“Fitfully.”
She nodded. She’d slept in her brown traveling dress, and it was now rumpled and decidedly in need of a laundering, but she had managed to sleep. David had a stubble of beard shadowing his chin, and dark shadows lay beneath his eyes.
“Shall I make up your berth, ma’am?” the porter asked.
“I still have a few things in it.” She turned to David. “Excuse me just a few minutes, won’t you?”
“Certainly. I shall be sitting here, where we sat yesterday. Please join me at your convenience.”
A short time later, when she made her way carefully back to their seats, the train had stopped. She found David perusing a newspaper. Nearly all of the sleeping compartments had been folded up out of the way.
“Where is Mr. Walmore this morning?” she asked as she seated herself. She glanced at Peregrin’s sleeping berth, which was in its storage position.
“I expect he’s about somewhere.”
“I see his berth is made up.”
“Yes. And the vendor came through a minute ago. I got us some coffee and biscuits with bacon in them, and a couple of apples.”
“That sounds delightful,” Millie said.
“We shall be in Philadelphia by evening.” David smiled, and she wondered if he was eager to put the United States behind him and get home. He must be growing more excited as he grew nearer to his destination.
Millie, on the other hand, was headed into the unknown. She would have to try to rekindle old acquaintances and meet new people who could help her. She’d need new living quarters, a paying position, a new church…so much to think about. She wanted to follow David’s example and anticipate these changes with optimism. But she wasn’t like him—she had no estate waiting, and no counselors, and most of all, no seemingly limitless bank account.
“So soon?” She managed a smile—who couldn’t smile, after all, when gazing into those stunning blue eyes?
He had set the two tin cups of coffee on the floor while he waited, and he picked one up and handed it to her.
“There you are. I’m sorry it’s not tea.”
“That’s all right. I don’t suppose I mind as much as you do. Just think—you’ll soon be able to get all the tea you want.”
“Yes.” His eyes went sober. “It’s coming right up on us, isn’t it?”
She knew he meant the separation, and suddenly the morning turned gray. By evening they would part. She hated to think of a life without David. Apparently it gave him pause as well, and she took a small consolation from that.
The conductor came by. “All set, Mr. Stone? Ma’am?”
“Yes, thank you,” David said.
Millie nodded, and the conductor moved on. She had noted that all the railroad employees knew David by name and showed him the utmost respect. They treated all the passengers politely but seemed to have a special preference for David and a willingness to do extra favors for him. She supposed it was because he acted like a proper gentleman and showed them respect as well.
Her thoughts turned again to her prospects in Philadelphia. She did hope she could find a paying situation quickly. She had a little money left, but not enough to keep her more than a couple of weeks at the high prices she expected in the city.
“I suppose I might find a position as a cook,” she said as she took a biscuit from the packet.
“A cook.” David’s face fell. “Well, yes, I suppose you might.”
“I was thinking at a hotel, perhaps, or a restaurant in the city. It generally pays better than housework or sewing.”
“I see. But really, Mildred, do you think—”
“What?” She smiled. “You’re thinking it wouldn’t be proper?”
“No. Well, actually…” He squared his shoulders. “There’s a matter I’d like to discuss with you, but this is perhaps not the place for it. Maybe when we stop again, we can take a short stroll together, if—” He looked over his shoulder.
“Yes, it is difficult to get privacy when you have a traveling companion, is it not?” she said.
“Very difficult. But—about our traveling companion.” He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “I don’t trust him by half.” His charming smile sent all her blue thoughts scattering, yet he seemed a bit guarded—almost worried.
“You intrigue me.” Something must have happened last night, as she’d suspected. David’s tone when she’d heard him speak to Walmore, close outside her sleeping berth, sounded stern—almost accusing.
He frowned for a moment, then went on in low tones, “It’s distasteful for me to tell you this, but I feel I must warn you. Walmore attacked me physically last night.”
“What?” She drew back to study his face. David seemed perfectly sincere, and she leaned toward him again. “Tell me more, please.”
“He said afterward that he didn’t mean it, but I know he did. And he was rummaging in my luggage before that—when I came back from the washroom.”
“That must be when I heard you confront him.”
“Yes. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my cuff links are missing.”
“Not the onyx ones?”
“Yes.”
Neither of them mentioned Millie’s own theft of the same cuff links, but it hung between them. Millie hadn’t supposed they were particularly valuable. She had taken them more out of sentiment. But would Walmore take them if they were mere trinkets?
“When we went out onto the platform,” David continued, “he tried to push me over the railing.”
Millie tried to picture that, but Walmore seemed so unpretentious and even awkward that she found it hard to accept. “Do you really think he wanted to do that?”
“It wasn’t accidental. Perhaps he wanted my wallet, but I got the impression he wanted something more…permanent.”
Millie swallowed hard. “You think he is acting for your cousin?”
“I don’t know. It’s the most logical explanation.”
Millie inhaled slowly. What if Walmore had succeeded last night? She wouldn’t have known until now that David was missing. If the man truly wanted to kill David—or even if he merely hoped to steal his valuables, it seemed to her that they should turn him over to the police.
