The Visit Margaret P.

(With thanks to my betas, Suzanne Lyte and Terri Derr) (Words: 3,533)

Chapter Four

"I didn't realise Green River had so many women." Scott stood with Katie at the back of the room Johnny and Emily had almost booked for their wedding reception. More and more people kept coming through the double doors from the vestibule of The Occidental Restaurant and Reception Rooms. One or two men were re-directed by a restaurant employee to the reception desk to check their firearms, but most guests wandered into the room unimpeded. Scott hoped Katie noticed. "There are quite a few here from other towns. Teresa was right."

"Mama always attracts a good crowd, but she will be disappointed there aren't more men."

Judging by those already seated, Scott calculated women and girls out-numbered men by about ten to one. "If I was coming to an event like this without a lady, I'd probably arrive just before it started. Don't give up hope: more men may come by two o'clock."

"I hadn't thought of that. Whether they do or not though, I rely on you to spread the word when we're gone. Unfortunately, women's suffrage is dependent on the votes of men."

"What makes you think I approve of the idea of women voting—or even speaking in public for that matter? I know a lot of men who wouldn't approve of either."

"Your grandfather and my Grandfather Eliot among them." Katie stuck her thumbs into an invisible waist coat. Rocking on her heels, she deepened her voice and lowered her chin. "'A woman's place is in the home, not embarrassing her family by public oratory.'"

Scott laughed; she had the late Senator Eliot, down to a T. "Exactly."

Lowering her hands, Katie looked at him with a stern voice and a twinkle in her eye. "I've been alert to your views on women's rights for quite some time, Scott Lancer, so don't you try to make me think badly of you again. In fact, it was the evening you told Denton Priest that you supported Wyoming's decision to allow women the vote that my friends and I decided you were not beyond redemption."

"Indeed? So I've been the subject of conversation, have I? I don't know whether I should be flattered or worried."

"Flattered, definitely."

"Except you refused to dance with me shortly after that as I remember."

"A tactic that misfired, but the subjects of that party and Barbara Stanforth are hereby banned forever. Agreed?"

"Agreed." He held her gaze for a moment, but then they both heard a familiar voice and looked towards the door.

"Oh good, you made it." Katie stepped forward as Maria and a small contingent of vaqueros' wives came into the room. "I reserved some seats for you near the front. Just look for the cards with 'Lancer' written on them."

Scott escorted the ladies part way down the rows of chairs until they could see where she meant and then returned to Katie's side. "I wonder what Johnny got for his lunch with Jelly on duty?" He hadn't realised Maria and the other women were planning to come until Katie had reserved the chairs about half an hour before.

"Well, I don't expect it was anything as fancy as we had in the restaurant here, but Maria was planning to make something before she left. All Jelly had to do was take it up…."

"Scott, how lovely to see you here. We've missed you." An elegantly dressed young woman cut across their conversation.

Scott's heart sank and he plastered a Boston smile on his face. "Miss Eliot may I introduce Miss Constance and Miss Harriet Reynolds. Ladies, this is Miss Catherine Eliot from Boston."

"Miss Catherine Eliot? You are the daughter—the Miss Eliot who writes in the Woman's Journal about vocations and education?" It was not a discovery that seemed to please Connie Reynolds. Her lips smiled but her eyes glinted. "You are much younger than I imagined."

The corners of Katie's mouth twitched. "Indeed. I trust you'll forgive me? Do you have an interest in higher education, Miss Reynolds?"

"Why, Miss Eliot, what a question to ask me. The Reynolds spread is one of the largest ranches in the San Joaquin. Didn't Scott mention us to you?" Connie batted her lashes at him, but he did not react—strange how he used to find that attractive.

In any case, things had never come to anything with Connie. Apart from the dinners attended by both families, he had taken her to the last Independence Day dance and walked out with her twice. Then, as they had so little in common, he hadn't pursued the acquaintance. "There have been too many other things happening. I'm afraid the subject didn't come up."

"Well now, I will not be angry with you." With a more concentrated gaze, Connie reached out and touched his hand before speaking to Katie again. "Of course I have enjoyed the very best training in proper etiquette and the social graces. Since my return from Washington D.C., I have run my father's household. It is good practice for when I eventually marry." Scott's fingers tensed as he felt her touch again. Focusing on an ivy leaf on the cornice, he tried hard not to look at Connie—or Katie. What must she think? "Some call me accomplished, though I really couldn't say. Scott must be my judge."

He gave a stiff bow. "Miss Reynolds plays the piano very well and serves an excellent dinner."

"Oh, you are such a man, Scott Lancer; always thinking of food. But you'll give Miss Eliot the wrong impression. We do of course employ servants, Miss Eliot. My father is quite wealthy; one of the Reynolds from Virginia. So you see we have no personal need of the academic or vocational education you write about."

