Red West II.

Chapter thirty three - Charms of women

A front door of the biggest house in Leadville opened even before Augusta managed to smooth out the wrinkles on her skirt and a black face with wide eyes and even wider mouth appeared there.

"Madame!! It's so good to see you again!" the female servant rushed to the street to help Mrs. Tabor with her hand luggage, while the elderly coachman loosened the belts, which held the heavy trunk on the back of the carriage.

"I'm glad to see you at good health, too," Augusta reacted and gave one proper look to her home, two-story building with a sharp roof and neat balcony, before returning attention to her servant.

Bertha had been working for them ever since their house in Leadville was no more than a kitchen with one room attached to it, and her attitude hadn't changed a bit since then – she was loud but caring. Despite the fact that living in Denver was definitely luxurious; Augusta had always liked staying in Leadville more and the black woman was just one of her reasons for that.

"Come inside! You must be so tired, Madame! And you – hurry up with the luggage and carriage, Tom! It'll be raining soon! Come, Madame, please!"

Bertha was overexcited as always, but it made Augusta smile. She let the servant lead their way inside the cool, calm house gratefully.

"It has been a long way," she sighed, pulled the traveling gloves off her hands and looked around the spacious, and as always properly cleaned up, hall. "But it feels nice to be home again."

"I'll prepare a cup of my special tea for you, Madame. That will put you back on your feet," Bertha flattened the gloves and put them aside on a small table under expensive mirror, which they bought with Horace long time ago - during their honeymoon in Washington.

"That would be nice," Augusta agreed. "What about my husband?"

Bertha's expression stiffened a little: "Mister Governor is not present, Madame," she replied politely, but a hint of contempt could be heard in the servant's voice.

Augusta frowned: "So, he's at that hotel again."

"I don't know, Madame, he didn't say..." the black woman meant no harm, but Augusta was already too annoyed with her husband's affair to let herself be soothed with half-truths and excuses.

"Spare your breath, Bertha. I'm neither blind nor stupid even if my husband thinks so. After that tea, prepare a bath for me, please. I need to get all that travel dust off of me."

"Of course, Madame," the servant nodded diligently and then continued a little hesitantly. "If you wish so, I can ask some errand-boy to find your husband to let him know about your arrival."

"No," Augusta denied immediately. "I will not beg him to show his face around me. Let him come on his own, if he notices my presence at all... Understood?"

"Yes, Madame."

***

A sudden heavy rain chased the sunshine away in the late afternoon, and poured even all over the covered veranda, so the Black Riders gathered inside the cottage, sitting or standing around the table, all of them focused on the map spread on it and their leader.

"Tabor's house is here, right in the city center, but when he resides in Leadville, it's more likely to find him in the Clarendon Hotel on Harrison Avenue," Leo drew a little circle in the outskirts of Leadville.

"How comes?" Jin, standing behind his brother's chair, asked.

"It's a public secret that he has a mistress – Baby Doe," Ryo replied from the opposite side of the table. "He spends most of the time there with her."