Heath, leaning on one end of the mantelpiece exchanged worried frowns with Nick at the other end. The sporadic absences of her family from the dining table wouldn't normally faze their Mother a bit. This agitation was so unlike her.

Jarrod took his cup from a concerned Audra and sat beside his Mother. "Is there anything else wrong Mother?" his tone was gentle.

Victoria shook her head worriedly "No, no." She hesitated and then went on. "It's just that I went to see the Judge as you know". she broke off and seemed to be staring at a dark memory.

Heath's blue eyes were fixed perceptively on her face. He moved towards her a little,"Mother?" she came back to herself and turned to Heath, "What did he say to you Mother?" asked Heath.

Jarrod gave a brief nod of approval, it was an intelligent and shrewd question. Victoria dipped her head. "He said dreadful things," she whispered.

"What kind of things?" demanded a wrathful Nick. Audra put a warning hand on his arm and Nick glanced at Jarrod who was looking intently at their Mother. "Better leave it to Pappy," thought Nick.

"Can you tell us, Darling?"asked Jarrod. His mother put her hand on his arm and gripped his shirt. "He said...he said that if I felt that none of my boys would do what Buddy had done I was much mistaken! He said Eugene would..." she broke off in distress.

"What about Gene" prompted Jarrod gently. Victoria's words tumbled out fast now. "He said that Gene was just as likely to do what Buddy did and that we would have been just as anxious to protect him. Only..."

Nick couldn't help himself "Only what, Mother?"

Victoria gathered her courage again "only unlike Buddy, Gene wouldn't have felt able to get help from us."

"Poppycock" growled Nick and Heath said, "Nick's right, Mother".

She looked earnestly at her eldest son and Jarrod squeezed her hand. "Are they right?" she asked.

"Yes, they are." he smiled slightly "When did you ever know Eugene not hightail it home at the first sign of trouble!"

His assurance had an effect. Victoria pulled herself together. "You are all right of course, I'm sorry to be so nervous."

Jarrod smiled at her "You know I didn't want you to go near the Judge." he said lightly.

Before his Mother could answer the door opened and Eugene came in.

Nick immediately bellowed "Eugene get in here!"

Eugene gave his hat to Silas, declined food and came slowly over to the rest of the family. "Whatever it is you told me to do Nick I already did it! unless you told me not to do something, in which case I haven't!" he added hastily.

"That'll be enough of that, what the devil do you mean by not letting us know your whereabouts?" demanded Nick sternly. He broke off at the troubled look on his little brother's face. "Come over here" he ordered, "You look frozen!"

Gene came to stand before the cheery fire. "I'm sorry" he said quietly. "I went to see the Judge."

It was Jarrod's turn to be stern now "I distinctly told you to stay away from him didn't I?"

"Yes Sir you did" replied Eugene. He went on "you wouldn't listen to me when I tried to tell you how I felt about that, so I went."

Nick put a friendly hand on the boy's shoulder "So?" he queried "tell us now."

"Buddy was my best friend and what he did doesn't change that. I...I just wanted to tell the Judge that and that I was sorry for his loss".

Heath's voice was quiet and kind. "Did you get the same frosty reception as Mother?"

Gene nodded. "He said I was no better than Buddy. I would have killed Shanghai Rose too if I had been in the same situation."

Jarrod's clear eyes were searching Gene's face. "Is that all?" His voice was fatherly.

Gene responded to this tone as he invariably did, by confiding the whole truth. "No it's not all...well, first of all, he said all four of us Barkley Boys were a disgrace."

"What!" thundered Nick.

Gene went on "He said Jarrod would defend every deadbeat in town, you had brawled in every bar in California and Heath wasn't a true Barkley."

" Did he say anything about Audra?" asked Nick ominously.

"Of course not!" answered Eugene indignantly, "I would have punched him!"

Nick and Heath nodded approval. "Good boy!" they said in unison.

Jarrod said, "Go on Gene."

Gene went on. "He said if I had killed that woman I wouldn't have been able to tell any of you."

"Why the devil not?" demanded Nick.

