Mark came in Micah's office as Jennings was going out and he stared after the man with his mouth agape. "Pa, that was Mr Jennings!"
"I know, son."
"But Pa, didn't Miss Bertie send him to prison?"
"She thought she did." Luke frowned. "Micah, what about that two thousand dollars? Will Miss Bertie have to pay it back?"
"I don't know." The marshal considered. "We'll have to ask her."
"Are you going to send her a telegram?" asked Mark.
"We don't have to." Luke showed his son the letter. "Miss Bertie is coming for a visit."
The boy looked alarmed. "Here? With Mr Jennings here too?"
Luke and Micah exchanged a glance and the marshal said strongly, "Now don't go borrowing trouble, Mark. I admit it's not the most comfortable situation for Miss Bertie to come to town just as Duke Jennings shows up but it'll be all right."
Mark looked at his father and Luke smiled and nodded. The boy smiled back, relieved. "Well, when is Miss Bertie gonna get here?"
His father consulted the letter. "She says the fifteenth."
"Why, that's the day after tomorrow!" Mark pulled on Luke's hand. "We gotta get home, Pa!"
"What's all this?" asked the big man, his eyes twinkling.
"Miss Bertie didn't see the ranch the last time. We gotta get everything fixed up so we can show it to her."
"You heard him, Micah. I gotta go home and fix up the ranch." Luke's voice was light but his eyes were very serious.
Micah matched both tone and look. "Well, then, you'd better hurry, Lucas boy. That ranch needs a lot of fixing to be up to Miss Bertie's standards. I'll take care of things here."
