Adam and Cecile
The Turpins had always kept to themselves but Mr. Turpin, the bank manager, was well known to all the ranchers and townspeople; it helped to stay on his good side when things were bad as it was he who granted loans and approved collateral. And as all the important denizens of Virginia City did, they attended church regularly with their only child, Cecile, who was a year younger than Joe Cartwright. Adam remembered what a strangely beautiful child Cecile had been but she was a child and of no interest to him. Adam, at eighteen was concerned with his own life; he was leaving for college and was sparking the Brandywine girl, Catherine. He promised Catherine that even when he was away at college, he would love only her and at the time he made the promise, he meant to keep it. But the temptation of the Boston girls who flirted with the young men matriculating at the university was too much for Adam and so his letters to Catherine were stretched further and further apart until he stopped writing her all together. Adam did feel guilt about breaking his promise but there was always another girl's pretty smile and a plump bosom to console him.
And when at twenty-two, Adam returned home after graduation and his internship in Boston, he would see the Turpins at church every week and although they were of no particular interest to Adam, once his father asked him to go out to their place at the edge of town and to help Mr. Turpin with some additions to their house. Ben had bragged to Mr. Turpin that Adam now had his degree in architecture and was redesigning their house to add a second floor and to remove the walls downstairs that had separated the large area into small bedrooms to create one large living area. Adam had such vision, Ben had bragged, and had come back from college with definite knowledge instead of just guesswork as most people had when they built their homes-the Ponderosa was going to be one of a kind with a large staircase that would lead to the six upstairs bedrooms, keeping one of the bedrooms downstairs. And, Ben had added proudly, Adam had plans for a washhouse and later, to add an indoor privy.
Mr. Turpin had then asked if Adam would come out to look at his house and see if he could help redesign the kitchen; their cook often complained about the smallness of it and how very hot and uncomfortable it became. Perhaps Adam could help arrive at a solution and Mr. Turpin had added, he would be most glad to pay Adam as he would pay any professional architect.
Ben had declined payment (which Adam later told him was overstepping which made Ben stammer because he knew that Adam was right) and so Adam had ridden out to look at the house one Saturday afternoon. And as he had been in the kitchen, listening to the cook's complaints and what she would like to see done, Cecile, who was nine, had come in and stood silently watching Adam and Mrs. Hanley, the cook, talk while Mr. Turpin smiled; he was thinking that in the near future he would employ Adam's talents to a greater degree and his home would soon be as grand as Ben's. Mr. Turpin was a proud man-guilty of hubris.
"Hello, Cecile," Adam had said when he saw her watching them with her large golden eyes. That was the color Adam decided they were-golden-not brown, not green but golden. Her eyes haunted him the rest of the day, not just because of their color but became of the expression in them; Cecile had looked at him with awe as if he were some god.
But before Cecile could respond, Mr. Turpin took her by her upper arm and pulled her out of the kitchen, only her toes touching the floor as she kept up with the powerful man. And Adam ignored the chattering of the cook to listen to Mr. Turpin tell his wife that she was supposed to keep Cecile out of the kitchen. "You know how excitable she is-any change…," he had said but not finishing the sentence.
And years went by and Adam became involved with various young women and lived a full life for one as young as he. And one day, the Turpins didn't attend church and then the next week, they attended without Cecile who had been sent away to school. At thirteen, they said, they wanted more for her than the school in Virginia City could offer but most of the people of the town saw it as a gross insult; those Turpins thought they were too good for Virginia City with their grand house and Mr. Turpin's powerful job. But Joe had always said how smart Cecile was, how she was reading books all the time and barely had anything to do with the other children in school. Adam had heard the grumbling at the school board meeting he attended with his father about the Turpin's insult to the community but Adam defended them and their decision saying that as smart as their daughter was, she probably needed more than their school could offer and they shouldn't begrudge Cecile Turpin a better education. On the way home, Ben had tried to explain to Adam that he was there to support the local school, not to speak against it. Adam had to remind his father how he had needed to search beyond the school when he attended it, reading books on his own and creating his own self-exams to test his knowledge. So Ben admitted to Adam that Adam was right but that he should be more diplomatic in his "criticisms" of the school and the teacher—it was difficult enough to find a good teacher.
But other than that, Adam was basically oblivious to the Turpins and their intelligent daughter. And at nineteen, Cecile returned from Europe and Joe noticed her. Most of the young men noticed her and smiled at her at church and wanted to walk her home Sundays but her parents wouldn't allow it. Everyone said that it was because, according to her parents, none of the local boys were good enough for their daughter and that they probably wanted her to marry one of those foreign princes. And it seemed to be true because when Joe asked Cecile to the spring dance, her father, who was standing in the church yard waiting to help Cecile into their carriage that was parked next to the Cratwright's buckboard, said that he and his wife were going to the dance and would bring Cecile themselves.
Adam grinned as Joe's face dropped with disappointment. Hoss elbowed Adam-Hoss had bet Joe five dollars that Cecile would turn him down. Joe later protested that he didn't owe Hoss anything; it hadn't been Cecile who had declined his invitation, it was her father who had answered for her. Adam was asked to judge the outcome of the bet, had to agree that Joe was right-it hadn't been Cecile. But Adam had watched the discussion between Joe and her father and saw that Cecile had paid no attention to what they were saying even though it was about her; she was looking at Adam, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open. Her flowered bonnet framed her face and emphasized her incandescent beauty. Adam couldn't get Cecile's face out of his mind and was silent on the ride home while Joe and Hoss bickered. And then, a week later, Cecile had come out of the dress shop to say hello to him and Adam didn't know how he felt about her except that Cecile touched him, made him feel an emotion that he had never known or felt so he didn't know how to describe it, didn't know its name. It was transcendent joy-euphoria.