Kitty was working on her ledger at a back table in the Longbranch when she heard a jingle of spurs and Festus came through the swinging doors. She put down her pen and regarded him silently. She had mixed feelings about the hillman. He had come to town twice in the past year and both times there had been serious trouble. First it had been Sarah Guthrie. Her father Nate had been stealing cattle and selling the meat to Fort Dodge, and Festus had given Sarah a terrible scare trying to hide her when she went out to his camp. Of course, that wouldn't have happened if Nate hadn't taken Matt to the hilllman's camp because he wanted the marshal to find the cowhides he had planted there to frame Festus for rustling. Kitty knew Festus wouldn't have laid a hand on Sarah if he hadn't panicked at seeing the men ride up, and she also knew he had been kind to Sarah after her father was killed by his partner Rolly Wendt. Sarah left town to live with her aunt thinking Festus was wonderful.

Then there had been the Easterner that skinned Festus and his friend Bucko Taos in a poker game. The man had been stabbed to death and when Bucko was convicted of the murder and sentenced to hang, Festus broke him out of jail. It was true Bucko had been framed for the murder, and Festus had saved his life and even taken Pop Shiller home to keep him out of jail. Matt had been so angry with Pop for lying at Bucko's trial he wanted him convicted for perjury. Festus had talked him out of arresting the man and Pop was back running his little gin mill within a week. Matt liked the hillman, and for Matt's sake she was always courteous and even stocked Tow's Lightning, a raw corn whiskey no one but Festus would touch. Kitty sighed. Perhaps she was being unfair. Festus might be rough and wild, but he did seem to have a good heart. Matt had thought so from the beginning...

Matt was at Delmonico's with Kitty, telling her about the capture of Black Jack Haggen. She ate quietly, listening to his story. "I tell you, Kitty, he would have finished me off right then if it wasn't for Festus. He got the drop on him before Haggen even knew he was around."

"You say this man was his uncle?"

Matt nodded. "Not only that, but the Haggens are a pretty close-knit family. For a while there I wondered if he was trying to lead me off so his uncle could get away, but I guessed wrong. He was after him, all right. I believe he would have killed him if I hadn't showed up."

"Because of his twin brother...what was his name again?"

"Fergus."

"Festus and Fergus. How did Fergus die?"

"Well, I never did get the details, but apparently Fergus and Jack were on the run from a posse and Fergus got shot. Jack left him, but he made it home and told Festus what happened before he died."

"Sounds like a nice family," said Kitty dryly.

Matt chuckled. "Well, Festus said that work isn't part of the Haggen nature." Kitty looked disgusted and he raised his eyebrows. "Kitty, I'm not going to judge Festus on what his family is like. What matters to me is that he was there when I needed him, and he stood by me all the way back. Now I'd like you to meet him. I could bring him by the Longbranch tonight."

Kitty picked glumly at her food. "I'll be there."