The Streel Read online

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  Billy stamped his feet. “Our Brigid has a head on her shoulders, she

  does.”

  “Of course, if you would like, dear Brigid, but who would pay for this

  testing?” Charlie asked.

  I knew our resources were limited. “We will pay for half of it, if you

  will cover the rest.”

  Charlie thought and then nodded. “I think that could be arranged.”

  After that, the talk went on for a while of other things, and I kept half an ear to it but felt the liquor had made me sleepy and the fire had warmed me through to my toes. Also, I was very aware of Charlie Hunt sitting across the room, watching me.

  24

  The next morning broke bitter cold. I rubbed a circle clear on the

  window and stared out at the streets of Deadwood. Frost covered

  every surface like a sugar coating in a bakery shop. The smoke from the

  chimneys rose straight up to the sky in the still and frigid air.

  We had agreed to meet at noon with Charlie and the professor. I

  dressed in my new dungarees, and I put on one of Padraic’s flannel shirts. I did not look very ladylike, but fashion was the last thing I needed to worry about.

  The cold was a bit of a blessing as it would make the going easier, for

  the mud would be frozen.

  Billy and Paddy had gone off to gather up some equipment and fetch

  the horses when I heard a pounding at the door. They said they would re-

  turn in an hour’s time, so I knew it was not them. For a moment I thought of disappearing into my room, but I knew if I wanted to get on with my life and make something of it, I couldn’t shy away from it. I wondered if this fear I felt would stay with me— like a constant, whining pet— the rest of my life.

  When I peered through the window, I saw Elizabeth outside our door,

  stamping her small feet to keep warm. She had obviously run over from

  next door and had only thrown a shawl over her head. I hurried to let her into the warmth of our house.

  “What happened to you? Tell me.” She rushed into the house, took

  me by the arms, and looked me in the face. She seemed reassured by what

  she saw. “Tel .”

  “Hello, Elizabeth,” I said. “You look well today.” And indeed she did. I wondered if she had had news of her husband. Or perhaps the pregnancy

  had moved into the phase where women glow. Her usually drawn face

  seemed fuller and more vital.

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  “Oh, thank goodness you are all right. So what did happen? I’ve heard

  horrible rumors.” She pulled the shawl down around her shoulders.

  “That is what this town is built on, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, I expect so.”

  I brought her into the main room and settled her in front of the fire. I had a teakettle warming on the stove and went to fetch some of the tea that Ching Lee had sent to me. When I had everything ready for tea and was

  seated next to her, I told her what had happened.

  Her mouth grew into an o and her eyes widened. At the end of my tale, she clapped her hand over her mouth, then burst out with, “I cannot bear to think of you like that. The first I knew something was amiss was when Charlie came running up and asked the man I was with if he had seen you.

  My friend knew who he was talking about, you are so unmistakable with

  your dark curly hair and lovely blue eyes. Also, I had mentioned you to

  him, even pointed you out as you were dancing with Paddy.”

  This might be the proof that Charlie had had nothing to do with my

  abduction. Better proof than any other I could have, as it had come unrequested. “When did Charlie talk to you, Elizabeth?”

  “’Tis hard to remember. But not long after the revelry of New Year’s.

  Maybe five or ten minutes later.”

  “You’re sure of this.”

  Her eyes grew wide at my asking and she nodded her head vigorously

  as though to further assure me. “Yes.”

  “And then what happened?” I stood up to check on the teakettle, even

  knowing that it would not boil when I watched it.

  “Charlie continued to look for you. I saw him asking several other

  people. Then we went in to the supper and I assumed he had found you.”

  She bent her head down and confessed, “I’m afraid I thought no more of

  it. It never occurred to me that something frightful could happen to you in the midst of such festivity.”

  “Wel , as you now know, he had not found me. But I am most grateful

  for that information. I feared that Charlie might have had something to do with what happened to me. Now I am assured that he did not.”

  “Oh, I would think not. There was never such a man so desperate to

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  find you. He seemed quite distraught. Who could have done this to you

  and why?” A horrible thought occurred to her and she pressed her hand

  to her mouth. “You are all right, aren’t you, Brigid? No man has taken advantage of you?”

  “No. Nothing like that happened.” I remembered my conversation

  with the sheriff. “I think whoever abducted me did not want me dead. For if he had, and I assume it was a man who did this vile thing, I fear he would have killed me at once. Why leave me alive?”

  Elizabeth pulled in her breath in a loud intake of air and fluttered her hands as if to push something away. Finally, when she had regained herself enough to speak she asked, “Why indeed?”

  “All I can guess is that he wants me to stop asking questions about

  Lily’s death. That he doesn’t want me to discover who really killed her.”

  “What are you going to do? You must be careful at all times and never

  be alone. This town is hard enough as it is on a woman.”