Gene looked at Victoria as realisation dawned. "He said all this to you too, didn't he, Mother?"

Victoria nodded. Jarrod laid a hand on her shoulder. "Mother let me help you." He begged. "Tell us, please?"

Victoria nodded "All right, dear. The Judge said that Gene wouldn't be able to confide in you because he is too much in awe of you and that he is physically afraid of Nick. He said that Heath is virtually a stranger to Gene". She broke off distressed and Jarrod held her close.

"That is the most stupid" started Nick but Audra pinched him and he subsided again.

Victoria had stopped weeping and raised her head from Jarrod's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know why I'm acting like this".

Jarrod spoke soothingly to her. "You went through a terrible ordeal, Mother, and it's bound to take a while for you to recover completely."

Eugene sat on the low stool in front of Victoria and held her hands. "I told the Judge he was wrong, Mother. Actually, I made quite a speech."

Jarrod nodded to the boy to continue and Victoria listened intently. Gene went on. "I told him that as a family we were proud that Jarrod would defend anyone who needed his help, irrespective of their ability to pay him. I also said that it was a gross exaggeration to say Nick had brawled in every saloon in California." He timed his pause perfectly. "because he's only brawled in about half of them!"

Everyone laughed, even Victoria.

Gene continued "I also told him that Nick was respected throughout this Valley as a man to trust and that my brother Heath was a Barkley to his bootstraps and that we would fight anybody that said differently."

"Good boy!" said Nick.

Gene squeezed Victoria's hands, "The Judge is wrong about me, Mother. I'll prove it to you if you let me".

Victoria nodded. "Go on dear," she said.

Eugene grinned saucily at his eldest brother, "Well, I'll do it like Counsellor Pappy here, I'll take each of the Judge's arguments and destroy them."

Jarrod smiled slightly but didn't speak.

Gene looked at his Mother. "Am I in awe of Jarrod? Well, yes, sometimes I am a little. After all he's a hard act to follow at Berkeley and I don't enjoy it when he decides it's time I had one of those icy lectures of his!" Gene looked at Audra, "You know the kind I mean Sis, the ones he delivers in his prosecuting counsel's voice."

"I know just what you mean." she twinkled back at him. "I've had a few of them myself."

Gene turned to his Mother again. "But I don't believe I ever got a lecture that I hadn't earned and I love Jarrod, Mother. I can always confide in him and I have NEVER been afraid of him." His tone lightened. "In fact, Mother, I'm as brave as a mountain lion I'm not even scared of Nick!"

Nick gave a shout of laughter as Eugene went on, "I suppose anyone who didn't know Nick and saw him yelling at me out on the range or boxing my ears when I do something dumb might think he was a pretty scary guy." He glanced affectionately at Nick, the truth is Mother that you can't be scared of someone who held you on your first pony, gave you your first puppy and let you tag along when you were a little pest. Someone who stayed up two nights trying to save your pony when it got sick and then stayed up the next night with you because you couldn't stop crying when it died. Nick taught me to shoot, Fish, hunt, ride." He paused "I could never be afraid of Nick." he said quietly. "Nick and Jarrod have been playing Father to me for a long time and I've taken my licks from both of them, but the fact is I love and respect them both too much to fear either one."

He smiled a little shyly at Heath and said "As for Heath, well I guess the Judge might have had a point up to last Summer we were pretty much strangers to each other. Not that Heath was responsible for that, it was my fault". he looked at Jarrod's rather grave face and spoke directly to him "I acted very badly around Heath for quite a while after he came here." He paused then went on "I guess I was jealous of how well he got on with you and Nick. I think I felt kind of left out and I took it out on Heath."

Jarrod and Nick exchanged startled glances. "Neither of you ever knew because Heath took it all in his stride and didn't respond in kind, he just sort of let me get it out of my system. Then he suggested we went over to the hunting lodge together to try to get to know each other better."

Victoria nodded. "I remember." She said. "The two of you were gone a week and you seemed best of friends when you came home."

