A Fresh Start in Kirkham: a nineteenth century western romance

by Susan Thomas

  When Marta had blown out her candle she had lain awake listening for her parents to come to bed. She was the only one of the girls who had her own bedroom. The other girls shared two rooms. Matilde and Erna, the next two in age, shared one room and Gretchen Luise and Elsa another. She had the small room her father had built for the boy that never came. It was good that her clothes and few possessions were hers, and not constantly interfered with by her sisters, but there was a problem. Her room was next door to that of her parents and she often heard them making love. It was so embarrassing and made her cringe in the dark to hear them. Tonight, they would not make love. Tonight, her father would discipline her mother. Marta couldn't fault him for it. Her mother had been given the opportunity to stop and had not taken it.

  Listening to her mother's discipline was also highly embarrassing and also made her think about her own marriage. Iestyn was not from around here but a faraway place called Wales. She was a little muddled as to where that was but it didn't mean he wouldn't discipline her if she needed it. She wouldn't mind being disciplined by Iestyn. He was always so calm and considerate. If he felt she need a spanking then she would indeed deserve it.

  She heard her father bar the outer doors and her parents retreated to their bedroom for the night. There were voices although she could not make out what was said. Then only her father was speaking and the tone was scolding. She knew the tone, although again she could not hear the exact words. Then the spanking started. Marta knew she should not listen but her mother's discipline held a fascination for her. It might not be long before her husband would be disciplining her. She could tell her father was just using his hand. That would be on her mother's bare bottom. It was a hard, long spanking. She could hear his hand smacking down again and again until her mother's stifled cries became loud and long. After the spanking Marta knew he would be gentle. She was sure that Iestyn would be that way with her too but even so she would rather have him make love to her.

  ---oOo---

  Jacob McMorran hurled an ink bottle against the wall of the hotel suite.

  "Damn the woman to hell and back." The act of violence did not assuage the rage in him and he swept all his papers off the desk and sent them crashing to the floor.

  "Jacob! What on earth is the matter?"

  "The report from the detective. Not one of her old friends or colleagues here in Boston has seen hide nor hair of her. The last they heard was a letter informing them of Ralph's death. She's not here, my dear. Not in Boston and not in New York. So just where is the wretched woman? She has our granddaughter hidden away in some slum and is turning her into what? I hope not a whore like her mother. We must get the child and bring her up as a lady of quality. My God, if only Ralph had not had that fortune hunting whore as a wife."

  "Jacob, let us think calmly. We know she got on that train to New York but equally that she did not arrive in the city. We know she didn't somehow change and come to Boston. So, she must have got off and headed somewhere else. It doesn't matter no one remembers her. Why should they? A woman with a child is hardly uncommon and a train holds many passengers. We need to know what friends she has who live perhaps out West. That's where she'll have gone. Charitable friends told some awful sob story you may be sure. Let us get the detective working on friends who now live somewhere else, perhaps out in the West. We ourselves should simply go home. She's not here and I'm sick of hotel rooms."

  Chapter Five

  Henry Flight and his new deputy, Liam Ahearn, assisted by Henry's brother Charles and Mayor Spencer took their captive to the station. The last of the three from the saloon fight, he was now known to be Silas Gort, wanted for rape, murder and robbery. Law officers were arriving from the state capital to take him back for trial. Henry was taking no chances and the four of them were heavily armed. Silas had none of the cockiness the old Becker gang had usually shown. Perhaps it was because he was now the last and he knew his fate was to be the gallows.

  Henry was pleased with his new deputy. The reference he had from New York had been fulsome. Liam Ahearn had left a promising career and all because his fiancée had left him for a wealthy man. Beth wasn't nagging him but Henry knew she wanted him to quit the sheriff's post. Now he had someone to take it on. He'd have to wait a while to get Liam settled in and part of the community but then he could step quietly aside and let the younger man take over. Ideally, another deputy would be needed for the growing town.

