Dixie put the small Metal hinged Box back under the loose floorboard beneath the dresser, she hummed along with the piano tune that was playing and then quietly sang the words of the song to herself.

The hours I remember well,
When next to see doth move me,
The burning flames my heart doth tell,
Since first she own'd she lov'd me:
In search of some one fair and gay,
Several doth remind me.
I know my darling loves me well,
Tho' I left her behind me.

She ran her hands over the bed quilt and then walked towards the window.
She saw the Soldier first, silhouetted in the light coming out of the Lawyer's Office doorway and then she saw the Woman. "A lady out this late, must be real important Business to be calling on the Lawyer, interesting" she mused.

"Damn it all Casey, you will have them weeping in their Beer if you keep this up...and then they will stop thinking about Business and start thinking about their wives and then, I lose their cash" said Dixie aloud herself.
She quickly looked into the mirror and bared her teeth, rubbed her forefinger over them and then left her room and went walking down the hallway with a purpose about her.
She went straight over to the Piano player when she reached the bottom stair.
"Casey..they don't need no minding of the girls they left behind this early in the evening" she snapped
The Piano Player looked up from the keys and smiled.
"Sometimes I ain't playing for 'them' Dixie, sometimes I gets the urge to play for myself" he smiled again.
Dixie smiled back. She liked Casey.
"Well why don't you play something that doesn't make my Customers go Home to their wives early or worse get so drunk that they ain't even capable of thinking about taking themselves to bed never mind a me" she winked.
Casey winked back and gave Dixie a soft smile.
"Don't you like playing any happy tunes"...she laughed.
Dixie turned and walked over to towards the poker table. As she reached her spot Casey had began to play again.

Dixie put her hand to her forehead, smiling as if to say "now you've gone done it Casey". Some of the more worst for the whiskey sang along with the Piano, a few real drunks took to dancing,

Nearing the end of the Song the volume of the men's drunken singing increased,

Come all you British noblemen and listen unto me;
Our Frontiersman has proved to you America is free.
But tell your royal master when you return back home,
That out of thirty thousand men, but few of you returned.

Ever watchful Dixie saw the young man again who was now sitting at a Table with someone. She couldn't make out who he was talking to as the man had his back to her.
She looked at the clock to her right. Midnight, that would make it two of the morning.
Dixie knew the clock was always two hours shy of the correct time. A trick to make the Poker Players play longer but then the Poker players came to the 'Byway' to play Poker and paid time no heed.
"One last turn on the sheet" she thought then I am calling it quits tonight.

She saw the young man get up from the table and for a moment she thought he was about to leave but he walked to the bar. She watched him. Adam Henry was well on his way down the road of the drink tonight but then that was nothing new. Poor Adam. He figured he was in Heaven behind that Bar! If only he kept the few bits the customers let him keep from selling them whiskey instead of using it all to buy himself whiskey.
She caught the Young Man's eye and winked at him.
He blushed crimson and looked away.
Dixie laughed.
A muleskinner she thought....and then she saw the man he had been sitting with, Bill Rogerson. Seemed to her this young fella was a muleskinner looking for work.   Yip, Bill was the right Man to be talking to.
The young man took two drinks from the Bar and walked back to the table and all the while Dixie was watching him.
She played a game for her own amusement.
"I'll bet he looks at me again" she said to herself.." Look at me" she willed. The young man looked straight at her. She laughed and winked at him again and sure enough didn't he blush like a girl.

"Ah damn it all to hell. I have worked hard enough for the night taking one more is only greed and what I lose in not taking one more I have made in the little extra I was given this evening." thought Dixie
With that, she walked the length of the bar and over to the woman at the table next to Wilmot's Office.
"I'm done for the night Alice see you in the morning" said Dixie
"Night Dixie, busy tonight, five" said the woman.
"un huh" said Dixie with a wry smile.
" night then" said the woman.

Dixie made sure she walked passed the young man on her way towards the stairs.
As she drew closer she could see his face more clearly "No he don't fit here and I don't think he is even taking to shaving yet!" she thought.
As she reached the table where the young man and Bill Rogerson sat talking. "Evening Bill" she said. "Evening Dixie" replied Bill Rogerson. Dixie bent towards the young man and whispered in his ear..."Night then, maybe you will get to thinking about dropping by here again". She didn't wait to for a reply, she didn't want one. In fact she didn't even look at him after she spoke, she just walked towards the stairs feeling his eyes on her as she climbed them.

As she walked to her room she made a mental note to herself.
Thursday tomorrow. Doctor Shepard's at three.
Dixie yawned as she closed her door.
The sound of a key turning indicated her door was now locked.
Dixie was done for tonight.