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diff --git a/old/10549-8.txt b/old/10549-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db3b358 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10549-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14087 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Romance of the Republic, by Lydia Maria +Francis Child + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + + + + +Title: A Romance of the Republic + +Author: Lydia Maria Francis Child + +Release Date: December 30, 2003 [eBook #10549] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: IDO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A ROMANCE OF THE REPUBLIC*** + + +E-text prepared by Dave Maddock, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +A ROMANCE OF THE REPUBLIC + +BY + +L. MARIA CHILD + +1867 + + + + + + +TO + +THE FATHER AND MOTHER OF + +COL. R.G. SHAW, + +THE EARLY AND EVER-FAITHFUL FRIENDS OF FREEDOM AND EQUAL RIGHTS, + +THIS VOLUME + +IS MOST RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY + +INSCRIBED + +BY + +THE AUTHOR. + + + + + + +PART FIRST. + + +CHAPTER I. + + +"What are you going to do with yourself this evening, Alfred?" said Mr. +Royal to his companion, as they issued from his counting-house in New +Orleans. "Perhaps I ought to apologize for not calling you Mr. King, +considering the shortness of our acquaintance; but your father and I +were like brothers in our youth, and you resemble him so much, I can +hardly realize that you are not he himself, and I still a young man. +It used to be a joke with us that we must be cousins, since he was a +King and I was of the Royal family. So excuse me if I say to you, as +I used to say to him. What are you going to do with yourself, Cousin +Alfred?" + +"I thank you for the friendly familiarity," rejoined the young man. +"It is pleasant to know that I remind you so strongly of my good +father. My most earnest wish is to resemble him in character as much +as I am said to resemble him in person. I have formed no plans for the +evening. I was just about to ask you what there was best worth seeing +or hearing in the Crescent City." + +"If I should tell you I thought there was nothing better worth seeing +than my daughters, you would perhaps excuse a father's partiality," +rejoined Mr. Royal. + +"Your daughters!" exclaimed his companion, in a tone of surprise. "I +never heard that you were married." + +A shadow of embarrassment passed over the merchant's face, as he +replied, "Their mother was a Spanish lady,--a stranger here,--and she +formed no acquaintance. She was a woman of a great heart and of rare +beauty. Nothing can ever make up her loss to me; but all the joy that +remains in life is centred in the daughters she has left me. I should +like to introduce them to you; and that is a compliment I never before +paid to any young man. My home is in the outskirts of the city; and +when we have dined at the hotel, according to my daily habit, I will +send off a few letters, and then, if you like to go there with me, I +will call a carriage." + +"Thank you," replied the young man; "unless it is your own custom to +ride, I should prefer to walk. I like the exercise, and it will give a +better opportunity to observe the city, which is so different from our +Northern towns that it has for me the attractions of a foreign land." + +In compliance with this wish, Mr. Royal took him through the principal +streets, pointing out the public buildings, and now and then stopping +to smile at some placard or sign which presented an odd jumble of +French and English. When they came to the suburbs of the city, the +aspect of things became charmingly rural. Houses were scattered here +and there among trees and gardens. Mr. Royal pointed out one of them, +nestled in flowers and half encircled by an orange-grove, and said, +"That is my home. When I first came here, the place where it stands +was a field of sugar-canes; but the city is fast stretching itself +into the suburbs." + +They approached the dwelling; and in answer to the bell, the door was +opened by a comely young negress, with a turban of bright colors +on her head and golden hoops in her ears. Before the gentlemen had +disposed of their hats and canes, a light little figure bounded from +one of the rooms, clapping her hands, and exclaiming, "Ah, Papasito!" +Then, seeing a stranger with him, she suddenly stood still, with a +pretty look of blushing surprise. + +"Never mind, Mignonne," said her father, fondly patting her head. +"This is Alfred Royal King, from Boston; my namesake, and the son of +a dear old friend of mine. I have invited him to see you dance. Mr. +King, this is my Floracita." + +The fairy dotted a courtesy, quickly and gracefully as a butterfly +touching a flower, and then darted back into the room she had left. +There they were met by a taller young lady, who was introduced as "My +daughter Rosabella." Her beauty was superlative and peculiar. Her +complexion was like a glowing reflection upon ivory from gold in the +sunshine. Her large brown eyes were deeply fringed, and lambent with +interior light. Lustrous dark brown hair shaded her forehead in little +waves, slight as the rippling of water touched by an insect's wing. It +was arranged at the back of her head in circling braids, over which +fell clusters of ringlets, with moss-rose-buds nestling among them. +Her full, red lips were beautifully shaped, and wore a mingled +expression of dignity and sweetness. The line from ear to chin was +that perfect oval which artists love, and the carriage of her head was +like one born to a kingdom. + +Floracita, though strikingly handsome, was of a model less superb than +her elder sister. She was a charming little brunette, with laughter +always lurking in ambush within her sparkling black eyes, a mouth like +"Cupid's bow carved in coral," and dimples in her cheeks, that well +deserved their French name, _berceaux d'amour_. + +These radiant visions of beauty took Alfred King so much by +surprise, that he was for a moment confused. But he soon recovered +self-possession, and, after the usual salutations, took a seat offered +him near a window overlooking the garden. While the commonplaces of +conversation were interchanged, he could not but notice the floral +appearance of the room. The ample white lace curtains were surmounted +by festoons of artificial roses, caught up by a bird of paradise. On +the ceiling was an exquisitely painted garland, from the centre +of which hung a tasteful basket of natural flowers, with delicate +vine-tresses drooping over its edge. The walls were papered with +bright arabesques of flowers, interspersed with birds and butterflies. +In one corner a statuette of Flora looked down upon a geranium covered +with a profusion of rich blossoms. In the opposite corner, ivy was +trained to form a dark background for Canova's "Dancer in Repose," +over whose arm was thrown a wreath of interwoven vines and +orange-blossoms. On brackets and tables were a variety of natural +flowers in vases of Sevres china, whereon the best artists of France +had painted flowers in all manner of graceful combinations. The +ottomans were embroidered with flowers. Rosabella's white muslin dress +was trailed all over with delicately tinted roses, and the lace around +the corsage was fastened in front with a mosaic basket of flowers. +Floracita's black curls fell over her shoulders mixed with crimson +fuchsias, and on each of her little slippers was embroidered a +bouquet. + +"This is the Temple of Flora," said Alfred, turning to his host. +"Flowers everywhere! Natural flowers, artificial flowers, painted +flowers, embroidered flowers, and human flowers excelling them +all,"--glancing at the young ladies as he spoke. + +Mr. Royal sighed, and in an absent sort of way answered, "Yes, yes." +Then, starting up, he said abruptly, "Excuse me a moment; I wish to +give the servants some directions." + +Floracita, who was cutting leaves from the geranium, observed his +quick movement, and, as he left the room, she turned toward their +visitor and said, in a childlike, confidential sort of way: "Our dear +Mamita used to call this room the Temple of Flora. She had a great +passion for flowers. She chose the paper, she made the garlands for +the curtains, she embroidered the ottomans, and painted that table so +prettily. Papasito likes to have things remain as she arranged them, +but sometimes they make him sad; for the angels took Mamita away from +us two years ago." + +"Even the names she gave you are flowery," said Alfred, with an +expression of mingled sympathy and admiration. + +"Yes; and we had a great many flowery pet-names beside," replied she. +"My name is Flora, but when she was very loving with me she called me +her Floracita, her little flower; and Papasito always calls me so now. +Sometimes Mamita called me _Pensée Vivace_." + +"In English we call that bright little flower Jump-up-and-kiss-me," +rejoined Alfred, smiling as he looked down upon the lively little +fairy. + +She returned the smile with an arch glance, that seemed to say, "I +sha'n't do it, though." And away she skipped to meet her father, whose +returning steps were heard. + +"You see I spoil her," said he, as she led him into the room with a +half-dancing step. "But how can I help it?" + +Before there was time to respond to this question, the negress with +the bright turban announced that tea was ready. + +"Yes, Tulipa? we will come," said Floracita. + +"Is _she_ a flower too?" asked Alfred. + +"Yes, she's a flower, too," answered Floracita, with a merry little +laugh. "We named her so because she always wears a red and yellow +turban; but we call her Tulee, for short." + +While they were partaking of refreshments, she and her father were +perpetually exchanging badinage, which, childish as it was, served to +enliven the repast. But when she began to throw oranges for him to +catch, a reproving glance from her dignified sister reminded her of +the presence of company. + +"Let her do as she likes, Rosa dear," said her father. "She is used to +being my little plaything, and I can't spare her to be a woman yet." + +"I consider it a compliment to forget that I am a stranger," said Mr. +King. "For my own part, I forgot it entirely before I had been in the +house ten minutes." + +Rosabella thanked him with a quiet smile and a slight inclination of +her head. Floracita, notwithstanding this encouragement, paused in her +merriment; and Mr. Royal began to talk over reminiscences connected +with Alfred's father. When they rose from table, he said, "Come here, +Mignonne! We won't be afraid of the Boston gentleman, will we?" +Floracita sprang to his side. He passed his arm fondly round her, and, +waiting for his guest and his elder daughter to precede them, they +returned to the room they had left. They had scarcely entered it, when +Floracita darted to the window, and, peering forth into the twilight, +she looked back roguishly at her sister, and began to sing:-- + + "Un petit blanc, que j'aime, + En ces lieux est venu. + Oui! oui! c'est lui même! + C'est lui! je l'ai vue! + Petit blanc! mon bon frère! + Ha! ha! petit blanc si doux!" + +The progress of her song was checked by the entrance of a gentleman, +who was introduced to Alfred as Mr. Fitzgerald from Savannah. His +handsome person reminded one of an Italian tenor singer, and his +manner was a graceful mixture of _hauteur_ and insinuating courtesy. +After a brief interchange of salutations, he said to Floracita, +"I heard some notes of a lively little French tune, that went so +trippingly I should be delighted to hear more of it." + +Floracita had accidentally overheard some half-whispered words which +Mr. Fitzgerald had addressed to her sister, during his last visit, +and, thinking she had discovered an important secret, she was disposed +to use her power mischievously. Without waiting for a repetition of +his request, she sang:-- + + "Petit blanc, mon bon frère! + Ha! ha! petit blanc si doux! + Il n'y a rien sur la terre + De si joli que vous." + +While she was singing, she darted roguish glances at her sister, whose +cheeks glowed like the sun-ripened side of a golden apricot. Her +father touched her shoulder, and said in a tone of annoyance, "Don't +sing that foolish song, Mignonne!" She turned to him quickly with a +look of surprise; for she was accustomed only to endearments from him. +In answer to her look, he added, in a gentler tone, "You know I told +you I wanted my friend to see you dance. Select one of your prettiest, +_ma petite_, and Rosabella will play it for you." + +Mr. Fitzgerald assiduously placed the music-stool, and bent over the +portfolio while Miss Royal searched for the music. A servant lighted +the candelabra and drew the curtains. Alfred, glancing at Mr. Royal, +saw he was watching the pair who were busy at the portfolio, and that +the expression of his countenance was troubled. His eyes, however, +soon had pleasanter occupation; for as soon as Rosa touched the piano, +Floracita began to float round the room in a succession of graceful +whirls, as if the music had taken her up and was waltzing her along. +As she passed the marble Dancing Girl, she seized the wreath that was +thrown over its arm, and as she went circling round, it seemed as +if the tune had become a visible spirit, and that the garland was a +floating accompaniment to its graceful motions. Sometimes it was held +aloft by the right hand, sometimes by the left; sometimes it was +a whirling semicircle behind her; and sometimes it rested on her +shoulders, mingling its white orange buds and blossoms with her shower +of black curls and crimson fuchsias. Now it was twined round her head +in a flowery crown, and then it gracefully unwound itself, as if it +were a thing alive. Ever and anon the little dancer poised herself for +an instant on the point of one fairy foot, her cheeks glowing with +exercise and dimpling with smiles, as she met her father's delighted +gaze. Every attitude seemed spontaneous in its prettiness, as if the +music had made it without her choice. At last she danced toward her +father, and sank, with a wave-like motion, on the ottoman at his feet. +He patted the glossy head that nestled lovingly on his knee, and +drawing a long breath, as if oppressed with happiness, he murmured, +"Ah, Mignonne!" + +The floating fairy vision had given such exquisite pleasure, that all +had been absorbed in watching its variations. Now they looked at +each other and smiled. "You would make Taglioni jealous," said Mr. +Fitzgerald, addressing the little dancer; and Mr. King silently +thanked her with a very expressive glance. + +As Rosabella retired from the piano, she busied herself with +rearranging a bouquet she had taken from one of the vases. When Mr. +Fitzgerald stationed himself at her side, she lowered her eyes with a +perceptibly deepening color. On her peculiar complexion a blush showed +like a roseate cloud in a golden atmosphere. As Alfred gazed on the +long, dark, silky fringes resting on those warmly tinted cheeks, he +thought he had never seen any human creature so superbly handsome. + +"Nothing but music can satisfy us after such dancing," said Mr. +Fitzgerald. She looked up to him with a smile; and Alfred thought the +rising of those dark eyelashes surpassed their downcast expression, as +the glory of morning sunshine excels the veiled beauty of starlight. + +"Shall I accompany you while you sing, 'How brightly breaks the +morning'?" asked she. + +"That always sings itself into my heart, whenever you raise your eyes +to mine," replied he, in a low tone, as he handed her to the piano. + +Together they sang that popular melody, bright and joyful as sunrise +on a world of blossoms. Then came a Tyrolese song, with a double +voice, sounding like echoes from the mountains. This was followed +by some tender, complaining Russian melodies, novelties which Mr. +Fitzgerald had brought on a preceding visit. Feeling they were too +much engrossed with each other, she said politely, "Mr. King has not +yet chosen any music." + +"The moon becomes visible through the curtains," replied he. "Perhaps +you will salute her with 'Casta Diva.'" + +"That is a favorite with us," she replied. "Either Flora or I sing it +almost every moonlight night." + +She sang it in very pure Italian. Then turning round on the +music-stool she looked at her father, and said, "Now, _Papasito +querido_, what shall I sing for you?" + +"You know, dear, what I always love to hear," answered he. + +With gentle touch, she drew from the keys a plaintive prelude, which +soon modulated itself into "The Light of other Days." She played and +sang it with so much feeling, that it seemed the voice of memory +floating with softened sadness over the far-off waters of the past. +The tune was familiar to Alfred, but it had never sung itself into his +heart, as now. "I felt as I did in Italy, listening to a vesper-bell +sounding from a distance in the stillness of twilight," said he, +turning toward his host. + +"All who hear Rosabella sing notice a bell in her voice," rejoined her +father. + +"Undoubtedly it is the voice of a belle," said Mr. Fitzgerald. + +Her father, without appearing to notice the commonplace pun, went on +to say, "You don't know, Mr. King, what tricks she can play with her +voice. I call her a musical ventriloquist. If you want to hear the +bell to perfection, ask her to sing 'Toll the bell for lovely Nell.'" + +"Do give me that pleasure," said Alfred, persuasively. + +She sang the pathetic melody, and with voice and piano imitated to +perfection the slow tolling of a silver-toned bell. After a short +pause, during which she trifled with the keys, while some general +remarks were passing, she turned to Mr. Fitzgerald, who was leaning on +the piano, and said, "What shall I sing for _you_?" It was a simple +question, but it pierced the heart of Alfred King with a strange new +pain. What would he not have given for such a soft expression in those +glorious eyes when she looked at _him_! + +"Since you are in a ventriloqual mood," answered Mr. Fitzgerald, +"I should like to hear again what you played the last time I was +here,--Agatha's Moonlight Prayer, from _Der Freyschütz_." + +She smiled, and with voice and instrument produced the indescribably +dreamy effect of the two flutes. It was the very moonlight of sound. + +"This is perfectly magical," murmured Alfred. He spoke in a low, +almost reverential tone; for the spell of moonlight was on him, and +the clear, soft voice of the singer, the novelty of her peculiar +beauty, and the surpassing gracefulness of her motions, as she swayed +gently to the music of the tones she produced, inspired him with a +feeling of poetic deference. Through the partially open window came +the lulling sound of a little trickling fountain in the garden, and +the air was redolent of jasmine and orange-blossoms. On the pier-table +was a little sleeping Cupid, from whose torch rose the fragrant +incense of a nearly extinguished _pastille_. The pervasive spirit of +beauty in the room, manifested in forms, colors, tones, and motions, +affected the soul as perfume did the senses. The visitors felt they +had stayed too long, and yet they lingered. Alfred examined the +reclining Cupid, and praised the gracefulness of its outline. + +"Cupid could never sleep here, nor would the flame of his torch ever +go out," said Mr. Fitzgerald; "but it is time _we_ were going out." + +The young gentlemen exchanged parting salutations with their host and +his daughters, and moved toward the door. But Mr. Fitzgerald paused on +the threshold to say, "Please play us out with Mozart's 'Good Night.'" + +"As organists play worshippers out of the church," added Mr. King. + +Rosabella bowed compliance, and, as they crossed the outer threshold, +they heard the most musical of voices singing Mozart's beautiful +little melody, "Buona Notte, amato bene." The young men lingered near +the piazza till the last sounds floated away, and then they walked +forth in the moonlight,--Fitzgerald repeating the air in a subdued +whistle. + +His first exclamation was, "Isn't that girl a Rose Royal?" + +"She is, indeed," replied Mr. King; "and the younger sister is also +extremely fascinating." + +"Yes, I thought you seemed to think so," rejoined his companion. +"Which do you prefer?" + +Shy of revealing his thoughts to a stranger, Mr. King replied that +each of the sisters was so perfect in her way, the other would be +wronged by preference. + +"Yes, they are both rare gems of beauty," rejoined Fitzgerald. "If I +were the Grand Bashaw, I would have them both in my harem." + +The levity of the remark jarred on the feelings of his companion, who +answered, in a grave, and somewhat cold tone, "I saw nothing in the +manners of the young ladies to suggest such a disposition of them." + +"Excuse me," said Fitzgerald, laughing. "I forgot you were from the +land of Puritans. I meant no indignity to the young ladies, I assure +you. But when one amuses himself with imagining the impossible, it is +not worth while to be scrupulous about details. I am _not_ the Grand +Bashaw; and when I pronounced them fit for his harem, I merely meant +a compliment to their superlative beauty. That Floracita is a +mischievous little sprite. Did you ever see anything more roguish than +her expression while she was singing 'Petit blanc, mon bon frère'?" + +"That mercurial little song excited my curiosity," replied Alfred. +"Pray what is its origin?" + +"I think it likely it came from the French West Indies," said +Fitzgerald. "It seems to be the love-song of a young negress, +addressed to a white lover. Floracita may have learned it from her +mother, who was half French, half Spanish. You doubtless observed +the foreign sprinkling in their talk. They told me they never spoke +English with their mother. Those who have seen her describe her as a +wonderful creature, who danced like Taglioni and sang like Malibran, +and was more beautiful than her daughter Rosabella. But the last part +of the story is incredible. If she were half as handsome, no wonder +Mr. Royal idolized her, as they say he did." + +"Did he marry her in the French Islands?" inquired Alfred. + +"They were not married," answered Fitzgerald. "Of course not, for she +was a quadroon. But here are my lodgings, and I must bid you good +night." + +These careless parting words produced great disturbance in the spirit +of Alfred King. He had heard of those quadroon connections, as one +hears of foreign customs, without any realizing sense of their +consequences. That his father's friend should be a partner in such an +alliance, and that these two graceful and accomplished girls should by +that circumstance be excluded from the society they would so greatly +ornament, surprised and bewildered him. He recalled that tinge in +Rosa's complexion, not golden, but like a faint, luminous reflection +of gold, and that slight waviness in the glossy hair, which seemed +to him so becoming. He could not make these peculiarities seem less +beautiful to his imagination, now that he knew them as signs of +her connection with a proscribed race. And that bewitching little +Floracita, emerging into womanhood, with the auroral light of +childhood still floating round her, she seemed like a beautiful +Italian child, whose proper place was among fountains and statues +and pictured forms of art. The skill of no Parisian _coiffeur_ could +produce a result so pleasing as the profusion of raven hair, that +_would_ roll itself into ringlets. Octoroons! He repeated the word +to himself, but it did not disenchant him. It was merely something +foreign and new to his experience, like Spanish or Italian beauty. Yet +he felt painfully the false position in which they were placed by the +unreasoning prejudice of society. + +Though he had had a fatiguing day, when he entered his chamber he felt +no inclination to sleep. As he slowly paced up and down the room, he +thought to himself, "My good mother shares the prejudice. How could +I introduce them to _her_?" Then, as if impatient with himself, he +murmured, in a vexed tone, "Why should I _think_ of introducing them +to my mother? A few hours ago I didn't know of their existence." + +He threw himself on the bed and tried to sleep; but memory was +too busy with the scene of enchantment he had recently left. A +catalpa-tree threw its shadow on the moon-lighted curtain. He began to +count the wavering leaves, in hopes the monotonous occupation would +induce slumber. After a while he forgot to count; and as his spirit +hovered between the inner and the outer world, Floracita seemed to be +dancing on the leaf shadows in manifold graceful evolutions. Then he +was watching a little trickling fountain, and the falling drops were +tones of "The Light of other Days." Anon he was wandering among +flowers in the moonlight, and from afar some one was heard singing +"Casta Diva." The memory of that voice, + + "While slept the limbs and senses all, + Made everything seem musical." + +Again and again the panorama of the preceding evening revolved through +the halls of memory with every variety of fantastic change. A light +laugh broke in upon the scenes of enchantment, with the words, "Of +course not, for she was a quadroon." Then the plaintive melody of +"Toll the bell" resounded in his ears; not afar off, but loud and +clear, as if the singer were in the room. He woke with a start, and +heard the vibrations of a cathedral bell subsiding into silence. It +had struck but twice, but in his spiritual ear the sounds had been +modulated through many tones. "Even thus strangely," thought he, "has +that rich, sonorous voice struck into the dream of my life," + +Again he saw those large, lustrous eyes lowering their long-fringed +veils under the ardent gaze of Gerald Fitzgerald. Again he thought of +his mother, and sighed. At last a dreamless sleep stole over him, and +both pleasure and pain were buried in deep oblivion. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The sun was up before he woke. He rose hastily and ordered breakfast +and a horse; for he had resolved the day before upon an early ride. A +restless, undefined feeling led him in the same direction he had taken +the preceding evening. He passed the house that would forevermore be +a prominent feature in the landscape of his life. Vines were gently +waving in the morning air between the pillars of the piazza, where he +had lingered entranced to hear the tones of "Buena Notte." The bright +turban of Tulipa was glancing about, as she dusted the blinds. A +peacock on the balustrade, in the sunshine, spread out his tail into a +great Oriental fan, and slowly lowered it, making a prismatic shower +of topaz, sapphires, and emeralds as it fell. It was the first of +March; but as he rode on, thinking of the dreary landscape and +boisterous winds of New England at that season, the air was filled +with the fragrance of flowers, and mocking-birds and thrushes saluted +him with their songs. In many places the ground was thickly strewn +with oranges, and the orange-groves were beautiful with golden fruit +and silver flowers gleaming among the dark glossy green foliage. +Here and there was the mansion of a wealthy planter, surrounded by +whitewashed slave-cabins. The negroes at their work, and their black +picaninnies rolling about on the ground, seemed an appropriate part of +the landscape, so tropical in its beauty of dark colors and luxuriant +growth. + +He rode several miles, persuading himself that he was enticed solely +by the healthy exercise and the novelty of the scene. But more +alluring than the pleasant landscape and the fragrant air was the hope +that, if he returned late, the young ladies might be on the piazza, +or visible at the windows. He was destined to be disappointed. As he +passed, a curtain was slowly withdrawn from one of the windows and +revealed a vase of flowers. He rode slowly, in hopes of seeing a face +bend over the flowers; but the person who drew the curtain remained +invisible. On the piazza nothing was in motion, except the peacock +strutting along, stately as a court beauty, and drawing after him +his long train of jewelled plumage. A voice, joyous as a bobolink's, +sounded apparently from the garden. He could not hear the words, but +the lively tones at once suggested, "Petit blanc, mon bon frère." He +recalled the words so carelessly uttered, "Of course not, for she was +a quadroon," and they seemed to make harsh discord with the refrain of +the song. He remembered the vivid flush that passed over Rosa's face +while her playful sister teased her with that tuneful badinage. It +seemed to him that Mr. Fitzgerald was well aware of his power, for +he had not attempted to conceal his consciousness of the singer's +mischievous intent. This train of thought was arrested by the inward +question, "What is it to _me_ whether he marries her or not?" +Impatiently he touched his horse with the whip, as if he wanted to +rush from the answer to his own query. + +He had engaged to meet Mr. Royal at his counting-house, and he was +careful to keep the appointment. He was received with parental +kindness slightly tinged with embarrassment. After some conversation +about business, Mr. Royal said: "From your silence concerning your +visit to my house last evening, I infer that Mr. Fitzgerald has given +you some information relating to my daughters' history. I trust, my +young friend, that you have not suspected me of any intention to +deceive or entrap you. I intended to have told you myself; but I had a +desire to know first how my daughters would impress you, if judged by +their own merits. Having been forestalled in my purpose, I am afraid +frankness on your part will now be difficult." + +"A feeling of embarrassment did indeed prevent me from alluding to +my visit as soon as I met you this morning," replied Alfred; "but no +circumstances could alter my estimate of your daughters. Their beauty +and gracefulness exceed anything I have seen." + +"And they are as innocent and good as they are beautiful," rejoined +the father. "But you can easily imagine that my pride and delight in +them is much disturbed by anxiety concerning their future. Latterly, +I have thought a good deal about closing business and taking them to +France to reside. But when men get to be so old as I am, the process +of being transplanted to a foreign soil seems onerous. If it were as +well for _them_, I should greatly prefer returning to my native New +England." + +"They are tropical flowers," observed Alfred. "There is nothing +Northern in their natures." + +"Yes, they are tropical flowers," rejoined the father, "and my wish is +to place them in perpetual sunshine. I doubt whether they could ever +feel quite at home far away from jasmines and orange-groves. But +climate is the least of the impediments in the way of taking them +to New England. Their connection with the enslaved race is so very +slight, that it might easily be concealed; but the consciousness of +practising concealment is always unpleasant. Your father was more free +from prejudices of all sorts than any man I ever knew. If he were +living, I would confide all to him, and be guided implicitly by his +advice. You resemble him so strongly, that I have been involuntarily +drawn to open my heart to you, as I never thought to do to so young a +man. Yet I find the fulness of my confidence checked by the fear of +lowering myself in the estimation of the son of my dearest friend. But +perhaps, if you knew all the circumstances, and had had my experience, +you would find some extenuation of my fault. I was very unhappy when I +first came to New Orleans. I was devotedly attached to a young lady, +and I was rudely repelled by her proud and worldly family. I was +seized with a vehement desire to prove to them that I could become +richer than they were. I rushed madly into the pursuit of wealth, and +I was successful; but meanwhile they had married her to another, and I +found that wealth alone could not bring happiness. In vain the profits +of my business doubled and quadrupled. I was unsatisfied, lonely, and +sad. Commercial transactions brought me into intimate relations with +Señor Gonsalez, a Spanish gentleman in St. Augustine. He had formed an +alliance with a beautiful slave, whom he had bought in the French West +Indies. I never saw her, for she died before my acquaintance with him; +but their daughter, then a girl of sixteen, was the most charming +creature I ever beheld. The irresistible attraction I felt toward her +the first moment I saw her was doubtless the mere fascination of the +senses; but when I came to know her more, I found her so gentle, so +tender, so modest, and so true, that I loved her with a strong and +deep affection. I admired her, too, for other reasons than her beauty; +for she had many elegant accomplishments, procured by her father's +fond indulgence during two years' residence in Paris. He was wealthy +at that time; but he afterward became entangled in pecuniary +difficulties, and his health declined. He took a liking to me, and +proposed that I should purchase Eulalia, and thus enable him to cancel +a debt due to a troublesome creditor whom he suspected of having an +eye upon his daughter. I gave him a large sum for her, and brought her +with me to New Orleans. Do not despise me for it, my young friend. If +it had been told to me a few years before, in my New England home, +that I could ever become a party in such a transaction, I should have +rejected the idea with indignation. But my disappointed and lonely +condition rendered me an easy prey to temptation, and I was where +public opinion sanctioned such connections. Besides, there were kindly +motives mixed up with selfish ones. I pitied the unfortunate father, +and I feared his handsome daughter might fall into hands that would +not protect her so carefully as I resolved to do. I knew the freedom +of her choice was not interfered with, for she confessed she loved me. + +"Señor Gonsalez, who was more attached to her than to anything else +in the world, soon afterward gathered up the fragments of his +broken fortune, and came to reside near us. I know it was a great +satisfaction to his dying hours that he left Eulalia in my care, and +the dear girl was entirely happy with me. If I had manumitted her, +carried her abroad, and legally married her, I should have no remorse +mingled with my sorrow for her loss. Loving her faithfully, as I did +to the latest moment of her life, I now find it difficult to explain +to myself how I came to neglect such an obvious duty. I was always +thinking that I would do it at some future time. But marriage with a +quadroon would have been void, according to the laws of Louisiana; +and, being immersed in business, I never seemed to find time to take +her abroad. When one has taken the first wrong step, it becomes +dangerously easy to go on in the same path. A man's standing here is +not injured by such irregular connections; and my faithful, loving +Eulalia meekly accepted her situation as a portion of her inherited +destiny. Mine was the fault, not hers; for I was free to do as I +pleased, and she never had been. I acted in opposition to moral +principles, which the education of false circumstances had given her +no opportunity to form. I had remorseful thoughts at times, but I am +quite sure she was never troubled in that way. She loved and trusted +me entirely. She knew that the marriage of a white man with one of her +race was illegal; and she quietly accepted the fact, as human +beings do accept what they are powerless to overcome. Her daughters +attributed her olive complexion to a Spanish origin; and their only +idea was, and is, that she was my honored wife, as indeed she was in +the inmost recesses of my heart. I gradually withdrew from the few +acquaintances I had formed in New Orleans; partly because I was +satisfied with the company of Eulalia and our children, and partly +because I could not take her with me into society. She had no +acquaintances here, and we acquired the habit of living in a little +world by ourselves,--a world which, as you have seen, was transformed +into a sort of fairy-land by her love of beautiful things. After I +lost her, it was my intention to send the children immediately to +France to be educated. But procrastination is my besetting sin; and +the idea of parting with them was so painful, that I have deferred and +deferred it. The suffering I experience on their account is a just +punishment for the wrong I did their mother. When I think how +beautiful, how talented, how affectionate, and how pure they are, and +in what a cruel position I have placed them, I have terrible writhings +of the heart. I do not think I am destined to long life; and who will +protect them when I am gone?" + +A consciousness of last night's wishes and dreams made Alfred blush +as he said, "It occurred to me that your eldest daughter might be +betrothed to Mr. Fitzgerald." + +"I hope not," quickly rejoined Mr. Royal. "He is not the sort of man +with whom I would like to intrust her happiness. I think, if it were +so, Rosabella would have told me, for my children always confide in +me." + +"I took it for granted that you liked him," replied Alfred; "for you +said an introduction to your home was a favor you rarely bestowed." + +"I never conferred it on any young man but yourself," answered Mr. +Royal, "and you owed it partly to my memory of your honest father, and +partly to the expression of your face, which so much resembles his." +The young man smiled and bowed, and his friend continued: "When I +invited you, I was not aware Mr. Fitzgerald was in the city. I am +but slightly acquainted with him, but I conjecture him to be what is +called a high-blood. His manners, though elegant, seem to me flippant +and audacious. He introduced himself into my domestic sanctum; and, as +I partook of his father's hospitality years ago, I find it difficult +to eject him. He came here a few months since, to transact some +business connected with the settlement of his father's estate, and, +unfortunately, he heard Rosabella singing as he rode past my house. He +made inquiries concerning the occupants; and, from what I have heard, +I conjecture that he has learned more of my private history than I +wished to have him know. He called without asking my permission, +and told my girls that his father was my friend, and that he had +consequently taken the liberty to call with some new music, which he +was very desirous of hearing them sing. When I was informed of this, +on my return home, I was exceedingly annoyed; and I have ever since +been thinking of closing business as soon as possible, and taking my +daughters to France. He called twice again during his stay in the +city, but my daughters made it a point to see him only when I was +at home. Now he has come again, to increase the difficulties of my +position by his unwelcome assiduities." + +"Unwelcome to _you_" rejoined Alfred; "but, handsome and fascinating +as he is, they are not likely to be unwelcome to your daughters. Your +purpose of conveying them to France is a wise one." + +"Would I had done it sooner!" exclaimed Mr. Royal. "How weak I have +been in allowing circumstances to drift me along!" He walked up and +down the room with agitated steps; then, pausing before Alfred, he +laid his hand affectionately on his shoulder, as he said, with solemn +earnestness, "My young friend, I am glad your father did not accept my +proposal to receive you into partnership. Let me advise you to live in +New England. The institutions around us have an effect on character +which it is difficult to escape entirely. Bad customs often lead +well-meaning men into wrong paths." + +"That was my father's reason for being unwilling I should reside in +New Orleans," replied Alfred. "He said it was impossible to exaggerate +the importance of social institutions. He often used to speak of +having met a number of Turkish women when he was in the environs of +Constantinople. They were wrapped up like bales of cloth, with two +small openings for their eyes, mounted on camels, and escorted by the +overseer of the harem. The animal sound of their chatter and giggling, +as they passed him, affected him painfully; for it forced upon him the +idea what different beings those women would have been if they had +been brought up amid the free churches and free schools of New +England. He always expounded history to me in the light of that +conviction; and he mourned that temporary difficulties should prevent +lawgivers from checking the growth of evils that must have a blighting +influence on the souls of many generations. He considered slavery a +cumulative poison in the veins of this Republic, and predicted that it +would some day act all at once with deadly power." + +"Your father was a wise man," replied Mr. Royal, "and I agree with +him. But it would be unsafe to announce it here; for slavery is a +tabooed subject, except to talk in favor of it." + +"I am well aware of that," rejoined Alfred. "And now I must bid you +good morning. You know my mother is an invalid, and I may find letters +at the post-office that will render immediate return necessary. But +I will see you again; and hereafter our acquaintance may perhaps be +renewed in France." + +"That is a delightful hope," rejoined the merchant, cordially +returning the friendly pressure of his hand. As he looked after the +young man, he thought how pleasant it would be to have such a son; +and he sighed deeply over the vision of a union that might have been, +under other circumstances, between his family and that of his old +friend. Alfred, as he walked away, was conscious of that latent, +unspoken wish. Again the query began to revolve through his mind +whether the impediments were really insurmountable. There floated +before him a vision of that enchanting room, where the whole of life +seemed to be composed of beauty and gracefulness, music and flowers. +But a shadow of Fitzgerald fell across it, and the recollection of +Boston relatives rose up like an iceberg between him and fairy-land. + +A letter informing him of his mother's increasing illness excited +a feeling of remorse that new acquaintances had temporarily nearly +driven her from his thoughts. He resolved to depart that evening; but +the desire to see Rosabella again could not be suppressed. Failing to +find Mr. Royal at his counting-room or his hotel, he proceeded to his +suburban residence. When Tulipa informed him that "massa" had not +returned from the city, he inquired for the young ladies, and was +again shown into that parlor every feature of which was so indelibly +impressed upon his memory. Portions of the music of _Cenerentola_ lay +open on the piano, and the leaves fluttered softly in a gentle breeze +laden with perfumes from the garden. Near by was swinging the beaded +tassel of a book-mark between the pages of a half-opened volume. He +looked at the title and saw that it was Lalla Rookh. He smiled, as he +glanced round the room on the flowery festoons, the graceful tangle +of bright arabesques on the walls, the Dancing Girl, and the Sleeping +Cupid. "All is in harmony with Canova, and Moore, and Rossini," +thought he. "The Lady in Milton's Comus _has_ been the ideal of my +imagination; and now here I am so strangely taken captive by--" + +Rosabella entered at that moment, and almost startled him with the +contrast to his ideal. Her glowing Oriental beauty and stately grace +impressed him more than ever. Floracita's fairy form and airy motions +were scarcely less fascinating. Their talk was very girlish. Floracita +had just been reading in a French paper about the performance of _La +Bayadere_, and she longed to see the ballet brought out in Paris. +Rosabella thought nothing could be quite so romantic as to float on +the canals of Venice by moonlight and listen to the nightingales; and +she should _so_ like to cross the Bridge of Sighs! Then they went into +raptures over the gracefulness of Rossini's music, and the brilliancy +of Auber's. Very few and very slender thoughts were conveyed in their +words, but to the young man's ear they had the charm of music; for +Floracita's talk went as trippingly as a lively dance, and the sweet +modulations of Rosabella's voice so softened English to Italian sound, +that her words seemed floating on a liquid element, like goldfish +in the water. Indeed, her whole nature seemed to partake the fluid +character of music. Beauty born of harmonious sound "had passed into +her face," and her motions reminded one of a water-lily undulating on +its native element. + +The necessity of returning immediately to Boston was Alfred's apology +for a brief call. Repressed feeling imparted great earnestness to the +message he left for his father's friend. While he was uttering it, the +conversation he had recently had with Mr. Royal came back to him with +painful distinctness. After parting compliments were exchanged, he +turned to say, "Excuse me, young ladies, if, in memory of our fathers' +friendship, I beg of you to command my services, as if I were a +brother, should it ever be in my power to serve you." + +Rosabella thanked him with a slight inclination of her graceful head; +and Floracita, dimpling a quick little courtesy, said sportively, "If +some cruel Blue-Beard should shut us up in his castle, we will send +for you." + +"How funny!" exclaimed the volatile child, as the door closed after +him. "He spoke as solemn as a minister; but I suppose that's the way +with Yankees. I think _cher papa_ likes to preach sometimes." + +Rosabella, happening to glance at the window, saw that Alfred King +paused in the street and looked back. How their emotions would have +deepened could they have foreseen the future! