THE WIDOW

By Krystyna

John Donne in his poem The Sun Rising wrote:

“Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.”

Therein lies the main clue….because this love story hangs upon another love story which gives way to yet another different altogether kind of love.

 “Adam?”

The young man thus addressed paused in the act of putting food into his mouth and looked up at his father, then rolled his eyes sidelong to his two brothers before lowering his fork and with a sigh saying “Yes, Pa?”
 

“What did you intend to do to-day?”
 

“What you told me to do…go to Lindon’s and check out their bull….why?” he raised the food hopefully to his mouth although he kept his eyes on his father who was cutting into his own meat with an air of distraction

“I’d rather you went to town.”

“Why’s that?” Adam mumbled, having stuffed the food into his mouth while he had the opportunity and was suffering the consequence of having literally bitten off more than he could chew.
 

“There’s a land auction at the real estate office and I want you to bid for it….”
 

“What piece of land is it, Pa?” Joseph asked, seeing that his eldest brother was struggling and unable to ask, and Joe, seeing a chance to get a word in, chose not to lose the opportunity while he had it!
 

“Remember that land Linda bought…?”
 

“Oh, the Countess of Chadwick!” Joe chuckled and raised his eye brows at Hoss, who gave a sidelong glance at his father and smirked good humouredly.
 

“Well, despite all the problems she gave us, she did do us one good turn, and that was to bring that piece of land to our attention again…”

“It’s not for sale.” Adam said quietly
 

“What do you mean?” Ben scowled, his black eyes darkening
 

“What I said…it’s not for sale!” Adam stared back into the black eyes and shrugged. “I inquired about it a few weeks ago, but Sneddon said that Lady Chadwick had no intention of selling.”
 

“YOU enquired about it? Why did you do that?” Hoss asked, before cramming a slice of ham into his mouth with the ease of a gourmet.
 

“Same reason as Pa probably…it’s good land, lots of timber and the water we use on the west side originates from that source. It’s fed by underwater springs so it’s never been known to run dry. If someone else buys it and we don’t get along, then comes a drought or any dispute, we could be without a water supply when we most need it! Lady Chadwick certainly knew what she was doing when she chose that particular section of land; it’s a real valuable piece of property!”

“You’re right there…” Hoss muttered.

“Yes,” Ben nodded with his face looking a little pensive. His three sons glanced at one another warily, anxious that their father was not mourning his loss of the lady. “Yes, I recall saying at the time, to Linda that I couldn’t understand why we had not bought that land long before…” Ben shrugged and smiled at them. “Still, no time like the present…Adam?”
 

“Yes, Pa…I’ll go right away.” Adam tossed his napkin down and pushed back his chair “How high do I go in the bidding?”
 

“As high as it needs,” Ben answered with a smile.
 

Adam frowned and looked at his father with a suspicious look in his brown eyes. “How come you found out about this auction anyway?”

“Widow Hawkins told me about it.” Ben frowned, realizing that he had walked into a real bear trap. He looked at Hoss and Joe as though daring them to make any comment for he had noticed the glint in their eyes and the way they had grinned over at one another.
 

“I wasn’t going to say a word,” Joe muttered, carefully folding his napkin by his plate.
 

“Nor me!” Hoss grinned from ear to ear and stood up “Hey, Pa, mind if we go along with Adam?”

“Well, if you’ve done everything else…” Ben frowned “I’ve work to do here, so you may as well…” He looked up with eyes wide in surprise at the speed the two younger men left the table to get to their hats and gun belts, then looked over at Adam. “What’s going on with those two?”
 

“How’d I know?” Adam muttered and then smiled slowly. “So…Widow Hawkins told you about this auction, did she? I thought you weren’t on speaking terms with her?”

“I’m not. It’s just that she doesn’t know that,” Ben growled and stood up “And not another word about her, if you don’t mind.”
 

“Coo, blimey, duckie, it would be more than my life’s worth…..” Adam mumbled as he reached the door, grabbed for his hat and gunbelt, and disappeared.
 

Ben shook his head, and then smiled…a slow smile of satisfaction with life, family, and everything relative to it. Certainly there had been problems for a while after Linda’s departure, but the men had settled down, contracts had been met successfully, and money was once again flowing easily into their coffers. He took a deep breath which made his broad chest expand to stretch the linen of his shirt. Yes, indeed, life was good!

**********

Widow Hawkins was as happy as she could be, for life was good for her too. She had a new boarder who was a cut above the normal class of person staying at her establishment. This was a lady, or so she informed the ladies at her Ladies Temperance Meeting (and how she became a member was still a mystery!). She was a lady who had traveled the world, was very wealthy and had recently been widowed. She was a lady of such good breeding that every evening she would patiently sit and listen to all of Widow Hawkins adventures, past, present and the hoped-for future.

That morning Widow Clementine Hawkins accompanied her new-found friend along the streets of town towards the livery stable where they were to meet a gentleman who was going to take them for a drive out of town. As they walked slowly through town, she would point out little places of interest to her friend with anecdotes of her own, peppered with comments and words peculiar to her native home city of London, England. The younger woman showed her breeding by not batting an eye!

As they approached the Bucket of Blood saloon, the sounds of flesh pounding against flesh, of glass being shattered, and of furniture being smashed came loud to their ears. Clemmie was about to take her friend’s elbow and lead her to the other side of the road when a young man’s body flew through the door with no apparent means of support before landing at their feet on the sidewalk with an almighty crash. Both women winced. The youth groaned and opened his eyes, then looked up into their anxious faces
 

“Sorry, ladies…oh, good morning, Widow Hawkins…ma’am.” He rubbed his head through an unruly mop of hair and got to his feet. “Excuse me….” He gave a nod with a brief smile and returned to the saloon
 

“Was he alright?” asked the other woman but before Clemmie could reply, the door of the saloon was once again crashed open and the youth reappeared, staggering backwards and colliding into the post that supported the roof of the verandah. He grabbed hold of it for a second, to steady up, and blinked rather rapidly. Blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth and he touched it gingerly with his fingers. Then he saw the two women, still standing where they had been earlier. “Oh...good day, ladies….can’t stop…”
 

They watched as he ran back into the saloon where the smashing of furniture could still be heard along with men’s grunts and a few coarse words that made Clemmie raise her eyebrows and grab her friends elbow. “Come along…we had better get away from here before one of them land on us!” she remarked.

Adam Cartwright spent some minutes reading through the poster that had been pasted up on the real estate office’s window. It announced to any who were interested that a parcel of land at such and such a location was available for sale by auction on that particular day…but splashed across it was the word Cancelled / SOLD. He pushed open the door and looked about him, and then seeing Sneddon’s clerk, approached him.
 

“Good day, Mr. Cartwright.” Mr. Riley visibly quailed under the black look that was directed at him with the sharpness of two steel rapiers. “Can I….can I be of assistance?”
 

“I want to see Sneddon!” Adam growled, and narrowed his eyes
 

“Mr. Sneddon isn’t here, sir.”

“Then where is he?” Adam said through gritted teeth, his black brows raised over ever darkening eyes
 

“He’s…he’s gone out!”
 

“I had actually managed to figure that out for myself, Mr. Riley. All I want to know is…where is he?”

“He’s taking a lady out to view the property.”

“The property that was supposed to have been auctioned today?”

“Yes, sir.”
 

“And who is this lady?”
 

“She’s the new owner…she bought the land over a week ago.”
 

“I don’t understand you. How could she have bought the land a week ago when it has only just gone up for auction?” Adam leaned against the counter, his ferociousness abating as his curiosity now took over.
 

“I know, sir…a most inconvenient digression, but you know that Lady Chadwick was always so...”  The clerk shrugged as words obviously failed him. Adam, who could think of quite a string of words by which he could have described the Countess, felt it better to keep silent. “It seems she met Lady Chadwick in San Francisco a few weeks ago and they got talking and the transaction took place there. She had all the papers, land deeds, receipts...everything…and was most annoyed when she arrived in town and saw it being put up for auction. Of course, Mr. Sneddon explained that Lady Chadwick had left instructions for the land to be auctioned off this week by prior arrangement…which is why it has had to be cancelled now.”

Adam frowned and stared at the wall past the little clerk while he thought the matter over. Mr. Riley nervously rearranged some of the pens and pencils that had got slightly scattered upon Adams abrupt arrival.
 

“So…who is this lady? Is she one of our local people?” Adam asked.

“No, Mr. Cartwright, sir…she’s a foreigner!”
 

Adam took a deep breath and scowled darkly at Riley, who gulped and quickly added, “Actually, she just sounded a little bit foreign…very wealthy…a widow…”
 

Adam’s shoulders sagged. Another wealthy widow…and an associate of Lady Chadwick’s. Things did not look very good for the future. He pursed his lips and chewed the inside of his cheek a little.

 “She seemed very nice…very quiet, and polite,” observed the clerk.

“You said she was angry.”

“No…I meant she was rightly annoyed...a little put out...obviously...after all, she had paid a lot of money for that land.”

“How much?”
 

“Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Cartwright, I couldn’t possibly say!”
 

Adam pushed his hat to the back of his head and nodded. “Of course not. I’m sorry, Mr. Riley; of course you can’t tell me.” He shook his head and sighed

“There is one thing I can tell you though…although perhaps I shouldn’t….” Riley’s voice trailed off but one look at Adams face encouraged him to speak up “We had explicit instructions that if any Cartwright, or any one associated with the Cartwrights and the Ponderosa, were to put in an offer, no matter how high…they were to be ignored.”

“Ignored?”

“Yes, sir….Lady Chadwick gave implicit instructions that the land was not to be purchased by you on any account.” Riley leaned forward conspiratorially “In fact, she said that she would rather sell it to the local drunk for fifty dollars than to a Cartwright for a million!”

