The Siren's Tale (29 page)

“
Take the Captain’s horse and the light gig. Go over to the Brighton Grange and inform Mr. Brighton, or whoever is there, that I need as many of my trunks as you are able to pack in the gig. Then bring them here. Now listen carefully, Dode. Make sure of bringing my zither. If you take nothing else, make sure you have my zither.”

“
You need it tonight, Miss?” His voice squeaked in amazement.

“
Yes, I do. Please don't ask questions, Dode. Will you do it, fast as you can?”

“
Of course, milady. What shall I do about the fire?”

I could see Horatio was naturally reluctant about
this new test of his loyalty, which was occurring at the very moment of his childish triumph. But I had no time to explain myself, and I didn't have the heart to mitigate his disappointment with false bribes. “Leave it to me, Dode, and do hurry. If Annie is there, ask her to help you.”

Horatio looked forlorn, but he did my bidding. He had not
been out of my sight for more than two minutes when I turned my back on the beautiful bonfire and walked quickly toward the other end of the pond, where the old mill wheel sat unused. 

As expected,
Curly Drake emerged from the darkness in a black cloak. My lover swaggered toward me, a lantern swinging on his arm. As he moved closer, I noticed he was dressed for the evening festivities, in a starched high collared white shirt, string tie, and Stetson hat.

I
felt simultaneously an impulse to run from him and an opposing desire to run straight into his arms.  

“
I saw your signal light, lass. In truth, I have been waiting for it all year. I knew I would see it one day. So here we are, just the two of us.”

“
It wasn’t my fire. Our lad lit it, thinking to please me.” 

I expected
Curly would not believe me. Sure enough, there was an amused gleam in his expression as our eyes met.

“
And are you pleased, Cassie?”

“
You mean to see you here? No, not particularly. I find my nature is misunderstood by everyone in this town, including you.”

“
How disappointing that must be.”

“
Human life is full of disappointments.”

“
Cassie, come away with me! That is what I thought of, the minute I saw the signal fire. Your troubles have grown, while my passion for you has not diminished. I have money, you have left your husband, and we have the world before us. Let us fly, my sweet! What is to stop us?”

“
Your sweet wife and baby. Honor and decency.”

“
What about Paris and San Francisco?” was his answer.

“
Curly, I am not surprised you have leapt to the conclusion that I am ready to run away with you. But it simply isn't so. It is sadly true I have left my husband, and I do intend to leave here tonight. Some instinct tells me I must escape before it is too late. I need a friend now, not a lover. You may be my friend if you like. Nothing more.” 

My little speech seemed to have only further inflamed Curly. From his foolish expression, I doubted he had heard half of what I
said.

“
Your friend, your lover, your escape artist, your financier! Darling, whatever it is you wish to make of me, I am that man!”

I sighed. He was so impetuous! I did love him for that, but my firm intent was to do no harm in my escape.

I looked directly in his eyes and asked: “Can you—will you help me safely get out of here tonight? With all the other activity going on, no one will notice if we slip away. If you could drive me to Casper—” I stopped, unsure if I should go on.

His answer was a graceful bow and a sweep of his hat
.

“
At your service, madam. But why Casper?”

“
If I can get to Casper without my husband or my grandfather interfering, I have a friend there, a girl who once nursed my mother. I can stay with Jayne Anne temporarily, and she will help me with the next step. Eventually I'll take the train to San Francisco. I'll need a little money, a loan, I mean, for my train ticket. I walked away with no money of my own, unfortunately.” 

I was ashamed of my weak position. It was then I silently vowed never again to allow myself
to be dependent on a human being for what I needed to survive.

“
Will it be safe for you to live in San Francisco, unprotected?”

“
Of course. I will work. I will find suitable lodgings. I am not afraid to live alone.”

“
May I hope to offer you a better alternative? I can take you to San Francisco, or abroad, or wherever your heart desires. I am rich now.”

“
You continue to misunderstand me. I will repay your loan when I find work in San Francisco. Tonight I leave Alta and the protection of men forever. Please understand that your role is necessarily a limited one. I have two trunks with me, which I sent for. I ask again. Will you be content with driving me and my belongings safely to Casper, and only that? You can tell your wife you are going there on business. I don't want her alarmed. Those are the conditions.” 

He opened his mouth
as if to say more. But then, taking in the current streaming from my eyes, he changed his tune. 

“
Certainly, as you wish, madam. One o’clock will be a quiet time, after the bonfires have gone out. What say you? Meet at the old spot, on Hatter’s Field?”