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +A year passed away, and the early Southern spring had again returned +with flowers and fragrance. After a day in music and embroidery, with +sundry games at Battledoor and The Graces with her sister, Floracita +heard the approaching footsteps of her father, and, as usual, bounded +forth to meet him. Any one who had not seen him since he parted from +the son of his early New England friend would have observed that he +looked older and more careworn; but his daughters, accustomed to see +him daily, had not noticed the gradual change. + +"You have kept us waiting a little, Papasito," said Rosabella, turning +round on the music-stool, and greeting him with a smile. + +"Yes, my darling," rejoined he, placing his hand fondly on her head. +"Getting ready to go to Europe makes a deal of work." + +"If we were sons, we could help you," said Rosabella. + +"I wish you _were_ sons!" answered he, with serious emphasis and a +deep sigh. + +Floracita nestled close to him, and, looking up archly in his face, +said, "And pray what would you do, papa, without your nightingale and +your fairy, as you call us?" + +"Sure enough, what _should_ I do, my little flower?" said he, as with +a loving smile he stooped to kiss her. + +They led him to the tea-table; and when the repast was ended, they +began to talk over their preparations for leaving home. + +"_Cher papa_, how long before we shall go to Paris?" inquired +Floracita. + +"In two or three weeks, I hope," was the reply. + +"Won't it be delightful!" exclaimed she. "You will take us to see +ballets and everything." + +"When I am playing and singing fragments of operas," said Rosabella, +"I often think to myself how wonderfully beautiful they would sound, +if all the parts were brought out by such musicians as they have in +Europe. I should greatly enjoy hearing operas in Paris; but I often +think, Papasito, that we can never be so happy anywhere as we have +been in this dear home. It makes me feel sad to leave all these pretty +things,--so many of them--" + +She hesitated, and glanced at her father. + +"So intimately associated with your dear mother, you were about to +say," replied he. "That thought is often present with me, and the idea +of parting with them pains me to the heart. But I do not intend they +shall ever be handled by strangers. We will pack them carefully and +leave them with Madame Guirlande; and when we get settled abroad, in +some nice little cottage, we will send for them. But when you have +been in Paris, when you have seen the world and the world has seen +you, perhaps you won't be contented to live in a cottage with your old +Papasito. Perhaps your heads will become so turned with flattery, that +you will want to be at balls and operas all the time." + +"No flattery will be so sweet as yours, _cher papa_," said Floracita. + +"No indeed!" exclaimed Rosa. But, looking up, she met his eye, and +blushed crimson. She was conscious of having already listened to +flattery that was at least more intoxicating than his. Her father +noticed the rosy confusion, and felt a renewal of pain that unexpected +entanglements had prevented his going to Europe months ago. He +tenderly pressed her hand, that lay upon his knee, and looked at her +with troubled earnestness, as he said, "Now that you are going to make +acquaintance with the world, my daughters, and without a mother to +guide you, I want you to promise me that you will never believe any +gentleman sincere in professions of love, unless he proposes marriage, +and asks my consent." + +Rosabella was obviously agitated, but she readily replied, "Do you +suppose, Papasito, that we would accept a lover without asking you +about it? When _Mamita querida_ died, she charged us to tell you +everything; and we always do." + +"I do not doubt you, my children," he replied; "but the world is full +of snares; and sometimes they are so covered with flowers, that the +inexperienced slip into them unawares. I shall try to shield you from +harm, as I always have done; but when I am gone--" + +"O, don't say that!" exclaimed Floracita, with a quick, nervous +movement. + +And Rosabella looked at him with swimming eyes, as she repeated, +"Don't say that, _Papasito querido_!" + +He laid a hand on the head of each. His heart was very full. With +solemn tenderness he tried to warn them of the perils of life. But +there was much that he was obliged to refrain from saying, from +reverence for their inexperienced purity. And had he attempted to +describe the manners of a corrupt world, they could have had no +realizing sense of his meaning; for it is impossible for youth to +comprehend the dangers of the road it is to travel. + +The long talk at last subsided into serious silence. After remaining +very still a few moments, Rosabella said softy, "Wouldn't you like to +hear some music before you go to bed, _Papasito mio_?" + +He nodded assent, and she moved to the piano. Their conversation had +produced an unusually tender and subdued state of feeling, and she +sang quietly many plaintive melodies that her mother loved. The +fountain trickling in the garden kept up a low liquid accompaniment, +and the perfume of the orange-groves seemed like the fragrant breath +of the tones. + +It was late when they parted for the night. "_Bon soir, cher papa_" +said Floracita, kissing her father's hand. + +"_Buenas noches, Papasito querido_" said Rosabella, as she touched his +cheek with her beautiful lips. + +There was moisture in his eyes as he folded them to his heart and +said, "God bless you! God protect you, my dear ones!" Those melodies +of past times had brought their mother before him in all her loving +trustfulness, and his soul was full of sorrow for the irreparable +wrong he had done her children. + +The pensive mood, that had enveloped them all in a little cloud the +preceding evening, was gone in the morning. There was the usual +bantering during breakfast, and after they rose from table they +discussed in a lively manner various plans concerning their residence +in France. Rosabella evidently felt much less pleasure in the prospect +than did her younger sister; and her father, conjecturing the reason, +was the more anxious to expedite their departure. "I must not linger +here talking," said he. "I must go and attend to business; for there +are many things to be arranged before we can set out on our travels," + +"_Hasta luego, Papasito mio_" said Rosabella, with an affectionate +smile. + +"_Au revoir, cher papa_" said Floracita, as she handed him his hat. + +He patted her head playfully as he said, "What a polyglot family we +are! Your grandfather's Spanish, your grandmother's French, and your +father's English, all mixed up in an _olla podrida_. Good morning, my +darlings." + +Floracita skipped out on the piazza, calling after him, "Papa, what +_is_ polyglot?" + +He turned and shook his finger laughingly at her, as he exclaimed, "O, +you little ignoramus!" + +The sisters lingered on the piazza, watching him till he was out of +sight. When they re-entered the house, Floracita occupied herself with +various articles of her wardrobe; consulting with Rosa whether any +alterations would be necessary before they were packed for France. +It evidently cost Rosa some effort to attend to her innumerable +questions, for the incessant chattering disturbed her revery. At +every interval she glanced round the room with a sort of farewell +tenderness. It was more to her than the home of a happy childhood; for +nearly all the familiar objects had become associated with glances and +tones, the memory of which excited restless longings in her heart. As +she stood gazing on the blooming garden and the little fountain, whose +sparkling rills crossed each other in the sunshine like a silvery +network strung with diamonds, she exclaimed, "O Floracita, we shall +never be so happy anywhere else as we have been here." + +"How do you know that, _sistita mia_?" rejoined the lively little +chatterer. "Only think, we have never been to a ball! And when we get +to France, Papasito will go everywhere with us. He says he will." + +"I should like to hear operas and see ballets in Paris," said +Rosabella; "but I wish we could come back _here_ before long." + +Floracita's laughing eyes assumed the arch expression which rendered +them peculiarly bewitching, and she began to sing,-- + + "Petit blanc, mon bon frère! + Ha! ha! petit blanc si doux! + Il n'y a rien sur la terre + De si joli que vous. + + "Un petit blanc que j'aime--" + +A quick flush mantled her sister's face, and she put her hand over the +mischievous mouth, exclaiming, "Don't, Flora! don't!" + +The roguish little creature went laughing and capering out of the +room, and her voice was still heard singing,-- + + "Un petit blanc que j'aime." + +The arrival of Signor Papanti soon summoned her to rehearse a music +lesson. She glanced roguishly at her sister when she began; and as she +went on, Rosa could not help smiling at her musical antics. The old +teacher bore it patiently for a while, then he stopped trying to +accompany her, and, shaking his finger at her, said, "_Diavolessa_!" + +"Did I make a false note?" asked she, demurely. + +"No, you little witch, you _can't_ make a false note. But how do you +suppose I can keep hold of the tail of the Air, if you send me chasing +after it through so many capricious variations? Now begin again, _da +capo_" + +The lesson was recommenced, but soon ran riot again. The Signor became +red in the face, shut the music-book with a slam, and poured forth a +volley of wrath in Italian, When she saw that he was really angry, she +apologized, and promised to do better. The third time of trying, she +acquitted herself so well that her teacher praised her; and when +she bade him good morning, with a comic little courtesy, he smiled +good-naturedly, as he said, "_Ah, Malizietta_!" + +"I knew I should make Signor Pimentero sprinkle some pepper," +exclaimed she, laughing, as she saw him walk away. + +"You are too fond of sobriquets," said Rosa. "If you are not careful, +you will call him Signor Pimentero to his face, some day." + +"What did you tell me _that_ for?" asked the little rogue. "It will +just make me do it. Now I am going to pester Madame's parrot." + +She caught up her large straw hat, with flying ribbons, and ran to the +house of their next neighbor, Madame Guirlande. She was a French lady, +who had given the girls lessons in embroidery, the manufacture of +artificial flowers, and other fancy-work. Before long, Floracita +returned through the garden, skipping over a jumping-rope. "This is +a day of compliments," said she, as she entered the parlor, "Signor +Pimentero called me _Diavolessa_; Madame Guirlande called me _Joli +petit diable_; and the parrot took it up, and screamed it after me, as +I came away." + +"I don't wonder at it," replied Rosa. "I think I never saw even you so +full of mischief." + +Her frolicsome mood remained through the day. One moment she assumed +the dignified manner of Rosabella, and, stretching herself to the +utmost, she stood very erect, giving sage advice. The next, she was +impersonating a negro preacher, one of Tulipa's friends. Hearing a +mocking-bird in the garden, she went to the window and taxed his +powers to the utmost, by running up and down difficult _roulades_, +interspersed with the talk of parrots, the shrill fanfare of trumpets, +and the deep growl of a contra-fagotto. The bird produced a grotesque +fantasia in his efforts to imitate her. The peacock, as he strutted up +and down the piazza, trailing his gorgeous plumage in the sunshine, +ever and anon turned his glossy neck, and held up his ear to listen, +occasionally performing his part in the _charivari_ by uttering a +harsh scream. The mirthfulness of the little madcap was contagious, +and not unfrequently the giggle of Tulipa and the low musical laugh of +Rosabella mingled with the concert. + +Thus the day passed merrily away, till the gilded Flora that leaned +against the timepiece pointed her wand toward the hour when their +father was accustomed to return. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Floracita was still in the full career of fun, when footsteps were +heard approaching; and, as usual, she bounded forth to welcome her +father. Several men, bearing a palanquin on their shoulders, were +slowly ascending the piazza. She gave one glance at their burden, and +uttered a shrill scream. Rosabella hastened to her in great alarm. +Tulipa followed, and quickly comprehending that something terrible had +happened, she hurried away to summon Madame Guirlande. Rosabella, pale +and trembling, gasped out, "What has happened to my father?" + +Franz Blumenthal, a favorite clerk of Mr. Royal's, replied, in a low, +sympathizing tone, "He was writing letters in the counting-room this +afternoon, and when I went in to speak to him, I found him on the +floor senseless. We called a doctor immediately, but he failed to +restore him." + +"O, call another doctor!" said Rosa, imploringly; and Floracita almost +shrieked, "Tell me where to _go_ for a doctor." + +"We have already summoned one on the way," said young Blumenthal, "but +I will go to hasten him";--and, half blinded by his tears, he hurried +into the street. + +The doctor came in two minutes, and yet it seemed an age. Meanwhile +the wretched girls were chafing their father's cold hands, and holding +sal-volatile to his nose, while Madame Guirlande and Tulipa were +preparing hot water and hot cloths. When the physician arrived, they +watched his countenance anxiously, while he felt the pulse and laid +his hand upon the heart. After a while he shook his head and said, +"Nothing can be done. He is dead." + +Rosabella fell forward, fainting, on the body. Floracita uttered +shriek upon shriek, while Madame Guirlande and Tulipa vainly tried to +pacify her. The doctor at last persuaded her to swallow some valerian, +and Tulipa carried her in her arms and laid her on the bed. Madame +Guirlande led Rosa away, and the two sisters lay beside each other, on +the same pillows where they had dreamed such happy dreams the night +before. Floracita, stunned by the blow that had fallen on her so +suddenly, and rendered drowsy by the anodyne she had taken, soon fell +into an uneasy slumber, broken by occasional starts and stifled sobs. +Rosabella wept silently, but now and then a shudder passed over her, +that showed how hard she was struggling with grief. After a short +time, Flora woke up bewildered. A lamp was burning in the farther part +of the room, and Madame Guirlande, who sat there in spectacles and +ruffled cap, made a grotesque black shadow on the wall. Floracita +started up, screaming, "What is that?" Madame Guirlande went to her, +and she and Rosa spoke soothingly, and soon she remembered all. + +"O, let me go home with _you_" she said to Madame "I am afraid to stay +here." + +"Yes, my children," replied the good Frenchwoman. "You had better both +go home and stay with me to-night." + +"I cannot go away and leave _him_ alone," murmured Rosa, in tones +almost inaudible. + +"Franz Blumenthal is going to remain here," replied Madame Guirlande," +and Tulipa has offered to sit up all night. It is much better for you +to go with me than to stay here, my children." + +Thus exhorted, they rose and began to make preparations for departure. +But all at once the tender good-night of the preceding evening rushed +on Rosa's memory, and she sank down in a paroxysm of grief. After +weeping bitterly for some minutes, she sobbed out, "O, this is worse +than it was when Mamita died. Papasito was so tender with us then; and +now we are _all_ alone." + +"Not all alone," responded Madame. "Jesus and the Blessed Virgin are +with you." + +"O, I don't know where _they_ are!" exclaimed Flora, in tones of wild +agony. "I want my Papasito! I want to die and go to my Papasito." + +Rosabella folded her in her arms, and they mingled their tears +together, as she whispered: "Let us try to be tranquil, Sistita. We +must not be troublesome to our kind friend. I did wrong to say we were +all alone. We have always a Father in heaven, and he still spares us +to love each other. Perhaps, too, our dear Papasito is watching over +us. You know he used to tell us Mamita had become our guardian angel." + +Floracita kissed her, and pressed her hand in silence. Then they made +preparations to go with their friendly neighbor; all stepping very +softly, as if afraid of waking the beloved sleeper. + +The sisters had lived in such extreme seclusion, that when sorrow came +upon them, like the sudden swoop and swift destruction of a tropical +storm, they had no earthly friend to rely upon but Madame Guirlande. +Only the day before, they had been so rich in love, that, had she +passed away from the earth, it would have made no distressing change +in their existence. They would have said, "Poor Madame Guirlande! She +was a good soul. How patient she used to be with us!" and after a day +or two, they would have danced and sung the same as ever. But one day +had so beggared them in affection, that they leaned upon her as their +only earthly support. + +After an almost untasted breakfast, they all went back to the +desolated home. The flowery parlor seemed awfully lonesome. The piano +was closed, the curtains drawn, and their father's chair was placed +against the wall. The murmur of the fountain sounded as solemn as a +dirge, and memories filled the room like a troop of ghosts. Hand in +hand, the bereaved ones went to kiss the lips that would speak to them +no more in this world. They knelt long beside the bed, and poured +forth their breaking hearts in prayer. They rose up soothed and +strengthened, with the feeling that their dear father and mother were +still near them. They found a sad consolation in weaving garlands and +flowery crosses, which they laid on the coffin with tender reverence. + +When the day of the funeral came, Madame Guirlande kept them very near +her, holding a hand of each. She had provided them with long veils, +which she requested them not to remove; for she remembered how +anxiously their father had screened their beauty from the public gaze. +A number of merchants, who had known and respected Mr. Royal, followed +his remains to the grave. Most of them had heard of his quadroon +connection, and some supposed that the veiled mourners might be his +daughters; but such things were too common to excite remark, or to +awaken much interest. The girls passed almost unnoticed; having, out +of respect to the wishes of their friend, stifled their sobs till they +were alone in the carriage with her and their old music-teacher. + +The conviction that he was not destined to long life, which Mr. Royal +had expressed to Alfred King, was founded on the opinion of physicians +that his heart was diseased. This furnished an additional motive for +closing his business as soon as possible, and taking his children to +France. But the failure of several houses with which he was connected +brought unexpected entanglements. Month by month, these became more +complicated, and necessarily delayed the intended emigration. His +anxiety concerning his daughters increased to an oppressive degree, +and aggravated the symptoms of his disease. With his habitual desire +to screen them from everything unpleasant, he unwisely concealed from +them both his illness and his pecuniary difficulties. He knew he could +no longer be a rich man; but he still had hope of saving enough of his +fortune to live in a moderate way in some cheap district of France. +But on the day when he bade his daughters good morning so cheerfully, +he received a letter informing him of another extensive failure, which +involved him deeply. He was alone in his counting-room when he read +it; and there Franz Blumenthal found him dead, with the letter in his +hand. His sudden exit of course aroused the vigilance of creditors, +and their examination into the state of his affairs proved anything +but satisfactory. + +The sisters, unconscious of all this, were undisturbed by any anxiety +concerning future support. The necessity of living without their +father's love and counsel weighed heavily on their spirits; but +concerning his money they took no thought. Hitherto they had lived +as the birds do, and it did not occur to them that it could ever be +otherwise. The garden and the flowery parlor, which their mother had +created and their father had so dearly loved, seemed almost as much a +portion of themselves as their own persons. It had been hard to think +of leaving them, even for the attractions of Paris; and now _that_ +dream was over, it seemed a necessity of their existence to live on in +the atmosphere of beauty to which they had always been accustomed. But +now that the sunshine of love had vanished from it, they felt lonely +and unprotected there. They invited Madame Guirlande to come and live +with them on what terms she chose; and when she said there ought to be +some elderly man in the house, they at once suggested inviting their +music-teacher. Madame, aware of the confidence Mr. Royal had always +placed in him, thought it was the best arrangement that could be made, +at least for the present. While preparations were being made to effect +this change, her proceedings were suddenly arrested by tidings that +the house and furniture were to be sold at auction, to satisfy the +demands of creditors. She kept back the unwelcome news from the girls, +while she held long consultations with Signor Papanti. He declared +his opinion that Rosabella could make a fortune by her voice, and +Floracita by dancing. + +"But then they are so young," urged Madame,--"one only sixteen, the +other only fourteen." + +"Youth is a disadvantage one soon outgrows," replied the Signor. "They +can't make fortunes immediately, of course; but they can earn a living +by giving lessons. I will try to open a way for them, and the sooner +you prepare them for it the better." + +Madame dreaded the task of disclosing their poverty, but she found it +less painful than she had feared. They had no realizing sense of what +it meant, and rather thought that giving lessons would be a pleasant +mode of making time pass less heavily. Madame, who fully understood +the condition of things, kept a watchful lookout for their interests. +Before an inventory was taken, she gathered up and hid away many +trifling articles which would be useful to them, though of little or +no value to the creditors. Portfolios of music, patterns for drawings, +boxes of paint and crayons, baskets of chenille for embroidery, and a +variety of other things, were safely packed away out of sight, without +the girls' taking any notice of her proceedings. + +During her father's lifetime, Floracita was so continually whirling +round in fragmentary dances, that he often told her she rested on her +feet less than a humming-bird. But after he was gone, she remained +very still from morning till night. When Madame spoke to her of +the necessity of giving dancing-lessons, it suggested the idea of +practising. But she felt that she could not dance where she had been +accustomed to dance before _him_; and she had not the heart to ask +Rosa to play for her. She thought she would try, in the solitude of +her chamber, how it would seem to give dancing-lessons. But without +music, and without a spectator, it seemed so like the ghost of dancing +that after a few steps the poor child threw herself on the bed and +sobbed. + +Rosa did not open the piano for several days after the funeral; but +one morning, feeling as if it would be a relief to pour forth the +sadness that oppressed her, she began to play languidly. Only requiems +and prayers came. Half afraid of summoning an invisible spirit, she +softly touched the keys to "The Light of other Days." But remembering +it was the very last tune she ever played to her father, she leaned +her head forward on the instrument, and wept bitterly. + +While she sat thus the door-bell rang, and she soon became conscious +of steps approaching the parlor. Her heart gave a sudden leap; for her +first thought was of Gerald Fitzgerald. She raised her head, wiped +away her tears, and rose to receive the visitor. Three strangers +entered. She bowed to them, and they, with a little look of surprise, +bowed to her. "What do you wish for, gentlemen?" she asked. + +"We are here concerning the settlement of Mr. Royal's estate," replied +one of them. "We have been appointed to take an inventory of the +furniture." + +While he spoke, one of his companions was inspecting the piano, to see +who was the maker, and another was examining the timepiece. + +It was too painful; and Rosa, without trusting herself to speak +another word, walked quietly out of the room, the gathering moisture +in her eyes making it difficult for her to guide her steps. + +"Is that one of the daughters we have heard spoken of?" inquired one +of the gentlemen. + +"I judge so," rejoined his companion. "What a royal beauty she is! +Good for three thousand, I should say." + +"More likely five thousand," added the third. "Such a fancy article as +that don't appear in the market once in fifty years." + +"Look here!" said the first speaker. "Do you see that pretty little +creature crossing the garden? I reckon that's the other daughter." + +"They'll bring high prices," continued the third speaker. "They're +the best property Royal has left. We may count them eight or ten +thousand, at least. Some of our rich fanciers would jump at the chance +of obtaining _one_ of them for that price." As he spoke, he looked +significantly at the first speaker, who refrained from expressing any +opinion concerning their pecuniary value. + +All unconscious of the remarks she had elicited, Rosa retired to her +chamber, where she sat at the window plunged in mournful revery. +She was thinking of various articles her mother had painted and +embroidered, and how her father had said he could not bear the thought +of their being handled by strangers. Presently Floracita came running +in, saying, in a flurried way, "Who are those men down stairs, Rosa?" + +"I don't know who they are," replied her sister. "They said they came +to take an inventory of the furniture. I don't know what right they +have to do it. I wish Madame would come." + +"I will run and call her," said Floracita. + +"No, you had better stay with me," replied Rosa. "I was just going to +look for you when you came in." + +"I ran into the parlor first, thinking you were there," rejoined +Floracita. "I saw one of those men turning over Mamita's embroidered +ottoman, and chalking something on it. How dear papa would have felt +if he had seen it! One of them looked at me in such a strange way! I +don't know what he meant; but it made me want to run away in a minute. +Hark! I do believe they have come up stairs, and are in papa's room. +They won't come here, will they?" + +"Bolt the door!" exclaimed Rosa; and it was quickly done. They sat +folded in each other's arms, very much afraid, though they knew not +wherefore. + +"Ah!" said Rosa, with a sigh of relief, "there is Madame coming." She +leaned out of the window, and beckoned to her impatiently. + +Her friend hastened her steps; and when she heard of the strangers who +were in the house, she said, "You had better go home with me, and stay +there till they are gone." + +"What are they going to do?" inquired Floracita. + +"I will tell you presently," replied Madame, as she led them +noiselessly out of the house by a back way. + +When they entered her own little parlor, the parrot called out, "_Joli +petit diable_!" and after waiting for the old familiar response, "_Bon +jour, jolie Manon_!" she began to call herself "_Jolie Manon_!" and to +sing, "_Ha! ha! petit blanc, mon bon frère_!" The poor girls had no +heart for play; and Madame considerately silenced the noisy bird by +hanging a cloth over the cage. + +"My dear children," said she, "I would gladly avoid telling you +anything calculated to make you more unhappy. But you _must_ know the +state of things sooner or later, and it is better that a friend should +tell you. Your father owed money to those men, and they are seeing +what they can find to sell in order to get their pay." + +"Will they sell the table and boxes Mamita painted, and the ottomans +she embroidered?" inquired Rosa, anxiously. + +"Will they sell the piano that papa gave to Rosa for a birthday +present?" asked Flora. + +"I am afraid they will," rejoined Madame. + +The girls covered their faces and groaned. + +"Don't be so distressed, my poor children," said their sympathizing +friend. "I have been trying to save a little something for you. See +here!" And she brought forth some of the hidden portfolios and boxes, +saying, "These will be of great use to you, my darlings, in helping +you to earn your living, and they would bring almost nothing at +auction." + +They thanked their careful friend for her foresight. But when she +brought forward their mother's gold watch and diamond ring, Rosa said, +"I would rather not keep such expensive things, dear friend. You know +our dear father was the soul of honor. It would have troubled him +greatly not to pay what he owed. I would rather have the ring and the +watch sold to pay his debts." + +"I will tell the creditors what you say," answered Madame, "and they +will be brutes if they don't let you keep your mother's things. Your +father owed Signor Papanti a little bill, and he says he will try to +get the table and boxes, and some other things, in payment, and then +you shall have them all. You will earn enough to buy another piano by +and by, and you can use mine, you know; so don't be discouraged, my +poor children." + +"God has been very good to us to raise us up such friends as you and +the Signor," replied Rosa. "You don't know how it comforts me to have +you call us your children, for without you we should be all alone in +the world." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Such sudden reverses, such overwhelming sorrows, mature characters +with wonderful rapidity. Rosa, though formed by nature and habit to +cling to others, soon began to form plans for future support. Her +inexperienced mind foresaw few of the difficulties involved in the +career her friends had suggested. She merely expected to study and +work hard; but that seemed a trifle, if she could avoid for herself +and her sister the publicity which their father had so much dreaded. + +Floracita, too, seemed like a tamed bird. She was sprightly as ever in +her motions, and quick in her gestures; but she would sit patiently at +her task of embroidery, hour after hour, without even looking up to +answer the noisy challenges of the parrot. Sometimes the sisters, +while they worked, sang together the hymns they had been accustomed +to sing with their father on Sundays; and memory of the missing voice +imparted to their tones a pathos that no mere skill could imitate. + +One day, when they were thus occupied, the door-bell rang, and they +heard a voice, which they thought they recognized, talking with +Madame. It was Franz Blumenthal. "I have come to bring some small +articles for the young ladies," said he. "A week before my best +friend died, a Frenchwoman came to the store, and wished to sell some +fancy-baskets. She said she was a poor widow; and Mr. Royal, who +was always kind and generous, commissioned her to make two of her +handsomest baskets, and embroider the names of his daughters on them. +She has placed them in my hands to-day, and I have brought them myself +in order to explain the circumstances." + +"Are they paid for?" inquired Madame. + +"I have paid for them," replied the young man, blushing deeply; "but +please not to inform the young ladies of that circumstance. And, +Madame, I have a favor to ask of you. Here are fifty dollars. I want +you to use them for the young ladies without their knowledge; and I +should like to remit to you half my wages every month for the same +purpose. When Mr. Royal was closing business, he wrote several letters +of recommendation for me, and addressed them to well-established +merchants. I feel quite sure of getting a situation where I can earn +more than I need for myself." + +"_Bon garçon_!" exclaimed Madame, patting him on the shoulder. "I will +borrow the fifty dollars; but I trust we shall be able to pay you +before many months." + +"It will wound my feelings if you ever offer to repay me," replied the +young man. "My only regret is, that I cannot just now do any more for +the daughters of my best friend and benefactor, who did so much for me +when I was a poor, destitute boy. But would it be asking too great a +favor, Madame, to be allowed to see the young ladies, and place in +their hands these presents from their father?" + +Madame Guirlande smiled as she thought to herself, "What is he but a +boy now? He grows tall though." + +When she told her _protégées_ that Franz Blumenthal had a message +he wished to deliver to them personally, Rosa said, "Please go and +receive it, Sistita. I had rather not leave my work." + +Floracita glanced at the mirror, smoothed her hair a little, arranged +her collar, and went out. The young clerk was awaiting her appearance +with a good deal of trepidation. He had planned a very nice little +speech to make; but before he had stammered out all the story about +the baskets, he saw an expression in Flora's face which made him feel +that it was indelicate to intrude upon her emotion; and he hurried +away, scarcely hearing her choked voice as she said, "I thank you." + +Very reverently the orphans opened the box which contained the +posthumous gifts of their beloved father. The baskets were +manufactured with exquisite taste. They were lined with quilled +apple-green satin. Around the outside of one was the name of Rosabella +embroidered in flowers, and an embroidered garland of roses formed the +handle. The other bore the name of Floracita in minute flowers, and +the handle was formed of _Pensées vivaces_. They turned them round +slowly, unable to distinguish the colors through their swimming tears. + +"How like Papasito, to be so kind to the poor woman, and so thoughtful +to please us," said Rosabella. "But he was always so." + +"And he must have told her what flowers to put on the baskets," said +Floracita. "You know Mamita often called me _Pensée vivace_. O, there +never _was_ such a Papasito!" + +Notwithstanding the sadness that invested tokens coming as it were +from the dead, they inspired a consoling consciousness of his +presence; and their work seemed pleasanter all the day for having +their little baskets by them. + +The next morning witnessed a private conference between Madame and the +Signor. If any one had seen them without hearing their conversation, +he would certainly have thought they were rehearsing some very +passionate scene in a tragedy. + +The fiery Italian rushed up and down the room, plucking his hair; +while the Frenchwoman ever and anon threw up her hands, exclaiming, +"_Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu_!" + +When the violence of their emotions had somewhat abated, Madame said, +"Signor, there must be some mistake about this. It cannot be true. Mr. +Royal would never have left things in such a way." + +"At your request," replied the Signor, "I went to one of the +creditors, to ask whether Mr. Royal's family could not be allowed to +keep their mother's watch and jewels. He replied that Mr. Royal +left no family; that his daughters were slaves, and, being property +themselves, they could legally hold no property. I was so sure my +friend Royal would not have left things in such a state, that I told +him he lied, and threatened to knock him down. He out with his pistol; +but when I told him I had left mine at home, he said I must settle +with him some other time, unless I chose to make an apology. I told +him I would do so whenever I was convinced that his statement was +true. I was never more surprised than when he told me that Madame +Royal was a slave. I knew she was a quadroon, and I supposed she was a +_placés_, as so many of the quadroons are. But now it seems that Mr. +Royal bought her of her father; and he, good, easy man, neglected to +manumit her. He of course knew that by law 'the child follows the +condition of the mother,' but I suppose it did not occur to him that +the daughters of so rich a man as he was could ever be slaves. At all +events, he neglected to have manumission papers drawn till it was too +late; for his property had become so much involved that he no longer +had a legal right to convey any of it away from creditors." + +Madame swung back and forth in the vehemence of her agitation, +exclaiming, "What _is_ to be done? What _is_ to be done?" + +The Italian strode up and down the room, clenching his fist, and +talking rapidly. "To think of that Rosabella!" exclaimed he,--"a +girl that would grace any throne in Europe! To think of _her_ on the +auction-stand, with a crowd of low-bred rascals staring at her, and +rich libertines, like that Mr. Bruteman--Pah! I can't endure to think +of it. How like a satyr he looked while he was talking to me about +their being slaves. It seems he got sight of them when they took an +inventory of the furniture. And that handsome little witch, Floracita, +whom her father loved so tenderly, to think of her being bid off to +some such filthy wretch! But they sha'n't have 'em! They sha'n't have +'em! I swear I'll shoot any man that comes to take 'em." He wiped the +perspiration from his forehead, and rushed round like a tiger in a +cage. + +"My friend," replied Madame, "they have the law on their side; and if +you try to resist, you will get yourself into trouble without doing +the girls any good. I'll tell you what we must do. We must disguise +them, and send them to the North." + +"Send them to the North!" exclaimed the Italian. "Why, they'd no more +know how to get there than a couple of kittens." + +"Then I must go with them," replied Madame; "and they must be got out +of this house before another day; for now that we know of it, we shall +be watched." + +The impetuous Italian shook her hand cordially. "You have a brave +heart, Madame," said he. "I should rather march up to the cannon's +mouth than tell them such news as this." + +The bewildered Frenchwoman felt the same dread of the task before her; +but she bravely said, "What _must_ be done, _can_ be done." + +After some further talk with the Signor concerning ways and means, +she bade him good morning, and sat still for a moment to collect her +thoughts. She then proceeded to the apartment assigned to the orphans. +They were occupied with a piece of embroidery she had promised to +sell for them. She looked at the work, praised the exactness of the +stitches and the tasteful shading of the flowers; but while she +pointed out the beauties of the pattern, her hand and voice trembled. + +Rosabella noticed it, and, looking up, said, "What troubles you, dear +friend?" + +"O, this is a world of trouble," replied Madame, "and you have had +such a storm beating on your young heads, that I wonder you keep your +senses." + +"I don't know as we could," said Rosa, "if the good God had not given +us such a friend as you." + +"If any _new_ trouble should come, I trust you will try to keep up +brave hearts, my children," rejoined Madame. + +"I don't know of any new trouble that _can_ come to us now," said +Rosa, "unless you should be taken from us, as our father was. It seems +as if everything else had happened that _could_ happen." + +"O, there are worse things than having _me_ die," replied Madame. + +Floracita had paused with her thread half drawn through her work, and +was looking earnestly at the troubled countenance of their friend. +"Madame," exclaimed she, "something has happened. What is it?" + +"I will tell you," said Madame, "if you will promise not to scream +or faint, and will try to keep your wits collected, so as to help me +think what is best to be done." + +They promised; and, watching her countenance with an expression of +wonder and anxiety, they waited to hear what she had to communicate. +"My dear children," said she, "I have heard something that will +distress you very much. Something neither you nor I ever suspected. +Your mother was a slave." + +"_Our_ mother a slave!" exclaimed Rosa, coloring vehemently. "_Whose_ +slave could she be, when she was Papasito's wife, and he loved her so? +It is impossible, Madame." + +"Your father bought her when she was very young, my dear; but I know +very well that no wife was ever loved better than she was." + +"But she always lived with her own father till she married papa," said +Floracita. "How then _could_ she be his slave?" + +"Her father got into trouble about money, my dear; and he sold her." + +"Our Grandpapa Gonsalez sold his daughter!" exclaimed Rosa. "How +incredible! Dear friend, I wonder you can believe such things." + +"The world is full of strange things, my child,--stranger than +anything you ever read in story-books." + +"If she was only Papasito's slave," said Flora, "I don't think Mamita +found _that_ any great hardship." + +"She did not, my dear. I don't suppose she ever thought of it; but a +great misfortune has grown out of it." + +"What is it?" they both asked at once. + +Their friend hesitated. "Remember, you have promised to be calm," said +she. "I presume you don't know that, by the laws of Louisiana, 'the +child follows the condition of the mother.' The consequence is, that +_you_ are slaves, and your father's creditors claim a right to sell +you." + +Rosabella turned very pale, and the hand with which she clutched a +chair trembled violently. But she held her head erect, and her look +and tone were very proud, as she exclaimed, "_We_ become slaves! I +will die rather." + +Floracita, unable to comprehend this new misfortune, looked from one +to the other in a bewildered way. Nature had written mirthfulness in +the shape of her beautiful eyes, which now contrasted strangely with +their startled and sad expression. + +The kind-hearted Frenchwoman bustled about the room, moving chairs, +and passing her handkerchief over boxes, while she tried hard to +swallow the emotions that choked her utterance. Having conquered in +the struggle, she turned toward them, and said, almost cheerfully: +"There's no need of dying, my children. Perhaps your old friend can +help you out of this trouble. We must disguise ourselves as gentlemen, +and start for the North this very evening." + +Floracita looked at her sister, and said, hesitatingly: "Couldn't you +write to Mr. Fitzgerald, and ask _him_ to come here? Perhaps he could +help us." + +Rosa's cheeks glowed, as she answered proudly: "Do you think I would +_ask_ him to come? I wouldn't do such a thing if we were as rich and +happy as we were a little while ago; and certainly I wouldn't do it +now." + +"There spoke Grandpa Gonsalez!" said Madame. "How grand the old +gentleman used to look, walking about so erect, with his gold-headed +cane! But we must go to work in a hurry, my children. Signor Papanti +has promised to send the disguises, and we must select and pack such +things as it is absolutely necessary we should carry. I am sorry now +that Tulee is let out in the city, for we need her help. + +"She must go with us," said Flora. "I can't leave Tulee." + +"We must do as we can," replied Madame. "In this emergency we can't do +as we would. _We_ are all white, and if we can get a few miles from +here, we shall have no further trouble. But if we had a negro with +us, it would lead to questions, perhaps. Besides, we haven't time to +disguise her and instruct her how to perform her part. The Signor will +be a good friend to her; and as soon as we can earn some money, we +will send and buy her." + +"But where can we go when we get to the North?" asked Rosa. + +"I will tell you," said Floracita. "Don't you remember that Mr. King +from Boston, who came to see us a year ago? His father was papa's best +friend, you know; and when he went away, he told us if ever we were in +trouble, to apply to him, as if he were our brother." + +"Did he?" said Madame. "That lets in a gleam of light. I heard your +father say he was a very good young man, and rich." + +"But Papasito said, some months ago, that Mr. King had gone to Europe +with his mother, on account of her health," replied Rosa. "Besides, +if he were at home, it would be very disagreeable to go to a young +gentleman as beggars and runaways, when he was introduced to us as +ladies." + +"You must put your pride in your pocket for the present, Señorita +Gonsalez," said Madame, playfully touching her under the chin. "If +this Mr. King is absent, I will write to him. They say there is a man +in Boston, named William Lloyd Garrison, who takes great interest in +slaves. We will tell him our story, and ask him about Mr. King. I did +think of stopping awhile with relatives in New York. But it would be +inconvenient for them, and they might not like it. This plan pleases +me better. To Boston we will go. The Signor has gone to ask my cousin, +Mr. Duroy, to come here and see to the house. When I have placed you +safely, I will come back slyly to my cousin's house, a few miles from +here, and with his help I will settle up my affairs. Then I will +return to you, and we will all go to some secure place and live +together. I never starved yet, and I don't believe I ever shall." + +The orphans clung to her, and kissed her hands, as they said: "How +kind you are to us, dear friend! What shall we ever do to repay you?" + +"Your father and mother were generous friends to me," replied Madame; +"and now their children are in trouble, I will not forsake them." + +As the good lady was to leave her apartments for an indefinite time, +there was much to be done and thought of, beside the necessary packing +for the journey. The girls tried their best to help her, but they were +continually proposing to carry something because it was a keepsake +from Mamita or Papasito. + +"This is no time for sentiment, my children," said Madame. "We must +not take anything we can possibly do without. Bless my soul, there +goes the bell! What if it should be one of those dreadful creditors +come here to peep and pry? Run to your room, my children, and bolt the +door." + +A moment afterward, she appeared before them smiling, and said: "There +was no occasion for being so frightened, but I am getting nervous with +all this flurry. Come back again, dears. It is only Franz Blumenthal." + +"What, come again?" asked Rosa. "Please go, Floracita, and I will come +directly, as soon as I have gathered up these things that we must +carry." + +The young German blushed like a girl as he offered two bouquets, one +of heaths and orange-buds, the other of orange-blossoms and fragrant +geraniums; saying as he did so, "I have taken the liberty to bring +some flowers, Miss Floracita." + +"My name is Miss Royal, sir," she replied, trying to increase her +stature to the utmost. It was an unusual caprice in one whose nature +was so childlike and playful; but the recent knowledge that she was a +slave had made her, for the first time, jealous of her dignity. She +took it into her head that he knew the humiliating fact, and presumed +upon it. + +But the good lad was as yet unconscious of this new trouble, and the +unexpected rebuke greatly surprised him. Though her slight figure and +juvenile face made her attempt at majesty somewhat comic, it was quite +sufficient to intimidate the bashful youth; and he answered, very +meekly: "Pardon me, Miss Royal. Floracita is such a very pretty name, +and I have always liked it so much, that I spoke it before I thought." + +The compliment disarmed her at once; and with one of her winning +smiles, and a quick little courtesy, she said: "Do you think it's a +pretty name? You _may_ call me Floracita, if you like it so much." + +"I think it is the prettiest name in the world," replied he. "I used +to like to hear your mother say it. She said everything so sweetly! Do +you remember she used to call me Florimond when I was a little boy, +because, she said, my face was so florid? Now I always write my name +Franz Florimond Blumenthal, in memory of her." + +"I will always call you Florimond, just as Mamita did," said she. + +Their very juvenile _tête-à-tête_ was interrupted by the entrance of +Madame with Rosa, who thanked him graciously for her portion of the +flowers, and told him her father was so much attached to him that she +should always think of him as a brother. + +He blushed crimson as he thanked her, and went away with a very warm +feeling at his heart, thinking Floracita a prettier name than ever, +and happily unconscious that he was parting from her. + +He had not been gone long when the bell rang again, and the girls +again hastened to hide themselves. Half an hour elapsed without their +seeing or hearing anything of Madame; and they began to be extremely +anxious lest something unpleasant was detaining her. But she came at +last, and said, "My children, the Signor wants to speak to you." + +They immediately descended to the sitting-room, where they found the +Signor looking down and slowly striking the ivory head of his cane +against his chin, as he was wont to do when buried in profound +thought. He rose as they entered, and Rosa said, with one of her +sweetest smiles, "What is it you wish, dear friend?" He dropped a thin +cloak from his shoulders and removed his hat, which brought away a +grizzled wig with it, and Mr. Fitzgerald stood smiling before them. + +The glad surprise excited by this sudden realization of a latent hope +put maidenly reserve to flight, and Rosa dropped on her knees before +him, exclaiming, "O Gerald, save us!" + +He raised her tenderly, and, imprinting a kiss on her forehead, said: +"Save you, my precious Rose? To be sure I will. That's what I came +for." + +"And me too," said Flora, clinging to him, and hiding her face under +his arm. + +"Yes, and you too, mischievous fairy," replied he, giving her a less +ceremonious kiss than he had bestowed on her sister. "But we must talk +fast, for there is a great deal to be done in a short time. I was +unfortunately absent from home, and did not receive the letter +informing me of your good father's death so soon as I should otherwise +have done. I arrived in the city this morning, but have been too busy +making arrangements for your escape to come here any earlier. The +Signor and I have done the work of six during the last few hours. +The creditors are not aware of my acquaintance with you, and I have +assumed this disguise to prevent them from discovering it. The Signor +has had a talk with Tulee, and told her to keep very quiet, and not +tell any mortal that she ever saw me at your father's house. A passage +for you and Madame is engaged on board a vessel bound to Nassau, +which will sail at midnight. Soon, after I leave this house, Madame's +cousin, Mr. Duroy, will come with two boys. You and Madame will assume +their dresses, and they will put on some clothes the Signor has +already sent, in such boxes as Madame is accustomed to receive, full +of materials for her flowers. All, excepting ourselves, will suppose +you have gone North, according to the original plan, in order that +they may swear to that effect if they are brought to trial. When I go +by the front of the house whistling _Ça ira_, you will pass through +the garden to the street in the rear, where you will find my servant +with a carriage, which will convey you three miles, to the house of +one of my friends. I will come there in season to accompany you on +board the ship." + +"O, how thoughtful and how kind you are!" exclaimed Rosa. "But can't +we contrive some way to take poor Tulee with us?" + +"It would be imprudent," he replied. "The creditors must be allowed to +sell her. She knows it, but she has my assurance that I will take good +care of her. No harm shall come to Tulee, I promise you. I cannot go +with you to Nassau; because, if I do, the creditors may suspect my +participation in the plot. I shall stay in New Orleans a week or ten +days, then return to Savannah, and take an early opportunity to sail +for Nassau, by the way of New York. Meanwhile, I will try to manage +matters so that Madame can safely return to her house. Then we will +decide where to make a happy home for ourselves." + +The color forsook Rosa's cheeks, and her whole frame quivered, as she +said, "I thank you, Gerald, for all this thoughtful care; but I cannot +go to Nassau,--indeed I cannot!" + +"Cannot go!" exclaimed he. "Where _will_ you go, then?" + +"Before you came, Madame had made ready to take us to Boston, you +know. We will go there with her." + +"Rosa, do you distrust me?" said he reproachfully. "Do you doubt my +love?" + +"I do not distrust you," she replied; "but"--she looked down, and +blushed deeply as she added--"but I promised my father that I would +never leave home with any gentleman unless I was married to him." + +"But, Rosa dear, your father did not foresee such a state of things +as this. Everything is arranged, and there is no time to lose. If you +knew all that I know, you would see the necessity of leaving this city +before to-morrow." + +"I cannot go with you," she repeated in tones of the deepest +distress,--"I _cannot_ go with you, for I promised my dear father the +night before he died." + +He looked at her for an instant, and then, drawing her close to him, +he said: "It shall be just as you wish, darling. I will bring a +clergyman to the house of my friend, and we will be married before you +sail." + +Rosa, without venturing to look up, said, in a faltering tone: "I +cannot bear to bring degradation upon you, Gerald. It seems wrong to +take advantage of your generous forgetfulness of yourself. When you +first told me you loved me, you did not know I was an octoroon, and +a--slave." + +"I knew your mother was a quadroon," he replied; "and as for the rest, +no circumstance can degrade _you_, my Rose Royal." + +"But if your plan should not succeed, how ashamed you would feel to +have us seized!" said she. + +"It _will_ succeed, dearest. But even if it should not, you shall +never be the property of any man but myself." + +"_Property_!"! she exclaimed in the proud Gonsalez tone, striving to +withdraw herself from his embrace. + +He hastened to say: "Forgive me, Rosabella. I am so intoxicated with +happiness that I cannot be careful of my words. I merely meant to +express the joyful feeling that you would be surely mine, wholly +mine." + +While they were talking thus, Floracita had glided out of the room to +carry the tidings to Madame. The pressure of misfortune had been so +heavy upon her, that, now it was lifted a little, her elastic spirit +rebounded with a sudden spring, and she felt happier than she had ever +thought of being since her father died. In the lightness of her heart +she began to sing, "_Petit blanc, mon bon frère_!" but she stopped at +the first line, for she recollected how her father had checked her in +the midst of that frisky little song; and now that she knew they were +octoroons, she partly comprehended why it had been disagreeable to +him. But the gayety that died out of her voice passed into her steps. +She went hopping and jumping up to Madame, exclaiming: "What do you +think is going to happen now? Rosabella is going to be married right +off. What a pity she can't be dressed like a bride! She would look so +handsome in white satin and pearls, and a great lace veil! But here +are the flowers Florimond brought so opportunely. I will put the +orange-buds in her hair, and she shall have a bouquet in her hand." + +"She will look handsome in anything," rejoined Madame. "But tell me +about it, little one." + +After receiving Flora's answers to a few brief questions, she +stationed herself within sight of the outer door, that she might ask +Fitzgerald for more minute directions concerning what they were to do. +He very soon made his appearance, again disguised as the Signor. + +After a hurried consultation, Madame said: "I do hope nothing will +happen to prevent our getting off safely. Rosabella has so much +Spanish pride, I verily believe she would stab herself rather than go +on the auction-stand." + +"Heavens and earth! don't speak of that!" exclaimed he, impetuously. +"Do you suppose I would allow my beautiful rose to be trampled by +swine. If we fail, I will buy them if it costs half my fortune. But we +shall _not_ fail. Don't let the girls go out of the door till you hear +the signal." + +"No danger of that," she replied. "Their father always kept them like +wax flowers under a glass cover. They are as timid as hares." Before +she finished the words, he was gone. + +Rosabella remained where he had left her, with her head bowed on the +table. Floracita was nestling by her side, pouring forth her girlish +congratulations. Madame came in, saying, in her cheerly way: "So you +are going to be married to night! Bless my soul, how the world whirls +round!" + +"Isn't God _very_ good to us?" asked Rosa, looking up. "How noble and +kind Mr. Fitzgerald is, to wish to marry me now that everything is so +changed!" + +"_You_ are not changed, darling," she replied; "except that I think +you are a little better, and that seemed unnecessary. But you must be +thinking, my children, whether everything is in readiness." + +"He told us we were not to go till evening, and it isn't dark yet," +said Floracita. "Couldn't we go into Papasito's garden one little +minute, and take one sip from the fountain, and just one little walk +round the orange-grove?" + +"It wouldn't be safe, my dear. There's no telling who may be lurking +about. Mr. Fitzgerald charged me not to let you go out of doors. +But you can go to my chamber, and take a last look of the house and +garden." + +They went up stairs, and stood, with their arms around each other, +gazing at their once happy home. "How many times we have walked in +that little grove, hand in hand with Mamita and Papasito! and now they +are both gone," sighed Rosa. + +"Ah, yes," said Flora; "and now we are afraid to go there for a +minute. How strangely everything has changed! We don't hear Mamita's +Spanish and papa's English any more. We have nobody to talk _olla +podrida_ to now. It's all French with Madame, and all Italian with the +Signor." + +"But what kind souls they are, to do so much for us!" responded Rosa. +"If such good friends hadn't been raised up for us in these dreadful +days, what _should_ we have done?" + +Here Madame came hurrying in to say, "Mr. Duroy and the boys have +come. We must change dresses before the whistler goes by." + +The disguises were quickly assumed; and the metamorphosis made Rosa +both blush and smile, while her volatile sister laughed outright. But +she checked herself immediately, saying: "I am a wicked little wretch +to laugh, for you and your friends may get into trouble by doing all +this for us. What shall you tell them about us when you get back from +Nassau?" + +"I don't intend to tell them much of anything," replied Madame. "I +may, perhaps, give them a hint that one of your father's old friends +invited you to come to the North, and that I did not consider it my +business to hinder you." + +"O fie, Madame!" said Floracita; "what a talent you have for +arranging the truth with variations!" + +Madame tried to return a small volley of French pleasantry; but the +effort was obviously a forced one. The pulses of her heart were +throbbing with anxiety and fear; and they all began to feel suspense +increasing to agony, when at last the whistled tones of _Ça ira_ were +heard. + +"Now don't act as if you were afraid," whispered Madame, as she put +her hand on the latch of the door. "Go out naturally. Remember I am my +cousin, and you are the boys." + +They passed through the garden into the street, feeling as if some +rough hand might at any instant seize them. But all was still, save +the sound of voices in the distance. When they came in sight of the +carriage, the driver began to bum carelessly to himself, "Who goes +there? Stranger, quickly tell!" + +"A friend. Good night,"--sang the disguised Madame, in the same +well-known tune of challenge and reply. The carriage door was +instantly opened, they entered, and the horses started at a brisk +pace. At the house where the driver stopped, they were received as +expected guests. Their disguises were quickly exchanged for dresses +from their carpet-bags, which had been conveyed out in Madame's boxes, +and smuggled into the carriage by their invisible protector. Flora, +who was intent upon having things seem a little like a wedding, made +a garland of orange-buds for her sister's hair, and threw over her +braids a white gauze scarf. The marriage ceremony was performed at +half past ten; and at midnight Madame was alone with _her protégées_ +in the cabin of the ship Victoria, dashing through the dark waves +under a star-bright sky. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Mr. Fitzgerald lingered on the wharf till the vessel containing his +treasure was no longer visible. Then he returned to the carriage, +and was driven to his hotel. Notwithstanding a day of very unusual +excitement and fatigue, when he retired to rest he felt no inclination +to sleep. Rosabella floated before him as he had first seen her, a +radiant vision of beauty surrounded by flowers. He recalled the shy +pride and maidenly modesty with which she had met his ardent glances +and impassioned words. He thought of the meek and saddened expression +of her face, as he had seen it in these last hurried interviews, and +it seemed to him she had never appeared so lovely. He remembered with +a shudder what Madame Guirlande had said about the auction-stand. He +was familiar with such scenes, for he had seen women offered for +sale, and had himself bid for them in competition with rude, indecent +crowds. It was revolting to his soul to associate the image of Rosa +with such base surroundings; but it seemed as if some fiend persisted +in holding the painful picture before him. He seemed to see her +graceful figure gazed at by a brutal crowd, while the auctioneer +assured them that she was warranted to be an entirely new and +perfectly sound article,--a moss rosebud from a private royal +garden,--a diamond fit for a king's crown. And men, whose upturned +faces were like greedy satyrs, were calling upon her to open her ruby +lips and show her pearls. He turned restlessly on his pillow with a +muttered oath. Then he smiled as he thought to himself that, by saving +her from such degradation, he had acquired complete control of her +destiny. From the first moment he heard of her reverses, he had felt +that her misfortunes were his triumph. Madly in love as he had been +for more than a year, his own pride, and still more the dreaded scorn +of proud relatives, had prevented him from offering marriage; while +the watchful guardianship of her father, and her dutiful respect to +his wishes, rendered any less honorable alliance hopeless. But now he +was her sole protector; and though he had satisfied her scruples by +marriage, he could hide her away and keep his own secret; while she, +in the fulness of her grateful love, would doubtless be satisfied +with any arrangement he chose to make. But there still remained some +difficulties in his way. He was unwilling to leave his own luxurious +home and exile himself in the British West Indies; and if he should +bring the girls to Georgia, he foresaw that disastrous consequences +might ensue, if his participation in their elopement should ever be +discovered, or even suspected. "It would have been far more convenient +to have bought them outright, even at a high price," thought he; "but +after the Signor repeated to me that disgusting talk of Bruteman's, +there could be no mistake that he had _his_ eye fixed upon them; and +it would have been ruinous to enter into competition with such a +wealthy _roué_ as he is. He values money no more than pebble-stones, +when he is in pursuit of such game. But though I have removed them +from his grasp for the present, I can feel no security if I bring them +back to this country. I must obtain a legal ownership of them; but how +shall I manage it?" Revolving many plans in his mind, he at last fell +asleep. + +His first waking thought was to attend a meeting of the creditors at +noon, and hear what they had to say. He found ten or twelve persons +present, some of gentlemanly appearance, others hard-looking +characters. Among them, and in singular contrast with their +world-stamped faces, was the ingenuous countenance of Florimond +Blumenthal. Three hundred dollars of his salary were due to him, and +he hoped to secure some portion of the debt for the benefit of the +orphans. A few individuals, who knew Mr. Fitzgerald, said, "What, are +you among the creditors?" + +"I am not a creditor," he replied, "but I am here to represent the +claims of Mr. Whitwell of Savannah, who, being unable to be present in +person, requested me to lay his accounts before you." + +He sat listening to the tedious details of Mr. Royal's liabilities, +and the appraisement of his property, with an expression of listless +indifference; often moving his fingers to a tune, or making the motion +of whistling, without the rudeness of emitting a sound. + +Young Blumenthal, on the contrary, manifested the absorbed attention +of one who loved his benefactor, and was familiar with the details of +his affairs. No notice was taken of him, however, for his claim was +small, and he was too young to be a power in the commercial world. He +modestly refrained from making any remarks; and having given in his +account, he rose to take his hat, when his attention was arrested by +hearing Mr. Bruteman say: "We have not yet mentioned the most valuable +property Mr. Royal left. I allude to his daughters." + +Blumenthal sank into his chair again, and every vestige of color +left his usually blooming countenance; but though Fitzgerald was on +tenter-hooks to know whether the escape was discovered, he betrayed no +sign of interest. + +Mr. Bruteman went on to say, "We appraised them at six thousand +dollars." + +"Much less than they would bring at auction," observed Mr. Chandler," +as you would all agree, gentlemen, if you had seen them; for they are +fancy articles, A No. 1." + +"Is it certain the young ladies are slaves?" inquired Blumenthal, with +a degree of agitation that attracted attention toward him. + +"It _is_ certain," replied Mr. Bruteman. "Their mother was a slave, +and was never manumitted." + +"Couldn't a subscription be raised, or an appeal be made to some court +in their behalf?" asked the young man, with constrained calmness +in his tones, while the expression of his face betrayed his inward +suffering. "They are elegant, accomplished young ladies, and their +good father brought them up with the greatest indulgence." + +"Perhaps you are in love with one or both of them," rejoined Mr. +Bruteman. "If so, you must buy them at auction, if you can. The law is +inexorable. It requires that all the property of an insolvent debtor +should be disposed of at public sale." + +"I am very slightly acquainted with the young ladies," said the +agitated youth; "but their father was my benefactor when I was a poor +destitute orphan, and I would sacrifice my life to save _his_ orphans +from such a dreadful calamity. I know little about the requirements of +the law, gentlemen, but I implore you to tell me if there isn't _some_ +way to prevent this. If it can be done by money, I will serve any +gentleman gratuitously any number of years he requires, if he will +advance the necessary sum." + +"We are not here to talk sentiment, my lad," rejoined Mr. Bruteman. +"We are here to transact business." + +"I respect this youth for the feeling he has manifested toward his +benefactor's children," said a gentleman named Ammidon. "If we _could_ +enter into some mutual agreement to relinquish this portion of the +property, I for one should be extremely glad. I should be willing to +lose much more than my share, for the sake of bringing about such an +arrangement. And, really, the sale of such girls as these are said to +be is not very creditable to the country. If any foreign travellers +happen to be looking on, they will make great capital out of such a +story. At all events, the Abolitionists will be sure to get it into +their papers, and all Europe will be ringing changes upon it." + +"Let 'em ring!" fiercely exclaimed Mr. Chandler. "I don't care a damn +about the Abolitionists, nor Europe neither. I reckon we can manage +our own affairs in this free country." + +"I should judge by your remarks that you were an Abolitionist +yourself, Mr. Ammidon," said Mr. Bruteman. "I am surprised to hear +a Southerner speak as if the opinions of rascally abolition- +amalgamationists were of the slightest consequence. I consider +such sentiments unworthy any Southern _gentleman_, sir." + +Mr. Ammidon flushed, and answered quickly, "I allow no man to call in +question my being a gentleman, sir." + +"If you consider yourself insulted, you know your remedy," rejoined +Mr. Bruteman. "I give you your choice of place and weapons." + +Mr. Fitzgerald consulted his watch, and two or three others followed +his example. + +"I see," said Mr. Ammidon, "that gentlemen are desirous to adjourn." + +"It is time that we did so," rejoined Mr. Bruteman. "Officers have +been sent for these slaves of Mr. Royal, and they are probably now +lodged in jail. At our next meeting we will decide upon the time of +sale." + +Young Blumenthal rose and attempted to go out; but a blindness came +over him, and he staggered against the wall. + +"I reckon that youngster's an Abolitionist," muttered Mr. Chandler. +"At any rate, he seems to think there's a difference in niggers,--and +all such ought to have notice to quit." + +Mr. Ammidon called for water, with which he sprinkled the young man's +face, and two or three others assisted to help him into a carriage. + +Another meeting was held the next day, which Mr. Fitzgerald did not +attend, foreseeing that it would be a stormy one. The result of it was +shown in the arrest and imprisonment of Signor Papanti, and a vigilant +search for Madame Guirlande. Her cousin, Mr. Duroy, declared that he +had been requested to take care of her apartments for a few weeks, as +she was obliged to go to New York on business; that she took her young +lady boarders with her, and that was all he knew. Despatches were +sent in hot haste to the New York and Boston police, describing the +fugitives, declaring them to be thieves, and demanding that they +should be sent forthwith to New Orleans for trial. The policeman who +had been employed to watch Madame's house, and who had been induced to +turn his back for a while by some mysterious process best known to +Mr. Fitzgerald, was severely cross-examined and liberally pelted with +oaths. In the course of the investigations, it came out that Florimond +Blumenthal had visited the house on the day of the elopement, and that +toward dusk he had been seen lingering about the premises, watching +the windows. The story got abroad that he had been an accomplice in +helping off two valuable slaves. The consequence was that he received +a written intimation that, if he valued his neck, he had better quit +New Orleans within twenty-four hours, signed Judge Lynch. + +Mr. Fitzgerald appeared to take no share in the excitement. When he +met any of the creditors, he would sometimes ask, carelessly, "Any +news yet about those slaves of Royal's?" He took occasion to remark to +two or three of them, that, Signor Papanti being an old friend of his, +he had been to the prison to see him; that he was convinced he had no +idea where those girls had gone; he was only their music-teacher, and +such an impetuous, peppery man, that they never would have thought of +trusting him with any important secret. Having thus paved the way, he +came out with a distinct proposition at the next meeting. "I feel a +great deal of sympathy for Signor Papanti," said he. "I have been +acquainted with him a good while, and have taken lessons of him, both +in music and Italian; and I like the old gentleman. He is getting ill +in prison, and he can never tell you any more than he has told you. +Doubtless he knew that Madame intended to convey those girls to the +North if she possibly could; but I confess I should have despised him +if he had turned informer against the daughters of his friend, who had +been his own favorite pupils. If you will gratify me by releasing him, +I will make you an offer for those girls, and take my chance of ever +finding them." + +"What sum do you propose to offer?" inquired the creditors. + +"I will pay one thousand dollars if you accede to my terms." + +"Say two thousand, and we will take the subject under consideration," +they replied. + +"In that case I must increase my demands," said he. "I have reason +to suspect that my friend the Signor would like to make a match with +Madame Guirlande. If you will allow her to come back to her business +and remain undisturbed, and will make me a sale of these girls, I +don't care if I do say two thousand." + +"He has told you where they are!" exclaimed Mr. Bruteman, abruptly; +"and let me tell you, if you know where they are, you are not acting +the part of a gentleman." + +"He has not told me, I assure you, nor has he given me the slightest +intimation. It is my firm belief that he does not know. But I am +rather fond of gambling, and this is such a desperate throw, that it +will be all the more exciting. I never tried my luck at buying slaves +running, and I have rather a fancy for experimenting in that game +of chance. And I confess my curiosity has been so excited by the +wonderful accounts I have heard of those nonpareil girls, that I +should find the pursuit of them a stimulating occupation. If I should +not succeed, I should at least have the satisfaction of having done a +good turn to my old Italian friend." + +They asked more time to reflect upon it, and to hear from New York +and Boston. With inward maledictions on their slowness, he departed, +resolving in his own mind that nothing should keep him much longer +from Nassau, come what would. + +As he went out, Mr. Chandler remarked: "It's very much like him. He's +always ready to gamble in anything." + +"After all, I have my suspicion that he's got a clew to the mystery +somehow, and that he expects to find those handsome wenches," said Mr. +Bruteman. "I'd give a good deal to baffle him." + +"It seems pretty certain that _we_ cannot obtain any clew," rejoined +Mr. Ammidon, "and we have already expended considerable in the effort. +If he can be induced to offer two thousand five hundred, I think we +had better accept it." + +After a week's absence in Savannah and its vicinity, making various +arrangements for the reception of the sisters, Mr. Fitzgerald returned +to New Orleans, and took an early opportunity to inform the creditors +that he should remain a very short time. He made no allusion to his +proposed bargain, and when they alluded to it he affected great +indifference. + +"I should be willing to give you five hundred dollars to release my +musical friend," said he. "But as for those daughters of Mr. Royal, it +seems to me, upon reflection, to be rather a quixotic undertaking to +go in pursuit of them. You know it's a difficult job to catch a slave +after he gets to the North, if he's as black as the ace of spades; and +all Yankeedom would be up in arms at any attempt to seize such white +ladies. Of course, I could obtain them in no other way than by +courting them and gaining their goodwill." + +Mr. Bruteman and Mr. Chandler made some remarks unfit for repetition, +but which were greeted with shouts of laughter. After much dodging +and doubling on the financial question, Fitzgerald agreed to pay two +thousand five hundred dollars, if all his demands were complied with. +The papers were drawn and signed with all due formality. He clasped +them in his pocket-book, and walked off with an elastic step, saying, +"Now for Nassau!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The scenery of the South was in the full glory of June, when Mr. +Fitzgerald, Rosa, and Floracita were floating up the Savannah River in +a boat manned by negroes, who ever and anon waked the stillness of +the woods with snatches of wild melody. They landed on a sequestered +island which ocean and river held in their arms. Leaving the servants +to take care of the luggage, they strolled along over a carpet of +wild-flowers, through winding bridle-paths, where glances of bright +water here and there gleamed through the dark pines that were singing +their sleepy chorus, with its lulling sound of the sea, and filling +the air with their aromatic breath. Before long, they saw a +gay-colored turban moving among the green foliage, and the sisters at +once exclaimed, "Tulipa!" + +"Dear Gerald, you didn't tell us Tulee was here," said Rosa. + +"I wanted to give you a pleasant surprise," he replied. + +She thanked him with a glance more expressive than words. Tulipa, +meanwhile, was waving a white towel with joyful energy, and when +she came up to them, she half smothered them with hugs and kisses, +exclaiming: "The Lord bless ye, Missy Rosy! The Lord bless ye, Missy +Flory! It does Tulee's eyes good to see ye agin." She eagerly led the +way through flowering thickets to a small lawn, in the midst of which +was a pretty white cottage. + +It was evident at a glance that she, as well as the master of the +establishment, had done her utmost to make the interior of the +dwelling resemble their old home as much as possible. Rosa's piano was +there, and on it were a number of books which their father had +given them. As Floracita pointed to the ottomans their mother had +embroidered, and the boxes and table she had painted, she said: "Our +good friend the Signor sent those. He promised to buy them." + +"He could not buy them, poor man!" answered Fitzgerald, "for he was in +prison at the time of the auction; but he did not forget to enjoin it +upon me to buy them." + +A pleasant hour was spent in joyful surprises over pretty novelties +and cherished souvenirs. Rosa was full of quiet happiness, and +Floracita expressed her satisfaction in lively little gambols. The sun +was going down when they refreshed themselves with the repast Tulipa +had provided. Unwilling to invite the merciless mosquitoes, they sat, +while the gloaming settled into darkness, playing and singing melodies +associated with other times. + +Floracita felt sorry when the hour of separation for the night came. +Everything seemed so fearfully still, except the monotonous wash of +the waves on the sea-shore! And as far as she could see the landscape +by the light of a bright little moon-sickle, there was nothing but +a thick screen of trees and shrubbery. She groped her way to her +sleeping-apartment, expecting to find Tulee there. She had been there, +and had left a little glimmering taper behind a screen, which threw a +fantastic shadow on the ceiling, like a face with a monstrous nose. It +affected the excitable child like some kind of supernatural presence. +She crept to the window, and through the veil of the mosquito-bar she +dimly saw the same thick wall of greenery. Presently she espied a +strange-looking long face peering out from its recesses. On their +voyage home from Nassau, Gerald had sometimes read aloud to them +from "The Midsummer Night's Dream." Could it be that there were such +creatures in the woods as Shakespeare described? A closet adjoining +her room had been assigned to Tulee. She opened the door and said, +"Tulee, are you there? Why don't you come?" There was no answer. Again +she gave a timid look at the window. The long face moved, and a +most unearthly sound was heard. Thoroughly frightened, she ran out, +calling, "Tulee! Tulee! In the darkness, she ran against her faithful +attendant, and the sudden contact terrified her still more. + +"It's only Tulee. What is the matter with my little one?" said the +negress. As she spoke, the fearful sound was heard again. + +"O Tulee, what is that?" she exclaimed, all of a tremble. + +"That is only Jack," she replied. + +"Who's Jack?" quickly asked the nervous little maiden. + +"Why, the jackass, my puppet," answered Tulee. "Massa Gerald bought +him for you and Missy Rosy to ride. In hot weather there's so many +snakes about in the woods, he don't want ye to walk." + +"What does he make that horrid noise for?" asked Flora, somewhat +pacified. + +"Because he was born with music in him, like the rest of ye," answered +Tulee, laughing. + +She assisted her darling to undress, arranged her pillows, and kissed +her cheek just as she had kissed it ever since the rosy little mouth +had learned to speak her name. Then she sat by the bedside talking +over things that had happened since they parted. + +"So you were put up at auction and sold!" exclaimed Flora. "Poor +Tulee! how dreadfully I should have felt to see you there! But Gerald +bought you; and I suppose you like to belong to _him_." + +"Ise nothin' to complain of Massa Gerald," she answered; "but I'd like +better to belong to myself." + +"So you'd like to be free, would you?" asked Flora. + +"To be sure I would," said Tulee. "Yo like it yerself, don't ye, +little missy?" + +Then, suddenly recollecting what a narrow escape her young lady had +had from the auction-stand, she hastened with intuitive delicacy to +change the subject. But the same thought had occurred to Flora; and +she fell asleep, thinking how Tulee's wishes could be gratified. + +When morning floated upward out of the arms of night, in robe of +brightest saffron, the aspect of everything was changed. Floracita +sprang out of bed early, eager to explore the surroundings of their +new abode. The little lawn looked very beautiful, sprinkled all +over with a variety of wild-flowers, in whose small cups dewdrops +glistened, prismatic as opals. The shrubbery was no longer a dismal +mass of darkness, but showed all manner of shadings of glossy green +leaves, which the moisture of the night had ornamented with shimmering +edges of crystal beads. She found the phantom of the night before +browsing among flowers behind the cottage, and very kindly disposed to +make her acquaintance. As he had a thistle blossom sticking out of his +mouth, she forthwith named him Thistle. She soon returned to the +house with her apron full of vines, and blossoms, and prettily tinted +leaves. "See, Tulee," said she, "what a many flowers! I'm going +to make haste and dress the table, before Gerald and Rosa come to +breakfast." They took graceful shape under her nimble fingers, and, +feeling happy in her work, she began to hum, + +"How brightly breaks the morning!" + +"Whisper low!" sang Gerald, stealing up behind her, and making her +start by singing into her very ear; while Rosa exclaimed, "What a +fairy-land you have made here, with all these flowers,_pichoncita +mia_" + +The day passed pleasantly enough, with some ambling along the +bridle-paths on Thistle's back, some reading and sleeping, and a good +deal of music. The next day, black Tom came with a barouche, and they +took a drive round the lovely island. The cotton-fields were all +abloom on Gerald's plantation, and his stuccoed villa, with spacious +veranda and high porch, gleamed out in whiteness among a magnificent +growth of trees, and a garden gorgeous with efflorescence. The only +drawback to the pleasure was, that Gerald charged them to wear thick +veils, and never to raise them when any person was in sight. They made +no complaint, because he told them that he should be deeply involved +in trouble if his participation in their escape should be discovered; +but, happy as Rosa was in reciprocated love, this necessity of +concealment was a skeleton ever sitting at her feast; and Floracita, +who had no romantic compensation for it, chafed under the restraint. +It was dusk when they returned to the cottage, and the thickets were +alive with fire-flies, as if Queen Mab and all her train were out +dancing in spangles. + +A few days after was Rosa's birthday, and Floracita busied herself +in adorning the rooms with flowery festoons. After breakfast, Gerald +placed a small parcel in the hand of each of the sisters. Rosa's +contained her mother's diamond ring, and Flora's was her mother's gold +watch, in the back of which was set a small locket-miniature of +her father. Their gratitude took the form of tears, and the +pleasure-loving young man, who had more taste for gayety than +sentiment, sought to dispel it by lively music. When he saw the smiles +coming again, he bowed playfully, and said: "This day is yours, dear +Rosa. Whatsoever you wish for, you shall have, if it is attainable." + +"I do wish for one thing," she replied promptly. "Floracita has found +out that Tulee would like to be free. I want you to gratify her wish." + +"Tulee is yours," rejoined he. "I bought her to attend upon you." + +"She will attend upon me all the same after she is free," responded +Rosa; "and we should all be happier." + +"I will do it," he replied. "But I hope you won't propose to make _me_ +free, for I am happier to be your slave." + +The papers were brought a few days after, and Tulee felt a great deal +richer, though there was no outward change in her condition. + +As the heat increased, mosquitoes in the woods and sand-flies on the +beach rendered the shelter of the house desirable most of the +time. But though Fitzgerald had usually spent the summer months in +travelling, he seemed perfectly contented to sing and doze and trifle +away his time by Rosa's side, week after week. Floracita did not find +it entertaining to be a third person with a couple of lovers. She had +been used to being a person of consequence in her little world; and +though they were very kind to her, they often forgot that she was +present, and never seemed to miss her when she was away. She had led +a very secluded life from her earliest childhood, but she had never +before been so entirely out of sight of houses and people. During the +few weeks she had passed in Nassau, she had learned to do shell-work +with a class of young girls; and it being the first time she had +enjoyed such companionship, she found it peculiarly agreeable. She +longed to hear their small talk again; she longed to have Rosa to +herself, as in the old times; she longed for her father's caresses, +for Madame Guirlande's brave cheerfulness, for the Signor's peppery +outbursts, which she found very amusing; and sometimes she thought +how pleasant it would be to hear Florimond say that her name was the +prettiest in the world. She often took out a pressed geranium blossom, +under which was written "Souvenir de Florimond "; and she thought +_his_ name was very pretty too. She sang Moore's Melodies a great +deal; and when she warbled, + + "Sweet vale of Avoca! how calm could I rest + In thy bosom of shade, with the friend I love best!" + +she sighed, and thought to herself, "Ah! if I only _had_ a friend +to love best!" She almost learned "Lalla Rookh" by heart; and she +pictured herself as the Persian princess listening to a minstrel in +Oriental costume, but with a very German face. It was not that the +child was in love, but her heart was untenanted; and as memories +walked through it, it sounded empty. + +Tulee, who was very observing where her affections were concerned, +suspected that she was comparing her own situation with that of Rosa. +One day, when she found her in dreamy revery, she patted her silky +curls, and said: "Does she feel as if she was laid by, like a fifth +wheel to a coach? Never mind! My little one will have a husband +herself one of these days." + +Without looking up, she answered, very pensively: "Do you think I ever +shall, Tulee? I don't see how I can, for I never see anybody." + +Tulipa took the little head between her black hands, and, raising +the pretty face toward her, replied: "Yes, sure, little missy. Do ye +s'pose ye had them handsome eyes for nothin' but to look at the moon? +But come, now, with me, and feed Thistle. I'm going to give him a +pailful of water. Thistle knows us as well as if he was a Christian." + +Jack Thistle was a great resource for Tulee in her isolation, and +scarcely less so for Flora. She often fed him from her hand, decorated +him with garlands, talked to him, and ambled about with him in the +woods and on the sea-shore. The visits of black Tom also introduced a +little variety into their life. He went back and forth from Savannah +to procure such articles as were needed at the cottage, and he always +had a budget of gossip for Tulee. Tom's Chloe was an expert +ironer; and as Mr. Fitzgerald was not so well pleased with Tulee's +performances of that kind, baskets of clothes were often sent to +Chloe, who was ingenious in finding excuses for bringing them back +herself. She was a great singer of Methodist hymns and negro songs, +and had wonderful religious experiences to tell. To listen to her and +Tom was the greatest treat Tulee had; but as she particularly prided +herself on speaking like white people, she often remarked that she +couldn't understand half their "lingo." Floracita soon learned it to +perfection, and excited many a laugh by her imitations. + +Tulee once obtained Rosa's permission to ride back with Tom, and spend +a couple of hours at his cabin near "the Grat Hus," as he called his +master's villa. But when Mr. Fitzgerald heard of it, he interdicted +such visits in the future. He wished to have as little communication +as possible between the plantation and the lonely cottage; and if he +had overheard some of the confidences between Chloe and Tulee, +he probably would have been confirmed in the wisdom of such a +prohibition. But Tom was a factotum that could not be dispensed with. +They relied upon him for provisions, letters, and newspapers. + +Three or four weeks after their arrival he brought a box containing a +long letter from Madame Guirlande, and the various articles she had +saved for the orphans from the wreck of their early home. Not long +afterward another letter came, announcing the marriage of Madame and +the Signor. Answering these letters and preparing bridal presents for +their old friends gave them busy days. Gerald sometimes ordered new +music and new novels from New York, and their arrival