He tilted his head to the side and glanced behind her at the men milling about the room. “None of these men catch your fancy?”
Her face flushed, and she felt hot. “Sir, I was supposed to be picked up by a gentleman and taken into town. I am not here for any other purposes. As you can see, I have two bags with me, and I am not exactly dressed for this weather, am I? The man who sent for me paid ahead of time for the ticket. Perhaps he is in the book of yours, and you can find him for me.”
The surprise on the clerk’s face was renewed. “Pardon me, miss. What is your name? I will look it up.”
“My name is Olive Kelsey. His name is Henry. Henry Lewis.”
This time, the look that crossed the clerk’s face was one of recognition. “Oh, I will send a messenger to go find him. Please go ahead and sit back down. I will let you know when we find him.”
“Thank you.” Olive turned away and walked slowly back to the bench. She had been sitting there for over two hours. She didn’t want to sit down again. She wanted to leave. She would rather have walked to town than sit on that bench for another moment. Instead of sitting, she went to the biggest window she could find and stood in front of it, staring out. As it got darker, she could see people lighting lanterns, and a man was walking down the street, lighting the gas lanterns that dotted the street with a long, lit torch.
Directly in front of the window, across the street, she could see a very small general store, a place where people could get eggs, sugar, and salt. To the right of the store, there was a grain mill and on the other side, a saddle shop. There were several different shops lining the street, but she couldn’t make out the names or the purpose of the shops in the dim light.
The town stretched on from there, but she could only see the street in front of her, to the left and to the right. The road was made of dirt and there were horses with riders passing by almost constantly, kicking up the dust. She saw only a few women. From the look of them, she understood why the clerk may have mistaken her for one of them. There didn’t seem to be any women of quality, at least not on this street. Soon the sun was completely down. She continued to watch the flickering lanterns until she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Miss?”
She turned and had to look up. The man was at least a foot taller than her, with a broad chest and kind brown eyes. “Yes?”
“You were brought here by Henry Lewis?” he asked.
She nodded without answering.
He gave her a complete look, from her eyes to her shoes and back up. She avoided doing the same. She didn’t want him to think she was rude. “I…I am his brother, Eric. I’m sorry there was confusion and that you had to sit here waiting for so long. It seems…Henry didn’t tell us you were coming. May I see the letter he sent you?”
Olive kept herself from sighing. She still had the letter in the pocket of her dress, and she pulled it out, handing it to him. She felt like she was having to prove she wasn’t lying. It offended her that she wasn’t just picked up and taken to her destination, as promised.
Her face must have betrayed her thoughts because the look on his changed and he leaned forward a little. “The clerk has already verified that Henry really did send for you. I would just like to see the letter he sent you because, as I said, we were all surprised to hear that he did this.”
He opened the letter and read it quickly. She couldn’t tell what he thought by the look on his face. Then he refolded it and handed it back to her without a word about it.
“I will take you to the family house so we can decide what to do.”
It was Olive’s turn to look surprised. She tilted her head and bunched her skirt up in one hand. “What to do? I don’t understand. I was supposed to be picked up and taken back to the home where I would be married and stay with Henry. What is going on?”
Eric looked down, pressing his cheek out with his tongue and then licking his lips, nervously. “I’m afraid there’s been an accident.”
Olive frowned and tilted her head to the side. “An accident? What kind of accident? What do you mean? Is Henry all right?”
He hesitated before answering, glancing over her shoulder and out the window. She wondered what he was thinking and what had happened.
“I’m afraid not,” Eric answered, finally, dropping his eyes back to her face. “He’s been killed.”
Chapter Two
Olive didn’t know how to feel. She followed Eric to the wagon in silence. She hadn’t known Henry other than from the letters. He’d sounded like a decent man, a good man. But Eric didn’t seem too broken up about the loss of his brother. He was, in fact, quite complacent, helping her into the wagon and snapping the horses into action with a whistle and a flick of the reins.
“I’m sorry you’ve been shocked by this, Olive,” Eric said once they were on the road. “I am afraid he didn’t tell anyone that you were coming.”