Read Ride the River (1983) for Free Online Page A

slammed the door.
    "Thank you," I said.
    "So that is James White?" Mr. Prescott said. "I have heard of him. If you wish, I could arrange the time to accompany you?"
    "No, thanks. Mr. Chantry will be there."
    We talked a few minutes and they left, going to their rooms. For a few minutes I just stood there staring down at where all that gold had been.
    Had I been a fool? Just think! Tomorrow morning I could have been on a stage starting for home again. Now how long would it be? And would I get any money at all? What the law said, I had no idea, and maybe there were ways he could keep it, and I would have to return with empty pockets.
    That night, lying in bed, I worried myself to sleep. Mr. Chantry was an old man and he looked frail for all that he was tall and moved well. Suppose there was violence? Where I came from in the mountains, there was often bloodshed over such things, and I did not know how it would be in Philadelphia. When I got up in the morning, I would check my pistol.
    Mr. White was stocky, and although a mite thick in the middle, he looked strong. And there was that man who followed me. I should have told Mr. Chantry about him.
    When morning came, and when I had my breakfast, I sat waiting in the sitting room. I was wearing a poke bonnet and a long full skirt trimmed with bows of ribbon and a shawl around my shoulders. My knitting bag was on my lap and my pick was inside my skirt in its scabbard and ready to hand. A girl can't be too careful.
    Mr. Butts came in, picking his teeth with an ivory toothpick. He glanced at me irritably. "I am surprised," he said. "You should have taken the money he brought. Five hundred dollars? It's more than I earn in a year! Preposterous!"
    "I think she did the right thing, Mr. Butts," Mrs. Sulky said. "Why would he come over here at night to get her to sign those papers? They had an appointment for today."
    "She will wind up with nothing, nothing at all!"
    There was a tap at the door, and when Amy Sulky opened it, Finian Chantry was there, a tall, elegant old man in a gray frock coat and trousers of a lighter gray.
    "Mrs. Sulky? Mr. Chantry."
    "How do you do?"
    "Mr. Chantry?" Mr. Butts thrust himself forward. "I am Ephraim Butts, and I have been hoping to have a chance to speak to you - "
    "Another time, Mr. Butts. Miss Sackett and I have business to discuss." He stepped back to allow me to precede him. "Miss Sackett?"
    When we were seated in his carriage, I said, "I don't like that man."
    "Do not let yourself be bothered by the inconsequential. One has only so much time in this world, so devote it to the work and the people most important to you, to those you love and things that matter. One can waste half a lifetime with people one doesn't really like, or doing things when one would be better off somewhere else."
    As we rode along over the brick-paved streets, I told him about James White coming to the boardinghouse with the five hundred dollars.
    "You did the right thing, Echo," he said. "There is much more involved."
    He stepped down from the carriage at Mr. White's office and shifted his cane to the other hand to help me down. "That's a beautiful cane," I said. "My father had one like it."
    "Yes, I shouldn't wonder. Inherited from your grandfather, perhaps?"
    "Yes, I believe it was, although Pa never had much use for it. He was always a strong walker."
    "Of course." He held the cane up. "It is just a little something I like to have with me. It has become a habit, I am afraid."
    The tall, dirty-looking young man stood up quickly when he saw Mr. Chantry. "Yes, sir!"
    "Mr. White, if you please. Miss Sackett and Finian Chantry to see him."
    "Yes, sir. Right away, sir."
    White sat hunched behind his desk when we entered. He stood up grudgingly. "Mr. Chantry? What can I do for you, sir?"
    "You can pay Miss Sackett three thousand, three hundred and twenty-five dollars. This is, I believe, the sum due her from the estate of Barnabas O'Hara, deceased."
    "Now, see here! I - "
    "Mr.