When the Splendor Falls

by Laurie McBain

  “And when I heard the sound of gunfire, I knew Dagger must be involved, for trouble shadows him,” Adam retorted, shaking his head, “but that wasn’t what had me concerned. ’Twas that Dagger had Leigh Travers’s colt. Now, I asked myself, how on earth did Dagger, who just arrived from the territories, manage to get his hands on Leigh’s lil’ cap’n, when half the county has gone wild trying to?” he demanded, wondering anew as he caught the look of consternation crossing the lady in question’s face.

  “Leigh Travers? I haven’t met the lady of your acquaintance, but it would appear she is not overly careful of her property,” Neil responded, thinking of the spoiled blond-haired beauty of the day before.

  “You’ve never met the lady?” Adam repeated, looking at the two in disbelief.

  “Mr. Dagger and I have not had the time to become properly introduced,” Leigh said, sounding very haughty indeed.

  Adam couldn’t muffle his laughter, for neither of the two knew who the other was. It was too fine a jest to ignore, he thought. Mr. Dagger she had called him, and he, Dagger, had not yet met the lady, Leigh Travers. Adam nearly laughed aloud.

  “My, my,” he said, a look of devilment in his eye. “He has not introduced himself to you, nor have you introduced yourself to him,” he questioned.

  “No,” Leigh said shortly. “We have not had the opportunity to do so.”

  “I understand completely,” Adam murmured. “You saw this unknown man, this stranger, approaching Travers Hill with the cap’n in tow, and thought to confront the man, perhaps believing him to be a thief?” Adam speculated, not realizing that he had just saved Leigh from an embarrassing few minutes by his ready explanation. “And as Miss Leigh’s loyal maid, you thought to get back her property,” he explained further, turning to face her so only she saw his wink.

  Leigh stared at Adam suspiciously, wondering what his game was, but since it served her purpose to not have the stranger, this Dagger, know her true identity just yet, she would go along with his charade. After all, he had been the one who had mistook her for a servant, taking advantage of what he thought to be her lowly station in life. Soon however, soon…he would learn differently.

  “Exactly,” she said shortly. “But I discovered that Mr. Dagger found Capitaine wandering loose, and very kindly returned him to Travers Hill,” she said, not explaining how Mr. Dagger knew the colt belonged at Travers Hill. “He will be rewarded handsomely for his kindness in returning Travers property. There is no need, however, for this incident to be mentioned further, for this is something between Mr. Dagger and myself.”

  “My pardon, but,” Neil interrupted, eyeing his cousin curiously, for although it had been several years since Adam had visited the territories, he knew his cousin too well not to suspect he was up to something. “I am—” he began, intending to correct her concerning his name, and reassure her that he would say nothing about the circumstances of their meeting and her losing the colt. And as the lady had said, it was something between the two of them—and he intended to keep it that way.

  But he was quickly interrupted from completing his introduction. “Please allow me to make the proper introductions.” Adam spoke first. “Dagger. S. Dagger. He works for my cousin, Neil Braedon. The S stands for Sam, or is it Sonny? Well, we call him Dagger. Nothing more, nothing less. The name speaks for itself, and for the man. Best ranch hand on Riovado, my cousin’s ranch. Swears by him, he does,” he said with a slight bow and polite gesture between the two, nearly choking as he tried to control his laughter as he saw his cousin’s expression. “And this lovely lady is Rose, the ever faithful maid to Miss Leigh. Travers Hill is famous for its lovely roses. Ah, one question, if I might be so bold, but…” Adam said, staring pointedly at the musket in Leigh’s hands, “I am rather puzzled, since I do know both parties in question here. And I’ve never known the lady to miss her shot, nor would I have thought the gentleman could be so careless to get caught in the line of fire. Since I see no blood, and I did hear a gunshot, I assume she missed. Naturally, before explanations and introductions were properly made, of course. Or,” he added as if another thought had just struck him, “did it fire by mistake during the struggle for possession of that deadly weapon?”

  Adam didn’t miss the guilty expression that crossed Leigh’s face or the closed one that settled on Neil’s, and his lips twitched, for it was very obvious that they had struggled for possession of the musket. He was only sorry he had arrived too late for that match.