"But we're still interested." Scott had almost forgotten Harriet was there; she murmured like a scared mouse in her sister's shadow. Connie rolled her eyes.

"Yes, of course, but not for ourselves, Harriet dear." Shaking her head at her sister's gaucheness, Connie placed her hand on Scott's arm. He refused to respond. Poor Harriet: she'd been shut up with a governess until Connie came back, and now she was in her sister's care. She was due to be dispatched east to be 'finished' in September. A quiet, studious wee thing, she was not at all like her older sister. He glanced over to see how she was coping and was surprised by what he saw. She brightened. Not at him, but at Katie. He had missed it, but Katie had done something, he could tell. Connie must have realised it too, or at least she recognised she had lost Scott's attention, because she addressed Katie again. "I understand you and your mother are fine orators, Miss Eliot—very modern. Of course any friends of the Lancer family deserve our support. Scott, while Miss Eliot is speaking you must sit with us. I insist."

Before he could reply, Katie moved closer and slipped her arm through his. "I won't be making a speech today, Miss Reynolds, just answering a few questions afterwards." Leaning slightly forward, she lowered her voice as if sharing a confidence. "I admit I'm a little nervous among so many strangers. Scott has very kindly offered to stay with me."

"Actually, I think your mother might be about to start. Ladies, if you will excuse us, we'd better go to our seats." With a small bow Scott led Katie away, buoyed by the hug Katie gave his arm as they made their escape.

A bell tinkled before they had taken more than a few steps. All eyes turned towards Aggie standing on the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention."

Skirting the room quickly, Scott and Katie negotiated a path to chairs near the front where the others were already seated. Murdoch got up to let Katie and Scott in, and then shifted his chair over slightly to allow them more space. Due to his height, he always sat on the side.

"Ahem." Receiving a sharp tap on his shoulder, Scott turned to face the disgruntled visage of the Widow Hargis.

He moved his seat sideways too.

After a few words of greeting, Aggie introduced Beth to enthusiastic applause, and when the clapping subsided, the speech-making began.

"Before I say anything I'd like you to answer two questions in your own minds. Firstly, are your wives, daughters, sisters and mothers any less intelligent than the men in your lives? Secondly, do they see the world in the same way as men? Are the things that concern them most the same things that concern men most?" Beth paused and allowed her audience to consider. Just when the room started to hum with whispered comments, she began to educate them. She spoke about the ratio of adult men to women in California, about the number of children and about how the decisions that affected everyone were made by men alone, good men most of them, but men with the outlook and concerns of men. "Leaving aside justice for the moment, is it sensible to allow a drunkard to vote but not the woman who raised her children to be productive and law-abiding citizens?"

"A woman's place is in the home." Gunsmith Gil Abbott called out from the back of the room.

"Hear, hear!" The group of men he was standing with—late arrivals—patted him on the back and smirked at Beth. Scott turned sideways in his chair, watching the exchange, prepared to get up if things got out of hand.

Beth appeared unfazed. She actually lowered her voice and responded as though she was having a personal conversation with the hecklers. It was amazing how she could do that and still be clearly heard by everyone else. "Indeed, sir; for most women the home is their lives and voting will not change that. But like men, women want to fulfil their roles well. Our children are this nation's future, and largely they are reared by women. Shouldn't the guardians of our nation's future be educated and have some say in the laws that affect them and their families?"

"Schooling's all right, but they don't need to go to college or bother themselves with politics to raise kids."

"Yeah, that's right." Another man Scott didn't recognise butted in. "Don't want damn—beggin' your pardon, Ma'am. A white man has enough trouble getting a job when bosses can pay lower wages to—" Beth raised her eyebrows, and the man hesitated, glancing around him. "—some others. He don't need women taking the food from his kids' mouths as well."

"I suspect the jobs you are talking about, sir, are not those that demand a college education or that most women would have the physical strength to undertake, but I'm pleased you and the other gentlemen have given the matter some thought. I may be able to allay some of your concerns, if you will allow me to continue?" She paused with a pleasant air of enquiry, and after a moment resumed her speech. After a few uneventful minutes, Scott began to relax.

Beth spoke for nearly three quarters of an hour. She was very good, and she handled more than one interruption with the skill of an experienced speaker. Her performance forced him to accept a few home truths. You're a hypocrite, Scott Lancer. You don't like the idea of women speaking in public, because it makes you feel uncomfortable not because they're no good at it. Beth isn't upset by a few loud-mouths.

He glanced at Katie. Originally he'd thought her refusal to mount the dais was a matter of principle. Now it seemed more likely she just found the idea daunting. One day she would gather up her courage and do it. Damn it, he still didn't like the idea.

