Iris Moore, Part V

Christian O’Brian’s answer came five days later, just as Iris found out that she had only two more weeks to stay in her room before Mrs. Norman, the proprietor’s wife, would have to ask her to leave the premises. Mrs. Norman could no longer keep Iris on such a low rent without Mr. Norman noticing. Though Mrs. Norman took care of the business of finding suitable lodgers, it was Mr. Norman who oversaw the bills and transactions, and so far he did not mind. Yet now there was a small family of new arrivals who had asked for a room only the other day, and they were paying a dollar more than Iris, which was no mean rate. Mrs. Norman had looked downcast and not a little embarrassed, but like a character in a play Iris once saw, Mrs. Norman shrugged her round shoulders and said, ‘My hands are tied, Miss Moore, Mr. Norman insists. Two weeks, that’s as far as I can let you stay.’

Iris was pacing the room, hugging her shawl close, grateful her window was due south and thus allowed the sun to warm her for most of the day. It was then when the tan rectangle slid out from under her door and stopped not far away from her feet. She could hear Young Hamish, who was responsible for the mail in the house, walk back down again; Hamish was a quiet boy who luckily never asked any questions. Iris, both relieved and excited by another letter from Mr. O’Brian, quickly opened the envelope and started reading without waiting to sit down.

He wrote that he was glad to know that she was in favor of children, since he could not think of a family without them. He knew that many men would prefer sons to daughters, ‘especially out here’, yet he himself had no particular favor for the children’s sex as long as they were healthy, though he had observed that it was always favorable to have one of both. He was glad to find that they already agreed on one thing (which made Iris smile). He knew it was maybe a little forward of him to be so direct about the circumstances that had begun their correspondence, ‘but I think a sense of modesty, in this case, would be misplaced.’ If his letters had not in fact repulsed her (Iris smiled again), and she thought favourably of the match, he would see to it that his lawyers brought everything to order in the following weeks. If she did not object, he suggested she send him a telegram with a simple ‘Yes’, which he would understand as her acceptance of this clumsy proposal (again, Iris smiled). Since he did not know her circumstances, and would not put her into any uncomfortable position, he had added some money that would cover any means of transport to the nearest office and the fee for the telegram. Surprised, Iris looked into the envelope again and there she saw, between an empty sheet of paper, a bright and fresh twenty dollar bill which made something clutch violently in her middle.

Iris hardly dared touch it, but she did look at it. On the one hand, she felt very uneasy that a man she did not know should send her so much money, but on the other hand, this was to be the man she was to marry, for she had already made up her mind to send ‘Yes’. Iris did not know this until she thought it, but once thought she knew it was true. She would marry Christian O’Brian though all she knew of him were a few letters and a photograph. It was, to her mind, a much better match than following the course of a Mrs. Rose, Mrs. Whitney, or Mrs. Emerson.

The rest of the letter said that Christian O’Brian hoped she did not think him too brash in his actions, and trusted in her sound judgement that she knew he meant nothing more than to clarify an otherwise awkward subject, ‘C. O’Brian’. Iris couldn’t help wonder why he had left out all possible well-wishing, though there was a certain formality to having only his name end the letter. He did write quickly, that she could see, and from his sentences it sounded as if he did not pause and ponder long to write let alone finish a letter. It fit to his directness, and Iris decided to leave it at that.

After finishing the letter, Iris found herself starting another until she remembered she was to send a telegram with an acceptance of his ‘clumsy proposal’, which, considering the time of day, she could do right then. Keeping her purse with the twenty dollars tightly in her grip, Iris went to the General Post Office three streetcar stops away, and sent the telegram, blushing when the young telegrapher read the address, saw her ‘Yes’, and smiled widely at her. After paying the tram fare and the fee, Iris found that she still had more than fifteen dollars left. This meant that she could not only extend her rent but also buy more petroleum for her lamp, fill her storage cupboard, and purchase some personal supplies she would be in genuine need of in a few days, though she would be careful not to buy them at Mr. Emerson’s who would inevitably ask questions.

