"The Law may very well 'be an ass', but a man can travel a mighty long way on an ass."
Smiling, she turned her attention to Anæsthesia, "Good day, Miss Orr. Mrs. Martin has briefly left the store on business and will be back presently. Would you to like to take a seat and wait. If not you can look around the store."
"Oh." A small frown decorated Anæsthesia's usually flawless brow.
"Hmm, I suppose I could spend a few minutes browsing..." she sighed, and then called to the man outside to come in. "Oh, Lew, do be a dear and come in here will you? I might need some parcels carrying, if I can find anything worth buying." she demanded. The man complied, and true enough, the spoiled girl soon had a small pile of fancy items to purchase, most of them things that she had a plentiful supply of already.
"Oh, that was quite exhausting!" Anæsthesia almost panted as she flopped down in one of the chairs that had been indicated previously.
"Oh Lew, do pay." she managed to say.
Mr Reeve took Miss Orr's little pile of knick-knacks to the counter.
"We'll take these Miss..." he said to the attractive store assistant "... its Miss Albrecht, isn't it?"
Anna nodded, "Yes, that's right."
She had seen the man in the General Store a few times but Mister Wilson had served him, and so it made sense that he knew her last name. He was handsome enough, she supposed, but beyond that...well, there was nothing beyond that. All she knew about him was what she had just witnessed and that his name was Lew.
Turning her attention to adding up the prices of the knick-knacks and wrapping them up. When she had done so, she smiled warmly and asked if that was all before stating the price.
As she waited, she thought about the two people in the store. Miss Orr seemed to be a bit standoffish and leaving all the work to the young man who had accompanied her. This struck her as probably something young ladies who were in the upper echelons of society did all the time...something Anna wasn't at all interested in doing. She was well capable of doing things for herself.
Since they were nearly finished and there was still no sign of her employer, Anna smiled apologetically, "I don't know what is keeping Mrs. Martin but I am sure she won't be much longer."
"The Law may very well 'be an ass', but a man can travel a mighty long way on an ass."
Anna nodded, "Yes, that's right."
He was a about to add something more... something about her family, but realised it might embarrass her. To anyone else, a pleasantry along the lines of "I hear your family own the mill" or "I hear your family are big in the timber business..." or even "I hear your family rob banks..." might not make anyone bat an eyelid: but to mention what the Albrecht clan did to earn a crust: well, it wouldn't go down well in certain quarters.
Since they were nearly finished and there was still no sign of her employer, Anna smiled apologetically, "I don't know what is keeping Mrs. Martin but I am sure she won't be much longer."
"Oh, that's all right. Say, doesn't your brother run the hotel?" he asked conversationally, managing to find a topic of small-talk which didn't involve wooly jumpers or blades of grass nibbled down to their roots.
Anna nodded, "Yes, he manages the hotel on behalf of Mister Wentworth who gets very busy with his mayoral duties."
She was a little confused at why the man she was talking to knew who her brother was. Maybe his job as Miss Orr's escort required him to be knowledgeable about who did what in Kalispell.
It was about this Elizabeth Martin entered the store. She apologised before escorting Anæsthesia to the parlour in the back of the store.
After watching her employer and her guest leave the room, Anna turned her attention back to Lewis. "If you like you can take a seat over there and wait...although it could be a while."
"The Law may very well 'be an ass', but a man can travel a mighty long way on an ass."
Anna nodded, "Yes, he manages the hotel on behalf of Mister Wentworth who gets very busy with his mayoral duties."
"Ouch! Don't remind me! I was Mister Pettigrew's campaign manager for those mayoral elections, and I think Old Smokey got more votes than him... much to his relief, I might add."
He frowned.
"Er... Mr Pettigrew's relief, that is, not Old Smokey's"
After watching her employer and her guest leave the room, Anna turned her attention back to Lewis. "If you like you can take a seat over there and wait...although it could be a while."
"Oh that's all right, I'll take these things back to the house, I'm not sure that my cousin needs me to walk her home. Of course, there's always the danger that she'll run into the strangler, but, well, that's his problem!" he joked.
Anna frowned, "I hardly think that is a joking matter. So, unless you have something serious to say about it or wish to talk about something else then I think you should take Miss Orr's things and be on your way."
She took a deep breath and looked towards the front door. She tolerated a lot of things but making fun of what was a grim matter...well that was his problem. If she had any notions about the good-looking man standing in front of her, then they had disappeared with his comment.
"The Law may very well 'be an ass', but a man can travel a mighty long way on an ass."
Anna frowned, "I hardly think that is a joking matter. So, unless you have something serious to say about it or wish to talk about something else then I think you should take Miss Orr's things and be on your way."
Well, that was a slap in the face!
But Reeve had received worse rebukes in court and rallied.
He gave a little bow.
"I apologise, Miss Albrecht, you are quite correct. The murders in the town are no subject for levity. I hope that you yourself make yourself secure in your quarters at night and do not have to walk to your lodgings after the store closes. It would pain me to think that you yourself were in any danger"
He waited to see if he was still in the doghouse.
Since he had to good sense to apologise for his comment, Anna decided to accept it even if seemed, in her opinion, to lack some sincerity. "Apology accepted...Mister, er..."
She suddenly realised that she had only heard Anæsthesia call him by his first name. "I can't remember if I was ever told your last name when I was working in the General Store. If I was, then it is my turn to apologise."
"That's too much sugar for a dime!"
"Apology accepted...Mister, er..."
"Reeve, Lewis Reeve" he smiled, leaning on her counter and making himself at home.
"I can't remember if I was ever told your last name when I was working in the General Store. If I was, then it is my turn to apologise."
"Oh, no need to apologise, Miss Albrecht, I was entirely remiss in not mentioning it, after all..."
"A-HEM!"
A loud fake cough came from behind the young lawyer's back. He ignored it.
"... er, after all..."
"A-HEM!!"
Reeve turned and then looked down - he was rewarded by the basilisk stare of a rather annoyed-looking young woman in a frontier rendition of a maid's uniform and a straw hat that had signally failed in doing its duty, as her somewhat sunburnt face was a mass of freckles that had coalesced into a mass of two mega-freckles, one on each cheek. The girl was in such close proximity to him that he took a step back.
"Are you payin' or sparkin', Mister? Cause some of us got work to get back tuh!"
Reeve frowned and then, ignoring the girl, turned back to Anna with a little laugh, making light of the situation.
"Looks like I'm holding things up around here, I'd better get this stuff back to the house. It was nice talking with you Miss Albrecht." he said, handing her the money and making his way out of the store.
The sunburned one followed his retreating figure out of the door with her narrowed eyes, then slid up to counter conspiratorially.
"You wanna watch that one, Anna... he's a lawyer!" Herschelina warned the young woman. From the way she said it, she might have been accusing the fellow of being the Kalispell Strangler!
Anna frowned. "Just because he's a lawyer, it doesn't make him bad. In fact, from what I'm told they can come in handy when you need them."
She looked at the girl standing on the other side of the counter and remembered what she had said earlier, "If he was intending to spark me, then you arrived just in time and saved me the trouble of beating him off with a stick."
Now that she was had said it, she wasn't quite if she would have done it. A part of her was a bit disappointed that her friend had turned up but now the moment had passed, and it was time to move onto something else. She smiled, "So how are you today, Herschelina? I trust that Mrs. Orr is well."