Gene spoke earnestly to her. "I made a wonderful discovery on that trip, Mother. I found out I had a third big brother and one with whom I could have a quite different relationship. Heath has never had to mentor me so he can just be my friend. So the thing is Mother, even if I did something I was too ashamed to confess to Jarrod or Nick I just know I could tell Heath."

Victoria embraced her youngest son. "Bless you Darling!" She said. "I think you have just driven all my silly fears away."

Jarrod, keenly watching his mother, said, "Then what is it that still troubles you Mother?"

Victoria shook her head, "No, not troubles me, something I just don't understand. Why did Buddy not confide in his Father sooner than he did. Why was he so desperate that he killed that woman?"

Gene answered her "I can answer that too Mother. Do you remember that summer a long time ago when the school wrote and said I was getting out of line?"

Victoria chuckled "Yes, I do. Jarrod came to see you and read the riot act."

"Yes he did and I promised to behave, but I didn't, Buddy and I got into all sorts of mischief."

Victoria nodded "Yes, the school wrote again and told us you would have a letter with you detailing your misdeeds when you came home on vacation."

Eugene said. "Jarrod had business to attend to in San Francisco and I thought I'd been very clever because I managed to delay getting home until he'd gone, only I didn't know that you all knew about the letter and Nick was waiting for me."

Nick laughed "I remember, I licked you the minute you put your nose in the door."

"Yes you did!" said Gene with feeling. "But the next day you took me fishing and when Jarrod got home we went hunting. all three of us."

Victoria smiled. "We had talked about you and the boys felt they weren't giving you enough attention."

Eugene continued. "That was the most wonderful summer and when I went back to school I was brown and happy and I badly wanted to repay Jarrod and Nick by doing well."

"You came top of your class as I recall" smiled Jarrod.

Gene nodded "yes I did, but the point is that Buddy took the same letter home I did, it was the Judge's reaction that was different. Nobody laid a finger on Buddy, the Judge and his wife just went on at him all summer about letting them down and how disappointed they were, on and on until Buddy felt like cutting his throat. That's why he couldn't confide in the Judge. He was too anxious not to tarnish the image the Judge had of him. So anxious that he killed Shanghai Rose."

Victoria kissed Eugene again. "I think I understand, Darling. Thank you for reassuring me, Audra, I think I'll go to bed now."

Audra came to her side at once. "I'll come up with you Mother"

The two women went up stairs arms entwined.

Nick moved to the decanters. "Well, that must be the longest speech you ever made in your life". He handed Gene a brandy. His teasing tone not quite disguising his gratification at the things his brother had said.

Jarrod smiled faintly "Thank you for not divulging to your Mother that Nick and I initiated you into dealing with the likes of Shanghai Rose some time ago!" They all laughed, but Jarrod's shrewd eyes had never left Eugene's face and he spoke quietly to his youngest Brother now. "I hope what you said to Mother about being able to confide in Heath is true".

Gene looked at him warily. Jarrod continued. "What I mean is I hope you've told Heath about whatever it is that's been bothering you for the last couple of weeks."

Eugene blushed and looked a question at Nick who nodded and said "We've been worried."

Gene smiled at Heath and answered Jarrod. "Yes, I've told him, and he says I'm worrying over nothing and I should discuss it with you Jarrod."

Heath spoke "It's what I always do myself", he smiled at Jarrod.

Jarrod said "no time like the present" and Gene nodded.

Heath said "Gene why don't I fill Nick in while I'm thrashing him at Pool?"

Eugene nodded agreement and Heath and Nick started for the Pool room then Nick stopped dead "what do you mean thrashing me?" he demanded following Heath to the Library.

Jarrod and Eugene laughed at his indignation and Jarrod refilled their brandy glasses. "Shall we?" he indicated the settee and they sat side by side slightly facing each other.

"It's all right Jarrod I haven't done anything wrong. It's just...", he hesitated then went on. "Well I ...I guess I've made some decisions about my future."

Jarrod nodded. "You evidently don't think I'm going to like these decisions." he commented.

Gene looked earnestly at his much loved eldest brother. "It's just that I don't want to hurt you or Nick".