  “I will do what I’ve been doing, taking care at all times to be with

  someone I can trust.”

  “If you ever need to come over and stay with me when the men are

  gone, please do it, Brigid. I’d love to have the company.”

  “Thank you, Elizabeth.” The teakettle boiled, whistling as steam

  poured from its spout. I put the fragrant tea into a pot and let it steep by the fire.

  She thought for a moment. “That Charlie Hunt, he is quite a hand-

  some man. I’ve heard he will come into a family fortune. How do you know him?”

  “I worked for his family.”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “That is unfortunate.” Then she added, “But

  not insurmountable.”

  “I think he wants to court me.” I had not wanted to talk of this, but

  since I had told no one, it had been burning inside of me for some time, and I found the words spil ing out of my mouth. “He seems in earnest.”

  “What can be the harm of it?”

  “I think there could be great harm if my name were linked with his in

  an unsavory fashion.”

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  “Since I’ve come west, I care less what other people think of me. I

  was quite ruled by that back in Philadelphia. Take my husband. He was

  thought to be a great catch. So I married him. And look where it got me. I think one must listen to one’s heart, at least from time to time.”

  “And how is your young lieutenant?”

  Her face turned crimson and she smiled with her eyes lowered. “He is

  truly gallant. He came over this morning to make sure that I had enough

  firewood in the house. So, of course, I had to offer him something to eat.

  He stayed quite a little while. Now, back in Philadelphia that would have been quite unseemly, but here in D
eadwood, who’s to know or care?”

  “And your husband?”

  Her eye dropped, her face grew long. “He is late returning now at least

  a good month. I’ve had no news.”

  I would not press her on this. “How have you been feeling?”

  She pressed a hand to her waist. “I cannot tighten the corset around

  me the way I used to be able to. Soon, I fear, I will have to stop wearing it.

  I must admit, it will be a relief.”

  There was a pause in our conversation, an unusual occurrence with

  Elizabeth. She appeared to be thinking about the two men in her life. Finally she asked, “What did you and Mr. Hunt disagree on when you left

  the dance?”

  “Oh, a small matter. He was teasing me in what I found quite a mean

  way.”

  “Oh, but I know how that can be when you’re beginning to know

  someone. Sometimes you don’t know when to take them seriously and

  when not.”

  I poured us both cups of tea and then sat and stirred my own.

  Elizabeth tasted hers and said, “This is very nice tea. It tastes like some kind of exotic flower.”

  “Yes, that’s what I thought too. Ching Lee, the laundryman, gave it to

  me.”

  “Oh, I bring my laundry to him also. I think he does a very nice job.

  Except once he did lose a nightgown of mine. He’s a striking man with his brooding eyes and dark looks, don’t you think?”

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  “Yes. Did you see he was at the dance?”

  “I noticed him with the other celestials. When midnight was an-

  nounced, he bowed and took leave of them all. Actually, I was quite

  surprised any of them were there. There has been some friction in the

  community about them.”

  “So Ching Lee left at midnight?”

  “On the button. Right before the fight with the sporting women broke

  out in the vestibule.”

  “That’s when I was accosted. How did you happen to notice him?”

  Elizabeth sipped her tea. “Wel , it was funny, but he seemed in a hurry.

  Quite out of character. You don’t suspect him of anything, do you? Surely he didn’t know Lily?”

  “Yes, he most certainly did.”

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  We rode single file through the woods, on our way to the claim.

  Billy led the way, with Professor Underwood right behind

  him, Charlie Hunt followed, then myself, and finally Padraic brought up

  the rear, as always keeping an eye on me.

  The snow was thick in the mountains, but Billy assured us all that the

  trail to the claim was passable. As most of Professor Underwood’s work

  would take place underground, it did not matter tremendously that the

  ground was covered with at least half a foot of snow.

  However, the snow made the task of being a bystander more difficult.

  At the last minute I had put on one of Padraic’s woolen vests and I was

  happy for its warmth. I tucked my mittened hands into the soft coat of

  the horse as we rode. It mattered little what anyone thought of the way I looked. We were on this outing to get work done, not socialize.

  I watched Charlie Hunt in front of me and noted that he sat his horse

  quite wel . I remembered dancing with him and wondered what would

  happen between us once the claim was settled. One often wants what one

  shouldn’t have, and as this was acting on me, so too must it be affecting Charlie.

  He turned to look at me. I smiled and then bent over my horse’s neck

  and whispered in its ear. I whispered in Irish, for that was the first language I spoke to horses.

  As soon as we arrived at the claim, Padraic built a fire. They had dug out two new shafts since last I’d been there. The shafts went straight down to where they thought the ore vein ran through the claim and from both,

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  Billy told us, they had been happy with the quality of ore they had found.

