It was unbelievable!  She had been crystal clear in her very explicit instructions and neither Arabella nor her own husband paid her any mind. It was as if she wasn't even there. This was her business now - she was in charge in the absence of Emeline. And everything she had just said was instantly ignored. It was insulting (in Jacob's case hurtful) and that was the last straw. Obviously reasoned conversation was not possible with those two around.

The look on the normally reserved brunette's face was now one of fury as she now grabbed Arabella hard by the upper arm.

"I said say another word and you would be out of here! Now I am going to follow thru on that warning!" 

Clara forced her backward toward the still open back door. She would not stop her rousting until she had the girl outside then slammed the door shut and locked it.

"I will have you arrested for trespassing if you try to come in again tonight! The diner is closed!" she shouted angrily as she worked the lock.

Then she spun about and her next possible target was Jacob, "Now, husband dear, DO NOT test me on this!"

Clara was right in her thinking, Tully wouldn't do anything that might hurt a pregnant lady, so as much as she really, really wanted rip out the nasty girl's hair, especially after she accused Tully of being a drunk, there was nowhere she could go without doing harm. 

Though free now, Tully was backed up against a cabinet, and she stood her full height, ready to attack if need be, despite the pregnant woman.

"I ain't no soiled dove!" she shouted defiantly, "nor no sot, neither! Ya can't go makin' them false lies!"

Glaring at the strangers confronting her, she bristled like a trapped animal. "Just lemme go, git outta my way!"

Arabella was weak and puny and Clara had no difficulty grabbing her arm and throwing her into the back yard from whence she had come, nearly bowling over Frances in the process. But it wasn't the pain in her arm that hurt Arabella, it was Clara's pig headed misunderstanding of her motives. She banged on the locked door and shouted.

"But I don't wanna hurt that girlie! I just wanna give her a nice warm bath and put'r in a nice clean dress and hold her hand an' read the bible together!! I wanna offer her a bed and shelter fer the night!!"

There was no reply. Arabella turned away and, rolling her eyes, asked Frances "Did you just see that?!"

"Er... No." replied the blind girl truthfully. 

"Oh Franny Grimes, Franny Grimes, how you do run on about being blind! WE KNOW!" chided Arabella, shaking her head and taking Frances' arm. "Come on, let's get you to the Stardust, ol' puddin' head!" 

However, on the way, they bumped into the town's Deputy Marshall. Arabella filled him in on the events at the Diner, tout de suit!

"Oh!! Charlie!! Hey Charlie! No, over here!!" Anyone would think the young lawman was ignoring her on purpose! "By crickey, he's blinder'n you are!" she told Frances in an aside. "Hey Charlie, guess what we just seen? Jake Lutz caught this tow-haired girlie stealin' from the diner an' Clara Lutz got her locked in the kitchen and I reckon she's gonna do something awful to that girl. I tried to rescue her and take her to the Shelter for Christian Girls, what's also known as me and Frances's house, but Clara just got mad an' threw me out and hurt my arm, too!" 

Arabella had told Frances that Charlie Wentworth was one of the prettiest looking young men in Kalispell and, although she had hopes that one day James Vaughn would overcome his shyness and ask her to be his own, well, meanwhile, she found herself oddly wanting this unseen figure, this disembodied voice in the blackness, to think she was pretty too: whatever pretty was! She smiled, showing her white, even, but strangely cleated teeth: because Arabella had also told her that she looked 'awful pretty' when she smiled. 

Thus Charlie was faced with Arabella jabbering and gesticulating, and a blind girl, grinning madly at a point in mid-air about two feet from his head. 

Clara ignored the babble from out in the alley and faced Jacob then,  "Now, husband dear, DO NOT test me on this!"

He let Tully go, holding up his hands like you would to a teacher-lady, showing that they were clean.

"I ain't no soiled dove!" the strange intruder shouted defiantly, "nor no sot, neither!  Ya can't go makin' them false lies!"

"Hey, I never said that, I just said you were a dirty little thief. And Arabella didn't mean them questions nastily - she likes helping drunks and whores, er, I mean, erm, fallen women!" Jacob protested. 

"Jacob, stop. You are not helping the situation here," Clara loved him but at times he could be so.............oblivious.

"Look, whoever you are, I just wish to talk. I did not call you any of those names," Clara appealed to the woman's hopeful sense of reason.

Glaring at the strangers confronting her, she bristled like a trapped animal.  "Just lemme go, git outta my way!"

"Ha! Like that's gonna happen!..." Jacob glanced at his wife,  "... is it Clara?"

"Now we just might let you go and forget this whole incident IF ....IF you simply sit down calmly and we engage in a civil conversation. I pride myself on being a fair minded reasonable person," Clara invited her to sit again with a wave of her hand toward the chair.

