After they'd finished with their evening meal, the rest of the family went to the library to sit and visit. Charlie went off to the
kitchen, where she helped Maria dry the dishes. There was a knocking on the front door, and when Charlie went to peek out, curious,
she saw that it was Teresa's beau, come calling.
She told Maria, in halting Spanish, who it was. Maria, busy setting the last of the plates back into the cabinet,
nodded, and smiled.
Maria began to talk rapidly, and Charlie tilted her head, trying to follow. She determined that it was about refreshments
that she would prepare for the guest. Maria then waved Charlie away, shooing her towards the library.
"Vey Dile a Teresa." (Go tell Teresa).
Charlie went out of the kitchen, walking towards the library, and she paused, as Teresa and Murdoch, along with the young
man, Don Jackson, walked from the front door.
During a break in the passing conversation, Charlie said, "Maria says she's fixing up some things to eat. Coffee and cake."
Teresa nodded, looking so happy that Charlie was once again reminded of a candle's light.
Charlie managed a large piece of Maria's chocolate cake, and, after Teresa and her beau had gone to sit outside
together, she sat, curled up next to Scott, while he talked with Murdoch.
When the clock struck eight times, Scott said, "Time to get ready for bed."
"Can I stay up just awhile longer?" Charlie asked. "I want to wait until Teresa comes back inside."
"Teresa doesn't need you asking her a lot of questions," Scott said, and Murdoch chuckled.
After a couple of moments, when Charlie was still sitting there, Scott said, in reminder, "Eight o'clock, Charlie."
Charlie gave a sigh, and then stood up, going to give Murdoch a hug. She went up the stairs, and to her bedroom. She
got into her nightgown, and washed her face at the wash bowl. She was sitting, cross-legged on her bed, looking thru one
of Murdoch's books, when Scott came in.
He came over to sit down on the bed, the springs creaking a bit from his weight. "What book are you looking at?" he asked.
Charlie tilted the book so he could see the title. "It tells about lots of far away places," she said, with enthusiasm.
Scott started flipping thru the book. "Did you brush your teeth?" he asked.
"No," Charlie admitted, and then flashing dimpled smile at him. "I washed my face."
"Good. Go brush your teeth."
Charlie giggled, and bounced off the bed, going out and down the hall to the washroom. When she bounced back
in, Scott was reading thru a page of the book.
Charlie scrambled back up to sit beside Scott, and they looked at the book for a few minutes together.
"Have you traveled far?" Charlie asked him.
"Not too far."
"From Boston to here, right?"
"Uh huh."
"Where else?" Charlie asked.
"Places in the war. Virginia."
"But no where like in here?" Charlie asked him, pointing to the illustrations in the book.
"No. Nowhere like that."
"Would you want to go? To these places, like Africa?" she asked.
"I think it'd be interesting, for sure. But, at this time of my life, no, I wouldn't want to travel that far."
Scott closed the book, and held up the copy of Black Beauty.
"Ready to read?" he asked.
Charlie nodded, and leaned against his shoulder, as he read thru nearly a full chapter.
When he'd marked the page, Charlie asked, "Can we read something from Louisa Mae Alcott when we finish this?"
"If that's what you want to read next."
"Okay," Charlie said, slipping her hand thru the crook of his arm.
"I thought I'd take you to school, with it being the first day and all," Scott said.
Charlie rubbed her cheek against the fabric of his shirt, and when she was quiet, he asked, "Or, would you rather go by
yourself?"
Realizing that he'd misunderstood her silence, and thought that she didn't want him with her, Charlie said, quickly, "No. I want
you to take me."
"Alright."
"I hope I'm not far behind in the lessons," Charlie said, biting at her lower lip in worry.
"I'm sure that you're not. And, even if you were to be, we'll get you caught up soon enough," Scott said, in reassurance.
Once Charlie was under the quilt, Scott gave the blankets an extra tucking in.
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The next day, the last day before school began, Charlie was on the go from sunrise to bedtime. She tended to the kittens,
helped Jelly with his pig, picked peppers and onions from the garden for Maria. When, in the afternoon, Murdoch came from riding
fences to say that he was going into town, Charlie immediately took notice.
As she followed Murdoch towards the house, as he talked with Cip, she was quiet, waiting for her opportunity to speak. Once inside,
in the coolness of the house, Charlie spoke up. "Are you taking the buggy into town?" she asked.
Murdoch paused, in his action of pulling off his gloves. "I hadn't planned to. Why do you ask?"
"I thought that if you were going to take the buggy, that you might let me drive," Charlie said hopefully.
A look into the twinkle of his eyes, and Charlie knew that he'd been aware of her intent even before she asked the question.