  “If you will excuse me,” Leigh spoke curtly, stepping around the stranger as she saw her chance to escape him now that Adam was here. Halting by her colt, she ran her hand along his velvety muzzle, then pressed her cheek against his as he gently nudged her. Slipping the rope from his neck, she patted his rump and sent him into his stall next to his dam.

  Turning around after she had shut his gate, she faced the stranger and said, “I trust you will be coming up to the big house, Mr. Dagger? I’m sure the family will wish to thank you for returning their property. I’m certain Miss Leigh will wish to thank you personally.”

  “I’ll escort him myself,” Adam spoke up quickly, slapping his cousin on the back as he caught the glint in his eye. “In fact, I think I hear hoofbeats now, so it must be Neil Braedon arriving. He and Dagger are like this,” he claimed, holding up his index and middle fingers and pressing them tightly together. “Almost like brothers. Where one goes, the other is sure to follow. Just like Rose and Miss Leigh. He must have seen you heading this way, same as I did,” Adam easily explained, his eyes twinkling with anticipation at that meeting. “My, my, with Nathan and me here, this could develop into quite a family reunion,” he predicted. “I’m certain that Miss Leigh is going to want to look her prettiest when meeting Neil Braedon. Why, I might even be able to do a little matchmaking between them. Now I think ’pon it,” he said, his grin wide, “they are indeed a well-matched couple.”

  Walking along the passage to Leigh’s side, and taking her hand and tucking it inside his elbow, he urged her toward the door, fearing Neil’s temper was near the end of its tether.

  “You have a lot to answer for, Adam Braedon,” Leigh told him in an angry whisper, glancing back at the stranger for just an instant before they left the stable. Leigh quickly looked ahead, for the stranger was standing by the big bay, his gaze intent on her.

  “I?” Adam said in surprise as they stepped out into the sunlight.

  “Yes. It is all your fault, and you’ll pay soon enou—”

  “Good Lord! I thought you were just joking!” Adam’s choked exclamation cut her off as he and Leigh came to a standstill just beyond the stable doors. Approaching them at a run, the long blade of a saber glinting dangerously in her hand, was Blythe, a fierce look in her eye as she came to the rescue.

  Eight

  The little Revenge ran on sheer into the heart of the foe.

  Alfred, Lord Tennyson

  “Leigh!” Blythe cried, trying to pull her arm free of her sister’s grasp. Her feet, which earlier she’d despaired so of being far too large, were now firmly planted on the path, bringing her sister’s steps to a halt as she refused to budge until she’d had some answers. “I want to know what happened. Why are we running back to the big house? What happened in the stables? Did you get back the lil’ cap’n? Who was that stranger? Did you shoot him? I heard the shot. I couldn’t believe Julia was still sitting in the dining room talking when I grabbed Great-Grandpa Travers’s saber and ran out. She must have heard the musket fire and my dragging the bench across the foyer. Luckily Mama was asleep and I don’t think it woke her. But I don’t know about Althea, or Jolie, wherever she is. And what was Adam laughing about when he turned away and went back inside the stables? I could see that grin of his all the way across the green. Did you see his side whiskers? I’ve never seen any so bushy before. And I don’t think there is anything amusing about killing a man. And it’s never wise to trust Adam, Leigh. And where did he come from anyway? I didn’t see him ride in.
I must have already gone downstairs to get the saber. I nearly fell down the stairs, I was running that fast, but there was no one else, Leigh!” Blythe said breathlessly.

  “I had to do it myself. I waited for hours and hours, but when you didn’t come back out of the stables, I thought you might have been murdered, or even far worse might have happened to you! And when Stephen saw me racing out of the house with the saber, he just shook his head and went back into the dining room. I am surprised, for I really thought he might have come too, but he has slowed down a bit, and I believe he is still upset about locking himself in the cellars. Of course, he probably saw Adam and thought he would handle everything. And now, if he hears that you’ve left a dead body in the stables, well, I just don’t know what will happen. Jolie will have to fetch the salts for him. He likes everything to be so tidy, even out in the stables. I heard him telling Sweet John so.”