“She said that?”
 

“She did, sir!”

Adam nodded and gave a grim, tight-lipped smile to Riley. He thanked the clerk and walked out of the office, closing the door with deliberate firmness behind him.

Hoss was dabbing at a cut above his right eye while Little Joe was dabbing at a split in his lip when their elder brother approached them. As he glanced at them, they both shrugged and looked apologetic, searching in their minds for explanations that would seem plausible to their more responsible brother. But he made no enquiry as to their bumps and cuts and bruises. Adam only mounted Sport with a rather aggressive posture, and indicated that they were to leave town as of now! Hoss and Joe promptly mounted their horses and followed Adam out through the main street into the open countryside. After a few minutes of total silence, Joe spurred Cochise forward so that he and his brother were riding heel to heel. “What’s wrong? That was the quickest auction I’ve ever known.”

“There wasn’t one,” Adam replied briefly

“You mean Widow Hawkins got her facts wrong?”

“Widow Hawkins did not have all the facts.”

“Oh!” Joe frowned and tried to work that out “Adam?”
 

“Mmmmm?”
 

“So…what about the land?”

“It’s sold”
 

“To us?”

“Nope.”
 

“Heck...who then?”
 

“A wealthy widow…a friend of Lady Chadwick’s.”
 

Joe released a slow whistle and frowned. “Pa’s not going to be happy!”
 

“Nope.”
 

“Are you going to tell him?”
 

“Do you want to?”

“Nope.”

***********

“HE SAID WHAT?”

It was never exactly what Ben said that broke a man’s nerve, more the way that it was said. His growl of a voice that his dear Elizabeth had once likened to a fog horn could make the walls reverberate even if he was not shouting. Adam turned his hat round in his hands and surveyed his father coolly, much like any man would when asked at his execution for his last request. He repeated exactly what Riley had told him with a quiet manner that could usually calm his father down into a rational human being again.

“Didn’t he give you a name?” demanded Ben.
 

“No”
 

“Why not?”

“Because……” Adam glanced over at Hoss and Joe, who were languishing at the far end of the room, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. “I didn’t ask.”

“YOU didn’t ask?”

“I didn’t think it was important.” Adam shrugged and turned to walk away.

“YOU didn’t think it was IMPORTANT! Of course it was IMPORTANT! She’s a friend of Linda’s for heavens sake….the whole thing could be a...another plot of Linda’s to ruin us.”
 

Adam nodded slowly, his lips pursed and his eyebrows raised. He shrugged again. “Her name is Freya Sorensen; she’s a widow, American by birth, but married to a Norwegian and has lived in Norway for about 30 years. This is her first time back in America since her marriage. She is extremely wealthy. Her husband was Olaf Sorensen.”

“Olaf Sorensen?” Ben frowned and sat back in his high backed leather chair, his black mood having evaporated.
 

“Olaf Sorensen, grandson of Lars Sorensen who was founder of Sorensen’s Shipping Company. Olaf died, leaving a widow and three children, four grandchildren. They were his children, not hers and…”
 

“Hang on…where did you get all this information?” Ben asked, a slight smile touching his lips now
 

“Mr. Riley knew zilch. I met one of Mrs. Hawkins Temperance ladies and she gave me all the information.”

Hoss stepped forward, his face thoughtful. “Hey, how come Widow Hawkins got to be a member of that Temperance thing anyhows…”
 

Ben and Adam surveyed Hoss silently for a second or two, then cast a look at Joe who managed to muster up a weak smile. “What happened to your face?” Adam asked “You look all beat up!”

**********

“Joe, are you sure you’re doing the right thing?” Hoss looked anxiously at his little brother who was carefully brushing back his hair, straightening his string tie and grinning at his reflection in the mirror.

“Hey, quit worrying, older brother.” Joe darted a quick look at his brother lounging against the doorframe and then returned to survey himself in the mirror. He sighed. Then he grinned, his eyes twinkling merrily. “Now, admit it…isn’t that a sight for sore eyes?” Joe stepped back to admire the image of himself more fully.

“You look good and you smell good, which means you’re up to no good…what’s going on?” Adam asked as he paused to stop at the doorway and look in at his brother who was now pulling on his best and newest jacket
 

“I have a date,” Joe declared with a wink and a twitch at his string tie.
 

“I gathered that,” Adam said dryly. He looked over at Hoss who was looking rather nervously at them both. “Who with?”
 

“No one you know,” Joe replied quietly
 

“It’s Julia McManus,” Hoss said, ignoring the flash of green in Joe’s hazel eyes.
 

“Julia McManus, huh?” Adam raised his eyebrows and gave his brother a lopsided grin. “Well, fancy! I thought Seth Johnson was courting her?”

“He thinks he’s courting her,” Joe said “But Julia has other thoughts about that.”
 

“Is this the same Seth that beat you two up yesterday?”
 

“He didn’t beat me up,” Hoss declared, looking at his brother with wide eyes and a look of amazement on his face

“No? Those cuts and bruises just happened to appear overnight after a visit from the tooth fairy, I suppose!”
 

“Shucks, Adam,” explained Hoss, “Seth started calling the odds against Joe and Joe tried reasoning with him, and then Seth thumped him and you know how big Seth is compared to Joe? I just thought I’d lend Joe a hand and the next thing I know the whole place was a battlefield. I didn’t know who I was fighting or for why.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Joe muttered, straightening his tie for the umpteenth time. “It just blew out of control, you know how it is. Anyway, I have to go.” He grinned at himself again and winked. “Yessir!” he breathed in approval before turning round and rushing past his brothers without another word. They heard him call out goodbye to Ben before the door slammed shut.

“That boy loves himself too much,” Adam observed with a smile
 

“He’s young still,” Hoss grinned as though he were at least a hundred years of age.

“The follies of youth, huh, Hoss?” Adams eyes twinkled

“Yeah.” Hoss nodded and paused. “What’s follies mean?”

“Adam? Hoss?”
 

The two younger men sighed and walked downstairs in answer to the summons. Since the news about the sale of the adjoining land, Ben had been like a bear with a sore head. Conversation had been limited to grunts and mumbles and rumbles so that in the end the three boys had left their father to himself at his desk while they had shared the last few hours of the day together by the fire. Ben looked up at them now and frowned, tightening the knot of leather that held down his gun holster as he did so. “I’m going into town,” he growled

“Why? I thought you were going to check over at the McKenzie’s about that timber contract,” Adam said

“You can do that for me, if you please. Hoss, you can come with me.”
 

“Sure, Pa…where we going?”

“To Widow Hawkins!”

“Oh.” Hoss’ big blue eyes widened and he glanced sidelong down to Adam who raised his eyebrows and grinned. “You sure you want me to come along, Pa?”

“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.” Ben picked up his hat and paused, looking over at Adam who was surveying him now with thoughtful brown eyes. “I want to see this Sorensen woman. Linda’s behind this and I want to know what’s going on.”
 

“Well, Pa, it could all be perfectly alright. Mrs. Sorensen appears to be a very pleasant woman.”
 

“Linda can appear to be a very pleasant woman when it suits her…she had me fooled, and I don’t intend to be fooled by her again, not this time!”
 

“There’s not really much you can do to change the situation, Pa,” Adam said slowly. “The land is sold to a legitimate owner and we just lost out on the deal, that’s all.”

“That is not all!” Ben grabbed for his hat and scowled over at his eldest son. “Linda has a scheme brewing and will no doubt be using this widow to suit her own interests, you can mark my words on that score.”

“Pa, I think you are over reacting.”
 

“It wasn’t that long ago that you and Joe thought I wasn’t reacting enough.”
 

”Yeah, well…” Adam scratched the back of his neck and frowned. “It was just pretty obvious to us that Linda was trying to hogtie you any which way she could. It was just that you …” He paused and looked over at Hoss who was shaking his head warningly behind Bens back. When Ben was doing a good impersonation of Mount Vesuvius about to erupt, one did not rush in with a poker to stoke up the flames. Adam retreated and forced a smile, “Enjoy your trip, Pa,” he said quickly
 

“Enjoy my trip!” Ben growled under his breath. “Huh…nonsense,” He continued to growl and mumble as he left the house.
 

Adam and Hoss exchanged looks with raised eyebrows and shook their heads. Hoss whispered, “Couldn’t we swap places?” To which request Adam shook his head even more determinedly. With a gulp and grimace, Hoss slapped his hat on his head and left the building.

**********

She breathed in fresh clean air. The smell of moist soil and duff permeated wherever she went, mingled with the scent of wild flowers hidden beneath the undergrowth or peeking shyly from secret hollows in the ground. The horse and buggy picked its way daintily through a trail that had not been used for many years and the smells that eddied up from the crushed undergrowth were so fresh and stimulating that it made her feel lightheaded.

It had taken some time to persuade Clemmie that she was safe and quite capable to taking this trip on her own. No matter how fond she was of the warm-hearted, gregarious soul, she wanted and needed to have this time alone. To ride through her own land on American soil. She drew the horse to a halt and sat very still. She closed her eyes and listened to the silence and let it wrap itself around her whilst she thought her own secret thoughts and wished her own private dreams.

She was free and she was alone! And now she felt relief mingle with pure joy. After so many years…. She found her mind wandering back to the time, only months ago, when she had stood at the graveside of her husband with a clump of soil in her hand, and how she had cried. Everyone had consoled and comforted her and she could not say anything or tell anyone that the tears she cried were not from grief, but from joy, pure simple down to earth joy and happiness. When they spoke of a life ending, she thought of her own life beginning. When they drank champagne in consolation, she wanted to drink it in congratulation!

