The Western Justice Trilogy

by Gilbert, Morris

  Sabrina sought vainly for something to say that might change Marianne’s mind. She was a little bit surprised, for she had always been able to guide Marianne’s thinking, for the younger woman was easily led, but now there was a strength in her and a manner of decision. Sabrina saw there a new strong and self-assertive pride.

  “I’m sorry you don’t like him, but I don’t care why. I’m going to keep seeing him. Besides, you’ve never met him.”

  “Well, I’ll meet him soon enough, I guess. I do hope you have a good time tonight.”

  “Thank you, Sabrina. I’m sure you’ll change your mind about Gerald once you do meet him.” Marianne left the room.

  Sabrina suddenly sat down. She was discouraged and not at all happy with the way she had handled the situation. She took a deep breath, released it, and sighed. “Somebody needs to be able to talk to that girl. She doesn’t know what in the world she’s getting into.”

  “I don’t think this man playing Hamlet is much of an actor.”

  Marianne looked up at her father, surprised. “Why, you don’t ever go to the theater, Father.”

  “No, but I listen to people. They say his father was a great actor, but the rest of his family are second rate.”

  “But he’s so handsome. I saw him in Julius Caesar.”

  “Yes,” Caroline said, “but that’s not everything.”

  “I wish you’d go with us to the theater.”

  “I’m not going to see any play. I don’t want to,” Charles said. “And I wish you wouldn’t go. I’m disturbed about this man you’re seeing. We don’t know anything about him.”

  “But I do,” Marianne said. “He’s a fine man. He’s got a big ranch out in the west part of the country. He’s built it up to where it’s hundreds, maybe even thousands, of acres.”

  “Well, why don’t you invite him to dinner one night so we can get to meet him?” Caroline said.

  “He’s been very busy, but I’ll ask him.”

  After Sabrina came home that evening, Dulcie told her about Marianne’s going to the theater.

  “I heard you went down to the river with Caesar. You need to be more careful, Dulcie. You know what a bad man he is.”

  “He ain’t bad. He’s just a man.”

  “Well, you don’t let him take any liberties.”

  “I reckon I know how to take care of myself. You don’t need to give me no sermons.”

  Frank Morgan, at the age of twenty-eight, was a trim young man almost six feet tall and athletic. He had fair hair and dark blue eyes and had worked for Charles Warren for a long time. He had become an indispensable man at the factory.

  Charles sat back and listened as Frank went over a new method he had discovered that would make them money. “You could sell this for a lot of money to U.S. Steel, Frank.”

  Frank shook his head. “I don’t work for U.S. Steel, sir. I work for you.”

  “Well, you deserve something for your work. I’d like to make it right with you.”

  “No need of that, Mr. Warren.”

  “It’s a business, and I insist on paying you outright or making you a stockholder.”

  Instantly young Morgan’s eyes lit up. “I’d like that very much, sir, to be a stockholder.”

  “Fine.” The office was quiet now for it was after office hours and all the help had gone. Charles Warren studied the young man and thought, I’ve done at least one thing right. “You know, Frank, I started this company with a son in mind to take over when I’m gone, but I have no son and never will now. As a matter of fact, Frank, you’re closer to being my son than I had ever thought anyone could be.”

  “Well, I’m glad you feel that way, sir.” Frank nodded. “I’ve never been able to thank you for all you’ve done for me.”

  As a matter of fact, Charles had practically raised young Morgan. He was the son of Charles’s second cousin, and when both of his parents died of cholera, Charles took him into his own family. He sent him to college, and now one of the chief prides of his life was the way Frank Morgan had turned out. He looked out the window at the buildings of the factory, took a pride in it, then said, turning back to face the young man, “I worry about my family, Frank. If I were killed, nobody would know about the business. That’s why I decided to make you executor of my estate.”

  “Why sir, I never thought of such a thing.” Frank was genuinely surprised.

