The Law of a Fast Gun by Robert Vaughan

hear.
    The music filled the church and caressed the collectivesoul of the congregation. If they did not know of his talent and ability before now, it took but a few bars of music to convince even the most skeptical that they weren’t hearing a mere saloon piano player. They were listening to a concert pianist of great skill.
    Not one person in the congregation had read the story in the London Times , written by a British music critic, about Mason Hawke. But if they had, they would have agreed with every word:
    His music was something magical. The brilliant young American pianist managed, with his playing, to resurrect the genius of the composer so that, to the listening audience, Mason Hawke and Ludwig Beethoven were one and the same.
    They merely would have substituted the name Joseph Haydn for Ludwig Beethoven.
    Even before the music finished, the coffin was closed and those who could find a place to sit did so. Those who could not find seats stood along the walls on each side and at the rear of the church. Even the narthex was filled, and several more waited out front, ready to accompany the funeral cortege to the graveyard.
    Gideon McCall had come out of the study during the prelude, and sat quietly in his chair in the sacristy until the music ended. Then he stepped up to the pulpit, looking out over the congregation. A couple of people in the congregation coughed. At the rear of the church someone opened a window. Not until there was absolute quiet did Gideon begin to speak. His voice was richly timbered, and it resonated throughout the room. Every eye was turned toward him, every ear attuned.
    “I begin today with a reading from the Book of Matthew,” he said.
    He looked at the Bible on his pulpit and began to read:
    Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
    “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”
    Gideon looked up from the Bible. “Here endeth the lesson,” he said.
    “Thanks be to God,” the congregation responded.
    Gideon closed the Bible.
    “Cindy Carey was a harlot.”
    There were several gasps from the congregation, but Gideon held out his hand as if asking for a moment to explain.
    “Cindy was a harlot,” he repeated. “But do not believe that because she was a harlot she was abandoned by our Lord. In our reading, Jesus told us that a harlot who is good at heart will be welcome into the Kingdom of God. And those who knew Cindy have all attested to the fact that she was a woman with a good heart, truly, a child of God. Therefore we can rejoice with Cindy, because I can tell you with Biblical authority,” he held up the Bible, “that Cindy is in heaven today.
    “The hymn I have chosen today speaks eloquently of God’s grace for all sinners.”
    At a nod from Gideon, Hawke began playing the music that Tamara had selected for him. The congregation began to sing:
    There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
    Like the wideness of the sea…
    When Cracker, Tex, and Brandt rode into town with the next batch of cows for delivery, they passed by the church. The area in front of and immediately around the church was filled with wagons, buckboards, and tethered horses. The hearse was parked in front, back up against the steps. Theteam of horses was in black harness, and black bunting draped the windows of the hearse.
    In addition to the horses and vehicles, there were several men and women just outside the church, some of whom were standing by the open windows so they could hear the eulogy and the music from inside.
    There is welcome for the sinner
    And more grace for the good…
    “What’s goin’ on in there, you reckon?” Cracker asked. “Why are they havin’ church on a Friday morning?”
    “There’s a hearse,” Tex said. “That means it’s a