"Well, I am glad I'm not getting my fortune told or anything, but she did make some quite intelligent guesses about me..." Morgan smiled reflexively then realized that she could not see the gesture. "Now, I am still on the lookout for a place to stay and I am perfectly willing to do my share if there are chores to be done or people need help. It's the least I can do for a warm bed and being out of the weather."
"Well, I am glad I'm not getting my fortune told or anything, but she did make some quite intelligent guesses about me..." Morgan smiled reflexively then realized that she could not see the gesture.
Frances was used to people she met talking to other people in the room about her, rather than directly to her, as if she was deaf as well as blind.
"Now, I am still on the lookout for a place to stay and I am perfectly willing to do my share if there are chores to be done or people need help. It's the least I can do for a warm bed and being out of the weather."
"Oh, Frances, I wondered if Mister..." he still hadn't offered his name "... er, this feller could stay at the Refuge, till he finds his feet, sorta."
The blind girl frowned in thought for a second.
"That might be all right" she eventually replied "If you keep the place tidy and don't have any... unacceptable visitors."
Sally involuntarily glanced over to where one of the strumpets from the brothel across the street, Hettie Rosenkranz, was chatting to Jimmy Miller, the local saddler.
"It might be helpful to know your name... if that is not a secret." Miss Grimes added. She could get quite schoolmarm-y when she chose to be.
@[LongShot]
@[Wayfarer]
Now Sally was offering the man that women's refuge place to stay in overnight? Caroline had to laugh.
"Wait a minute, first that joint is supposed to be haunted by a ghost and now you are suggesting a stranger stay there? Sally, you break me up sometimes, hon!"
Then she glanced to Morgan, "Seriously, I'm sure it's safe. I been inside there, nothin' happened. I mean haunted wise."
And since Frances was standing right there, Caroline gently touched her forearm, "And hon....let us know soon as you want ta come back and play piano for me. I'd love to hear you play again, you wouldn't need to play all the time, we got a fine piano player now too but he has his own place to run, local barbershop."
As for consulting on that with Fortner, he could go jump in the river.
"Oh! pardon my manners. I've not been around people for a while on the trail. My name is William Travis Morgan. I prefer being called Travis over William." Morgan then thought about the offer that had been made.
"I sure do appreciate your offer, but I sure don't wish to become the focus of all the town's gossip...especially for something I didn't even do."
"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows" - Helen Keller
"Wait a minute, first that joint is supposed to be haunted by a ghost and now you are suggesting a stranger stay there? Sally, you break me up sometimes, hon!"
"Whatdyamean?!" frowned Sal "He's not just any old stranger, Mister Whateverhisnameis is fearless! Frances just said so!" Her logic was flawless.
Then Caroline glanced to Morgan, "Seriously, I'm sure it's safe. I been inside there, nothin' happened. I mean haunted wise."
Sally and Frances both had the same unspoken thought - the poor ghost was probably terrified of Caroline.
And since Frances was standing right there, Caroline gently touched her forearm, "And hon....let us know soon as you want ta come back and play piano for me. I'd love to hear you play again, you wouldn't need to play all the time, we got a fine piano player now too but he has his own place to run, local barbershop."
"Oh Caroline, that is so very dear of you to think of me" Frances showed her cleated teeth in a broad smile and squeezed the other girl's hand in gratitude. She didn't like to mention that she'd gotten a permanent and, frankly, better job playing piano at the White Rose Theatre after debuting at Arabella's biblical booby-fest. "... but I'd never want to deprive you of your Chubby Cox."
Finally, the tall man piped up.
"Oh! pardon my manners. I've not been around people for a while on the trail. My name is William Travis Morgan. I prefer being called Travis over William." Morgan then thought about the offer that had been made.
"Travis-Over-William Morgan, got it" nodded Sally, noodle-head that she was.
"I sure do appreciate your offer, but I sure don't wish to become the focus of all the town's gossip...especially for something I didn't even do."
"Mr Morgan" chided Frances Grimes "You will be staying there at my behest, no opprobrium will attach to your visit. One of the few advantages of being blind: every body in town assumes that one is a Saint, you will be free, as my guest, to bask in my beatitude"
Sometimes Sally wished she had a dictionary with her when Miss Grimes was talking.
Morgan blinked at the word avalanche, but luckily he did understand everything she said. Like his father used to enjoy saying. "We Morgans have been called a lot of things, but ignorant is not one of those words."
"Well, in that case I will be happy to accept your offer and I will still offer to help in addition to whatever rent you feel is just." Morgan looked around. "I think I will like it here. Good people and a nice town are hard to come by."
Caroline let them chat for a bit about that place to stay. Finally Mr. Morgan was convinced to take up the blind girl's offer, Frances could be quite convincing, perhaps part of it was folks felt sorry for the poor blind girl. Caroline had truly hoped Frances would come back to play for her but she declined. Fair enough, she wouldn't push it.
Morgan looked around. "I think I will like it here. Good people and a nice town are hard to come by."
"Oh don't get too carried away, we ain't all so good. Be careful of the Evergreen ranch - it's snake in the grass owner, Mr. Steelgrave, and most of his cowhands. Only they're more gunsels than cowboys."
She almost added Fortner to that black list but decided not to.
"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows" - Helen Keller
Morgan looked around. "I think I will like it here. Good people and a nice town are hard to come by."
"Oh don't get too carried away, we ain't all so good. Be careful of the Evergreen ranch - it's snake in the grass owner, Mr. Steelgrave, and most of his cowhands. Only they're more gunsels than cowboys."
"Mister Connelly's nice, and he used to work for Mister Steelgrave." pointed out Sally, a little mischievously, perhaps, given the handsome fellow's current relationship with Caroline.
"Would you like to go and look at the place right away, or are you staying here for a drink first, Mister Morgan?" asked Frances, practically.
@[Longshot]