Simon the Fiddler

San Antonio is a rapidly changing city where Irish immigrants can find rare success. The home of one of these successful families, the Twohigs, serves as a meeting place for Doris and Simon; Doris can play the piano there and Mr. Twohig is the banker managing Simon’s accounts. Mrs. Twohig agrees to help Simon look for jobs in the city. When Doris and Simon get a moment alone, they duet the piano and fiddle until they are interrupted by a girl wanting to play the piano. Simon joins Mr. Twohig and an army captain in the other room. They discuss the changing world and Simon’s land amicably; they think that he will do well in the area as a performer. Doris returns home and prepares a gift for Mrs. Twohig so that she can become an ally.

Next, the couple meets at the Guenther home to talk as if they are merely acquaintances. They discuss Doris’s poor vision and the blond sergeant who knows who Simon is, Jacob Whittaker. Doris and Simon reveal that they have learned things about one another through Mercedes and Damon, respectively. Over Christmas, they continue to meet through music at other homes and get to know each other better; Simon continues to work and pay for the land with the money. Josephine recognizes Simon on one such outing and coldly acknowledges him and his goals.

Simon and Doris perform together at the Duerler home but are interrupted by the chaos of the young girls in the household playing with one another. They take a walk in the gardens and Simon holds Doris’s hand; he reveals that he has filled out a marriage license for them. They kiss multiple times, but Doris is nervous about breaking her contract. Simon confesses his sins and history to her and says, “I want two people to be in love and stay in love and never desert each other” (266). Doris does the same, lovingly, then tells him how much worse her life at the Webbs’ has become. She contemplates going back to Ireland, but he insists that he doesn’t want to live without her. They agree to start a life together but know that this will cause problems. Simon buys a cart and a pony to carry he and Doris to safety when they elope. The pony, Tupelo, is blind in one eye, but even so, the cost of all the materials puts Simon back to only a few dollars.

Back in the Webb household, Colonel Webb gathers the family for a discussion on “decorum, on loyalty, on respect” (270). He accuses Doris, through Josephine’s reports, of sneaking out at night to drink and consort with Mexican people and musicians. He orders her to begin turning her earnings over to him. She tells him not to believe his own daughter and he insists that he must and that Doris has shamed the entire family. Wanting to end the argument, Mrs. Webb asks Doris to apologize, but Colonel Webb refuses to hear it, insisting that she is behaving like a harlot; he orders her to never dance or be seen around young men ever again. Doris announces that she has heard enough and is going back to her room, which makes the entire family react in fury and chase after her. Doris escapes, nonetheless.

Simon receives an invitation to play at a tea-dance at the Webb household; Damon warns him that it could create trouble, but Simon ignores him. Pruitt nearly causes a fight with a delivery boy that Damon and Simon shut down, frustrating them both.

At the Webbs’, Mrs. Webb recognizes Simon but cannot do anything to stop him from being there. Simon and Doris flirt and make one another laugh, which frustrates Mrs. Webb further. Colonel Webb appears and recognizes Simon and Damon; he threatens them until Mrs. Webb calms him down. Colonel Webb starts getting too close to Doris as a deliberate provocation.

The dancing begins. After a few dances, Simon steps down and asks Doris to dance, which she accepts. He asks her when she wants to elope, and she says in two days’ time. Afterward, Colonel Webb confronts Simon and tells him to stay away from Doris, as he is too common for her. Simon tells him to keep his hands off her, telling him that his entire family knows what he has done to Doris. Webb strikes him across the face with the bag of coins and chases them out.

Simon walks home and desperately plans to rescue Doris. He tells Pruitt to leave and find other employment. Damon tells Simon to find somewhere else to sleep so that Colonel Webb can’t find him and then tells him that he is going to move on to Nacogdoches, which makes Simon sad. Damon explains that he has children back in Nacogdoches; their mother, whom he married after her husband died, left him after two years. He was a university teacher until the war, when he was conscripted and the children’s biological grandfather came and took the children away, since Damon couldn’t get a lawyer. Damon intends to get them back but promises not to leave until Simon is on his way to safety. Meanwhile, Mercedes helps Doris to pack and prepare for her elopement. Doris falls asleep, relieved at the thought of leaving the household for good.