caused great +excitement. Floracita's natural taste for drawing had been cultivated +by private lessons from a French lady, and she now used the pretty +accomplishment to make likenesses of Thistle with and without +garlands, of Tulee in her bright turban, and of Madame Guirlande's +parrot, inscribed, "_Bon jour, jolie Manon_!" + +One day Rosa said: "As soon as the heat abates, so that we can use our +needles without rusting, we will do a good deal of embroidery, and +give it to Madame. She sells such articles, you know; and we can make +beautiful things of those flosses and chenilles the good soul saved +for us." + +"I like that idea," replied Flora. "I've been wanting to do something +to show our gratitude." + +There was wisdom as well as kindness in the plan, though they never +thought of the wisdom. Hours were whiled away by the occupation, which +not only kept their needles from rusting, but also their affections +and artistic faculties. + +As the tide of time flowed on, varied only by these little eddies and +ripples, Gerald, though always very loving with Rosa, became somewhat +less exclusive. His attentions were more equally divided between the +sisters. He often occupied himself with Floracita's work, and would +pick out the shades of silk for her, as well as for Rosa. He more +frequently called upon her to sing a solo, as well as to join in +duets and trios. When the weather became cooler, it was a favorite +recreation with him to lounge at his ease, while Rosa played, and +Floracita's fairy figure floated through the evolutions of some +graceful dance. Sometimes he would laugh, and say: "Am I not a lucky +dog? I don't envy the Grand Bashaw his Circassian beauties. He'd give +his biggest diamond for such a dancer as Floracita; and what is his +Flower of the World compared to my Rosamunda?" + +Floracita, whose warm heart always met affection as swiftly as one +drop of quicksilver runs to another, became almost as much attached to +him as she was to Rosa. "How kind Gerald is to me!" she would say to +Tulee. "Papa used to wish we had a brother; but I didn't care for one +then, because he was just as good for a playmate. But now it _is_ +pleasant to have a brother." + +To Rosa, also, it was gratifying to have his love for her overflow +upon what was dearest to her; and she would give him one of her +sweetest smiles when he called her sister "Mignonne" or "Querida." +To both of them the lonely island came to seem like a happy home. +Floracita was not so wildly frolicsome as she was before those +stunning blows fell upon her young life; but the natural buoyancy of +her spirits began to return. She was always amusing them with "quips +and cranks." If she was out of doors, her return to the house would be +signalized by imitations of all sorts of birds or musical instruments; +and often, when Gerald invited her to "trip it on the light, fantastic +toe," she would entertain him with one of the negroes' clumsy, +shuffling dances. Her sentimental songs fell into disuse, and were +replaced by livelier tunes. Instead of longing to rest in the "sweet +vale of Avoca," she was heard musically chasing "Figaro here! Figaro +there! Figaro everywhere!" + +Seven months passed without other material changes than the changing +seasons. When the flowers faded, and the leafless cypress-trees were +hung with their pretty pendulous seed-vessels, Gerald began to make +longer visits to Savannah. He was, however, rarely gone more than a +week; and, though Rosa's songs grew plaintive in his absence, her +spirits rose at once when he came to tell how homesick he had been. As +for Floracita, she felt compensated for the increased stillness by the +privilege of having Rosa all to herself. + +One day in January, when he had been gone from home several days, she +invited Rosa to a walk, and, finding her desirous to finish a letter +to Madame Guirlande, she threw on her straw hat, and went out half +dancing, as she was wont to do. The fresh air was exhilarating, the +birds were singing, and the woods were already beautified with every +shade of glossy green, enlivened by vivid buds and leaflets of reddish +brown. She gathered here and there a pretty sprig, sometimes +placing them in her hair, sometimes in her little black silk apron, +coquettishly decorated with cherry-colored ribbons. She stopped before +a luxuriant wild myrtle, pulling at the branches, while she sang, + + "When the little hollow drum beats to bed, + When the little fifer hangs his head, + When is mute the Moorish flute--" + +Her song was suddenly interrupted by a clasp round the waist, and a +warm kiss on the lips. + +"O Gerald, you've come back!" she exclaimed. "How glad Rosa will be!" + +"And nobody else will be glad, I suppose?" rejoined he. "Won't you +give me back my kiss, when I've been gone a whole week?" + +"Certainly, _mon bon frère_," she replied; and as he inclined his face +toward her, she imprinted a slight kiss on his cheek. + +"That's not giving me back _my_ kiss," said he. "I kissed your mouth, +and you must kiss mine." + +"I will if you wish it," she replied, suiting the action to the +word. "But you needn't hold me so tight," she added, as she tried +to extricate herself. Finding he did not release her, she looked up +wonderingly in his face, then lowered her eyes, blushing crimson. No +one had ever looked at her so before. + +"Come, don't be coy, _ma petite_," said he. + +She slipped from him with sudden agility, and said somewhat sharply: +"Gerald, I don't want to be always called _petite_; and I don't want +to be treated as if I were a child. I am no longer a child. I am +fifteen. I am a young lady." + +"So you are, and a very charming one," rejoined he, giving her a +playful tap on the cheek as he spoke. + +"I am going to tell Rosa you have come," said she; and she started on +the run. + +When they were all together in the cottage she tried not to seem +constrained; but she succeeded so ill that Rosa would have noticed it +if she had not been so absorbed in her own happiness. Gerald was all +affection to her, and full of playful raillery with Flora,--which, +however, failed to animate her as usual. + +From that time a change came over the little maiden, and increased as +the days passed on. She spent much of her time in her own room; and +when Rosa inquired why she deserted them so, she excused herself +by saying she wanted to do a great deal of shell-work for Madame +Guirlande, and that she needed so many boxes they would be in the way +in the sitting-room. Her passion for that work grew wonderfully, and +might be accounted for by the fascination of perfect success; for her +coronets and garlands and bouquets and baskets were arranged with so +much lightness and elegance, and the different-colored shells were so +tastefully combined, that they looked less like manufactured articles +than like flowers that grew in the gardens of the Nereids. + +Tulee wondered why her vivacious little pet had all of a sudden become +so sedentary in her habits,--why she never took her customary rambles +except when Mr. Fitzgerald was gone, and even then never without her +sister. The conjecture she formed was not very far amiss, for Chloe's +gossip had made her better acquainted with the character of her master +than were the other inmates of the cottage; but the extraordinary +industry was a mystery to her. One evening, when she found Floracita +alone in her room at dusk, leaning her head on her hand and gazing out +of the window dreamily, she put her hand on the silky head and said, +"Is my little one homesick?" + +"I have no home to be sick for," she replied, sadly. + +"Is she lovesick then?" + +"I have no lover," she replied, in the same desponding tone. + +"What is it, then, my pet? Tell Tulee." + +"I wish I could go to Madame Guirlande," responded Flora. "She was so +kind to us in our first troubles." + +"It would do you good to make her a visit," said Tulee, "and I should +think you might manage to do it somehow." + +"No. Gerald said, a good while ago, that it would be dangerous for us +ever to go to New Orleans." + +"Does he expect to keep you here always?" asked Tulee. "He might just +as well keep you in a prison, little bird." + +"O, what's the use of talking, Tulee!" exclaimed she, impatiently. "I +have no friends to go to, and I _must_ stay here." But, reproaching +herself for rejecting the sympathy so tenderly offered, she rose and +kissed the black cheek as she added, "Good Tulee! kind Tulee! I _am_ a +little homesick; but I shall feel better in the morning." + +The next afternoon Gerald and Rosa invited her to join them in a drive +round the island. She declined, saying the box that was soon to be +sent to Madame was not quite full, and she wanted to finish some more +articles to put in it. But she felt a longing for the fresh air, and +the intense blue glory of the sky made the house seem prison-like. As +soon as they were gone, she took down her straw hat and passed out, +swinging it by the strings. She stopped on the lawn to gather some +flame-colored buds from a Pyrus Japonica, and, fastening them in the +ribbons as she went, she walked toward her old familiar haunts in the +woods. + +It was early in February, but the warm sunshine brought out a +delicious aroma from the firs, and golden garlands of the wild +jasmine, fragrant as heliotrope, were winding round the evergreen +thickets, and swinging in flowery festoons from the trees. Melancholy +as she felt when she started from the cottage, her elastic nature was +incapable of resisting the glory of the sky, the beauty of the earth, +the music of the birds, and the invigorating breath of the ocean, +intensified as they all were by a joyful sense of security and +freedom, growing out of the constraint that had lately been put upon +her movements. She tripped along faster, carolling as she went an +old-fashioned song that her father used to be often humming:-- + + "Begone, dull care! + I prithee begone from me! + Begone, dull care! + Thou and I shall never agree!" + +The walk changed to hopping and dancing, as she warbled various +snatches from ballets and operas, settling at last upon the quaint +little melody, "Once on a time there was a king," and running it +through successive variations. + +A very gentle and refined voice, from behind a clump of evergreens, +said, "Is this Cinderella coming from the ball?" + +She looked up with quick surprise, and recognized a lady she had +several times seen in Nassau. + +"And it is really you, Señorita Gonsalez!" said the lady. "I thought +I knew your voice. But I little dreamed of meeting you here. I +have thought of you many times since I parted from you at Madame +Conquilla's store of shell-work. I am delighted to see you again." + +"And I am glad to see you again, Mrs. Delano," replied Flora; "and I +am very much pleased that you remember me." + +"How could I help remembering you?" asked the lady. "You were a +favorite with me from the first time I saw you, and I should like very +much to renew our acquaintance. Where do you live, my dear?" + +Covered with crimson confusion, Flora stammered out: "I don't live +anywhere, I'm only staying here. Perhaps I shall meet you again in the +woods or on the beach. I hope I shall." + +"Excuse me," said the lady. "I have no wish to intrude upon your +privacy. But if you would like to call upon me at Mr. Welby's +plantation, where I shall be for three or four weeks, I shall always +be glad to receive you." + +"Thank you," replied Flora, still struggling with embarrassment. "I +should like to come very much, but I don't have a great deal of time +for visiting." + +"It's not common to have such a pressure of cares and duties at your +age," responded the lady, smiling. "My carriage is waiting on the +beach. Trusting you will find a few minutes to spare for me, I will +not say adieu, but _au revoir_." + +As she turned away, she thought to herself: "What a fascinating child! +What a charmingly unsophisticated way she took to tell me she would +rather not have me call on her! I observed there seemed to be some +mystery about her when she was in Nassau. What can it be? Nothing +wrong, I hope." + +Floracita descended to the beach and gazed after the carriage as +long as she could see it. Her thoughts were so occupied with this +unexpected interview, that she took no notice of the golden drops +which the declining sun was showering on an endless procession of +pearl-crested waves; nor did she cast one of her customary loving +glances at the western sky, where masses of violet clouds, with edges +of resplendent gold, enclosed lakes of translucent beryl, in which +little rose-colored islands were floating. She retraced her steps to +the woods, almost crying. "How strange my answers must appear to her!" +murmured she. "How I do wish I could go about openly, like other +people! I am so tired of all this concealment!" She neither jumped, +nor danced, nor sung, on her way homeward. She seemed to be revolving +something in her mind very busily. + +After tea, as she and Rosa were sitting alone in the twilight, her +sister, observing that she was unusually silent, said, "What are you +thinking of, Mignonne?" + +"I am thinking of the time we passed in Nassau," replied she, "and of +that Yankee lady who seemed to take such a fancy to me when she came +to Madame Conquilla's to look at the shell-work. + +"I remember your talking about her," rejoined Rosa. "You thought her +beautiful." + +"Yes," said Floracita, "and it was a peculiar sort of beauty. She +wasn't the least like you or Mamita. Everything about her was violet. +Her large gray eyes sometimes had a violet light in them. Her hair was +not exactly flaxen, it looked like ashes of violets. She always wore +fragrant violets. Her ribbons and dresses were of some shade of +violet; and her breastpin was an amethyst set with pearls. Something +in her ways, too, made me think of a violet. I think she knew it, and +that was the reason she always wore that color. How delicate she was! +She must have been very beautiful when she was young." + +"You used to call her the Java sparrow," said Rosa. + +"Yes, she made me think of my little Java sparrow, with pale +fawn-colored feathers, and little gleams of violet on the neck," +responded Flora. + +"That lady seems to have made a great impression on your imagination," +said Rosa; and Floracita explained that it was because she had never +seen anything like her. She did not mention that she had seen that +lady on the island. The open-hearted child was learning to be +reticent. + +A few minutes afterward, Rosa exclaimed, "There's Gerald coming!" +Her sister watched her as she ran out to meet him, and sighed, "Poor +Rosa!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +A week later, when Gerald had gone to Savannah and Rosa was taking her +daily siesta, Floracita filled Thistle's panniers with several little +pasteboard boxes, and, without saying anything to Tulee, mounted and +rode off in a direction she had never taken, except in the barouche. +She was in search of the Welby plantation. + +Mrs. Delano, who was busy with her crochet-needle near the open +window, was surprised to see a light little figure seated on a donkey +riding up the avenue. As soon as Floracita dismounted, she recognized +her, and descended the steps of the piazza to welcome her. + +"So you have found the Welby plantation," said she. "I thought you +wouldn't have much difficulty, for there are only two plantations on +the island, this and Mr. Fitzgerald's. I don't know that there are any +other _dwellings_ except the huts of the negroes." She spoke the last +rather in a tone of inquiry; but Flora merely answered that she had +once passed the Welby plantation in a barouche. + +As the lady led the way into the parlor, she said, "What is that you +have in your hand, my dear?" + +"You used to admire Madame Conquilla's shell-work," replied Flora," +and I have brought you some of mine, to see whether you think I +succeed tolerably in my imitations." As she spoke, she took out a +small basket and poised it on her finger. + +"Why, that is perfectly beautiful!" said Mrs. Delano. "I don't know +how you could contrive to give it such an air of lightness and grace. +I used to think shell-work heavy, and rather vulgar, till I saw those +beautiful productions at Nassau. But you excel your teacher, my dear +Miss Gonsalez. I should think the sea-fairies made this." + +Four or five other articles were brought forth from the boxes and +examined with similar commendation. Then they fell into a pleasant +chat about their reminiscences of Nassau; and diverged from that +to speak of the loveliness of their lonely little island, and the +increasing beauty of the season. After a while, Flora looked at her +watch, and said, "I must not stay long, for I didn't tell anybody I +was going away." + +Mrs. Delano, who caught a glimpse of the medallion inserted in the +back, said: "That is a peculiar little watch. Have you the hair of +some friend set in it?" + +"No," replied Flora. "It is the likeness of my father." She slipped +the slight chain from her neck, and placed the watch in the lady's +hand. Her face flushed as she looked at it, but the habitual paleness +soon returned. + +"You were introduced to me as a Spanish young lady," said she, "but +this face is not Spanish. What was your father's name?" + +"Mr. Alfred Royal of New Orleans," answered Flora. + +"But _your_ name is Gonsalez," said she. + +Flora blushed crimson with the consciousness of having betrayed the +incognito assumed at Nassau. "Gonsalez was my mother's name," she +replied, gazing on the floor while she spoke. + +Mrs. Delano looked at her for an instant, then, drawing her gently +toward her, she pressed her to her side, and said with a sigh, "Ah, +Flora, I wish you were my daughter." + +"O, how I wish I was!" exclaimed the young girl, looking up with a +sudden glow; but a shadow immediately clouded her expressive face, +as she added, "But you wouldn't want me for a daughter, if you knew +everything about me." + +The lady was obviously troubled. "You seem to be surrounded by +mysteries, my little friend," responded she. "I will not ask you for +any confidence you are unwilling to bestow. But I am a good deal +older than you, and I know the world better than you do. If anything +troubles you, or if you are doing anything wrong, perhaps if you were +to tell me, I could help you out of it." + +"O, no, I'm not doing anything wrong," replied Floracita, eagerly. "I +never did anything wrong in my life." Seeing a slight smile hovering +about the lady's lips, she made haste to add: "I didn't mean exactly +that. I mean I never did anything _very_ wrong. I'm cross sometimes, +and I have told some _fibititas_; but then I couldn't seem to help it, +things were in such a tangle. It comes more natural to me to tell the +truth." + +"That I can readily believe," rejoined Mrs. Delano. "But I am not +trying to entrap your ingenuousness into a betrayal of your secrets. +Only remember one thing; if you ever do want to open your heart to any +one, remember that I am your true friend, and that you can trust me." + +"O, thank you! thank you!" exclaimed Flora, seizing her hand and +kissing it fervently. + +"But tell me one thing, my little friend," continued Mrs. Delano. "Is +there anything I can do for you now?" + +"I came to ask you to do something for me," replied Flora; "but you +have been so kind to me, that it has made me almost forget my errand. +I have very particular reasons for wanting to earn some money. You +used to admire the shell-work in Nassau so much, that I thought, if +you liked mine, you might be willing to buy it, and that perhaps you +might have friends who would buy some. I have tried every way to think +how I could manage, to sell my work." + +"I will gladly buy all you have," rejoined the lady, "and I should +like to have you make me some more; especially of these garlands of +rice-shells, trembling so lightly on almost invisible silver wire." + +"I will make some immediately," replied Flora. "But I must go, dear +Mrs. Delano. I wish I could stay longer, but I cannot." + +"When will you come again?" asked the lady. + +"I can't tell," responded Flora, "for I have to manage to come here." + +"That seems strange," said Mrs. Delano. + +"I know it seems strange," answered the young girl, with a kind of +despairing impatience in her tone. "But please don't ask me, for +everything seems to come right out to you; and I don't know what I +ought to say, indeed I don't." + +"I want you to come again as soon as you can," said Mrs. Delano, +slipping a gold eagle into her hand. "And now go, my dear, before you +tell me more than you wish to." + +"Not more than I wish," rejoined Floracita; "but more than I ought. I +_wish_ to tell you everything." + +In a childish way she put up her lips for a kiss, and the lady drew +her to her heart and caressed her tenderly. + +When Flora had descended the steps of the piazza, she turned and +looked up. Mrs. Delano was leaning against one of the pillars, +watching her departure. Vines of gossamer lightness were waving round +her, and her pearly complexion and violet-tinted dress looked lovely +among those aerial arabesques of delicate green. The picture impressed +Flora all the more because it was such a contrast to the warm and +gorgeous styles of beauty to which she had been accustomed. She smiled +and kissed her hand in token of farewell; the lady returned the +salutation, but she thought the expression of her face was sad, and +the fear that this new friend distrusted her on account of unexplained +mysteries haunted her on her way homeward. + +Mrs. Delano looked after her till she and her donkey disappeared among +the trees in the distance. "What a strange mystery is this!" murmured +she. "Alfred Royal's child, and yet she bears her mother's name. And +why does she conceal from me where she lives? Surely, she cannot +be consciously doing anything wrong, for I never saw such perfect +artlessness of look and manner." The problem occupied her thoughts for +days after, without her arriving at any satisfactory conjecture. + +Flora, on her part, was troubled concerning the distrust which +she felt must be excited by her mysterious position, and she was +continually revolving plans to clear herself from suspicion in +the eyes of her new friend. It would have been an inexpressible +consolation if she could have told her troubles to her elder sister, +from whom she had never concealed anything till within the last few +weeks. But, alas! by the fault of another, a barrier had arisen +between them, which proved an obstruction at every turn of their daily +intercourse; for while she had been compelled to despise and dislike +Gerald, Rosa was always eulogizing his noble and loving nature, and +was extremely particular to have his slightest wishes obeyed. Apart +from any secret reasons for wishing to obtain money, Floracita was +well aware that it would not do to confess her visit to Mrs. Delano; +for Gerald had not only forbidden their making any acquaintances, +but he had also charged them not to ride or walk in the direction of +either of the plantations unless he was with them. + +Day after day, as Flora sat at work upon the garlands she had +promised, she was on the watch to elude his vigilance; but more than a +week passed without her finding any safe opportunity. At last Gerald +proposed to gratify Rosa's often-expressed wish, by taking a sail to +one of the neighboring islands. They intended to make a picnic of it, +and return by moonlight. Rosa was full of pleasant anticipations, +which, however, were greatly damped when her sister expressed a +decided preference for staying at home. Rosa entreated, and Gerald +became angry, but she persisted in her refusal. She said she wanted to +use up all her shells, and all her flosses and chenilles. Gerald swore +that he hated the sight of them, and that he would throw them all +into the sea if she went on wearing her beautiful eyes out over them. +Without looking up from her work, she coolly answered, "Why need you +concern yourself about _my_ eyes, when you have a wife with such +beautiful eyes?"' + +Black Tom and Chloe and the boat were in waiting, and after a flurried +scene they departed reluctantly without her. + +"I never saw any one so changed as she is," said Rosa. "She used to +be so fond of excursions, and now she wants to work from morning till +night." + +"She's a perverse, self-willed, capricious little puss. She's been too +much indulged. She needs to be brought under discipline," said Gerald, +angrily whipping off a blossom with his rattan as they walked toward +the boat. + +As soon as they were fairly off, Flora started on a second visit to +the Welby plantation. Tulee noticed all this in silence, and shook her +head, as if thoughts were brooding there unsafe for utterance. + +Mrs. Delano was bending over her writing-desk finishing a letter, when +she perceived a wave of fragrance, and, looking up, she saw Flora on +the threshold of the open door, with her arms full of flowers. + +"Excuse me for interrupting you," said she, dropping one of her little +quick courtesies, which seemed half frolic, half politeness. "The +woods are charming to-day. The trees are hung with curtains of +jasmine, embroidered all over with golden flowers. You love perfumes +so well, I couldn't help stopping by the way to load Thistle with an +armful of them." + +"Thank you, dear," replied Mrs. Delano. "I rode out yesterday +afternoon, and I thought I had never seen anything so beautiful as the +flowery woods and the gorgeous sunset. After being accustomed to the +splendor of these Southern skies, the Northern atmosphere will seem +cold and dull." + +"Shall you go to the North soon?" inquired Flora, anxiously. + +"I shall leave here in ten or twelve days," she replied; "but I may +wait a short time in Savannah, till March has gone; for that is a +blustering, disagreeable month in New England, though it brings you +roses and perfume. I came to Savannah to spend the winter with my +friends, Mr. and Mrs. Welby; but I have always taken a great fancy to +this island, and when they were suddenly called away to Arkansas by +the illness of a son, I asked their permission to come here for a few +weeks and watch the beautiful opening of the spring. I find myself +much inclined to solitude since I lost a darling daughter, who died +two years ago. If she had lived, she would have been about your age." + +"I am _so_ sorry you are going away," said Flora. "It seems as if I +had always known you. I don't know what I shall do without you. But +when you go back among your friends, I suppose you will forget all +about poor little me." + +"No, my dear little friend, I shall never forget you," she replied; +"and when I come again, I hope I shall find you here." + +"I felt troubled when I went away the other day," said Flora. "I +thought you seemed to look sadly after me, and I was afraid you +thought I had done something wicked, because I said you wouldn't wish +I were your daughter if you knew everything about me. So I have come +to tell you my secrets, as far as I can without betraying other +people's. I am afraid you won't care anything more about me after I +have told you; but I can't help it if you don't. Even that would be +better than to have you suspect me of being bad." + +Mrs. Delano drew an ottoman toward her, and said, "Come and sit here, +dear, and tell me all about it, the same as if I were your mother." + +Floracita complied; and resting one elbow on her knee, and leaning +her cheek upon the hand, she looked up timidly and wistfully into the +friendly face that was smiling serenely over her. After a moment's +pause, she said abruptly: "I don't know how to begin, so I won't begin +at all, but tell it right out. You see, dear Mrs. Delano, I am a +colored girl." + +The lady's smile came nearer to a laugh than was usual with her. She +touched the pretty dimpled cheek with her jewelled finger, as she +replied: "O, you mischievous little kitten! I thought you were really +going to tell me something about your troubles. But I see you are +hoaxing me. I remember when you were at Madame Conquilla's you always +seemed to be full of fun, and the young ladies there said you were a +great rogue." + +"But this is not fun; indeed it is not," rejoined Flora. "I _am_ a +colored girl." + +She spoke so earnestly that the lady began to doubt the evidence of +her own eyes. "But you told me that Mr. Alfred Royal was your father," +said she. + +"So he was my father," replied Flora; "and the kindest father that +ever was. Rosa and I were brought up like little princesses, and we +never knew that we were colored. My mother was the daughter of a rich +Spanish gentleman named Gonsalez. She was educated in Paris, and was +elegant and accomplished. She was handsomer than Rosa; and if you were +to see Rosa, you would say nobody _could_ be handsomer than she is. +She was good, too. My father was always saying she was the dearest and +best wife in the world. You don't know how he mourned when she died. +He couldn't bear to have anything moved that she had touched. But +_cher papa_ died very suddenly; and first they told us that we were +very poor, and must earn our living; and then they told us that our +mother was a slave, and so, according to law, we were slaves too. They +would have sold us at auction, if a gentleman who knew us when papa +was alive hadn't smuggled us away privately to Nassau. He had been +very much in love with Rosa for a good while; and he married her, and +I live with them. But he keeps us very much hidden; because, he says, +he should get into lawsuits and duels and all sorts of troubles with +papa's creditors if they should find out that he helped us off. And +that was the reason I was called Señorita Gonsalez in Nassau, though +my real name is Flora Royal." + +She went on to recount the kindness of Madame Guirlande, and the +exciting particulars of their escape; to all of which Mrs. Delano +listened with absorbed attention. As they sat thus, they made a +beautiful picture. The lady, mature in years, but scarcely showing the +touch of time, was almost as fair as an Albiness, with serene lips, +and a soft moonlight expression in her eyes. Every attitude and every +motion indicated quietude and refinement. The young girl, on the +contrary, even when reclining, seemed like impetuosity in repose for +a moment, but just ready to spring. Her large dark eyes laughed and +flashed and wept by turns, and her warmly tinted face glowed like the +sunlight, in its setting of glossy black hair. The lady looked down +upon her with undisguised admiration while she recounted their +adventures in lively dramatic style, throwing in imitations of the +whistling of _Ça ira_, and the tones of the coachman as he sang, "Who +goes there?" + +"But you have not told me," said Mrs. Delano, "who the gentleman was +that married your sister. Ah, I see you hesitate. No matter. Only tell +me one thing,--is he kind to you?" + +Flora turned red and pale, and red again. + +"Let that pass, too," said the lady. "I asked because I wished to know +if I could help you in any way. I see you have brought some more boxes +of shell-work, and by and by we will examine them. But first I want to +tell you that I also have a secret, and I will confide it to you that +you may feel assured I shall love you always. Flora, dear, when your +father and I were young, we were in love with each other, and I +promised to be his wife." + +"So you might have been my Mamita!" exclaimed Floracita, impetuously. + +"No, not _your_ Mamita, dear," replied Mrs. Delano, smiling. "You +call me the Java sparrow, and Java sparrows never hatch gay little +humming-birds or tuneful mocking-birds. I might tell you a long story +about myself, dear; but the sun is declining, and you ought not to be +out after dusk. My father was angry about our love, because Alfred was +then only a clerk with a small salary. They carried me off to Europe, +and for two years I could hear nothing from Alfred. Then they told +me he was married; and after a while they persuaded me to marry Mr. +Delano. I ought not to have married him, because my heart was not in +it. He died and left me with a large fortune and the little daughter +I told you of. I have felt very much alone since my darling was taken +from me. That void in my heart renders young girls very interesting to +me. Your looks and ways attracted me when I first met you; and when +you told me Alfred Royal was your father, I longed to clasp you to my +heart. And now you know, my dear child, that you have a friend ever +ready to listen to any troubles you may choose to confide, and +desirous to remove them if she can." + +She rose to open the boxes of shell-work; but Flora sprung up, and +threw herself into her arms, saying, "My Papasito sent you to me,--I +know he did." + +After a few moments spent in silent emotion, Mrs. Delano again spoke +of the approaching twilight, and with mutual caresses they bade each +other adieu. + +Four or five days later, Floracita made her appearance at the Welby +plantation in a state of great excitement. She was in a nervous +tremor, and her eyelids were swollen as if with much weeping. Mrs. +Delano hastened to enfold her in her arms, saying: "What is it, my +child? Tell your new Mamita what it is that troubles you so." + +"O, _may_ I call you Mamita?" asked Flora, looking up with an +expression of grateful love that warmed all the fibres of her friend's +heart. "O, I do so need a Mamita! I am very wretched; and if you don't +help me, I don't know what I _shall_ do!" + +"Certainly, I will help you, if possible, when you have told me your +trouble," replied Mrs. Delano. + +"Yes, I will tell," said Flora, sighing. "Mr. Fitzgerald is the +gentleman who married my sister; but we don't live at his plantation. +We live in a small cottage hidden away in the woods. You never saw +anybody so much in love as he was with Rosa. When we first came here, +he was never willing to have her out of his sight a moment. And Rosa +loves him so! But for these eight or ten weeks past he has been making +love to me; though he is just as affectionate as ever with Rosa. When +she is playing to him, and I am singing beside her, he keeps throwing +kisses to me behind her back. It makes me feel so ashamed that I can't +look my sister in the face. I have tried to--keep out of his way. When +I am in the house I stick to Rosa like a burr; and I have given up +riding or walking, except when he is away. But there's no telling +when he _is_ away. He went away yesterday, and said he was going to +Savannah to be gone a week; but this morning, when I went into the +woods behind the cottage to feed Thistle, he was lurking there. He +seized me, and held his hand over my mouth, and said I _should_ hear +him. Then he told me that Rosa and I were his slaves; that he bought +us of papa's creditors, and could sell us any day. And he says he will +carry me off to Savannah and sell me if I don't treat him better. He +would not let me go till I promised to meet him in Cypress Grove +at dusk to-night. I have been trying to earn money to go to Madame +Guirlande, and get her to send me somewhere where I could give +dancing-lessons, or singing-lessons, without being in danger of being +taken up for a slave. But I don't know how to get to New Orleans +alone; and if I am his slave, I am afraid he will come there with +officers to take me. So, dear new Mamita, I have come to you, to see +if you can't help me to get some money and go somewhere." + +Mrs. Delano pressed her gently to her heart, and responded in tones of +tenderest pity: "Get some money and go somewhere, you poor child! Do +you think I shall let dear Alfred's little daughter go wandering +alone about the world? No, darling, you shall live with me, and be my +daughter." + +"And don't you care about my being colored and a slave?" asked +Floracita, humbly. + +"Let us never speak of that," replied her friend. "The whole +transaction is so odious and wicked that I can't bear to think of it." + +"I do feel so grateful to you, my dear new Mamita, that I don't know +what to say. But it tears my heart in two to leave Rosa. We have never +been separated for a day since I was born. And she is so good, and she +loves me so! And Tulee, too. I didn't dare to try to speak to her. I +knew I should break down. All the way coming here I was frightened +for fear Gerald would overtake me and carry me off. And I cried so, +thinking about Rosa and Tulee, not knowing when I should see them +again, that I couldn't see; and if Thistle hadn't known the way +himself, I shouldn't have got here. Poor Thistle! It seemed as if my +heart would break when I threw the bridle on his neck and left him to +go back alone; I didn't dare to hug, him but once, I was so afraid. O, +I am so glad that you will let me stay here!" + +"I have been thinking it will not be prudent for you to stay here, +my child," replied Mrs. Delano. "Search will be made for you in the +morning, and you had better be out of the way before that. There are +some dresses belonging to Mrs. Welby's daughter in a closet up stairs. +I will borrow one of them for you to wear. The boat from Beaufort to +Savannah will stop here in an hour to take some freight. We will go to +Savannah. My colored laundress there has a chamber above her wash-room +where you will be better concealed than in more genteel lodgings. I +will come back here to arrange things, and in a few days I will return +to you and take you to my Northern home." + +The necessary arrangements were soon made; and when Flora was +transformed into Miss Welby, she smiled very faintly as she remarked, +"How queer it seems to be always running away." + +"This is the last time, my child," replied Mrs. Delano. "I will keep +my little bird carefully under my wings." + +When Flora was in the boat, hand in hand with her new friend, and no +one visible whom she had ever seen before, her excitement began to +subside, but sadness increased. In her terror the poor child had +scarcely thought of anything except the necessity of escaping +somewhere. But when she saw her island home receding from her, she +began to realize the importance of the step she was taking. She fixed +her gaze on that part where the lonely cottage was embowered, and +she had a longing to see even a little whiff of smoke from Tulee's +kitchen. But there was no sign of life save a large turkey-buzzard, +like a black vulture, sailing gracefully over the tree-tops. The +beloved sister, the faithful servant, the brother from whom she had +once hoped so much, the patient animal that had borne her through so +many pleasant paths, the flowery woods, and the resounding sea, had +all vanished from her as suddenly as did her father and the bright +home of her childhood. + +The scenes through which they were passing were beautiful as Paradise, +and all nature seemed alive and jubilant. The white blossoms of +wild-plum-trees twinkled among dark evergreens, a vegetable imitation +of starlight. Wide-spreading oaks and superb magnolias were lighted up +with sudden flashes of color, as scarlet grosbeaks flitted from tree +to tree. Sparrows were chirping, doves cooing, and mocking-birds +whistling, now running up the scale, then down the scale, with an +infinity of variations between. The outbursts of the birds were the +same as in seasons that were gone, but the listener was changed. +Rarely before had her quick musical ear failed to notice how they +would repeat the same note with greater or less emphasis, then flat +it, then sharp it, varying their performances with all manner of +unexpected changes. But now she was merely vaguely conscious of +familiar sounds, which brought before her that last merry day in her +father's house, when Rosabella laughed so much to hear her puzzle the +birds with her musical vagaries. Memory held up her magic mirror, in +which she saw pictured processions of the vanished years. Thus the +lonely child, with her loving, lingering looks upon the past, was +floated toward an unknown future with the new friend a kind Providence +had sent her. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Rosa was surprised at the long absence of her sister; and when the sun +showed only a narrow golden edge above the horizon, she began to feel +anxious. She went to the kitchen and said, "Tulee, have you seen +anything of Floracita lately? She went away while I was sleeping." + +"No, missy," she replied. "The last I see of her was in her room, with +the embroidery-frame before her. She was looking out of the window, as +she did sometimes, as if she was looking nowhere. She jumped up and +hugged and kissed me, and called me 'Dear Tulee, good Tulee.' The +little darling was always mighty loving. When I went there again, her +needle was sticking in her work, and her thimble was on the frame, but +she was gone. I don't know when she went away. Thistle's come back +alone; but he does that sometimes when little missy goes rambling +round." + +There was no uneasiness expressed in her tones, but, being more +disquieted than she wished to acknowledge, she went forth to search +the neighboring wood-paths and the sea-shore. When she returned, Rosa +ran out with the eager inquiry, "Is she anywhere in sight?" In reply +to the negative answer, she said: "I don't know what to make of it. +Have you ever seen anybody with Floracita since we came here?" + +"Nobody but Massa Gerald," replied Tulee. + +"I wonder whether she was discontented here," said Rosa. "I don't see +why she should be, for we all loved her dearly; and Gerald was as kind +to her as if she had been his own sister. But she hasn't seemed like +herself lately; and this forenoon she hugged and kissed me ever so +many times, and cried. When I asked her what was the matter, she said +she was thinking of the pleasant times when _Papasito querido_ was +alive. Do you think she was unhappy?" + +"She told me once she was homesick for Madame Guirlande," replied +Tulee. + +"Did she? Perhaps she was making so many things for Madame because she +meant to go there. But she couldn't find her way alone, and she knew +it would be very dangerous for either of us to go to New Orleans." + +Tulee made no reply. She seated herself on a wooden bench by the open +door, swinging her body back and forth in an agitated way, ever and +anon jumping up and looking round in all directions. The veil of +twilight descended upon the earth, and darkness followed. The two +inmates of the cottage felt very miserable and helpless, as they sat +there listening to every sound. For a while nothing was heard but the +dash of the waves, and the occasional hooting of an owl. The moon rose +up above the pines, and flooded earth and sea with silvery splendor. + +"I want to go to the plantation and call Tom," said Rosa; "and there +is such bright moonshine we might go, but I am afraid Gerald would be +displeased." + +Tulee at once volunteered to bring out Thistle, and to walk beside her +mistress. + +Both started at the sound of footsteps. They were not light enough for +Floracita, but they thought it might be some one bringing news. It +proved to be the master of the house. + +"Why, Gerald, how glad I am! I thought you were in Savannah," +exclaimed Rosa. "Have you seen anything of Floracita?" + +"No. Isn't she here?" inquired he, in such a tone of surprise, that +Tulee's suspicions were shaken. + +Rosa repeated the story of her disappearance, and concluded by saying, +"She told Tulee she was homesick to go to Madame." + +"She surely wouldn't dare to do that," he replied. + +"Massa Gerald," said Tulee, and she watched him closely while she +spoke, "there's something I didn't tell Missy Rosy, 'cause I was +feared it would worry her. I found this little glove of Missy Flory's, +with a bunch of sea-weed, down on the beach; and there was marks of +her feet all round." + +Rosa uttered a cry. "O heavens!" she exclaimed, "I saw an alligator a +few days ago." + +An expression of horror passed over his face. "I've cautioned her not +to fish so much for shells and sea-mosses," said he; "but she was +always so self-willed." + +"_Don't_ say anything against the little darling!" implored Rosa. +"Perhaps we shall never see her again." + +He spoke a few soothing words, and then took his hat, saying, "I am +going to the sea-shore." + +"Take good care of yourself, dear Gerald!" cried Rosa. + +"No danger 'bout that," muttered Tulee, as she walked out of hearing. +"There's things with handsomer mouths than alligators that may be more +dangerous. Poor little bird! I wonder where he has put her." + +His feelings as he roamed on the beach were not to be envied. His mind +was divided between the thoughts that she had committed suicide, +or had been drowned accidentally. That she had escaped from his +persecutions by flight he could not believe; for he knew she was +entirely unused to taking care of herself, and felt sure she had no +one to help her. He returned to say that the tide had washed away the +footprints, and that he found no vestige of the lost one. + +At dawn he started for the plantation, whence, after fruitless +inquiries, he rode to the Welby estate. Mrs. Delano had requested +the household servants not to mention having seen a small young lady +there, and they had nothing to communicate. + +He resolved to start for New Orleans as soon as possible. After a +fortnight's absence he returned, bringing grieved and sympathizing +letters from the Signor and Madame; and on the minds of all, except +Tulee, the conviction settled that Floracita was drowned. Hope +lingered long in her mind. "Wherever the little pet may be, she'll +surely contrive to let us know," thought she. "She ain't like the poor +slaves when _they_'re carried off. She can write." Her mistress +talked with her every day about the lost darling; but of course such +suspicions were not to be mentioned to her. Gerald, who disliked +everything mournful, avoided the subject entirely; and Rosabella, +looking upon him only with the eyes of love, considered it a sign of +deep feeling, and respected it accordingly. + +But, blinded as she was, she gradually became aware that he did not +seem exactly like the same man who first won her girlish love. Her +efforts to please him were not always successful. He was sometimes +moody and fretful. He swore at the slightest annoyance, and often +flew into paroxysms of anger with Tom and Tulee. He was more and more +absent from the cottage, and made few professions of regret for such +frequent separations. Some weeks after Flora's disappearance, he +announced his intention to travel in the North during the summer +months. Rosabella looked up in his face with a pleading expression, +but pride prevented her from asking whether she might accompany him. +She waited in hopes he would propose it; but as he did not even think +of it, he failed to interpret the look of disappointment in her +expressive eyes, as she turned from him with a sigh. + +"Tom will come with the carriage once a week," said he; "and either he +or Joe will be here every night." + +"Thank you," she replied. + +But the tone was so sad that he took her hand with the tenderness of +former times, and said, "You are sorry to part with me, Bella Rosa?" + +"How can I be otherwise than sorry," she asked, "when I am all alone +in the world without you? Dear Gerald, are we always to live thus? +Will you never acknowledge me as your wife?" + +"How can I do it," rejoined he, "without putting myself in the power +of those cursed creditors? It is no fault of mine that your mother was +a slave." + +"We should be secure from them in Europe," she replied. "Why couldn't +we live abroad?" + +"Do you suppose my rich uncle would leave me a cent if he found out I +had married the daughter of a quadroon?" rejoined he. "I have met with +losses lately, and I can't afford to offend my uncle. I am sorry, +dear, that you are dissatisfied with the home I have provided for +you." + +"I am not dissatisfied with my home," said she. "I have no desire to +mix with the world, but it is necessary for you, and these separations +are dreadful." + +His answer was: "I will write often, dearest, and I will send you +quantities of new music. I shall always be looking forward to the +delight of hearing it when I return. You must take good care of your +health, for my sake. You must go ambling about with Thistle every +day." + +The suggestion brought up associations that overcame her at once. "O +how Floracita loved Thistle!" she exclaimed. "And it really seems as +if the poor beast misses her. I am afraid we neglected her too much, +Gerald. We were so taken up with our own happiness, that we didn't +think of her so much as we ought to have done." + +"I am sure I tried to gratify all her wishes," responded he. "I have +nothing to reproach myself with, and certainly you were always a +devoted sister. This is a morbid state of feeling, and you must try to +drive it off. You said a little while ago that you wanted to see how +the plantation was looking, and what flowers had come out in the +garden. Shall I take you there in the barouche to-morrow?" + +She gladly assented, and a few affectionate words soon restored her +confidence in his love. + +When the carriage was brought to the entrance of the wood the next +day, she went to meet it with a smiling face and a springing step. As +he was about to hand her in, he said abruptly, "You have forgotten +your veil." + +Tulee was summoned to bring it. As Rosa arranged it round her head, +she remarked, "One would think you were ashamed of me, Gerald." + +The words were almost whispered, but the tone sounded more like a +reproach than anything she had ever uttered. With ready gallantry he +responded aloud, "I think so much of my treasure that I want to keep +it all to myself." + +He was very affectionate during their drive; and this, combined with +the genial air, the lovely scenery, and the exhilaration of swift +motion, restored her to a greater sense of happiness than she had felt +since her darling sister vanished so suddenly. + +The plantation was in gala dress. The veranda was almost covered with +the large, white, golden-eyed stars of the Cherokee rose, gleaming out +from its dark, lustrous foliage. The lawn was a sheet of green velvet +embroidered with flowers. Magnolias and oaks of magnificent growth +ornamented the extensive grounds. In the rear was a cluster of negro +huts. Black picaninnies were rolling about in the grass, mingling +their laughter with the songs of the birds. The winding paths of the +garden were lined with flowering shrubs, and the sea sparkled in the +distance. Wherever the eye glanced, all was sunshine, bloom, and +verdure. + +For the first time, he invited her to enter the mansion. Her first +movement was toward the piano. As she opened it, and swept her hand +across the keys, he said: "It is sadly out of tune. It has been +neglected because its owner had pleasanter music elsewhere." + +"But the tones are very fine," rejoined she. "What a pity it shouldn't +be used!" As she glanced out of the window on the blooming garden and +spacious lawn, she said: "How pleasant it would be if we could live +here! It is so delightful to look out on such an extensive open +space." + +"Perhaps we will some time or other, my love," responded he. + +She smiled, and touched the keys, while she sang snatches of familiar +songs. The servants who brought in refreshments wondered at her +beauty, and clear, ringing voice. Many dark faces clustered round +the crack of the door to obtain a peep; and as they went away they +exchanged nudges and winks with each other. Tom and Chloe had +confidentially whispered to some of them the existence of such a lady, +and that Tulee said Massa married her in the West Indies; and they +predicted that she would be the future mistress of Magnolia Lawn. +Others gave it as their opinion, that Massa would never hide her as +he did if she was to be the Missis. But all agreed that she was a +beautiful, grand lady, and they paid her homage accordingly. Her +cheeks would have burned to scarlet flame if she had heard all their +comments and conjectures; but unconscious of blame or shame, she gave +herself up to the enjoyment of those bright hours. + +A new access of tenderness seemed to have come over Fitzgerald; partly +because happiness rendered her beauty more radiant, and partly because +secret thoughts that were revolving in his mind brought some twinges +of remorse. He had never seemed more enamored, not even during the +first week in Nassau, when he came to claim her as his bride. Far down +in the garden was an umbrageous walk, terminating in a vine-covered +bower. They remained there a long time, intertwined in each other's +arms, talking over the memories of their dawning consciousness of +love, and singing together the melodies in which their voices had +first mingled. + +Their road home was through woods and groves festooned with vines, +some hanging in massive coils, others light and aerial enough for +fairy swings; then over the smooth beach, where wave after wave leaped +up and tossed its white foam-garland on the shore. The sun was sinking +in a golden sea, and higher toward the zenith little gossamer clouds +blushingly dissolved in the brilliant azure, and united again, as if +the fragrance of roses had floated into form. + +When they reached the cottage, Rosa passed through the silent little +parlor with swimming eyes, murmuring to herself: "Poor little +Floracita! how the sea made me think of her. I ought not to have been +so happy." + +But memory wrote the record of that halcyon day in illuminated +manuscript, all glowing with purple and gold, with angel faces peeping +through a graceful network of flowers. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Rosabella had never experienced such loneliness as in the months +that followed. All music was saddened by far-off echoes of past +accompaniments. Embroidery lost its interest with no one to praise the +work, or to be consulted in the choice of colors and patterns. The +books Gerald occasionally sent were of a light character, and though +they served to while away a listless hour, there was nothing in them +to strengthen or refresh the soul. The isolation was the more painful +because there was everything around her to remind her of the lost and +the absent. Flora's unfinished embroidery still remained in the frame, +with the needle in the last stitch of a blue forget-me-not. Over the +mirror was a cluster of blush-roses she had made. On the wall was a +spray of sea-moss she had pressed and surrounded with a garland of +small shells. By the door was a vine she had transplanted from the +woods; and under a tree opposite was a turf seat where she used to +sit sketching the cottage, and Tulee, and Thistle, and baskets of +wild-flowers she had gathered. The sight of these things continually +brought up visions of the loving and beautiful child, who for so many +years had slept nestling in her arms, and made the days tuneful with +her songs. Then there was Gerald's silent flute, and the silken +cushion she had embroidered for him, on which she had so often seen +him reposing, and thought him handsome as a sleeping Adonis. A letter +from him made her cheerful for days; but they did not come often, +and were generally brief. Tom came with the carriage once a week, +according to his master's orders; but she found solitary drives so +little refreshing to body or mind that she was often glad to avail +herself of Tulee's company. + +So the summer wore away, and September came to produce a new aspect of +beauty in the landscape, by tinging the fading flowers and withering +leaves with various shades of brown and crimson, purple and orange. +One day, early in the month, when Tom came with the carriage, she told +him to drive to Magnolia Lawn. She had long been wishing to revisit +the scene where she had been so happy on that bright spring day; but +she had always said to herself, "I will wait till Gerald comes." Now +she had grown so weary with hope deferred, that she felt as if she +could wait no longer. + +As she rode along she thought of improvements in the walks that she +would suggest to Gerald, if they ever went there to live, as he had +intimated they might. The servants received her with their usual +respectful manner and wondering looks; but when she turned back to +ask some question, she saw them whispering together with an unusual +appearance of excitement. Her cheeks glowed with a consciousness that +her anomalous position was well calculated to excite their curiosity; +and she turned away, thinking how different it had been with her +mother,--how sheltered and protected she had always been. She +remembered how very rarely her father left home, and how he always +hastened to return. She stood awhile on the veranda, thinking sadly, +"If Gerald loves me as Papasito loved Mamita, how can he be contented +to leave me so much?" With a deep sigh she turned and entered the +house through an open window. The sigh changed at once to a bright +smile. The parlor had undergone a wondrous transformation since she +last saw it. The woodwork had been freshly painted, and the walls were +covered with silvery-flowered paper. Over curtains of embroidered lace +hung a drapery of apple-green damask, ornamented with deep white-silk +fringe and heavy tassels. "How kind of Gerald!" murmured she. "He has +done this because I expressed a wish to live here. How ungrateful I +was to doubt him in my thoughts!" + +She passed into the chamber, where she found a white French bedstead, +on which were painted bouquets of roses. It was enveloped in roseate +lace drapery, caught up at the centre in festoons on the silver arrow +of a pretty little Cupid. From silver arrows over the windows there +fell the same soft, roseate folds. Her whole face was illuminated with +happiness as she thought to herself: "Ah! I know why everything has a +tinge of _roses_. How kind of him to prepare such a beautiful surprise +for me!" + +She traversed the garden walks, and lingered long in the sequestered +bower. On the floor was a bunch of dried violets which he had +placed in her belt on that happy day. She took them up, kissed them +fervently, and placed them near her heart. That heart was lighter than +it had been for months. "At last he is going to acknowledge me as his +wife," thought she. "How happy I shall be when there is no longer any +need of secrecy!" + +The servants heard her singing as she traversed the garden, and +gathered in groups to listen; but they scattered as they saw her +approach the house. + +"She's a mighty fine lady," said Dinah, the cook. + +"Mighty fine lady," repeated Tom; "an' I tell yer she's married to +Massa, an' she's gwine to be de Missis." + +Venus, the chambermaid, who would have passed very well for a bronze +image of the sea-born goddess, tossed her head as she replied: "Dunno +bout dat ar. Massa does a heap o' courtin' to we far sex." + +"How yer know dat ar?" exclaimed Dinah. "Whar d' yer git dem +year-rings?" And then there was a general titter. + +Rosabella, all unconscious in her purity, came up to Tom while the +grin was still upon his face, and in her polite way asked him to have +the goodness to bring the carriage. It was with great difficulty that +she could refrain from outbursts of song as she rode homeward; but +Gerald had particularly requested her not to sing in the carriage, +lest her voice should attract the attention of some one who chanced to +be visiting the island. + +Her first words when she entered the cottage were: "O Tulee, I am _so_ +happy! Gerald has fitted up Magnolia Lawn beautifully, because I told +him I wished we could live there. He said, that day we were there, +that he would try to make some arrangement with Papasito's creditors, +and I do believe he has, and that I shall not have to hide much +longer. He has been fitting up the house as if it were for a queen. +Isn't he kind?" + +Tulee, who listened rather distrustfully to praises bestowed on the +master, replied that nobody could do anything too good for Missy Rosy. + +"Ah, Tulee, you have always done your best to spoil me," said she, +laying her hand affectionately on the shoulder of her petted servant, +while a smile like sunshine mantled her face. "But do get me something +to eat. The ride has made me hungry." + +"Ise glad to hear that, Missy Rosy. I begun to think 't want no use to +cook nice tidbits for ye, if ye jist turned 'em over wi' yer fork, and +ate one or two mouthfuls, without knowing what ye was eatin'." + +"I've been pining for Gerald, Tulee; and I've been afraid sometimes +that he didn't love me as he used to do. But now that he has made +such preparations for us to live at Magnolia Lawn, I am as happy as a +queen." + +She went off singing, and as Tulee looked after her she murmured to +herself: "And what a handsome queen she'd make! Gold ain't none +too good for her to walk on. But is it the truth he told her about +settling with the creditors? There's never no telling anything by +what _he_ says. Do hear her singing now! It sounds as lively as Missy +Flory. Ah! that was a strange business. I wonder whether the little +darling _is_ dead." + +While she was preparing supper, with such cogitations passing through +her mind, Rosa began to dash off a letter, as follows:-- + +"DEARLY BELOVED,--I am so happy that I cannot wait a minute without +telling you about it. I have done a naughty thing, but, as it is the +first time I ever disobeyed you, I hope you will forgive me. You told +me never to go to the plantation without you. But I waited and waited, +and you didn't come; and we were so happy there, that lovely day, that +I longed to go again. I knew it would be very lonesome without you; +but I thought it would be some comfort to see again the places where +we walked together, and sang together, and called each other all +manner of foolish fond names. Do you remember how many variations you +rung upon my name,--Rosabella, Rosalinda, Rosamunda, Rosa Regina? How +you did pelt me with roses! Do you remember how happy we were in the +garden bower? How we sang together the old-fashioned canzonet, 'Love +in thine eyes forever plays'? And how the mocking-bird imitated your +guitar, while you were singing the Don Giovanni serenade? + +"I was thinking this all over, as I rode alone over the same ground +we traversed on that happy day. But it was so different without the +love-light of your eyes and the pressure of your dear hand, that I +felt the tears gathering, and had all manner of sad thoughts. I feared +you didn't care for me as you used to do, and were finding it easy +to live without me. But when I entered the parlor that overlooks the +beautiful lawn, all my doubts vanished. You had encouraged me to hope +that it might be our future home; but I little dreamed it was to be +so soon, and that you were preparing such a charming surprise for me. +Don't be vexed with me, dearest, for finding out your secret. It made +me _so_ happy! It made the world seem like Paradise. Ah! I _knew_ why +everything was so _rose_-colored. It was so like _you_ to think of +that! Then everything is so elegant! You knew your Rosamunda's taste +for elegance. + +"But Tulee summons me to supper. Dear, good, faithful Tulee! What a +comfort she has been to me in this lonesome time!" + + * * * * * + +"Now I have come back to the pretty little writing-desk you gave me, +and I will finish my letter. I feel as if I wanted to write to you +forever, if I can't have you to talk to. You can't imagine how +lonesome I have been. The new music you sent me was charming; but +whatever I practised or improvised took a solemn and plaintive +character, like the moaning of the sea and the whispering of the +pines. One's own voice sounds so solitary when there is no other voice +to lean upon, and no appreciating ear to listen for the coming chords. +I have even found it a relief to play and sing to Tulee, who is always +an admiring listener, if not a very discriminating one; and as for +Tom, it seems as if the eyes would fly out of his head when I play +to him. I have tried to take exercise every day, as you advised; +but while the hot weather lasted, I was afraid of snakes, and the +mosquitoes and sand-flies were tormenting. Now it is cooler I ramble +about more, but my loneliness goes everywhere with me. Everything is +so still here, that it sometimes makes me afraid. The moonlight looks +awfully solemn on the dark pines. You remember that dead pine-tree? +The wind has broken it, and there it stands in front of the evergreen +grove, with two arms spread out, and a knot like a head with a hat +on it, and a streamer of moss hanging from it. It looks so white and +strange in the moonlight, that it seems as if Floracita's spirit were +beckoning to me. + +"But I didn't mean to write about sad things. I don't feel sad now; +I was only telling you how lonely and nervous I _had_ been, that +you might imagine how much good it has done me to see such kind +arrangements at Magnolia Lawn. Forgive me for going there, contrary +to your orders. I did so long for a little variety! I couldn't have +dreamed you were planning such a pleasant surprise for me. Sha'n't we +be happy there, calling one another all the old foolish pet names? +Dear, good Gerald, I shall never again have any ungrateful doubts of +your love. + +"_Adios, luz de mes ojos_. Come soon to + +"Your grateful and loving + +"ROSA." + +That evening the plash of the waves no longer seemed like a requiem +over her lost sister; the moonlight gave poetic beauty to the pines; +and even the blasted tree, with its waving streamer of moss, seemed +only another picturesque feature in the landscape; so truly does +Nature give us back a reflection of our souls. + +She waked from a refreshing sleep with a consciousness of happiness +unknown for a long time. When Tom came to say he was going to +Savannah, she commissioned him to go to the store where her dresses +were usually ordered, and buy some fine French merino. She gave him +very minute directions, accompanied with a bird-of-paradise pattern. +"That is Gerald's favorite color," she said to herself. "I will +embroider it with white floss-silk, and tie it with white silk cord +and tassels. The first time we breakfast together at Magnolia Lawn I +will wear it, fastened at the throat with that pretty little knot of +silver filigree he gave me on my birthday. Then I shall look as bridal +as the home he is preparing for me." + +The embroidery of this dress furnished pleasant occupation for many +days. When it was half finished, she tried it on before the mirror, +and smiled to see how becoming was the effect. She queried whether +Gerald would like one or two of Madame Guirlande's pale amber-colored +artificial nasturtiums in her hair. She placed them coquettishly by +the side of her head for a moment, and laid them down, saying to +herself: "No; too much dress for the morning. He will like better the +plain braids of my hair with the curls falling over them." As she sat, +hour after hour, embroidering the dress which was expected to produce +such a sensation, Tulee's heart was gladdened by hearing her sing +almost continually. "Bless her dear heart!" exclaimed she; "that +sounds like the old times." + +But when a fortnight passed without an answer to her letter, the +showers of melody subsided. Shadows of old doubts began to creep over +the inward sunshine; though she tried to drive them away by recalling +Gerald's promise to try to secure her safety by making a compromise +with her father's creditors. And were not the new arrangements at +Magnolia Lawn a sign that he had accomplished his generous purpose? +She was asking herself that question for the hundredth time, as she +sat looking out on the twilight landscape, when she heard a well-known +voice approaching, singing, "C'est l'amour, l'amour, l'amour, qui fait +le monde à la ronde"; and a moment after she was folded in Gerald's +arms, and he was calling her endearing names in a polyglot of +languages, which he had learned from her and Floracita. + +"So you are not very angry with me for going there and finding out +your secret," inquired she. + +"I _was_ angry," he replied; "but while I was coming to you all my +anger melted away." + +"And you do love me as well as ever," said she. "I thought perhaps so +many handsome ladies would fall in love with you, that I should not be +your Rosa _munda_ any more." + +"I have met many handsome ladies," responded he, "but never one worthy +to bear the train of my Rosa Regina." + +Thus the evening passed in conversation more agreeable to them than +the wittiest or the wisest would have been. But it has been well said, +"the words of lovers are like the rich wines of the South,--they are +delicious in their native soil, but will not bear transportation." + +The next morning he announced the necessity of returning to the North +to complete some business, and said he must, in the mean time, spend +some hours at the plantation. "And Rosa dear," added he, "I shall +really be angry with you if you go there again unless I am with you." + +She shook her finger at him, and said, with one of her most expressive +smiles: "Ah, I see through you! You are planning some more pleasant +surprises for me. How happy we shall be there! As for that rich uncle +of yours, if you will only let me see him, I will do my best to make +him love me, and perhaps I shall succeed." + +"It would be wonderful if you did not, you charming enchantress," +responded he. He folded her closely, and looked into the depths of her +beautiful eyes with intensity, not unmingled with sadness. + +A moment after he was waving his hat from the shrubbery; and so he +passed away out of her sight. His sudden reappearance, his lavish +fondness, his quick departure, and the strange earnestness of his +farewell look, were remembered like the flitting visions of a dream. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +In less than three weeks after that tender parting, an elegant +barouche stopped in front of Magnolia Lawn, and Mr. Fitzgerald +assisted a very pretty blonde young lady to alight from it. As +she entered the parlor, wavering gleams of sunset lighted up the +pearl-colored paper, softened by lace-shadows from the windows. The +lady glanced round the apartment with a happy smile, and, turning to +the window, said: "What a beautiful lawn! What superb trees!" + +"Does it equal your expectations, dear?" he asked. "You had formed +such romantic ideas of the place, I feared you might be disappointed." + +"I suppose that was the reason you tried to persuade me to spend our +honeymoon in Savannah," rejoined she. "But we should be so bored with +visitors. Here, it seems like the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve +had it all to themselves, before the serpent went there to make +mischief. I had heard father and mother tell so much about Magnolia +Lawn that I was eager to see it." + +"They visited it in spring, when it really does look like Paradise," +replied he. "It has its beauties now; but this is not the favorable +season for seeing it; and after we have been here a few days, I think +we had better return to Savannah, and come again when the lawn is +carpeted with flowers." + +"I see your mind is bent upon not staying here," answered she; "and I +suppose it _would_ be rather tiresome to have no other company than +your stupid little Lily Bell." + +She spoke with a pouting affectation of reproach, and he exclaimed, +"Lily, darling!" as he passed his arm round her slender waist, and, +putting aside a shower of pale yellowish ringlets, gazed fondly into +the blue eyes that were upturned to his. + +They were interrupted by the entrance of Venus, who came to ask their +orders. "Tell them to serve supper at seven, and then come and show +your mistress to her dressing-room," he said. As she retired, he +added: "Now she'll have something to tell of. She'll be proud enough +of being the first to get a full sight of the new Missis; and it _is_ +a sight worth talking about." + +With a gratified smile, she glanced at the pier-glass which reflected +her graceful little figure, and, taking his arm, she walked slowly +round the room, praising the tasteful arrangements. "Everything has +such a bridal look!" she said. + +"Of course," replied he; "when I have such a fair Lily Bell for a +bride, I wish to have her bower pearly and lily-like. But here is +Venus come to show you to your dressing-room. I hope you will like the +arrangements up stairs also." + +She kissed her hand to him as she left the room, and he returned the +salute. When she had gone, he paced slowly up and down for a few +moments. As he passed the piano, he touched the keys in a rambling +way. The tones he brought out were a few notes of an air he and +Rosabella had sung in that same room a few months before. He turned +abruptly from the instrument, and looked out from the window in the +direction of the lonely cottage, Nothing was visible but trees and a +line of the ocean beyond. But the chambers of his soul were filled +with visions of Rosa. He thought of the delightful day they had spent +together, looking upon these same scenes; of their songs and caresses +in the bower; of her letter, so full of love and glad surprise at the +bridal arrangements she supposed he had made for her, "I really hope +Lily won't insist upon staying here long," thought he; "for it is +rather an embarrassing position for me." + +He seated himself at the piano and swept his hand up and down the +keys, as if trying to drown his thoughts in a tempest of sound. But, +do what he would, the thoughts spoke loudest; and after a while he +leaned his head forward on the piano, lost in revery. + +A soft little hand touched his head, and a feminine voice inquired, +"What are you thinking of, Gerald?" + +"Of you, my pearl," he replied, rising hastily, and stooping to +imprint a kiss on the forehead of his bride. + +"And pray what were you thinking about _me_?" she asked. + +"That you are the greatest beauty in the world, and that I love you +better than man ever loved woman," rejoined he. And so the game of +courtship went on, till it was interrupted by a summons to supper. + +When they returned some time later, the curtains were drawn and +candles lighted. "You have not yet tried the piano," said he, as he +placed the music-stool. + +She seated herself, and, after running up and down the keys, and +saying she liked the tone of the instrument, she began to play and +sing "Robin Adair." She had a sweet, thin voice, and her style of +playing indicated rather one who had learned music, than one whose +soul lived in its element. Fitzgerald thought of the last singing he +had heard at that piano; and without asking for another song, he began +to sing to her accompaniment, "Drink to me only with thine eyes." He +had scarcely finished the line, "Leave a kiss within the cup, and +I'll not ask for wine," when clear, liquid tones rose on the air, +apparently from the veranda; and the words they carried on their wings +were these:-- + + "Down in the meadow, 'mong the clover, + I walked with Nelly by my side. + Now all those happy days are over, + Farewell, my dark Virginia bride. + Nelly was a lady; + Last night she died. + Toll the bell for lovely Nell, + My dark Virginia bride." + +The bride listened intensely, her fingers resting lightly on the keys, +and when the sounds--died away she started up, exclaiming, "What a +voice! I never heard anything like it." + +She moved eagerly toward the veranda, but was suddenly arrested by her +husband. "No, no, darling," said he. "You mustn't expose yourself to +the night air." + +"Then do go out yourself and bring her in," urged she. "I must hear +more of that voice. Who is she?" + +"One of the darkies, I suppose," rejoined he. "You know they all have +musical gifts." + +"Not such gifts as that, I imagine," she replied. "Do go out and bring +her in." + +She was about to draw the curtain aside to look out, when he nervously +called her attention to another window. "See here!" he exclaimed. "My +people are gathering to welcome their new missis. In answer to Tom's +request, I told him I would introduce you to them to-night. But you +are tired, and I am afraid you will take cold in the evening air; so +we will postpone the ceremony until to-morrow." + +"O, no," she replied, "I would prefer to go now. How their black faces +will shine when they see the glass beads and gay handkerchiefs I have +brought for them! Besides, I want to find out who that singer is. It's +strange you don't take more interest in such a voice as that, when +you are so full of music. Will you have the goodness to ring for my +shawl?" + +With a decision almost peremptory in its tone, he said, "No; I had +rather you would _not_ go out." Seeing that his manner excited some +surprise, he patted her head and added: "Mind your husband now, that's +a good child. Amuse yourself at the piano while I go out." + +She pouted a little, but finished by saying coaxingly, "Come back +soon, dear." She attempted to follow him far enough to look out on the +veranda, but he gently put her back, and, kissing his hand to her, +departed. She raised a corner of the curtain and peeped out to catch +the last glimpse of his figure. The moon was rising, and she could see +that he walked slowly, peering into spots of dense shadow or thickets +of shrubbery, as if looking for some one. But all was motionless and +still, save the sound of a banjo from the group of servants. "How I +wish I could hear that voice again!" she thought to herself. "It's +very singular Gerald should appear so indifferent to it. What can be +the meaning of it?" + +She pondered for a few minutes, and then she tried to play; but not +finding it entertaining without an auditor, she soon rose, and, +drawing aside one of the curtains, looked out upon the lovely night. +The grand old trees cast broad shadows on the lawn, and the shrubbery +of the garden gleamed in the soft moonlight. She felt solitary +without any one to speak to, and, being accustomed to have her whims +gratified, she was rather impatient under the prohibition laid upon +her. She rung the bell and requested Venus to bring her shawl. The +obsequious dressing-maid laid it lightly on her shoulders, and holding +out a white nubia of zephyr worsted, she said, "P'r'aps missis would +like to war dis ere." She stood watching while her mistress twined the +gossamer fabric round her head with careless grace. She opened the +door for her to pass out on the veranda, and as she looked after her +she muttered to herself, "She's a pooty missis; but not such a gran' +hansom lady as turrer." A laugh shone through her dark face as she +added, "'T would be curus ef she should fine turrer missis out dar." +As she passed through the parlor she glanced at the large mirror, +which dimly reflected her dusky charms, and said with a smile: "Massa +knows what's hansome. He's good judge ob we far sex." + +The remark was inaudible to the bride, who walked up and down the +veranda, ever and anon glancing at the garden walks, to see if Gerald +were in sight. She had a little plan of hiding among the vines when +she saw him coming, and peeping out suddenly as he approached. She +thought to herself she should look so pretty in the moonlight, that he +would forget to chide her. And certainly she was a pleasant vision. +Her fairy figure, enveloped in soft white folds of muslin, her +delicate complexion shaded by curls so fair that they seemed a portion +of the fleecy nubia, were so perfectly in unison with the mild +radiance of the evening, that she seemed like an embodied portion of +the moonlight. Gerald absented himself so long that her little plan +of surprising him had time to cool. She paused more frequently in +her promenade, and looked longer at the distant sparkle of the sea. +Turning to resume her walk, after one of these brief moments of +contemplation, she happened to glance at the lattice-work of the +veranda, and through one of its openings saw a large, dark eye +watching her. She started to run into the house, but upon second +thought she called out, "Gerald, you rogue, why didn't you speak to +let me know you were there?" She darted toward the lattice, but the +eye disappeared. She tried to follow, but saw only a tall shadow +gliding away behind the corner of the house. She pursued, but found +only a tremulous reflection of vines in the moonlight. She kept on +round the house, and into the garden, frequently calling out, "Gerald! +Gerald!" "Hark! hark!" she murmured to herself, as some far-off tones +of "Toll the bell" floated through the air. The ghostly moonlight, +the strange, lonely place, and the sad, mysterious sounds made her a +little afraid. In a more agitated tone, she called Gerald again. In +obedience to her summons, she saw him coming toward her in the +garden walk. Forgetful of her momentary fear, she sprang toward him, +exclaiming: "Are you a wizard? How did you get there, when two minutes +ago you were peeping at me through the veranda lattice?" + +"I haven't been there," he replied; "but why are you out here, Lily, +when I particularly requested you to stay in the house till I came?" + +"O, you were so long coming, that I grew tired of being alone. The +moonlight looked so inviting that I went out on the veranda to watch +for you; and when I saw you looking at me through the lattice, I ran +after you, and couldn't find you." + +"I haven't been near the lattice," he replied. "If you saw somebody +looking at you, I presume it was one of the servants peeping at the +new missis." + +"None of your tricks!" rejoined she, snapping her fingers at him +playfully. "It was _your_ eye that I saw. If it weren't for making you +vain, I would ask you whether your handsome eyes could be mistaken for +the eyes of one of your negroes. But I want you to go with me to that +bower down there." + +"Not to-night, dearest," said he. "I will go with you to-morrow." + +"Now is just the time," persisted she. "Bowers never look so pretty +as by moonlight. I don't think you are very gallant to your bride to +refuse her such a little favor." + +Thus urged, he yielded, though reluctantly, to her whim. As she +entered the bower, and turned to speak to him, the moonlight fell full +upon her figure. "What a pretty little witch you are!" he exclaimed. +"My Lily Bell, my precious pearl, my sylph! You look like a spirit +just floated down from the moon." + +"All moonshine!" replied she, with a smile. + +He kissed the saucy lips, and the vines which had witnessed other +caresses in that same bower, a few months earlier, whispered to each +other, but told no tales. She leaned her head upon his bosom, and +looking out upon the winding walks of the garden, so fair and peaceful +in sheen and shadow, she said that her new home was more beautiful +than she had dreamed. "Hark!" said she, raising her head suddenly, and +listening. "I thought I heard a sigh." + +"It was only the wind among the vines," he replied. "Wandering about +in the moonlight has made you nervous." + +"I believe I _was_ a little afraid before you came," said she. "That +eye looking at me through the lattice gave me a start; and while I was +running after your shadow, I heard that voice again singing, 'Toll the +bell.' I wonder how you can be so indifferent about such a remarkable +voice, when you are such a lover of music." + +"I presume, as I told you before, that it was one of the darkies," +rejoined he. "I will inquire about it to-morrow." + +"I should sooner believe it to be the voice of an angel from heaven, +than a darky," responded the bride. "I wish I could hear it again +before I sleep." + +In immediate response to her wish, the full rich voice she had invoked +began to sing an air from "Norma," beginning, "O, how his art deceived +thee!" + +Fitzgerald started so suddenly, he overturned a seat near them. +"Hush!" she whispered, clinging to his arm. Thus they stood in +silence, she listening with rapt attention, he embarrassed and +angry almost beyond endurance. The enchanting sounds were obviously +receding. + +"Let us follow her, and settle the question who she is," said Lily, +trying to pull him forward. But he held her back strongly. + +"No more running about to-night," he answered almost sternly. Then, +immediately checking himself, he added, in a gentler tone: "It is +imprudent in you to be out so long in the evening air; and I am really +very tired, dear Lily. To-morrow I will try to ascertain which of the +servants has been following you round in this strange way." + +"Do you suppose any servant could sing _that_?" she exclaimed. + +"They are nearly all musical, and wonderfully imitative," answered he. +"They can catch almost anything they hear." He spoke in a nonchalant +tone, but she felt his arm tremble as she leaned upon it. He had never +before made such an effort to repress rage. + +In tones of tender anxiety, she said: "I am afraid you are very tired, +dear. I am sorry I kept you out so long." + +"I am rather weary," he replied, taking her hand, and holding it in +his. He was so silent as they walked toward the house, that she feared +he was seriously offended with her. + +As they entered the parlor she said, "I didn't think you cared about +my not going out, Gerald, except on account of my taking cold; and +with my shawl and nubia I don't think there was the least danger of +that. It was such a beautiful night, I wanted to go out to meet you, +dear." + +He kissed her mechanically, and replied, "I am not offended, darling." + +"Then, if the blue devils possess you, we will try Saul's method of +driving them away," said she. She seated herself at the piano, and +asked him whether he would accompany her with voice or flute. He tried +the flute, but played with such uncertainty, that she looked at him +with surprise. Music was the worst remedy she could have tried to +quiet the disturbance in his soul; for its voice evoked ghosts of the +past. + +"I am really tired, Lily," said he; and, affecting a drowsiness he did +not feel, he proposed retiring for the night. + +The chamber was beautiful with the moon shining through its +rose-tinted drapery, and the murmur of the ocean was a soothing +lullaby. But it was long before either of them slept; and when they +slumbered, the same voice went singing through their dreams. He was in +the flowery parlor at New Orleans, listening to "The Light of other +Days"; and she was following a veiled shadow through a strange garden, +hearing the intermingled tones of "Norma" and "Toll the bell." + +It was late in the morning when she awoke. Gerald was gone, but +a bouquet of fragrant flowers lay on the pillow beside her. Her +dressing-gown was on a chair by the bedside, and Venus sat at the +window sewing. + +"Where is Mr. Fitzgerald?" she inquired. + +"He said he war gwine to turrer plantation on business. He leff dem +flower dar, an' tole me to say he 'd come back soon." + +The fair hair was neatly arranged by the black hands that contrasted +so strongly with it. The genteel little figure was enveloped in a +morning-dress of delicate blue and white French cambric, and the +little feet were ensconced in slippers of azure velvet embroidered +with silver. The dainty breakfast, served on French porcelain, was +slowly eaten, and still Gerald returned not. She removed to the +chamber window, and, leaning her cheek on her hand, looked out upon +the sun-sparkle of the ocean. Her morning thought was the same with +which she had passed into slumber the previous night. How strange it +was that Gerald would take no notice of that enchanting voice! The +incident that seemed to her a charming novelty had, she knew not why, +cast a shadow over the first evening in their bridal home. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Mr. Fitzgerald had ordered his horse to be saddled at an earlier hour +than Tom had ever known him to ride, except on a hunting excursion, +and in his own mind he concluded that his master would be asleep at +the hour he had indicated. Before he stretched himself on the floor +for the night, he expressed this opinion to the cook by saying, "Yer +know, Dinah, white folks is allers mighty wide awake de night afore +dey gits up." + +To his surprise, however, Mr. Fitzgerald made his appearance at the +stable just as he was beginning to comb the horse. "You lazy black +rascal," he exclaimed, "didn't I order you to have the horse ready by +this time?" + +"Yes, Massa," replied Tom, sheering out of the way of the upraised +whip; "but it peers like Massa's watch be leetle bit faster dan de sun +dis ere mornin'." + +The horse was speedily ready, and Tom looked after his master as he +leaped into the saddle and dashed off in the direction of the lonely +cottage. There was a grin on his face as he muttered, "Reckon Missis +don't know whar yer gwine." He walked toward the house, whistling, +"Nelly was a lady." + +"Dat ar war gwine roun' an' roun' de hus las' night, jes like a +sperit. 