She had watched them all and known them all to be hypocrites. They spoke the words of sympathy and sorrow with dry eyes and narrow mouths and thoughts of how to use this empire without Olaf at the helm. She watched her husband’s so-called friends and associates ingratiate themselves with her stepsons and stepdaughter. She saw the hungry wolf look in their eyes and felt relief again and a confirmation that her decision to leave Norway and the Sorensen empire had been the correct one.

Only when she had said her farewells to the family, those children now adults whom she had loved and cared for over the years, had she felt a little guilt and sorrow. Lars, Heydrik, and little Margitta…and their children…yes, it had been sad to say goodbye to them.

Now she roused herself out of her more morbid thoughts and returned to the mood that had settled itself about her as she had taken the turning onto her land. The Countess of Chadwick had been right in her appraisal of the land because everywhere she looked she could see not only its beauty but also its wealth. She urged the horse to walk on, and approached a small stream. It trickled through the trees like a pale living ribbon wending its ways through the forestry, and widening out to fuller waters that disappeared beyond her view. It was here that she decided to sit awhile and think about her plans for the future.

**********

Clemmie Hawkins tweaked a rebellious curl into place just as she opened the door to Ben and Hoss. She blinked beguilingly up at them and smiled her wide red rouged smile. “ ’Ello, Ben…” she said in her hoarse throaty voice.
 

“Good morning, Clementine.” Ben took in a deep breath and wondered if Clemmie would ever realize that the amount of perfume she put on was enough to knock a weaker man unconscious!

“Are yer cummin in fer a minutes or two?”

“No...no time for that….purely a business call…on your boarder, Mrs. Sorensen. Is she at home?” Ben realized the words were tumbling out, but the feeling of panic he felt whenever he was near Clemmie, especially with one of his sons nearby, was close to hysteria.
 

“No, she’s gorn out,” Clemmie replied, the disappointment obvious in her eyes. She looked up at him much like one of their young calves did when about to be branded...big eyes, long lashes (they were not real, surely, her lashes?), and that ‘I don’t care what anyone says I know this will hurt’ expression…and she sighed. “She won’t be back for a while yet. Why not come in for a cuppa?”

“Thank you, Clemmie...another time.” Ben smiled and touched the brim of his hat

“She’s gorn to ‘ave a looksee round her bit of land what she bought the other week,” Clemmie said, hoping that would encourage Ben to stay awhile
 

“Oh, I see…” Ben’s voice lowered and became deeper and at his side, Hoss rolled his eyes and inwardly quailed. “Thank you…”

Ben snapped the gate shut and walked with a stiff back to where his horse waited, nodding drowsily over the hitching rail. As he mounted up, Ben began to mumble and growl to himself. “Well, she didn’t waste anytime, did she? Had to go and have a look around her plot of land, didn’t she...”
 

“Pa?”

“Right…she’s probably wondering what other piece of land she can buy that will push us into an even tighter corner…”
 

“Pa?”

“WHAT?” Ben turned to glare at his son who just shook his head and sighed.

“Pa, why not just give her the benefit of the doubt. You don’t even know the lady!”

“I know that she knows Linda…and she knows that particular lady well enough to have bought that land which Linda didn’t want us to have.”
 

“It doesn’t mean to say that she’s …” Hoss shrugged. “Pa, don’t you think you’re letting your imagination run away with you somewhat?”

Ben gave his son a withering look and took in a deep breath. “Hoss, if I had used my imagination a little more a few months ago, I wouldn’t have fallen so neatly into Linda’s little traps.”
 

“Shucks, Pa, but you didn’t  ... did you?”

“If it hadn’t been for Adam and Joe…” Ben frowned and then shook his head. He looked at his son again and smiled grimly. “You’re right, Hoss…I’m sorry. I feel just a bit anxious about all this. I guess my pride was dented by what happened.”

“Aw, that’s alright, Pa.” Hoss grinned amiably. “You’d have worked it out for yourself before too late anyhows.”
 

“I daresay I would have done.” Ben smiled more broadly now
 

“After all, the first time she angled in on ya…” Hoss gave his pa a wink and a grin. “You got yourself outta it, didn’t ya?”

“Well, I did have someone else on my mind at the time; that did help a lot!” Ben chuckled

“Women are sure odd critters,” Hoss mused. “Her wanting you still and thinking she could hogtie you down ….after all that time!”
 

“Twenty years or so!” Ben sighed “She was always a strange woman.” He frowned and thought back to the past when Linda had first swept into his life. He remembered the woman who had been at his side then …Marie….dear Marie…and suddenly he felt the ache of a man who had loved and been loved and realized that he would not mind being loved yet again. “We’ll ride onto the Lindons and look at that bull,” Ben said quickly, looking over at his son who was dwelling on thoughts of his own now. “Adam didn’t get the chance to do it yesterday,” he explained.

**********

Little Joe Cartwright pulled out his timekeeper and checked it for the tenth time in an hour. He looked at the watch face and then up at the sun as though to confirm what the watch told him. He sat down on a boulder and contemplated the view before him. It was one of his favorite places on the Ponderosa and the place he liked to take his dates because anyone seeing such beauty spread out before them were quite overwhelmed by it and thus it created the perfect ambience for a pleasant few hours or so. But time was ticking away and Julia had not made her appearance after all.

Now he stood up and paced the ground, with his hands behind his back and his head down, thoughtful and anxious. Had it been her parents, perhaps? The McManus family had only been in Virginia City six months and her parents were very strict about things like dating, which is why they preferred her to spark off with Seth rather than himself. She had told him that they viewed the Cartwrights as rather a wild bunch, and that Joe himself had a reputation around town for dating the ladies whereas Seth was quiet and shy and in line for big things for the future. Of course, Joe wanted to tell her that Seth was not at all quiet and shy. He could have told her that Seth was a troublemaker and a bad-tempered bully but that would only have lowered her estimation of him, Joe. So he had kept quiet and assured her that people only spread lies about those who were better than themselves. Well, that had seemed to work, but come the day and she was most definitely absent.

At the rustle of leaves behind him, Joe turned. “Hey, Julia…I had almost given you up for lost!” he said as he turned
 

“It ain’t Julia, Cartwright.”

Joe glanced around him and blanched. Perhaps Seth Johnson on his own would have been a reasonable match, but Stuart McManus and Arnold Gere as well….the three of them would flatten him like a ten-ton weight.

“I warned you yesterday, Cartwright……..you stay away from my girl!”

“Julia doesn’t seem to agree that she is your girl, Seth,” Joe said quietly, stepping backwards, hoping he could reach Cochise and get into the saddle to make as quick an exit as possible. It was humiliating to run, to turn tail and scuttle, but there were times when a quick assessment of the situation was enough to confirm the obvious…….broken bones. HIS broken bones.
 

A movement behind him and Joe turned his head. He felt his heart sink as he saw Arnold Gere already in position to cut him off from his horse. He was now hemmed in and they were stepping forward, boxing him into no possible retreat. He saw Stuart pick up a fallen branch and thought that should Stuart use it, he stood no chance whatsoever.

“Look, Seth, there’s no point in fighting over this. I admit that I was a mite rash in thinking that Julia wasn’t interested in you but…” The branch struck him across the shoulders and propelled him forward; words that were to be said were knocked out of him in a loud grunt and gasp. As he staggered forward, he saw Seth’s fists swinging towards his face and succeeded in ducking out of the way. He retreated out of the circle and back toward the pool of water that gleamed bright blue and silver in the sun.

***********

The three young men stepped back hurriedly from the water. Arnold cast aside the branch and began to run towards his horse. Now that the heat of the fight was over -- not that it could have been called a fight -- but now that it was finished, he felt a surge of fear ripple through him. He had known Little Joe all his life practically; they had gone to school together, and he had been good friends with Hoss for just as long. It was all right for Stuart; he had only been in Virginia City for six months and had no idea just how powerful the Cartwrights were, nor what loyal and decent friends they could be. He felt sick to the stomach at the thought that he, Arnold Gere, had…..could possibly …have had a hand in murdering the boy.
 

“Quit that blabbing!” Seth gasped, breathless himself from the exertion of the fight. “We had better get into town as fast as we can and get ourselves alibis”

“You never said that it would be like this, Johnson,” Arnold cried accusingly. “You just said it would be a bit of a tussle, just to teach him a lesson not to grab at the girls like he does and …”
 

“I said quit it!” Johnson growled, grabbing a handful of shirt and shaking the wretched youth. “Git home now and clean yourself up”

Arnold cast a hurried look at the water that had gleamed bright blue and silver in the sun not so long ago. Now there were stains of red floating on its surface like so many red ribbons eddying from the body that lay there…

Joe felt as if a heavy band was tightening around his chest and when he breathed there was no air, only bubbles of water and blood. His whole body felt heavy and yet he was floating. He knew that he had to move in order to live and summoned every ounce of strength that was left in him to haul himself up and onto his feet. No sooner had he succeeded in doing that than his legs began to wobble and betray him. He knew that he would never reach the safe region of dry land that was so tantalizingly near at hand. He fell forward and gasped for breath as cold water dashed up over him, and with it, came terrible pain. He reached out with a hand and felt something hard. Turning toward it in the hope that it would be something of support, he collapsed.

**********

The horse and buggy came along at a fast gallop and moved as quickly as she could possibly get it to move. Had she not realized that she had wandered onto Ponderosa land, she would not have taken the turning that had meant her seeing the fight that had taken place at the waters edge. Now, unable to prevent its outcome, she was determined to do all that she could to assist the victim of the assault.

She had hoped that the empty track would have some traveler upon it to whom she could appeal for help but no one came. The only dust clouds visible were her own and that made by the three men riding crazily towards town.

