was far too cold for Kate to be walking to the attorney’s office. His pretty niece, while as kind and caring as a ministering angel, was also a decisive, strong-willed young woman who discharged duties and met challenges with an immediacy that was admirable, if at times somewhat annoying.
The old man smiled fondly as Kate waved goodbye and stepped out into the cold. He sighed, folded his hands in his blanketed lap and gazed into the fire, recalling the first night the ten-year-old Kate had spent in his home.
“No, Uncle Nelson.” She had set him straight when he’d offered to leave her door ajar at bedtime. “Please close it. I do not fear the dark, sir.”
Nelson VanNam was warmed by the memory. He had learned in the years since that the dauntless Kate was not afraid of much.
His smile abruptly fled. He was afraid for her. What, he wondered worriedly, would become of his dear sweet Kate once he was gone?
Teeth chattering, shoulders hunched, Kate briskly walked the eight blocks to the law offices of J. J. Clement. Hurrying across the narrow cobblestone street, she dashed up the steps of the two-story redbrick building and entered the wide central corridor.
Sweeping the hood off her head and smoothing her hair, she knocked politely before entering the attorney’s private chambers. A warming fire blazed in a large hearth.
“Why, there you are already, Miss VanNam,” said J. J. Clement, rising from his chair. “I had no idea you’d come in this afternoon. Please, have a seat.” He gestured to one of two straight-backed chairs pulled up before his desk.
Kate frowned as she sat down. “Your message summoned me, Mr. Clement, did it not?”
The attorney smiled. “So it did. Your prompt response is admirable, but I hope you didn’t freeze on your long walk.” He sat back down across from her. “It was thoughtless of me to have you come in. I should have paid you a visit at your—”
“Never mind that.” Kate waved her hand. “What’s this all about?”
The attorney smiled at the impatient young woman. He leaned toward his desk, picked up a legal document and informed Kate, “My dear, I believe I’ve a bit of good news.”
“You do?” She shrugged out of her heavy cape. Unlike the drafty rooms of home, this handsomely appointed office was comfortably warm. “For me?”
“Indeed. The firm has been informed that Mrs. Arielle VanNam Colfax—Nelson’s aged aunt and therefore your great-aunt—has passed away in San Francisco. She has left all that was hers to you.”
Stunned, Kate said, “Why? I didn’t know her. Never corresponded. I never even met her, so why…?”
“The elderly widow had no children. With the exception of Nelson, you are her next of kin. You and your brother, Gregory. However, Arielle made no provision for Gregory. Now, to tell the truth, I don’t know if you’ve inherited anything of real value. The old lady was quite secretive.” The attorney shrugged.
Kate nodded.
“However—” he shoved a printed handbill across the polished desk “—as you probably know, a great deal of gold has been brought out of the Sierra Nevadas of California in the last five years.”
“Yes, I’ve heard about the gold rush. Who hasn’t?”
J. J. Clement said, “You have fallen heir to a house of sorts. I understand it has not been lived in for the past five years. And there is a claim to a California gold mine that may or may not be worthless.” He handed Kate a map indicating the mine’s location.
“The house? It’s in the mountains of California?”
“Yes, the house and the mine are both high up in the Sierra Nevadas in a mining camp called Fortune,” said the attorney. “I’ve no idea what Fortune, California, is like, but I would imagine it’s one of those primitive tent cities populated by hardscrabble miners hoping to strike it rich.” He shook his head.
“But if my great-aunt built a house there, then surely—”
Interrupting, he said, “As I told you, Kate, it has been abandoned for years. Obviously, your great-aunt deserted the house and the camp for a good reason.”
“I suppose so,” Kate grudgingly conceded.
“Child,” said the kindly attorney, “I’m aware of your financial woes. Your uncle has been a friend as well as a client for many years. I’d like to be of help.”
Lips parted, Kate stared at him. “That’s very kind, Mr. Clement.”
“Tell you what, I’ll have our California agent, Harry Conlin, take the claim and the property off your hands and—”
“No,” she interrupted. “It is not for sale. I’ll just hold on to it for the time being.”
She rose to leave, fastening her cape under her chin. J. J. Clement came to his feet.
Kate said, “When I lose my dear uncle Nelson, there’ll be nothing holding me here. Who knows?” She picked up the printed handbill. “I might just head West.”
Two
Kate hurried home with the plat map and the will rolled up and tucked under her arm. She could hardly wait to show both to her uncle Nelson. No doubt he would be as surprised as she that a woman whom Kate had never met had left everything to her.
She smiled as she envisioned her uncle putting on his spectacles and studying the documents while she knelt beside his easy chair and stretched her hands out to the warmth of the small fire.
Nose cold, cheeks red, Kate reached the rented rooms and hurried inside, calling her uncle’s name.
“Uncle Nelson, you are not going to believe this!” she exclaimed loudly as she removed her woolen cape, hung it on the coat tree and rushed across the room toward his chair. Mildly annoyed that he hadn’t bothered to turn around when she’d come in, she continued, “My great-aunt—that mysterious lady you have told me about, Mrs. Arielle VanNam Colfax—has passed away out in San Francisco and left me a…I have her will here and…and…” Kate stopped speaking.
She was beginning to frown when she reached Uncle Nelson’s chair and the old man still had not responded.
“Uncle, what is it? What’s wrong?” she asked, and gently touched his shoulder. He fell forward in his chair. Kate immediately dropped the documents and sank to her knees before him, grabbing hold of his upper arms. “You’re ill,” she said, “that’s it. You’re not feeling well. I’ll just run and get Dr. Barnes and he’ll fix you right up. You’ll be good as new and…no…No, Uncle Nelson, no!” Kate murmured, not wanting to believe that the kind man who had been mother and father, friend and protector, was dead. Gently, she leaned him back in his chair and closed his sightless eyes as tears filled her own.
When finally she dried her eyes, she saw that her uncle was clutching a piece of neatly folded bond paper in his right hand. She carefully removed the document and laid it aside without looking at it.
Long minutes passed while she sat on the floor with her forehead
