He walked into Judge Parkman's foyer as she was handing her wrap to a servant, and they nodded and smiled at each other. "Pleasant weather for April," he said as they approached the bunting-draped entrance to the ballroom together. He smiled again, a casual, transient smile. "Is the temperature unusual?" Flora glanced up only briefly, intent on adjusting the length of her white kid glove on her upper arm. Adam shrugged, his broad shoulders barely moving beneath his elegantly cut evening coat. His gaze was on the crowded ballroom visible through the decorated portal, which was patriotically swathed in red, white, and blue in honor of their host's recent appointment to the federal bench. "It's been an early spring," he said, searching for his host in the glittering assemblage. "But, then, the Chinook winds are unpredictable." Both were curiously unaware of each other. Adam, for whom the previous few hours had been volatile, was still distracted. Flora Bonham, only recently arrived in Virginia City after a long journey from London, was looking forward to seeing her father.
