Emma and the Outlaw

Chapter One Whitneyville, Idaho TerritoryApril 15, 1878The keening whine of the train whistle deepened Emma Chalmers' despair at the ending ofAnna Karenina,and she sniffled as she slammed the book closed. She then hastily dried her eyes with a wadded handkerchief trimmed in blue tatting and smoothed the skirts of her prim brown sateen dress.Grabbing up a new supply of posters she'd just had printed over at the newspaper office, Emma dashed for the door. The Whitneyville Lending Library was empty, and she didn't bother to lock up, since no one she knew would have stooped so low as to steal a book, and she'd collected only two cents in fines.She saw a slim figure reflected back to her as she passed the spotless windows of the general store. Emma quickened her steps, as it had been her experience that some of the conductors and stagecoach drivers would evade her if given the opportunity.As she passed the Yellow Belly Saloon, with its peeling paint and sagging porch, the smells of whiskey and sawdust and beer and sweat came out to wrap themselves around her like an insidious vine. Emma broke into a ladylike sprint, clutching her posters to her shapely bosom with one hand and keeping her skirts out of the dirt and tobacco juice on the sidewalk with the other. Her bright hair, pulled into a single thick plait, swung as she ran.The railroad yard was crowded with arriving and departing passengers. Most were human, but there were some pigs and horses and an occasional crate of squawking chickens.Emma picked her way through the throng as daintily as she could, and with a practiced eye sought out the conductor. A well-fed man with a ruddy complexion and thick white hair, he was half-hidden behind a shipment of canned meats bound for the general store.After clearing her throat, a sound barely discernible in the din, Emma approached. "Good afternoon, Mr. Lathrop," she said politely."Miss Emma," Mr. Lathrop answered with a nod of his bushy head. His blue eyes revealed both kindness and apprehension. "I'm afraid there's no news today. It just seems like nobody in this whole part of the country knows anything about your sisters."Even though she'd expected this answer -- after all, she'd gotten virtually the same one every week for nearly thirteen years -- Emma was stricken, for a moment, with the purest of sorrow. "If -- if you would just pass these bills out, as you go along -- "Mr. Lathrop accepted the stack of crisply printed placards and held one up, with great ceremony, for his pensive perusal. It read: REWARD! $500 CASH!For any information leadingto the location of MISS CAROLINE CHALMERS,dark of hair and eyes, orMISS LILY CHALMERS, fair, and having brown eyes.Please contact MISS EMMA CHALMERSIn care of the Whitneyville Lending LibraryWhitneyville, Idaho Territory "Perhaps I should have said 'thank you'," Emma fretted, bending around Mr. Lathrop's ample shoulder to read the bold print.The conductor smiled gently. "I figure it's plain enough that you'd be grateful for any help, Miss Emma."She sighed. "Sometimes it just seems hopeless. Sort of like the ending ofAnna Karenina.Have you read that book, Mr. Lathrop?"He looked bewildered. "Not so as I remember, Miss Emma. A man doesn't get much chance to read when he spends his days on the rails."Emma nodded soberly as she handed over the rest of the posters. "I suppose not. The noise would be powerfully distracting, I should think."It was Mr. Lathrop's solemn duty to see that pigs and people found their proper places aboard the train. Therefore, he left Emma, her posters in his arms, after favoring her with a little tip of his hat. Every Christmas, Emma remembered him with a pair of knitted socks and a box of walnut fudge, and she wondered now if that was proper recompense for a man who had tried so steadfastly to be hMiller, Linda Lael is the author of 'Emma and the Outlaw' with ISBN 9780671676377 and ISBN 0671676377.