The next morning Marie, Adam, and Hoss were eating breakfast when Mariette came downstairs. She was dressed all in black, and she came to the table and stood waiting to be told where to sit. Marie smiled at her. "Bon jour, Mariette. Please sit here between me and Adam." Marie called to Hop Sing. "Hop Sing, Mariette is here. Could you bring her a plate, please?"

Mariette took the chair indicated and sat down. Hop Sing brought her a plate filled with flapjacks, ham, and eggs. Marie filled her glass with milk, and set it in front of her. Mariette put her napkin in her lap and took a sip of milk. Since she seemed settled, Marie decided to describe their schedule. "We eat breakfast every morning, and then we have lessons until dinner. This afternoon you and I will talk and decide about the rest of your schedule. How does that sound?"

"It sounds fine, Mrs. Cartwright." Mariette picked up her fork and took a bite of egg. She put the fork back down and drank the rest of her milk.

Hoss stared at her. "Is that all you're going to eat?"

"I'm not hungry," Mariette said. "You eat the rest." She pushed her plate over to him and folded her napkin.

Marie moved her plate back in front of her. "My dear, you must eat more than that. You cannot learn on an empty stomach."

Mariette made no move to pick up her fork or napkin. "Thank you, Mrs. Cartwright, but I've had plenty. Father never made me eat."

Marie was quiet. The child would be hungry by dinnertime, and would eat more then.

After breakfast the boys took their plates to the kitchen. Mariette picked up her nearly full plate and followed them. Hop Sing took her plate and stared at it. "Mariette, you should not waste good food."

"It was very good, Mr. Hop Sing, but I'm not hungry. Thank you for making breakfast." She turned and left the kitchen.

What a prim little girl, Hop Sing thought.

Mariette seated herself at the dining table and waited silently until Adam and Hoss were back with their textbooks. Adam had brought down several of his old McGuffey readers, and he put them down in front of Marie.

Marie turned to Hoss first, and spoke in a low voice to him, assigning him a lesson in McGuffey's Second Reader. Adam had opened his arithmetic book and was working on a page of problems. Marie stood, glanced at his work, and came around the table to sit next to Mariette. She picked up McGuffey's First Reader. "I am not sure how much you have been taught since your mother died. If you will read the first lesson to me..."

Mariette took the book from Mariet and read easily, "Here is John. There are Ann and Jane..."

"Thank you, my dear." Marie took the book from her and turned to a lesson farther on. Mariette read it easily again.

"Perhaps you could tell me which book you are using now," Marie suggested.

"Father and I were almost through McGuffey's Second Reader," Mariette told her. "I loved reading with Father. We studied every night." Her tone was resentful - it was clear that she did not want Marie to take her father's place as a teacher.

Hoss and Adam stopped working and looked up at Mariette. Her face was expressionless as she stared at Marie.

Marie said, "I am sure your father was an excellent teacher. It is clear that you read very well. Since your father is no longer here, I shall be your teacher. It is very important that you learn. Since you and Hoss are using the same book, why don't we work on some arithmetic problems until after I hear him read?"

She picked up the North American Arithmetic, and handed it to Mariette. Mariette turned to a place halfway through the book, and Marie handed her Hoss's slate and pencil. Mariette pointed to the section that she and her father had studied last, and began to work on the next lesson.

Halfway through the morning Hop Sing brought them a tray of milk and cookies. Marie poured three glasses of milk and placed them in front of each young student. "Help yourselves to the cookies," she said. Hoss and Adam eagerly reached for Hop Sing's cookies and ate them.

"Mariette, we have a new litter of kittens in the barn. I can take you out to see them if you want," Hoss offered.

"Thank you, Hoss, but we have barn cats at the Lazy R," Mariette told him.

Adam tried next. "I'm supposed to go to town tomorrow afternoon to get supplies. Would you like to ride in with me?"

"Thank you, Adam, but I had better see what Mrs. Cartwright would like me to do tomorrow." Mariette's voice was quiet and formal.

The boys weren't quite sure what to make of her. She'd always been so much fun when they had visited the DuPonts on their ranch.

There was a high thin wail from upstairs, and Marie stood up. Joe was awake and hungry. Before she left, she turned to Adam, "Would you mind checking Mariette's lesson, Adam? I'll be back in a few minutes."

Adam picked up the slate and began looking over the problems. "These answers are all correct, Mariette." The older boy smiled at her. "Do you like arithmetic?"

"Yes, because there can be only one right answer," Mariette said.

"Adam, can you listen to me read before Mama comes back?" Hoss asked. "If my reading is good, she may let us go early." He looked at Mariette. "I have a new pony if you want to see him. His name is Sonny, and I got him for my birthday."

Adam moved over next to Hoss and listened to him read his lesson. He asked him the questions that followed the reading selection, but before he could begin the spelling portion, Marie was back with Joe in her arms.

"There - I was not gone so long, was I, my dears?" She put Joe down on the floor with his blocks and took her seat next to Mariette. Hop Sing came and picked up the almost empty platter of cookies.

