Into the Wilderness Read Online Free PDF Page B

party.
    "Welcome
to
Paradise
!" her brother called after
her, and his laughter followed her up the stair.
     

Chapter 3
     
    Nathaniel
watched
Elizabeth
leave the room with conflicting emotions. She was not at all what he had
anticipated.
    He
had expected her to be her father's daughter: oblivious and arrogant, with an
outer but fragile coating of friendly condescension. Instead, he had found her
to be alert and courteous, sensitive where her brother and father were
insensitive, and keenly curious. She had wanted to hear what he had to say; she
herself had things to say that surprised him. Nathaniel had expected a
well—educated young Englishwoman of property to be haughty and distant; he saw
little of that in her, either.
    Nathaniel
had expected a spinster who would sit in the corner by the fire reading and
doing needlework, who would leave her warm spot only to venture among those she
saw as less fortunate to bestow her gifts of learning and Christianity. There
were others like that in this country who had done considerable damage, and
Nathaniel had no patience with them. But he had not found her to be a missionary;
instead, he acknowledged, she was woman of considerable strength of character,
and admirable goals for herself rather than for others.
    Finally,
too honest with himself to avoid the issue, Nathaniel admitted with a grim
smile that he had expected the judge's spinster daughter to be thin and plain
and sour; that wasn't the case at all.
    Nathaniel
realized that he was staring at the door where
Elizabeth
had last stood and that her brother
was watching him. He let his face relax and met Julian's chilly blue glare with
complete equanimity. In the brother, at any rate, he had not been surprised;
Julian was everything that Nathaniel had feared he would be.
    Julian
turned to Nathaniel as if he had heard the progression of his thoughts.
"Listen," he said. "I am sorry about your shoulder. Must hurt
like the devil. But it was an accident, after all. Now, what are we going to do
about you?"
    The
judge looked up, still clearly disconcerted by
Elizabeth
's departure. "What do you
mean?"
    "What
do we owe this man for his ... inconvenience?" Julian asked his father.
"Is there some set price to pay him so that he can be on his way?"
    The
judge looked between his son and Nathaniel blankly and then his face cleared.
"Nathaniel of course. I mean to offer you employment; you are skilled with
numbers and you could keep my books for me, couldn't you? You would be well
recompensed. I couldn't offer you lodging in the house, however—"
    "I
had a monetary settlement in mind," said Julian. "That would seem to
be sufficient in this case, don't you think?"
    Hawkeye
had been following this exchange silently but now he spoke up. "You won't
get Nathaniel to sit inside over your books, Judge," he said with a grin.
"He must needs be out of doors. His mother managed to get his letters and
numbers into him, but he's not overfond of sitting down with 'em."
    Nathaniel
turned his attention to the judge.
    "I
won't keep your books, and I have a home of my own," he said.
    "But
if you feel there's something you owe me, there's something I'll ask of
you."
    The
judge nodded. "If it's in my power."
    "Good
Lord, Father," muttered Julian.
    Nathaniel
ignored Julian. "You can hire me to build the schoolhouse your daughter
wants," he said. "For a fair wage. I'll start tomorrow."
    "Tomorrow—"
the judge said, bewildered.
    "Even
you can't build a cabin in the middle of winter," Richard pointed out.
    "No,
but I can cut the logs and lay the foundation and the chimney. I’ll roll the
logs after the first thaw. I'll need to borrow a team, when it gets that far.
And I'll take half the wage up front."
    "That's
a very good offer, Judge," remarked Richard Todd."I would take him up
on it, otherwise you'll be dependent on Billy Kirby to build for you, and you
know what a poor job he'll make of it." Richard looked pointedly at the
crooked door sills and window