Damon tries to give Simon a loan so that he can pay off his debts faster, but Simon turns him down. While Simon and Damon play, Pruitt comes into the hotel and demands songs, and Doris appears, trying to warn Simon about an arrest warrant. Pruitt grabs her skirt and Simon attacks him with his fiddle bow; Pruitt nearly guts Simon with a knife in response. Simon stabs him in the sternum with the broken fiddle bow. Simon is promptly arrested and loses sight of Doris and Damon.

The sheriff explains that the murder is a hanging offense, and Simon was already bound to be arrested for seducing and abducting Doris, even though Simon insists that they were to be married. The sheriff has gathered information on him and knows who he is and where he is from. Simon tells the sheriff that he’s lying about all of his threats, and the sheriff, furious, smashes his fiddle against a wall. He waits for hours, listening to Doris argue that she must be allowed to see him while the sheriff insists that the city is under military law.

That night a large man is put in the cell with Simon; he promptly attacks Simon, likely paid to do so by Colonel Webb. The fight nearly kills Simon but is ended abruptly when the man’s son appears, yelling that his wife is coming to get him out. The next morning, they escort Simon out to see Doris, who is standing there with Lieutenant Whittaker, the blond man who Simon has been afraid to see. Doris gives Simon water while Whittaker forces the sheriff to turn over control of Simon to him. After seeing that the fiddle was broken, Whittaker escorts Simon and Doris out.

Whittaker explains that Webb is pushing for Doris to testify against Simon, so he is taking them to be married within the hour, since a wife cannot testify against her husband even under military law. The judge, who compliments Simon on his playing and apologizes for the situation, agrees to marry them after a brief speech about the trials of marriage. They kiss, and then Whittaker takes Simon to the tribunal.

The tribunal, the last under Texan martial law, is held in the Vance house. Whittaker explains that he is Simon’s defense counsel, and Simon asks why, given that he is also interested in Doris; he quietly says that he just wants the best for her and will do anything he can to save Simon.

The tribunal begins. The prosecution tries to bring up hearsay, but Whittaker shuts it down, insisting that they must follow state law and precedent even while working under martial law. Simon explains the situation, and Whittaker explains that Simon is not beat up from the fight with Pruitt but from a brawler being put into his cell against protocol. The judge questions why Colonel Webb, who has no authority, put out a warrant for Simon’s arrest, and the judge laughs at the charge, saying that intention to abduct is not a real law. They move on; Simon shows the judge the wound on his stomach from Pruitt’s knife. The prosecution calls Doris to the stand, but Whittaker reveals that they are married and that she cannot testify, baffling everyone. Whittaker then demands that Simon be acquitted and that the sheriff pay him back for the loss of his fiddle. He puts the pieces of the fiddle on the table and the judge, recognizing the quality and maker, is horrified. Simon realizes that they won the trial. By five o’clock, Simon is cleared of all charges and released.

Simon and Doris end up in a room in Mercedes’s family’s house, although Simon doesn’t know how he got there. Doris carefully undresses his bruised body and kisses him. Simon thinks about how he can escape San Antonio, pay off his debts, and buy another fiddle to make money, but he knows that he is too injured to do much. The doctor arrives and examines his injuries; he has fractured ribs and bones in his hand. The doctor gives him laudanum and tells him to rest for six days. Doris brings him a note from Damon, who has paid off the rest of the harness and found a new fiddle in another town for Simon to buy; Damon has since left town. Simon gives Doris the ring he bought her, and she puts on her nightgown, which is many sizes too big. He laughs that their wedding night should be so uneventful, and Doris falls asleep on him while he strokes her hair.