"Let us start with names. Christian names will do. I am Clara. And this is Jacob. May we know whom we are addressing?" Clara forced a smile, something never easy for her to do even in the best of times.

Now we just might let you go and forget this whole incident IF ....IF you simply sit down calmly and we engage in a civil conversation. I pride myself on being a fair minded reasonable person,"

"Don't like me no civil conversation," Tully grumbled, mostly because she wasn't exactly sure what that was.  But she knew when she was trapped and knew when to give in, at least for a time, so she reluctantly plopped into the chair, keeping an eye on the man.  Clara might be bossy and intimidating, and Tully had no doubt that she couldn't hold her own in a scuffle, but being heavy with child put her at a disadvantage.

The man, though -- well, he did look pretty scrawny, but he was a man, and had that alone going for him, but he was a man protecting his woman and child, and that made him dangerous.

"Let us start with names. Christian names will do. I am Clara. And this is Jacob. May we know whom we are addressing?" Clara forced a smile, something never easy for her to do even in the best of times.

"I'm a Christian!" she declared defiantly, "always been one, say my prayers ta Jesus every night!"

She didn't know, though, what a 'Christian name' was, but reckoned that was more fancy-talk for 'name'.

"Tully...Tully Nevada, racoon chaser!"  She stuck her tongue out quickly at Jacob for the merest hint of a second, daring him to challenge her.

When he "ran" into Arabella and the blind girl, Charlie had half a mind to turn and run in the opposite direction but he didn't have time before Arabella launched into her speech.

"Oh!! Charlie!! Hey Charlie! No, over here!!" Anyone would think the young lawman was ignoring her on purpose! "By crickey, he's blinder'n you are!" she told Frances in an aside. "Hey Charlie, guess what we just seen? Jake Lutz caught this tow-haired girlie stealin' from the diner an' Clara Lutz got her locked in the kitchen and I reckon she's gonna do something awful to that girl. I tried to rescue her and take her to the Shelter for Christian Girls, what's also known as me and Frances's house, but Clara just got mad an' threw me out and hurt my arm, too!" 

Ahh...Frances...that was the blind girl's name.  He had been told it before but had forgotten it and so he made a mental note to remember it this time around.  The blind girl considered relatively harmless and only really mattered because of her unfortunate connection the late Frank Grimes.  As for the incident that Arabella was going about, that was another matter.

He had been on one of three patrols he had to do when he was on night duty when he had heard some sort of ruckus coming from the direction of the cafe.  The night was usually quiet due to the lack of people and horses that were around during the day.  Noise tended to carry a bit more at night. So when he heard the shouting he knew it was his duty to check it out even it ended up being a minor incident.

Knowing that Arabella tended to exaggerate things, Charlie knew that there was an element of truth to what she said.  Some girl stealing from the diner was indeed something worth finding out about.

"All right, Arabella shall we go and see what all the fuss is about?"

Oh so she loudly proclaimed she was a Christian. Apparently she had never heard of the 8th commandment. But at least she gave a name...a strange one. Probably a false one too.  Clara sighed. Racoon chaser indeed.

"Hey, she just stuck her tongue out at me!" complained Jacob to Clara.

"You will survive, dear," Clara pointed out dryly.

"Huh, 'Tully Nevada' - you could at least make up a believable name! And as for racoon chasing, you must be pretty good to catch invisible ones!" he mocked, opening his hand to indicate the patently racoon-less kitchen.

Her husband had a point.

He shook his head and looked at Clara "Why are we wasting our time with this... this..." he was lost for words "... THIS!" 

"We are attempting to have a conversation and it is not wasting our time," Clara started with Jacob, who was plainly exasperated.

Then it was back to their uninvited guest.

"Very well, Tully then. You know since you make a point of being a Christian, you do know it is a sin to steal. Just pointing that out," Clara spoke very calmly without a hint of hostility.

"Are you starving? Because if that is the case, you could have simply came in here and asked for some food and I would have given you some. But whatever....at least we are talking now, it is a start."

"Say...would you care for a slice of apple pie? Our diner is famous for our pies," again Clara forced a passing smile.

"My name is so Tully," Tully insisted, "an' there's no racoon here 'cause I chased it out!" Add lying to her list of sins!

But then the lady offered her food, and Tully had long ago learned not to turn down food. "I like apple pie," she muttered, "I ain't starvin', though." At least partly another lie, she'd had bits to eat here and there, so she wasn't going to die or anything.

"I come in lookin' fer food," she finally admitted, focusing on Clara, since she was a lot nicer than the man, "I got no money nor way ta pay." And asking was out of the question, it wasn't worth the risk of being run off. "Didn't mean no harm by it." It wouldn't be genuine to apologize, so she didn't.