FICTION-ROMANCE Set 1890 (CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE) Abigail Bentley, Young Heiress from St. Louis leaves home and comfort to go to California to solve a mystery of a friend she has made while teaching at a mission school.

Chapter One included.


Chapter One

Abigail Bentley listened to the clicking of her shoe heels on the cobblestone walkway as she briskly headed toward the renovated old bank building. She did not want to be late for her first day at the mission school. She pushed at a falling hairpin in her upswept brown hair, and lifted her skirts to climb the five steps to the massive front door of the intricately carved entry way.

The building, one of the first in the old St. Louis river front community, had been donated to the Church Mission Society when the neighborhood had deteriorated to the point that the uptown folks did not want to make the trip down to the river to do business. In fact, Abigail had asked that her carriage driver drop her off a few blocks from the school, hopeful that she would be better accepted by the immigrant families if they did not know she was a young woman of means, wealthy by inheritance. She didn't feel that it was deceptive, but a way to fit into an environment where she felt she could do some real good.

She had graduated with honors at the young age of seventeen from the prestigious Wymett Christian College in Boston, a feat that was still a great accomplishment in 1890. She knew she would never have had the opportunity to even try without the influence of the wealth left to her by her parents, so she was not ashamed of being financially independent, she just did not want it to negatively influence the work she had chosen.

She straightened her plaid vest, adjusted her small hat, took a deep breath and opened the big door, immediately grateful that she had taken a clean breath of air before entering the building.

The building had an odor of musk, mixed with a new white wash, mingled with the permeating food smells of many different cultures. Since the building not only held school rooms but also a medical clinic, and temporary shelter for many of the new coming families, the other smells hanging heavy in the mid-summer heat---not yet at it's height at seven o'clock in the morning---was something with which Abigail was totally unaccustomed.

Abigail's attention was drawn away from the high vaulted ceilings of the foyer to a young woman coming down the corridor. The first thing she noticed about the petite young woman, after her smile, was the extremely light, almost white, color of her hair.

"You must be Miss Bentley." The woman, wearing a nursing uniform, extended her hand. "I am Mrs. Rivers...Victoria is my given name. My husband, Doctor James Rivers, and I run the clinic here at the mission."

"How do you do. I am Abigail Bentley." Abigail took the woman's hand briefly.

"It is so good of you to donate your time to tutor the children here," Victoria turned. "If you will come with me I will show you your room. Mrs. Hatfield was sorry to not be here to greet you, but she is on a financial mission to the board of directors."

"You are a nurse?" Abigail made conversation, feeling rather awkward and taller than her 5'8" next to the small Mrs. Rivers. Mrs. Rivers, she noticed, had a distinct foreign accent, although her English was very good.

"Yes, I am a nurse of sorts. I help my husband here at the medical clinic, but I also am a teacher." The beautiful smile shown again. "My husband and I came to the mission here from California. We also have a wonderful little boy, five years old, and the work here gives me time to be with him. He stays with the women who watch the younger children so he is near to me all the time."

"That must be a comfort." Abigail could plainly see the light in Mrs. Rivers eyes when she spoke of her family. "How long have you been here?"

"About three years. My husband had been a doctor to his Indian tribe for many years before we met." Victoria looked directly at Abigail. "My husband is from one of the mountain Indian tribes in California. His parents were killed when he was small and the Catholic priests sent him back East to a couple who adopted him and gave him a very good education." "How did he happen to go back to California?" Abigail, curious minded, couldn't help but ask.

"James had become a Doctor," Victoria lowered her head slightly, "however, even though he had made some very marvelous finds in the medical field and had written in medical journals, he could not get white patients to trust him as a doctor. His adoptive father, also a respected physician, had him work in his office. The patients tolerated James...as long as James doctored other people, not them. When his adoptive parents died in a cholera epidemic, James made the decision to go back to his people."

"So that is where you met?" Abigail and Victoria stopped in front of a closed door.

"Oh, I've talked your ear off...and your first day!" Victoria put a hand on Abigail's shoulder. "I must tell you before we go in, some days you may have no students, some days up to six or seven. Most of the children old enough for school are also old enough to do some kind of work to help support their families."

This day there were three children. Victoria introduced the three little girls to Abigail and then before leaving, called her to the door. "There is also another reason for so few, but we are trying to overcome the problem." She spoke in low tones so the children would not hear. "It is that we are a Christian group and many of the emigrant families are from Catholic, or Jewish, or Buddists faiths and do not want their children to be taught anything that may influence the way they believe."

"It was my understanding that we were to teach them reading, writing and arithmetic...basic things. Is that true?"

"Oh, yes. It is, and we do, but because we also have church and Sunday school here, some of the parents don't want that influence to touch their children…we however do not separate the two. Our faith is an everyday living and passing it on is our mission. We try to reach out and help…and live at peace with all men…as much as is possible and still carry the light." Victoria put a hand on Abigail's arm. "These three seldom miss. They soak up all the learning they can get. Your books are on the desk. I am sure they can tell you where the lesson ended and where you need to begin."