She drew the horse up, and even before the buggy had rocked to a standstill, she had jumped down and was running to the waters edge. Throwing aside her hat and gloves, she unbuttoned her lightweight summer coat and discarded it as she ran. She threw herself into the water and began to wade towards the helpless youth whose life blood seemed to be thickening the waters and clinging to her clothes as she pushed herself through it. Oh curse the skirts that hampered her by clinging around her legs, and curse her weakness as a woman too! Her hand at last touched the body and she paused a moment to catch her breath before seizing him by both hands, trying to get a grip sufficiently firm enough to enable her to get him back to the dry land.

Joe was totally unconscious and his body was dead weight in her arms so that as she stepped back, she fell into the water with Joe on top of her. For a frantic few seconds, she struggled not to panic, and to regain her feet and balance. It took precious minutes but finally she was able to get a grip of him and slowly haul him backward, with every step seeming to pull her arms out of their sockets. More than once, she stumbled over her wet cloying skirts and landed flat on her back amongst the water, reeds and mud.

At last she was on dry land and was heaving him up to where thick lush grass grew and would be a soft bed upon which he could lay. Her own breath was coming in short sharp gasps and a stitch seared through her side, doubling her over more than once, so that she had to pause in dragging him up. Then she set him down and turned him onto his side, kneeling beside him without the strength to do anything to help him at all for a short while. She puffed and wheezed until eventually the pain left her and her heart beat was back to normal. Despite the trembling sensation in her legs and arms, she knew she would be able to see to the boy.

“Oh you poor boy!” she whispered as she checked over the wounds. “You poor boy! Well, don’t you worry; they won’t get away with this, I promise you they will not!” she whispered whilst frantically dabbing at the cuts and bruises with a very small handkerchief. “This isn’t doing any good….what am I going to do with you? Come now…come…tell me who you are?” She shook his shoulder gently to try and rouse him from unconsciousness.

When there was no response, she felt fear touch her heart for she knew the boy needed urgent medical attention and yet here she was with nothing. Who was he, where did he live and how would she get him home? All these and countless other questions raced through her mind as she frantically attempted to staunch the flow of blood from the worse of the gashes in the boys head.

Cochise snorted and pawed at the ground. A familiar smell had touched his nostrils and that was the smell of a stable mate to whom he now whinnied. Seeing the horse, the woman got to her feet and ran towards it. Pulling the rifle from its sheath and pointing it skywards, she fired off three shots. She remembered Clemmie telling her that three shots would indicate to any passerby that help was needed. She lowered the rifle and her shoulders sagged.  What if she had remembered everything wrongly? Clemmie was so full of stories and sometimes her brain switched off… Cochise whinnied again and tossed his head. She looked at the horse and sighed.

**********

A chestnut horse bearing a rider clad in black galloped towards them and she watched him approach with the utmost relief. As he came nearer, she ran towards him, waving her silly square of cambric handkerchief as she did so. “Please, please stop!” she called out, even when it was quite obvious that was exactly what he had intended to do.

Adam Cartwright slowed Sport down with a gentle but firm hand as he surveyed the woman running towards him. This was certainly not Julia McManus. For a start she was not young enough…. But whoever she was, it was quite obvious that she was in trouble, for she was dripping mud and water and what seemed like blood streaked her sodden clothes. Her hair, which seemed to be blonde, hung down her back and over her face like mud-clotted reeds. It was impossible to see what exactly she looked like because mud smeared her features. He dismounted and surveyed her cautiously, as though he had come across a mad dog that needed to be handled with care and respect

“I need help,” she gasped
 

“Yes, ma’am.” Adam glanced around him and something hit him forcibly in the chest. Nothing physical, just the sudden realization that this was Joe’s favorite spot and that Cochise was displaying signs of agitation whilst of his brother there was no sign at all.

The woman was now clutching at his arm. “There’s a young man here… “

“Where?” Adam cried, and inwardly his heart turned over. ‘Oh, no…no…don’t let it be Joe,’ his brain screamed as he ran by her side. Faster, his legs carried him so that she was soon left behind…and then he was by his brother’s side, taking hold of his hand and touching the poor face, “Oh Joe!” he breathed “What happened to you?”

“I can’t get him to the buggy, but if you would help me and tell me where he lives…”
 

“He’s my brother,” Adam replied without looking up at her. “Did you see what happened?”
 

“Yes…please help me get him to the buggy…he needs medical attention…he’s lost so much blood…” She gestured wildly in the direction of the water as though the red stains there would prove her words to be true and he would do something instead of kneeling there holding the youth in his arms and looking so wild eyed and terrible himself.

 “Ma’am… he’s my brother.” Adam repeated. “I’ll take him home,” he added in a quieter voice. Very carefully he lifted the youth up in his arms
 

“Take the buggy,” she urged. “You don’t know what injuries he has….there’s a blanket and cushions…”

Adam looked down at her as though suddenly realizing that she was there and that what she was saying was making sense of some sort. He nodded but not too much because he did not want the tears that were in his eyes to fall in front of this oddity of a woman. Well, he would not have wanted to weep in front of any woman come to that. Adam bit his lip and followed her to the buggy, where she pulled out cushions and blankets upon which together they managed to place Joe.
 

“I’ll take your brothers horse,” she said and, seeing the question leap into his eyes, she added, “If you don’t mind…I’ll ride into town and get the doctor to come to see to him. Where shall I say it is?” She picked away a strand of hair that was hardening into a slick of mud across her face

“The Ponderosa….tell Paul …Joe’s been hurt.”

“I’ll get the sheriff to come, too, in case there is anything that your brother can tell him when he regains consciousness.”

“Someone attacked him?” Adam asked quietly as he tied Sports reins to the back of the buggy

“Some three … I saw it.” She pointed to the track and then turned. “You must hurry, Mr…… Cartwright, isn’t it?”
 

“Yes, Adam Cartwright.” He was walking quickly to the front of the buggy now, glancing anxiously down at his brother before climbing up to take the driver’s seat, so he did not notice the look on her face as she stared at him, nor observe the quick intake of breath. Now he looked down at her and became aware of very blue eyes looking up at him, very blue and very wide. “Ma’am…thank you….”
 

“Hurry now,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. He saw the tears filling her eyes and then she was gone, running in an odd fashion towards Cochise, with her wet mud cloying skirts clinging to her legs and hampering her every step. He shook his head and flicked the reins, hurtling as fast as the horse could take them away towards home.

**********

Paul came downstairs very slowly, the bag swinging against his leg at every step whilst Ben followed him with his heart pounding harder against his ribs the nearer he got to where Adam, Hoss and Roy Coffee were standing, waiting.

“How is he?” Hoss was the first to ask, his voice shaking

“He’s going to be alright,” Paul said with the briefest of smiles. “Thankfully he got prompt attention and that saved his life. The main problem is blood loss but I’m sure Hop Sing can help remedy that.” He smiled at the cook who was hovering anxiously at the back of the room. “And he may have a concussion, but it is too early for me to tell...which is a good sign.”

All three Cartwrights heaved a sigh of relief and visibly relaxed. Hoss stepped forward with a question in his eyes. Ben smiled and nodded. “He’s sleeping, Hoss, so be quiet now.”

“Sure...thanks, Pa” With a shy smile at everyone, Hoss very quietly mounted the stairs to Joe’s bedroom.

“He’ll sleep for some time; I’ve left some laudanum for him.” Paul picked up his hat and looked at them thoughtfully. “Thank goodness for the thickness of the Cartwright skull…something of which Joe’s assailants were unaware.” He smiled and nodded and placed his hat on his head. “Don’t worry, Ben…just keep him warm and rested and feed him up. I’ll call by tomorrow and check on him. Adam….” He shook the younger man by the hand. “Thank God you came by when you did.” He nodded his farewell to Roy and left the house.

“Hop Sing, bring us some more coffee, would you?” Ben sat down and clasped his hands together and took a deep breath before turning to Roy. “Well, Roy? Can you tell us now what happened?”
 

“I certainly can, Ben.” Roy jutted out his jaw in his familiar fashion. Hs moustache bristled like an old frayed toothbrush and his pale eyes went as hard as two round marbles. “Can’t say as I rightly can remember a more unpleasant attack in all my years as sheriff.” Adam pursed his lips and glanced over at his father; sometimes Roy’s rambling mode of delivering data drove him to distraction. But Ben was too intent in listening to every detail to notice, so his son had to be content to sit and listen with endurance. “Of course, I never guessed in a million years when that lady burst into my office what she was about to tell me. I thought for an instant that there was a mad woman loose and no one had seen fit to tell me about her. Wet all through and covered in mud and blood she was, and her hair looking like someone had pulled up a clump of reeds out of some pond. Shucks, Ben, when she started babbling on about Joe being near killed, I thought she had come to confess to having done it. Then she said how she saw the attack with her own two eyeballs; three men attacked one lad and left him for dead in the water. She gave me enough of a description of them for me to recognize who the culprits were as well”

“And have you arrested them?”

“Wal, no sooner had she took off for home when in comes that young lad, Arnold Gere. In a right state he was, had to give him a strong mug of coffee to get him calmed down enough for him to tell me what had happened. He confessed to having taken part in the attack on Joe. He had come right to see me because he thought that if I got to Joe in time I might be able to save his life. Right distressed and sorry for it he was too.”
 

“So he should be!” Ben growled ferociously, his face set in a contorted confusion of emotions. “And you say this Arnold Gere came and confessed to his part in the action?”
 

“No sooner had I got rid of the woman dripping mud and blood all over the floor when in staggers young Arnold still wet through himself. Tears were jest dripping down his face such as would break his old mother’s heart were she alive today to see ‘em.”

“And why did they attack him?” Ben asked.

