Chapter 36

Surprisingly it was a fairly quiet few days. It gave Tom time to prepare for Friday. Friday morning Tom was sitting in his new carriage with Peter and another man. Ben was riding his own horse. Promptly at Ten O'clock they pulled up to the Washington Bank.

Tom went in alone to complete the sale. Mr. Snelling appeared to be in a good mood once again, and Tom was pleased. The deed was ready and Tom looked everything over carefully. Tom requested a separate bill of sale for the rest of the contents. Mr. Snelling seemed put out but Tom quickly pointed out that it was part of the sale, but not covered in the deed. Mr. Snelling complied, Tom smiled.

Tom asked that Mr. Snelling accompany him to the property, to insure that all was as it should be. Mr. Snelling agreed to meet Tom there in half an hour. Tom smiled and shook his hand before quietly leaving the bank.

They had been waiting for fifteen minutes when they saw Mr. Snelling's carriage coming up the front drive. He seemed confused when he looked at the small group.

Once out of his carriage Tom made the introductions, "Mr. Snelling, allow me to introduce Peter Blane, a carpenter that works with me. And this man is Mr. Hooper, he works for the state."

Mr. Snelling frowned, "I know Mr. Hooper, but what is he doing here?"

Tom Smiled, "He was sent with us for the day. I went to see Mr. Fitzgerald at the state about the contents of the house. He explained that the state was not responsible for the contents of the house. The contents of the house had been guaranteed by the bank, under contract. So, Mr. Hooper was sent to assist us and to protect the state's interest. Since he was the man that inventoried the house and compiled this fine list of all of the assets, I thought that he would be the perfect man for the job." Tom smiled at the stricken man. He wondered if he would drop over of heart failure.

"You can't hold the bank responsible, not after all this time. Anything could have happened, and I sold it 'as-is' there is a clause in the agreement with the deed that specifically removes all responsibility of anything missing or damaged." Mr. Snelling was full of righteous indignation.

Tom continued to smile as he said, "Yes Mr. Snelling, I noticed that clause. And I won't hold the bank responsible for anything missing or damaged on the property. But I also have a separate bill of sale for all of the items in the house. That bill of sale has no such clause, and the bank will be responsible for everything Mr. Hooper identifies as missing, or damaged." Tom waited for the news to register in the older man.

Tom watched as he huffed and puffed a few times, but he knew that the old banker would sooner or later come to the conclusion that he had been put over a barrel. Mr. Snelling did come to the same conclusion, and he realized that he had assumed that the young man was another in a long line of overconfident young men without the experience to spot a crafty businessman. He realized that he had been outmaneuvered by the young man, and wouldn't let himself be so easily manipulated in the future.

He grunted and accepted his position with all of the grace that a cornered animal would allow. Tom smiled and motioned to the two older gentlemen to lead the way, while he followed whispering instructions to Peter and Ben.

Tom met the house staff. They were surprised to learn that Tom was the new owner, but quickly came to terms with the situation.

Willard the butler was a very rigid person. He stood stiffly dressed in his uniform. There was not a speck of dust anywhere that Tom could see. His white shirt was starched so heavily that there wasn't even a crease. He stood looking at the assembled men with the confident air of a general looking over his troops. His thinning hair was swept back and neatly in place. His bold brown eyes took a measure of each of them. He never smiled, but stood as still at a statue.

Rebecca was the maid. She was a young woman that had her blond hair swept back into a tight bun at the back of her head. She also wore her uniform proudly, but where Willard looked as though he had just put it on, Rebecca's uniform showed the wrinkles of her hard work and dust at the hem of her long dress. Her blue eyes danced as she looked the powerful men over. Tom wondered what she was really seeing as she looked at them.

Molly the cook stood out in her own way by the apron tied around her widening middle. She had fiery red hair with a few wisps of gray sneaking into the red. She was definitely middle-aged and had started to spread in the way that many women do when they slowdown in life. Her green eyes still held the fire in them as she looked at each of the men.

Willard bowed formally and with a stiff accent, equal to his stiff uniform, "Master Thomas, it is good to meet you. I am sure that you will feel at home quickly here."

Tom smiled at the man as he thrust out his hand to be shaken. "Will, just call me Tom. I feel more comfortable when people are relaxed around me."

Tom watched as Willard slowly straightened back up and looked at his hand, but made no move to shake it. "Ah, yes sir. The name is Willard, Master Tom." With that Willard casually moved back to let Tom meet the women. Tom grinned and shook his head. He could tell that Willard was going to be an interesting person.

Rebecca was the next to step forward, "Just Becky for me sir. I'm not a fancy person and I don't hold with a lot of airs. Will you be getting me some help sir? This house is terribly big for just one maid. I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean to start complaining the first thing. But I'm sure you know what I mean, sir."

