He found her down on the wharf, surrounded by bales of cotton, serenely rocking in a highback New England rocker!
Amelia saw him staring at her and with a little cry of joy she sprang up.
“Jack, I knew you’d get here! I wasn’t worrying a bit. And kind Captain Drayton has made me quite comfortable.”
The weather-beaten Vermonter, leaning against the rail of his ship, regarded the late arrival and scowled until his thick eyebrows threatened to tangle with his heavy beard.
“Nice way to treat a female!” he boomed.
Jack held her hands in his. She was so thin, so little. The gray strands smoothed carefully behind her ears accentuated the hollows in her face; the cotton dress she wore was washed out, but the blue eyes looking up at him were young and bright.
Amelia exclaimed over the little buggy Jack had waiting. He helped her in, tucked the bag under their feet and flapped the reins.
Washington in the spring! Heavy wagon wheels bogged down in deep ruts, and hogs wallowed in the mud; but a soft green haze lay over the sprawling town and wrapped it in loveliness. They were rolling along a wide street, and Amelia was trying to see everything at once. Then she saw the Capitol lifting its glistening dome against the wide blue sky, and she caught her breath.
They circled the Capitol grounds, turned down a shaded lane and stopped before a two-story brick house which sat well back in a yard with four great elms.
“Here we are!” Jack smiled down at her.