As soon as the lecture was brought officially to a close, Katie was surrounded. Beth had introduced her near the end of her speech, and girls and their parents interested in higher learning or the vocations available to women waited patiently to speak with her.

"Maggie wants to be a nurse, but we don't want her going back east. Is there somewhere in California she can train?"

"I'm sorry, but not to my knowledge." Katie opened her notebook. "If you give me your name and address, I'll find out for sure. If I can't send you the details of a local training hospital, I'll give you information about the ones back east. There are some very good boarding houses. I understand your concern, but I'm sure Maggie would be quite safe."

Hattie Braithwaite was next with her daughter, Gertrude. "Bookkeeping—that's what we want to know about. Gert is good with numbers and the bank manager in Stockton says he'd take her on, but she has to have a piece of paper first."

"There is a very good school recently opened by a Mr and Mrs Charles Anderson in San Francisco. I was fortunate enough to be shown around the week before I came here. They offer training in various office skills, and they're happy to take female students. They offer a diploma with all their courses. You should write to them." Katie wrote the details down on the scrap of paper Hattie provided.

Scott stood sentry as Katie answered what she could or took down the details so she could research and send the information later. Why was imparting her knowledge like this more acceptable to his feelings than her getting up on a platform in front of a more general audience?

He stared at a group of single men by the door. They were looking in Katie's direction. One of them made a gesture that partly answered his question. Scott would have liked to have punched him, but instead he moved to block the man's view—not so easy to do if Katie stood on a rostrum.

"Penny for them." A large woman in a purple satin dress and feather-adorned hat approached him from behind. Scott smiled as she gave his shoulder a nudge. "I'd like to ask your young lady a question. I figure you should introduce me."

"My pleasure." Scott waited until Katie said goodbye to a group of girls from Morro Coyo, and then touched her arm to get her attention. "Allow me to introduce Miss Annie Guthrie."

"Aw, call me Gus." She grabbed hold of Katie's hand. "I'm mighty pleased to meet you, Miss Eliot. You're a woman after my own heart, encouraging girls to take up work that some great lumps say only men can do."

Seemingly not put off by having her arm nearly shaken from its socket, Katie smiled. "I'm happy to meet you, Gus. You must call me Katie. Are you a teacher?"

"Who me? No." Gus flapped a hand and went a little pink. "I'm the local blacksmith."

"My goodness, are you really? That is different." Katie sounded quite impressed.

"I didn't serve a proper apprenticeship, mind. My pa taught me. Now what I want to know is could I take me an apprentice—proper like?"

"Well now, I don't honestly know. But I could find out for you if you like?" Katie noted down Gus's name and address in her notebook, and then Gus hurried away to change out of her 'get up' and go back to work. "What an interesting woman."

"She's a bit of a character all right. We play cards together occasionally." Scott watched Gus cut a swathe through those still standing around the room chatting. "I suppose she is quite remarkable for a woman. I'm embarrassed to admit I've just thought of her as one of the boys."

Katie laughed. "In that dress?"

"Well, she's not usually in a dress. Normally she wears trousers or dungarees. Her language isn't always ladylike either."

"But she's a good blacksmith?"

"Very."

"And yet, it may be difficult to get the piece of paper that says so. That's what she'll need to train someone else these days. If she can't take on apprentices, it will affect her business. The best workers will want a qualification that improves their future prospects." Katie was thoughtful. "I need to investigate a little bit. Ben Telford deals with apprenticeships in his industry. It's not the same as bootmaking, I know, but perhaps he can advise me where to start my enquiries."

"It's nice of you to go to so much trouble for people you don't even know."

"Oh, it's no trouble. I enjoy the challenge of finding out. Maybe one day, if I don't marry and have children to keep me busy, I'll become one of Mr Pinkerton's investigators. He employs women. Did you know?" Her eyes sparkled. Scott didn't think she was being serious, but it was clear Katie didn't fill her days solely with genteel pursuits.

"If you take Katie home in the buggy, I'll bring the others." Murdoch appeared at Scott's elbow, looking slightly vexed. "Teresa and Emily have disappeared somewhere, and Beth is finding it hard to escape her admirers. I'm going for the carryall now. It will be dark before we get back if we don't leave soon."

Scott had a quick word to Katie to let her know what was happening, and then he followed his father from the room. It wasn't long before he was helping her into the buggy.

Excited by the success of the afternoon, she talked almost non-stop on their journey back to the ranch. "A woman needs to be able to earn a living without a man, Scott. How often do you see it, the husband dies or runs off and the woman is left with hungry mouths to feed? The family lives hand to mouth until the woman can find another husband, and love often doesn't come into it. The key to change is education. And the key to get women access to education and to give them a say in what happens to them in other respects is the vote."

