High Hearts by Rita Mae Brown

differently than we did. Sin-Sin and I are respectful of one another. I know what it’s like to feel gratitude and affection for a servant, but you and Di-Peachy act as though there are no boundaries between you. You must preserve your position, Geneva. Perhaps you’re too young to understand what position means.”
    “She’s my friend.”
    “She’s not your friend; she’s your servant.”
    “She’s my friend!” Geneva spilled over with anger. “I was never what you wanted, Mother. You wanted a beautiful, golden daughter. Look at me. I’m not very pretty, but at least it means I can join my husband. No one will mistake me for a lavish female.”
    Since Geneva brought it up, Lutie plunged in. “Beauty is a gift from God. Apparently He favored Di-Peachy over ail the women of the earth. One can neither take credit nor accept blame for beauty, but one can act like a lady. All you want to do is ride horses—and now that you have Nash, you follow after him like a penny dog.”
    “I love him!”
    “Good!” Lutie pounced on ‘good.’ “But let me give you some motherly advice, not that you’ll listen. Love makes the time pass and time makes love pass.” Lutie knocked back her gin. “When are you leaving?”
    “Tonight when everyone’s asleep.”
    “How will you find him?”
    “I figure he’s at Culpeper or Harper’s Ferry.”
    “How do you figure that?”
    “Well, the wires said that we took Harper’s Ferry but the Federals destroyed the arsenal. Di-Peachy heard that in town this afternoon. I know Nash and Sumner rode north. So I figure they’ve got to be wherever there’s a good railway junction or some action. Besides, once I get on the road, all I have to do is ask.”
    “I see while I’ve been worrying, you’ve been thinking.”Lutie sighed, sounding like her sister Poofy. “I hope you come to your senses and turn around.”
    “I want to be with my husband, and I want to see what’s going on.”
    “You’re not afraid?”
    “No. I believe in Fate.”
    “So do I.” Lutie was surprised that she didn’t feel more surprised now that the jolt of seeing a shorn Geneva had worn off. “I suppose you don’t want anyone to know about this.”
    “No. I can’t take the chance of word getting out in my regiment, whatever regiment that might be.”
    “Your brother will recognize you.”
    “Let’s hope I recognize him first.”
    After twelve midnight, Geneva kissed her mother goodbye. Lutie had stayed at the house for the rest of the day and had even helped Di-Peachy pack Geneva’s saddlebags. Lutie retrieved one of Henley’s new Colt pistols from the big house. Mounted, Geneva looked like a cavalryman. She leaned over and kissed a crying Di-Peachy, then waved and rode off, swallowed by the faint light.
    Lutie started to walk up to the main residence but Di-Peachy asked her to wait. She got a lantern and walked Lutie up the hill.
    “Miss Lutie, I thought you’d put up a fight.”
    “Nothing could stop her. She’s in the grip of an emotion I’ve almost forgotten and you’ve not yet felt.”
    “Did she tell you about the Harkaway Hunt?”
    “No,” Lutie said, filled with curiosity.
    “The eve of her wedding we both saw the Harkaway Hunt, way in the back meadows just as you described it. The big man, Casimer, rode straight up to Geneva and said, ‘Each person you kill is a soul you must bear like an unseen weight.’ ”
    Lutie shuddered involuntarily. “First we saw the aurora borealis in the sky this winter and then that gigantic comet streaked across the sky and now I come to hear Casimer Harkaway spoke to my daughter. We’ve been given a talisman of insight and yet we can’t decipher it.”
    Di-Peachy silently walked alongside Lutie.
    “In highly intuitive beings, Fate and free will are the same thing. Never forget that,” Lutie said.
    Di-Peachy thought to herself that Fate was invoked toexplain human stupidity. And then, too, it was always the weaker ones, the chattel of