'Twar dat ar Spanish lady," said Dinah. + +"She sings splendiferous," rejoined Tom, "an' Massa liked it more dan +de berry bes bottle ob wine." He ended by humming, "Now all dem happy +days am ober." + +"Better not let Massa hear yer sing dat ar," said Dinah. "He make yer +sing nudder song." + +"She's mighty gran' lady, an' a bery perlite missis, an' Ise sorry fur +her," replied Tom. + +Mr. Fitzgerald had no sense of refreshment in his morning ride. He +urged his horse along impatiently, with brow contracted and lips +firmly compressed. He was rehearsing in his mind the severe reprimand +he intended to bestow upon Rosa. He expected to be met with tears and +reproaches, to which he would show himself hard till she made contrite +apologies for her most unexpected and provoking proceedings. It was +his purpose to pardon her at last, for he was far enough from wishing +to lose her; and she had always been so gentle and submissive, that he +entertained no doubt the scene would end with a loving willingness to +accept his explanations, and believe in his renewed professions. "She +loves me to distraction, and she is entirely in my power," thought he. +"It will be strange indeed if I cannot mould her as I will." + +Arrived at the cottage, he found Tulee washing on a bench outside the +kitchen. "Good morning, Tulee," said he. "Is your mistress up yet?" + +"Missy Rosy ha'n't been asleep," she answered in a very cold tone, +without looking up from her work. + +He entered the house, and softly opened the door of Rosa's sleeping +apartment. She was walking slowly, with arms crossed, looking +downward, as if plunged in thought. Her extreme pallor disarmed him, +and there was no hardness in his tone when he said, "Rosabella!" + +She started, for she had supposed the intruder was Tulee. With head +proudly erect, nostrils dilated, and eyes that flashed fire, she +exclaimed, "How dare you come here?" + +This reception was so entirely unexpected, that it disconcerted him; +and instead of the severe reproof he had contemplated, he said, in an +expostulating tone: "Rosa, I always thought you the soul of honor. +When we parted, you promised not to go to the plantation unless I was +with you. Is this the way you keep your word?" + +"_You_ talk of honor and promises!" she exclaimed. + +The sneer conveyed in the tones stung him to the quick. But he made an +effort to conceal his chagrin, and said, with apparent calmness: "You +must admit it was an unaccountable freak to start for the plantation +in the evening, and go wandering round the grounds in that mysterious +way. What could have induced you to take such a step?" + +"I accidentally overheard Tom telling Tulee that you were to bring +home a bride from the North yesterday. I could not believe it of you, +and I was too proud to question him. But after reflecting upon it, I +chose to go and see for myself. And when I _had_ seen for myself, I +wished to remind you of that past which you seemed to have forgotten." + +"Curse on Tom!" he exclaimed. "He shall smart for this mischief." + +"Don't be so unmanly as to punish a poor servant for mentioning a +piece of news that interested the whole plantation, and which must of +course be a matter of notoriety," she replied very quietly. "Both he +and Tulee were delicate enough to conceal it from me." + +Fitzgerald felt embarrassed by her perfect self-possession. After a +slight pause, during which she kept her face averted from him, he +said: "I confess that appearances are against me, and that you have +reason to feel offended. But if you knew just how I was situated, you +would, perhaps, judge me less harshly. I have met with heavy losses +lately, and I was in danger of becoming bankrupt unless I could keep +up my credit by a wealthy marriage. The father of this young lady is +rich, and she fell in love with me. I have married her; but I tell you +truly, dear Rosa, that I love you more than I ever loved any other +woman." + +"You say she loved you, and yet you could deceive her so," she +replied. "You could conceal from her that you already had a wife. When +I watched her as she walked on the veranda I was tempted to reveal +myself, and disclose your baseness." + +Fitzgerald's eyes flashed with sudden anger, as he vociferated, "Rosa, +if you ever dare to set up any such claim--" + +"If I _dare_!" she exclaimed, interrupting him in a tone of proud +defiance, that thrilled through all his nerves. + +Alarmed by the strength of character which he had never dreamed she +possessed, he said: "In your present state of mind, there is no +telling what you may dare to do. It becomes necessary for you to +understand your true position. You are not my wife. The man who +married us had no legal authority to perform the ceremony." + +"O steeped in falsehood to the lips!" exclaimed she. "And _you_ are +the idol I have worshipped!" + +He looked at her with astonishment not unmingled with admiration. +"Rosa, I could not have believed you had such a temper," rejoined he. +"But why will you persist in making yourself and me unhappy? As long +as my wife is ignorant of my love for you, no harm is done. If you +would only listen to reason, we might still be happy. I could manage +to visit you often. You would find me as affectionate as ever; and I +will provide amply for you." + +"_Provide_ for me?" she repeated slowly, looking him calmly and +loftily in the face. "What have you ever seen in me, Mr. Fitzgerald, +that has led you to suppose I would consent to sell myself?" + +His susceptible temperament could not withstand the regal beauty of +her proud attitude and indignant look. "O Rosa," said he, "there is no +woman on earth to be compared with you. If you only knew how I idolize +you at this moment, after all the cruel words you have uttered, you +surely would relent. Why will you not be reasonable, dearest? Why not +consent to live with me as your mother lived with your father?" + +"Don't wrong the memory of my mother," responded she hastily. "She +was too pure and noble to be dishonored by your cruel laws. She would +never have entered into any such base and degrading arrangement as +you propose. She couldn't have lived under the perpetual shame of +deceiving another wife. She couldn't have loved my father, if he had +deceived her as you have deceived me. She trusted him entirely, and in +return he gave her his undivided affection." + +"And I give you undivided affection," he replied. "By all the stars +of heaven, I swear that you are now, as you always have been, my Rosa +Regina, my Rosa _munda_." + +"Do not exhaust your oaths," rejoined she, with a contemptuous curl of +the lip. "Keep some of them for your Lily Bell, your precious pearl, +your moonlight sylph." + +Thinking the retort implied a shade of jealousy, he felt encouraged +to persevere. "You may thank your own imprudence for having overheard +words so offensive to you," responded he. "But Rosa, dearest, you +cannot, with all your efforts, drive from you the pleasant memories of +our love. You surely do not hate me?" + +"No, Mr. Fitzgerald; you have fallen below hatred. I despise you." + +His brow contracted, and his lips tightened. "I cannot endure this +treatment," said he, in tones of suppressed rage. "You tempt me too +far. You compel me to humble your pride. Since I cannot persuade you +to listen to expostulations and entreaties, I must inform you that my +power over you is complete. You are my slave. I bought you of your +father's creditors before I went to Nassau. I can sell you any day I +choose; and, by Jove, I will, if--" + +The sudden change that came over her arrested him. She pressed one +hand hard upon her heart, and gasped for breath. He sank at once on +his knees, crying, "O, forgive me, Rosa! I was beside myself." + +But she gave no sign of hearing him; and seeing her reel backward into +a chair, with pale lips and closing eyes, he hastened to summon Tulee. +Such remorse came over him that he longed to wait for her returning +consciousness. But he remembered that his long absence must excite +surprise in the mind of his bride, and might, perhaps, connect itself +with the mysterious singer of the preceding evening. Goaded by +contending feelings, he hurried through the footpaths whence he had so +often kissed his hand to Rosa in fond farewell, and hastily mounted +his horse without one backward glance. + +Before he came in sight of the plantation, the perturbation of his +mind had subsided, and he began to think himself a much-injured +individual. "Plague on the caprices of women!" thought he. "All this +comes of Lily's taking the silly, romantic whim of coming here to +spend the honeymoon. And Rosa, foolish girl, what airs she assumes! I +wanted to deal generously by her; but she rejected all my offers as +haughtily as if she had been queen of Spain and all the Americas. +There's a devilish deal more of the Spanish blood in her than I +thought for. Pride becomes her wonderfully; but it won't hold out +forever. She'll find that she can't live without me. I can wait." + +Feeling the need of some safety-valve to let off his vexation, he +selected poor Tom for that purpose. When the obsequious servant came +to lead away the horse, his master gave him a sharp cut of the whip, +saying, "I'll teach you to tell tales again, you black rascal!" +But having a dainty aversion to the sight of pain, he summoned the +overseer, and consigned him to his tender mercies. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +If Flora could have known all this, the sisters would have soon been +locked in each other's arms; but while she supposed that Rosa +still regarded Mr. Fitzgerald with perfect love and confidence, no +explanation of her flight could be given. She did indeed need to be +often reminded by Mrs. Delano that it would be the most unkind thing +toward her sister, as well as hazardous to herself, to attempt any +communication. Notwithstanding the tenderest care for her comfort +and happiness, she could not help being sometimes oppressed with +homesickness. Her Boston home was tasteful and elegant, but everything +seemed foreign and strange. She longed for Rosa and Tulee, and Madame +and the Signor. She missed what she called the _olla-podrida_ phrases +to which she had always been accustomed; and in her desire to behave +with propriety, there was an unwonted sense of constraint. When +callers came, she felt like a colt making its first acquaintance +with harness. She endeavored to conceal such feelings from her kind +benefactress; but sometimes, if she was surprised in tears, she +would say apologetically, "I love you dearly, Mamita Lila; but it is +dreadful to be so far away from anybody that ever knew anything about +the old times." + +"But you forget that I do know something about them, darling," replied +Mrs. Delano. "I am never so happy as when you are telling me about +your father. Perhaps by and by, when you have become enough used to +your new home to feel as mischievous as you are prone to be, you will +take a fancy to sing to me, 'O, there's nothing half so sweet in life +as love's _old_ dream.'" + +It was beautiful to see how girlish the sensible and serious lady +became in her efforts to be companionable to her young _protégée_. Day +after day, her intimate friends found her playing battledoor or the +Graces, or practising pretty French romanzas, flowery rondeaux, or +lively dances. She was surprised at herself; for she had not supposed +it possible for her ever to take an interest in such things after her +daughter died. But, like all going out of self, these efforts brought +their recompense. + +She always introduced the little stranger as "Miss Flora Delano, my +adopted daughter." To those who were curious to inquire further, she +said: "She is an orphan, in whom I became much interested in the West +Indies. As we were both very much alone in the world, I thought the +wisest thing we could do would be to cheer each other's loneliness." +No allusion was ever made to her former name, for that might have +led to inconvenient questions concerning her father's marriage; and, +moreover, the lady had no wish to resuscitate the little piece of +romance in her own private history, now remembered by few. + +It was contrary to Mrs. Delano's usual caution and deliberation to +adopt a stranger so hastily; and had she been questioned beforehand, +she would have pronounced it impossible for her to enter into such a +relation with one allied to the colored race, and herself a slave. But +a strange combination of circumstances had all at once placed her in +this most unexpected position. She never for one moment regretted +the step she had taken; but the consciousness of having a secret to +conceal, especially a secret at war with the conventional rules of +society, was distasteful to her, and felt as some diminution of +dignity. She did not believe in the genuineness of Rosa's marriage, +though she deemed it best not to impart such doubts to Flora. If Mr. +Fitzgerald should marry another, she foresaw that it would be her duty +to assist in the reunion of the sisters, both of whom were slaves. +She often thought to herself, "In what a singular complication I have +become involved! So strange for me, who have such an aversion to all +sorts of intrigues and mysteries." With these reflections were mingled +anxieties concerning Flora's future. Of course, it would not be well +for her to be deprived of youthful companionship; and if she mixed +with society, her handsome person, her musical talent, and her +graceful dancing would be sure to attract admirers. And then, would it +be right to conceal her antecedents? And if they should be explained +or accidentally discovered, after her young affections were engaged, +what disappointment and sadness might follow! + +But Flora's future was in a fair way to take care of itself. One day +she came flying into the parlor with her face all aglow. "O Mamita +Lila," exclaimed she, "I have had such a pleasant surprise! I went to +Mr. Goldwin's store to do your errand, and who should I find there but +Florimond Blumenthal!" + +"And, pray, who is Florimond Blumenthal?" inquired Mrs. Delano. + +"O, haven't I told you? I thought I had told you all about everybody +and everything. He was a poor orphan, that papa took for an +errand-boy. He sent him to school, and afterward he was his clerk. He +came to our house often when I was a little girl; but after he grew +tall, papa used to send an old negro man to do our errands. So I +didn't see him any more till _cher papa_ died. He was very kind to us +then. He was the one that brought those beautiful baskets I told you +of. Isn't it funny? They drove him away from New Orleans because they +said he was an Abolitionist, and that he helped us to escape, when he +didn't know anything at all about it. He said he heard we had gone to +the North. And he went looking all round in New York, and then he came +to Boston, hoping to see us or hear from us some day; but he had about +done expecting it when I walked into the store. You never saw anybody +so red as he was, when he held out his hand and said, in such a +surprised way, 'Miss Royal, is it you?' Just out of mischief, I told +him very demurely that my name was Delano. Then he became very formal +all at once, and said, 'Does this silk suit you, Mrs. Delano?' That +made me laugh, and blush too. I told him I wasn't married, but a kind +lady in Summer Street had adopted me and given me her name. Some other +customers came up to the counter, and so I had to come away." + +"Did you ask him not to mention your former name?" inquired Mrs. +Delano. + +"No, I hadn't time to think of that," replied Flora; "but I _will_ ask +him." + +"Don't go to the store on purpose to see him, dear. Young ladies +should be careful about such things," suggested her maternal friend. + +Two hours afterward, as they returned from a carriage-drive, Flora had +just drawn off her gloves, when she began to rap on the window, and +instantly darted into the street. Mrs. Delano, looking out, saw her on +the opposite sidewalk, in earnest conversation with a young gentleman. +When she returned, she said to her: "You shouldn't rap on the windows +to young gentlemen, my child. It hasn't a good appearance." + +"I didn't rap to young gentlemen," replied Flora. "It was only +Florimond. I wanted to tell him not to mention my name. He asked me +about my sister, and I told him she was alive and well, and I couldn't +tell him any more at present. Florimond won't mention anything I +request him not to,--I know he won't." + +Mrs. Delano smiled to herself at Flora's quick, off-hand way of doing +things. "But after all," thought she, "it is perhaps better settled +so, than it would have been with more ceremony." Then speaking aloud, +she said, "Your friend has a very blooming name." + +"His name was Franz," rejoined Flora; "but Mamita called him +Florimond, because he had such pink cheeks; and he liked Mamita so +much, that he always writes his name Franz Florimond. We always had so +many flowery names mixed up with our _olla-podrida_ talk. _Your_ name +is flowery too. I used to say Mamita would have called you Lady Viola; +but violet colors and lilac colors are cousins, and they both suit +your complexion and your name, Mamita Lila." + +After dinner, she began to play and sing with more gayety than she +had manifested for many a day. While her friend played, she practised +several new dances with great spirit; and after she had kissed +good-night, she went twirling through the door, as if music were +handing her out. + +Mrs. Delano sat awhile in revery. She was thinking what a splendid +marriage her adopted daughter might make, if it were not for that +stain upon her birth. She was checked by the thought: "How I have +fallen into the world's ways, which seemed to me so mean and heartless +when I was young! Was _I_ happy in the splendid marriage they made for +_me_? From what Flora lets out occasionally, I judge her father felt +painfully the anomalous position of his handsome daughters. Alas! if +I had not been so weak as to give him up, all this miserable +entanglement might have been prevented. So one wrong produces another +wrong; and thus frightfully may we affect the destiny of others, while +blindly following the lead of selfishness. But the past, with all its +weaknesses and sins, has gone beyond recall; and I must try to write a +better record on the present." + +As she passed to her sleeping-room, she softly entered the adjoining +chamber, and, shading the lamp with her hand, she stood for a moment +looking at Flora. Though it was but a few minutes since she was +darting round like a humming-bird, she was now sleeping as sweetly as +a babe. She made an extremely pretty picture in her slumber, with the +long dark eyelashes resting on her youthful cheek, and a shower of +dark curls falling over her arm. "No wonder Alfred loved her so +dearly," thought she. "If his spirit can see us, he must bless me +for saving his innocent child." Filled with this solemn and tender +thought, she knelt by the bedside, and prayed for blessing and +guidance in the task she had undertaken. + +The unexpected finding of a link connected with old times had a +salutary effect on Flora's spirits. In the morning, she said that she +had had pleasant dreams about Rosabella and Tulee, and that she didn't +mean to be homesick any more. "It's very ungrateful," added she, "when +my dear, good Mamita Lila does so much to make me happy." + +"To help you keep your good resolution, I propose that we go to the +Athenaeum," said Mrs. Delano, smiling. Flora had never been in a +gallery of paintings, and she was as much pleased as a little child +with a new picture-book. Her enthusiasm attracted attention, and +visitors smiled to see her clap her hands, and to hear her little +shouts of pleasure or of fun. Ladies said to each other, "It's plain +that this lively little _adoptée_ of Mrs. Delano's has never been much +in good society." And gentlemen answered, "It is equally obvious that +she has never kept vulgar company." + +Mrs. Delano's nice ideas of conventional propriety were a little +disturbed, and she was slightly annoyed by the attention they +attracted. But she said to herself, "If I am always checking the +child, I shall spoil the naturalness which makes her so charming." So +she quietly went on explaining the pictures, and giving an account of +the artists. + +The next day it rained; and Mrs. Delano read aloud "The Lady of the +Lake," stopping now and then to explain its connection with Scottish +history, or to tell what scenes Rossini had introduced in _La Donna +del Lago_, which she had heard performed in Paris. The scenes of the +opera were eagerly imbibed, but the historical lessons rolled off +her memory, like water from a duck's back. It continued to rain and +drizzle for three days; and Flora, who was very atmospheric, began +to yield to the dismal influence of the weather. Her watchful friend +noticed the shadow of homesickness coming over the sunlight of her +eyes, and proposed that they should go to a concert. Flora objected, +saying that music would make her think so much of Rosabella, she was +afraid she should cry in public. But when the programme was produced, +she saw nothing associated with her sister, and said, "I will go if +you wish it, Mamita Lila, because I like to do everything you wish." +She felt very indifferent about going; but when Mr. Wood came forward, +singing, "The sea, the sea, the open sea!" in tones so strong and full +that they seemed the voice of the sea itself, she was half beside +herself with delight. She kept time with her head and hands, with a +degree of animation that made the people round her smile. She, quite +unconscious of observation, swayed to the music, and ever and anon +nodded her approbation to a fair-faced young gentleman, who seemed to +be enjoying the concert very highly, though not to such a degree as to +be oblivious of the audience. + +Mrs. Delano was partly amused and partly annoyed. She took Flora's +hand, and by a gentle pressure, now and then, sought to remind her +that they were in public; but she understood it as an indication of +musical sympathy, and went on all the same. + +When they entered the carriage to return home, she drew a long breath, +and exclaimed, O Mamita, how I have enjoyed the concert!" + +"I am very glad of it," replied her friend. "I suppose that was Mr. +Blumenthal to whom you nodded several times, and who followed you to +the carriage. But, my dear, it isn't the custom for young ladies to +keep nodding to young gentlemen in public places." + +"Isn't it? I didn't think anything about it," rejoined Flora. "But +Florimond isn't a gentleman. He's an old acquaintance. Don't you find +it very tiresome, Mamita, to be always remembering what is the custom? +I'm sure _I_ shall never learn." + +When she went singing up stairs that night, Mrs. Delano smiled to +herself as she said, "What _am_ I to do with this mercurial young +creature? What an overturn she makes in all my serious pursuits and +quiet ways! But there is something singularly refreshing about the +artless little darling." + +Warm weather was coming, and Mrs. Delano began to make arrangements +for passing the summer at Newport; but her plans were suddenly +changed. One morning Flora wished to purchase some colored crayons to +finish a drawing she had begun. As she was going out, her friend said +to her, "The sun shines so brightly, you had better wear your veil." + +"O, I've been muffled up so much, I do detest veils," replied Flora, +half laughingly and half impatiently. "I like to have a whole world +full of air to breathe in. But if you wish it, Mamita Lila, I will +wear it." + +It seemed scarcely ten minutes after, when the door-bell was rung with +energy, and Flora came in nervously agitated. + +"O Mamita!" exclaimed she, "I am so glad you advised me to wear a +veil. I met Mr. Fitzgerald in this very street. I don't think he saw +me, for my veil was close, and as soon as I saw him coming I held my +head down. He can't take me here in Boston, and carry me off, can he?" + +"He shall not carry you off, darling; but you must not go in the +street, except in the carriage with me. We will sit up stairs, a +little away from the windows; and if I read aloud, you won't forget +yourself and sing at your embroidery or drawing, as you are apt to do. +It's not likely he will remain in the city many days, and I will try +to ascertain his movements." + +Before they had settled to their occupations, a ring at the door made +Flora start, and quickened the pulses of her less excitable friend. It +proved to be only a box of flowers from the country. But Mrs. Delano, +uneasy in the presence of an undefined danger, the nature and extent +of which she did not understand, opened her writing-desk and wrote the +following note:-- + +"MR. WILLARD PERCIVAL. + +"Dear Sir,--If you can spare an hour this evening to talk with me on a +subject of importance, you will greatly oblige yours, + +"Very respectfully, + +"LILA DELANO" + +A servant was sent with the note, and directed to admit no gentleman +during the day or evening, without first bringing up his name. + +While they were lingering at the tea-table, the door-bell rang, and +Flora, with a look of alarm, started to run up stairs. "Wait a moment, +till the name is brought in," said her friend. "If I admit the +visitor, I should like to have you follow me to the parlor, and remain +there ten or fifteen minutes. You can then go to your room, and when +you are there, dear, be careful not to sing loud. Mr. Fitzgerald shall +not take you from me; but if he were to find out you were here, it +might give rise to talk that would be unpleasant." + +The servant announced Mr. Willard Percival; and a few moments +afterward Mrs. Delano introduced her _protégée_. Mr. Percival was too +well bred to stare, but the handsome, foreign-looking little damsel +evidently surprised him. He congratulated them both upon the relation +between them, and said he need not wish the young lady happiness in +her new home, for he believed Mrs. Delano always created an +atmosphere of happiness around her. After a few moments of desultory +conversation, Flora left the room. When she had gone, Mr. Percival +remarked, "That is a very fascinating young person." + +"I thought she would strike you agreeably," replied Mrs. Delano. "Her +beauty and gracefulness attracted me the first time I saw her; and +afterward I was still more taken by her extremely _naïve_ manner. +She has been brought up in seclusion as complete as Miranda's on the +enchanted island; and there is no resisting the charm of her impulsive +naturalness. But, if you please, I will now explain the note I sent +to you this morning. I heard some months ago that you had joined the +Anti-Slavery Society." + +"And did you send for me hoping to convert me from the error of my +ways?" inquired he, smiling. + +"On the contrary, I sent for you to consult concerning a slave in whom +I am interested." + +"_You_, Mrs. Delano!" he exclaimed, in a tone of great surprise. + +"You may well think it strange," she replied, "knowing, as you do, +how bitterly both my father and my husband were opposed to the +anti-slavery agitation, and how entirely apart my own life has been +from anything of that sort. But while I was at the South this winter, +I heard of a case which greatly interested my feelings. A wealthy +American merchant in New Orleans became strongly attached to a +beautiful quadroon, who was both the daughter and the slave of a +Spanish planter. Her father became involved in some pecuniary trouble, +and sold his daughter to the American merchant, knowing that they were +mutually attached. Her bondage was merely nominal, for the tie of +affection remained constant between them as long as she lived; and he +would have married her if such marriages had been legal in Louisiana. +By some unaccountable carelessness, he neglected to manumit her. She +left two handsome and accomplished daughters, who always supposed +their mother to be a Spanish lady, and the wedded wife of their +father. But he died insolvent, and, to their great dismay, they found +themselves claimed as slaves under the Southern law, that 'the child +follows the condition of the mother.' A Southern gentleman, who was in +love with the eldest, married her privately, and smuggled them both +away to Nassau. After a while he went there to meet them, having +previously succeeded in buying them of the creditors. But his conduct +toward the younger was so base, that she absconded. The question I +wish to ask of you is, whether, if he should find her in the Free +States, he could claim her as his slave, and have his claim allowed by +law." + +"Not if he sent them to Nassau," replied Mr. Percival. "British soil +has the enviable distinction of making free whosoever touches it." + +"But he afterward brought them back to an island between Georgia and +South Carolina," said Mrs. Delano. "The eldest proved a most loving +and faithful wife, and to this day has no suspicion of his designs +with regard to her sister." + +"If he married her before he went to Nassau, the ceremony is not +binding," rejoined Mr. Percival; "for no marriage with a slave is +legal in the Southern States." + +"I was ignorant of that law," said Mrs. Delano, "being very little +informed on the subject of slavery. But I suspected trickery of some +sort in the transaction, because he proved himself so unprincipled +with regard to the sister." + +"And where is the sister?" inquired Mr. Percival. + +"I trust to your honor as a gentleman to keep the secret from every +mortal," answered Mrs. Delano. "You have seen her this evening." + +"Is it possible," he exclaimed, "that you mean to say she is your +adopted daughter?" + +"I did mean to say that," she replied. "I have placed great confidence +in you; for you can easily imagine it would be extremely disagreeable +to me, as well as to her, to become objects of public notoriety." + +"Your confidence is a sacred deposit," answered he. "I have long been +aware that the most romantic stories in the country have grown out of +the institution of slavery; but this seems stranger than fiction. With +all my knowledge of the subject, I find it hard to realize that such +a young lady as that has been in danger of being sold on the +auction-block in this republic. It makes one desirous to conceal that +he is an American." + +"My principal reason for wishing to consult you," said Mrs. Delano, +"is, that Mr. Fitzgerald, the purchaser of these girls, is now in the +city, and Flora met him this morning. Luckily, she was closely veiled, +and he did not recognize her. I think it is impossible he can have +obtained any clew to my connivance at her escape, and yet I feel a +little uneasy. I am so ignorant of the laws on this subject, that I +don't know what he has the power to do if he discovers her. Can he +claim her here in Boston?" + +"He could claim her and bring her before the United States Court," +replied Mr. Percival; "but I doubt whether he _would_ do it. To claim +such a girl as _that_ for a slave, would excite general sympathy +and indignation, and put too much ammunition into the hands of us +Abolitionists. Besides, no court in the Free States could help +deciding that, if he sent her to Nassau, she became free. If he should +discover her whereabouts, I shouldn't wonder if attempts were made to +kidnap her; for men of his character are very unscrupulous, and there +are plenty of caitiffs in Boston ready to do any bidding of their +Southern masters. If she were conveyed to the South, though the courts +_ought_ to decide she was free, it is doubtful whether they _would_ do +it; for, like Achilles, they scorn the idea that laws were made for +such as they." + +"If I were certain that Mr. Fitzgerald knew of her being here, or +that he even suspected it," said Mrs. Delano, "I would at once +take measures to settle the question by private purchase; but the +presumption is that he and the sister suppose Flora to be dead, and +her escape cannot be made known without betraying the cause of it. +Flora has a great dread of disturbing her sister's happiness, and she +thinks that, now she is away, all will go well. Another difficulty is, +that, while the unfortunate lady believes herself to be his lawful +wife, she is really his slave, and if she should offend him in any way +he could sell her. It troubles me that I cannot discover any mode of +ascertaining whether he deserts her or not. He keeps her hidden in the +woods in that lonely island, where her existence is unknown, except to +a few of his negro slaves. The only white friends she seems to have in +the world are her music teacher and French teacher in New Orleans. Mr. +Fitzgerald has impressed it upon their minds that the creditors of her +father will prosecute him, and challenge him, if they discover that he +first conveyed the girls away and then bought them at reduced prices. +Therefore, if I should send an agent to New Orleans at any time to +obtain tidings of the sister, those cautious friends would doubtless +consider it a trap of the creditors, and would be very secretive." + +"It is a tangled skein to unravel," rejoined Mr. Percival. "I do +not see how anything can be done for the sister, under present +circumstances." + +"I feel undecided what course to pursue with regard to my adopted +daughter," said Mrs. Delano. "Entire seclusion is neither cheerful nor +salutary at her age. But her person and manners attract attention and +excite curiosity. I am extremely desirous to keep her history secret, +but I already find it difficult to answer questions without resorting +to falsehood, which is a practice exceedingly abhorrent to me, and a +very bad education for her. After this meeting with Mr. Fitzgerald, +I cannot take her to any public place without a constant feeling of +uneasiness. The fact is, I am so unused to intrigues and mysteries, +and I find it so hard to realize that a young girl like her _can_ be +in such a position, that I am bewildered, and need time to settle my +thoughts upon a rational basis." + +"Such a responsibility is so new to you, so entirely foreign to your +habits, that it must necessarily be perplexing," replied her visitor. +"I would advise you to go abroad for a while. Mrs. Percival and I +intend to sail for Europe soon, and if you will join us we shall +consider ourselves fortunate." + +"I accept the offer thankfully," said the lady. "It will help me out +of a present difficulty in the very way I was wishing for." + +When the arrangement was explained to Flora, with a caution not to go +in the streets, or show herself at the windows meanwhile, she made no +objection. But she showed her dimples with a broad smile, as she said, +"It is written in the book of fate, Mamita Lila, 'Always hiding or +running away.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Alfred R. King, when summoned home to Boston by the illness of his +mother, had, by advice of physicians, immediately accompanied her to +the South of France, and afterward to Egypt. Finding little benefit +from change of climate, and longing for familiar scenes and faces, +she urged her son to return to New England, after a brief sojourn in +Italy. She was destined never again to see the home for which she +yearned. The worn-out garment of her soul was laid away under a +flowery mound in Florence, and her son returned alone. During the two +years thus occupied, communication with the United States had been +much interrupted, and his thoughts had been so absorbed by his dying +mother, that the memory of that bright evening in New Orleans recurred +less frequently than it would otherwise have done. Still, the veiled +picture remained in his soul, making the beauty of all other women +seem dim. As he recrossed the Atlantic, lonely and sad, a radiant +vision of those two sisters sometimes came before his imagination with +the distinctness of actual presence. As he sat silently watching the +white streak of foam in the wake of the vessel, he could see, as in +a mirror, all the details of that flowery parlor; he could hear the +continuous flow of the fountain in the garden, and the melodious tones +of "Buena Notte, amato bene." + +Arrived in Boston, his first inquiry of the merchants was whether they +had heard anything of Mr. Royal. He received the news of his death +with a whirl of emotions. How he longed for tidings concerning the +daughters! But questions would of course be unavailing, since their +existence was entirely unknown at the North. That Mr. Royal had died +insolvent, and his property had been disposed of at auction, filled +him with alarm. It instantly occurred to him how much power such +circumstances would place in the hands of Mr. Fitzgerald. The thought +passed through his mind, "Would he marry Rosabella?" And he seemed to +hear a repetition of the light, careless tones, "Of course not,--she +was a quadroon." His uneasiness was too strong to be restrained, and +the second day after his arrival he started for New Orleans. + +He found the store of his old friend occupied by strangers, who could +only repeat what he had already heard. He rode out to the house where +he had passed that never-to-be-forgotten evening. There all was +painfully changed. The purchasers had refurnished the house with +tasteless gewgaws, and the spirit of gracefulness had vanished. Their +unmodulated voices grated on his ear, in contrast with the liquid +softness of Rosabella's tones, and the merry, musical tinkling of +Floracita's prattle. All they could tell him was, that they heard the +quadroons who used to be kept there by the gentleman that owned the +house had gone to the North somewhere. A pang shot through his soul as +he asked himself whether they remembered his offer of assistance, and +had gone in search of him. He turned and looked back upon the house, +as he had done that farewell morning, when he assured them that he +would be a brother in time of need. He could hardly believe that all +the life and love and beauty which animated that home had vanished +into utter darkness. It seemed stranger than the changes of a dream. + +Very sad at heart, he returned to the city and sought out a merchant +with whom his father had been accustomed to transact business. "Mr. +Talbot," said he, "I have come to New Orleans to inquire concerning +the affairs of the late Mr. Alfred Royal, who was a particular friend +of my father. I have been surprised to hear that he died insolvent; +for I supposed him to be wealthy." + +"He was generally so considered," rejoined Mr. Talbot. "But he was +brought down by successive failures, and some unlucky investments, as +we merchants often are, you know." + +"Were you acquainted with him," asked Alfred. + +"I knew very little of him, except in the way of business," replied +the merchant. "He was disinclined to society, and therefore some +people considered him eccentric; but he had the reputation of being a +kind-hearted, honorable man." + +"I think he never married," said Alfred, in a tone of hesitating +inquiry, which he hoped might lead to the subject he had at heart. + +But it only elicited the brief reply, "He was a bachelor." + +"Did you ever hear of any family not legitimated by law?" inquired the +young man. + +"There was a rumor about his living somewhere out of the city with a +handsome quadroon," answered the merchant. "But such arrangements are +so common here, they excite no curiosity." + +"Can you think of any one who had intimate relations with him, of whom +I could learn something about that connection?" + +"No, I cannot. As I tell you, he never mixed with society, and people +knew very little about him. Ha! there's a gentleman going by now, who +may be able to give you some information. Hallo, Signor Papanti!" + +The Italian, who was thus hailed, halted in his quick walk, and, being +beckoned to by Mr. Talbot, crossed the street and entered the store. + +"I think you brought a bill against the estate of the late Mr. Alfred +Royal for lessons given to some quadroon girls. Did you not?" inquired +the merchant. + +Having received an answer in the affirmative, he said: "This is +Mr. King, a young gentleman from the North, who wishes to obtain +information on that subject. Perhaps you can give it to him." + +"I remember the young gentleman," replied the Signor. "Mr. Royal did +introduce me to him at his store." + +The two gentlemen thus introduced bade Mr. Talbot good morning, and +walked away together, when Mr. King said, "My father and Mr. Royal +were as brothers, and that is the reason I feel interested to know +what has become of his daughters." + +The Italian replied, "I will tell _you_, sir, because Mr. Royal told +me you were an excellent man, and the son of his old friend." + +Rapid questions and answers soon brought out the principal features of +the sisters' strange history. When it came to the fact of their being +claimed as slaves, Mr. King started. "Is such a thing possible in this +country?" he exclaimed. "Girls so elegant and accomplished as they +were!" + +"Quite possible, sir," responded the Signor. "I have known several +similar instances in this city. But in this case I was surprised, +because I never knew their mother was a slave. She was a singularly +handsome and ladylike woman." + +"How was it possible that Mr. Royal neglected to manumit her?" +inquired the young man. + +"I suppose he never thought of her otherwise than as his wife, and +never dreamed of being otherwise than rich," rejoined the Signor." +Besides, you know how often death does overtake men with their duties +half fulfilled. He did manumit his daughters a few months before his +decease; but it was decided that he was then too deeply in debt to +have a right to dispose of any portion of his property." + +"Property!" echoed the indignant young man. "Such a term applied to +women makes me an Abolitionist." + +"Please not to speak that word aloud," responded the Italian. "I was +in prison several weeks on the charge of helping off those interesting +pupils of mine, and I don't know what might have become of me, if Mr. +Fitzgerald had not helped me by money and influence. I have my own +opinions about slavery, but I had rather go out of New Orleans before +I express them." + +"A free country indeed!" exclaimed the young man, "where one cannot +safely express his indignation against such enormities. But tell me +how the girls were rescued from such a dreadful fate; for by the +assurance you gave me at the outset that they needed no assistance, I +infer that they were rescued." + +He listened with as much composure as he could to the account of Mr. +Fitzgerald's agency in their escape, his marriage, Rosabella's devoted +love for him, and her happy home on a Paradisian island. The Signor +summed it up by saying, "I believe her happiness has been entirely +without alloy, except the sad fate of her sister, of which we heard a +few weeks ago." + +"What has happened to her?" inquired Alfred, with eager interest. + +"She went to the sea-shore to gather mosses, and never returned," +replied the Signor. "It is supposed she slipped into the water and was +drowned, or that she was seized by an alligator." + +"O horrid!" exclaimed Alfred. "Poor Floracita! What a bright, beaming +little beauty she was! But an alligator's mouth was a better fate than +slavery." + +"Again touching upon the dangerous topic!" rejoined the Signor. "If +you stay here long, I think you and the prison-walls will become +acquainted. But here is what used to be poor Mr. Royal's happy home, +and yonder is where Madame Papanti resides,--the Madame Guirlande I +told you of, who befriended the poor orphans when they had no other +friend. Her kindness to them, and her courage in managing for them, +was what first put it in my head to ask her to be my wife. Come in and +have a _tête-à-tête_ with her, sir. She knew the girls from the time +they were born, and she loved them like a mother." + +Within the house, the young man listened to a more prolonged account, +some of the details of which were new, others a repetition. Madame +dwelt with evident satisfaction on the fact that Rosa, in the midst +of all her peril, refused to accept the protection of Mr. Fitzgerald, +unless she were married to him; because she had so promised her +father, the night before he died. + +"That was highly honorable to her," replied Mr. King; "but marriage +with a slave is not valid in law." + +"So the Signor says," rejoined Madame. "I was so frightened and +hurried, and I was so relieved when a protector offered himself, that +I didn't think to inquire anything about it. Before Mr. Fitzgerald +made his appearance, we had planned to go to Boston in search of you." + +"Of _me_!" he exclaimed eagerly. "O, how I wish you had, and that I +had been in Boston to receive you!" + +"Well, I don't know that anything better could be done than has been +done," responded Madame. "The girls were handsome to the perdition +of their souls, as we say in France; and they knew no more about the +world than two blind kittens. Their mother came here a stranger, and +she made no acquaintance. Thus they seemed to be left singularly alone +when their parents were gone. Mr. Fitzgerald was so desperately in +love with Rosabella, and she with him, that they could not have been +kept long apart any way. He has behaved very generously toward +them. By purchasing them, he has taken them out of the power of the +creditors, some of whom were very bad men. He bought Rosa's piano, and +several other articles to which they were attached on their father's +and mother's account, and conveyed them privately to the new home he +had provided for them. Rosabella always writes of him as the most +devoted of husbands; and dear little Floracita used to mention him as +the kindest of brothers. So there seems every reason to suppose that +Rosa will be as fortunate as her mother was." + +"I hope so," replied Mr. King. "But I know Mr. Royal had very little +confidence in Mr. Fitzgerald; and the brief acquaintance I had with +him impressed me with the idea that he was a heartless, insidious man. +Moreover, they are his slaves." + +"They don't know that," rejoined Madame. "He has had the delicacy to +conceal it from them." + +"It would have been more delicate to have recorded their manumission," +responded Mr. King. + +"That would necessarily involve change of residence," remarked the +Signor; "for the laws of Georgia forbid the manumission of slaves +within the State." + +"What blasphemy to call such cruel enactments by the sacred name of +law!" replied the young man. "As well might the compacts of robbers to +secure their plunder be called law. The walls have no ears or tongues, +Signor," added he, smiling; "so I think you will not be thrust in jail +for having such an imprudent guest. But, as I was saying, I cannot +help having misgivings concerning the future. I want you to keep a +sharp lookout concerning the welfare of those young ladies, and to +inform me from time to time. Wheresoever I may happen to be, I will +furnish you with my address, and I wish you also to let me know where +you are to be found, if you should change your residence. My father +and Mr. Royal were like brothers when they were young men, and if +my father were living he would wish to protect the children of his +friend. The duty that he would have performed devolves upon me. I will +deposit five thousand dollars with Mr. Talbot, for their use, subject +to your order, should any unhappy emergency occur. I say _their_ use, +bearing in mind the possibility that Floracita may reappear, though +that seems very unlikely. But, my friends, I wish to bind you, by the +most solemn promise, never to mention my name in connection with this +transaction, and never to give any possible clew to it. I wish you +also to conceal my having come here to inquire concerning them. If +they ever need assistance, I do not wish them to know or conjecture +who their benefactor is. If you have occasion to call for the money, +merely say that an old friend of their father's deposited it for their +use." + +"I will solemnly pledge myself to secrecy," answered the Signor; "and +though secrets are not considered very safe with women, I believe +Madame may be trusted to any extent, where the welfare of these girls +is concerned." + +"I think you might say rather more than that, my friend," rejoined +Madame. "But that will do. I promise to do in all respects as the +young gentleman has requested, though I trust and believe that his +precautions will prove needless. Mr. Fitzgerald is very wealthy, and I +cannot suppose it possible that he would ever allow Rosabella to want +for anything." + +"That may be," replied Mr. King. "But storms come up suddenly in +the sunniest skies, as was the case with poor Mr. Royal. If Mr. +Fitzgerald's love remains constant, he may fail, or he may die, +without making provision for her manumission or support." + +"That is very true," answered the Signor. "How much forecast you +Yankees have!" + +"I should hardly deserve that compliment, my friends, if I failed to +supply you with the necessary means to carry out my wishes." He put +two hundred dollars into the hands of each, saying, "You will keep me +informed on the subject; and if Mrs. Fitzgerald should be ill or in +trouble, your will go to her." + +They remonstrated, saying it was too much. "Take it then for what you +_have_ done," replied he. + +When he had gone, Madame said, "Do you suppose he does all this on +account of the friendship of their fathers?" + +"He's an uncommon son, if he does," replied the Signor. "But I'm glad +Rosabella has such a firm anchor to the windward if a storm should +come." + +Mr. King sought Mr. Talbot again, and placed five thousand dollars in +his hands, with the necessary forms and instructions, adding: "Should +any unforeseen emergency render a larger sum necessary, please to +advance it, and draw on me. I am obliged to sail for Smyrna soon, on +business, or I would not trouble you to attend to this." + +Mr. Talbot smiled significantly, as he said, "These young ladies must +be very charming, to inspire so deep an interest in their welfare." + +The young man, clad in the armor of an honest purpose, did not feel +the point of the arrow, and answered quietly: "They _are_ very +charming. I saw them for a few hours only, and never expect to see +them again. Their father and mine were very intimate friends, and I +feel it a duty to protect them from misfortune if possible." When the +business was completed, and they had exchanged parting salutations, he +turned back to say, "Do you happen to know anything of Mr. Fitzgerald +of Savannah?" + +"I never had any acquaintance with him," replied Mr. Talbot; "but +he has the name of being something of a _roué_, and rather fond of +cards." + +"Can the death of Floracita be apocryphal?" thought Alfred. "Could he +be capable of selling her? No. Surely mortal man could not wrong that +artless child." + +He returned to his lodgings, feeling more fatigued and dispirited than +usual. He had done all that was possible for the welfare of the woman +who had first inspired him with love; but O, what would he not have +given for such an opportunity as Fitzgerald had! He was obliged to +confess to himself that the utter annihilation of his hope was more +bitter than he had supposed it would be. He no longer doubted that +he would have married her if he could, in full view of all her +antecedents, and even with his mother's prejudices to encounter. He +could not, however, help smiling at himself, as he thought: "Yet how +very different she was from what I had previously resolved to choose! +How wisely I have talked to young men about preferring character to +beauty! And lo! I found myself magnetized at first sight by mere +beauty!" + +But manly pride rebelled against the imputation of such weakness. "No, +it was not mere outward beauty," he said to himself. "True, I had no +opportunity of becoming acquainted with the qualities of her soul, +but her countenance unmistakably expressed sweetness, modesty, and +dignity, and the inflexions of her voice were a sure guaranty for +refinement." + +With visions of past and future revolving round him, he fell +asleep and dreamed he saw Rosabella alone on a plank, sinking in a +tempestuous sea. Free as he thought himself from superstition, the +dream made an uncomfortable impression on him, though he admitted that +it was the natural sequence of his waking thoughts. