Pa opened the door.
“Good evening, Mr. Hollister,” I heard the familiar voice say, “might I have a word with your wife?”
Pa nodded, stepped aside, and gestured Royce into the room. Almeda stood and offered her hand. Royce shook it, though without conviction.
“Mrs. Hollister,” he said rather stiffly, “I would appreciate a few moments of your time.”
“Of course, Franklin,” she said deliberately. It was clear from his tone this was no social call. “Please . . . sit down.” She pointed to an empty chair.
“In private, if you don’t mind,” he added.
“Anything you have to say to me can just as well be said in front of my husband,” she replied, her voice betraying a slight edge to it. I think she was perturbed by his unsmiling seriousness. She continued to look right at him, but neither said another word.
Pa had a hesitant look on his face, not seeming to know what he ought to do. But finally spoke up.
“It’s no never-mind to me, Almeda,” he said. “Come on, kids, let’s go outside. But I’m warning you, Royce,” he added to the banker. “I’m going to be right outside this door, and if you say something my wife don’t like, I’ll be right back in here and throw you out on your ear!”
Every one of us was curious what Mr. Royce’s visit was about, but we all got up and started trooping silently toward the door that Pa held open for us. I was the next to last one, but before I reached the door, I heard Royce’s voice again.
“Perhaps Miss Hollister could join us,” he said, speaking to Almeda but gesturing his head in my direction. “What I have to say concerns her as well as you.”
I glanced up at Pa. He shrugged. “If he wants to talk to you, it’s okay by me.” But as he said it he was staring daggers at Mr. Royce.
I turned around and went back to where I was sitting, while Pa and Zack filed outside with the others and closed the door. Once we were alone, Mr. Royce still did not take the seat Almeda offered him, but began speaking immediately.
“Almeda, when you first announced that you were going to run against me for mayor, like everyone else I was surprised, interested, even curious. And for a while I was willing to play along with your little charade of pretending to be a politician. But when matters grew more serious and when people began to talk and I began to fear for the business of my bank, then I grew concerned. You were visiting people and rousing them up against me. I came to you in your office, and I tried to be reasonable. I asked you as cooperatively as I was able to cease and desist, and to withdraw before more harm was done. But you refused. You have persisted in your efforts to undermine my reputation. Your flyers continue to circulate. And now you have set your stepdaughter to do your dirty work, talking with everyone in town, asking their opinions.”
He stopped, but just long enough to take a breath of air.
“Now,” he continued, “I’m here to tell you—both of you—that I want this to stop. It’s futile, it’s useless. You cannot win the election, Almeda, and I will not have you stirring up the community against me any longer. I’ve been patient for as long as I can, but it’s time I put my foot down. I want it to stop. And as for you, young lady,” he said, turning and looking me straight in the face, “I do not want you talking to anyone else about the election.”
“You leave Corrie out of this, Franklin,” said Almeda heatedly. “This election campaign is between you and me.”
“Then you tell her to stop with these ridiculous interviews.”
“I will do no such thing. She is a newspaper reporter in her own right and I will not tell her what she can or cannot pursue.”
“Newspaper reporter! That’s a good one,” he laughed. “That’s almost as humorous as a woman mayor!”
By now we were both more than a little annoyed!
“My editor in San Francisco is paying me for two stories about the Miracle Springs election,” I said. “I have done nothing to hurt you in any way.”
“Except get people talking.”
“It’s hardly our fault if people talk,” I said. “And you can’t blame us for what they think of you.”
I shouldn’t have said it, but the words were out of my mouth before I realized it. Now Royce was angry too, and he made no more attempt to mask his true intentions.
“Look,” he said, “Hollister may pamper the two of you in your little schemes! But he never did have much backbone. It’s a rough world out there, and no two interfering women are going to spoil my plans, no matter what their fool of a husband and a father lets them get away with. Two can play this little game of yours, and you don’t want to play it against me. Stop now, or I’ll make life miserable for all of you!”
“How dare you talk that way of the finest man in Miracle Springs!” cried Almeda, rising from her chair.
I expected to see Pa burst through the door any minute and slam his fist into Royce’s face.
“You are meddling in what is not your business, and he is a weakling if he cannot prevent you.”
“You are the fool, Franklin Royce, for not knowing a real man when you see him! And as for the election, my campaign is not a charade. I have not roused a soul against you, and have never once even mentioned your name in a single discussion with anyone. Corrie is absolutely right—you can hardly hold us responsible for what people may think of you! I have done nothing to undermine your reputation. And I would never think of resorting to dirty work, as you call it, still less of asking Corrie or anyone else to do it for me. I resent your charges against me, Franklin, and I will not withdraw from this election!”
“It will not go well with you, Almeda, if you do not reconsider.”
“What’s more,” she added, “not only will I see it through to November, after today, Franklin, you have shown me more clearly than ever that for Miracle Springs to elect you its mayor would be a grievous mistake. You have made me more determined than ever to win that election!”
“If you do win, Almeda,” and his voice was deadly serious, “you will live to regret it! I will make life so miserable for you and your family that you will have no choice but to resign, and I will be made mayor eventually anyway.”
