessimist. If he hadnt been before, ten years under General Custer would have made him one. “Ill do the best I can, sir, thats all,” he said. And what ever Pershing does to me, by God, Ill have eagles on my shoulder straps. That makes up for a lot.
General Liggett nodded. “As long as you do that, no one can ask any more of you.”
“All right, sir.” Dowling started to rise, then checked himself. “May I ask you one more thing, sir? Its got nothing to do with Mormons.”
“Go ahead and ask,” Liggett told him. “I dont promise to answer, not till Ive heard the question.”
“I understand. What I want to know is, are we really cutting back on building new and better barrels? Ive heard that, but it strikes me as foolish.” Like most professional soldiers, Dowling had no use for the Socialist Party. There as in few other places, he agreed with the man under whom hed served for so long. He would have expressed himself a lot more strongly had he been talking with General Leonard Wood, a lifelong Democrat and a friend of ex-President Theodore Roosevelt.
But Liggett nodded again, and didnt sound happy as he answered, “We arent just cutting back, as a matter of fact. Were gutting the program. No money in the budget any more. That outfit at Fort Leavenworth called the Barrel Works . . .” He slashed a thumb across his throat. “As our German friends would say, kaputt.”
“Thats—unfortunate, sir.” Dowling used the politest word he could. “Barrels won us the last war. They wont count less in the next one.”
“Dont be silly, Colonel. Therell never, ever be another war. Just ask President Sinclair.” Hes still a soldier first, then, Dowling thought. Good. Both men laughed. But for the bitter undertone in each ones voice, the joke might have been funny.
Anne Colleton was studying the Wall Street Journal when the telephone rang. She muttered something under her breath, put down the five-day-old newspaper, and went to answer the phone. Back in the days when shed lived on the Marshlands plantation, her butler, Scipio, or one of the other Negro servants would have done that for her and spared her the interruption. These days, though, the Marshlands mansion was a burnt-out ruin, the cotton fields around it going back to grass and bushes. Anne lived in town, not that St. Matthews, South Carolina, was much of a town.
“This is Anne Colleton,” she said crisply. She was in her mid-thirties. With her sleek blond good looks, she could have lied ten years off her age with no one the wiser—till she spoke. Few people younger than she—few her own age, for that matter, but even fewer younger—could have so quickly made plain they put up with no nonsense at all.
“And a good day to you, Miss Colleton,” replied the man on the other end of the line. By the hisses and pops accompanying his voice, he was calling from some distance away. He went on, “My name is Edward C.L. Wiggins, maam, and Im in Richmond.”
Long distance, sure enough, Anne thought—he sounded as if he were shouting down a rain barrel. “What is it, Mr. Wiggins?” she said. “I dont think weve met.”
“No, maam, I havent had the pleasure,” he agreed, “but the Colleton name is famous all over the Confederate States.”
He doubtless meant that as pleasant flattery. Anne Colleton had heard enough pleasant flattery to last the rest of her life by the time she was sixteen—one consequence of her looks men seldom thought about. “You can come to the point, Mr. Wiggins,” she said pleasantly, “or Ill hang up on you no matter where you are.”
“Once upon a time, President Semmes sent me up to Philadelphia to see if I could dicker a peace with the Yankees, but they wouldnt do it,” Wig- gins said.
That wasnt coming to the point, or Anne didnt think it was, but it did get her attention. “This would have been fairly early on, before we finally had to quit?” she asked.
“Thats right, maam,” he said.
“I heard rumors about that,” she said. “With all the money I gave the Whigs in those days, I would have thought I deserved to hear something more than rumors, but evidently not. So you were representing President Semmes, were you?”
“Yes, maam, in an unofficial sort of way.”
“And whose representative are you now, in an unofficial sort of way? Im sure youre somebodys.”
Edward C.L. Wiggins chuckled. “I heard you were one clever lady. I guess I heard right.”
“Who told you so?” Anne asked sharply.
“Well, now, I was just getting to that. I—”
Anne did hang up then. She wasted not a minute getting back to work. With her finances in the state they were, they needed all the time she could give them. They needed more than that, too: they needed something close to a miracle. She wasnt a pauper, as so many prewar planters were these days. But she wasnt rich enough not to have to worry, either, and she didnt know if she ever would be.
A few minutes later, the phone rang again. Anne picked it up. “Why, Mr. Wiggins. What a pleasant surprise,” she said before whoever was on the other end of the line could speak. If it wasnt Wiggins, she would have to apologize to someone, but she thought the odds were good enough to take the chance.
And it was. “Miss Colleton, if you would let me explain myself—”
She cut him off, though she didnt—quite—hang up on him once more. “I gave you two chances to do that. You didnt. If you think Im in the habit of wasting my time on strange men who call me out of the blue, youre mistaken—and whoever told you what you think you know about me hasnt got the faintest notion of what hes talking about.”
“Oh, I dont know.” Wiggins voice was dry. “He told me you were sharp as a tack but a first-class bitch, and that doesnt seem so far out to me.”
“Im sure he meant it as an insult, but Ill take it for a compliment,” Anne said. “Last chance, Mr. Wiggins—who told you that?”
“Jake Featherston.”
Anne had expected almost any other name than that of the Freedom Party leader. Something she didnt want to call alarm shot through her. She took Jake Featherston very seriously. That didnt mean she wanted anything to do with him. Shed backed him for a while, yes, but she backed winners, and he didnt look like one any more. Trying to gain time to recover her composure, she asked, “If you used to work for the Whigs, why are you calling me for Featherston now?”
“On account of what I saw when I went to Philadelphia, maam,” he replied. “The United States dont respect you when youre weak. If youre down, theyll kick you. But if youre strong, they have got to sit up and take notice. Thats a fact.”
“I agree with that. I think everyone in the Confederate States agrees with that,” Anne said.
“Well, there you are,” Wiggins said cheerily. “If you agree with that, the Freedom Party is really and truly the only place for you, because—”
“Nonsense.” Anne didnt care about his reasons. She had reasons of her own: “The Freedom Party has about as much chance of electing the next president as I do of getting elected myself. I have no intention of giving Jake Featherston one more dime. Every since that madman of a Grady Calkins murdered President Hampton, itd take a special miracle for anyone from the Freedom Party to get himself elected dog catcher, let alone anything more. I dont spend my money where it does me no good.”
“I dont think the clouds are as black as you say, maam,” Wiggins replied. “Yes, we lost a couple of seats in the election last November, but not as many as people said we would. Well be back—you wait and see if we arent. Folks dont have much in the way of memory—and besides, maam, were right.”
From the Hardcover edition.