"l'amour, louis - west of dodge" - читать интересную книгу автора (L'Amour Louis)

Rossiter, who was wise in the ways of women, knew

Beyond the Chaparral / 3

that weakness had its appeal. There was a penalty for seeming strong, for those whose pride made it necessary to carry on as best they could although often lonely or unhappy. No one realizedЧfew would take the time to look closely enough. The weak needed help . . . the strong? They needed nothing.

Sometimes it seemed the price of strength was loneliness and unhappiness . . . and the rewards for weakness were love, tenderness, and compassion.

Now Jim Rossiter stared down the dusty street, saw the bleak faces of the old buildings, lined with the wind etchings of years, saw the far plains and hills beyond, and knew the depths of all that loneliness.

Now that Lonnie was back it would spell the end of everything for him. Yet in a sense it would be a relief. Now the threat was over, the suspense would be gone.

He had never known Lonnie Parker. But he had heard of him. "Lonnie?" they would say, smiling a little. "There's no harm in him. Careless, maybe, but he doesn't mean anything by it."

Rossiter looked around the bare country law office. Three years, and he had come to love it, this quiet place, often too quiet, where he practiced law. He walked back to his desk and sat down. He was supposed to call tonight . . . should he?

Lonnie was back, and Magda had once told him herself, "I'm not sure, Jim. Perhaps I love him. I ... I don't know. I was so alone then, and he understood and he needed me. Maybe that was all it was, but I just don't know."

Jim Rossiter was a tall, quiet man with wide shoulders and narrow hips. He liked people, and he made friends. Returning to the West he had come to this town where he was not known, and had brought a new kind of law with him.

In the past, the law had been an instrument of the big

Louis L'Amour / 4

cattleman. The small men could not afford to hire the sort of lawyers who could fight their cases against the big money. Jim Rossiter had taken their cases, and they had paid him, sometimes with cash, sometimes with cattle, sometimes with promises. Occasionally, he lost. More often, he won.

Soon he had cattle of his own, and he ran them on Tom Frisby's place, Frisby being one of the men for whom he had won a case.

Rossiter made enemies, but he also made friends. He rode miles to talk to newcomers; he even took cases out of the county. He was a good listener and his replies were always honest. There had been a mention of him for the legislature when the territory became a state.

He had seen Magda Lane the morning he arrived, and the sight of her had stopped him in the middle of the street.

She had been crossing toward him, a quiet, lovely girl with dark hair and gray-green eyes. She had looked up and seen him there, a tall, young man in a gray suit and black hat. Their eyes met, and Jim Rossiter looked quickly away, then walked on, his mouth dry, his heart pounding.

Even in that small town it was three weeks before they met. Rossiter saw her box handed to a younger girl to smuggle in to the box supper, and had detected the colors of the wrappings. He spent his last four dollars bidding on it, but he won.

They had talked then, and somehow he had found himself telling her of his boyhood, his ambitions, and why he had returned to the West.

Almost a month passed before she told him of Lonnie. It came about easily, a passing mention. Yet he had heard the story before. According to some, Lonnie had held up a stage in a moment of boyish excitement.

"But he didn't mean anything by it," she told him. "He isn't a bad boy."

Beyond the Chaparral / 5

Later, he was shocked when he discovered that Lonnie had been twenty-seven when he was sent to prison.

But others seemed to agree. Wild, yes . . . but not bad. Not Lonnie. Had a few drinks, maybe, they said. He'd spent most of the money in a poker game.

Only Frisby added a dissenting note. "Maybe he ain't bad," he said testily, "but I had money on that stage. Cost me a season's work so's he could set in that game with George Sprague."