"Oh, you thought that, did you?" Murdoch asked her.
Charlie gave him a dimpled smile. "Can we? Go in the buggy?"
"I suppose we can," Murdoch said, giving her a smile in return.
"Yay!"
Murdoch took in Charlie's dirty and rumpled overalls. "Go and change your clothes before we go."
"Alright." Charlie began to run towards the staircase, and then paused, looking back at Murdoch. "Do I have to wear a dress?"
Murdoch regarded her fondly. "I think it would be nice if you did."
Not certain if that was a yes, or no, answer to her question, Charlie could tell that it would please him if she did wear a dress.
So, she ran on up the staircase, stripping off her dusty clothes, and washing her face and hands. She picked a simple blue dress
from her wooden wardrobe, and pulled on her petticoat and the dress.
Once dressed, Charlie undid her braid, and gave a quick brush thru of her auburn curls.
She heard Murdoch calling her from the foot of the stairs, and she laid her hairbrush on the dresser and ran down the
stairs.
"Ready, darling?" he asked, holding out his hand to her.
"I am, if I don't put my hair up," Charlie said.
"It looks fine," he said, and they went outside, where Jelly had finishing hitching up the buggy. While Murdoch stopped to
speak with Jelly, Charlie clambered on into the buggy, taking up the reins, and talking to Dobs, the horse that was hitched.
Dobs, eager to go, took a few tentative steps.
"Charlie. Wait," Murdoch warned.
Charlie pulled back a bit on the reins.
Once Murdoch was installed in the buggy seat beside her, Charlie looked to him. "Now?" she asked.
"Now."
Near town, Murdoch didn't take the reins from her as he usually did when they entered streets with other buggies.
Charlie made as if to hand him the reins, and Murdoch said, "You can do it."
Prompted by his confidence in her, Charlie did her best to guide Dobs down the main street.
"We're going to the bank," Murdoch instructed her.
Charlie drove on, and only had to have Murdoch's guiding hand over her own, on the reins, at one corner of the street.
Once in front of the bank, Murdoch got out of the buggy, and then gave Charlie a lift down.
"I'll be a bit," he told her.
"May I walk around?" Charlie asked.
"I suppose that would be alright," Murdoch said. He reached into his pocket, and then handed her a coin. "For some
candy," he told her indulgently.
"Thank you."
He then pulled his pocket watch out, and gave it a glance. "It's half-past two. See that you're back here, at the bank, in
half an hour. Alright?"
"Yes."
Murdoch looked thoughtful for a moment, and then handed her the watch and chain. "Here. This will help you keep track of the
time."
When Charlie nodded, Murdoch turned to go into the bank, saying, "I don't want to have to go hunting after you. Alright?"
"Yes, Murdoch. I'll be here. Thirty minutes. I promise."
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Filled with the feeling of freedom to walk and poke around in the stores for a bit, Charlie couldn't help the contentment
she felt. First, she went to the mercantile, and bought a sack of gumdrops to share with Murdoch, and then, since there was
still money left, she got a stick of black licorice as well.
Chewing on the licorice, Charlie walked on down the street, hoping she might see Lucy and talk to her for a bit. She thought
about walking to see Mr. Val, but, heading that way, she heard a woman hollering.
Something along the lines of 'trash!' and other things that Charlie couldn't decipher. She paused, and took a few steps back,
looking into the alley. She saw the ragged-dressed man from the edge of town, as he made his way thru the alley and past
Charlie.
Charlie took a few instinctive steps backward. It wasn't that she was afraid. The man was just moving so fast. He swept past
Charlie, nearly brushing into her.
"My pardon, miss," he said.
He was gone before Charlie could get a close look at his face, still curious as she was about that glass eye of his.
A woman came out from the café, her apron covered with cooking spills.
"Did you see a man come this way?" she asked Charlie. "A vagrant?"
Not sure whether to answer truthfully, Charlie was thinking over her words, when the woman gave her full attention to
Charlie.
"Well, did you?" she asked, in a snappish tone.
"I don't know if I saw a vagrant," Charlie settled for saying. After all, maybe the man wasn't really a vagrant...
"A nuisance, that's what he is," the woman complained, bringing the corner of her apron up to wipe at her face. She lowered it,
and said, "Aren't you the girl stayin' with the Lancers?"
"Yes."
"Well, that's nice," the woman said, looking more friendly. "I've known Murdoch Lancer for a good many years. He's a fine man."
"I think so, too," Charlie said.
"How do you like it there? Living with all of them?"
"I like it just fine."
"You'll have every opportunity, that's for certain-" she began, and then broke off to call out, "Val!"