“Seth Johnson thought Julia McManus was interested in him and then Joe came along and that put Seth’s nose right out of joint. So he found out from Julia when Joe had fixed up a date and such, and got his pals to go along with him. The other lad was Julia’s brother, Stuart.” Roy turned to Adam. “Good job you came by when you did.”
 

“I heard three shots,” Adam said quietly

“That’s some female, dadburn it.” Roy picked up his hat. “Dragged the boy out of the water and had the sense to fire off for help!” He slapped the battered hat onto his head. “Not bad for a furriner.”
 

“You didn’t actually say who she was.” Adam stood up and watched the sheriff straighten his head gear and walk towards the door. “And I was so concerned about Joe that I forgot to ask.”

“I kin understand how you would,” Roy said in that slow way of his. He put his hand on the door handle and paused, then turned and looked at them. “It was that lady staying over at Widow Hawkins’ house. Her names Sorensen and she’s a widow. Fact is, Ben, I hear around town that she bought that piece of land next to the Ponderosa border.”

“Yep, she did.” Ben sighed and nodded, and then put a gentle hand on his old friends shoulder. “Thanks for coming, Roy, and give Mary our regards.”

“Thank you, Ben…and don’t you worry about a thing. Those three are behind bars and your boy will soon be well.” He was still chattering when the door closed on him, not that he noticed because it happened all the time.

 “Well?” Adam looked at his father with raised eyebrows and that faint hint of mockery on his face which Ben accepted as the nearest thing to reproof that Adam ever gave him.

Ben shrugged and scratched the back of his head. “I think I’ll go and see how Joe is,” he muttered

“Pa?” The younger man frowned and looked at his fathers retreating back anxiously. “What about Mrs. Sorensen?”
 

“What about her?” Ben paused with his foot on the bottom step

“You were quick enough to think about getting round to see her about that land, but it seems to me that when it comes to getting round there to thank her for what she did …” Adam’s voice trailed away as he saw his fathers face redden and the veins at his temples begin to throb, so Adam shrugged and spread out his hands in a gesture of supplication. “Are you just going to leave it then?”
 

“No, of course not.” Ben frowned and looked at his son thoughtfully. “I’ll get Hoss to sit with Joe and then I guess we should at least return the lady’s buggy….and thank her, of course.” He smiled at his son. “And I promise I won’t mention Linda at all...not even once”

*********

Joe heard the door softly open and gently close as well as the attempts of a heavy man trying to walk quietly towards the bed. He tried to open his eyelids but they stayed as though glued together. As the footsteps came nearer, he raised a hand to his face in a defensive gesture and cried out “Don’t …don’t come any nearer!” in such a terrified voice that Hoss was startled out of his wits and came to an abrupt halt.

“Hey, Joe….it’s me…it’s Hoss, little brother…I jest came up here to see ya, fella…it’s alright.” He stepped nearer, his hand hovering closer to his brother’s body as he approached the bed, making soft hushing noises, just as though the terrified lad was a frightened wild pony who just needed a little reassurance to calm him down. “Now then, Joe, it’s jest me…”

“Hoss? Is it you?”
 

“Sure…didn’t I jest say?” Hoss pulled up a chair, sat down by the bed and leaned forward. No doubt about it, his little brother had been given a thorough going over but Joe had survived worse. That was one reassuring thing; Joe had bounced back from worse than this. He took hold of his brother’s hand and held it gently between his own, then chewed his lips as his brow creased in thought. Sure enough, Joe had been beaten near to death once or twice, but he had never been terrified to death…and there was no doubting the fact that he had been terrified just then, when he came into the room. “Joe?”
 

“Yeah?” The one word slid from Joe’s swollen lips in a slur of a whisper
 

“You know where you are, don’tcha?”

“Am I home?”

“Sure you are, buddy…in your own room.”

Joe was quiet for a moment, forcing his breathing to slow down and his heart to stop thudding.
 

“Hoss?”
 

“Yeah, Little Joe?”

“They…they just left me in the water….just left me to drown and I couldn’t breathe…I couldn’t breathe and there was all this water coming in my nose, and mouth and it was  ...”

“I know…it’s alright though, Joe; you’re safe and home now.”
 

“They jest left me to drown, Hoss. Why’d they do that?”
 

Hoss found he could not find the words to answer him and just held the trembling hands in his own and asked himself the same question

***********

 “Pa?”

Ben glanced up at his oldest son’s voice and frowned. “What’s the matter?” He pushed back his hat and observed the road in the direction in which his son was pointing. Ben frowned even more deeply as he saw Cochise trotting towards them but carrying someone other than his son on his back. “What the ..?”

“Seems like the lady thought along the same lines as us.” Adam’s dark eyes twinkled and he looked down at his father, who was seated in the buggy, and gave him a rather whimsical grin. “Remember your promise…about Linda”

“I had not forgotten!” Ben replied rather testily, and gave his son a sharp look of reproof. “What do you think I should say?”
 

“Hadn’t you thought of anything?”
 

“No…I’ve been too busy thinking of other things…about Joseph and … things.”

“Then you could start by thanking the lady,” Adam suggested, struggling to control the desire to laugh.

“And what then?”
 

“Invite her to supper. She probably would want to see how Joe is anyway, considering how she could have drowned herself trying to save him.”

“Supper?” Ben cast a look in his son’s direction and tried to see whether or not his son was serious, but Adam had shaded his eyes with his hat and was looking ahead at the approaching traveler.

Mrs. Sorensen slowed the horse to a trot; she looked thoughtfully at the two men and bit her bottom lip as she recognized Adam and then realized that the older man in the buggy was Ben Cartwright. Her heart did an Irish jig and the color rushed to her cheeks. She wondered whether or not to turn back, after all; her speech, all the things she was going to say when she met him for the first time, had all centered around being at the house, not meeting half-way like this! She took a deep breath and rode on whilst her blue eyes took in every feature of the man she was approaching….yes, a big man, broad shouldered, broad round the chest, and tall. He had finely shaped hands -- that she could clearly see from the way he was holding the reins -- and when she looked up, she saw very strong features set in a dark tanned face, framed by white sideburns and graying hair, for he had taken off his hat upon her approach, as his son had done also, as gentlemen would on a lady’s entrance. Strong aggressive jaw and an arrogant thrust to it...yes, that was Ben Cartwright, she thought to herself. She noticed the well defined mouth, and the large aquiline nose above which were two fiercely brown eyes, so brown that the black of the iris swam into them. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for this initial meeting.

Ben Cartwright watched as she stopped Cochise but before she could dismount, Adam had already reached her side and very gently helped her from the saddle, although, truth be told, she required little help as she was an expert horsewoman. She allowed him to take her elbow and lead her towards his father. It was her impression that this young man was finding this meeting of some amusement
 

“Pa…Mrs. Freya Sorensen…Mrs. Sorensen, this is my father, Ben Cartwright.”
 

Ben opened his mouth and closed it. He realized he should have got down from the buggy and now felt clumsy having to do it while she stood so close after the introductions had been made. He swallowed hard and nodded, and as quickly as he could, he got down and walked towards her, his hand outstretched to accept hers.

“Mrs. Sorensen…” Ben paused and looked at her and smiled. “It seems great minds think alike.” He indicated Cochise and she looked at the buggy and they laughed together. Standing by their side, watching them both, Adam had a quiet laugh too. He could not recall the last time he had seen his father looking so embarrassed and uncomfortable in front of a woman.
 

“I thought the horse should come home,” she said quietly, softly. The smile she gave Ben was warm and soft and generous, and the voice equally as soft but with an accent which caused Adam to glance sideways to see what effect the voice would have on his father. Although Ben made a swift recovery, it was obvious that the accent had touched a nerve for the color had risen and then fallen from his fathers face like swift shadows.

 “How is your son? Is he well?” she asked.

“Thanks to you, yes.” Ben shook her hand again, his mind having traveled back a few years now having to swing forward to the present. “Mrs. Sorensen…I can’t thank you enough. Adam tells me that you saved Joe’s life.”
 

“Mr. Cartwright,” she said quietly, placing her free hand on his, “it is alright…you can stop shaking my hand now.” She laughed a young woman’s laugh, with a lilt to it. “And it was just that I was there, the right time, the right place…”

**********

Mrs. Sorensen leaned over the bed and touched the boy’s hands and face, then took a deep breath. She raised her eyes and looked around the room, smiling at the things that the boy obviously treasured and had hanging on his walls -- Indian artifacts, shields, feathers and above a desk was a large portrait which she stared at even more closely than she had surveyed the boy.
 

“Was this his mother?” she asked Hoss
 

“Yes, ma’am…”
 

“What was her name?”
 

“Marie…she was from New Orleans!”
 

She nodded and returned to look down at the youth and then at Hoss. She smiled slowly, a very sad, wistful smile. “Don’t worry, Hoss, he will be alright...the doctor said so, didn’t he?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Hoss nodded and frowned, his big face crumpled up into a miserable scowl. “It’s jest that I keep thinkin’ on them thar varmints leaving him to drown in that pool…”
 

“I know, I keep thinking about it too.”
 

“One of ‘em went to Roy, and told him what had happened.”

“I’m glad about that; at least one of them had something fine still in him.”
 

“Can’t think of a worse way to die…I get so mad when I think on it!”
 

“Then the best thing is for us not to think about it, Hoss.” She put a hand, small and well shaped, lightly on his arm. “Come, he’s safe now and he will get well.”
 