  Once Silas Gort had gone in the company of no less than five law officers, Henry felt relaxed. Kirkham was peaceful and quiet. Everything was going well. The new people in town such as Samuel Hoctor and Cecelia Masters were settling in quickly. By the look of it they might well get married in the near future. The gossip was already spreading about their 'friendship'. All the Becker violence was now behind them and life was good. Henry was not to know that more violence was about to erupt.

  The day itself passed peacefully enough. Cecelia had attended to the needs of the town because Dr. Davies had been called away to a distant farm where a baby was refusing to come out. That evening, once Alice was in bed, she pottered around their small accommodation, tidying and cleaning quietly until she felt ready for bed. She was in the kitchen when she heard a noise in the back yard. She frowned. No one ever came in the back yard, for it was only accessed alongside the dress shop, and everyone knew it was private. Perhaps it was a couple of youths up to mischief in the warm summer night. She opened the back door to peer out, calling, "Who's there?"

  It was just as well she still had one hand on the door and was only in the doorway rather than actually outside. She felt rather than saw a movement near her and instinctively stepped back pushing the door to close it. There was a screech of rage and a dark figure lunged at her. She saw a raised knife and shoved the door closed just in time. There was a nasty sound as the knife hit the wood. Cecelia threw her weight against the door and felt someone push on the other side. While leaning hard against it, she fumbled hurriedly for the bar, and just got it into place, when a strong blow against the door told her the assailant was trying to get in. She heard an unearthly shriek of frustration... almost animal like. It made her go still with horror.

  Cecelia took a large kitchen knife and a rolling pin and retreated behind the door to the upstairs bedrooms. She barricaded it as best she could with small furniture and spent a sleepless night in Alice's room. In the morning, as soon as there were people about, she sent Alice to Beth and reported to Henry Flight. She partly expected he would dismiss her story as fanciful female nonsense but he took her seriously and came out to look. There on the back door to her kitchen was a fresh, deep gouge. Word in small towns spreads by a sort of telepathy which can be unnerving to those from cities. Soon Cecelia had Henry, his deputy Liam, Mayor Spencer, Dr. Davies and Samuel Hoctor standing looking at her back door and listening for about the fourth time to her story.

  "I hate to ask this," Henry sounded regretful, "but is this anything to do with the McMorrans?"

  Mayor Spencer asked, "Who are the McMorrans?"

  Cecelia sighed. "My name is not really Masters but McMorran."

  John Spencer groaned. "Not again. I just don't believe this."

  Cecelia, stammering, told her story and Henry backed her up. "Beth had a letter about all this from her old nurse. What Cecelia tells us is true. The McMorrans are a nasty couple."

  "They are but I don't think they would attack me like this. They want me locked away in a lunatic asylum."

  "I'm sorry Mrs. Masters or McMorran or whatever you are. I find that hard to believe. Davies, you're a medical man. How could someone be locked away in an asylum if they are not mad?"

  "Sadly Mayor, it is not at all impossible. It happens both in Great Britain and here in the US. Why, Wilkie Collins, the novelist, used that in his book, The Woman in White. It was fiction but based on truth for Collins trained as a lawyer. Insanity is not always obvious on a first encounter and a doctor may well rely on evidence from relatives. Evidence from wealthy and p
owerful relatives has far more weight than it should."

  The conference decided that the attack was not the work of the McMorran agents but a local event.

  "Well," announced Dr. Davies, "Mrs. Masters is not mad, that I can vouch for, but I'd not be surprised if her attacker is."

  Henry made decisions. Liam Ahearn was on duty that night. He would keep a special eye on the property and especially the yard at the back. Mayor Spencer would arrange for a carpenter to fit bolts to the inner door that led to the stairs up to the bedrooms. Dr. Davies would make sure that Cecelia wasn't left on her own. If he had to go out he would alert Sam who would send one of his men if he couldn't come himself. Henry himself would begin an investigation to find out just who the attacker could be.

  Cecelia was left in the yard with Sam Hoctor. She was rather nervous at being with him. Beth had made it clear that the men in Kirkham thought their women telling lies or being disrespectful a good reason for spanking them. That had been wonderful for her erotic fantasies, but now? Would he try and spank her even on so short an acquaintance?

  "Are you very cross with me for lying about my name?"

