"I shall assist Mr Priest in disrobing" she added.
Mrs McMahon's eyes bulged.
Priest's eyes bulged.
"Ain't you worried about yo reputation, Miss?!" she blurted.
"I should rather my reputation lie in tatters, than this fine gentleman's discomfort be extenuated by the smallest iota!" Flo pronounced airily "Now fly!"
The plump cook waddled out of the room muttering "Bless me if dat gal ain't swallered a dictionary!"
Once Messalina had made her exit, Florence turned to the old man.
"Now, let us get you out of those stuffy clothes, shall we?"
His quarters were quite modest. There was a poster bed, a small bureau with a porcelain pitcher atop it, and a nightstand beside the bed where sat a kerosene lamp and a tattered Bible. The window across from the bed was in need of washing but, nevertheless, offered a view of the side of the sundry next door to the saloon.
Priest sat on the side of the bed proceeded to unlace his shoes.
"You know, this is quite generous of you, Miss Patterson-Forde. It was just a spell that I suffered from; nothing more. But your kindness overwhelming."
The bed squeaked and groaned as he struggled to pull his high top shoes off.
"Angels and Ministers of Grace defend us!" he spat, using Hamlet's words as an oath while, bent at the waist, he tugged.
"Lucky blonde? I think that you might have read one too many dime novels."
"Maybe" Miss Patterson Forde smiled shyly. She was quite a nice seeming, demure little thing, especially considering that her mother was as rough as a bear's backside.
"The only lady that gamblers are interested is one called luck," he said with a slight smile.
"Oh, why is that, Mister Simons?" Patricia asked, tipping her head quizzically.
"Because she never disappoints no matter what."
Little Patty gasped and clutched at Ben's sleeve "Oh Mister Simons! Have you been disappointed by a woman?! Has some Jezebel toyed with your heart and broken it into little tiny pieces? Please believe me, Mister Simons, we are not all like that! Some of us have pure, loving souls!"
+++
Across the room, mirroring the bespectacled twin, Arabella grabbed Evie's arm. "Heck, Miss Hardy, it's getting passionate! I wish Frances was deaf instead of blind, we could get her over here and she could read their lips for us!" It was a nice change for Muddy to watch a drama instead of performing in one.
Phin laughed, "I 'spose you're right. The man has done a number of mind numbing things since I've been in Kalispell. And we may never really know what he was thinking, but beating Buller out of it? That could have been enough." Rationalizing anything that Elias Steelgrave did would just be crazy making. "The fact that he has yet to do something about this hospital has me a bit worried now about when he will."
"That worries me as well, he can be unpredictable, as he demonstrated with the Milligan sale," Leah said. "He may do nothing at all. I'm sure he realizes the need for the hospital, given that he had a heart attack recently." Leah admitted, "Or, he could have his men try to burn it to the ground, your guess is as good as mine. But I want to get it finished and opened for the people that need it!"
Speed looked at the man slumped in the chair, one that would have been above suspicion, a pharmacist, a man who dealt in medicine to help people. Well, that was over. Takahashi had his revenge; two years on the chase was a long time, but the chase was over now. The man's wife's killer was dead. Speed holstered his Colt.
"Not what I would have liked, but it is what it is. Must have severed an artery. You're in the clear, not being the man who killed him. I know you wanted to. Just how it wor-, what's this?" Speed said, suddenly seeing a strand of knotted material dangling from Boyd's pocket. A thin cord-like thing. He reached down and extracted it. "Damn!" He exhaled in surprise. "Excuse me, Ma'am, but our mild-mannered druggist appears to be the strangler of three of our citizens." He toyed with the coil of silk, then stuck it in his vest pocket.
"Mister Takahashi. I didn't mean to steal your thunder, but I had to stop him. Missus Ashby would have been his fourth victim had I not acted as I did." It was odd that the man bled out; he thought the shoulder wound would simply disable him from strangling Missus Ashby. "I reckon I need to fetch the undertaker, a bit late for the doc, well, Missus Ashby? Are you alright? Would you like me to fetch the Doctor?"
@Ldypayne @Javia
"Touch on it all that you like," Mason replied, "It's no secret, especially to those who were that Alders and I did some sort of deal with Steelgrave to buy the stageline. I wouldn't be surprised if half the town knew already."
He gave a half laugh, "Why he really wanted to help us out is still a mystery to me. Maybe it was as he said it was...just a way to get back at Buller but I don't know. In fact, it's hard to say what goes on in the mind of someone like Elias Steelgrave."
@ [Flip
"indeed, Miss Hardy knows all about acting, and is very adept at it, but I feel that you, Mister Simons, have really lived!" gushed Patricia. "Were you ever a gambler on the big Riverboats, on the Mississippi, Mister Simons? I can just imagine you in such a scenario! Oh, and is it true that gamblers always do better with a 'lucky blonde' touching their shoulder?" she asked, pointedly twizzling a lock of her own golden tresses.
"Er...yes I have travelled on a few riverboats in my time but I wouldn't call it really living just making a living."
