Fire by Night by Lynn Austin Page A

commanded everyone irritated Julia. Who did he think he was?
    “Certainly,” the minister replied. “Miss Hoffman has worked very hard this evening. She deserves to have a bit of fun.” Reverend Greene followed Arthur back to Julia’s table and took her place himself.
    “Now, let’s get some refreshments,” Arthur said, taking her arm.
    “I’m really not hungry.”
    “Well, I am.” He led her to the food booth and heaped a plate with an assortment of snacks and pastries. He left a generous donation, then sat down across from Julia at a small table for two, placing the plate between them. “That’s better,” he said, propping his chin on his hand to gaze at her. “I’m tired of looking at you from all the way across the room. And I’m very tired of sharing you with everyone else.”
    “But I warned you that I would have to work tonight, and you agreed—”
    “I know, I know. I’m very selfish for wanting the most beautiful woman in the room all to myself.”
    The compliment would have thrilled Julia six months ago; now she wanted to leap up and return to work, proving that there was more to her than outward beauty. She tried to smile, to be gracious to Arthur, tried desperately to like him for her father’s sake. “If I was the sort of father who arranged his daughter’s marriage,” Judge Hoffman had told her, “I’d arrange for you to marry young Arthur Hoyt. There is no finer man in Philadelphia. Give him a chance, Julia, for my sake. That’s all I ask.”
    She had tried very hard to be a model daughter ever since her cousin Robert had been captured, aware that her parents had enough to worry about without worrying about her. She had attended to her social obligations without sulking or trying to shock anyone. She’d allowed her maids to dress her and fix her hair. And she had dutifully accepted all of Arthur Hoyt’s invitations for the past two months. Arthur was good-looking, attentive, and wealthy— everything a woman could want in a man. Julia’s friends discussed him as if he were the grand prize in a courting contest and told her how lucky she was to have won his attentions. She had given Arthur a chance, for her father’s sake. She had tried very hard to like him. But after all this time, her heart still felt nothing at all toward him except a niggling irritation at the way he bossed her around.
    “Eat something, Julia,” he said, pushing the plate of sweets toward her. “I bought these to share with you, and you haven’t even touched them.” She did as she was told and picked up a cookie, but the prickle of irritation was slowly sprouting into a thorn of resentment. They made small talk for a while until Arthur had eaten most of the food. “Let’s leave,” he said suddenly. “We can go for a carriage ride in Fairmont Park.”
    “I can’t leave yet, Arthur. Reverend Greene is supposed to speak to us about the work the Commission is doing.”
    He rolled his eyes. “Wonderful. I’m a little short on sleep, and Greene’s sermons are always good for a snore or two.” Julia opened her mouth to reply, ready to condemn Arthur for his uncharitable remark, but he popped a chocolate into her mouth, cutting off her words. “Oh, don’t look so shocked,” he said, laughing. “It was a joke. And speak of the devil, I think the good reverend is about to give us his speech right now.”
    Nathaniel Greene climbed onto the platform as the little band finished a waltz. He held up his hands to quiet the crowd. “I’d like to thank you all for coming tonight,” he began, “and for making this fund-raiser for the Christian Commission such a success. I would especially like to thank the bazaar’s organizer, Miss Julia Hoffman, for all her hard work.”
    Julia hadn’t expected the hearty round of applause that followed, and it embarrassed her. But she saw a new respect in the minister’s eyes as she modestly accepted his thanks and knew that she had won back part of what she’d lost