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Rosa came out of her swoon in a slow fever accompanied with delirium. +Tulee was afraid to leave her long enough to go to the plantation in +search of Tom; and having no medicines at hand, she did the best thing +that could have been done. She continually moistened the parched +tongue with water, and wiped the hot skin with wet cloths. While she +was doing this, tears fell on her dear young mistress, lying there +so broken and helpless, talking incoherently about her father and +Floracita, about being a slave and being sold. This continued eight or +ten days, during which she never seemed to recognize Tulee's presence, +or to be conscious where she was. She was never wild or troublesome, +but there were frequent restless motions, and signs of being afraid +of something. Then such a heavy drowsiness came over her, that it +was difficult to arouse her sufficiently to swallow a spoonful of +nourishment. She slept, and slept, till it seemed as if she would +sleep forever. "Nature, dear goddess," was doing the best she could +for the poor weak body, that had been so racked by the torture of the +soul. + +Three weeks passed before Mr. Fitzgerald again made his appearance +at the lonely cottage. He had often thought of Rosa meanwhile, not +without uneasiness and some twinges of self-reproach. But considering +the unlucky beginning of his honeymoon at Magnolia Lawn, he deemed it +prudent to be very assiduous in his attentions to his bride. He took +no walks or drives without her, and she seemed satisfied with his +entire devotion; but a veiled singing shadow haunted the chambers of +her soul. When she and her husband were occupied with music, she half +expected the pauses would be interrupted by another voice; nor was +he free from fears that those wandering sounds would come again. But +annoyed as he would have been by the rich tones of that voice once +so dear to him, his self-love was piqued that Rosa took no steps to +recall him. He had such faith in his power over her, that he had been +daily hoping for a conciliatory note. Tom had been as attentive to the +invalid as his enslaved condition would admit; but as Tulee said very +decidedly that she didn't want Massa Fitzgerald to show his face +there, he did not volunteer any information. At last, his master said +to him one day, "You've been to the cottage, I suppose, Tom?" + +"Yes, Massa." + +"How are they getting on there?" + +"Missy Rosy hab bin bery sick, but she done better now." + +"Why didn't you tell me, you black rascal?" + +"Massa hab neber ax me," replied Tom. + +Mr. Fitzgerald found some food for vanity in this news. He presumed +the illness was caused by love for him, which Rosa found herself +unable to conquer. This idea was very pleasant to him; for it was not +easy to relinquish the beautiful young creature who had loved him so +exclusively. Making a pretext of business, he mounted his horse and +rode off; throwing a farewell kiss to his bride as he went. For +greater security, he travelled a few moments in another direction, and +then sought the sequestered cottage by a circuitous route. Tulee was +vexed at heart when she heard him, as he came through the woods, +humming, "_C'est l'amour, l'amour_"; and when he entered the cottage, +she wished she was a white man, that she could strike him. But when he +said, "Tulee, how is your mistress?" she civilly answered, "Better, +Massa." + +He passed softly into Rosa's room. She was lying on the bed, in a +loose white robe, over which fell the long braids of her dark hair. +The warm coloring had entirely faded from her cheeks, leaving only +that faintest reflection of gold which she inherited from her mother; +and the thinness and pallor of her face made her large eyes seem +larger and darker. They were open, but strangely veiled; as if shadows +were resting on the soul, like fogs upon a landscape. When Gerald bent +over her, she did not see him, though she seemed to be looking at him. +He called her by the tenderest names; he cried out in agony, "O Rosa, +speak to me, darling!" She did not hear him. He had never before been +so deeply moved. He groaned aloud, and, covering his face with his +hands, he wept. + +When Tulee, hearing the sound, crept in to see whether all was well +with her mistress, she found him in that posture. She went out +silently, but when she was beyond hearing she muttered to herself, +"Ise glad he's got any human feelin'." + +After the lapse of a few moments, he came to her, saying, "O Tulee, do +you think she's going to die? Couldn't a doctor save her?" + +"No, Massa, I don't believe she's going to die," replied Tulee; "but +she'll be very weak for a great while. I don't think all the doctors +in the world could do poor Missy Rosy any good. It's her soul that's +sick, Massa; and nobody but the Great Doctor above can cure that." + +Her words cut him like a knife; but, without any attempt to excuse the +wrong he had done, he said: "I am going to Savannah for the winter. I +will leave Tom and Chloe at the plantation, with instructions to do +whatever you want done. If I am needed, you can send Tom for me." + +The melancholy wreck he had seen saddened him for a day or two; those +eyes, with their mysterious expression of somnambulism, haunted him, +and led him to drown uncomfortable feelings in copious draughts of +wine. But, volatile as he was impressible, the next week saw him the +gayest of the gay in parties at Savannah, where his pretty little +bride was quite the fashion. + +At the cottage there was little change, except that Chloe, by +her master's permission, became a frequent visitor. She was an +affectionate, useful creature, with good voice and ear, and a little +wild gleam of poetry in her fervid eyes. When she saw Rosa lying there +so still, helpless and unconscious as a new-born babe, she said, +solemnly, "De sperit hab done gone somewhar." She told many stories of +wonderful cures she had performed by prayer; and she would kneel by +the bedside, hour after hour, holding the invalid's hand, praying, +"O Lord, fotch back de sperit! Fotch back de sperit! Fotch back de +sperit!" she would continue to repeat in ascending tones, till they +rose to wild imploring. Tulee, looking on one day, said, "Poor Missy +Rosy don't hear nothin' ye say, though ye call so loud." + +"De good Lord up dar, He hars," replied Chloe, reverently pointing +upward; and she went on with the vehement repetition. These +supplications were often varied with Methodist hymns and negro +melodies, of which the most common refrain was, "O glory! glory! +glory!" But whether singing or praying, she made it a point to hold +the invalid's hand and look into her eyes. For a long while, the +spirit that had gone somewhere showed no signs of returning, in +obedience to the persevering summons. But after several weeks had +elapsed, there was a blind groping for Chloe's hand; and when it was +found, Tulee thought she perceived something like a little flickering +gleam flit over the pale face. Still, neither of the nurses was +recognized; and no one ever knew what the absent soul was seeing and +hearing in that mysterious somewhere whither it had flown. At last, +Chloe's patient faith was rewarded by a feeble pressure of her hand. +Their watchfulness grew more excited; and never did mother welcome the +first gleam of intelligence in her babe with more thrilling joy, than +the first faint, quivering smile on Rosa's lips was welcomed by those +anxious, faithful friends. The eyes began to resume their natural +expression. The fog was evidently clearing away from the soul, and +the sunshine was gleaming through. The process of resuscitation was +thenceforth constant, though very slow. It was three months after +those cruel blows fell upon her loving heart before she spoke and +feebly called them by their names. And not until a month later was +she able to write a few lines to quiet the anxiety of Madame and the +Signor. + +A few days before her last ghostly visit to Magnolia Lawn, she +had written them a very joyful letter, telling them of Gerald's +preparations to acknowledge her as his wife, and make her the mistress +of his beautiful home. They received the tidings with great joy, and +answered with hearty congratulations. The Signor was impatient +to write to Mr. King; but Madame, who had learned precaution and +management by the trials and disappointments of a changing life, +thought it best to wait till they could inform him of the actual fact. +As Rosa had never been in the habit of writing oftener than once in +four or five weeks, they felt no uneasiness until after that time had +elapsed; and even then they said to each other, "She delays writing, +as we do, until everything is arranged." But when seven or eight weeks +had passed, Madame wrote again, requesting an immediate answer. Owing +to the peculiar position of the sisters, letters to them had always +been sent under cover to Mr. Fitzgerald; and when this letter arrived, +he was naturally curious to ascertain whether Madame was aware of his +marriage. It so happened that it had not been announced in the only +paper taken by the Signor; and as they lived in a little foreign +world of their own, they remained in ignorance of it. Having read the +letter, Mr. Fitzgerald thought, as Rosa was not in a condition to read +it, it had better be committed to the flames. But fearing that Madame +or the Signor might come to Savannah in search of tidings, and that +some unlucky accident might bring them to speech of his bride, he +concluded it was best to ward off such a contingency. He accordingly +wrote a very studied letter to Madame, telling her that, with her +knowledge of the world, he supposed she must be well aware that the +daughter of a quadroon slave could not be legally recognized as the +wife of a Southern gentleman; that he still loved Rosa better than any +other woman, but wishing for legal heirs to his hereditary estate, it +was necessary for him to marry. He stated that Rosa was recovering +from a slow fever, and had requested him to say that they must not +feel anxious about her; that she had everything for her comfort, had +been carefully attended by two good nurses, was daily getting better, +and would write in a few weeks; meanwhile, if anything retarded her +complete recovery, he would again write. + +This letter he thought would meet the present emergency. His plans +for the future were unsettled. He still hoped that Rosa, alone and +unprotected as she was, without the legal ownership of herself, and +subdued by sickness and trouble, would finally accede to his terms. + +She, in her unconscious state, was of course ignorant of this +correspondence. For some time after she recognized her nurses, she +continued to be very drowsy, and manifested no curiosity concerning +her condition. She was as passive in their hands as an infant, and +they treated her as such. Chloe sung to her, and told her stories, +which were generally concerning her own remarkable experiences; for +she was a great seer of visions. Perhaps she owed them to gifts of +imagination, of which culture would have made her a poet; but to her +they seemed to be an objective reality. She often told of seeing +Jesus, as she walked to and from the plantation. Once she had met him +riding upon Thistle, with a golden crown upon his head. One evening he +had run before her all the way, as a very little child, whose shining +garments lighted up all the woods. + +Four months after the swift destruction of her hopes, Rosa, after +taking some drink from Tulee's hand, looked up in her face, and said, +"How long have I been sick, dear Tulee?" + +"No matter about that, darling," she replied, patting her head fondly. +"Ye mustn't disturb your mind 'bout that." + +After a little pause, the invalid said, "But tell me how long." + +"Well then, darling, I didn't keep no 'count of the time; but Tom says +it's February now." + +"Yer see, Missy Rosy," interposed Chloe, "yer sperit hab done gone +somewhar, an' yer didn't know nottin'. But a booful angel, all in +white, tuk yer by de han' an' toted yer back to Tulee an' Chloe. Dat +ar angel hab grat hansum eyes, an' she tole me she war yer mudder; +an' dat she war gwine to be wid yer allers, cause twar de will ob de +Lord." + +Rosa listened with a serious, pleased expression in her face; for the +words of her simple comforter inspired a vague consciousness of some +supernatural presence surrounding her with invisible protection. + +A few hours after, she asked, with head averted from her attendant, +"Has any one been here since I have been ill?" + +Anxious to soothe the wounded heart as much as possible, Tulee +answered: "Massa Gerald come to ask how ye did; and when he went to +Savannah, he left Tom and Chloe at the plantation to help me take care +of ye." + +She manifested no emotion; and after a brief silence she inquired +for letters from Madame. Being informed that there were none, she +expressed a wish to be bolstered up, that she might try to write a few +lines to her old friend. Chloe, in reply, whispered something in her +ear, which seemed to surprise her. Her cheeks flushed, the first +time for many a day; but she immediately closed her eyes, and tears +glistened on the long, dark lashes. In obedience to the caution of +her nurses, she deferred any attempt to write till the next week. She +remained very silent during the day, but they knew that her thoughts +were occupied; for they often saw tears oozing through the closed +eyelids. + +Meanwhile, her friends in New Orleans were in a state of great +anxiety. Mr. Fitzgerald had again written in a strain very similar to +his first letter, but from Rosa herself nothing had been received. + +"I don't know what to make of this," said Madame. "Rosa is not a +girl that would consent to a secondary position where her heart was +concerned." + +"You know how common it is for quadroons to accede to such double +arrangements," rejoined the Signor. + +"Of course I am well aware of that," she replied; "but they are +educated, from childhood, to accommodate themselves to their +subordinate position, as a necessity that cannot be avoided. It was +far otherwise with Rosa. Moreover, I believe there is too much of +Grandpa Gonsalez in her to submit to anything she deemed dishonorable. +I think, my friend, somebody ought to go to Savannah to inquire into +this business. If you should go, I fear you would get into a duel. +You know dear Floracita used to call you Signor Pimentero. But Mr. +Fitzgerald won't fight _me_, let me say what I will. So I think I had +better go." + +"Yes, you had better go. You're a born diplomate, which I am not," +replied the Signor. + +Arrangements were accordingly made for going in a day or two; but they +were arrested by three or four lines from Rosa, stating that she was +getting well, that she had everything for her comfort, and would write +more fully soon. But what surprised them was that she requested them +to address her as Madame Gonsalez, under cover to her mantuamaker in +Savannah, whose address was given. + +"That shows plainly enough that she and Fitzgerald have dissolved +partnership," said Madame; "but as she does not ask me to come, I will +wait for her letter of explanation." Meanwhile, however, she wrote +very affectionately in reply to the brief missive, urging Rosa to come +to New Orleans, and enclosing fifty dollars, with the statement that +an old friend of her father's had died and left a legacy for his +daughters. Madame had, as Floracita observed, a talent for arranging +the truth with variations. + +The March of the Southern spring returned, wreathed with garlands, and +its pathway strewn with flowers. She gave warm kisses to the firs and +pines as she passed, and they returned her love with fragrant sighs. +The garden at Magnolia Lawn had dressed itself with jonquils, +hyacinths, and roses, and its bower was a nest of glossy greenery, +where mocking-birds were singing their varied tunes, moving their +white tail-feathers in time to their music. Mrs. Fitzgerald, who was +not strong in health, was bent upon returning thither early in the +season, and the servants were busy preparing for her reception. Chloe +was rarely spared to go to the hidden cottage, where her attendance +upon Rosa was no longer necessary; but Tom came once a week, as he +always had done, to do whatever jobs or errands the inmates required. +One day Tulee was surprised to hear her mistress ask him whether +Mr. Fitzgerald was at the plantation; and being answered in the +affirmative, she said, "Have the goodness to tell him that Missy Rosy +would like to see him soon." + +When Mr. Fitzgerald received the message, he adjusted his necktie at +the mirror, and smiled over his self-complacent thoughts. He had hopes +that the proud beauty was beginning to relent. Having left his wife in +Savannah, there was no obstacle in the way of his obeying the summons. +As he passed over the cottage lawn, he saw that Rosa was sewing at the +window. He slackened his pace a little, with the idea that she might +come out to meet him; but when he entered the parlor, she was still +occupied with her work. She rose on his entrance, and moved a chair +toward him; and when he said, half timidly, "How do you do now, dear +Rosa?" she quietly replied, "Much better, I thank you. I have sent for +you, Mr. Fitzgerald, to ask a favor." + +"If it is anything in my power, it shall be granted," he replied. + +"It is a very easy thing for you to do," rejoined she, "and very +important to me. I want you to give me papers of manumission." + +"Are you so afraid of me?" he asked, coloring as he remembered a +certain threat he had uttered. + +"I did not intend the request as any reproach to you," answered she, +mildly; "but simply as a very urgent necessity to myself. As soon +as my health will permit, I wish to be doing something for my own +support, and, if possible, to repay you what you expended for me and +my sister." + +"Do you take me for a mean Yankee," exclaimed he indignantly, "that +you propose such an account of dollars and cents?" + +"I expressed my own wishes, not what I supposed you would require," +replied she. "But aside from that, you can surely imagine it must be +painful to have my life haunted by this dreadful spectre of slavery." + +"Rosa," said he earnestly, "do me the justice to remember that I did +not purchase you as a slave, or consider you a slave. I expended money +with all my heart to save my best-beloved from misfortune." + +"I believe those were your feelings then," she replied. "But let the +past be buried. I simply ask you now, as a gentleman who has it in his +power to confer a great favor on an unprotected woman, whether you +will manumit me." + +"Certainly I will," answered he, much discomposed by her cool business +tone. + +She rose at once, and placed the writing-desk before him. It was the +pretty little desk he had given her for a birthday present. + +He put his finger on it, and, looking up in her face, with one of his +old insinuating glances, he said, "Rosa, do you remember what we said +when I gave you this?" + +Without answering the question, she said, "Will you have the goodness +to write it now?" + +"Why in such haste?" inquired he. "I have given you my promise, and do +you suppose I have no sense of honor?" + +A retort rose to her lips, but she suppressed it. "None of us can be +sure of the future," she replied. "You know what happened when my dear +father died." Overcome by that tender memory, she covered her eyes +with her hand, and the tears stole through her fingers. + +He attempted to kiss away the tears, but she drew back, and went on to +say: "At that time I learned the bitter significance of the law, 'The +child shall follow the condition of the mother.' It was not mainly on +my own account that I sent for you, Mr. Fitzgerald. I wish to secure +my child from such a dreadful contingency as well-nigh ruined me and +my sister." She blushed, and lowered her eyes as she spoke. + +"O Rosa!" he exclaimed. The impulse was strong to fold her to his +heart; but he could not pass the barrier of her modest dignity. + +After an embarrassed pause, she looked up bashfully, and said, +"Knowing this, you surely will not refuse to write it now." + +"I must see a lawyer and obtain witnesses," he replied. + +She sighed heavily. "I don't know what forms are necessary," said she. +"But I beg of you to take such steps as will make me perfectly secure +against any accidents. And don't delay it, Mr. Fitzgerald. Will you +send the papers next week?" + +"I see you have no confidence in me," replied he, sadly. Then, +suddenly dropping on his knees beside her, he exclaimed, "O Rosa, +don't call me Mr. again. Do call me Gerald once more! Do say you +forgive me!" + +She drew back a little, but answered very gently: "I do forgive you, +and I hope your innocent little wife will never regret having loved +you; for that is a very bitter trial. I sincerely wish you may be +happy; and you may rest assured I shall not attempt to interfere +with your happiness. But I am not strong enough to talk much. Please +promise to send those papers next week." + +He made the promise, with averted head and a voice that was slightly +tremulous. + +"I thank you," she replied; "but I am much fatigued, and will bid you +good morning." She rose to leave the room, but turned back and added, +with solemn earnestness, "I think it will be a consolation on your +death-bed if you do not neglect to fulfil Rosa's last request." She +passed into the adjoining room, fastened the door, and threw herself +on the couch, utterly exhausted. How strange and spectral this meeting +seemed! She heard his retreating footsteps without the slightest +desire to obtain a last glimpse of his figure. How entirely he had +passed out of her life, he who so lately was _all_ her life! + +The next day Rosa wrote as follows to Madame and the Signor:-- + +"Dearest and best friends,--It would take days to explain to you all +that has happened since I wrote you that long, happy letter; and at +present I have not strength to write much. When we meet we will talk +about it more fully, though I wish to avoid the miserable particulars +as far as possible. The preparations I so foolishly supposed were +being made for me were for a rich Northern bride,--a pretty, +innocent-looking little creature. The marriage with me, it seems, was +counterfeit. When I discovered it, my first impulse was to fly to you. +But a strange illness came over me, and I was oblivious of everything +for four months. My good Tulee and a black woman named Chloe brought +me back to life by their patient nursing. I suppose it was wrong, but +when I remembered who and what I was, I felt sorry they didn't let +me go. I was again seized with a longing to fly to you, who were as +father and mother to me and my darling little sister in the days of +our first misfortune. But I was too weak to move, and I am still far +from being able to bear the fatigue of such a journey. Moreover, I am +fastened here for the present by another consideration. Mr. Fitzgerald +says he bought us of papa's creditors, and that I am his slave. I have +entreated him, for the sake of our unborn child, to manumit me, and he +has promised to do it. If I could only be safe in New Orleans, it is +my wish to come and live with you, and find some way to support myself +and my child. But I could have no peace, so long as there was the +remotest possibility of being claimed as slaves. Mr. Fitzgerald may +not mean that I shall ever come to harm; but he may die without +providing against it, as poor papa did. I don't know what forms are +necessary for my safety. I don't understand how it is that there is no +law to protect a defenceless woman, who has done no wrong. I will +wait here a little longer to recruit my strength and have this matter +settled. I wish it were possible for you, my dear, good mother, to +come to me for two or three weeks in June; then perhaps you could take +back with you your poor Rosa and her baby, if their lives should be +spared. But if you cannot come, there is an experienced old negress +here, called Granny Nan, who, Tulee says, will take good care of me. +I thank you for your sympathizing, loving letter. Who could papa's +friend be that left me a legacy? I was thankful for the fifty dollars, +for it is very unpleasant to me to use any of Mr. Fitzgerald's money, +though he tells Tom to supply everything I want. If it were not for +you, dear friends, I don't think I should have courage to try to live. +But something sustains me wonderfully through these dreadful trials. +Sometimes I think poor Chloe's prayers bring me help from above; for +the good soul is always praying for me. + +"Adieu. May the good God bless you both. + +"Your loving and grateful + +"ROSABELLA." + + * * * * * + +Week passed after week, and the promised papers did not come. The +weary days dragged their slow length along, unsoothed by anything +except Tulee's loving care and Madame's cheering letters. The piano +was never opened; for all tones of music were draped in mourning, and +its harmonies were a funeral march over buried love. But she enjoyed +the open air and the fragrance of the flowers. Sometimes she walked +slowly about the lawn, and sometimes Tulee set her upon Thistle's +back, and led him round and round through the bridle-paths. But out +of the woods that concealed their nest they never ventured, lest they +should meet Mrs. Fitzgerald. Tulee, who was somewhat proud on her +mistress's account, was vexed by this limitation. "I don't see why ye +should hide yerself from her," said she. "Yese as good as she is; and +ye've nothin' to be shamed of." + +"It isn't on my own account that I wish to avoid her seeing me," +replied Rosa. "But I pity the innocent young creature. She didn't know +of disturbing my happiness, and I should be sorry to disturb hers." + +As the weeks glided away without bringing any fulfilment of +Fitzgerald's promise, anxiety changed to distrust. She twice requested +Tom to ask his master for the papers he had spoken of, and received +a verbal answer that they would be sent as soon as they were ready. +There were greater obstacles in the way than she, in her inexperience, +was aware of. The laws of Georgia restrained humane impulses by +forbidding the manumission of a slave. Consequently, he must either +incur very undesirable publicity by applying to the legislature for a +special exception in this case, or she must be manumitted in another +State. He would gladly have managed a journey without the company of +his wife, if he could thereby have regained his former influence with +Rosa; but he was disinclined to take so much trouble to free her +entirely from him. When he promised to send the papers, he intended to +satisfy her with a sham certificate, as he had done with a counterfeit +marriage; but he deferred doing it, because he had a vague sense of +satisfaction in being able to tantalize the superior woman over whom +he felt that he no longer had any other power. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Madame's anxiety was much diminished after she began to receive +letters in Rosa's own handwriting; but, knowing the laws of Georgia, +and no longer doubtful concerning Fitzgerald's real character, she +placed small reliance upon his promise of manumission. "This is +another of his deceptions," said she to the Signor. "I have been +thinking a good deal about the state of things, and I am convinced +there will be no security in this country for that poor girl. You have +been saying for some time that you wanted to see your beautiful Italy +again, and I have the same feeling about my beautiful France. We each +of us have a little money laid up; and if we draw upon the fund Mr. +King has deposited, we can take Rosabella to Europe and bring her out +as a singer." + +"She would have a great career, no doubt," replied the Signor; "and I +was going to suggest such a plan to you. But you would have to change +your name again on my account, Madame; for I was obliged to leave +Italy because I was discovered to be one of the Carbonari; and though +fifteen years have elapsed, it is possible the watchful authorities +have not forgotten my name." + +"That's a trifling obstacle," resumed Madame. "You had better give +notice to your pupils at once that you intend to leave as soon as +present engagements are fulfilled. I will use up my stock for fancy +articles, and sell off as fast as possible, that we may be ready to +start for Europe as soon as Rosa has sufficient strength." + +This resolution was immediately acted upon; but the fates were +unpropitious to Madame's anticipated visit to the lonely island. A few +days before her intended departure, the Signor was taken seriously +ill, and remained so for two or three weeks. He fretted and fumed, +more on her account than his own, but she, as usual, went through the +trial bravely. She tried to compensate Rosa for the disappointment, +as far as she could, by writing frequent letters, cheerful in tone, +though prudently cautious concerning details. Fearing that Mr. +Fitzgerald's suspicions might be excited by an apparent cessation of +correspondence, she continued to write occasionally under cover to +him, in a style adapted to his views, in case he should take a fancy +to open the letters. The Signor laughed, and said, "Your talent for +diplomacy is not likely to rust for want of use, Madame." Even Rosa, +sad at heart as she was, could not help smiling sometimes at the +totally different tone of the letters which she received under +different covers. + +She had become so accustomed to passive endurance, that no murmur +escaped her when she found that her only white friend could not come +to her, as she had expected. Granny Nan boasted of having nursed many +grand white ladies, and her skill in the vocation proved equal to her +pretensions. Only her faithful Tulee and the kind old colored mammy +were with her when, hovering between life and death, she heard the cry +that announced the advent of a human soul. Nature, deranged by bodily +illness and mental trouble, provided no nourishment for the little +one; but this, which under happier circumstances would have been a +disappointment, called forth no expressions of regret from the patient +sufferer. When Tulee held the babe before her in its first dress, she +smiled faintly, but immediately closed her eyes. As she lay there, day +after day, with the helpless little creature nestling in her arms, +the one consoling reflection was that she had not given birth to a +daughter. A chaos of thoughts were revolving through her mind; the +theme of all the variations being how different it was from what it +might have been, if the ideal of her girlhood had not been shattered +so cruelly. Had it not been for that glimmering light in the future +which Madame so assiduously presented to her view, courage would have +forsaken her utterly. As it was, she often listened to the dash of the +sea with the melancholy feeling that rest might be found beneath its +waves. But she was still very young, the sky was bright, the earth was +lovely, and she had a friend who had promised to provide a safe asylum +for her somewhere. She tried to regain her strength, that she might +leave the island, with all its sad reminders of departed happiness. +Thinking of this, she rose one day and wandered into the little +parlor to take a sort of farewell look. There was the piano, so long +unopened, with a whole epic of love and sorrow in its remembered +tones; the pretty little table her mother had painted; the basket she +had received from her father after his death; Floracita's paintings +and mosses; and innumerable little tokens of Gerald's love. Walking +round slowly and feebly in presence of all those memories, how +alone she felt, with none to speak to but Tulee and the old colored +mammy,--she, who had been so tenderly cared for by her parents, so +idolized by him to whom she gave her heart! She was still gazing +pensively on these souvenirs of the past, when her attention was +arrested by Tom's voice, saying: "Dar's a picaninny at de Grat Hus. +How's turrer picaninny?" + +The thought rushed upon her, "Ah, that baby had a father to welcome it +and fondle it; but _my_ poor babe--" A sensation of faintness came over +her; and, holding on by the chairs and tables, she staggered back to +the bed she had left. + +Before the babe was a fortnight old, Tom announced that he was to +accompany his master to New Orleans, whither he had been summoned by +business. The occasion was eagerly seized by Rosa to send a letter +and some small articles to Madame and the Signor. Tulee gave him very +particular directions how to find the house, and charged him over and +over again to tell them everything. When she cautioned him not to let +his master know that he carried anything, Tom placed his thumb on the +tip of his nose, and moved the fingers significantly, saying: "Dis ere +nigger ha'n't jus' wakum'd up. Bin wake mos' ob de time sense twar +daylight." He foresaw it would be difficult to execute the commission +he had undertaken; for as a slave he of course had little control over +his own motions. He, however, promised to try; and Tulee told him she +had great confidence in his ingenuity in finding out ways and means. + +"An' I tinks a heap o' ye, Tulee. Ye knows a heap more dan mos' +niggers," was Tom's responsive compliment. In his eyes Tulee was in +fact a highly accomplished person; for though she could neither read +nor write, she had caught the manners and speech of white people, +by living almost exclusively with them, and she was, by habit, as +familiar with French as English, beside having a little smattering of +Spanish. To have his ingenuity praised by her operated as a fillip +upon his vanity, and he inwardly resolved to run the risk of a +flogging, rather than fail to do her bidding. He was also most loyal +in the service of Rosa, whose beauty and kindliness had won his heart, +before his sympathy had been called out by her misfortunes. But none +of them foresaw what important consequences would result from his +mission. + +The first day he was in New Orleans, he found no hour when he could be +absent without the liability of being called for by his master. The +next day Mr. Bruteman dined with his master, and Tom was in attendance +upon the table. Their conversation was at first about cotton crops, +the prices of negroes, and other business matters, to which Tom paid +little attention. But a few minutes afterward his ears were wide open. + +"I suppose you came prepared to pay that debt you owe me," said Mr. +Bruteman. + +"I am obliged to ask an extension of your indulgence," replied Mr. +Fitzgerald. "It is not in my power to raise that sum just now." + +"How is that possible," inquired Mr. Bruteman, "when you have married +the daughter of a Boston nabob?" + +"The close old Yankee keeps hold of most of his money while he lives," +rejoined his companion; "and Mrs. Fitzgerald has expensive tastes to +be gratified." + +"And do you expect me to wait till the old Yankee dies?" asked Mr. +Bruteman. "Gentlemen generally consider themselves bound to be prompt +in paying debts of honor." + +"I'll pay you as soon as I can. What the devil can you ask more?" +exclaimed Fitzgerald. "It seems to me it's not the part of a gentleman +to play the dun so continually." + +They had already drank pretty freely; but Mr. Bruteman took up +a bottle, and said, "Let us drink another glass to the speedy +replenishing of your purse." They poured full bumpers, touched +glasses, and drank the contents. + +There was a little pause, during which Mr. Bruteman sat twirling +his glass between thumb and finger, with looks directed toward his +companion. All at once he said, "Fitzgerald, did you ever find those +handsome octoroon girls?" + +"What octoroon girls?" inquired the other. + +"O, you disremember them, do you?" rejoined he. "I mean how did that +bargain turn out that you made with Royal's creditors? You seemed to +have small chance of finding the girls; unless, indeed, you hid them +away first, for the purpose of buying them for less than half they +would have brought to the creditors,--which, of course, is not to be +supposed, because no gentleman would do such a thing." + +Thrown off his guard by too much wine, Fitzgerald vociferated, "Do you +mean to insinuate that I am no gentleman?" + +Mr. Bruteman smiled, as he answered: "I said such a thing was not to +be supposed. But come, Fitzgerald, let us understand one another. I'd +rather, a devilish sight, have those girls than the money you owe me. +Make them over to me, and I'll cancel the debt. Otherwise, I shall be +under the necessity of laying an attachment on some of your property." + +There was a momentary silence before Mr. Fitzgerald answered, "One of +them is dead." + +"Which one?" inquired his comrade. + +"Flora, the youngest, was drowned." + +"And that queenly beauty, where is she? I don't know that I ever heard +her name." + +"Rosabella Royal," replied Fitzgerald. "She is living at a convenient +distance from my plantation." + +"Well, I will be generous," said Bruteman. "If you will make _her_ +over to me, I will cancel the debt." + +"She is not in strong health at present," rejoined Fitzgerald. "She +has a babe about two weeks old." + +"You know you have invited me to visit your island two or three +weeks hence," replied Bruteman; "and then I shall depend upon you to +introduce me to your fair Rosamond. But we will draw up the papers and +sign them now, if you please." + +Some jests unfit for repetition were uttered by the creditor, to which +the unhappy debtor made no reply. When he called Tom to bring paper +and ink, the observing servant noticed that he was very pale, though +but a few moments before his face had been flushed. + +That night, he tried to drown recollection in desperate gambling and +frequent draughts of wine. Between one and two o'clock in the morning, +his roisterous companions were led off by their servants, and he was +put into bed by Tom, where he immediately dropped into a perfectly +senseless sleep. + +As soon as there was sufficient light, Tom started for the house of +the Signor; judging that he was safe from his master for three hours +at least. Notwithstanding the earliness of the hour, Madame made her +appearance in a very few moments after her servant informed her who +was in waiting, and the Signor soon followed. In the course of the +next hour and a half an incredible amount of talking was done in negro +"lingo" and broken English. The impetuous Signor strode up and down, +clenching his fists, cursing slavery, and sending Fitzgerald to the +Devil in a volley of phrases hard enough in their significance, though +uttered in soft-flowing Italian. + +"Swearing does no good, my friend," said Madame; "besides, there isn't +time for it. Rosabella must be brought away immediately. Bruteman will +be on the alert, you may depend. She slipped through his fingers once, +and he won't trust Fitzgerald again." + +The Signor cooled down, and proposed to go for her himself. But that +was overruled, in a very kind way, by his prudent wife, who argued +that he was not well enough for such an exciting adventure, or to +be left without her nursing, when his mind would be such a prey to +uneasiness. It was her proposition to send at once for her cousin +Duroy, and have him receive very particular directions from Tom how to +reach the island and find the cottage. Tom said he didn't know whether +he could get away for an hour again, because his master was always +very angry if he was out of the way when called; but if Mr. Duroy +would come to the hotel, he would find chances to tell him what to do. +And that plan was immediately carried into effect. + +While these things were going on in New Orleans, Mrs. Fitzgerald was +taking frequent drives about the lovely island with her mother, Mrs. +Bell; while Rosa was occasionally perambulating her little circuit of +woods on the back