While she struggled to think of the right words to comfort him, Seth blurted out, “The Federals only think they won. Wait until they see what revenge can do.”
Frances gasped at the twisted bitterness in his eyes. “Revenge isn’t the answer, Seth. It can’t solve anything,” she said. “As a preacher, you must know the only answer is forgiveness.”
“I’m just one of many,” Seth said quietly. “There are plenty of folks who are angered by injustice, and sometimes injustice demands revenge.”
“Injustice is wrong,” Frances said, “but there are much better ways to right wrongs than by getting revenge.”
Seth didn’t answer, and for a moment Frances was frightened. She was sure he had a plan already in mind. “What kind of revenge are you talking about?” she asked.
Seth didn’t have a chance to answer. At that moment, shoving and yelling, Sam and Marcus tumbled into the aisle.
“Boys! Stop fighting!” Frances called, but they paid no attention. Seth had to separate them.
“Tell me what happened,” Frances ordered, but they both began talking at once, and she couldn’t understand them.
It seemed like forever before order was restored. By the time Frances had heard their stories—which made little if any sense—the train was slowing for a scheduled depot stop.
Frances immediately began counting children. Finally she spotted Eddie, who lingered at the back of the car with Seth, and called to him to come forward and join the others.
“The train will make just a short stop,” Frances said. “Remember to hurry.”
“We hurry, hurry, hurry,” Aggie muttered, “and then we get back on the train and sit and wait. What if all that hurrying and waiting doesn’t do any good? What if when we get to Harwood, nobody’s there to choose us?”
Aware of the shocked and frightened faces waiting for her answer, Frances said calmly, “You’ll find a lot of good people in Harwood. They’re as eager to meet you as you are to meet them.” She put an arm around Aggie. This time, Aggie didn’t stiffen. “Don’t always expect the worst, love. Think about the many good things the world has to offer.”
Aggie cocked her head as if thinking and said, “I don’t know if you’re right about good things being out there, Miss Kelly. So far, I haven’t seen any.”
By early afternoon the children were tired. Some of them dozed lightly and some slept soundly.
Frances leaned back, her bones aching from the hard wooden slats, and wearily closed her eyes.
“Pssst! Miss Kelly? Are you asleep?”
Frances opened her eyes just as Eddie slipped into the empty seat next to hers.
“I need to talk to you,” he murmured.
“What is it?” Frances asked.
“It has to do with the preacher,” Eddie said. “That is, if he is a preacher.”
Startled, Frances whispered, “Eddie, what Reverend Diller does and says is his own business, not ours.”
“Unless he’s makin’ it ours,” Eddie answered.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean he spends a lot of time lookin’ at you and thinkin’ about you, and last night he went and cozied up to you after he thought we was all asleep.”
“It’s nothing like that,” Frances insisted. “He just wanted to talk.” But she found herself blushing.
“What I’m gettin’ at,” Eddie said, “is that some of what he told you last night don’t add up. I’m no slouch at cipherin’, so I—”
“Are you telling me that you listened to our conversation?”
Eddie raised wide, innocent eyes to hers. “I was on the seat just behind yours. I wasn’t listenin’ in on purpose.” Before Frances could tell him that wasn’t the seat he’d been assigned to, Eddie went on. “I don’t know how long a preacher’s got to study to be a preacher, but I’m guessin’ it’s years, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but—”
“And he talked about bein’ in the army—Confederate, if he was in a union prison—and then in an army hospital. That didn’t all happen overnight.”
“I know,” Frances said.
“I’m guessin’ again—and I’m usually right—that he’s not much more than nineteen or twenty.”
“I agree,” Frances said. “But I don’t know why he’d lie to us.”
“What he told you about bein’ in the prison—that sounds real,” Eddie said. “But he didn’t talk about bein’ a preacher, so I’m wonderin’ if he is or ever was. I think he’s just pretendin’.”