My Name Is Mary Sutter Read Online Free PDF Page A

Rebels could be upon the city at any moment. If they captured Washington, the war would be over. A coup. Slavery forever. Fall was certain that the Rebels would soon be defeated, which Blevens also believed, for the North had the advantage in manufacturing and railroads, but it was the flicker of excitability, the flare of eagerness that showed when Fall babbled on about the glory of battle that betrayed his youth, though his clothes were better cut than Blevens’s, attesting to greater wealth.
    As he spoke, it turned out that Fall’s confidence was well founded: all three women yielded the conversation to him, and not solely for reasons of hospitality. The younger sister, Jenny, was adoring. But Mary attended perhaps more intensely, albeit covertly. Glances of sharp admiration, a softening of her features. Moments when she ceased eating to gaze, then remembered herself and passed the salt or the butter, though no one had asked. When Fall finally solicited Blevens’s opinions, Mary became inattentive as he probed the possibility of greater bloodshed than Fall expected, but he did not want to be rude or alarm the women, and so he droned on about the necessity of controlling the railroads, which sounded boring even to him.
    Christian Sutter, the brother, arrived during the meat course. He was tall, curly-headed, a mop of hair, a grin, all confidence, younger than his two sisters. Charm had won him everything in life, it seemed, including his mother’s adoration. He took the foot of the table. No father had been mentioned. Their mourning must not have been recent, Blevens decided. This was a family adjusted to whatever losses it had sustained. Happily settled at his place, Christian beamed and said, “Did you know that they’ve already formed a regiment? The 25th. It’s a good number, don’t you think?”
    Amelia Sutter threw her son a fearful, longing glance. Pride muzzled instinct, though it was a battle. A sudden smile turned tremulous, then disappeared altogether as Thomas and Christian agreed that immediate enlistment was required of any self-respecting Northerner.
    For her part, Mary had shaped a more formed opinion of Blevens during the soup course than she had been able to do in his surgery rooms. Seated opposite, he comported himself with the manners of a man not unaccustomed to either money or talk. The dishevelment of his surgery rooms did not coincide with this new picture.
    Thomas and Christian were arguing about Texas. “If there is to be any fight at all in Texas, it will have to be soon, because they’ve just emptied the forts of Federal soldiers—”
    “Dr. Blevens is going to the war, too,” Mary said, interrupting.
    It was as if someone had declared war in the dining room. Blevens hurriedly said, “Yes, as a surgeon. One doesn’t wish for bloodshed, but—”
    “But you do, don’t you, Dr. Blevens?” Mary said. “You want to see what can happen to the human body. You want to see inside it. You want to solve its mysteries.” She had sharpened her voice and set down her heavy silver knife. The roast was delicious, but unimportant. “Not that you should be ashamed. It is no less than I would wish to do. Given the opportunity.”
    “Mary,” Amelia said.
    “It is not shameful to press one’s point, Mother.” She turned again to the doctor. “I haven’t misspoken your aspirations in going to the war, have I, Dr. Blevens?”
    Mary Sutter was calling in his debt. He was to be made to apologize in front of everyone. “Miss Sutter, I am very sorry that I cannot help you. But with your gift for persistence, I doubt very much you will not someday claim your opportunity.”
    “Help you how, Mary?” Amelia asked.
    Mary ignored her. “But I will only be able to claim it if I am offered it. Tell me, Dr. Blevens, in your opinion, is there a limit to how much knowledge one person is allowed to accumulate? Have I reached my quota?”
    Blevens thought again of his rooms on State Street. He could be