do you see her with her mother, and when you do it’s clear she doesn’t want to be there. The Major seems to be the only human being she can be bothered with. She wouldn’t be like that if he was beating her, would she?”
Thaddeus wasn’t so sure. These cases were so complicated. Sometimes the victims were the staunchest defenders of the abusers. “Well,” he said finally, “I’d appreciate it if you could keep your eyes open. And let me know if you see anything.”
As he rode away from the Gordon farm, he puzzled over what possessed men to use their fists on their wives, and why there were so seldom any repercussions as a result of it. Except in cases of extreme injury, the law took the view that a husband was within his rights to raise his hand against anyone in his family, but why it should countenance even that was beyond his understanding. The Church declared that the Lord had given men dominion over women, but to protect them, not abuse them. He couldn’t imagine any circumstance that would ever have inclined him to strike his wife, and he had never disciplined his children with more than a word. He had scarcely disciplined them at all, truth be told. He was never at home to do it. He had left it all to Betsy.
If the Gordons were correct in their assessment, it seemed unlikely that George Howell was a brute who beat his wife. But why would Ellen Howell manufacture such a flimsy story about the bruise on her arm unless she was attempting to hide its true origin? It was his duty to interfere if he thought she was in danger, but in all honesty he couldn’t say that was the case. He had made his inquiry, and done what he could. Now he needed to put the woman firmly out of his mind so he could concentrate on the extra meetings he had scheduled in the wake of the debate. These had resulted in a far more hectic schedule than he had bargained for.
There was little enough time to spare before his next appointment, but Thaddeus couldn’t resist stopping for a few minutes at the shore of Rice Lake to watch the crew working on the bridge. Nor was he the only one who was curious. Several small boats full of sightseers bobbed in the water close to the construction barges. And farther out, Thaddeus could see the steamship chugging its way across the lake to the Sully dock. Passengers hung precariously over the port side, craning their necks in order to gain a better view of the work in progress.
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