  “Well, one of my friends died. His money was all used poorly. I know you’ve got a solid head for business and you’ll take care of my wife and my daughters. You know, my wife and I had always hoped you and Marianne would make a match of it.”

  Suddenly Frank flushed. He had a fair complexion and hated it when a flush revealed his true deeper feelings. “Well, that’s what I’d like, but I’m not the kind of man she wants.”

  “Why not? You’re not bad looking. You’re smart. You know the business. You’ve got a good future. Why don’t you just go ask her, Frank?”

  “I wish I could, but Marianne is interested in a more romantic fellow than I could ever be.”

  Warren got up, walked around, and put his hand on Frank’s shoulder. He said quietly, “I’m sorry, son, but she may change her mind.”

  “I don’t think so.” Morgan smiled at Charles, turned, and left the office.

  After he left, Warren stood there thinking of how a man’s plans for his life seldom worked out.

  Dulcie knew Sabrina was leaving early but was pleased she came in to see how Dulcie and Marianne were getting along with the new dress. It was a beautiful satin gown of a china blue color that matched Marianne’s eyes.

  “I look awful,” Marianne said.

  “No, you don’t,” Dulcie insisted. “You looks fine. Just fine.”

  Sabrina agreed. “Yes, it’s a beautiful dress. I picked it out myself. Now, you sit down and let Dulcie fix your hair. I have to leave, but before I go, I thought you’d like to wear some of my jewelry. Here’s this sapphire necklace and earrings that match.” She put the earrings in then put the necklace around her sister’s neck and said, “Now you truly look wonderful.”

  Marianne touched them and smiled gratefully. “Can I have some of the perfume that Lane gave you that he bought in Paris?”

  “Of course you can. You know where it is.”

  As Marianne left the room, Dulcie said, “I wish you wouldn’t run off. That girl needs somebody to look after her.”

  “Well, she’s got you. You try to boss everybody on the place.”

  “He may be fine-looking, but he’s a man.”

  Sabrina left, headed for the horse race in which she had a mount that she thought would win.

  Dulcie went back and watched as Marianne eagerly applied the perfume behind her ears and in other strategic locations. “Don’t you let that man take no liberty with you, Miss Marianne.”

  “He wouldn’t.”

  “Yes, he would. He’s a man, ain’t he? I’m going to pray that you come home as sweet and innocent as you leave here.”

  “Oh, you worry too much.” At that moment Clara, another servant, came and said, “Your gentleman friend is here, Miss Marianne.”

  Marianne got up and left the room, excitement aglow in her face.

  Dulcie shook her head. “I just hope that man is decent.”

  Clara stared at her. “Seems to be. Just for the night, ain’t it?”

  “That’s all it takes—-one night.”

  Marianne had enjoyed the drama tremendously. Her father would not let her go to many plays, and she had been conscious of Gerald’s arm pressing against her. They left the theater, and he took her to have a light meal then drove her home.

  He got out of the carriage, and she waited, knowing that he would come around and help her down. He has such fine manners, she thought.

  When he took her hand as she stepped down, he didn’t release it but held it for a moment. “You’ve given me great pleasure tonight, Marianne.”

  “It’s been wonderful.”

  Suddenly
something changed in Gerald’s face, and Marianne, though inexperienced, knew that he was going to kiss her. She had thought long and hard about how she would handle such a situation, but she had no choice. She had nothing to do but surrender. Whatever plan she had left her, for she felt the lean strength of his body, and he was smiling in a way she had never seen in a man’s eyes. She breathed more quickly, and as the moonlight highlighted his face, he pulled her closer and then lowered his head and kissed her.

  Marianne knew nothing of actual passion, but she learned it at just that moment. The full growth of woman came into being at that time, and she knew that she cared for this man in a way she had never felt for any other man. She felt fragile in his embrace, but he was not rough.

  When he lifted his head, he said huskily, “You’re sweet, Marianne. I’ve never known a sweeter young woman in all my life.”