Following through with her errands after another long day at Mr. Emerson’s that following Monday, Iris felt that she was feeling the first effects of her connection to Christian O’Brian. She could not help a murmured thanks when looking to the sky on her way home, since she knew where this particular blessing came from. To think that, if all went well, she would no longer have to stand behind Mr. Emerson’s counter and dash into the storage rooms when he or Carter virtually ordered her to… There would be no more Sunday teas with Mrs. Rose either, whom Iris had started to visit again since Mrs. Rose was after all the only friend she really had; nor would there be any more coaxing letters from Mrs. Whitney, let alone blunt suggestions from Mrs. Emerson… Iris’ relief was beginning to make itself known. If all worked out well, she would soon leave her small room opposite the large Forsythe’s White advertisement and the busy downtown street. She would move away from this teaming city, she would take the train West to the wilds of Washington Territory and live a completely different life with a man by the name of Christian O’Brian. It would be very different from anything she knew, but right then Iris was grateful for anything different from what she knew. A new beginning out West at least meant there would be a genuine end to what she was in now.

Once home, with her ‘Yes’ sent and her future far less grievous than it looked like only a day before, Iris allowed herself to wonder why Christian O’Brian only ever wrote C. She wondered, too, what kind of voice he had and if his manners were well at table. She wondered if he had any family and what his friends were like, and if he had found any in Riverton. She wondered many things, and spent many of her following hours behind Mr. Emerson’s counter wondering about these things and more, which earned her a few sharp remarks, though Iris had stopped caring. Soon she would leave Emerson’s General Goods for good, and start a new life as a respectable woman, though she was careful not to reveal anything until she was absolutely certain that her ‘Yes’ had been favorably received and all had been ‘brought to order’.

In the space of three weeks, all was settled very efficiently by Messrs. Sanders & Jones, who asked her to a total of three interviews. Once in their spacious, imposing offices, young Mr. Sanders Jr. (son to the first Sanders of Sanders, Sanders and Jones) and grey-haired Mr. Jones explained the procedures to Iris, which was where she found out that all the fees had already been paid for by Mr. O’Brian, since it was common that the lady in question was of little means. Iris was also surprised to learn that there was a space of three months during which both partners could renounce the connection as long as the marriage had not been consummated. Sanders, Sanders & Jones would write out a letter explaining Iris had worked for three months as Mr. O’Brian’s housekeeper which would keep her name intact, and Iris’ three months of absence vouched for. However, if the marriage was consummated this could no longer be done, since a separation would mean a divorce, which was a completely different legal procedure that could not be supported by the Mountjoy Courtship Agency.

Before the marriage could be completed, though, Iris had to procure two letters of recommendation from married women about her conduct, since she too would receive two letters of recommendation from two married men about Mr. O’Brian’s conduct. Iris had worried about this, but finally asked Mrs. Rose and Mrs. Whitney if they would undertake this task, saying that she wanted to apply for a new place as a tutor and a letter of conduct from a respectable married woman was needed. Mrs. Rose and Mrs. Whitney were glad to do this, though both replied they had rather hoped Iris ‘good news’ was an engagement. Even so, they both wrote glowing letters to Sanders, Sanders & Jones, both in highest approval of Iris’ conscientiousness, tact, thrift, good manners, and Christian upbringing, both praising her as a healthy, pretty young woman, whose presence was a delight to all those who knew her. Iris was very flattered by these recommendations, and duly felt ashamed for having lied to Mrs. Rose and Mrs. Whitney as such. She finally decided that she would explain in full once she was the rightful Mrs. O’Brian.

Iris in turn received two letters from a Mr. Winters of the Seattle Timber Exchange, and a Mr. Lestrange of Lestrange National (San Francisco-Philadelphia), who both said Mr. O’Brian was a successful businessman who had the honourable trait of never breaking his word. He was known to be straightforward, down-to-earth young man, who directed his business responsibly and was not known to act rashly. Both Mr. Winters and Mr. Lestrange wrote that they considered themselves fortunate to count Mr. O’Brian as one of their oldest friends and associates, since they knew no man whose loyalty and dedication was equally unwavering. Messrs. Sanders, Sanders & Jones could not find a better business partner, nor a more honest one. Reading the letters, Iris had to smile at the fact that Mr. O’Brian obviously concealed from his friends what these letters of conduct were for, but even so they portrayed what she already knew: that Christian O’Brian was a man who she could very well see as her husband.