Hard Virtue

Originally Aired: January 22, 1961 Gunsmoke #459, "Hard Virtue," opens with Andy and Millie Cole arriving in Dodge City, hoping to sell their wagon and make a fresh start. When freight line owner Ed Fellon's runaway team nearly kills Millie, the hot-tempered Andy nearly comes to blows with him. To make amends, Fellon offers Andy a job and pays for the damaged wagon, but Andy's suspicions are immediately aroused. His distrust deepens when he discovers boot prints with Spanish heels outside their shack and realizes someone has been visiting Millie while he's at work. Despite Millie's denials, Andy straps on a gun for the first time since arriving in Dodge. Marshal Matt Dillon learns that Doc Adams delivered a note from Millie to Ed Fellon, marked as business but suspicious given the circumstances. When Matt confronts Fellon and warns him to stay away from Millie Cole, the freight line owner insists the note was purely business related. With Andy wearing a gun and growing more volatile by the hour, Matt finds himself trying to prevent a killing, caught between a jealous husband, a mysterious wife, and a man who may or may not be innocent.