I
glanced at the sky. Its clarity had suddenly diminished. Black clouds were scudding over, too close for comfort, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. I heard the first rumble of thunder from the mountain. Nonetheless, I felt that nothing short of my own death would stop me from making my escape tonight. I had wasted too much of my young life among unforgiving souls. If I left now, perhaps the curse would not follow me.  

“
Yes, that will do. Goodbye, Curly, until then. And thank you for your courtesy.” 

I
silently turned away and drew up my drab cloak tightly around my throat, thankful I had special powers at my disposal, if the occasion demanded protection. Curly tipped his hat, got back on his horse, and rode fast towards Alta.

I went inside the house.
Before going upstairs, I held my cold hands over the parlor fire. I thought of poor Horatio, who had hoped to spend an hour or so sitting by his glorious bonfire. Instead he was gathering my belongings at the Grange. Would he be back in time?

If he was d
elayed past midnight, I would go without them. I could send for the zither later. I thought of Curly's wife with momentary concern, but surely she would never know about her husband's part in my escape.

As I stepped away from the
flickering light of the fireplace, I thought briefly of how I would miss its warmth, and the company of my grandfather and Horatio. Had I known my husband's note was burning there, would it have made a difference? That I will never know. Our powers do not extend to changing past events and extrapolating an alternative universe. Only novelists can do that.

I
moved quickly to my room, where I wrote and addressed a brief note to grandfather, beseeching him to remain silent about me henceforth. “I would prefer the natives think I am dead.” Then I packed the few personal belongings I had with me in a light satchel. Lying on my bed, eyes wide open, I waited for Horatio to return. 

Around midnight, the noise of the gig crunching stones and the soft whinny of the
horse startled me from my thoughts about the future.

Aft
er first checking to see if grandfather was asleep—he was in bed, snoring loudly—I left my farewell note at his door and crept downstairs. I was dressed in my traveling cloak and walking boots, with the packed satchel in hand. Horatio drew up in the gig as I opened the heavy wooden front door.

“
Miss!” he called out softly.

I
stepped quickly into the seat beside him. “My zither?”

“
In the belted trunk.”

“
Good. Then please drive on. I’ll tell you where to go.” 

The sky appeared
wild, with wind and gathering clouds. The thunder was rumbling, the peals getting closer and closer together. There was already lightning flickering in the distance.

“
Not a good night for a ride, milady.”

“
I know, dear Dode. I am sorry to cause you this trouble. But if you love me, I must ask you to do exactly as I say, this one last time.” 

I had spoken words of command. H
e drove off without another word.

In the owner’s apartment at the Plush Horse Inn, a tense domestic scene was playing out. The debate was audible beyond their bedroom, where only a thin wall separated them from the guest room where Caleb Scattergood sat with his ear pressed to the wall.

“
I have plans for a better life together, Clare. Yet at the first opportunity to investigate, my little wife pesters me with a million insinuating questions. By Mungo, I have a mind not to move with you to Casper at all!” Drake roared. 

“
Remember the baby’s little ears, dear,” Clare whispered. “I am sure it is best you go to Casper on our behalf. It is just that—”

“
Just what?” he thundered.

“
It is so very late to be setting out. I sometimes get scared when you are not here on a night such as this one, with the bonfires lit, and so many coming and going. I would feel so much safer if you were near me and baby. That is all I meant, not to hinder our future plans in any way.”

“
Well,” he huffed, “you certainly know how to take the wind out of a man’s sails.”

“
What are you doing now, dear?”

“
I am looking for my money box. Was it not in the armoire?”

“
It is right there.”

“
Oh yes, here it is.”

“
Are you taking a good deal of money with you, then?”

“
Now that, madam, is none of your damn business. This is my money, advanced on the property I will inherit. What I do with it is none of your concern.”

“
I am sorry, dear. Of course it is none of my business.” 

Her voice contained a sob, but Drake was impervious. He
gave a cursory kiss to his son and brushed his wife’s cheek with his lips before leaving with an angry slam of the door. Clare remained sobbing, with the babe sleeping in her arms.

There was
a soft
tap-tap-tap
at the door.

“
Come in,” she said with a quavering voice, hoping that after all her husband might have changed his mind about traveling to Casper in the middle of the night. When she saw Caleb Scattergood at the door, her face fell.

