Glorious by Jeff Guinn Page B

on a festive white sparkle.
    â€œThat’s a bad idea,” Mr. Douglass said. “We generally try to keep her inside. If she’s away from home, she may get in a mood and try to run. It’s happened before.”
    â€œShe’s been doing very well,” McLendon said. “I think that perhaps doing an ordinary thing like having a ride in the snow would be good for her.”
    Mr. Douglass stuck a warning finger in front of McLendon’s face. “You watch her every minute, and if she acts up in any way, bring her home immediately. I’ll not have Ellen making a spectacle of herself where the public can see.”
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    I T TOOK ALMOST AN HOUR for Ellen to get ready. She seemed pleased to be bundled in a heavy coat and fur hat as her husbandhelped her up into the carriage. McLendon tapped the horse with a whip and they rolled merrily out past the mansion gate. It was a lovely day, cold but sunny. He found himself enjoying the ride very much, being in such a fine gleaming carriage with his pretty, laughing young wife at his side. It was the first moment of complete contentment that he’d had since his marriage.
    A few green sprigs of holly poked through the snow, and Ellen begged McLendon to stop for a moment so she could break them off from the bush. He did, and while Ellen fussed with the holly, McLendon idly looked back down the road. Several hundred yards behind them, sitting astride another horse from the mansion’s stable, he recognized the unmistakable hulking form of Patrick Brautigan, Killer Boots, who must have been summoned by Mr. Douglass to keep watch over Ellen on her special excursion. McLendon raised his hand and waved at Brautigan, who didn’t wave back or otherwise respond.
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    E LLEN CONTINUED to behave well, so much so that McLendon thought the time might come soon when she could be left in the care of the mansion staff or even completely alone for short periods, though her father was adamantly against it.
    In February 1872, when Mr. Douglass went to Philadelphia for a meeting with potential investors in his St. Louis munitions factory, his wife went with him. She liked the city’s shops and museums. Patrick Brautigan went too. Mr. Douglass felt that a bodyguard would impress the men he was meeting. They expected to be away for five days. Mrs. Reynolds would stay with Ellen at the mansion while McLendon was at work.
    On the third day after the Douglasses left, Mrs. Reynolds sent word that she was ill and would be unable to stay with Ellen, soMcLendon worked from home. It was enjoyable. Ellen sat in the study with him while he read reports and wrote out orders to suppliers. In the early evening they played croquet. After dinner, McLendon and Ellen had settled down for a pleasant night in their sitting room when they were interrupted. A messenger sent by the foreman of the munitions plant reported that there had been a chemical spill, and noxious vapors were sickening the late-shift workers. The foreman thought it would be necessary to close the plant until the mess was cleaned up, but he couldn’t do so without permission. Was it okay with Mr. McLendon?
    McLendon thought it over. He had no desire to risk the workers’ health, but he wasn’t certain that the foreman’s judgment was reliable. The work that would be interrupted was part of an important new contract, the plant’s first one from the Department of War. If the ammunition contracted for was delivered on time, it would probably lead to more lucrative business. A delay might very well have the opposite effect. There was always hot competition for government contracts. He decided he would go see for himself. But when he told Ellen that he had to go out for just a short while, she flew into a hysterical rage.
    â€œYou’re going off to meet a whore!” she shouted.
    â€œOf course I’m not. I just