  “Why, we took out a piece of ore from that one,” he pointed to the one

  where the windlass was still set up, “ground it up, panned the gold out of it, and Jaysus, if we didn’t have a dol ar or two worth. Isn’t that right, Paddy?”

  “It’s true.”

  Billy took over with the professor, leading him toward the one shaft

  that was large enough to climb down into. Padraic had told me that Billy turned part burrowing animal when he mined. I suspected that Padraic did not actually like going down in the shaft, while Billy was as comfortable as could be.

  Professor Underwood, while constantly assuring us that he was on

  top of everything, made me wonder. He was not much of a rider and once

  or twice had looked like he might slide off his horse. He had not dressed as he should have for the snow and the cold, certainly not for the riding and going underground. He had on a long coat and a muffler, which while

  it might have kept him warm, was constantly coming untied and getting

  in his way. He insisted on carrying his collection bag, or as he called it his

  “ore sack,” with him everywhere.

  When Billy led him to the first of the shafts, the professor peered into it as if he were afraid of what he might see. Billy jumped ahead of him and disappeared down the shaft. Underwood was long in following suit. The

  last sight I had of him was his white face peering out from the hole.

  That left Charlie, Padraic, and me gathered around the fire. Padraic

  pulled up some logs that were the right size for stools, and we all sat down on them and held our hands out to the blaze.

  “Good thing it’s not snowing today,” Charlie said.

  “Oh, aye,” Padraic answered.

  I often thought that Padraic played the Irish idiot with Charlie, acting as if he did not know much, putting on the accent stronger than it ever

  was when he was with Billy and myself. Padraic seemed to have a store of confidence running in a heavy lode inside himself.

  “How long will it take the professor to get what he needs?” I asked.

  “I’m not really sure. He said it usually takes several days. Today he

  might not gather much of a sample but begin to see the way the ore runs

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  through the ground. He had me up late last night tel ing me of various

  mines he had worked.”

  I left off querying him about the professor. He would do the job he did

  and we would all know the results soon enough.

  “Would you both care for some tea?” I asked.

  “Grand,” said Padraic.

  “Yes, please,” said Charlie.

  I walked back to my horse and got down the teakettle. We would all

  need a hot drink soon.

  “Have you ever been down in a shaft?” I asked Charlie.

  “No, I don’t care for dark, tight places. They make me feel squeezed.”

  “I know what you mean.”

  I could see it pass across his face, his remembering that I had been tied up in such a place. “Brigid.”

  “It’s fine. Don’t think about it.”

  The water boiled and I brewed the tea. Charlie had wandered over to

  the shaft hole and then back again. He seemed restless. There was little for us to do. They had been down in the mine shaft for more than an hour, and none of us knew how long it would take.

  We sat around the fire and drank the tea together, but it was not done

  with much socializing. We three seemed awkward around each other. If I

  had been alone with either of the men, we would have talked constantly,

  but I w
as very conscious of a strain between the two men.

  When I handed Charlie Hunt a second mug of tea, he flashed me a

  wide smile and said, “Thanks for this, Miss Reardon. Nice of you to come with us on this expedition.”

  For a brief moment, I imagined myself going back to St. Paul on Char-

  lie Hunt’s arm, welcomed into the home where I had emptied out the

  chamber pots. How strange that would be. As we sat by the fire, drinking our tea quietly, I dreamed of the days that might come.

  26

  After that first day I did not go with the men when they returned

  to the mine. I found I served little purpose there, and it was frus-

  trating to be so near to Charlie and yet able to say so little. I knew that the sampling of the ore would take only another two days at most.

  At first Paddy fussed about my staying behind, but I explained that

  someone needed to see to the housework and the cooking, and since both

  he and Billy looked forward to warm meals when they arrived home, he

  agreed. But he gave me conditions: no one except Elizabeth was to come

  into the house; I was not to go out unless I was accompanied by Elizabeth or Father Lonegran.

  To pass the time and keep my mind off my brother’s absence, I had

  borrowed several books from Elizabeth. I was reading Louisa May Alcott’s book Little Women. I sat enthralled by Jo, who worked so hard to have a life of her own. I must do that myself, I determined. Somehow I was sure that the life I wanted was not to be found in Deadwood.

  Seeing the women in Deadwood run shops had given me an idea, one

  that was slowly growing in my mind. I saw myself in a handsome suit, opening the door to a small bookstore. Imagine a life filled with books. As these small towns grew, they would need books and stationery supplies. With

  the money from the claim, maybe I could set myself up in this business.

  The snows were coming down steadily every day. Not huge storms,

  but a consistent few inches added to the blanket. An impressive landscape of white covered the land. Every day the horses would stamp a new path

  out to the mine until finally Paddy and Billy came home, three days after the sampling had started, and told me they were done.

  “He seemed excited, the old scarecrow, didn’t he?” Billy slapped

  Paddy on the back.

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