“Do you think he’s left the train now?” she asked.
“I doubt it, since he’s penniless. But maybe.” David glanced back at the travelers behind them. “I say.”
“Yes?”
“There’s a fellow just sitting down—don’t gawk, but when you think it’s appropriate, take a look. I swear I saw him from my hotel window in Independence.”
“Doing what?” Millie asked.
“Nothing. Just hanging about and watching the hotel.”
She frowned. That didn’t sound good.
“Brown jacket,” David said, “in the aisle seat about four rows behind us and on the other side of the aisle. Big man—very big.”
Millie eyed David for a moment. She let her gaze flicker for a moment toward the rear of the car. She saw the man he referred to and puzzled in her mind over whether she’d seen him before or not. He was too big to ignore. Her heart skipped, but she turned forward impassively.
She touched David’s sleeve and, when he leaned toward her, said in his ear, “I think you are right.”
“Come outside for a moment.”
They rose and left the car, reaching the little platform in between cars. Millie clung to the railing with one hand and her hat with the other as she turned to face David.
“I’ve seen him, too,” she said. “That large man was across the street from our hotel the morning we left. I saw him stand up from behind the rain barrel over there, and I wondered if he’d slept there all night. A vagrant, I supposed. He watched us as we left for the train station.”
“Interesting,” David said.
“But the other one, the one he’s sitting with—”
“Yes?”
Millie frowned. “He looks awfully like a man who stood across the street, whittli
ng, on more than one occasion.”
David turned and peered into the carriage for a moment. “Ah, you’re right. I almost overlooked him. I saw the indolent whittler myself, and I believe that is the man.”
Millie grasped his sleeve. “What does it mean?”
David covered her hand with his warm one and gazed down into her eyes. “I’m not sure.”
“I’m frightened.” All she could think of was Scottsburg and the assassin who had stalked him. She tried to remain calm, but David looked concerned, too. She wouldn’t sit by and let someone try to kill him again.
David spent the next hour deep in thought. Walmore had returned just before the train started, but he was quiet after the initial greetings and sat across from them, eating the biscuit David had saved for him.
“Sorry I didn’t get you anything to drink,” David said. “I couldn’t handle three cups, and I wasn’t sure when you wanted to eat.”
Walmore waved a hand as though it was nothing, but he must wish he had something to help the biscuit go down.
David noted that while he brushed the crumbs off his clothing, Walmore snatched repeated glances toward the suspicious men he and Millie had noted earlier.
At last a plan formed in his mind. It wasn’t ideal, but David believed that the longer he stayed on the train, the more danger he was in.
“Excuse me a moment, won’t you?” He got up and spoke to the porter. He wished he could discuss it with Millie first. She’d been very patient with him, considering how inconsiderately quiet he’d been. Finally, another hour into the trip, Walmore rose and excused himself, heading toward the washroom. David noted that the two suspicious men watched Walmore’s every move. After he passed their seats, the larger man got up and lurched down the aisle and out the far end of the car.
“My dear,” David said, leaning close to Millie’s ear, “I wonder if you might be able to leave this train with me at the next stop. The conductor will see that our luggage is put off for us, and we can collect it after the train has gone on.”
She arched her pretty auburn eyebrows. “Of course, if you think it is prudent. I trust your instincts.”
“Well, my instincts aren’t sure what to think, but they don’t like this latest turn of events, if you catch my meaning. That whittler is even now sitting in the last row of this carriage, no doubt keeping an eye on us and anticipating Walmore’s movements. Where his partner has got to, I have no idea.”
Millie nodded gravely. “I have been wondering…”
“Yes?” David asked.
“Whether they are watching us or Mr. Walmore.”
“A not unreasonable question. I supposed they were shadowing me, but since we took note of them this morning, I’ve been studying them. They may have an interest in us, but they seem to be shadowing Walmore, and I wonder if we are merely unwitting intruders in their little scheme.”
“As opposed to being the objects of it?”
David nodded, though he didn’t like either alternative.
“In any event,” Millie said, “I am of the same mind as you, sir. I do not like it.”
“We shall get off, then? If they are following Walmore, they’ll stay with him. And if they’re after us, perhaps we can lose them if we move quickly. We can catch another train later in the day, I’m sure. If you don’t mind a few hours’ delay, that is.”
“Why should I? Delay will only give me more time in your company.”
Her cheeks flushed adorably, and David could not resist reaching for her hand. She had not chastised him for calling her “my dear,” and now her words were tantamount to a confession that she dreaded parting from him. He dared to think her feelings mirrored his own—a pleasant thought.
They were traveling across Ohio, and after further discussion with the conductor, David chose Pittsburgh as the city in which they would disembark. He had hoped to give Millie the particulars, but when he returned to his seat beside her, he saw Walmore approaching from the opposite end of the carriage.
The erstwhile whittler had disappeared, but his companion, the big man, sat toward the rear of the car with a newspaper open before him. When Walmore walked past him, the hulk of a man watched him openly.