  The kiss had been an experiment. She discovered she had the power to stir this man and found herself feeling a wave of emotion she had not anticipated. She put her hand on his chest and stepped back.

  He smiled at her. “I shouldn’t have done that,” he whispered.

  “It’s all right.”

  “I ask your pardon, yet the fault was not entirely mine.”

  She knew that this was absolutely true, and when she turned to go into the house, she knew she would not forget that kiss for a long time.

  CHAPTER 9

  “I really don’t think you should be running off on a shopping trip, Sabrina.” Caroline Warren had come up to Sabrina’s room and had at once begun speaking about her proposed trip to New Orleans. “It’s just not a good time for you to go.”

  Sabrina, as usual, was headstrong and merely smiled, then came over and patted her mother on the shoulder. “Mother, I’ve planned this trip for weeks now, and I have friends who will be expecting me there. I really have to go.”

  “But at such a hard time. Neither your father nor I know what to do about this man that Marianne’s been seeing.”

  Frank Morgan had come in to stand beside Caroline, and he added his plea to hers. “I really don’t think you should go, Sabrina. Ordinarily it would be all right, but this is different.”

  “Oh, Frank, you and Mother, and Father, too, are just worried too much. Marianne will be all right. I’ll only be gone for a few days. Maybe two weeks. And then when I come home, I’ll meet that man and decide what he’s like.”

  “Every day your sister falls more in love with him,” Frank said quietly. “You really ought to show more consideration.”

  The remark touched off Sabrina’s temper. “I think I am better aware than you of what my sister is, Frank. I know you mean well, but this is just not possible. I’ll come back, and it’ll take me a few days, but I’ll get Marianne to see her foolishness.”

  “She’s never been this serious about a man,” Caroline said. Her hands were unsteady as she reached up and pushed her hair away from her forehead. “I’ve never seen her like this.”

  “He’s romantic from what I hear. That’s what she’s always been looking for. She reads too many of those romance novels,” Sabrina said then added, “She just needs to wake up.”

  Frank shook his head and for once dared to cross Sabrina. “She’s not like you, Sabrina,” he said quietly, but there was a steadiness in his voice that was unusual.

  The argument went on for some time, but in the end Frank and Caroline left, and Dulcie entered. “You ought to listen to your momma. She knows what she’s talkin’ about, and Mr. Frank, he knows, too.”

  “Dulcie, I’m not going to argue with you. I’m going on this trip, and you’re going with me.”

  Dulcie was sullen for a while; then as she continued to help Sabrina pack, she said, “You always think you can fix things.”

  “Well, it’s true. I can fix things. All it takes is a lot of determination. Nobody’s really showed any of that with Marianne.”

  “I don’t know how you think you’d do anything about it. You ain’t been listenin’ to her. She’s really gone on this man. We don’t know nothin’ about him. None of the family does.”

  “Well, when I get back I’ll handle it.”

  “How you gonna do that?”

  Sabrina threw a petticoat into the trunk that was already packed then turned to say, “I’ll meet this man and decide about him. If I don’t like him, I’ll hire a private detective to find out what kind of a man he is. Now help me get the rest of this stuff packed. We’ve got to be on that steamboat by two o’clock today.”

  Marianne had met Gerald for lunch, and after he watched her carefully, he said, “You’ve got something on your mind, Marianne. What is it?”

  “I was wondering if you would come and have dinner with us tonight.”

  Gerald smiled. He had a good smile, broad, and humor sparkled in his eyes. “I guess your parents want to see what kind of a man you’ve been running around with. I’ve been wondering when this would come up.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t tease me, Gerald. I’ve never been as serious about a man as I’ve come to feel about you.”

  “I didn’t think your family would let you.”

  Marianne’s eyes blinked; then she nodded slowly, realizing the remark was true. “They’ve always been very protective of me. Very careful about what I do and who I see.”

  Gerald leaned back in his chair, sipping his tea. “Not like that sister of yours, are you?”