“What can you possibly do to us?” she shot back. “You hold no mortgages on either my property or Drummond’s. The little my business owes you is unsecured.”
“The people of this community who are indebted to me will find themselves compelled to reconsider where they purchase their supplies. In fact, I have been thinking of opening a supplies outlet and freight service myself, as an adjunct to the bank.”
“Dare to go into business against me, Franklin, and you will find I am a strong businesswoman, with more contacts and experience than your money alone will buy you.”
I had never seen Almeda like this. She was seething.
“Perhaps that is true,” replied Royce, with a sly smile. “But you will not be able to survive long without customers. And the men of this community will know they had better deal with me or else find themselves foreclosed upon. Most of the mortgages I hold have a thirty-day call.”
“You are an unscrupulous man, Franklin!”
“It’s called ‘the fine print,’ Almeda. Every standard banking contract has its share, and I simply use it to my own advantage, as does any wise businessman when it comes to matters of finances.”
“When the people find out you are trying to blackmail this town into electing you its mayor, they will never stand for it!”
“They will have little choice. If they do not vote for me, I will simply call their loans due. Within a year I’ll own the whole town. In the meantime, you’ll be out of business for lack of customers.”
“Well, you don’t own us, Franklin! You may blackmail the rest of this town, and you may put Parrish Mine and Freight out of business. But you will never control me, or my husband, or our family! If it comes to that, I will leave the business and move out to the claim. We will manage with or without the Parrish Freight.”
“Ah y
es . . . the claim,” said Royce, drawing out the words with a significant expression. “That brings up an interesting point which I have been looking into. You are correct, Almeda, in that I hold no mortgage on the property your husband and his brother-in-law claim as their own. However, according to my investigations there may be some question as to the validity of their ownership of the land.”
“That is preposterous, Franklin!” Almeda nearly exploded. “You know the doctrine of free mines as well as anyone else in California. Whoever first stakes out a claim has exclusive right to the land. Drummond and Nick have been on that property since 1849, long before you ever got to California!”
“Granted, they have right to use the land, but that does not make the land itself theirs. I have been looking into the deeds to actual land ownership in and around Miracle Springs, and let us simply say the results may surprise many people.”
“You wouldn’t dare try to run the miners around here off their land! You wouldn’t survive a month as mayor!”
“There are laws, Almeda,” Royce said, trying to sound calm. “California is a state now. There are legalities to be observed. Surely you know of the recent Supreme Court decision in the Fremont case against free mines. I tell you, Almeda, your husband’s position may be very tenuous indeed, and he may find it more pleasant to have me as his friend rather than his enemy. Especially when the authorities who might be compelled to look into the matter discover his criminal record, and learn that he is still wanted by the law in the East. I very seriously doubt that they’ll uphold his claim to the property, especially given the Mariposa ruling.”
“You are full of threats, Franklin,” replied Almeda, and she had now grown calm as well—calm and cold. “But Sheriff Rafferty put the matter of my husband’s past to rest long ago.”
“Rafferty is a weakling, too!” Royce spat back. “There are others who might find his failure to uphold his duty cause for his removal as well. As mayor of Miracle Springs, I may well find that I must—”
“You will never be mayor, Franklin! Not if I can help it. You will not get away with all this!”
Suddenly the room grew silent. Royce stared back at Almeda with piercing eyes. When he next spoke, all anger, all passion, all intensity from his voice was gone. His words were icy, measured, and the look in his eyes hateful.
“I have tried to be as reasonable as a man can be, Almeda. But you have left me no choice. As a gentleman I am loathe to stoop to such measures, but you force my hand.”
He paused, and his eyes squinted in a glare of evil determination.
“If the hurt to come to the rest of the town, if the loss of your business, if danger to your husband, and if the loss of all this property here on your so-called claim—if all these things do not convince you that it is in everyone’s best interest for you to withdraw from the race, then perhaps what I have to tell you now will convince you.
“There are men in this state, even now, who will stop at nothing to see Fremont defeated in the general election, men whose interests will be more preserved under a Buchanan presidency than one led by an anti-slavery westerner.”
He looked over in my direction.
“Our budding reporter here is taking a decidedly pro-Fremont stand in the Alta. Should these men I speak of learn that she is perhaps, as the daughter of a miner herself, planning to come out with an appeal for the miners of California to vote for Fremont, they would take such news very badly, and I would hate to see anything happen to Corrie as a result.”
“I am planning no such pro-Fremont story,” I said quickly. “I only wrote a story about his wife.”
“Ah, but don’t you see, Corrie,” replied Royce, “these men do not take kindly to any such favorable articles. And word could begin to spread that you intended to take a more affirmative stand, and—well, you can see how a man in my position would . . . be powerless to stop such a rumor.”