  Sam looked as if he was returning from a faraway place. "Cross? By no means. You had little choice but to escape and changing your name was probably a good idea. I doubt they'll find you all the way out here but that door is best closed all the same. However, I am worried about who could be doing this. The truth is Cee I have feelings for you, but..." He looked as if he was going to say something else but stopped himself. "No, let us get this attacker caught before saying any more."

  Cecelia felt nervous all day even though she was watched the whole time by one person or another. When evening came, Henry checked her bedrooms and kitchen before letting her in. The carpenter had fixed a strong bar to the inner door and an extra one on the door to the yard. Alice went to sleep in Cecelia's bed and both doors were bolted and barred. Cecelia still felt nervous but she was so tired she drifted off to sleep. She was awoken at around midnight by two shots fired in quick succession out in the yard below.

  ---oOo---

  Liam Ahearn found the night patrol, which finished at midnight, easy stuff compared with his duties in New York. A few drunks to be told firmly to quieten down and go to bed. The odd fracas involving men with more alcohol in them than was sensible. Youngsters who had sneaked out unbeknown to parents; they got a quick cuff and packed off home. So, when he walked quietly down the side alley by the dress shop he was not expecting any real trouble. He trod lightly by habit but then a light flared up in the night and he heard the crackle of flames. He broke into a run, and in the backyard, he saw a shadowy figure in a hooded cloak stacking wood against a fire that had been lit against Cecelia's back door.

  "Stop!" he shouted and then was shocked into stillness. The figure screeched like an animal of the night. For a moment, Liam was frightened by the unearthly sound and then he drew his pistol. "Stand still you and get your hands up."

  Later he swore that what he saw was true. The figure leapt literally into the air, turned in mid-air, and ran off to the end of the yard. Liam fired twice in quick succession but didn't believe he hit the creature. Whatever it was jumped at the rear fence, was over it, and gone, before Liam could fire again.

  The priority was the fire and Liam began kicking the burning wood away from the door. Luckily the fire had not really taken hold so it was relatively easy. He was joined by neighbors who heard the shots and soon the fire was out. Cecelia was reassured the danger had passed for now, but Liam spent the rest of the night snoozing in the rocking chair in Cecelia's kitchen, the door firmly barred, and his pistol on the table right by his hand.

  The next day the town was full of excited chatter about the night's events. Speculation about who or what had attacked Cecelia was the only topic worth talking about. Some even said it was the ghost of Andrew Becker come back to take his revenge. People who said that could not explain why the ghost was not attaching their preacher or his new wife. Mayor John Spencer and his wife Mary came to visit Cecelia and told her that she was moving in with them for the time being.

  When she made to protest, John Spencer told her, "There will be no arguments Mrs. Masters. My house is more secure to begin with and I will be there to protect you. You and Alice will have to share a room for we have our son living at home. He is eleven but he's very good with younger children and won't mind Alice."

  Cecelia was reluctant to go for several reasons. One was that she remembered what Beth had told her, that John Spencer had spanked her when she stayed at his house. Beth was clear her behavior had deserved a good spanking but even so... would the mayor think he had the authority to spank her? Mary Spencer though was also insistent and very motherly towards Alice. Cecelia knew it was for the best and moved some of her possessions across to the Spencer home, leaving her rooms behind and above the dress shop, empty.

  Lucille Drake had to work late that evening. She had dresses to make for a wedding and there were last minute changes to the order by a nervous bride. It was growing dark when she finished up. She decided to visit the privy before walking home and walked up the side alley, carrying a lantern, to the back yard. As she entered the yard a dark figure rushed at her and Lucille felt a blow to her shoulder followed by a deep burning. She screamed and fell to the ground. The figure stood over her wearing a black hooded cloak. She could not see a face at all, it all seemed black except for two eyes. What she did see was a raised knife and she screamed again.

  "No! Please! No!"