"I don't think I've ever seriously considered the wider implications of women not having legal equality with men." Scott slowed the buggy as they took the bend that would lead them to the bridge into the Lancer valley. They had been driving some time, and he had been thinking. "I'm attempting to sift out prejudices from my up-bringing in an all-male household and the army. It's not easy."

"At least you're trying."

"You speak as though you're personally affected by the problems ordinary women face. I don't mean to criticise or disagree, but what can Miss Catherine Eliot of Beacon Hill know of hardships like putting food on the table for hungry children?"

"You think because my life is comparatively easy I should ignore the plight of other women? Don't I have a responsibility to make use of my good fortune for the benefit of others?"

"'Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail'."

"Exactly. As an admirer of Mr Emerson, you must appreciate my argument." In her enthusiasm, Katie twisted in her seat and placed a hand on Scott's arm.

He willed her to leave it there and snuggle closer, but his smile only seemed to make Katie think better of her action. Turning back, she moved her hand to her lap and looked ahead as they drove under the Lancer arch. A knot of disappointment lodged under his ribs; damn Boston etiquette—they only had a couple of days left.

"Even wealthy women are caught in the unfairness of the current system. Most aren't lucky enough to have parents like mine. Many are not allowed to decide for themselves. You've seen for yourself how fathers trade their daughters like commodities to secure business deals, and how brothers complain when they are 'lumbered' with supporting 'old maid' sisters. Is it unreasonable for us to want the legal rights and opportunities to decide and provide for ourselves?"

"I think you would make as convincing an orator as your mother." Scott glanced over as he drew the buggy up by the barn. Murdoch and the others were still some way behind in the larger carriage.

"One day, but for now, I feel more comfortable writing and just talking with people. These subjects are things I feel very strongly about though, Scott."

"I understand that, and I agree with you for the most part." He helped Katie down. He had his answer; confidence and not conviction prevented her from speaking in public—for now. If he wanted to court Katie—and he did—he would have to come to terms with it somehow. "You and your mother are inspiring."

"Thank you. That means a lot." She smiled and turned towards the hacienda. Scott gave instructions to one of the hands about the care of the horse and then followed, slowly at first so he could enjoy the view of her from behind. When he caught up, she slipped her arm through his, and hugged it close. The little knot under his ribs unraveled like a ball of wool. There were definite advantages to keeping small secrets.

Notes:

1. This story is the second in the Eliot Series. The first was Past Imperfect, 2014. The Eliot Series has its roots in From Highlands to Homecoming, 2014, a back story of Murdoch Lancer's life. Most of the significant non-canon characters in the Eliot Series were created originally for From Highlands to Homecoming. The story of Johnny and the bloomers can be read in Chapter 30: Ups and Downs. Maria and Cipriano Ramirez's daughter, Catarina, started at teacher's college in September, 1866 as mentioned in Chapter 48: 1865. Ben Telford first appears in From Highlands to Homecoming in Chapter 2: All at Sea, but reappears in several other chapters and in Past Imperfect.

2. This story links to Names, 2014, of the Widow Morris Series by Doc. Some of the dialogue and ideas related to Johnny and Emily in this story were provided by Terri Derr (aka Doc).

3. This story has small links to various episodes in the Lancer television series, but in particular Legacy, Series 2, Episode 10 and The Lorelei, Series 2, Episode 16.

4. The Women's Journal was founded in 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts by Lucy Stone, the prominent orator, abolitionist and suffragist. Lucy Stone was the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree, her alma mater being Oberlin College in Ohio.

5. A carryall is a light four-wheeled carriage used in the U.S.A. in the nineteenth century. It seats four or more passengers and is drawn by a single horse.

6. The American Women's Suffrage Association (AWSA) was formed in 1869 in response to a split in the American Equal Rights Association over the Fifteenth Amendment to the Unites States Constitution. Its founders who supported the Fifteenth Amendment included Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell and Julia Ward Howe. The AWSA founders were staunch abolitionists devoted to achieving the vote for Negro men. They believed the Fifteenth Amendment would not pass Congress if it included the vote for women. On the other side of the split were 'irreconcilables' Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, who founded the National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA) to secure women's enfranchisement through federal constitutional amendment. The AWSA believed the vote for women was more achievable through state-by-state campaigns.

7. In 1869 the territory of Wyoming became the first place in the world where women were granted the right to vote. Although appeals to justice and equality played a part in achieving this landmark legislation, the majority vote was ultimately achieved because of a desire to attract more women to the territory, which at the time had six thousand men and only one thousand women.

8. In 1856 Allan Pinkerton employed the agency's first woman detective, Kate Warne. More were employed after the Civil War.

9. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement in the mid-nineteenth century. Scott attempted to quote Emerson in Juniper's Camp, Series 1, Episode 21.