Much Ado About Madams Read Online Free PDF Page B

be enough for fare back to St. Jo and a little extra for the fetid food along the way.
    Fannie sucked in her breath.
    The grandfather clock ticked. Lucinda waited, butterflies flitting in her stomach. She certainly didn’t want to stay here a month, but if Fannie didn’t take her up on her offer, she’d have a lot more difficulty getting the money to go back home.
    After several more ticks of the clock, Fannie said, “That’s a lot more money than a schoolmarm gets.”
    “ True, but the pupils are usually seven years old.”
    Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
    Lucinda grew even more uneasy at Fannie’s silence. The clock chimed eleven times.
    “ You got a deal.” Fannie spit in her palm and offered her hand to Lucinda, who reared back in horror. Slowly, Fannie lowered her hand to her side, brushing the spittle on a hankie tucked under the sash at her waist. “Sorry.”
    Lucinda nodded her acceptance. Fannie truly did look contrite. “I’ll go prepare lesson plans. We’ll start class tomorrow morning at eleven.”
    Lucinda climbed the stairs to her room and flopped onto her bed in a most unbecoming manner, but she didn’t care. What would Miss Hattie say if she knew Lucinda had agreed to teach six Cyprians and their cook to read, write, and sum? What a stupid thought, she chided herself. Miss Hattie would be horrified.
    Not only that, if anyone else found out, she’d probably never actually attain a real teaching position. Her former guardian, Rev. Hurndall, would probably be smugly indignant that the “Daughter of Satan” had found herself stranded in a whorehouse hundreds of miles from civilization. He’d think it was her destiny.
    The isolation of Dickshooter comforted her some. Likely, no one would ever discover her true plight. If they did, well, she didn’t want to think about that. Of course, how many women were presented the chance to make a real difference in the lives of the downtrodden?
    She bounced to her feet and smiled. “I can help these women!” She opened the trunk containing school supplies and proceeded to establish a lesson plan—a plan that could free these prostitutes from bondage. A plan that would be used to reform soiled doves all over the country. Yes, the suffragists would understand.
    She had a cause!
    * * * * *
    Reese escaped from the ladies’ tittering to give Buster a good brushing.
    “ Over here, Reese,” Gus hollered. “Help me out a minute.”
    “ Looks like you’ve made some progress for all that noise you’re making.” Reese headed to the side of the Comfort Palace to what would be his new bedroom. “Whatcha need?”
    “ I don’t figure my hammering will bother the whores much, what with you bringing them a whole trunk full of pretties.” Gus pointed to a pile of planks. “It’ll go a lot faster if you hold these while I nail ‘em to the studs.”
    “ Buster won’t mind waiting, I suppose.” He hefted one plank to the wall frame. “When do you think you’ll have my room done?”
    “ Depends on what you call done.” He loaded his mouth with six-penny nails and pounded one in each top corner of the plank. “You can let go, now.” He hammered nails to the middle and bottom of each side.
    “ Walled in and the roof on is what I call done—enough so I can throw my bedroll on the floor and sleep without smelling horse biscuits.”
    “ Aw, probably a few days yet, depending on supplies.” Gus bit off a chew of tobacco and sat on a stump. “Need nails unless I can find some more, else I’ll run out in about an hour or so. You got any stashed somewhere?”
    “ Nope.” Reese estimated the coverage in the board pile. “At least we have plenty of lumber.”
    “ Yep, but not enough to build this room and the bunkhouse out at the ranch, too.”
    “ Some ranch. I have land, but only a few cows, no well, and no buildings. I’d hoped to have the damned thing running by now, but it’ll just have to wait until next spring.”
    “ The twins are faunching at the bit