His big blue eyes filled with tears and he shook his head. “Dadburn it, ma’am, Joe’s bin in all kind of scuffles and brought home near dead I can’t tell you how often, but…” He took a deep breath and sniffed hard, and then looked down at her with a shy look. “Shucks, ma’am…I ain’t even got round to thanking you yet for getting him out of the pool…and you so small as well.” He frowned and looked at her thoughtfully
 

“I’m not that small, Hoss….it is just that you are that big!” She laughed and that made him laugh and his blue eyes more or less disappeared in the crinkles of his face.

*********

“Well done, Pa…you managed pretty well, so far!” Adam said in a low voice as they stood together by the bureau.

“Hmm,” Ben snorted softly and glared up the stairs. “Adam, something odd is going on here”
 

“Pa.” Adam put a warning hand on his fathers arm and looked at him anxiously. “Pa, stop being so cynical, huh? Just accept the fact that an attractive woman is here as your guest, and that she will be your neighbor soon. Is that too hard to ask?”
 

“You’re missing the point”

“What point exactly?”

“The accent!”
 

Adam’s face grew serious and he glanced once again up the stairs before shrugging. “So? “

“She…doesn’t her voice remind you of anyone?”
 

“Which anyone are you thinking of, Pa?”

“Inger, of course!”

Adam stared into his fathers face and then down at the floor. A frown creased his brow, and he nodded. “Yes, I did do kind of a double take when I heard her speak…but…”
 

“It would be just like Linda to have got this whole thing rigged up!”

“You mean, Joe being half killed? Aren’t you getting a bit carried away with all this, Pa?”
 

“No, I don’t mean that. That just happened as an unfortunate coincidence that makes things more plausible,” Ben answered with a shrug.

“Pa, did you have a good look at her yet?” Adam’s eyes widened to their fullest and then he shook his head. “She is about five feet plus a few inches. Yet she went into that water and dragged out a youth several stone heavier than her, and a good few inches taller. Use your imagination, Pa!”

“Are you giving me a lecture?” Ben smiled and poured out some claret into the wine glasses

“I don’t mean to be, Pa. It’s just that I admire the way she did what she did, that’s all.”  Adam picked up one of the glasses and then over the rim of it at his father and saw the anxious look in the dark eyes. “Pa, if Linda had rigged up something in connection with Mrs. Sorensen, I’ll eat my hat!”

“Promise?” Ben grinned and the twinkle returned to his eyes before he sighed and walked slowly over to the big leather chair by the fire. “The whole thing with Linda really got to me, Adam. We nearly lost the Ponderosa and our reputations, thanks to her!”
 

“I know!”

For a while Ben was silent, before leaning forward in a conspiratorial manner. “Adam, when Mrs. Sorensen started to talk….” He gestured as though to indicate that he could not find the right words to explain just how he felt, how it had swept him back in time and feelings long suppressed tumbled one after another through him.

“She’s Norwegian…they sound much the same as Swedish…accents….” Adam paused and sighed. “Pa, you promised not to mention Linda.”
 

“I won’t, but don’t you think…”

Adam raised his eyebrows sharply and Ben turned, forcing a smile to his lips and a gentle look to his features, as Hoss and Mrs. Sorensen came downstairs together. Hoss was smiling and looking at the woman admiringly, respectfully, whilst she was chatting to him as though they were old friends. At the foot of the stairs. She stopped and stared straight into Ben’s eyes. So, she thought, here I am….at the Ponderosa!

She stood with one hand still on the banister rail. Standing beside Hoss, she seemed quite small and fragile. As Adam had said earlier, she was not tall, and of slight build but for some reason that neither he nor Ben could explain, her presence there seemed to fill the room. She was blonde, blue eyed with an oval face. She had high cheek bones and a wide generous mouth. Her hands and feet were small. She was not and probably never had been beautiful. Even so, she had that indefinable something that made people stop and look again, a quality perhaps that beautiful people did not need in order to quantify their lives.

As she walked towards them, Adam stole a sidelong glance at his father. A fleeting thought trickled into his mind as he saw the color rise in Bens face that perhaps a long stifled fire was beginning to flicker back into life, even if Ben were unaware of it.

It was Adam who passed the wine to her and received the smile of thanks, and it was he who escorted her to the table and assisted her to her seat. She looked at him and the look she gave him was long, and steady and very tender. He could feel the color mantling his cheeks now and he sat down opposite her, baffled and determined to pay very close attention to every word and action that took place there that evening.

“Mrs. Sorensen?” Ben smiled at his guest as he passed her the platter of bread
 

“Yes, Mr. Cartwright?” She took the bread and smiled, her eyes very blue and slightly mocking.
 

“I hope you don’t mind my mentioning this, but I was rather surprised when we met you.”

“Really, Mr. Cartwright? No, thank you, Hoss…but some of that pork would be lovely…” She looked up at Ben again, her eyes wide and innocent
 

“Just that we had been told you were American and yet….” Ben realized he had been balancing the bread platter overlong and placed it noisily back onto the table.

So far, Adam surmised, Mrs. Sorensen was in total control of the situation whilst Ben was slowly unraveling. He looked over at Hoss, who was sublimely unaware of anything but listening intently to the conversation anyway.

“You’re Norwegian…” observed Ben.

“No,” she said simply, cutting into her food in the European manner. “I am American by birth. In Norway they always referred to me as the American lady with the very bad accent, so I was quite horrified to discover on coming home that I may be the American lady but I have just changed one accent for the other.” She smiled. “I have lived in Norway for 30 years and although I tried to keep hold of my own language…it is not easy to do so.”

“How do you mean?” Hoss frowned. “If you speak English all your life, how can you forget it?”

“My husband did not want me to speak English and after a little while I was not allowed to read even any papers or books that were in English. He wanted me to only speak Norwegian and after a while that is what became my native language.”
 

“My ma was Swedish,” Hoss said simply. “I guess she would have spoke like you do.” He looked at his father with open faced wide eyed honesty. “Ain’t that so, Pa?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Ben said quietly. “Oddly enough, as soon as I heard you speak, it reminded me of Inger...not just the accent, but the same timbre and softness….” He bit his inner cheek and glanced at Adam who smiled and nodded whilst his face denoted that Ben had just fallen at the first hurdle.
 

She looked at Ben thoughtfully then and said nothing before smiling at Hoss and returning to eat her food. After a while, Hoss broke the silence by asking her why it was that her husband would not let her read anything in English. She shrugged slightly and picked up her glass, then looked at Hoss. “Well, he was almost as old as my father when I married him. I was very homesick and miserable in Norway without anyone I loved to be with me and I think he wanted to make it easier for me by removing reminders of my previous life.” She looked down at her food and moved it about a little as though wondering whether or not she should continue, and as no one spoke, there was a moment or two of uneasy silence. “He had three children and after a little while we were great friends, so that made life easier. Then my father wrote to say he was ill and would like to see me, but Olaf said I was to stay in Norway, in Oslo where we lived. I took a horse and rode to Bergen but I forgot that the Sorensen Company is everywhere and he came and took me back. That’s when he said I could not read anything in English anymore and he started to call me Freya instead of Rachel, which is my real name.”

“Why?” Adam asked in a shocked tone of voice and almost spilling his drink as he put down the glass so heavily

“I suppose he was not used to being disobeyed. I was his wife and I had humiliated him in a way. He said as I liked horses so much Freya was a suitable name for me “

“What was so important about Freya?” Hoss asked, looking at her tenderly, for her story touched his heart and he could not believe that anyone could treat such a fine lady as her in such a manner.
 

“Freya was the Scandinavian goddess of love and fertility….not applicable in this instance.” She smiled at Hoss. “But she was also the leader of the Valkyries who rode fast horses over the battlefields to collect those who had been slain whom the god Odin wanted to have with him in Valhalla. He, Olaf, thought it would dent my pride and vanity a little.”
 

“And did it?” Ben smiled

“Sadly not. I suppose I was too young to take the lesson because it just fed my anger and …it was just difficult for a while.” She looked at Ben then and frowned slightly. “I am sorry if my accent caused you any distress, Mr. Cartwright.

“It caused no distress, believe me.” Ben’s smile widened and the dark eyes went a little darker. “It brought back a lot of very happy memories with Inger.”

She nodded and smiled again. Her eyes flicked from Ben to Adam, who nodded gently and smiled at her so that he was treated once again to that strangely haunting and tender smile.

“Mrs. Sorensen…”

“Yes, Mr. Cartwright?”

“Please …couldn’t you call me Ben?”

“Then you must call me Rachel,” she said and looked at him challengingly, with her chin up and her eyes looking directly into his as though, Adam thought, she were trying to tell Ben something important without having to put it into words. Adam swiveled the stem of his glass round and round while he thought a little more about what was going on. It was rather like being the spectator to a game of chess that only one of the participants knew they were playing and that she was trying to get the other parties to realize what was happening without actually telling them…..but why?

“Rachel it is.” Ben gave her a smile that lit up his eyes and caused Hoss to look over at Adam and roll his eyes upwards. “So? What did you think of your property? Were you pleased with it?” He smiled again, innocently and didn’t flicker an eye lid when Adam just nudged his foot gently
 

“It is as beautiful as I could ever imagine. There is a stream there that runs from the mountains and on into your land. I suppose you knew that anyway? The Countess had told me that it was a lovely piece of land and for once, she was not exaggerating.”
 

“You know the Countess well, do you?” Adam said quickly, before Ben could say a word on the subject

“I’ve known Linda for about fourteen years now. Olaf and I met the Count and Countess in Paris at some event,” she shrugged

“Paris…you mean...in France where they speak French?” Hoss breathed in awe

“Yes.” She smiled at him and her eyes twinkled. “You would like it there, Hoss. They make wonderful pastries and cakes, you know, and in some places they make chocolate, and they eat snails…”

“Snails? Shucks, someone told me that before, but I didn’t rightly believe them.” Hoss frowned. “Were they any good?”