"Thank you." Abigail really wanted to hear the rest of Victoria's story, but guessed she should get into teaching these children that were hungry to learn.

By mid-day, when the little girls had to go home to do the housework and start the supper, Abigail knew first hand how intelligent her pupils were.

"I will see you all tomorrow?" Abigail questioned.

"Yes, and tomorrow my brother gets to come," pigtailed Margaret spoke up. "And Kathleen's sister." Margaret pointed to the red-haired schoolmate. "She's old...eleven."

"And how about you, Lydia?" Abigail watched the girls leave. The dark little girl shrugged her thin shoulders, then smiled and nodded. "Alright, I will see you all tomorrow."

For the next few weeks Abigail's class grew and shrunk until she became familiar with the days and reasons for the attendance or lack of attendance and was amazed at how much the children absorbed and remembered from one lesson to the next.


Abigail shared days, when she had no pupils, helping Victoria and even sometimes assisting Dr. James. The Doctor was a bit older than Victoria, but it seemed he was as youthful as she was in dealing with her and their son. Abigail had seldom seen love actually shine between two people as it did between the Rivers. Abigail knew that the strong faith in God and the like commitment the couple had for the work they did was part of the bond, but they were also romantic in a way that Abigail had only dreamed of and had never experienced.

Abigail and Victoria became good friends in the months they worked together. They shared the joys and sorrows of the people at the mission, they prayed together often and then there were times when Victoria shared some of her past with Abigail. "My brother and I went out West to minister to the Indians when I was very young. My parents, who were missionaries, had died coming to America, leaving us, who had gone ahead with our Uncle...left orphans." Victoria shared over dinner one day. "When my brother was old enough---fifteen I think he was, I was eleven---he and I went to fulfill our parents' dream...to take the gospel to the Indians."

"That must have been very difficult for you." Abigail sat on the iron bench in the courtyard of the old building. "You must have been very lonely."

"We had studied all our lives for what we were to do. My brother was very dedicated and even at the young age was a very good preacher." Victoria smiled and her look became wistful. "We probably could have been very lonely...except for a family that took us in as though we were part of their very own. My brother and I always had help from them with the school, with the help to the reservations...just being there as part of a caring family. There were so many very good years."

Abigail noticed that Victoria talked about the people who had befriended her and her brother but never mentioned names...not even her brother's and Abigail found that to be strange. When Abigail asked about the names one time, Victoria ended the conversation not rudely but abruptly.

"Oh well, that was a long time ago...water under the bridge so to speak. My whole life changed when I met James."

"Maybe someday you will be able to return, able to see your brother and your friends again." Abigail suggested.

Victoria became disturbed. "I love my brother very, very much...but no, I cannot go back to Cateman. I can never go back." And she ended the conversation, "I need to get back to work."

Abigail speculated that Victoria's reluctance to return...more than reluctance (a fearful tone had been in her voice), may have had something to do with her marriage to Dr. James. It was not well accepted, even though the Indian troubles had dissipated, for a white woman to marry an Indian man, no matter how well he was educated.

On second thought, Abigail realized how comfortable and secure Victoria seemed in her marriage and somehow knew that it was something more devastating that was keeping Victoria from seeing her brother and friends again.

Strangely, after Abigail had spent six months of working at the mission school, Victoria came to her one day and announced that she, their son Jimmy and Dr. James were returning to the mountain mission, to his people in California. She learned that the Califorinia mission was a four day trip into the high mountains from Cateman.

"That's wonderful, Victoria! Now you can go see your brother and your friends in Cateman." Abigail did expect a somewhat negative response, from previous conversations but nothing as desperate as she heard.

"I told you," Victoria's smile faded and her voice had a pleading tone. "I love and miss my brother every day...but I can not return to Cateman! I can never go back. No one would understand. I can't."


It was at the train station when the small family was awaiting the train going West that Victoria hugged Abigail tightly and handed her an envelope.

"This is for you Abigail. Please don't forget me. Maybe someday we will see each other again." She again hugged Abigail and ran to her husband and son waiting to board the train.

After the train had gone, Abigail opened the small remembrance. Inside was a photograph of Victoria, James and their son Jimmy. On the back was a small and very confusing message.

"Abigail, if you ever get to Cateman, I would like for you to meet my brother. He is a wonderful man and would be a good companion, as I know you are still seeking the will of God in your life for marriage. One thing you must promise me is that you will never let him know of my whereabouts. It would destroy his confidence in his ministry. I hope to see you again someday if God wills."

It was signed simply, "Victoria." The message seemed a contradiction. It left Abigail wondering even more about Victoria's past. The message seemed to be asking for Abigail to go, to help somehow, yet Victoria was saying she herself could not go back to Cateman.

Abigail read the message over again and again in the next few months and just as she was letting the situation go from her mind, a newspaper advertisement brought the subject back with clarity. The advertisement was for a teaching position in Cateman, California.