Free No Mortal Reason by Kathy Lynn Emerson Page B

A man and a woman were quarreling in loud and passionate tones.
    “Saugus and his wife?” Diana guessed.
    “There are no other guests in the hotel,” Ben reminded her.
    Diana could catch only a few words, but those she overheard were enough to give her pause. She heard “that girl” and “scoundrel” and “crimes” from Belle Saugus and, in her husband’s deeper tones, “whore,” then “stage,” and finally, “murderer.”
     

Chapter Four
     
    As if to make up for the deficiencies of supper the night before, breakfast was on a scale with what the fully-operational Hotel Grant would provide when renovations were complete. As soon as Ben entered the private dining room, Mrs. Ellington left a table by the window, where she’d been going over what appeared to be an account book, and asked him if he would like hot cereal, fried lake fish, steak, a cutlet or chop, an omelet, cold roast beef, or cold ham.
    “Steak,” Ben said.
    “Choices for a side dish are French fried potatoes, any of six kinds of bread, or griddle cakes with syrup.”
    “Surprise me,” Ben told her.
    The beverage selection was also wide ranging, everything from coffee, chocolate, and herbal teas to a variety of breakfast wines. Ben was in no doubt there. “Coffee. And keep refilling it.”
    It was not until he’d polished off two cups and most of the steak and potatoes that he realized Mrs. Ellington was hovering. “The food is excellent,” he told her, and gave her the smile Diana assured him could melt the hardest female heart.
    Tressa Ellington blushed like a schoolgirl. “Is there something else I can get for you, doctor?”
    “You could sit down and have a cup of coffee yourself,” he suggested.
    Her eyes widened at the suggestion, but after a glance around the empty dining room, she shrugged. “No reason not to, I guess. And one good one to agree. Thank you, Dr. Northcote.”
    “Meaning you hope to convince me to endorse the medicinal waters of the spring?”
    “I was thinking rather of the healthful menu we offer.”
    “It is excellent food,” Ben acknowledged.
    About the spring he said nothing. There was an added advantage to his plan to take Diana away from Lenape Springs. With a little luck, they would be gone by late afternoon . . . before he was obliged to sample so much as a single glass of Myron Grant’s vile, sulphur-laced water.
    Mrs. Ellington sipped at her coffee. She seemed about to ask a question when something she saw through the window behind him made her stiffen.
    Ben turned to look. Sebastian Ellington stood on one of the gravel-paved paths that criss-crossed the lawn, arms waving as he exchanged words with the black-clad, bearded preacher Ben had seen the previous day. “I perceive that the good reverend does not approve of hotels and boarding houses.”
    “Jonas Riker is nothing but a hypocrite!”
    When Ben’s arched brow encouraged her to explain, Mrs. Ellington took another sip of coffee, then wrapped both hands around the cup, as if she sought to absorb its warmth.
    “It all started last spring, just over a year ago, when some preachers got together and held a camp meeting near the schoolhouse in Liberty Falls. Everybody went. Well, what else is there to do for entertainment? You never saw such shouting and carrying on! Maybelle Potter, she fell right down in the middle of the aisle, overcome by the Spirit, and lay like a dead woman for a good ten minutes. Then, just when everyone figured she’d gone to her reward, up she jumped and began to testify what the Lord had done for her and hollering ‘Glory! Glory! Glory!’ until she went hoarse.” Mrs. Ellington gulped more coffee, apparently parched herself, then went on in a cynical voice. “By the time it was over, there were two miraculous cures and a whole passel of folks had seen the error of their ways.”
    “Including Mrs. Lyseth?”
    “Oh, she’d already seen the light. The prize that day was Lida Rose Leeves. She was particular