“I don’t know…..they reeked of garlic. And they ate frog’s legs…”

“There’s always a downside to everything,” the large young man murmured, and, with a sigh, stuffed a large portion of roast pork into his mouth
 

“Did you know Linda very well?” Adam asked quietly, still smiling at the little hilarity that had gone on before

“I knew Linda socially not too much,” she replied in her odd Norwegian flavored English. “But Linda…yes, she, I knew her very well. As soon as I saw her, I knew that she was a lady who liked collecting things….expensive things…diamonds and big houses, carriages and fine horses, money and …..men!” She shrugged and raised her eyes ceilingward. “She is not a happy woman.”

“So, I take it you were not friends then?” Adam refilled her glass and smiled at her as he spoke
 

“No, Linda and I were never friends.” She frowned slightly and looked at Ben. “I know that you may think we were, and that is why I bought the land from her. So I am telling you these things so that you know the truth.”
 

“I…..er…….don’t doubt for a moment…” Ben stuttered
 

“It is easy to think, to speculate and surmise all manner of things, and I cannot blame you for that after all, you do not know me.” Her voice dipped and her eyes became downcast for a moment, then she looked at him again. “But you know her and what she is like and how she felt about you….and how she tried to harm your land and reputation.”

“Yes…go on…”
 

“She was very surprised to see me in San Francisco, for we had not met for some years. She naturally …” She frowned and looked at Adam. “I don’t remember the right word…” Then she shrugged. “To put it crudely, whatever she thinks of me as a person, she recognizes the fact that the Sorensen empire could swallow her up in a gulp…and the Ponderosa too.” She smiled slowly then and gave Ben a slight inclination of the head. “So she was very happy to see me and to let people think we were very good friends indeed. There were people there who knew of you, and that she had been visiting you, and the subject of the land came into conversation. Next day I saw her and brought the subject round to her visit and this piece of land and she told me what she had intended to do with it.” She looked at Ben again, very direct into his eyes.
 

“I imagine that she was not going to let us benefit by it,” Ben said in his quietest voice.
 

“No. She was wanting to hurt you very much…..if she could!” She pushed away her plate and sighed, taking a sip of the wine before continuing. “Linda is never content with what she has, and she envies those who have more but most of all she envies those who are happy, even if they have nothing in comparison to the material things she posses. It is very sad because sometimes she can be so pleasant and charming, but when she is like that….one must be very careful!”
 

“We learned that lesson mighty quick,” Hoss agreed, scowling at the memory of the Countess and the harm she had tried to do to them.
 

“Eventually I offered her a lot of money for the land…more than what it is worth. She was going to England again, so was happy to agree to my offer. After all, what did it matter to her now?”
 

“So...she went back to England,” Ben said softly
 

“She is going back to get married.” She smiled and her eyes crinkled into creases at the corners. “She met a very wealthy industrialist in San Francisco who likes the thought of living in a draughty English house.” She drank some of the wine and put down the glass carefully. “So…that is the story as to how I became your neighbor, Mr. Cartwright.”

“And a very pretty story it was too, Mrs. Sorensen.” Ben laughed. “Let us hope it has a happy ending!”

“Oh, it will have…I am sure of that.” She smiled again
 

“Do you intend to build on the land?”
 

“Build?” She frowned “Build what?”

“A house…your home?” Adam said, with a smile in his eyes
 

She said nothing for a moment and then shook her head. “No, it is not for me to build on. I am keeping it for a friend, for someone …it is a promise I made, you see…” Before they could speak, she turned to Hop Sing who was hovering by her elbow. “Mr. Hop Sing, that was the most delicious meal I have ever tasted. Thank you so much.”
 

“Mr.” Hop Sing beamed with pleasure and, in his quiet way, began to clear away the plates from the table. Ben and Adam had exchanged anxious looks at Rachel’s last comments, but both had felt it unwise to probe deeper; there would be other occasions upon which to talk. At least the danger of the Countess of Chadwick had been eliminated.

“Where else have you traveled, ma’am?” Hoss asked, his blue eyes as round as marbles and his face unable to conceal his interest
 

“Oh, all over I suppose…..The Sorensen Shipping Line has branch offices in Europe and Scandinavia and some of the Balkan countries. I have been as far as Moscow in Russia, and in the other direction to the Faroe Islands. In Europe, all the usual places like Rome, Vienna, Paris...”
 

“Wow!” Hoss paused in the act of taking his glass to his mouth and stared at her. “You’ve been just about everywhere then.”
 

“Not really…just lots of places others may not have been…always traveling, always going somewhere, but never getting where one really wants to be.” She shrugged and before anyone could speak, she smiled at Ben. “But you were a seaman, Mr. Cartwright, were you not? You have traveled many places too.” She looked at him very directly as though she already knew the answer but needed him to confirm it.

“Well, yes…I’ve been to China….Peking.”

“Oh, that’s lovely, how exciting!” She sighed. “Did you like it very much there?”
 

“I only spent one day there; we had to sail back.” He paused and put down his napkin. “How about some coffee, Rachel?”
 

“I’ll go and see how Joe is,” Adam murmured and quickly left the table to go to Joe’s room, whilst Hoss ambled through to the kitchen to grab some leftovers he had decided needing rescuing before Hop Sing dealt with them less kindly.

**********

When Adam came down the stairs he paused a moment to watch the couple who were standing beside the big globe near Ben’s desk. She seemed even shorter standing beside Ben, but in the lamplight, both of them looked very young and at ease with one another as they talked about countries they had visited. As he walked quietly down the steps, he could hear Ben’s deep rich boom of a voice describing the sea journey round Cape Horn whilst his finger traced out the journey on the globe, and she, all attention, looking at him, then at the globe, nodding, smiling, murmuring a comment. He approached and coughed politely.
 

“Rachel…Joe would like to see you if you could spare a moment?” Adam said very quietly

“He’s awake? “ She cried, and then looked at Ben. “Oh, but you should see him, Ben…he would want to see you…”
 

“He asked for you, Rachel. I’ll come up in a moment.” Ben smiled and perhaps, accidentally, his hand just happened to touch hers as she turned, so that she paused a second, then continued on. Ben was left watching with a strange turbulence of emotions running round and round in his head and heart.

Joe could barely keep his eyes open and the lamp light by his bedside made them ache but he was determined to see this woman who had, according to Adam, hauled him out of the water and saved his life, and then ridden Cochise into town to get Paul and Roy. He heard the sound of her gown as it swished softly over the floor and then he smelt the perfume as it drifted towards him. He struggled to manage a smile and turn his head in her direction.
 

“How are you feeling, Joe?” she asked very softly, leaning down towards him
 

“A lot better than I was, thank you, ma’am” Joe whispered. “Adam told me that you saved my life…got me out of the water.”

“Yes, but anyone would have done the same if they had been there.” She smiled at him and his pain was reflected in the anxiety that now showed on her face. “Are you in much pain?”

“I have felt worse…honestly…I have…” Joe closed his eyes. “Shucks, ma’am, if you don’t mind my saying so…how’d you manage it? To get me outa there…”

“With great difficulty….more than one time we both went under the water, but thankfully we came back up and always a little nearer to the land.”
 

Joe opened his eyes again, looked up at her and smiled again. But his eyelids were heavier and his intention of staying awake was quickly going adrift. He groped for her hand and took hold of it, squeezing the fingers gently. “Thank you, ma’am,” he whispered in a hoarse voice. “I thank you.”

She leaned closer and looked into his face. Sighing softly, she looked over at Adam. “He is asleep,” she whispered
 

“He’s had a strong sedative. Paul made sure of that.” Adam approached the bed and noticed that she had not yet withdrawn her hand, and that Little Joe’s fingers were curled tightly around hers. When he came to stand at her side, she gently extricated her hand and stood beside him. Adam looked down at his brother and smoothed back the curls from the youth’s brow and smiled down at him affectionately, not realizing that she was watching him as attentively as he had been observing her all evening.
 

She stepped back away from the bed and turned, so that she was facing the bureau and the portrait of Marie Cartwright. “It was a murderous attack on him,” she said very quietly
 

“Did you see everything?”

“I think so. He fought back so bravely but it was not a fight he could possibly win.” She glanced over at him and shook her head. “I felt as though that horse had lead weights on all four feet…if only I could have got there sooner.”
 

“They may have hurt you,” Adam said quietly

“Perhaps.” She shrugged as though that thought hardly bothered her. “I never felt so useless before as when I was trying to get him out of that water. Everything seemed to be making it so hard. My stupid skirts kept winding round my legs, and he was so heavy…” She smiled suddenly. “Ah well, it came alright in the end, and you rode by to help like a brave Sir Lancelot du Lac!”
 

Adam smiled and was about to speak when he realized that she was looking at the portrait of Marie with more than the usual attention. He stepped forward to stand by her side and look at the picture himself.
 

“It’s Joe’s mother…Marie “
 

“Yes, Hoss told me earlier…..from New Orleans?”
 

“Yes”
 

“She was very beautiful, Adam. “

“Yes, she was,” Adam replied with a softening of his deep voice.

“And she looks like a woman with a lot of fire in her, strength of character.”

“Yes, she had all of that.”

“How old was Joe when she died?”  She turned to look at Adam as he stood by her side.

“Five years old.”

“My mother died when I was five also,” she said quietly. “But no age is the right age to lose someone so loved.” She turned and looked at him with a slight frown. “Was she a good mother to you and Hoss?”

Adam looked at her and the thought crossed his mind that for someone who had never stepped foot in the house until that evening and whom they had not known until that day, she was certainly getting very personal. He took a deep breath and was about to speak when she put a hand on his arm

“Forget I asked that question. I had no right to ask it and should not have done so. Please forgive me.”
 

