Fool's Gold by Glen Davies

as busily as the tongues. Miss Cooper’s parlour was for these woman the social centre of Sacramento. Many of them had come in from the surrounding country, from the ranches or the local river stations, to go to church in the morning and then to dine with their husbands at one of the few respectable hotels now to be found in the Capital. Afterwards, their husbands would forgather in bars and smoking rooms to discuss the price of beef, grain or gold, or the shortcomings of the Governor or President, and in such establishments there was no place for women — no place for ladies, at any rate.
    Others, such as Mrs Revel, lived in Sacramento itself, but the shortage of polite female society was so acute still that they were only too pleased to leave their own four walls, or the stores or warehouses where they worked alongside their husbands throughout the week, and come to this oasis of civilisation.
    They gave Alicia a warm welcome, although they were inclined to-make a fuss of little Tamsin, which put Alicia on edge, for fear she might cause offence — or let something fall about their past.
    Something of this Miss Cooper must have sensed, for when she came in with the last of the guests, she gently extricated Tamsin from the circle of cooing ladies and dispatched her, kindly but firmly, to a little antechamber that opened off the main parlour. A group of boys and girls were seated around a large nursery style table playing pencil and paper games. Miss Cooper entrusted Tamsin to the care of a dark-haired, dark-eyed girl, gawky and clumsy as only twelve-year-old girls can be, who glowed with pride at being given such a responsibility.
    Alicia had braced herself for a stream of questions about herself — where she had come from, who her husband had been — but she was relieved to find that the ladies were more interested in what she was doing now than in her past. So many Californians had originally travelled west to avoid something in their past, whether situation of birth, brushes with the law or bankruptcies and business losses, that it was not considered polite to enquire too closely.
    ‘Miss Cooper tells me that you are assisting in the Carsons’ store, my dear Mrs Owens,’ said Mrs Spalding. ‘Have you heard the rumour that the Hopkins and the Huntingtons are planning to combine? Does Mrs Carson think that it will affect her trade?’
    ‘Sacramento is growing so rapidly now, ma’am, that I should imagine there would be room for any number of stores.’
    ‘Thank Heavens they chose us for the Capital,’ said another lady with iron grey hair neatly coiffed. ‘At least we know we’ll still be here in ten years time and can plan some civilising influences, such as schools and libraries and opera houses, without having to leave them to rot when the seams run out! No one who has not lived in as many mining camps as I have can fully appreciate the joys of a settled life!’
    There were murmurs of agreement from around the room.
    ‘What schools are there in Sacramento?’ Alicia enquired, glad to find that the topic of conversation had moved away from her.
    ‘Oh, my dear ma’am!’ fluted Mrs Revel, a tall, angular lady who spoke as much as possible without fully opening her mouth, which possessed two rows of blackened stumps. ‘It really is too dreadful! Of course, my husband insisted on sending the boys back to my sister in Saint Louis to be educated, but for the poor girls …! Either you must swallow your prejudices and send them to the Catholic convent schools, where the education is very well but they are exposed to all the Romish influences at such an impressionable age, or they must make do with study at home.’
    ‘My own daughters, all of them, were educated out here,’ said Mrs Pikeman proudly. ‘At home at first, then they followed a course of study laid down by Miss Cooper while they helped out with the younger ones. And I don’t think they could have turned out better if I’d sent them back east