  Leigh sighed, and leaning against the butt of the musket, the barrel propped haphazardly on the ground, she said, “I did not kill the stranger. And”—she hesitated—“he did not steal Capitaine. He found him running loose along the lane and since Travers Hill was the nearest farm, came here to return him or discover the owner’s identity. When I was out riding this morning, Capitaine wandered off,” Leigh concluded, thinking her explanation had a definite ring of truth to it. And Blythe seemed to believe it because her expression changed from eager anticipation to crestfallen disappointment at the dull reasonableness of her sister’s reply.

  “And you believed him?”

  “He did bring Capitaine back,” Leigh had to admit, although only she knew the real reason for that show of kindness.

  “Oh…well, but what about the shot? Why did you shoot at the stranger? Did you wing him?” Blythe asked, hopping from one foot to the other in her growing excitement, and swinging the blade of the saber like a pendulum in front of her.

  “No,” Leigh said quietly, wishing she had and wondering if any minute Blythe was going to chop off her big toe. “I stumbled, and the musket fired by mistake. And Adam, he saw the stranger riding across the meadow and, recognizing him, followed him here. He was coming here anyway to ride home with Nathan and Althea,” Leigh explained. “And I think he came so early hoping he’d get some breakfast. He even told me just now to save him some apple fritters.”

  Blythe stared at her sister, her mouth dropping open in surprise, but not because of what she had just told her. “You must have fallen into a whole stack of hay, and head first by the look of you. You’ve got straw stuck all through your hair. You’re never going to brush the tangles out. You look worse than a scarecrow. What’s his name?” she demanded, finally allowing Leigh to pull her along toward the house again, now that most of her questions had been answered.

  “Dagger. Mr. Dagger,” Leigh replied, quickening her steps, for she was determined to reach her bedchamber and change her clothes before Adam brought the stranger up to the house to meet Leigh Alexandra Travers.

  “Dagger?” Blythe repeated. “What kind of a name is that? What’s his first name?”

  Leigh frowned, for she hadn’t thought his name had been that strange. “Sam, or Sonny, I think.”

  “Sonny?” Blythe said with an unladylike guffaw. “He didn’t look like a Sonny to me. Sonny Dagger,” she said with a giggle.

  Leigh eyed her sister with increasing annoyance. “He thinks my name is Rose,” she admitted, a slight sigh escaping her.

  “Rose?” Blythe was completely bemused, and amused, for this had turned out to be the most exciting morning of her young life. “What does he think your last name is? Garden?” she said, unable now to contain her laughter. Stumbling on the step as they entered the house, she reached out automatically to save herself from falling, the saber slicing upward and sticking into the doorjamb. Struggling, she managed to pull it free, but the blade came loose too quickly, its high arc catching Leigh’s skirt and neatly ripping it in two in front.

  Leigh stared down in dismay at the ragged tear in the faded blue material.

  “It was old, Leigh,” Blythe said timidly. “Why does he think your name is Rose?” she asked, hoping to change the subject.

  “Because of the way I am dressed,” Leigh said, hurrying along the foyer. “He thinks I work for the Travers family,” she explained, pulling the bench across the pine planks with a loud scraping noise that left little doubt of the scratches that now marred the glossy, waxed surface of the floor. Replacing their grandfather’s fowling piece, Leigh jumped down, helping Blythe pull the bench back across the floor and along the wall so she could replace their great-grandfather’s saber, taken from that vanquished British dragoon nearly a century before.

  “Didn’t Adam say who you were?” Blythe demanded, ever curious.

  “Adam? Not likely. He saw a splendid chance to enjoy a laugh at his friend’s expense. Which happened to suit my purpose quite nicely.”

  “They’re friends?” Blythe breathed, but then Adam always had been a bit strange. “Why didn’t you say anything?” Blythe wanted to know as they began to climb the stairs, neither of them seeing Stephen standing in the opened doorway of the dining room, his widening gaze traveling around the foyer, first from the two figures, and one very disheveled, climbing the stairs, then to the musket, the smell of gunpowder drifting down to him from its long barrel, and finally to the saber, which was hanging at a precariously dangerous angle above the doorway, and an unsuspecting head should someone have entered.

