Gold (42 page)

She started to cry.
“Barry,” she sobbed, “how
can you be so cruel, so heartless?”

He let her rest her head on his shoulder. When
she finally raised her face to his, he smelled
mignonette and something else besides. “Selena,”
he asked, “have you been drinking?”

“
I may have had a sip or two of brandy,” she
said. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the
lips.

“
Oh, Barry,” she said, clinging to him, “I
couldn’t help myself.”

He disentangled himself from her arms.

“Are you trying to bribe me?” he asked. “Are
you offering yourself in exchange for Rhynne?”

She flew at him, scratching and clawing his
face. Barry tried to elude her but one of her
hands found and raked his cheek. He finally
grasped her arms and held her away. Selena
wrenched loose and ran. Feeling her shoes sink into the rain-softened earth she tried to stop but
fell into the mud and water at the edge of the bay.

When she looked up she saw Barry standing
over her, his tall figure outlined against the lights
of the city.
“Do you really think I’m a loose woman?” she
asked in a small voice.

“
No, you’re an impetuous young girl involved
in something she doesn’t understand. Now let me
help you up.”

She gave him her hand and he pulled her to her
feet. “My dress,” she wailed, “my bag, my parasol.
They’re all ruined.”

“
Come over here.” He took her to where, in
the light from the flares in the road, she could see
her torn and mud-spattered gown. She did her
best to clean it off, but felt it was hopeless.

“
Oh, Barry,” she said, close to tears, “this was
the first time I’ve worn it. What a sight I must be.”

“
You’d look lovely to me no matter what you
wore.”

“
Captain Fitzpatrick. Always the gallant.”

She let him lead her back toward the ship.
“Now may I escort you home?” he asked.

“
Only if I can freshen up first. I took hours
getting ready, you know. Literally hours. And all
for you.” She stopped walking and looked up at
his strong, impassive face.

“
Barry,” she said, “I told you how we girls
used to feel about you when we were on the trail.
I still feel the same way and have ever since that
first day when I met you again in our new house.
You think I’m a girl who teases and flirts and
acts foolishly. Probably I’m not the kind of girl
you really like. I can almost picture the kind you do, the sort of girl a man like you would want to marry, someone quietly pretty. Demure. Good at
sewing and running a house. I’m not like that--I
never will be. Still that doesn’t change the way I
feel about you.”

“
Selena,” he said, “I—” He looked away, seem
ing confused.” Come along,” he said gruffly, pro
pelling her up the ramp to the ship. “We’ll have you cleaned up in no time”

“
Aren’t you afraid to allow me on board? I
might spirit Mr.
Rhynne away.”

“
He’s safely locked up ‘tween decks where
you’ll never even see him.”

The men on deck clustered around them,
each, Selena saw, with a pistol in his belt. They
raised their eyebrows when they saw the scratches
on Barry’s cheeks but made no comment.

“
The young lady fell,” Barry told them. “I’m
going to let her use the necessary for a few minutes.”

The men stood aside, amused at the captain
’s
evident discomfiture.
Barry indicated a door on the far side of the
cabin. When Selena emerged five minutes later her face was washed, her hair brushed, and she
had restored some semblance of order to her
clothes.
“I feel so much better now,” she said, taking
Barry’s arm. They walked down the ramp to the
street where Barry helped her into his rig. He
clucked to the horse and they set off through the
city toward Rincon Hill.

“
Selena,” he said as they rode along Ports
mouth Street. “Did you actually believe you could
persuade me to release Rhynne? Or entice me
to?”

She sighed.
“I suppose not, but I had to do
something. This afternoon I said to myself, ‘Se
lena, if you don’t try to help that poor unfortunate
man imprisoned aboard that ship, you’ll never be
able to look at yourself in the mirror again.’ So
I tried. Was there more I could have done?”

“
No. You did all you could.”

“
I should have known you’d be clever enough
to see through my little strategems. That’s why I
had the glass of brandy before I came, to fire up
my courage. I’m afraid all it did was make me
dizzy.”

When they left
Market Street to climb Rincon, Selena turned from Barry and looked back at the
city. As she did she put her hand over the side
of the carriage, letting a folded piece of paper
fall to the ground.

After the rig was out of sight, Danny O’Lee
stepped from the shadows and retrieved the paper.
He held the penciled note beside his lantern.
“Rhynne ‘tween decks,” he read. “One guard
ashore, five on ship. All armed.”

For a moment he stared up the hill, thinking
of Selena, remembering holding her in his arms.
“Damn you, Fitzpatrick,” he said.

He turned and, as he made his way toward the
docks, tore the note into shreds, scattering the
pieces along the way.

“
Your house is dark,” Barry said as he helped
Selena from the rig.

“
Pamela must still be at the church.”

“
The church? She’s one of the last I’d have
expected to get religious.”

