In full uniform this time, Constable Nathan Grant walked the main street of his new posting. As he had told Bill the night before, he liked to get a feel for his new postings. It was hard to do that by showing up in Red Serge. The uniform itself tended to change the way people reacted to you and treated you. He wanted to know what he was walking into.
He had learned quite a bit last night. He had learned that the townsfolk, though welcoming, were also leery of newcomers. It was clear to him that the saloon owner was still considered a newcomer, though Bouchard was certainly the charmer. He knew now that the Jesse kid was a bit of a hothead. He also knew that the town's sherif clearly felt like having a new Mountie posted to the town was an encroachment on his territory. Or perhaps he had just gotten so use to Constable Thorton that any newcomer wasn't welcomed.
Of course it could be a mixture of both.
Nathan was aware that Constable Thorton had served Hope Valley for five years. From all accounts, he had made connections with the people of this town. Put that together with their skepticism of newcomers and Nathan knew he was going to have to prove himself to the people of this town in order to be accepted.
Getting arrested on his first night here probably wasn't a great start.
Still, he had learned more last night than he would have riding into town in his uniform when they were expecting him.
He had taken this posting knowing that he had some big boots to fill. As he walked down the street, the looks he was getting only confirmed that.