David considered asking Walmore if he knew the pair but decided against it. If the three were in league against him, he didn’t want any of them to dream that he was about to escape their clutches.
Millie attempted a placid conversation about the lush farm country they passed through, but David’s mind wandered. Was he mad to think his cousin’s brother-in-law could be plotting against him? After careful consideration, he thought madness was out of the question. He might be overly suspicious, but after all, he had nearly lost his life to an assassin in Oregon. He’d thought at the time that Randolph was behind the attempt, but his solicitor sent word that his cousin swore he had nothing to do with it and was shocked and saddened at the tidings. Mr. Conrad had tried to assure David that his family had no ill will toward him and only wished to see him take his rightful place at Stoneford.
Well, David wasn’t so sure. For one thing, Conrad was a doddering old man now. Anne had told him that the man was in his eighties, which confirmed David’s assumption that the solicitor was well past his prime. Randolph was sly enough to put one over on the old man. And wouldn’t any guilty man deny his actions when accused? Who would admit he’d hired an assassin to kill a relative for him?
They reached the outskirts of Pittsburgh late in the afternoon, and the train began to slow. “Mildred, would you like to get off here for some air?” he asked. “I understand the train is stopping for about twenty minutes.”
“Let us go,” she said and began to put on her gloves.
David looked at Walmore. The man eyed him uncertainly. David wanted to simply ignore him, but he could hardly do that. He’d restrained himself from confronting him about the cuff links, supposing he was more likely to get clean away if he didn’t admit he knew of the theft or show his contempt toward Walmore. It would be best if he and Millie left the train casually, as though they intended to return in a few minutes.
“Let’s see if we can get a cup of tea in the few minutes we have,” he said aloud, and more than one passenger heard him, he was sure. “Walmore, can we bring you something?”
The young man had started to rise, and he blinked at David uncertainly. “Uh, no, that’s all right. I may get a breath myself.”
David had hoped he’d stay on the train, but he couldn’t say so without arousing suspicion. He took Millie’s arm and pulled her along quickly. Several other people soon separated them from Walmore in the aisle.
Outside the car, he turned Millie along the platform away from the windows through which Walmore and the others might watch them. Two cars down, they found the conductor helping an elderly man onto the train. David waited for him to finish and then spoke to him confidentially.
“This is the place of our departure. You will have our bags set out without any fanfare?”
“Certainly, sir,” the conductor said. “And if you turn your ticket in at the window, they’ll refund part of your fare.”
As they turned away, David spotted Walmore leaving their car farther down the platform. He seized Millie’s hand and was about to draw her away when Walmore spotted him.
“I think we need to give Walmore an errand,” David said to Millie, and walked with her toward the young man.
When they drew near, Walmore eyed him with surprise. He tipped his hat to Millie.
“Mrs. Evans wants to look over the peddlers’ wares yonder.” David nodded toward where several vendors had set up business on the edge of the platform. He took out his wallet. “Would you mind seeing if you can change this for me at the ticket office? I might not have time, and I’d like to have a few coins later for tips and so forth.”
“Of course.” Walmore took the dollar bill, folded it, and tucked it in his coat pocket.
“Thank you,” David said with a smile. Walmore being a gentleman would under
stand that his company was not welcome at present.
Walmore set off at once for the ticket window to change the bill, and David steered Millie in the opposite direction.
“What is our plan?” she murmured as they strode past the peddlers.
“We lose ourselves until the train pulls out again. With any luck, Walmore will simply think we boarded a different car. It should take him a little while to discover that we aren’t on board. The conductor has been amply paid to calm him if he gets agitated, and after no less than an hour’s journey, to tell Walmore they’ve discovered a message I left with one of the baggage handlers—that we decided on the spur of the moment to leave them.”
“Do you think he’ll come back and try to find us?” Millie asked.
“He’d be foolish if he did. After all, his ticket to New York is paid for. But if he tries to change it, he’ll have to pay an additional fee, and I’ve left him with only one dollar. Unless he was lying to us since the beginning, he hasn’t much more than that at his disposal.”
Millie smiled. “And then what?”
“Then we go back to retrieve our luggage and take a hackney to a hotel.”
“Oh.” She looked a little uncertain.
“Do not worry, my dear,” David said. “I intend to see that you have a fine dinner, and perhaps we can have that conversation I alluded to earlier.”
“You mean…this isn’t it?”
“No, darling, this is not it at all. In fact this is very unlike the conversation I wish to have with you.”
Her cheeks flushed prettily, and David drew her hand through his arm and squeezed it. He looked back and paused, gazing over the heads of the people thronging the platform.
“What is it?” she asked.
“As I hoped—the big man has followed Walmore. I can’t see whether his friend is with him or not. He could be following us.”
“Do you really think so?”
“No. I think they want Walmore. But come. Let us make ourselves scarce.”
Millie could hardly believe what was happening to her. The man she’d admired so long and despaired of winning was whisking her about and calling her my dear and darling. Did he mean those endearments, or did he speak without thinking, distracted by the fear that assassins were stalking him?
THE Prairie DREAMS Trilogy Page 93
