The End of Innocence Read Online Free PDF Page B

there a new dreadnought in the Charlestown Navy Yard?”
    â€œYes! She’s a great new ship! What guns, my friend,” he said, his eyes lighting. “The secretary of war is considering naming it Pennsylvania .”
    â€œDamn!” said her father. “I had money on the Massachusetts . Why the Pennsylvania if we’re doing all the work?”
    â€œYou know how political these things can become.” Harris looked around and leaned closer. “You wouldn’t believe its guns’ range.”
    â€œPennsylvania could use some innovation,” said Brooks with a sour look. “I’m glad the country has bought them a boat. Any other news?”
    â€œWell, I read that the opera company is stranded over in Europe and won’t be back for the start of the season. Everyone seems to be stranded somewhere, with the shipping lanes a mess as they are. And yes, I almost forgot! Sir Artemis Horn will be speaking at the Geographic Society in Harvard Hall next Tuesday. And Wigglesworth didn’t invite us! Claimed limited seating.”
    â€œWhat?!” asked Mr. Brooks.
    â€œPositive. We’re sans billet.”
    â€œThis requires liquid,” said Brooks decisively. “Helen, Harris and I need to repair to the bar to discuss this matter. Why don’t you go congratulate Miss Peabody? You know, Harris, she’s marrying Frank Adams.”
    â€œYou don’t say. Now that is news!”
    â€œYes, I do. Come, Harris, let’s commence and not hold Helen up further.”
    Helen felt chuffed as she walked over to a small gilt chair by the wall—abandoned and exposed. She certainly would not congratulate the young woman who had stolen Frank from her side. Caroline had never wished her well and had envied every prize Helen won at the women’s academy they attended together. Caroline once assured Helen that though Helen was smart with books, she preferred to be smart with hearts, the better trophy.
    To be fair, Frank was willing to be stolen. She’d known Frank all her life but remembered the moment he had changed from a boy into a young man with whom she could see herself spending the rest of her life. Two years ago, he asked to dance with her at a fall dance and she lost her heart to him.
    He was always the perfect gentleman. He never said anything untoward or opinionated. He was perfectly reserved, just like her own father. And that perfectly suited Helen, who wanted anything but her mother’s zealous nature.
    Maybe too reserved, she realized now. Had he even admitted he loved her? He was kind. He was attentive to her at every gathering. She thought he had in so many looks or dances or smiles. Her parents were certain many times that he would propose, as was she, but he never did.
    Had she imagined it all with Frank? She remembered her excitement as Frank had come to the house that past March, she thought, to declare himself. But it was just as her mother left for New York. The family was all outside. Frank looked nervous. He never explained why he had come that day to pay a visit to Helen’s family. He made pleasant conversation, tipped his hat, and left. Then she’d begun to notice his distance at church in April, about the time rumors of Mrs. Brooks’s New York work had begun to circulate.
    And there had been signs at the last dance too. She thought Frank would dance with her but was called away by her father for a moment as the music began. When she returned she found Caroline in Frank’s arms on the dance floor. She remembered the toss of Caroline’s curls and a beautiful laugh.
    It was a fact too terrible to admit. Helen had seen evidence of their growing interest over the summer but had chosen to ignore it. Lose Frank to the vindictive and beautiful Caroline?
    Now the truth was right before her. Both her mother and Frank slipped away from her, and her life would now move along a different path.
    As the evening wore on, the room grew