Pale Horse, Pale Rider

Reader reviewed by Dede

There are three stories in this book. The first is called Old Mortality and is supposed to be a sort of mystery. Two young girls, Maria and Miranda - 12 years and 8 years old - ponder about their Aunt Amy and all the stories they have heard about her. She died young, after she married a very persistant man, Gabriel, who loved her deeply. She was always sickly and so it was really no surprise, but there seems to be some kind of mystery surrounding her getting married and leaving, although they allude that there was and things were not what they seemed. They meet Gabriel and the wife he took after their Aunt Amy died, and see that his life is basically in ruins. Many years later, Miranda returns to her home for Gabriel's funeral and meets her cousin Eva on the train there. Eva continually persists that all was not as it seems again about her Aunt Amy, her marriage, her life, her death, but we are never told what was off or why we should even care (Amy was dead long before the beginning of the story) so it is a frustrating read at best.
The second story, Noon Wine, is a little better. It's about an old farmer, Mr. Thompson, who is not doing so well living with his wife and two boys and doing a poor job of managing his farm. One day a stranger, Mr Helton, comes along asking for a job and Mr. Thompson gives him one. Over the years, Mr. Helton works hard and fixing up the place and makes it very profitable for Mr. Thompson. Mr Helton doesn't talk much, but plays the same song on his harmonica every night. Years and years later, another man comes looking for Mr. Helton and tells Mr. Thompson that Mr. Helton is a bad man, more or less, what follows is a jarbled scene and then a tragedy, or a couple of them. We never find out if what the new man said about Mr. Helton was true or not, and it is a pretty bleak story, but better than the first, a little.
The third story is called Pale Horse, Pale Rider, and it takes up with Miranda from the first story, in her adult life. She works for a newspaper, there is a war going on, and she's in love with Adam, an enlisted soldier. They spend time together, but Miranda doesn't feel quite herself lately. She catches some kind of disease or plague before Adam goes off to war, and we are not told how long she is sick before she gets better. It's an odd boring trio of stories.