Tom smiled at the frustrated young woman, "Relax Becky, I am sure that you have done your best here, and we will see what can be done about getting you some help. Maybe you know someone that you would like to work with, that may be looking for a job?" Tom noticed the smile on Becky's face as she nodded her head. She quickly stepped back in line with the others.

Molly stepped forward and curtsied as she bowed her head, "Tis a pleasure to meet you I'm thinking."

Tom looked at her closely and wondered what she was really like. "There will be eight of us for dinner, Molly. If you need anything please feel free to let me know so that it can be taken care of."

Molly was quick to continue, "Sir, the pantry is rather bare at the moment, and the larder isn't any better. We can't possibly handle eight for dinner."

Tom smiled, "How much will it take to stock the pantry and larder as well as she smokehouse?"

Molly smiled sweetly as she said, "Well sir, Tis an awful shape we are in, nary a thing to eat in the whole house. I'm thinking I can stock us up proper for about thirty dollars." Tom noticed the others gasp at the amount, but Molly didn't bat an eyelash.

Tom watched Mr. Hooper take out a ledger and move off through the house, followed closely by Mr. Snelling.

Tom reached into his waistcoat pocket and removed a gold square. "Here is fifty dollars. I expect to see receipts for everything that you buy."

He noticed Molly bristle, "Are you saying that you don't trust me?" She huffed with defiance in her fiery eyes.

Tom smiled at her, "No, I'm saying that I want an accurate accounting of the money. I will check the receipts and if I ever find that you have cheated me, I will make you wish to your last breath that you didn't." As Tom spoke his voice continued to drop as he got closer to Molly, until he finished with his face almost in her face, and only she could hear what he said.

Molly immediately jumped back with big eyes, "Yes sir, tis an understanding that we have. I'll have Willard drive me into town and be back quick as anything, we will."

Tom watched the house staff scurry to the back of the house. He turned to Ben, "Watch them." Then turning to Peter he said, "Find out how much work that you will have, and be sure to check everything. I don't want any surprises later." Peter nodded his head and quickly moved off to begin his examination of the house. Tom left to catch up with the two men and the inventory.

Tom wasn't surprised to find that there were things missing. Even though most of the things were small and unimportant, there was the matter of the silverware; as in the case of pure silver. Mr. Hooper valued it in excess of three hundred dollars. Mr. Snelling was outraged and made plenty of noise about the whole thing.

Tom motioned Mr. Snelling aside. "Mr. Snelling, if you will agree to wait for a week I might be able to recover some of the things. Recovering anything will lessen the bank's responsibilities, so you don't really have anything to lose. And who knows what might happen?" After quick consideration Mr. Snelling agreed.

Mr. Hooper provided a complete list of what he found missing and damaged, shook hands and promptly asked for a ride back into town. Tom was about to have Peter drive him back when Mr. Snelling offered to let Mr. Hooper ride back with him. He quickly agreed and the two men left.

Tom called the staff together. After putting the list on the table Tom spoke slowly and clearly with plenty of eye contact. "This is the list of the missing items. You have four days to return them with no questions asked. After that the bank will have you charged with theft. If you can't return the items you had better be so far away in four days that 'wanted posters' can't even find you."

With that Tom turned and headed for the door, with Ben and Peter close behind.

The rest of the group at the hotel was excited to be leaving. They had spent enough time there that it no longer had the appeal that it did those first days. They all wanted to be at the house for their own reasons. John and Ben wanted someplace that they considered it easier to maintain Tom's security. Peter wanted to start in on the repairs, and Robert and Luke wanted someplace that they didn't have to sleep in the loft watching the gold. The girls want to stake their claim on their master's house. Lastly Tom wanted to get to work. He felt that he was failing his people if he wasn't actively working to do them some good.

They all packed quickly and were ready to leave shortly after Tom returned. They were excited and talking during the trip to the house. When the others saw it for the first time there was silence. Each person had their own thoughts. Robert and Luke stared with open disbelief and the girls suddenly started in rapid-fire Chinese to each other. Tom couldn't imagine what they were saying, but it wasn't important to him. They would learn to adapt.

Peter had a quiet conversation with Tom. He had found that the servants had not been allowed in the small library. It was where old Mr. Wheeler had managed his personal business there. The only key had been turned over to Mr. Snelling, who kept important papers for the house in the desk the old man had used. Peter noted the covering of dust throughout the whole room when he made his inspection of the house. He also noticed that there was a closet and a small storeroom connected to the library.

Peter suggested that the storeroom was the best place to keep the gold. He suggested that they move it after dark, through the window of the library. After they had it safely moved he would work to make sure that it would be protected. Tom nodded his agreement, and was curious what Peter had in mind.

