John, who was a courier for the
Confederacy, with substance for his covert
messages south. But then Wiechman had
also, on a whim, sometime in March, told
the clerks in the office that a Secesh
plot was being hatched against the
president in the very house where he
roomed.
It created more interest than he had
anticipated. He was called into the office
of Captain McDavitt and interviewed at
length. As a result, the Surratt boarding
house was under surveillance from March
through April, although it is an odd fact
that no records of the surveillance or the
interview could be found later.
Anna would surely have enjoyed knowing
this. She liked attention as much as most
young girls. And this was the backdrop of
a romance. Instead, all she could see was
that something was up and that her pious,
simple mother was part of it.
The new guest, the one who talked the
most, spoke with a strange lisp and Anna
didnтt like this either. She stepped
smoothly between the men to pick up their
plates. She used the excuse of a letter
from her brother to go out directly after
breakfast. "Mama," she said. "Iтll just
take Johnтs letter to poor Miss Ward."
Just as her brother enjoyed discouraging
her own romantic inclinations, she made it
her business to discourage the affections
of Miss Ward with regard to him. Calling
on Miss Ward with the letter would look
like a kindness, but it would make the
point that Miss Ward had not gotten a
letter herself.
Besides, Booth was in town. If Anna was
outside, she might see him again.
The thirteenth had been beautiful, but the
weather on the fourteenth was equal parts
mud and wind. The wind blew bits of Annaтs
hair loose and tangled them up with the