“Franklin, you are despicable!” said Almeda, practically shouting. “Are you now threatening Corrie with what is purely a false and—”
“Enough, Almeda!” Royce interrupted angrily. “I will do whatever I have to do! I have had people investigating you too, Almeda, as well as your husband and his daughter. If danger to your stepdaughter from the slavery people does not pound some sense into that stubborn brain of yours, then perhaps the people of Miracle Springs would like to read a little flyer that I might circulate just prior to the election concerning what I have recently discovered from my contact in Boston. You have an interesting past, Almeda!”
At the word Boston, Almeda’s face grew white. She spoke not another word, and sank into a chair as if she had been suddenly struck a devastating blow.
“Forgive me, Almeda,” said Royce. “I do not want to use the information I possess, either against you or your stepdaughter. I admit it is not the gentleman’s way. But you are a stubborn woman, and I will do what I have to!”
He spun around and quickly left the house.
Chapter 39
Meeting of the Committee
The rest of that night and all the next two days Almeda was practically silent. Not a word was said about Royce’s visit. Pa asked no questions. I guess he knew Almeda would tell him about it when the time was right. I didn’t say anything either. I figured it was her business to share, not mine.
On the evening of the second day, Almeda got the six of us together—Zack and I, Katie and Uncle Nick, and she and Pa—for what she called a campaign committee meeting. Then she told everyone else about Mr. Royce’s visit and that he’d promised to do some pretty bad things to a lot of people if she kept on with the election.
“I believe you men have an expression,” she said, trying to force a smile, “when you are playing poker and realize you can’t possibly win the pot. Well, I finally realize there is no way I am holding a winning hand, and it’s simply time for me to throw in my cards, as you say. So I’ve decided to pull out of the mayor’s race.”
A few groans went around, but then it got quiet again.
“I am very disappointed too,” she went on. “And I am convinced that Franklin Royce is more of a louse than when I began. But it just is not fair for me to continue. Too many people could be hurt. And it isn’t worth it just for my pride to try to defeat him.”
“But you can defeat him, Almeda,” insisted Katie.
“The price would be too high. Many of the miners and families around Miracle Springs could be hurt.”
“How?” asked Uncle Nick. “What can he do if you win?”
“He’s a banker, Nick,” she replied with a thin smile. “He can do whatever he wants. Specifically, he can make it very hard for folks whose mortgages he’s holding. He as much as threatened to begin foreclosures if I didn’t withdraw.” She told them what Royce had said.
“The man is a ruthless skunk!” muttered Pa.
“But it isn’t only the townspeople I’m concerned about,” Almeda went on. “He threatened all of you too.” She told about the questions he’d raised about ownership of the land, and about his threats to reopen Pa and Uncle Nick’s problems with the law.
By now Uncle Nick was pacing about the floor angrily.
“We can fight him!” he said, waving his hands in the air. “Me and Drum ain’t afraid of him. We been up against worse odds dozens of times!”
“He’s a powerful man, Nick,” said Almeda. “I’m not willing to run the risk of us losing our land here, or the mine. We’ve got a good life and I just can’t take that chance. And besides all that, he threatened Corrie as well.”
“He what?” Pa roared, his eyes flashing. “If he dares lay a hand on any of my—”
“Only on account of my writing, Pa,” I said quickly. “He’s not about to hurt me himself.”
“What can your writing have to do with it? What did he say?”
“I didn’t really understand it all myself, Pa,” I answered, “but he said there were rich and powerful slave-state men who were determined to see Mr. Fremont lose in Califor
nia, and who would do anything they could to stop him.”
“His implication was that something could happen to Corrie if she got in their way,” said Almeda seriously.
“What could Corrie possibly have to do with the outcome of the election?” asked Pa.
“After her article in the Alta about Mrs. Fremont, she could be seen as a Fremont supporter, especially if she wrote more such articles.”
“Then she doesn’t need to write any more.”
“That’s what I told him too, Pa,” I said.
“Franklin implied that he knew some of these men, and that if I didn’t do as he said, he would start a rumor to the effect that Corrie Hollister, a miner’s daughter, was planning a major story to try to persuade California’s miners to vote for Fremont. Even if it wasn’t true, if he did what he said, it could endanger Corrie . . . and every one of us. The man has no scruples, and I have no doubt that he would do it just to spite me.”
The room was quiet. I think any of us would have been willing to go up against Mr. Royce if the only danger was to himself. But when harm could come to so many others, no one was quite willing to take that chance.
“So you see,” Almeda said at last with a sigh, “why I just cannot continue on with the election. The risk to all of you whom I love, and to others in the community, is simply too great. I’m afraid I’m just going to have to go into town and face Franklin again. And as much as it galls me to have to give in, I’m going to have to tell him he’s won.”
She took a deep breath, looked around at the rest of us, then got up out of her chair and slowly walked outside and away from the house. No one followed. We all understood that she needed some time alone.
During the whole discussion she had not once mentioned Royce’s threats to her business, or what he said he had discovered about Boston. And after seeing the look on Almeda’s face just before Royce had left, I certainly wasn’t going to bring up the subject. Whatever it meant, it was clear there was a great deal of pain involved for her. Still, I couldn’t help wondering how much these words of Royce’s influenced her decision.
On the Trail of the Truth Page 22