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Mercy shuffled along in the crowd until she’d reached the lovely ter and filtered inside it The interior was as lovely as the exterior prohtly, the lanterns’ reflections made Mercy squint Every surface was shined, frouardrails to the brass of the fixtures and the glass of the ticket s
But although the building was a marvel, Mercy was famished, so she hastily ushered herself out and away fro only to ask directions to the restaurant called the Cory cab to take her there She fondled the card between her fingers and hoped it’d be enough, as promised, and furtherly underdressed This latter thought burrowed beneath her outer layer of security and festered there, re Mrs Hyde’s fine clothes and herthe cloak
The Cormorant looked to be a firmly middle-class establish and going, but there were a handful of colored people (relegated to a separate dining section, she noted when she arrived inside), and even a pair of Indianclothes that may or may not have been some kind of uniform
A man at a pedestal asked if he could help her, and she handed hihly that the corners had curled "II talked to Mrs Hyde, on the train here froave this to you, that--"
"Oh, yes!" he said sharply "Yes, indeed Are you alone tonight, Miss--" He spied the ring on her finger "Missus?"
"Lynch Yes, I’ht?" She looked around and saw no one else dining alone, and her sense of conspicuousness grew She was on the verge of changing herthe host’s pardon before she left when a familiar voice cried out from a table by the far left wall
"Nurse? Nurse Mercy, wasn’t that it? Well look at you," declared Mrs Henderson, froible and its terrible aftermath "Dear child, you made your way to Memphis after all" The older woirl or two and taking Mercy’s hand "I’estured toward the table, and to her husband, as freshly washed and s happily at her over his shoulder
Mercy said, "That’d be very kind, thank you"
The nurse continued to feel out of place, but when seated with the Hendersons, she grew more at ease Mercy suspected quite quickly that Mrs Henderson was overjoyed by the prospect of conversation with someone other than her addled husband, and it was hard to bla until supper arrived
Mercy had chosen the sweet potatoes and pork chops, with apple pie for dessert, and she could scarcely pause between bites to keep up her end of the chatter When she was finally so full that she thought she’d burst, she leaned back and said aloud, "Well, that was just wonderful! That lady sure kno to make a pie, I’ll tell you what"
Mrs Henderson’s brows knit ever so slightly "Lady? But I thought you said you met her in the colored car?"
"Yes ma’am"
"Ah" Mrs Henderson sipped at the tea that had colance of reproach at the nurse, who suddenly felt a little stubborn about the whole thing, and outclassed again from another direction entirely
"Well," she said at the risk of being rude "She was nice to me, and she can cook like the devil"
The older woe the subject "At any rate" She concluded the phrase as if it were a full sentence, and began again "How long do you plan to re I need to find a boat that’ll take me upriver"
"Upriver?" Mr Henderson piped up with a voice that declared him to be deeply appalled by the prospect "Littlesnared his attention, upending his displeasure and scattering his attention like a child’s blocks
His wife picked up the thread and said, "I’ north? A woman of your skills and abilities? You should stay here, with our lads, and perform your patriotic duties If not at the Robertson Hospital--that’s where you’d been before, correct?--then perhaps one of the Fort’s establishood nurse is always in need"
"My father’s gone west, and contracted soo see to him, all the sahter’s duty ht compete with a nurse’s
"West, you say? Off to the Republic, then, are you?"
"Noall the way to the coast, to the Washington territory"
"Graciousall that way, all by yourself?" she asked, setting her cup down on the saucer with a sturdy clink
Mercy said, "My husband died There’s nobody left to go with me"