Gold Rush Bride. Shirley KennedyЧитать онлайн книгу.
ever mention me in his letters?”
“Only briefly.”
“I own the Alhambra Hotel in Empire.” He left out the “Saloon” part. Boston ladies were inclined to believe anyone connected with drinking and gambling was going straight to hell, and that included Mother. “Charles came in one day, and we got to talking. I was immediately impressed with his knowledge of flora and fauna along with just about everything else. After that, he stopped by often and we talked of many things. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed our conversations. Charles was both witty and wise.”
“Was,” she repeated, her eyes growing damp.
For a moment, he thought she might break down, but she drew a swift breath, blinked back the tears, and continued on.
“Even though we—my family and I—hadn’t heard from him for a while, we assumed he was doing well. And then… We were all so shocked. Mr. Hastings told us what happened, but I’d be grateful if you could fill me in on more of the details.”
“But of course, Miss Tinsley. I’m happy to oblige.” He earnestly bent forward, clasping his hands between his knees. “Here’s what happened…”
As best he could, he described Charles’s excitement when he discovered that rich vein of gold and called it Golden Hill. “By then he’d moved from his boarding house and was living in a tent on his claim. He got to storing bags of gold in his tent, even though I warned him how foolish that was. Finally, I persuaded him to store the gold in my safe. I implored him to leave the tent and move back to town. I don’t know how many times I warned him of the dangers of living not only alone but without a weapon of any kind. Sheer insanity, but he wouldn’t listen.”
She nodded with understanding. “He could be quite stubborn.”
“Indeed, he could. He liked living alone among—how did he put it?—the beauties of nature. Trees, animals, and all that. When he wasn’t working, he painted the most fantastic sketches of birds. He gave me several that I treasure.”
At his praise of her brother, her shoulders lost a bit of their stiffness. Her eyes lit. “Charles was extremely talented.”
“Yes, he was. I can only wish he hadn’t been so trusting. I’ll never know for sure what happened, but I suspect he was keeping bags of gold in his tent even though he knew how dangerous it was. When he hadn’t come to town for a while, Mathew and I went to investigate. You know the rest. We looked everywhere, I can assure you. He had simply disappeared without a trace. There was only one conclusion we could come to, and that’s as my employee told you.”
For a time, she sat silent, as if she had something to say and wasn’t sure she should say it. At last, she cocked her head to one side and nailed him with a sharp, assessing gaze. “Is that all you have to say, Mr. Morgan?”
He was so taken aback that for a moment he couldn’t think what to answer. “Why, yes, Miss Tinsley, I believe so. What did you—?”
“I have a question for you.” She reached for her reticule, pulled out some folded pages, and held them up. “This is a letter from Charles I found in his belongings. Did you know about it?”
“No, I did not.” What was she getting at? Why did he have the feeling this conversation wasn’t going well?
She unfolded the pages. “I won’t read you the whole letter, just the pertinent part.”
What did she mean by pertinent? “Please do go on.”
She read from the letter, “I left a considerable deposit at his hotel yesterday. Garth is leaving for Boston tomorrow with his own gold shipment, and has kindly offered to take mine, too.”
She dropped the pages to her lap and skewered him with a probing gaze. “Well, Mr. Morgan?”
Outrageous. He, the most honest and trustworthy of men, had just been accused of stealing by this audacious female. But he must stay calm. He’d learned long ago never to let his emotions show. Several moments went by before he trusted himself to speak in a reasonable manner. “Do you honestly think I kept your brother’s gold for myself?”
“I don’t know what to think.” With great precision, she folded the letter and tucked it back in her reticule. “I was hoping you’d come up with a reasonable answer but apparently not.”
How dare she? A curse, which he caught just in time, nearly fell from his mouth. “I did not steal from Charles, Miss Tinsley. That you would think so is not only insulting, it’s beyond my comprehension why you would make such a ridiculous accusation.”
She bit her lip, obviously uncomfortable but not the least deterred. “Among his possessions, I also found his diary. The last few pages had been ripped out. Why was that, do you suppose?”
“I have no idea.” He was close to shouting. He made an effort to calm himself, but his heart raced totally out of his control, and his face had heated and no doubt turned red. “Where is this diary you speak of?”
“I don’t have it with me, but if you care to pay us a visit, I’d be happy to show you.”
“Are you implying…? Do you honestly think I have something to do with Charles’s death?”
“No, I don’t, but the rest I’m not so sure about.”
He was beyond fury. All he wanted was to get this woman out of his library, out of his house. He stood, walked to the door, opened it wide, and glared across the room to where she sat. “Please leave. You and I have nothing further to discuss.”
Other than a slight flinch of surprise, she gave no indication of distress. With great deliberation, she picked up her reticule. As she arose from the armchair, her skirt raised enough to reveal small feet shod in blue satin slippers and shapely ankles above. Taking her time, she crossed the library to the door and looked up at him. “I’m sorry I’ve made you angry. I didn’t come here to accuse you. I came hoping you could give me a reasonable explanation as to what happened to the gold Charles said he gave you for safekeeping. Obviously you cannot, so what am I to believe?”
“Good day, Miss Tinsley.” Get out of my house, Miss Tinsley. He caught a whiff of lavender as she exited with her shoulders back and nose in the air. When he heard the front door close, he headed for his desk where he flopped in his chair and tried to bring his breathing back to normal. My God. Never had he been accused of such dishonesty. If a man had made such an accusation, he would have been bodily tossed out on the street.
For a long while, he sat quietly, waiting for his pulse to return to normal. Was that a lingering whiff of lavender he smelled? Must be his imagination. Those trim ankles…that line of tiny buttons curving over her bosom…
For God’s sake, forget about that awful woman and get on with your day.
* * * *
That night at dinner, Letty made a pretense of eating, but her anger at Garth Morgan had killed her appetite, and she could hardly manage a bite. She didn’t want to talk about it, but her family was full of questions.
“Why was Mr. Morgan so rude?” Millicent asked. “Were you not being polite?”
“I was the very soul of politeness, as well as fair and reasonable, but he just wouldn’t listen and threw me out.”
Mother clucked with sympathy. “How absolutely dreadful. Do you really think he took Charles’s gold?”
Letty nodded emphatically. “Of course he did. Why else wouldn’t he allow a reasonable discussion?”
Her little brother had been listening with rapt attention. “Were you hurt when he threw you out? Did you land on your head?”
She had to smile. “He didn’t literally throw me out, William. That’s a figure of speech. He demanded that I leave, though, and that’s just as bad.”
“What does he look like?” Millicent asked.