Page 72 of Head Room

She regarded me levelly.

“You could do far worse than read the writings of Irene Jardos, who had an unerring instinct for people.She did not always articulate her instincts, nor did she trace her impressions to their sources, however that did not diminish their accuracy.”

Mrs.P vouching for Irene’s abilities on top of what Connie said made this ironclad.

But, unless something from before she died started a chain reaction...?

“The problem being that her book starts during the Civil War,” I pointed out.“Then the characters come to Wyoming as Galvanized Yankees — Confederate prisoners of war who took an oath to the U.S.and joined the army to fight here in the West against the Indians, because the army couldn’t spare troops from the Civil War fighting.Is that historically accurate?”

“Indeed, the outline you sketched reflects the facts of history, although I cannot, understandably, vouch for the historical accuracy of the details as portrayed in Irene’s manuscript, which I have not read.”

“You knew she was writing—?”

I bit off my question, since the answer was obvious.

“Irene Jardos confided in me her intentions, as well as inquiring of me resources I would recommend for research of that era, particularly in Wyoming.”

A frown squeezed my forehead.“But they were down at Fort Laramie and other places in the southern part of the state, around the Platte River.Even the North Platte River is way south of here.So, it doesn’t connect to here or Frank Jardos or his cabin burning.”

I wished it did.

Especially since I had a feeling Mrs.P wasn’t letting this topic go, which meant we’d follow it through until she chose otherwise.

She said, “The North Platte River, also called the Upper Platte, reaches the northernmost point of a hump-like formation at what is now the city called Casper.In the period of history to which you refer, the settlement there was called Platte Bridge Station, for self-apparent reasons.It was an important crossing for the Oregon and Mormon trails, as well as for the Pony Express route.”

My statement that none of the history connected to Frank Jardos being or not being the dead man in his cabin clearly had no effect on Mrs.P.

“In the period you referred to—” Sure, blame this digression on me.“—a fight with Indians near Platte Bridge Station in 1865 resulted in the death of Lieutenant Caspar — with twoa’s —Collins.His father had been the commander there until a few months previous to Caspar’s death.In addition, the father — William Collins — gave his name to what is now Fort Collins, Colorado.”

I tried to pull the conversation back from more than a century and a half ago.“But Irene’s story—”

“From questions she asked me about Caspar Collins and Platte Bridge Station, I believe she intended to include that event in her story in some fashion, though I cannot say if she had done so before her sad death.It is certainly credible that a member of what has been termed Galvanized Yankees could have seen involvement with activities at that location at that time.

“There is rich material in that period to explore, for a historian or even a novelist, despite attention being disproportionately devoted to the town of Casper deriving its name, which was meant to honor the young man who died at only twenty years old after volunteering for dangerous duties, from a misspelling of that name in what was, indeed, a careless clerical error.”

It didn’t seem right that young Caspar didn’t get the town named after him to have the right spelling — and long before the terrors of autocorrect — but I refused to remain in the detour she’d drawn me into.

“It’s interesting — I’m glad to hear all that and I am interested in Irene’s characters.But it has no bearing on current events or real people.”

“That is not entirely accurate—” Mrs.P.said.“—as it does have a bearing on current events and real people, specifically that Thomas is descended from a Galvanized Yankee.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“What?”

“I grant that particular fact does not immediately reveal a connection to the matter of Sergeant Frank Jardos and his cabin—”

“MyTom?”

“—however, as you have said, gathering wide-ranging information during your inquiries has stood you in good stead, with its utility becoming clear only well after you acquired it.”

“My Tom is descended from a Galvanized Yankee — a former Confederate soldier?”

“Indeed.I would conjecture that hearing tales of that ancestry inspired Irene to research the matter further and perhaps inspired her novel.It was a complicated period in history and...”

I tuned out, only long enough to think that Tom had never said a word to me about this.He rarely talked about his family history at all.

Or his parents.