This Fierce Splendor

example of horse thieves to discourage the practice.” Silver tilted her head, listening. “I hear something. I think the trial is over and they will be coming soon. Put the cloth in your ears. Quickly.”

Elspeth gazed at her in disbelief at the childlike simplicity of the order. Silver actually expected her to stuff her ears so she wouldn’t hear the sounds of death, just close her eyes and pretend it wasn’t there. Elspeth suddenly swung her legs to the floor and stood up.

“No, you’ve been up once today,” Silver protested. “You’ll get dizzy; you know you will.”

Elspeth ignored her as she crossed to the window. She had expected the oak tree to appear different to her now that she knew its macabre purpose. But it was still stately, still beautiful to behold, and for some reason that made what was happening tonight all the more horrible.

The evening breeze was cool and pungently scented with pine and creosote. She took a deep breath, suddenly conscious of how many wonderful tactile pleasures there were in life. Was that poor man they were going to hang feeling this same breeze on his face, had he breathed in these lovely earth scents and felt a sense of desperation knowing he would soon feel neither its freshness nor its coolness?

She could hear something in the distance, the sounds Silver must have had heard. A deep rumble of voices interspersed with shouts and, dear God in heaven-laughter. “Can’t we stop it from happening?” she asked in a muffled voice.

“No, the Russian is guilty. He must be punished.”

“But it’s-” Elspeth stopped, froze, her fingers clenching on the material or the curtain. “Russian?”

“The man who stole the horse is a Russian. His name is Andre Marzo-something.” Silver shrugged. “I forget the rest.”

“Marzonoff. Andre Marzonoff,” Elspeth said numbly. Plump, eager Andre, who had been so desperate to gain the acceptance of these people was now going to be murdered by them? “No!” The cry was torn from her and she whirled to face Silver. “No, he didn’t understand. They mustn’t hang him. We’ve got to stop it.”

Silver was startled. “You know the Russian?”

“Of course I know him. He’s no criminal. He wanted only to be like them. He wanted them to admire him. Don’t you see? He probably thought that stealing a horse would make him some kind of a hero in their eyes. He couldn’t know.”

The voices were coming closer and Elspeth felt panic grip her. “We have to explain to them. We mustn’t let them hang an innocent man.”

“He is not innocent. He stole the horse.”

“But I’d wager anything I have that he had no idea what it meant. He undoubtedly thought that taking a horse would make him dashing and brave and…” Tears were glittering in her eyes, and she could scarcely speak. “He came all the way from his own country to find something that he couldn’t find at home and now he’s to die?”

Silver was suddenly beside her, trying to draw her away from the window. “You must not get upset, it is not good for you. I would not have told you the man’s name if I had known you were friends.”

“So I could stuff my ears and close my eyes and not know a man was out there dying?” Elspeth shook off Silver’s grip and stepped back. “We have to explain to them that they’ve made a mistake.”

Silver shook her head. “You do not reason with a lynch mob. They are like wolves when the smell of blood is in the air.”

“I’ve got to try.”

“Go back to bed,” Silver said soothingly. “I will find Dominic. He may be able to save him. At least, the men of the town fear him enough to listen.”

“I won’t go to bed.” Elspeth suddenly saw the gleam of a torch as several men rounded the corner. The deep rumble of voices was closer. Much closer now. “Hurry,” she whispered desperately. “Do you know where Dominic is?”

“He went to Rina’s.” Silver was already running for the door. “Stay away from that window until I get back. Do you hear me? Stay away from the window.”

Then she was gone.

Stay away from the window. Silver’s last warning had ominous overtones. Stay away because she might see something that would horrify her? Stay away because Dominic might not get there in time? Rina’s place was on the other side of town, at least ten minutes’ fast walk from the hotel and that meant another ten minutes on the return even if Silver found Dominic right away. If she could find him at all. He had to be in one of those bedrooms on the second floor with Rina or one of her ladies. Why else would he go there tonight? All cats are gray in the dark. The phrase fragmented, then exploded in her mind as she caught sight of Andre Marzonoff in the middle of the crowd in the street below.

He was the only man mounted on a horse, his hands tied behind his back. She noticed with aching sympathy that he was dressed in the gray waist-length jacket and black string tie he had affected since he had met Dominic. The street was jammed with miners, cowboys, and merchants. There were even a few women dressed in the gaudy satins that identified them as barmaids at the Nugget. Several of the men were carrying torches and as they drew closer, the light played across their faces. Elspeth gasped. Their expressions reflected such laughter and excitement, you would have thought they were ushering a hero home from the wars rather than a man to a horrible and humiliating death.

Andre was almost directly below her now and she could see his expression, too, in the harsh flare of the torches.

Bewilderment. Not terror as she had expected. Just the bewilderment and disbelief of a confused child.

It couldn’t happen to him. She couldn’t let it happen.

Elspeth whirled away from the window and ran to the armoire across from the bed. She jerked a gown from within its depths and shrugged out of her robe. She didn’t bother to take off her nightgown, but pulled the black gown over it. She fastened the front of the bodice with fingers that trembled with haste.

There was no time to put on her shoes and button them. She would just have to go barefoot. Who would notice her feet anyway? she thought wildly. They were going to hang a man down there in the streets and she was worrying about shoes.

She ran to the window, swung her legs over the sill to the second floor balcony. She cast a quick glance below and the blood froze in her veins. The mob had reached the tree!

She ran down the steps and then was tearing along the dirt street. She stumbled and fell to her knees and then was up again, running.

Thank God, the crowd seemed in no hurry to accomplish its purpose. A rope was thrown over the lowest branch of the oak tree in a fashion that was almost leisurely. There was more laughter and several ribald remarks tossed back and forth. Then a noose was slipped over Andre’s head and tightened around his neck.

She had reached the outer edges of the crowd and she started to push her way through the throng. Her breath was coming in gasps and she felt dizzy and sick. “Stop! You’ve got to stop.” They couldn’t hear her. Her voice was so weak it was scarcely audible. “Don’t do this!” she cried as loudly as she could.

She was suddenly closer, almost to the forefront of the crowd. Then the mob shifted and she was suddenly thrust against the rough bole of the oak tree. A blinding pain flashed in her head and for an instant her dizziness became blackness. Then the darkness cleared and she could see the reason the crowd had shifted. They were watching a tall, bearded man with a small hatchet who was hacking at the branches of a bush a few yards away from the oak tree. Elspeth looked desperately around the circle of spectators, seeking help.

There were faces she recognized, she realized with despair, but there would be no help. Will Judkins, Charlie Bonwit, the blacksmith at the livery stable, the golden-haired woman she had seen that night at the Nugget. They were all staring at Andre with the same expression. Anticipation. They all wanted this to happen.

“What in God’s name are you doing here?”

Ben Travis!

She turned to him eagerly. “Ben, tell them to stop it. Tell them it’s a mistake.”

“It’s not a mistake. The man is guilty as hell,” Ben said bluntly. “Now, you get out of here and go back to Dominic.”

“Dominic’s at Rina’s,” she said dully.

For an instant there was a flicker of pity in Ben’s roughhewn face. “So soon?” He glanced away almost as if he