The Spoils of Sin by Rebecca Tope Page B

had befallen them.’
    â€˜Our newspapers went crazy over that story. It already has the character of a legend.’
    â€˜Then Oregon will create its own legends,’ said Carola. ‘Beginning with the lovely Misses Francesca and Carlotta, who make every single man happy.’
    â€˜You check their marital status?’
    Carola laughed. ‘Not really. But this town is small. A married man would quickly find himself exposed and castigated if he were to enter our door. It takes little effort from us to ensure our customers are lonesome wanderers. Trappers, traders, adventurers, starved of the touch of warm skin.’ She stopped herself and waved a white hand airily. ‘And so forth,’ she concluded.
    â€˜And they show due appreciation, I trust. They do not find any cause for dissatisfaction?’
    â€˜Not one has objected to our charges. A few complain of the delay when we’re busy.’
    Marybelle scanned the room, with a little frown. ‘Little by way of entertainment,’ she judged. ‘You risk them fighting, without distraction. When their blood is up, it takes the merest spark to ignite them.’
    â€˜Hugo dislikes any hint of violence,’ said Fanny, reaching for the great dog and fondling his ears. ‘He is our policeman.’
    â€˜Curious how diverse two adjacent territories can be,’ Marybelle mused. ‘I should never have believed it before seeing with my own eyes.’
    Fanny had almost despaired of hearing what their visitor really wanted to say. There was a
But
hovering in the air, more and more faintly. The woman had offered all her favourable observations, along with a small crumb of personal history. Yet there was more – some kind of warning, it had seemed. It irritated Fanny like grit in her boot and yet she saw no way of shaking it out into the open.
    â€˜The town of Portland grows apace,’ said Marybelle suddenly. ‘With parlours and boarding houses and talk of yet another newspaper, it is set to overtake Oregon City, with the better riverside and docks. I stayed three days there, before moving on. Curious, the way humanity so rapidly establishes itself in the same familiar patterns. Ten years since, it had barely even a name. Now it promises to be the new Richmond – or perhaps I should say Philadelphia. A handsome city in the making, in any event.’
    â€˜We have not seen it,’ admitted Carola. ‘The only way is by river, and Fanny dislikes to travel on water.’
    Marybelle shook her head. ‘The world looks better when seen from water,’ she asserted. ‘And this is a land of rivers and falls, for the Lord’s sake.’
    â€˜No more than many another,’ Fanny argued. ‘After months of crossing an everlasting succession of rivers with oxen and wagons, they have somewhat lost their charm for me. I intend to keep my feet on dry land from this time on.’
    â€˜Now, young ladies, I must take myself off. I am glad to have met you.’ She pulled her mouth into a tight line, as if resisting a painful thought. ‘It has surprised me to hear the way you talk.’
    It seemed to Fanny that Carola wilfully misunderstood. ‘Fanny speaks with the tongue of the east, with a dash of the Old Irish from her people. And I am cursed with the strains of Charleston for the rest of my days, I fear.’
    â€˜I refer to your words, not the voice with which you utter them,’ Marybelle corrected. ‘Your confidence is so very admirable.’
    â€˜And even yet you cannot tell us the reason for your reservations,’ said Fanny with a burst of impatience. ‘I can see it on your face that you think us reckless in some way.’
    â€˜That is the truth. I cannot say the words. I have not the skill, nor the right. It is not for the likes of me to set you straight. It may not be the same for you.’ She raised herself from the cushions with an effort, putting one hand to the