Samuel shook his head.  “Don’t be impertinent.  I’m your father.”

“I’m not afraid of you, you know.”

“I hope I never raised you so that you would be,” he said more gently.  “I hope I gave you everything I had in the way of affection and I know, you know as well, that I never raised a hand to you or kept anything from you.”

“It’s not easy growing up having your father be the First Elder.”

“I understand that.”

“Other people are afraid of you.”

“I’m sorry if that’s true.  I can only be the person I’m required to be.”

Charlotte clenched her hands together even more tightly.  “But we’re not getting anywhere.  Tell me what you have to tell me and be done with it.”

“You’re too bold.  You’ve always been too bold.”

“And look where it’s got me.  But I will say again, and I don’t care whether you believe me or not, it wasn’t my fault.”

“Conner Mathis was a fine man.  An upright citizen, a pillar of the community.  He was of the lineage of a Witness.”

“I don’t mean to upset you right here at what seems like an important moment, but you weren’t married to him, you didn’t have to cook his meals and share his bed.  From where a woman stands, and it could have been anyone, not just me, he was not a pillar of anything.  He was not a good man.”

Samuel got down from the wagon, his troubles showing in the exhausted contours of his face.  “Daughter,” he said.  “I don’t know what to do with you.”

Charlotte fought back her tears.  “Actually, it seems that you do know.  You’re still not telling me everything.”

“Step down from the wagon.”  His voice had become that of the First Elder.  Charlotte gathered her skirts and stepped down.  He set his hands on her shoulders.

“My wild, ungovernable child.  Look at you.”  There were tears in his eyes as well, despite the tone of his voice.  “Your hair.  Your beautiful face.  How did this happen?”  But it was only a question to the universe, not to her.

Charlotte cast her gaze down.  She did not want to make her father cry.

“Tobias and those with him are out in the desert for contemplation’s sake, it’s true, but also to take measure of the country, lay down new beginnings for the time when we’ll need them.  This is where you are to go.  This is where you will live.  And Charlotte…?”

“Yes?”

“There’ll be another husband waiting for you.  Tobias chose this one.  He believes he’s more capable in this regard than I, even if he hardly remembers you.  Do you want to know the name?”

“No.”