When they arrived Tom introduced everybody to the house staff. Willard greeted everybody in his own warm manor. Each person received a polite bow as he repeated each name. Becky curtsied to each of them and giggled a lot. Molly held her tongue while the men were introduced, but turned and stomped off before Tom could introduce the girls. He suspected that there was trouble brewing in the future, and wondered if the girls could cook as well as they claimed.

Dinner was not elaborate, but it was good and there was plenty of it. After dinner Tom called Molly and asked for the receipts and the change. She bristled again but quickly left to follow instructions. It was almost fifteen minutes later that Molly returned. She placed the small stack of receipts and money on the table without waiting for Tom to say anything.

Tom looked things over and saw a couple of things that he didn't like the looks of. The green grocer had some terribly high prices on things, and he decided that the man needed to be talked to. Tom handed the bill to John and pointed out the items in question. John and Ben had learned to read and write, but Tom would not call them proficient at either. They could get by as long as they had the time to work it out.

Tom thought that it was a shame since the other warriors were very proficient. Little Mule had taught all of them that wanted to learn how to read and write. Their jobs working with Black Otter and Running Deer didn't require them to read or write, but if they wanted to have access to the books that Tom had given the men, then they had to learn to read. He smiled to himself, it had been a ploy to get the older men interested in reading and writing and it had turned out much better than he had ever dreamed.

Tom was happy to admit that all of the Cheyenne people that had moved to the valley had taken to the white man's work and was doing very well. Carpenters, farmers, smiths and ranchers were the major jobs, but there were so many more. Each of them was strong and proud of their accomplishments and they were insuring the continued existence of the others. Before he left Tom was able to see that there would be large amounts of grain and vegetables to be stored for the winter. They would have a good winter and with more land cleared they would be able to have even more for next winter. The plan was starting to come together, if he could just keep the white man out of their valley for a while longer.

It was well after midnight when the warriors backed the wagon up to the library window. Tom put the only light in the storeroom. He watched as box after box was passed through the window and stacked in the storeroom. With the small amount of gold that they had used on the trip, he couldn't imagine what he was going to do with so much gold, and hoped that he would never use all of it. After locking the window and doors they all went quietly back to their rooms.

After breakfast Tom took Luke with him into town. Peter took the wagon in to get his building supplies, and John and Ben went to visit the green grocer. Each person had their tasks to accomplish, and the ones that didn't Tom told them to help out the ones that did.

Tom and Luke went down to 14^th Street and Tom enrolled at the Columbian College. He thought thirty dollars was a little steep for tuition, but he didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. Even though Luke was surprised he expressed his own desire to attend some of the courses. After Tom thought about it he signed Luke up for the same government and political classes that he was taking. Luke wasn't happy about the selection as he had wanted metallurgical classes, but Tom reminded him what their real job was. He also promised that he could take the other classes later. Luke still wasn't happy, but he agreed.

After a leisurely lunch, in an almost empty restaurant, Tom and Luke returned to the house. Tom did not expect to walk into the bedlam that he found. He was no more in the door than the heard Molly screaming her way to him. When she got there she had her hands on her wide hips and had fire in her eyes. "I will na have it! I want those godless monkeys outta my house! Those two 'hores of yours took over two of ma' servants' rooms. I wan' them all out of this house!"

The cold hard look on Tom's face was nothing compared to the look in his eyes when he turned them on Molly. She flinched back when she saw his eyes. He saw the fear in her as she took a step back. His voice was low and cold and made Luke's hand instinctively drop to his gun, "If you don't like it bitch you can get the hell out. This is my house, not yours, and you will not tell me what to do in my own house. But we won't have to worry about that much longer. I sent two of my men to the green grocer to see just how much you tried to steal from me. When they tell me what they found out, I will be coming for my money. One way or the other, I will get it. Either in cash, or in flesh your debt will be settled." Molly took another step back before she turned and ran for the kitchen. Tom smiled, but his eyes still had the same hard glint.

As they were watching Molly run Tom noticed Robert coming to the greet them. One look at Tom and he turned to see the last of Molly's dress swish around the corner. He grinned at the sight. "I'm glad that you are back. Those two women of yours have kept me running almost constantly since you left."

Tom released the anger and allowed a true smile to settle on his face, "And just what have they and you been doing?"

Robert grinned, "You wouldn't believe it. Come look at this." Robert led them back to the large door and out into the circular paved drive. He pointed at the four Chinese men swinging scythes while two more raked the cut grass. Tom quickly looked and noticed that all of the grass on both sides of the drive between the road and the house was cut back to where the men were working. He hadn't noticed when he arrived.