The end part of what she said made him nervous. As he scanned the room, he hoped that someone would rescue him and soon. Getting cornered by one of the Patterson Fordes was something he tried to avoid. The female members of the clan, especially this one...or was it her twin sister...or perhaps it was both, were the ones he especially wanted to avoid. Since he didn't want to risk the ire of any of them, he would have to try to remove himself from this situation as delicately and as fast as he could.
"Lucky blonde? I think that you might have read one too many dime novels. The only lady that gamblers are interested is one called luck," he said with a slight smile, "because she never disappoints no matter what."
@ [Javia
"Thank you, kindly, Miss. Bowen. Just let me know what information ya need." He said with a small smile and then nodded as she commented that even adults could learn. Before he could respond Addy was mentioning about classes and teaching the folks in Kalispell that couldn't how to read and write. He had always wanted to know and had managed to learn a few things from his wife before she passed away, but not enough to get him very far. "Yes, ma'm, I bet you'd get a good turnout for that." He agreed.
"Well...it's certainly worth looking into," Kate replied, "and perhaps we can have classes over the summer during the evening. I will discuss this with the school board but I don't think they will have any problems with someone teaching folks to read."
She smiled, "We're having a fundraising charity performance at the White Rose early next month and I'm sure we can use some of the funds to get some extra readers. However, for now, I think we should start filling out your son's enrolment card."
After asking for the relevant information and adding to the card, Kate put down the pen. "Now, that that's taken care of, is there anything in particular you would like to know about the school and what I teach here?"
@ [MD]
@ [Bongo
"Yeah, sure, all right," Justus agreed when Constance insisted on accompanying him, admiring her moxie, and that she was willing to help a critter that might be potentially in need. "'Course, ya'd be with Mule," he muttered under his breath, but he chuckled as he untied gloves and a rope from the cantle of the saddle.
"Didn't bring a gun, but I got a knife." He shrugged, more serious. "Anything comes up too dangerous, we'll turn back." Then he grinned. "Stay close."
As he started trampling a path through the brush and huckleberry briars to make the way for Constance. "Wish I had my chaps," he commented, reaching to help her over a log, "wouldn't tear up my britches so much!" After this, he'd need a new pair of 'Go to Meetin'' pants!
"We're gettin' closer." Along with the back and forth bellowing between baby and mama, they could now hear the trickling of a stream, and after a moment, the landscape opened a bit, revealing the problem...
Boyd turned to face the man who had shot him and saw not the expected Takahashi, but the Marshal!
The Japanese who had been hunting him for the last two years came running in behind him.
"That's definitely my wife's murderer," Shintaro shouted over the gasping scream of the woman who had fell to the floor the moment Boyd was shot.
Boyd slumped onto the chaise longue, raised a hand weakly, for he could feel the life-blood draining from him fast. But from somewhere he raised a bemused laugh.
"You... he he... you jumped the line there, Marshal..." he coughed up some blood "... never... allow it in the... in the store.... annoys folks..." he slurred, he pointed at Takahashi "... killed this feller's wife... poor bastard... he's been after me for years... so close... nearly... seconds..." he started to fade then rallied, but in his mind he was back in his drug store "No jumpin' the line!" he warned, then he fell back, dead.
By this time Herschelina, the little maid with the bleeding nose, was back inside, comforting the beautiful young Mrs Ashby.
@[Flip]
He only had a half second to react to get out of the way when the door suddenly flew open and a maid stumbled out to fall at his feet. Shintaro saw the blood on her face and realized Boyd must have stuck her, not realizing he had just alerted the people looking for him.
He gave a sharp whistle to get the Marshall's attention while he took a quick moment to make sure the woman wasn't seriously injured. Shintaro wanted to run into the house first, but knew if he saw Boyd he wouldn't hesitate in taking him out. Best he let the Marshal go in first, then follow to lend any assistance needed. That gave the Marshall more than enough time to get into the house.
The moment the Marshall found Boyd, Shintaro spotted his query trying to strangle an old woman and mentally thanked the gods for making his revenge easy. He stopped moving forward the instant the Marshall raised his gun and fired, not wanting to distract him. He watched as Boyd was flung away from the old woman by the force of the bullet's impact.
Boyd was so focused on strangling his prey he hadn't even heard the sound of boots running towards him. He barely had a chance to look up when he felt the tingling sensation of pending danger deep in his lizard brain before he heard the explosion of a gun going off and a searing rupture of pain his shoulder. Next thing he knew he was slamming against the bookcase, his shoulder screaming in pain. As he struggled to stay on his feet, he saw the very man who had followed him all the way out here and right next to him, holding a smoking gun was the Marshall.
"That's definitely my wife's murderer," Shintaro shouted over the gasping scream of the woman who had fell to the floor the moment Boyd was shot. She did her best to crawl away from Boyd while taking deep gasping breaths between screams.
Shintaro stepped into the room, making sure not to block the Marshall's line of fire, his own gun now in hand though he itched to have his sword in hand instead. Unfortunately he had left his blade on his horse by the saloon so taking Boyd's head was out of the question. Still, he would enjoy seeing the man swing if he could be taking alive.