“
Sorry to intrude, Mrs. Drake,” said Caleb humbly, with his cap in his hand. “I saw Mr. Drake making preparations for a journey. I thought I might watch the baby, if you wanted to, uh, well, say goodbye. I could stay with him if it would help you.”

“
Oh, would you? You are such an angel!” Handing the baby over to Caleb hastily, Clare flew out the door without even putting a coat on.

Caleb and baby Nicholas
gazed at each other solemnly. Then Caleb tickled the baby’s feet, and the baby provided all the gurgling, engaging responses that babies have at their disposal.

Before long, C
lare was back, breathing harder for her exertions, but looking happier for having been able to show her husband a cheerful face and obtain another kiss before he drove away.

She took the bab
y and put him into the simple wicker bassinette that had been in the Brighton family for generations, then rocked him silently while Caleb looked on.

“
Sorry I am not better company on this holiday night, Caleb,” said Clare, looking up at her friend, who remained standing.

Caleb
restrained himself from saying that hers was the best possible company he could imagine, on this or any night.

“
Please, sit down with me for a time. I need to talk to you, my old friend.”

She got up and led Caleb to the makeshift divan in the corner where she spent most of her day
alone with her baby. “I am very troubled in my mind, Caleb,” she continued in a low tone, “and not good at hiding my feelings. My husband seems not himself tonight. If I didn't know better, I would say he is possessed.”

“
I am only a simple bachelor and no expert on such matters. But if you would like to confide in me, I have ears to listen.”

Tears welled in her cornflower-blue eyes.
“Malicious hints have been dropped by the women in town. They are painful to hear. They say he rides over to Bulette in the evenings to meet someone, though he says he is going to walk out on Hatter’s Field.”

“
I would not listen to gossip if I was you.”

“
But then, when I ask him if I might walk on Hatter’s Field with him, he tells me nobody in their right mind would go to that desolate place. So I said to him today, 'why go out there so often, if you dislike it so much? The only thing unpleasant about Hatter’s Field to me is you don't take me walking there with you.' He got very angry at that and stomped off. I don't know what to make of his behavior.”

Caleb could not account for such apparent
inconsistency.  

“
There was a time, you see, back when we were courting, that Augustus had a fondness for Cassandra. He would tell me those same things, about taking walks and having business in Bulette. So when the walks started up again, I thought—well, perhaps he was secretly meeting someone. Not Cassandra, of course, but some new filly who had caught his eye. Men will be men. Wives must stand by them, nonetheless. Isn't that so?”

Again, Caleb
was unable to advise her, as he would never think of leaving his wife and baby to roam around the countryside looking for other entertainment.

“
I am sure nothing is going on, Mrs. Drake. But if it will make you feel better, I'll go out tonight and look around. If your husband is on the road to Casper on business, as he said he would be, there is nothing for you to worry about. I am sure it will turn out to be just as he has told you.”  

Caleb
took her hand gently to reassure her. She gave it a thankful squeeze, dried her eyes, and went to see if the baby was asleep.

Now, as Drake urged the horses carrying his gig toward the rendezvous, his intention was not to leave his wife and baby penniless. If he thought of them at all, it was with the idea they were better off without him and would be well provided for.

However
, in the heat of the moment, he considered it necessary to have with him the bank notes given to him as an advance on his inheritance. A key part of Drake’s strategy was impressing on Cassandra that he was able to do for her what her husband would not—get her out of Wyoming in a grand and dashing style.

If he could get her as far as Cas
per, so his frantic reasoning went, he might be able to persuade her to allow him to continue going further. His plans included a first class hotel room in Casper, followed by two tickets for a first class compartment on the train to San Francisco. Visions of carnality were dancing in Drake's brain as he rumbled along the rutted road to Hatter’s Field. 

So caught up was he in the prospect of getting his obsessive heart's desire that he paid little attention to the frequent peals of thunder and m
ounting electrical charge in the environment. No rain on the horizon could dampen his eagerness; winning back the prize he had lost was his obsession and all he cared about.

When Drake
reached the rendezvous point, the field was so stark, empty, and desolate, it was difficult to believe there had been a couple of hundred human beings scampering about and dancing on the elevated part only a few hours before. 

As he approached
the smoldering embers of the bonfire at the Hat, it gave off a dusky, perfumed quality to the air and heightened his senses, bringing back the memory of the first October Fire Night he and Cassie had spent together, wrapped in each other's arms under a vast, dark sky.

He could barely wait to see her. H
e felt confident the evening would end with his carrying off the prize—for good.