  “The man was arrogant and treated me very rudely. His behavior was not at all gentlemanly. He needs to be taught a humiliating lesson, so I want to show him exactly who I am when he comes to the house expecting to be thanked and to collect a reward for returning my property,” Leigh said, raising her chin with Travers pride. “For once Adam has given me a chance to have the last laugh. And I will have my little revenge against this stranger,” Leigh vowed, disclaiming any feelings she might have momentarily felt for him.

  “Oh, Leigh! He will be so surprised when he discovers his mis—” Blythe squealed, nearly missing her step on the stairs in her excitement, then choking back her next words as she and Leigh were about to step on the landing, only to find Althea standing there staring down at them in disapproving silence.

  “Whatever have you two been doing? We have had enough excitement this morning without Mama seeing you looking little better than a kitchen maid, Leigh. What have you done to that gown? And your hair?” Althea asked with gentle reproof. And Leigh wondered why Althea could always make her feel so repentant, for she never raised her voice, yet her reprimands were far more chastising than their father’s.

  “I was out riding.”

  “So I understand. But it would appear that you, like your brother, tried to jump the fence near the mill. You haven’t hurt yourself, have you, dear?”

  “No, and I didn’t try to jump the fence, and I didn’t fall off my horse. I’ve never fallen off my horse,” she added indignantly. “And I was just going to change. Adam is here, and there is a stranger with him.”

  “Adam? ’Tis quite early yet, how very impolite of him,” Althea said of her brother-in-law. “He was not supposed to ride over until noon. I suppose they will wish to be seated for breakfast,” Althea mused, eyeing her sisters up and down with a critical shake of her blond head, the chignon, smoothly netted in chenille, resting elegantly at the nape of her slender neck. The lacy collar of her fitted bodice jacket was properly pressed, with a shell cameo nestled amongst the delicate folds and tucks. She was dressed in cream and cinnamon-striped taffeta, with a matching lace trim at the wrists and ribbon niching decorating the full skirt. The fragrance of violets, her favorite scent, drifted around her as she moved gracefully with a rustling whisper of lacy petticoats. Standing by the railing, Althea Louise Braedon was the ideal of young womanhood.

  “Stephen, Adam Braedon and another guest have arrived. They will, no doubt, expect breakfast,” she called softly down to him, a slightly apologetic expression disturbing the
usual serenity of her classical features.

  “Yes, Miss Althea, I saw Mister Adam riding into the stables earlier, just before Miss Blythe come runnin’ down the stairs like a herd of wild an’ woolly buffalo. Figured Mister Adam might want somethin’ to eat after all the excitement,” Stephen called up to Althea, not explaining further about the excitement he referred to, but his gaze met the two younger Travers daughters’ round-eyed gazes with meaningful hesitation. “Figured there might be folks already arrivin’ at Travers Hill, so I’ve been keepin’ the dishes warm. Got plenty to last. An’ Mister Stuart an’ Mister Nathan just might want something else when they return from the mill. Soon enough we’re goin’ to have carriages pullin’ up to the house every few minutes. Yes, ma’am, we’re goin’ to be busy,” he said, apparently not inconvenienced and pleased to be back doing what he knew best—the smooth running of the Travers household. “I’ve got to set this ol’ sword straight first, though. Don’t want a guest to Travers Hill to lose his head if it should fall,” he said. “Leastways, not any more than some usually do,” he said with a chuckle, for there were some who didn’t know how to hold their liquor. “Oh, an’ Miss Julia an’ Miss Noelle are around the side of the house in the rose arbor. Sent them out there with their sewin’, figured it’d keep them out of trouble, especially that Miss Julia. She’s not her best so early in the mornin’,” he remembered to tell Althea, knowing she would be missing her little one now that she was feeling better and was up and about again. “An’ you come on down an’ eat somethin’, Miss Althea. You need to keep up your strength now you’ve got two mouths to feed,” he told her with a wise nodding of his graying head.

  Althea looked momentarily startled, her cheeks glowing with a rosy blush of embarrassment as she wondered how he knew already that she was with child. She hadn’t even told Nathan yet. Then she sighed with resignation, for there were no secrets at Travers Hill, and certainly not from Stephen and Jolie. “Thank you, Stephen. I do not know how Travers Hill could survive without you,” Althea said truthfully, her brown eyes full of warmth as she stared down at the aging black man who was as much a member of the Travers family as any beloved aunt or uncle.