Jarrod was thoroughly alarmed by now but hiding it well. "Go on", he said in what he hoped was a neutral voice.

Gene seemed unable to continue and Jarrod tried to help him "is it the Law?" he asked gently. "Have you had second thoughts about becoming a lawyer?"

Eager words poured from Eugene now. "No! far from it! I want to be a lawyer more than anything in the world, but I know now what kind of lawyer I want to be."

Jarrod nodded encouragingly, "Go on, " he said.

"Jarrod I've always admired you, you know that for your principles and being willing to fight for them no matter the cost. Well that's what I want to do! I want to defend the weak and stand up for the helpless and...and I don't want to go into Partnership with you Jarrod."

A shadow of hurt crossed Jarrod's face but he rigorously suppressed his feelings and tried to speak matter of factly "Do the two have to be mutually exclusive?" he asked.

"Yes!" Eugene was definite. "I don't want to spend my life signing Barkley contracts and making money. I want to devote all my time to helping people." He looked anxiously at Jarrod "I... I know that sounds selfish Jarrod, but I'm trying to be honest."

Jarrod forced himself to speak lightly. "Wwell I seem to have managed to do a little crusading in my time as well as taking care of the Barkley interests," he commented.

Eugene nodded "I know but..." He drew a deep breath. "There's Nick as well." he said.

Jarrod was puzzled. "What about Nick?" he queried.

In the Library the game of pool had come to a halt, "What do you mean me, what about me?" Nick demanded.

Heath tried to explain. "Well, it seems that over the last few years you've said several times that you'll be glad when Gene is ready, willing and able to shoulder some of the burdens of running this place. So now he feels if he goes his own way he'll not only be letting Jarrod down but you too."

Nick paced like a caged animal thinking. "Never mind about me!" he said at last, "What about Jarrod, how the devil is he going to feel?" He was about to find out as at that moment. Jarrod and Eugene joined them.

"Eugene!" began Nick explosively, but Jarrod laid a hand on his arm and spoke authoritatively:

"Hold it Nick! before you lay into Baby Brother I have something to say."

"Well?" demanded Nick.

Jarrod spoke pleasantly. "Gene has explained his feelings to me and I support his decision fully."

"What!" exclaimed Nick "now look here, Jarrod."

Jarrod forestalled him again. "That's all, Nick." His voice was perfectly good humoured but Nick knew him too well to argue the matter further at this point.

He shrugged and spoke resignedly "all right Jarrod."

Jarrod punched his arm affectionately and said, "The point is Nick, what about you?"

Nick turned on Gene "Listen, Brat, I may have said to you in the past that I wanted you to work more closely with me but things were different then! I mean it was before Heath came here." He broke off realising how this sounded and added hastily "Now don't take that the wrong way! What I mean is I don't need ..." He broke off again and cast a harassed look at Jarrod who was grinning at him. "Dammit, Jarrod will ya quit laughing at me and help me!"

Jarrod took pity on him "All right, Nick". He turned to Gene. "What Nicholas is trying to say is that it wasn't your work he needed but your companionship. You have to remember that Nick was no older than you are now when he started running this place day to day. He used to get pretty lonely at times." Jarrod's twinkling blue eyes teased Nick and he carried on. "Of course, he's too much of a tough guy to admit it!"

Nick shook his head, "No," he said unexpectedly, "I do admit it and Heath knows what a difference having him with me has made." Nick squirmed uncomfortably he hated displaying his deepest feelings.

"I know Nick without it needs saying." answered Heath with his lopsided smile.

Nick flashed him a grateful look and turned to Gene again. "What I guess I'm trying to say is you do what you have to do and don't worry about me, OK?"

Eugene struggled with his emotions, managed to say, "Thanks Nick, Jarrod, Heath...excuse me!" and he ran from the Library and up the stairs.

Heath's intelligent eyes went from Jarrod's face to Nick's and he said lightly, "Well, if you both will excuse me I have a chore to take care of and I'll leave the two of you to talk."

He started to leave but Jarrod's voice stopped him. "Heath."