Charlie watched as the sheriff paused in his walking, and came over to greet them.
"Hello there, Just Charlotte," he greeted Charlie.
"Hello, Mr. Val."
"What can I do for you, Wilma?" he asked the woman.
"You can tell me what you're goin' to do about that piece of trash-he was around here again, just now, snooping thru
my barrels out back of the café!"
"Did he harm any property, Wilma?" Val asked.
Sounding infuriated, the woman put her hands on her hips, and snapped, "No, he didn't harm any property! But he's harming
my nerves!"
"I can't rightly arrest a man for causing your nerves to jump, Wilma," Val said calmly, and Charlie resisted the urge to giggle.
The woman called Wilma rose to her full height, and said, sounding affronted, "When we elect a sheriff, it seems to me that he's
bound to do his duty to the folks in this town!"
"And, I surely will do just that, Wilma. As soon as he takes something that doesn't belong to him, or threatens you, then I'll
arrest him."
"Oh! Bah!" she said, and waved a dismissing hand at Val, turning to stomp back into the café.
Charlie turned to look up at Val, her eyes wide in question.
"She's sure enough mad," Charlie observed.
"Wilma's bark is worse than her bite," Val said, seemingly unperturbed. He gave Charlie a smile. "What are you doing in
town?"
"I came in with Murdoch. He's at the bank."
"Ah," Val said, with a nod.
"Why is she so mad at that man?" Charlie asked, curiously.
"She feels he's a pest, that's all."
"Is that the man that lives on the edge of town, in that shack? The one with the glass eye?" Charlie asked. She was
certain of the answer already, but she wanted to see if Val would shed any new light on the mystery.
Val gave Charlie an amused look. "Wilma give you all that information, did she?"
"No. I knew it already."
"Ah."
"Is he a bad man?" Charlie persisted.
"I don't know as I'd say that," Val said. "How about I treat you to a lemonade?"
Unsatisfied with the answers thus far, Charlie studied him. "Can I ask you some more questions then?"
Val studied her out of sky-blue eyes. "Why don't we just have a lemonade?" he said.
L
Val went into the bank, to locate Murdoch, and tell him that he and Charlie would be over at the hotel restaurant, having
a cold lemonade. As she waited out front of the bank for Val, Charlie saw the man again. Not in front of the stores, but going down
another alley. He was now carrying a burlap bag, and walking slowly. Stiffly. As if it hurt his joints to walk at all.
Puzzled, Charlie watched until he disappeared again.
When Val came out, they walked across the street together, to the hotel. Val ordered two glasses of lemonade, and asked
Charlie if she wanted a piece of pie.
"Cherry?" she asked hopefully.
"If that's what you want," Val said, and ordered two pieces of cherry pie.
When the waitress had bustled away again, Charlie leaned her elbows on the table, and studied Val.
"Why does that lady, Wilma, think that man is such a pest?" Charlie asked.
"I imagine it's because he's around a lot, going thru her barrels and such. Generally getting in her way."
"Where does he work?" Charlie asked. "Somewhere around here?"
"He doesn't work that I know of."
"Where does he get his money? To buy food and things?"
Val, about to answer, paused as the waitress delivered their drinks and plates of pie.
Once they were alone again, Val took a bite of his pie, and chewed, looking at Charlie.
"Why so many questions?" he asked.
Charlie shrugged in answer, and when Val continued to look at her intently, Charlie felt her face get warm.
"I'm just curious," she defended herself.
"Well, let's see. He's been around here, about as long as I have, I reckon. Doesn't come into town much. When he does,
he's usually in a hurry. Doesn't stand around to talk to anybody."
"Does he have a family?" Charlie asked.
"I don't know the answer to that. I've never seen him with anybody."
"Oh," Charlie said, and subsided a bit, as they ate their pie.
Val asked Charlie a few questions about school beginning, and such as that. From the window they could see
Murdoch walking towards the hotel.
"Before Murdoch comes in, I just have one thing to say to you," Val said, and Charlie looked at him, wondering at
his sudden serious tone.
"I don't know that the man's a bad fellow. But, I don't know that he's a good one, either. So, let's agree that you steer
clear of him. Agreed?"
Charlie hesitated. She didn't know why it was hard to promise such. But, it seemed to be.
"I haven't done anything," she said, steering around the subject. "Just looked at him. And saw his house. That's all."
"I wasn't accusing you of anything," Val said. "All I'm saying is, best not to be so curious about him."
Charlie was studying him, and Murdoch was nearly upon them, entering the door of the hotel, and Val said,
"Charlie? Are you hearing me?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good," Val said, getting to his feet to shake hands with Murdoch.
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