The Flaming Corsage Read Online Free Page A

is
the whole North End. Father Loonan, the pastor of Sacred Heart church, talks of it every Sunday from the pulpit, and a North End saloonkeeper with a keen political eye says his customers are
talking Blaine. North Enders are Democrats, but this year it’s up for grabs.’
    “ ‘Why are they so angry with me?’ the Governor asked me.
    “ ‘You, the Mayor, the aldermen, everybody who forces them to live in mud,’ I said. ‘Anybody who hasn’t delivered any pavement to North Albany’s streets or
sidewalks. It’s an old, old promise nobody’s ever kept. They see Elk Street, where your wealthy friends live, being paved with granite blocks, while they’re still riding on
rotting planks in a sea of mud. After a rain they have to put bog shoes on their horses to get home. And they blame you.’
    “ ‘Do you know Father Loonan?’ says the Governor.
    “ ‘I do,’ says I.
    “ ‘Bring him and this saloonkeeper—what’s his name?’
    “ ‘Jack McCall. Black Jack, they call him.’
    “ ‘Bring Black Jack and the good father up to see me. We’ll have a chat.’
    “ ‘I’ll do that tomorrow,’ says I.
    “ ‘Do you know anybody else who doesn’t like me?’ the Governor says.
    “ ‘Aren’t the North End Irish enough?’ says I.
    “I had no trouble convincing Jack and Father Loonan to visit the Governor. He saw us straightaway and had Mayor Banks in the office with him. They listened to the complaints about mud and
the Governor asked the Mayor could he get the contractor paving Elk Street to start on Broadway in North Albany? The Mayor said the city had let no contract to pave Broadway.
    “ ‘Well, let one,’ said the Governor. ‘We’ll get you reimbursed. But get the crews out there tomorrow.’ And the Mayor said he’d get on it.
    “The Governor thanked me for my enterprise; then he and Black Jack got off on fishing and it was as if they’d known each other forever. ‘We’ll have to go to the mountains
one day and get some trout,’ the Governor said, and on the way out Father Loonan told me I ought to run for governor when Cleveland leaves. I said I couldn’t, that I was a writer.
    “The next day, workers put granite blocks on Broadway, starting in front of Sacred Heart church. We had a rally five nights later and five hundred heard Jack’s speech. They marched
and chanted against Blaine, the highway robber from the state of Maine. It was the biggest political turnout in neighborhood history. And Blaine’s support went the way of North Albany
mud.
    “Cleveland carried the state by one thousand one hundred and forty-nine votes,” Edward said. “Only five hundred and seventy-five votes would have reversed those results, and
the Democratic plurality in North Albany was six hundred and seventy-seven.”
    “Why, you’re a miracle worker,” Katrina said.
    “I’m glad you understand that about me,” Edward said.
    People were arriving from the parade, and Lyman’s valet was helping him down the stairs to the parlor to greet them.
    “He looks so frail lately,” Katrina said.
    “Only his body. His mind is very astute.”
    “He’s terribly fond of you,” Katrina said.
    “He’s like a second father,” Edward said. “And he’s crazy about you. But right this minute I’m crazier about you than he is.”
    “You are turning this girl’s head, sir.”
    “I mean to do nothing else, as soon as I’m able. I have obligations for a month or two.”
    “I’m abandoned before I’m courted.”
    “You will not be abandoned. I intend to pursue you with a fervid Irish passion, unlike anything you’ve ever imagined. But I must finish what I’ve begun.”
    “And what is it you’ve begun?”
    “A novel I’ve been writing for more than a year, the key to my new life. One key. You are the other.”
    “You’ve become an impetuous man, Edward.”
    “I am a man instantly in love. Do you mind if I love you?”
    “I have never been so flattered, or so quickly.”
    “I have