Chapter 19
Matilda looked at him.
“No.”
She folded her hands.
“I'd return what never should have been stolen.”
Jedodiah watched her with an expression she could not read.
“What?”
He shook his head.
“Nothing.”
“Jedodiah.”
“You've had money for six hours and you're already better at it than most rich men.”
She laughed.
Outside, someone shouted.
A rock struck the window.
Jedodiah immediately stood.
Another rock flew.
Then another.
Voices rose.
“Thief!”
“Fraud!”
Matilda frowned.
“What changed?”
Elias looked outside.
A group of miners had gathered.
One held a newspaper.
Thomas went pale.
“Abigail.”
They rushed outside.
Copies of a special broadside were being passed around.
The headline read:
FAT KITCHEN GIRL CLAIMS BLACK RIDGE FORTUNE THROUGH FORGED MARRIAGE.
Matilda stared.
Below it were accusations that Elias was an impostor, Thomas was a paid accomplice, and Matilda had arranged Silas's d/e/@/th to obtain documents.
Jedodiah tore one copy in half.
“This was printed fast.”
Thomas examined the type.
“Clayton Voss owns the press.”
Elias nodded.
“And the bank.”
Matilda understood.
“They're not done.”
“No,” Elias said.
“They've merely changed we/@/pons.”
By morning, the bank froze every Harrow account.
Judge Mercer issued an injunction preventing Matilda from exercising ownership.
The county recorder suddenly claimed several documents had disappeared.
Men who had spoken in Matilda's favor the previous evening changed their stories.
Fear returned.
Matilda watched it happen with bitter clarity.
Abigail didn't need to win legally.
She only needed to make truth expensive enough that ordinary people gave up.
At noon, Matilda walked into the Prospector's Rest.
The dining room fell silent.
Abigail stood behind the counter.
“You have nerve coming here.”
Matilda looked around.
The same tables.
The same stove smoke.
The same men who had laughed at her.
“I worked here four years.”
“You were paid.”
“Sometimes.”
Several men looked down.
Matilda approached Abigail.
“You called me worthless.”
Abigail smiled thinly.
“You still are.”
Matilda nodded.
“Maybe.”
The room stirred.
Abigail looked confused.
Matilda continued.
“Maybe land doesn't make me important.”
She looked around.
“And maybe money doesn't make any of you important either.”
No one moved.
“What matters is what we do when someone weaker than us is standing in the cold.”
Several men lowered their eyes.
Matilda turned toward Abigail.
“You failed that test.”
Abigail's smile vanished.
“And yesterday, so did most of this room.”
The words landed heavily.
One miner stood.
It was the man who had joked about Jedodiah courting her.