  “No, she’s very strong.”

  Gerald set the cup down and stared at the young woman. He was quiet for one moment; then he turned his head to one side and said, “What if you had to choose between the man you loved and your family? Would you go against their will?”

  Marianne was troubled by the question. She looked down for a time and said, “I just don’t know, Gerald.”

  Leaning forward, he took her hand and held it. “If you love a man, Marianne, you give him everything. Just as he’d give you everything he had in him.”

  “That’s sweet, Gerald. That’s what I’ve always thought.”

  “One thing you have to understand, Marianne. I’m not a rich man. Not like your father. You’d have a comfortable life here if you choose to stay. You’ll find some man, and your father will give you more than I ever could.”

  Marianne suddenly smiled. “I don’t care about that.”

  “It’s hard living out West. Not like living in a big city. You can’t run down to the store every morning to get a pound of butter.”

  “It’d be like at pioneer times. I’ve read so many stories by James Fenimore Cooper about how difficult the pioneer life was. It would be like that, I think.”

  “Well, it’s pretty rough all right. As for tonight, I’ll be glad to come to dinner. This may be the last time we meet together. I fully expect your father to see me as a greedy man after his money through his daughter.”

  “They’ll love you after they get to know you, Gerald.”

  Gerald Robbins had come to dinner dressed in the latest of fashion. Caroline Warren saw there was a roughness about him, but he was also able to put on a fine manner and was pleasant. Her husband had probed carefully around, trying to find what kind of man he was, but had not been very successful.

  Charles now asked their guest, “I understand you are in the cattle business.”

  “Yes, Mr. Warren, that’s about all I know. I’ve done well at it.” He took a bite of the steak on his fork, chewed it, then said, “Of course I haven’t done as well as you have. It’s hard to make a fortune in the cattle business unless you’re someone like the King Ranch with unlimited space and money to go into it.”

  “Where do you sell your cattle?”

  “Well, now that the railroad is in, we just take them down to the stockyard. Some of them get shipped to Chicago. I would imagine some even come here. We try to grow the finest cattle in the world.”

  “I imagine that’s a lot of hard work, isn’t it, Mr. Robbins?” Caroline said. She had been impressed by Gerald Robbins’s manners, and
for some reason had been expecting less.

  “Yes ma’am, it is a lot of hard work, but I’ve got a good crew. They’ve been with me a long time, so we make out very well.”

  “Is your ranch very far from town?”

  “It’s not around the corner, but of course we have plenty of good horses and carriages. No trouble to go once we make up our mind.”

  “I imagine it’s pretty lonely out there, isn’t it?” Mr. Warren said.

  “Well, you know, you get used to that and you get to where you even like it. As a matter of fact, I get to feeling all crowded in when I’m in a big city like this one. From the ranch you can look over to the west and see the peaks of the mountains. Beautiful mountains. I go there for a hunting expedition once in a while. Plenty of deer and any other kind of game you like to shoot, but then out on the flatlands that’s right pretty, too. In the springtime the wildflowers make a riot of color. Very beautiful. The country gets to you.”

  Marianne had said little. “Oh, that sounds so beautiful. Just like I read about in the books.”

  The dinner went on for some time, and then they adjourned to the drawing room for coffee and more talk. Finally Robbins took his leave.

  After he left, Marianne came to them at once, her eyes sparkling. “Isn’t he a handsome man, Mother?”

  “Very attractive.”

  “But he’s talking about a hard life that you’ve never had.” Marianne’s father sought for the words. Caroline knew he felt deep in his soul that something was wrong here, and finally he said, “I don’t believe you ought to see him, Marianne. You’re infatuated with him.”

  “I am not. I actually care for him.”

  That was the beginning of the closest thing to a quarrel that Marianne Warren had ever had with her father. Caroline and Charles were determined that she should stop seeing Robbins, and she was equally set on seeing him even more. Marianne finally left the room in tears.