The family made a point of taking a daily walk, either before he left to go to his morning classes, or after Tanner returned home in the afternoon from the university. The air was good for the children, and allowed the family a chance to exercise and share pleasantries with their fellow citi/ens as they strolled the sidewalks surrounding their cozy two-story home. In these early months of winter, Emily would bundle up young Jolyon and place him inside the carriage, while Tanner assisted Rachel in buttoning her coat and wrapping the child’s long red scarf around her delicate neck.
Then the front door would be thrown open, and away the family would go.
Tanner was wearing his long overcoat with small golden buttons, belted snugly at his waist. A high collar and a cravat were held in place by a gleaming diamond pin. He carried a handsome ebony walking stick with a gold-plated tip and handle to match the buttons of his coat.
His right arm was linked around Emily’s slender limb. She wore her own long overcoat, which came down to her knees and fastened up primly and warmly to her neck. On her head was a wide- brimmed hat with a long cluster of white and gray feathers bobbed on the left.
“I say, Theophilus, hold up!”
A stout man in a worn black wide hat and matching cloak was racing up behind them, calling out Tanner’s name repeatedly as he came closer, the leather soles of his shoes slapping down on the wooden sidewalk.
“Hello, Jonathan,” Tanner replied easily as the man in the hat and cloak came thudding to a stop. “Glad to see you out bettering your body this brisk morning.”
“Better? My body? Huh. Don’t believe so. Whew!” the man gasped back in reply, striving to catch his wind from the sprint.
“I hope you are well, Mr. Nolan,” Emily added.
“Never better, dear Emily,” Jonathan Nolan replied, and tipped his hat to Rachel. “Good morning to you, Miss Rachel.”
“H’lo,” the young girl said, embarrassed at the direct attention. She turned shyly and averted her eyes to look across the street. A horse-drawn carriage clattered up and came to a stop at the curb. Rachel loved horses and she admired the creature as it waited patiently for the passenger in the carriage to step down, pay the driver’s fare, and then depart.
“What can we do for you, Jonathan?” Tanner asked. “Working on another scientific article for your newspaper? I would be glad to proof it for you this evening at home after our supper. Anything for a man trying to enlighten his readers. No time right now, I am afraid-unless you want to loan me a copy to take along.”
“No, no article this time, actually, but as always you shall be the first I contact for a quote or to check facts,” the overweight man replied. “I just came from Martin’s Books and he mentioned the book you ordered had arrived-a first edition of Houseman’s A Shropshire Lad.”
Tanner looked puzzled. “I must confess, Jonathan, that while I have long coveted such a volume, I had placed no such order. Martin must be in error.”
“No, Theo, he is not.” Emily sighed. “I placed the order. I know you frequent Pages Bookstore, and I tried another in the hopes of avoiding your discovery of my surprise. The book was to have been for Christmas.”
Nolan blushed with embarrassment. “Dash it all, I am terribly sorry. I can-”
A shrill scream cut him off, and it took a few seconds before Tanner realized the sound was coming from his daughter. A second after his realization, the child gripped his hand with bone-crushing force. Jolyon, his sleep disrupted, also began to wail from the confines of the carriage.
“Rachel, what is it, child? What?” Tanner thundered, kneeling to reach eye level with the girl. Her eyes were still looking out upon the empty street, the horse and carriage now long gone. He peered out, his eyes searching for what had upset her so, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Nothing at all.
Tanner canceled his classes at the university for the day, choosing to stay at home with his daughter. He didn’t press Rachel for an explanation, instead waiting for the gkl to speak to him when she was ready. The day passed slowly, with Tanner trying to concentrate on a book but failing miserably. Finally, much later mat night, as he tucked his older child into bed, the youngster at last described what had frightened her on the sidewalk.