"Mariette didn't eat any cookies, Hop Sing," Hoss told the little man.

"Perhaps Mariette does not like sweet things," Hop Sing suggested with a smile.

"I drank my milk," Mariette was defensive.

"Be quiet, Hoss, I am sure Mariette will eat her dinner," Marie said. She smiled at Mariette and received only a blank stare in return. When Marie turned to speak to Hoss, Mariette stuck out her tongue at him and mouthed, "Tattle tail!" Hoss's eyes grew round in surprise, but he didn't say anything to Marie.

Mariette sat quietly while Marie listened to Hoss's reading and spelling lesson. Marie assigned Hoss a page of problems in the arithmetic text, and then sat down with Mariette and handed her the Second Reader. "Show me where you and your father left off, my dear."

Mariette turned towards the end of the book. "We were about to start Lesson 53, 'Mother, What Is Death?'"

A shiver ran down Marie's spine, but she kept a straight face. "Very well, Mariette, you may begin reading."

Mariette began to read aloud, but her voice trembled and her breath seemed to catch in her throat. Marie was about to tell her to stop reading when she threw the book across the room.

"I don't care to learn anymore today, Mrs. Cartwright," Mariette said. She stood up and went up the stairs to her room.

"Adam, watch Joe for me, please." Marie followed Mariette upstairs. The door to her room was closed, and Marie knocked. She could hear Mariette crying, and, when the child didn't answer, she opened the door softly and went in. Mariette was curled in a ball on the floor under the window, her hands over her face. Marie went over and sat on the floor next to her, pulling the child into her lap. "My poor girl," she murmured as she gathered Mariette to her.

"NO!" Mariette screamed, striking out at Marie. "I'm not your girl! I'm not a Cartwright! I am Mariette Catherine DuPont. Jake and Catherine were my parents - not you, not Mr. Cartwright!" She jumped to her feet and ran.

Downstairs Adam and Hoss heard her scream, and they stood up as Mariette came running down the stairs. She tripped on the landing and fell, but she was on her feet again and out the door before they could move.

Joe began to wail, and Adam and Hoss turned in his direction. "Pick Joe up, Hoss," Adam told him, "while I see about Marie." He ran up to Mariette's room, and found Marie picking herself up. Blood dripped from her nose, and Adam caught her arm to steady her.

"She hit you!"

""No, not intentionally. She was flailing her arms a bit and struck out. I'm all right, Adam." Marie patted his hand.

Adam slipped his arm around her waist. "Let me help you to your room, Marie." As he walked her out of Mariette's room, Hop Sing appeared in the hall. He took one look at Marie. "Lie down, Mrs. Cartwright, and I shall bring you a cup of tea and a compress for your face."

"Joe - he is alone?" she asked.

"Hoss is with him," Adam told her. "He'll be all right. Just you rest a bit, and we'll get your nose to stop bleeding. If Joe sees it, it'll scare him and he'll scream louder."

...

It was late afternoon before Ben returned to the house. Everything was quiet, and he took it as a good omen that Mariette was settling in nicely. He opened the door to find Hoss and Joe playing with the old Noah's Ark. Good smells came from the kitchen, and Ben looked around for Marie. "Where's your mother, Hoss?"

"She's upstairs lying down," Hoss told him.

Ben took off his coat, hat, and gun belt, and went up to their room. Marie was lying on the bed, a bloody handkerchief beside her. "My love, are you feeling all right?"

She sat up slowly. "Mariette ran away before dinner. Adam has gone out to look for her." Her cheek was bruised, and Ben drew a breath.

"What the hell happened to your face?" he asked.

Marie caught at his hand. "Mariette was crying, and I tried to pull her close to comfort her. She struck out blindly, Ben - she didn't know what she was doing. You mustn't be angry with the child."

Ben took a turn around the room and then sat down on the edge of the bed next to Marie. He examined her face. "Hop Sing brought me a cup of tea and put a cold compress on my nose and cheek. It will be better by morning." Marie assured him. "What shall we do about Mariette?"

"Sell the Lazy R and send her away to school on the proceeds," Ben suggested. "Someplace far away."

"Ben!" Marie was shocked. "You cannot be serious! The child is suffering. She is mourning her father and she has had to move to a new home. Yes, she is the daughter of friends, but she never expected to have to live here, to leave her home. She and Hoss played together, but -"

Ben interrupted her. "I know, Marie. I wasn't serious about sending her away - at least not yet." He took Marie's hand in his and kissed it. "I'm sorry, darling. I just don't like to see you hurt in any way."

"I know, my husband," Marie caressed his cheek. "But I was very much like her. When my parents died of yellow fever in New Orleans, I was placed in a convent school. I felt very alone and frightened, and I often wanted to run away as Mariette has done. Only there was no place to for me to go."

She looked so forlorn at the memory that Ben scooped her up in his arms, and carried her to a chair. Sitting down with her in his lap, he held her close, and whispered, "Those days are long gone, my love, and your home is here in my heart."