The next afternoon saw a spate of forgetfulness and clumsiness amongst the population of Four Corners.
Mrs Potter had her purse returned to her by the twins; she shook her head in gratitude at their honesty as they returned it to her.
Vin, who scarcely remember taking his small brass telescope out of his jacket pocket had it returned to him by a smiling Savannah. Hannah was also grinning when she returned Mary's missing handkerchief to her.
Nathan's small pocket knife was found on the ground outside the tavern and dutifully returned to him by Amelia. 'Oh please don't thank me sir,' she protested prettily, 'I'm only doing my duty as a good Christian woman.'
Nathan thanked her profusely, and ambled over to the tavern, racking his brains to try and think when it was he'd dropped his knife. 'You're Ma sure is teaching those girls manners,' he commented to Ezra, who was, as per usual, reclining in his chair and shuffling a deck of cards, Vin sat to his right, his eyes closed.
'Indeed,' Ezra replied, his mind elsewhere. He was thinking of course of Rose, and the rendezvous they had planned for later.
'Yup, and she's teaching them honesty too, had the red haired girl return my knife, and the twins gave back Mrs Potter's purse as soon as they found it,' Nathan continued. Vin, who Nathan had thought was napping, yawned and sat up straight, 'Savannah gave me back my telescope earlier, I'm damned if I can remember taking it out of my pocket, though she said she found it in the livery.'
He scratched his stubble thoughtfully, he needed a shave. 'Must be something in the water that's making us all forgetful today,' he reasoned cheerfully and stood to get himself a drink.
Ezra's eyes narrowed in suspicion for a moment, thinking back to the early days of his childhood, when he'd first learned the art of pick pocketing, and the pick pocketing sprees he'd gone on…. he shook his head and dismissed the idea. His mother would never have the audacity.
'You lookin forward to tonight?' Vin questioned as he returned with drinks for his friends, and Ezra's train of thought was derailed.
'Indeed I am Mr Tanner,' he smiled and began to shuffle his cards, once again thinking of Rose.
**********
It was late afternoon when Maude summoned Rose to her quarters, ostensibly for 'tea', though Rose knew otherwise.
'Miss Dawson do sit,' Maude called as she entered the room. The tea was laid out upon the table, fine china cups and saucers, and a small selection of sweat meats. Rose sat obediently, and eyed Maude warily as she filled her cup with the amber liquid.
'I expect you are prepared for your evening with Ezra?' Maude asked, deciding to be straight forward, she never was one for dancing around an awkward subject. Rose, thrown off by the direct approach, spat a small bit of her tea out in surprise.
'Really Ms Dawson, you're going to have to behave better than that when you return home, or you shall out us all,' Maude was disdainful and Rose blushed.
'Please forgive me Mrs Standish,' she apologised, 'I still have a small amount of preparation for tonight, I must fix my hair and dress of course.'
Maude nodded approvingly, 'Good girl, I will have no one saying that my girls are shabby in appearances.' She placed her cup down on the table, and eyed Rose seriously. 'I trust you know about the birds and the bees Rose?' she questioned sternly, and Rose nodded blushing in mortification. 'Good, then I take it that you will exercise a large amount of discretion in your dealings with my son. You have a good head on your shoulders Rose,' she continued blithely ignoring the embarrassed girl squirming before her. 'But you wouldn't be the first smart woman to fall for a charming man, so I'm warning you to be careful. My son is a smooth talker Rose,' she warned, 'But that's all he is; smooth talk. Don't hitch your star to the wrong wagon. You have a promising future in front of you, don't make it difficult by adding a baby to the equation. It makes life hard, I should know.' Maude trailed off in thought, and Rose sat silently for a moment waiting to be excused.
'You may go,' Maude called, jolting back to reality with a start, and Rose stood and swiftly left the room.
***********
She had been sixteen when she first met him, Jack Standish, a successful business man; or so he said.
She too had misled him, though she never lied outright to him, she would reason afterwards, merely omitted the truth. He thought her the daughter of a wealthy merchant, and though she came from a good family, they weren't as wealthy as she'd led him to believe.
He courted her in secret; she would steal from her house to meet him at night, and they would spend hours kissing gently and sweet talking.
'Run away with me,' he'd whispered, 'We'll elope and get married.' She had agreed readily; thinking happily of their life together, he thinking of the money he could plunder from her family.
They ran away together on a hot, humid July night, to St Louis where they were married in a small ceremony the next morning.
Quickly he began to suggest that they should return home, to her family so he could join the family business, brushing away her enquiries into his own business. She fobbed him off for a few weeks, with excuse after excuse, when at last she'd snapped.
'There is no family business,' she'd exploded in a fit of anger, and he'd paled, his rakish grin gone.
'You lied to me,' he accused, hissing in anger and grabbing her roughly by the arm. 'You conniving little bitch,' he'd yelled, and for the first - and last - time in her life, Maude received a beating from a man.
He was gone when she came around the next morning, lying in agony on the floor of their room in a squalid boarding house. He had taken all their money, the few pieces of jewellery she owned; even the wedding ring from her finger.
She had moped around the boarding house for days, waiting for him to return to her. On the fifth day when he still hadn't returned and she'd realised with a start that she was almost two weeks late, she roused herself from her stupor. There was a man in the boarding house, Jack had told her before, an ex-con who had retired to St Louis to drink away his fortune. With great determination Maude prised which room he was staying in out of her landlady.
She marched up to his door, and banged on it loudly, 'Mr Eckles,' she'd greeted him seriously, 'I am Maude Standish, you're new protégé.' And the rest, of course is history.
*********
Ezra stood outside the front door of the school, his hand poised to knock. He was attired in his favourite emerald green smoking jacket, his appearance immaculate. Breathing in deeply he closed his eyes and rapped loudly on the door.