Heath turned, "I'm glad the boy has you to confide in." said Jarrod simply.

Heath smiled and said a slightly embarrassed "Good Night."

Jarrod and Nick discussed Gene's revelation late into the night and though Jarrod didn't completely succeed in reconciling Nick to their youngest brother's decision he did eventually persuade Nick to sleep on the matter.

At breakfast next day Victoria seemed a little better though still with that fluttering restlessness that was so uncharacteristic of her. Watching her it suddenly struck Nick that her mind was tired but not her resilient healthy body.

Audra left the room to fetch coffee and Victoria spoke to Jarrod, "Will you take Audra to town with you this morning Jarrod? Much as I love my daughter she's mollycoddling me silly!"

Jarrod laughed. "I'll try, Mother."

Nick was sure now that he was right. He said, "Actually, Mother, Heath and I have nothing much to do for a couple of days, how about a camping trip to the high north lake? You know Heath's never seen it."

Heath's jaw dropped, he and Nick had plenty of work on hand but he said nothing.

Victoria's reaction was immediate, "Oh, Nick! Yes, what a wonderful idea. We could camp out and fish for trout for breakfast. Oh, I'd love to." She talked on, planning a picnic and enumerating all the things they would need to take and then she bore Audra away to help her prepare for the trip.

When she had gone Jarrod slapped Nick on the back, "Nick, old boy that was inspired!" Nick grinned, "She's a little low in spirits is all. She needs the exercise to give her a boost."

Heath nodded "It's a great idea, Nick. Shall I stay home and get the work done?"

Nick shook his head. "No! work can keep and I do want to show High Lake to you. Been meaning to for ages."

"All right." said Heath happily. "I'll saddle the horses."

"Including Jingo." said Jarrod. "My work will keep too, I shall join the party." He looked at the rather quiet Eugene. "How about you Brat?"

Gene hesitated for a moment then said "Sure why not?"

The ride to the High Lake was a merry one with constant banter between all the family and to the pleasure of all her children Victoria's spirits visibly soared in the fresh air and her customary tranquillity seemed to restore itself. They camped a little distance from the lakeside and after a gargantuan feast packed by Silas they all slept the sleep of the truly tired and well fed. Next morning Nick was up early and conscious that he had a hungry family to fish for. He hurriedly dressed and took his line to the lake. A consummate fisherman, he had a basket full of trout by the time Jarrod joined him.

Nick greeted his brother, looking keenly at Jarrod and asked quietly, "Are you OK?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" replied Jarrod.

Nick said "the boy hurt you the other night." It was a statement not a question.

"A little," acknowledged Jarrod.

Nick went on "I don't know what he thinks he's doing."

Jarrod stopped him. "Lets not rake all that up again, Nick. I want the boy to do as he wishes."

Nick put his fishing rod down and jabbed a finger at his elder brother. "Jarrod, you know darn well that if either you or I had tried to walk away from our responsibilities like that Father would have flogged the skin off our backs."

Jarrod nodded. "Yes, he would, but that's not the kind of relationship I want with Gene. I don't think you do either."

Nick hesitated. "Maybe not, but how can you take all this so calmly?"

Jarrod smiled. "Perhaps because I used to be Eugene and had much the same ideas at his age. Nick, I have every confidence that ultimately Gene will go into partnership with me and do his share of the Barkley chores. However, if we dig our heels in now all we'll do is drive him away. Now, you don't want that do you?"

Nick scowled at him. "I can't out-argue you and you know it! I'm taking these fish to Mother."

Jarrod laughed. "Good, I'm hungry. When I left Heath was starting the fire and Gene was chopping wood."

He picked up a bucket. "I'll bring the water."

Jarrod did not immediately follow Nick however but stayed looking out at the sunlit water for a while. He was thinking of Beth. He could do so without pain now remembering her pretty laughing face and her sweet ways with gratitude for their brief time together. And, he reflected, even though her death was still a bruise on his soul, nevertheless he had much to be thankful for. In humility Jarrod Barkley bowed his head and thanked God for his Mother's deliverance and his own manifold blessings.