“There’s nothing to forgive,” Adam replied, suddenly feeling ashamed of himself. After all, this woman had saved Marie’s son’s life. “Yes, Marie was a good mother to us all. She had another son, by her first marriage.” He looked at Marie’s portrait and grew silent.
 

“Life is full of changes, Adam,” Rachel said.
 

“Yes, I guess so.”

“It must have been very hard for Ben too.”

“I thought his heart was breaking,” Adam said so quietly she could barely hear him. “I thought that this time, it would be too much…and he would shut himself away forever.” He shook his head and then looked down at her. “They were not happy days just then….for a while…”

“I can imagine.”

“It was hard enough when Inger died.”

“You saw her die?” Her blue scanned his face carefully, making him feel self conscious as he replied.

“Yes.”
 

“How old were you then?”

“Six, I guess. Hoss was barely a week old. I couldn’t believe it when it happened. Inger was….was special to me.” He turned away and bit his lip; he looked at Joe and rallied himself. “I’d better get back to Pa. He’ll think I’m monopolizing his guest.”

“I doubt very much if he’ll be thinking anything of the kind.” She smiled and turned, but before she closed the bedroom door, she glanced once again at the portrait of Marie and shivered as though someone had walked over her grave.

“How is he?” Hoss asked as soon as they were back downstairs
 

“Sleeping and looking rested,” Adam replied as he picked up his cup and poured some coffee into it. “Rachel...some coffee?”
 

“No,” she said quietly, “no thank you. I really should be going back. Poor Clementine will be wondering where I am.”
 

“Are you sure?” Ben asked, getting up quickly from his chair. He slopped his coffee into the saucer as a result, something which seemed to embarrass him as he went very red in the face even though it was practically a daily event. Hoss caught Adam’s eye and winked, whilst Adam gave a quick lift of his eyebrows and grinned. “I doubt if Widow Hawkins will be too anxious; she knows you were coming here and will be quite safe with us.”

“Yes, I am sure I am. I have enjoyed being here with you all. May I call again soon? I would like to see how Joseph is getting along”
 

“You’ll always be welcome at the Ponderosa, Rachel,” Ben said quietly, walking with her to the door of the house and stepping aside to let her pass through. “For whatever reason…” he added in an even quieter voice
 

“Thank you, Ben; I may well take you up on your offer.” She pulled on her gloves and smiled a rather winsome smile as they walked together to wards the buggy and waiting horse. “Your Ponderosa is very beautiful, Ben. I can see why you love it so much.”

“I’m very proud of it. I feel that it is something worthy to keep in trust for the boys.”
 

“Yes, I can understand that,” she replied. “They are good sons, Ben; no doubt you must be enormously proud of them too.”

“I could never put how I feel about my boys into words, Rachel. All this counts for nothing in comparison.”

“You would give this all up for your sons then?” She looked at him with her blue eyes looking sad and anxious.

“Even for one of them…anyone of them,” he replied and he smiled grimly. “Why do you ask?”

“No real reason,” she replied. “Probably because it is something different to what I have lived with for the past 30 years. Olaf had an enormous business capacity and was a brilliant economist but somewhere along the line he gave his heart away.” She sighed again.

Ben touched her hand gently and looked into her face. “But not to you?”
 

“Pooh…I didn’t want it anyway. Perhaps that was what was wrong really….but I was so young when I married him and he was already old. I think he was born 70 years old, you know.” She smiled and withdrew her hand. “Good bye, Ben.”
 

“Don’t forget my invitation, Rachel. Feel free to come and go on the Ponderosa and to visit at anytime.”

Ben stepped back and helped her into the buggy and then watched as she left the yard, turning smartly left at the stables and disappearing from sight.

 For a few minutes he stood with his hands in his back pockets and his eyes faraway, seeing nothing but vague memories and jumbled thoughts. Eventually he returned to the house and closed the door behind him.

“What do you know about the Sorensen Shipping Line, Pa?” Adam asked as the three of them sat together drinking their coffee.

“Well, not that much really. I know that your grandfather and most of the seamen in New England would have had dealings with them at some time or other. I recall going to Norway once with Henry Stoddard, your grandfather’s brother. I met some people who were employed by the Sorensens and from what they were saying, it was a big business then. But I’ve lost touch with things of that nature since leaving the sea. Haven’t noticed them around San Francisco, though.” He frowned at the thought. “How about you, Adam? Have you heard anything about them in Frisco?”
 

“Nothing at all, Pa.”

Hoss put down his cup and with a frown on his face looked at them both. “Do you reckon that’s why she’s here? To get the Sorensen business set up in Frisco?”
 

“She’s a long way from Frisco if that’s her intention,” Ben chuckled.
 

They settled into a comfortable silence and Adam stretched out a hand to retrieve the book he had hidden safely under his chair. He smiled to himself when he recalled her referring to him as Sir Lancelot du Lac and hid his face behind his book while he thought over some of the things he had seen and needed to meditate upon.
 

“So?” Ben said suddenly. “What did you think of Mrs. Sorensen?”

“I thought she was a mighty fine lady,” Hoss replied. “And brave too. I wonder why she put up with a husband like Sorensen.”

“She tried to run away once, remember,” Adam muttered
 

“I liked that story about Freya and the horses…” Hoss grinned.
 

“Your mother used to tell me stories about her,” Adam said to Hoss with a faraway look on his eyes. “Inger used to tell me stories about all the Scandinavian gods and goddesses. Norway, Denmark and Sweden have a lot in common, I guess.”
 

“It’s a lovely country….from what I saw of it,” Ben muttered. “Norway, I mean.”

“She was very open about everything, wasn’t she? About Linda and that piece of land.” Adam leaned towards the table to pour himself some more coffee. “I wonder who she is keeping it in trust for. Did she give you any idea, Pa?”

“No…no, she didn’t.” Ben frowned. “But I don’t think we have anything about which to worry. I am sure Rachel is as honest as the day is long.” He rubbed his hands together and looked at them both. His sons looked at him with blank faces that held a hint of mockery so that he blushed and decided another cup of coffee would be a good idea. He stood up. “I think I’ll go and see how Joe is getting along.”

“Yeah, you do that, Pa,” Hoss said and grinned over at his brother.

By the time Ben was half way up the stairs he could hear them both chuckling, which made his ears tingle as he conjectured to himself the reason why.

**********

“Adam?”

“Yes, Joe?”

Adam Cartwright looked at his younger brother and then leaned forward to adjust the rug that Ben had insisted his son had to be cocooned in for his first day downstairs. Several days had passed since the incident that had nearly seen the end of the youngest Cartwright. Life had slipped back to normality for the other three men, whilst Joe had languished in bed impatient for his own recovery and a return to a busy life on the ranch. Now he surveyed his eldest brother thoughtfully and plucked at the fringes of the rug before taking a deep breath.

“Is there anything wrong?” Joe asked.

“How do you mean?”

“I mean, is there anything going on that I should know about?”

“I don’t think so…why do you ask?” Adam walked across the room to the table and picked up the tray containing Joe’s medicines and a carafe of water and glass. He placed these carefully by Joe’s side and smiled. “Come on, Joe, what have you got going on in that head of yours?”
 

“Pa,” Joe said simply

“Pa?” Adam sat down on the arm of the settee and observed Joe intently. “Our Pa, d’you mean?”

“Of course our Pa…who else would I mean?” Joe muttered “Where is he anyhows?”

“He went into town with Hoss, to see Roy about what happened to you,” Adam replied very slowly

“Uh-huh. That’s what he told you, huh?”
 

“Yep!”
 

“All spruced up in his suit and best shirt, huh?”
 

“I didn’t see him go,” Adam remarked, narrowing his eyes slightly as he surveyed his youngest brother’s anxious face.

“Have you heard him whistling?”
 

“Whistling? What? Our Pa? Whistling?” Adam asked.
 

“For pete’s sake, something is going on around here! If there isn’t something wrong with Pa then there’s definitely something wrong with you!” Joe cried petulantly. “Come on, Adam, tell me before I go as mad as you sound!”
 

Adam put on a look of bewildered distress, as though his brothers words pained him too much to answer. “I don’t know what’s going on, Joe, honestly”
 

“Have you heard him whistling? And humming?” demanded Joe.
 

“What? Whistling and humming? That’s some feat…”

“You’re doing it again…for crying out loud…can’t anyone give me a straight answer around here?”
 

“I’ve chores to do, Joe. If you hear me whistle and hum, let me know about it, huh?” Chuckling to himself, Adam left the invalid to dwell upon the latest phenomenon to strike the Ponderosa.

**********

Hoss Cartwright raised his hat politely as Rachel Sorensen approached him from the direction of the General Store. She had a bag of groceries in her arms and a thoughtful expression on her face but when she saw him, her face immediately broke into a wide smile and her blue eyes twinkled
 

“Oh Good morning, Hoss. How is Joe?”
 

“He’s outta bed now, Miss Rachel.” Hoss twisted his hat round and round in his big hands and then placed it hurriedly back on his head. He took the groceries from her with a smile of his own. “Are you on your way to Widow Hawkins, ma’am?”

“Yes, I am “
 

“Then I’ll tote these for you.” Hoss matched his stride to hers, grateful that she was not the kind of woman who took those tiny mincing little steps that nearly broke a guy’s neck trying to slow down to that level. “How you getting on with Widow Hawkins, ma’am?”
 

“Very well, Hoss.”  She smiled again and glanced up at him as he balanced the packages carefully from one hand to the other.

“Guess you’ve heard all about her Harry the strong man?”

“Oh, yes.”  She laughed softly, “She talks of him often.”
 

 “I kin lift that 500