“
She didn’t,” Selena said, unlocking the door.
“She’s trying to make arrangements with Rev
erend Courtney to have him see Mr. Rhynne in the morning. At five o’clock. There was some
question as to whether the Reverend would con
sent to go or not.”

“
I can understand why.” Barry went around the
parlor lighting the lamps. “From what I heard
this Rhynne’s rather an unsavory type.”

“
Barry, you don’t understand him. I know he’s
owned brothels and gambling saloons, still does own them
. And he can be ruthless. On the other hand,
he’s one of the kindest and most thoughtful men
I know. He likes children, loves to quote poetry.
I always think of him as a terribly lonely man.
He needs someone, Barry. Someone like Pamela.”

“
Pamela? Pamela and Rhynne? Are you out of
your mind? Lady Buttle-Jones and a common
gambler?”

“
Why not? Two years ago I would have scoffed
too. Even last year. Now I’m not sure. My
mother’s changed since she’s been here in Cali
fornia. We all have.” Selena lowered her face
into her hands. “I keep forgetting Rhynne will
hang in the morning.”

Barry put his arms around her.
“I can’t free Rhynne. If there’s anything else I can do, I will.”

“
Hold me, Barry, that’s all I want. Just hold
me.”

He kissed the top of her hair. She could feel excitement grow in him.
“Where is everyone?”
Barry asked. “The servants?”

“
This is Thursday, their night off. There’s no
one here.” She nestled against him. “I’m fright
ened, Barry. I hate being alone. Ever since I was
a child, I’ve always been afraid that one day I’d have no one. That I’d be old and alone. I couldn’t
stand that. I think I’d kill myself first.”

“
You’ll never be alone.”

She shook her head, shivering.

“You’re cold.” He held her away from him.
“You should change that dress. It’s still wet, I can
feel it. You must be soaked through.”

“
You will stay, won’t you, Barry? At least
until Pamela comes home?”

“
Of course I will. Now go along and change
your clothes. There’s enough illness about as it is.”

He means the cholera, Selena thought. She
turned her head to hide the tears which had come
unbidden to her eyes. Lydia May. The coffin garlanded with white flowers being lowered into
the grave. I’ve been so selfish, Selena thought. I’ll change, she promised herself. I’ll become a dif
ferent person.

“
Are you all right?” Barry asked.

She nodded. Holding her skirts, she ran up the
stairs.

In the dark of her bedroom she took off her
wet shoes, then unbuttoned and stepped out of
her dress. She glanced out the window at the city,
the yellow glow of the lamps, the myriad lights
shining through the canvas of the tents. She
looked carefully along the waterfront where the
brightness of the docks met the dark of the bay.

Seeing nothing unusual, she sighed. Could
Danny bring off his plan? She shook her head doubtfully. Such a wild scheme, just like him. Wistfully she recalled nursing him after the duel.
He was such a boy then. But he’d changed too these last few years. Dan O’Lee had become a
man.

Selena removed the rest of her clothes, found
a towel, and rubbed herself briskly. Going to her
wardrobe she took out her white silk robe and
held it in front of the window. Through the
diaphanous cloth she could clearly see the lights of San Francisco.

Smiling, she slipped into the robe and tied the
sash. When she turned to leave the room to go
down to the parlor, she stopped with a gasp.

Barry Fitzpatrick stood watching her from the
doorway
.

Danny walked up to the bar of Paddy’s Saloon. “I’ll be wanting something to warm the lads standing guard across the street,” he told the bartender.

“
A hot toddy it is, then.”

Danny watched him mix the drink. When he
was done, the barman plunged a glowing red
poker into the pitcher to heat it.

Danny threw a gold coin on the bar, took the
pitcher and walked across the road humming to
himself. Only four or five stragglers still huddled
together staring at the jail. Danny supposed more
would be arriving as the hour for the hanging
neared.

The guard stepped from the shadows with a
lantern in one hand, a pistol in the other.

“
Sure, and I’m bringing you a toddy,” Danny
said. “Compliments of Paddy himself.”

“
It’s cold as a witch’s tit tonight,” the guard
said. “Put the pitcher there like a good lad.” He
nodded to the top of a packing case.

Danny hurled the toddy in the guard
’s face.
Taking a truncheon from under his coat, he
struck the man on the back of the head. The
guard pitched to the ground. Danny snatched up
the pistol and thrust it under his belt. He shielded
the guard’s lantern, then gagged and bound him.

When the guard was thoroughly trussed, he
dragged him into the shadows a short distance away. Then, returning to the ramp, he looked up
at the ship. No one was about. Unshielding the
lantern, he held it aloft, lowered it, then held it
aloft once more. He saw an answering light a hundred yards away along the road.

Smiling grimly, Danny took up his post next to
the ramp. In a few minutes, he knew, all hell
would break loose.