  Luckily for Lucille the neighbors had heard her first scream and rushed to her assistance. The hooded figure did the same as it had done for Liam. Turned swiftly, ran at the rear fence, hit hard, flipped over, and was gone. Henry Flight and Liam Ahearn could find no trace of the hooded figure but there was no doubt Lucille had been attacked. She had a nasty laceration to her shoulder which Dr. Davies had to stitch. Kirkham could talk of nothing else and most of the talk was of evil supernatural figures or wild animals. James Daffern, the town's preacher, was forced to give a sermon on the subject that Sunday.

  He dismissed all talk of ghosts or supernatural beings. He ridiculed the idea that the ghost of Andrew Becker was at work.

  "Andrew Becker would attack me and my lovely wife Annie before anyone else, much less a newcomer to Kirkham, and a dressmaker. As to some wild animal, why, when did you last know of an animal that used fire and carried a knife? No, brothers and sisters, this is a human at work and likely a lunatic."

  When Cecelia moved into Mayor Spencer's house it was Mary Spencer who looked after her daughter. Mary Spencer was an ideal grandmotherly type and Cee found herself wishing the Spencers were her parents-in-law. She knew the eleven-year-old Arthur was not their own son, but adopted, although she didn't know the whole story as to how that had happened. That Arthur was well loved and in turn loved his adoptive parents was clear. John Spencer gave Arthur the job of showing Cecelia around while his wife whisked Alice off to teach her how to make cookies.

  Arthur was such a lovely boy that Cee found herself wanting to hug him, something she was sure the eleven-year-old would hate. He finished the tour by taking her into the office from which John Spencer conducted both his own business affairs and his mayoral duties. Cecelia, with Beth's talk of spanking in her mind, spotted something hanging on the wall. It was an oak paddle about two feet long in total, by about three inches wide, with a handle. A leather loop on the handle held it on the wall. She stared hard at it.

  "That's Papa's paddle. Emily, his daughter, was terribly naughty when she was little. He used to spank over his knee but as she became too old to put over his knee he used the paddle on her."

  "Does he use that on you?"

  "No. Papa would never hit me. My real father whipped me and Papa's seen the scars. He won't ever even spank me. He tells me off sometimes and gives me extra chores to do but mostly I'm good. I don't like to upset Mama and Papa."

  Cecelia had no such history to protect her. If John S
pencer had spanked Beth when she first came here, what was to stop him spanking her? She vowed to be on her very best behavior while staying here... not even a flash of bad temper.

  Henry was busy with his enquiries. He believed that the attack on Lucille was a mistake and that the attacker had thought she was Cecelia. So, who would want Cecelia out of the way? If Cecelia and Dr. Davies looked as if they might get together, then Marta Hartman was the obvious choice, but that wasn't the case. Cecelia simply worked for the doctor and had been pleading Marta's case with Dr. Davies. Cecelia and Sam Hoctor were enjoying each other's company and helping each other with their children. Gossip had already virtually married them. If someone were jealous about that relationship there might be the motive, but who could it be? Until Cecelia arrived Sam had not so much as glanced at another woman. That did not mean, of course, that there wasn't someone who was jealous, but just who was it? Come to that, he couldn't even be sure it was a woman. The figure wasn't large but that didn't mean it wasn't a man. Perhaps some troubled youth, but why would a man or a youth attack Cecelia? Henry felt his head going around and around and he was sure there was a vital piece of information he was missing.

  Three evenings went by after Cecelia moved in with the Spencers without a single attack. Mary Spencer brought Julia in with Alice during the day but the move meant that Cee and Sam didn't see so much of each other. Just as Henry decided Cecelia was definitely the focus of the attacks, another woman was stabbed. It was Louise Barnes, wife of Joe Barnes, the owner of the general stores. The store was closed. Louise and Joe had retreated upstairs to their quarters but Louise went out into the yard at the back to get rid of some vegetable waste into her compost pile. It was dark but she knew the yard well and the light inside was sufficient for her to move around. Abruptly a black figure was on her. She barely had time to register anything or even to scream when there was a huge blow to her chest and she simply fell to the ground. It was probably the fall that saved her for she wasn't dead. With no interruption, the figure could have stopped and stabbed again, but it didn't. The pain didn't come straight away. Louise felt weak but crawled back to the stores and called weakly for Joe. He came running down and was horrified to see his wife bleeding profusely.