of patient Thistle. One day Mrs. Fitzgerald and her +mother received an invitation to the Welby plantation, to meet some +Northern acquaintances who were there; and as Mrs. Fitzgerald's +strength was not yet fully restored, Mrs. Welby proposed that they +should remain all night. Chloe, who had lost her own baby, was chosen +to nurse her master's new-born heir, and was consequently tied so +closely that she could find no chance to go to the cottage, whose +inmates she had a great longing to see. But when master and mistress +were both gone, she thought she might take her freedom for a while +without incurring any great risk. The other servants agreed to keep +her secret, and Joe the coachman promised to drive her most of the +way when he came back with the carriage. Accordingly, she made her +appearance at the cottage quite unexpectedly, to the great joy of +Tulee. + +When she unwrapped the little black-haired baby from its foldings +of white muslin, Tulee exclaimed: "He looks jus' like his +good-for-nothing father; and so does Missy Rosy's baby. I'm 'fraid 't +will make poor missy feel bad to see it, for she don't know nothin' +'bout it." + +"Yes I do, Tulee," said Rosa, who had heard Chloe's voice, and gone +out to greet her. "I heard Tom tell you about it." + +She took up the little hand, scarcely bigger than a bird's claw, and +while it twined closely about her finger, she looked into its eyes, +so like to Gerald's in shape and color. She was hoping that those +handsome eyes might never be used as his had been, but she gave +no utterance to her thoughts. Her manner toward Chloe was full of +grateful kindness; and the poor bondwoman had some happy hours, +playing free for a while. She laid the infant on its face in her lap, +trotting it gently, and patting its back, while she talked over with +Tulee all the affairs at the "Grat Hus." And when the babe was asleep, +she asked and obtained Rosa's permission to lay him on her bed beside +his little brother. Then poor Chloe's soul took wing and soared aloft +among sun-lighted clouds. As she prayed, and sang her fervent hymns, +and told of her visions and revelations, she experienced satisfaction +similar to that of a troubadour, or palmer from Holy Land, with an +admiring audience listening to his wonderful adventures. + +While she was thus occupied, Tulee came in hastily to say that a +stranger gentleman was coming toward the house. Such an event in that +lonely place produced general excitement, and some consternation. Rosa +at once drew her curtain and bolted the door. But Tulee soon came +rapping gently, saying, "It's only I, Missy Rosy." As the door +partially opened, she said, "It's a friend Madame has sent ye." Rosa, +stepping forward, recognized Mr. Duroy, the cousin in whose clothes +Madame had escaped with them from New Orleans. She was very slightly +acquainted with him, but it was such a comfort to see any one who knew +of the old times that she could hardly refrain from throwing herself +on his neck and bursting into tears. As she grasped his hand with a +close pressure, he felt the thinness of her emaciated fingers. The +paleness of her cheeks, and the saddened expression of her large eyes, +excited his compassion. He was too polite to express it in words, +but it was signified by the deference of his manner and the extreme +gentleness of his tones. He talked of Madame's anxious love for her, +of the Signor's improving health, of the near completion of their plan +for going to Europe, and of their intention to take her with them. +Rosa was full of thankfulness, but said she was as yet incapable of +much exertion. Mr. Duroy went on to speak of Tom's visit to Madame; +and slowly and cautiously he prepared the way for his account of the +conversation between Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Bruteman. But careful as +he was, he noticed that her features tightened and her hands were +clenched. When he came to the interchange of writings, she sprung to +her feet, and, clutching his arm convulsively, exclaimed, "Did he +do that?" Her eyes were like a flame, and her chest heaved with the +quick-coming breath. + +He sought to draw her toward him, saying in soothing tones, "They +shall not harm you, my poor girl. Trust to me, as if I were your +father." But she burst from him impetuously, and walked up and down +rapidly; such a sudden access of strength had the body received from +the frantic soul. + +"Try not to be so much agitated," said he. "In a very short time you +will be in Europe, and then you will be perfectly safe." + +She paused an instant in her walk, and, with a strange glare in her +eyes, she hissed out, "I hate him." + +He laid his hand gently upon her shoulder, and said: "I want very much +that you should try to be calm. Some negroes are coming with a boat +at daybreak, and it is necessary we should all go away with them. You +ought to rest as much as possible beforehand." + +"_Rest_!" repeated she with bitter emphasis. And clenching her teeth +hard, she again said, "I hate him!" + +Poor Rosa! It had taken a mountain-weight of wrong so to crush out all +her gentleness. + +Mr. Duroy became somewhat alarmed. He hastened to the kitchen and +told Chloe to go directly to Miss Rosa. He then briefly explained his +errand to Tulee, and told her to prepare for departure as fast as +possible. "But first go to your mistress," said he; "for I am afraid +she may go crazy." + +The sufferer yielded more readily to Tulee's accustomed influence than +she had done to that of Mr. Duroy. She allowed herself to be laid upon +the bed; but while her forehead and temples were being bathed, her +heart beat violently, and all her pulses were throbbing. It was, +however, necessary to leave her with Chloe, who knelt by the bedside, +holding her hand, and praying in tones unusually low for her. + +"I'm feared for her," said Tulee to Mr. Duroy. "I never see Missy Rosy +look so wild and strange." + +A short time after, when she looked into the room, Rosa's eyes were +closed. She whispered to Chloe: "Poor Missy's asleep. You can come and +help me a little now." + +But Rosa was not in the least drowsy. She had only remained still, to +avoid being talked to. As soon as her attendants had withdrawn, she +opened her eyes, and, turning toward the babes, she gazed upon them +for a long time. There they lay side by side, like twin kittens. But +ah! thought she, how different is their destiny! One is born to be +cherished and waited upon all his days, the other is an outcast and +a slave. My poor fatherless babe! He wouldn't manumit us. It was not +thoughtlessness. He _meant_ to sell us. "He _meant_ to sell us," she +repeated aloud; and again the wild, hard look came into her eyes. Such +a tempest was raging in her soul, that she felt as if she could kill +him if he stood before her. This savage paroxysm of revenge was +followed by thoughts of suicide. She was about to rise, but hearing +the approach of Tulee, she closed her eyes and remained still. + +Language is powerless to describe the anguish of that lacerated soul. +At last the storm subsided, and she fell into a heavy sleep. + +Meanwhile the two black women were busy with arrangements for +the early flight. Many things had been already prepared with the +expectation of a summons to New Orleans, and not long after midnight +all was in readiness. Chloe, after a sound nap on the kitchen floor, +rose up with the first peep of light. She and Tulee hugged each other, +with farewell kisses and sobs. She knelt by Rosa's bedside to whisper +a brief prayer, and, giving her one long, lingering look, she took up +her baby, and set off for the plantation, wondering at the mysterious +ways of Providence. + +They deferred waking Rosa as long as possible, and when they roused +her, she had been so deeply sunk in slumber that she was at first +bewildered. When recollection returned, she looked at her babe. +"Where's Chloe?" she asked. + +"Gone back to the plantation," was the reply. + +"O, I am so sorry!" sighed Rosa. + +"She was feared they would miss her," rejoined Tulee. "So she went +away as soon as she could see. But she prayed for ye, Missy Rosy; and +she told me to say poor Chloe would never forget ye." + +"O, I'm _so_ sorry!" repeated Rosa, mournfully. + +She objected to taking the nourishment Tulee offered, saying she +wanted to die. But Mr. Duroy reminded her that Madame was longing to +see her, and she yielded to that plea. When Tulee brought the same +travelling-dress in which she had first come to the cottage, she +shrunk from it at first, but seemed to remember immediately that she +ought not to give unnecessary trouble to her friends. While she was +putting it on, Tulee said, "I tried to remember to put up everything +ye would want, darling." + +"I don't want _any_thing," she replied listlessly. Then, looking up +suddenly, with that same wild, hard expression, she added, "Don't let +me ever see anything that came from _him_!" She spoke so sternly, that +Tulee, for the first time in her life, was a little afraid of her. + +The eastern sky was all of a saffron glow, but the golden edge of the +sun had not yet appeared above the horizon, when they entered the boat +which was to convey them to the main-land. Without one glance toward +the beautiful island where she had enjoyed and suffered so much, the +unhappy fugitive nestled close to Tulee, and hid her face on her +shoulder, as if she had nothing else in the world to cling to. + + * * * * * + +A week later, a carriage stopped before Madame's door, and Tulee +rushed in with the baby on her shoulder, exclaiming, "_Nous voici_!" +while Mr. Duroy was helping Rosa to alight. Then such huggings and +kissings, such showers of French from Madame, and of mingled French +and Italian from the Signor, while Tulee stood by, throwing up her +hand, and exclaiming, "Bless the Lord! bless the Lord!" The parrot +listened with ear upturned, and a lump of sugar in her claw, then +overtopped all their voices with the cry of "_Bon jour, Rosabella! je +suis enchantée_." + +This produced a general laugh, and there was the faint gleam of a +smile on Rosa's face, as she looked up at the cage and said, "_Bon +jour, jolie Manon_!" But she soon sank into a chair with an expression +of weariness. + +"You are tired, darling," said Madame, as she took off her bonnet and +tenderly put back the straggling hair. "No wonder, after all you have +gone through, my poor child!" + +Rosa clasped her round the neck, and murmured, "O my dear friend, I +_am_ tired, _so_ tired!" + +Madame led her to the settee, and arranged her head comfortably on its +pillows. Then, giving her a motherly kiss, she said, "Rest, darling, +while Tulee and I look after the boxes." + +When they had all passed into another room, she threw up her hands and +exclaimed: "How she's changed! How thin and pale she is! How large her +eyes look! But she's beautiful as an angel." + +"I never see Missy Rosy but once when she wasn't beautiful as an +angel," said Tulee; "and that was the night Massa Duroy told her she +was sold to Massa Bruteman. Then she looked as if she had as many +devils as that Mary Magdalene Massa Royal used to read about o' +Sundays." + +"No wonder, poor child!" exclaimed Madame. "But I hope the little one +is some comfort to her." + +"She ha'n't taken much notice of him, or anything else, since Massa +Duroy told her that news," rejoined Tulee. + +Madame took the baby and tried to look into its face as well as the +lopping motions of its little head would permit. "I shouldn't think +she'd have much comfort in looking at it," said she; "for it's the +image of its father; but the poor little dear ain't to blame for +that." + +An animated conversation followed concerning what had happened since +Tulee went away,--especially the disappearance of Flora. Both hinted +at having entertained similar suspicions, but both had come to the +conclusion that she could not be alive, or she would have written. + +Rosa, meanwhile, left alone in the little parlor, where she had +listened so anxiously for the whistling of _Ça ira_, was scarcely +conscious of any other sensation than the luxury of repose, after +extreme fatigue of body and mind. There was, indeed, something +pleasant in the familiar surroundings. The parrot swung in the same +gilded ring in her cage. Madame's table, with its basket of chenilles, +stood in the same place, and by it was her enamelled snuffbox. Rosa +recognized a few articles that had been purchased at the auction of +her father's furniture;--his arm-chair, and the astral lamp by which +he used to sit to read his newspaper; a sewing-chair that was her +mother's; and one of Flora's embroidered slippers, hung up for a +watch-case. With these memories floating before her drowsy eyes, she +fell asleep, and slept for a long time. As her slumbers grew lighter, +dreams of father, mother, and sister passed through various changes; +the last of which was that Flora was puzzling the mocking-birds. She +waked to the consciousness that some one was whistling in the room. + +"Who is that!" exclaimed she; and the parrot replied with a tempest of +imitations. Madame, hearing the noise, came in, saying: "How stupid I +was not to cover the cage! She is _so_ noisy! Her memory is wonderful. +I don't think she'll ever forget a note of all the _mélange_ dear +Floracita took so much pains to teach her." + +She began to call up reminiscences of Flora's incessant mischief; but +finding Rosa in no mood for anything gay, she proceeded to talk over +the difficulties of her position, concluding with the remark: "To-day +and to-night you must rest, my child. But early to-morrow you and +the Signor will start for New York, whence you will take passage to +Marseilles, under the name of Signor Balbino and daughter." + +"I wish I could stay here, at least for a little while," sighed Rosa. + +"It's never wise to wish for what cannot be had," rejoined Madame. "It +would cause great trouble and expense to obtain your freedom; and it +is doubtful whether we could secure it at all, for Bruteman won't give +you up if he can avoid it. The voyage will recruit your strength, and +it will do you good to be far away from anything that reminds you +of old troubles. I have nothing left to do but to dispose of my +furniture, and settle about the lease of this house. You will wait at +Marseilles for me. I shall be uneasy till I have the sea between me +and the agents of Mr. Bruteman, and I shall hurry to follow after you +as soon as possible." + +"And Tulee and the baby?" asked Rosa. + +"Yes, with Tulee and the baby," replied Madame. "But I shall send them +to my cousin's to-morrow, to be out of the way of being seen by the +neighbors. He lives off the road, and three miles out. They'll be +nicely out of the way there." + +It was all accomplished as the energetic Frenchwoman had planned. Rosa +was whirled away, without time to think of anything. At parting, she +embraced Tulee, and looked earnestly in the baby's face, while she +stroked his shining black hair. "Good by, dear, kind Tulee," said she. +"Take good care of the little one." + +At Philadelphia, her strength broke down, and they were detained three +days. Consequently, when they arrived in New York, they found that +the Mermaid, in which they expected to take passage, had sailed. The +Signor considered it imprudent to correspond with his wife on the +subject, and concluded to go out of the city and wait for the next +vessel. When they went on board, they found Madame, and explained to +her the circumstances. + +"I am glad I didn't know of the delay," said she; "for I was +frightened enough as it was. But, luckily, I got off without anybody's +coming to make inquiries." + +"But where are Tulee and the baby? Are they down below?" asked Rosa. + +"No, dear, I didn't bring them." + +"O, how came you to leave them?" said Rosa. "Something will happen to +them." + +"I have provided well for their safety," rejoined Madame. "The reason +I did it was this. We have no certain home or prospects at present; +and I thought we had better be settled somewhere before the baby was +brought. My cousin is coming to Marseilles in about three months, +and he will bring them with him. His wife was glad to give Tulee her +board, meanwhile, for what work she could do. I really think it was +best, dear. The feeble little thing will be stronger for the voyage by +that time; and you know Tulee will take just as good care of it as if +it were her own." + +"Poor Tulee!" sighed Rosa. "Was she willing to be left?" + +"She didn't know when I came away," replied Madame. + +Rosa heaved an audible groan, as she said: "I am so sorry you did +this, Madame! If anything should happen to them, it would be a weight +on my mind as long as I live." + +"I did what I thought was for the best," answered Madame. "I was in +such a hurry to get away, on your account, that, if I hadn't all my +wits about me, I hope you will excuse me. But I think myself I made +the best arrangement." + +Rosa, perceiving a slight indication of pique in her tone, hastened to +kiss her, and call her her best and dearest friend. But in her heart +she mourned over what she considered, for the first time in her life, +a great mistake in the management of Madame. + + * * * * * + +After Tom's return from New Orleans, he continued to go to the cottage +as usual, and so long as no questions were asked, he said nothing; but +when his master inquired how they were getting on there, he answered +that Missy Rosy was better. When a fortnight had elapsed, he thought +the fugitives must be out of harm's way, and he feared Mr. Bruteman +might be coming soon to claim his purchase. Accordingly he one day +informed his master, with a great appearance of astonishment and +alarm, that the cottage was shut up, and all the inmates gone. + +Fitzgerald's first feeling was joy; for he was glad to be relieved +from the picture of Rosa's horror and despair, which had oppressed him +like the nightmare. But he foresaw that Bruteman would suspect him of +having forewarned her, though he had solemnly pledged himself not +to do so. He immediately wrote him the tidings, with expressions of +surprise and regret. The answer he received led to a duel, in which he +received a wound in the shoulder, that his wife always supposed was +occasioned by a fall from his horse. + +When Mr. Bruteman ascertained that Madame and the Signor had left +the country, he at once conjectured that the fugitive was with them. +Having heard that Mr. Duroy was a relative, he waited upon him, at his +place of business, and was informed that Rosabella Royal had sailed +for France, with his cousin, in the ship Mermaid. Not long after, it +was stated in the ship news that the Mermaid had foundered at sea, and +all on board were lost. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +While Rosabella had been passing through these dark experiences, Flora +was becoming more and more accustomed to her new situation. She +strove bravely to conceal the homesickness which she could not always +conquer; but several times, in the course of their travels, Mrs. +Delano noticed moisture gathering on her long black eyelashes when she +saw the stars and stripes floating from the mast of a vessel. Once, +when a rose was given her, she wept outright; but she soon wiped her +eyes, and apologized by saying: "I wonder whether a _Pensée-Vivace_ +makes Rosa feel as I do when I see a rose? But what an ungrateful +child I am, when I have such a dear, kind, new Mamita!" And a loving +smile again lighted up her swimming eyes,--those beautiful April eyes +of tears and sunshine, that made rainbows in the heart. + +Mrs. Delano wisely kept her occupied with a succession of teachers and +daily excursions. Having a natural genius for music and drawing, +she made rapid progress in both during a residence of six months in +England, six months in France, and three months in Switzerland. And as +Mr. and Mrs. Percival were usually with them, she picked up, in +her quick way, a good degree of culture from the daily tone of +conversation. The one drawback to the pleasure of new acquisitions was +that she could not share them with Rosa. + +One day, when she was saying this, Mrs. Delano replied: "We will go to +Italy for a short time, and then we will return to live in Boston. I +have talked the matter over a good deal with Mr. Percival, and I think +I should know how to guard against any contingency that may occur. And +as you are so anxious about your sister, I have been revolving plans +for taking you back to the island, to see whether we can ascertain +what is going on in that mysterious cottage." + +From that time there was a very perceptible increase of cheerfulness +in Flora's spirits. The romance of such an adventure hit her youthful +fancy, while the idea of getting even a sly peep at Rosa filled her +with delight. She imagined all sorts of plans to accomplish this +object, and often held discussions upon the propriety of admitting +Tulee to their confidence. + +Her vivacity redoubled when they entered Italy. She was herself +composed of the same materials of which Italy was made; and without +being aware of the spiritual relationship, she at once felt at home +there. She was charmed with the gay, impulsive people, the bright +costumes, the impassioned music, and the flowing language. The clear, +intense blue of the noonday sky, and the sun setting in a glowing sea +of amber, reminded her of her Southern home; and the fragrance of the +orange-groves was as incense waved by the memory of her childhood. +The ruins of Rome interested her less than any other features of the +landscape; for, like Bettini, she never asked who any of the ancients +were, for fear they would tell her. The play of sunshine on the +orange-colored lichens interested her more than the inscriptions they +covered; and while their guide was telling the story of mouldering +arches, she was looking through them at the clear blue sky and the +soft outline of the hills. + +One morning they rode out early to spend a whole day at Albano; and +every mile of the ride presented her with some charming novelty. The +peasants who went dancing by in picturesque costumes, and the finely +formed women walking erect with vases of water on their heads, or +drawing an even thread from their distaffs, as they went singing +along, furnished her memory with subjects for many a picture. +Sometimes her exclamations would attract the attention of a group of +dancers, who, pleased with an exuberance of spirits akin to their own, +and not unmindful of forthcoming coin, would beckon to the driver +to stop, while they repeated their dances for the amusement of the +Signorina. A succession of pleasant novelties awaited her at Albano. +Running about among the ilex-groves in search of bright mosses, she +would come suddenly in front of an elegant villa, with garlands in +stucco, and balconies gracefully draped with vines. Wandering away +from that, she would utter a little cry of joy at the unexpected sight +of some reclining marble nymph, over which a little fountain threw a +transparent veil of gossamer sparkling with diamonds. Sometimes she +stood listening to the gurgling and dripping of unseen waters; and +sometimes melodies floated from the distance, which her quick ear +caught at once, and her tuneful voice repeated like a mocking-bird. +The childlike zest with which she entered into everything, and made +herself a part of everything, amused her quiet friend, and gave her +even more pleasure than the beauties of the landscape. + +After a picnic repast, they ascended Monte Cavo, and looked down on +the deep basins of the lakes, once blazing with volcanic fire, now +full of water blue as the sky it reflected; like human souls in which +the passions have burned out, and left them calm recipients of those +divine truths in which the heavens are mirrored. As Mrs. Delano +pointed out various features in the magnificent panorama around them, +she began to tell Flora of scenes in the Aeneid with which they were +intimately connected. The young girl, who was serious for the moment, +dropped on the grass to listen, with elbows on her friend's lap, and +her upturned face supported by her hands. But the lecture was too +grave for her mercurial spirit; and she soon sprang up, exclaiming: +"O Mamita Lila, all those people were dead and buried so long ago! I +don't believe the princess that Aeneas was fighting about was half +as handsome as that dancing Contadina from Frascati, with a scarlet +bodice and a floating veil fastened among her black braids with a +silver arrow. How her eyes sparkled, and her cheeks glowed! And the +Contadino who was dancing with her, with those long streamers of red +ribbon flying round his peaked hat, he looked almost as handsome as +she did. How I wish I could see them dance the saltarello again! O +Mamita Lila, as soon as we get back to Rome, do buy a tambourine." +Inspired by the remembrance, she straightway began to hum the +monotonous tune of that grasshopper dance, imitating the hopping steps +and the quick jerks of the arms, marking the time with ever-increasing +rapidity on her left hand, as if it were a tambourine. She was so +aglow with the exercise, and so graceful in her swift motions, that +Mrs. Delano watched her with admiring smiles. But when the extempore +entertainment came to a close, she thought to herself: "It is a +hopeless undertaking to educate her after the New England pattern. One +might as well try to plough with a butterfly, as to teach her ancient +history." + +When they had wandered about a little while longer, happy as souls +newly arrived in the Elysian Fields, Mrs. Delano said: "My child, you +have already gathered mosses enough to fill the carriage, and it is +time for us to return. You know twilight passes into darkness very +quickly here." + +"Just let me gather this piece of golden lichen," pleaded she. "It +will look so pretty among the green moss, in the cross I am going to +make you for Christmas." + +When all her multifarious gleanings were gathered up, they lingered +a little to drink in the beauty of the scene before them. In the +distance was the Eternal City, girdled by hills that stood out with +wonderful distinctness in the luminous atmosphere of that brilliant +day, which threw a golden veil over all its churches, statues, and +ruins. Before they had gone far on their homeward ride, all things +passed through magical changes. The hills were seen in vapory visions, +shifting their hues with opaline glances; and over the green, billowy +surface of the broad Campagna was settling a prismatic robe of mist, +changing from rose to violet. Earth seemed to be writing, in colored +notes, with tenderest modulations, her farewell hymn to the departing +God of Light. And the visible music soon took voice in the vibration +of vesper-bells, in the midst of which they entered Rome. Flora, who +was sobered by the solemn sounds and the darkening landscape, scarcely +spoke, except to remind Mrs. Delano of the tambourine as they drove +through the crowded Corso; and when they entered their lodgings in Via +delle Quattro Fontane, she passed to her room without any of her usual +skipping and singing. When they met again at supper her friend said: +"Why so serious? Is my little one tired?" + +"I have been thinking, Mamita, that something is going to happen to +me," she replied; "for always when I am very merry something happens." + +"I should think something would happen very often then," rejoined Mrs. +Delano with a smile, to which she responded with her ready little +laugh. "Several visitors called while we were gone," said Mrs. Delano. +"Our rich Boston friend, Mr. Green, has left his card. He follows us +very diligently." She looked at Flora as she spoke; but though the +light from a tall lamp fell directly on her face, she saw no emotion, +either of pleasure or embarrassment. + +She merely looked up with a smile, as she remarked: "He always seems +to be going round very leisurely in search of something to entertain +him. I wonder whether he has found it yet." + +Though she was really tired with the exertions of the day, the sight +of the new tambourine, after supper, proved too tempting; and she was +soon practising the saltarello again, with an agility almost equal to +that of the nimble Contadina from whom she had learned it. She was +whirling round more and more swiftly, as if fatigue were a thing +impossible to her, when Mr. Green was announced; and a very stylishly +dressed gentleman, with glossy shirt-bosom and diamond studs, entered +the room. She had had scarcely time to seat herself, and her face was +still flushed with exercise, while her dimples were revealed by a sort +of shy smile at the consciousness of having been so nearly caught +in her rompish play by such an exquisite. The glowing cheek and the +dimpling smile were a new revelation to Mr. Green; for he had never +interested her sufficiently to call out the vivacity which rendered +her so charming. + +Mrs. Delano noticed his glance of admiration, and the thought +occurred, as it had often done before, what an embarrassing dilemma +she would be in, if he should propose marriage to her _protégée_. + +"I called this morning," said he, "and found you had gone to Albano. I +was tempted to follow, but thought it likely I should miss you. It is +a charming drive." + +"Everything is charming here, I think," rejoined Flora. + +"Ah, it is the first time you have seen Rome," said he. "I envy you +the freshness of your sensations. This is the third time I have been +here, and of course it palls a little upon me." + +"Why don't you go to some new place then?" inquired Flora. + +"Where _is_ there any new place?" responded he languidly. "To be sure, +there is Arabia Petraea, but the accommodations are not good. Besides, +Rome has attractions for me at present; and I really think I meet more +acquaintances here than I should at home. Rome is beginning to swarm +with Americans, especially with Southerners. One can usually recognize +them at a glance by their unmistakable air of distinction. They are +obviously of porcelain clay, as Willis says." + +"I think our New England Mr. Percival is as polished a gentleman as +any. I have seen," observed Mrs. Delano. + +"He is a gentleman in manners and attainments, I admit," replied Mr. +Green; "but with his family and education, what a pity it is he has so +disgraced himself." + +"Pray what has he done?" inquired the lady. + +"Didn't you know he was an Abolitionist?" rejoined Mr. Green. "It is a +fact that he has actually spoken at their meetings. I was surprised +to see him travelling with you in England. It must be peculiarly +irritating to the South to see a man of his position siding with those +vulgar agitators. Really, unless something effectual can be done to +stop that frenzy, I fear Southern gentlemen will be unable to recover +a fugitive slave." + +Flora looked at Mrs. Delano with a furtive, sideway glance, and a +half-smile on her lips. Her impulse was to jump up, dot one of her +quick courtesies, and say: "I am a fugitive slave. Please, sir, don't +give _me_ up to any of those distinguished gentlemen." + +Mr. Green noticed her glance, and mistook it for distaste of his +theme. "Pardon me, ladies," said he, "for introducing a subject +tabooed in polite society. I called for a very different purpose. One +novelty remains for me in Rome. I have never seen the statues of the +Vatican by torchlight. Some Americans are forming a party for that +purpose to-morrow evening, and if you would like to join them, it will +give me great pleasure to be your escort." + +Flora, being appealed to, expressed acquiescence, and Mrs. Delano +replied: "We will accept your invitation with pleasure. I have a great +predilection for sculpture." + +"Finding myself so fortunate in one request encourages me to make +another," rejoined Mr. Green. "On the evening following Norma is to +be brought out, with a new _prima donna_, from whom great things are +expected. I should be much gratified if you would allow me to procure +tickets and attend upon you." + +Flora's face lighted up at once. "I see what my musical daughter +wishes," said Mrs. Delano. "We will therefore lay ourselves under +obligations to you for two evenings' entertainment." + +The gentleman, having expressed his thanks, bade them good evening. + +Flora woke up the next morning full of pleasant anticipations. When +Mrs. Delano looked in upon her, she found her already dressed, and +busy with a sketch of the dancing couple from Frascati. "I cannot make +them so much alive as I wish," said she, "because they are not +in motion. No picture can give the gleamings of the arrow or the +whirlings of the veil. I wish we could dress like Italians. How I +should like to wear a scarlet bodice, and a veil fastened with a +silver arrow." + +"If we remained till Carnival, you might have that pleasure," replied +Mrs. Delano; "for everybody masquerades as they like at that time. But +I imagine you would hardly fancy my appearance in scarlet jacket, with +laced sleeves, big coral necklace, and long ear-rings, like that old +Contadina we met riding on a donkey." + +Flora laughed. "To think of Mamita Lila in such costume!" exclaimed +she. "The old Contadina would make a charming picture; but a picture +of the Campagna, sleepy with purple haze, would be more like you." + +"Am I then so sleepy?" inquired her friend. + +"O, no, not sleepy. You know I don't mean that. But so quiet; and +always with some sort of violet or lilac cloud for a dress. But here +comes Carlina to call us to breakfast," said she, as she laid down her +crayon, and drummed the saltarello on her picture while she paused a +moment to look at it. + +As Mrs. Delano wished to write letters, and Flora expected a teacher +in drawing, it was decided that they should remain at home until +the hour arrived for visiting the Vatican. "We have been about +sight-seeing so much," said Mrs. Delano, "that I think it will be +pleasant to have a quiet day." Flora assented; but as Mrs. Delano +wrote, she could not help smiling at her ideas of quietude. Sometimes +rapid thumps on the tambourine might be heard, indicating that the +saltarello was again in rehearsal. If a _piffero_ strolled through the +street, the monotonous drone of his bagpipe was reproduced in most +comical imitation; and anon there was a gush of bird-songs, as if a +whole aviary were in the vicinity. Indeed, no half-hour passed without +audible indication that the little recluse was in merry mood. + +At the appointed time Mr. Green came to conduct them to the Vatican. +They ascended the wide slopes, and passed through open courts into +long passages lined with statues, and very dimly lighted with +occasional lamps. Here and there a marble figure was half revealed, +and looked so spectral in the gloaming that they felt as if they were +entering the world of spirits. Several members of the party preceded +them, and all seemed to feel the hushing influence, for they passed +on in silence, and stepped softly as they entered the great Palace +of Art. The torch-bearers were soon in readiness to illuminate the +statues, which they did by holding a covered light over each, making +it stand out alone in the surrounding darkness, with very striking +effects of light and shadow. Flora, who was crouched on a low seat by +the side of Mrs. Delano, gazed with a reverent, half-afraid feeling +on the thoughtful, majestic looking Minerva Medica. When the graceful +vision of Venus Anadyomene was revealed, she pressed her friend's +hand, and the pressure was returned. But when the light was held over +a beautiful Cupid, the face looked out from the gloom with such +an earnest, childlike expression, that she forgot the presence of +strangers, and impulsively exclaimed, "O Mamita, how lovely!" + +A gentleman some little distance in front of them turned toward +them suddenly, at the sound of her voice; and a movement of the +torch-bearer threw the light full upon him for an instant. Flora hid +her face in the lap of Mrs. Delano, who attributed the quick action +to her shame at having spoken so audibly. But placing her hand +caressingly on her shoulder, she felt that she was trembling +violently. She stooped toward her, and softly inquired, "What is the +matter, dear?" + +Flora seized her head with both hands, and, drawing it closer, +whispered: "Take me home, Mamita! Do take me right home!" + +Wondering what sudden caprice had seized the emotional child, she +said, "Why, are you ill, dear?" + +Flora whispered close into her ear: "No, Mamita. But Mr. Fitzgerald is +here." + +Mrs. Delano rose very quietly, and, approaching Mr. Green, said: "My +daughter is not well, and we wish to leave. But I beg you will return +as soon as you have conducted us to the carriage." + +But though he was assured by both the ladies that nothing alarming was +the matter, when they arrived at their lodgings he descended from the +driver's seat to assist them in alighting. Mrs. Delano, with polite +regrets at having thus disturbed his pleasure, thanked him, and bade +him good evening. She hurried after Flora, whom she found in her room, +weeping bitterly. "Control your feelings, my child," said she. "You +are perfectly safe here in Italy." + +"But if he saw me, it will make it so very unpleasant for you, +Mamita." + +"He couldn't see you; for we were sitting in very deep shadow," +replied Mrs. Delano. "But even if he had seen you, I should know how +to protect you." + +"But what I am thinking of," said Floracita, still weeping, "is that +he may have brought Rosa with him, and I can't run to her this very +minute. I _must_ see her! I _will_ see her! If I have to tell ever so +many _fibititas_ about the reason of my running away." + +"I wouldn't prepare any _fibititas_ at present," rejoined Mrs. Delano. +"I always prefer the truth. I will send for Mr. Percival, and ask +him to ascertain whether Mr. Fitzgerald brought a lady with him. +Meanwhile, you had better lie down, and keep as quiet as you can. As +soon as I obtain any information, I will come and tell you." + +When Mr. Percival was informed of the adventure at the Vatican, he +sallied forth to examine the lists of arrivals; and before long +he returned with the statement that Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald were +registered among the newcomers. "Flora would, of course, consider that +conclusive," said he; "but you and I, who have doubts concerning that +clandestine marriage, will deem it prudent to examine further." + +"If it should prove to be her sister, it will be a very embarrassing +affair," rejoined Mrs. Delano. + +Mr. Percival thought it very unlikely, but said he would ascertain +particulars to-morrow. + +With that general promise, without a knowledge of the fact already +discovered, Flora retired to rest; but it was nearly morning before +she slept. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Though Flora had been so wakeful the preceding night, she tapped at +Mrs. Delano's door very early the next morning. "Excuse me for coming +before you were dressed," said she; "but I wanted to ask you how long +you think it will be before Mr. Percival can find out whether Mr. +Fitzgerald has brought Rosa with him." + +"Probably not before noon," replied Mrs. Delano, drawing the anxious +little face toward her, and imprinting on it her morning kiss. "Last +evening I wrote a note to Mr. Green, requesting him to dispose of the +opera tickets to other friends. Mr. Fitzgerald is so musical, he will +of course be there; and whether your sister is with him or not, you +will be in too nervous a state to go to any public place. You had +better stay in your room, and busy yourself with books and drawings, +till we can ascertain the state of things. I will sit with you as +much as I can; and when I am absent you must try to be a good, quiet +child." + +"I will try to be good, because I don't want to trouble you, Mamita +Lila; but you know I can't be quiet in my mind. I did long for the +opera; but unless Mr. Fitzgerald brought Rosa with him, and I could +see her before I went, it would almost kill me to hear Norma; for +every part of it is associated with her." + +After breakfast, Mrs. Delano sat some time in Flora's room, inspecting +her recent drawings, and advising her to work upon them during the +day, as the best method of restraining restlessness. While they were +thus occupied, Carlina brought in a beautiful bouquet for Miss Delano, +accompanied with a note for the elder lady, expressing Mr. Green's +great regret at being deprived of the pleasure of their company for +the evening. + +"I am sorry I missed seeing him," thought Mrs. Delano; "for he is +always so intimate with Southerners, I dare say he would know all +about Mr. Fitzgerald; though I should have been at a loss how to +introduce the inquiry." + +Not long afterward Mr. Percival called, and had what seemed to Flora +a very long private conference with Mrs. Delano. The information he +brought was, that the lady with Mr. Fitzgerald was a small, slight +figure, with yellowish hair and very delicate complexion. + +"That is in all respects the very opposite of Flora's description of +her sister," rejoined Mrs. Delano. + +Their brief conversation on the subject was concluded by a request +that Mr. Percival would inquire at Civita Vecchia for the earliest +vessels bound either to France or England. + +Mrs. Delano could not at once summon sufficient resolution to recount +all the particulars to Flora; to whom she merely said that she +considered it certain that her sister was not with Mr. Fitzgerald. + +"Then why can't I go right off to the United States to-day?" exclaimed +the impetuous little damsel. + +"Would you then leave Mamita Lila so suddenly?" inquired her friend; +whereupon the emotional child began to weep and protest. This little +scene was interrupted by Carlina with two visiting-cards on a silver +salver. Mrs. Delano's face flushed unusually as she glanced at them. +She immediately rose to go, saying to Flora: "I must see these people; +but I will come back to you as soon as I can. Don't leave your room, +my dear." + +In the parlor, she found a gentleman and lady, both handsome, but +as different from each other as night and morning. The lady stepped +forward and said: "I think you will recollect me; for we lived in the +same street in Boston, and you and my mother used to visit together." + +"Miss Lily Bell," rejoined Mrs. Delano, offering her hand. "I had not +heard you were on this side the Atlantic." + +"Not Miss Bell now, but Mrs. Fitzgerald," replied the fair little +lady. "Allow me to introduce you to Mr. Fitzgerald." + +Mrs. Delano bowed, rather coldly; and her visitor continued: "I was so +sorry I didn't know you were with the Vatican party last night. Mr. +Green told us of it this morning, and said you were obliged to leave +early, on account of the indisposition of Miss Delano. I hope she has +recovered, for Mr. Green has told me so much about her that I am dying +with curiosity to see her." + +"She is better, I thank you, but not well enough to see company," +replied Mrs. Delano. + +"What a pity she will be obliged to relinquish the opera to-night!" +observed Mr. Fitzgerald. "I hear she is very musical; and they tell +wonderful stories about this new _prima donna_. They say she has two +more notes in the altissimo scale than any singer who has been heard +here, and that her sostenuto is absolutely marvellous." + +Mrs. Delano replied politely, expressing regret that she and her +daughter were deprived of the pleasure of hearing such a musical +genius. After some desultory chat concerning the various sights in +Rome, the visitors departed. + +"I'm glad your call was short," said Mr. Fitzgerald. "That lady is a +perfect specimen of Boston ice." + +Whereupon his companion began to rally him for want of gallantry in +saying anything disparaging of Boston. + +Meanwhile Mrs. Delano was pacing the parlor in a disturbed state +of mind. Though she had foreseen such a contingency as one of the +possible consequences of adopting Flora, yet when it came so suddenly +in a different place, and under different circumstances from any she +had thought of, the effect was somewhat bewildering. She dreaded the +agitation into which the news would throw Flora, and she wanted to +mature her own future plans before she made the announcement. So, in +answer to Flora's questions about the visitors, she merely said a lady +from Boston, the daughter of one of her old acquaintances, had called +to introduce her husband. After dinner, they spent some time reading +Tasso's Aminta together; and then Mrs. Delano said: "I wish to go and +have a talk with Mr. and Mrs. Percival. I have asked him to inquire +about vessels at Civita Vecchia; for, under present circumstances, I +presume you would be glad to set out sooner than we intended on that +romantic expedition in search of your sister." + +"O, thank you! thank you!" exclaimed Flora, jumping up and kissing +her. + +"I trust you will not go out, or sing, or show yourself at the windows +while I am gone," said Mrs. Delano; "for though Mr. Fitzgerald can do +you no possible harm, it would be more agreeable to slip away without +his seeing you." + +The promise was readily and earnestly given, and she proceeded to the +lodgings of Mr. and Mrs. Percival in the next street. After she had +related the experiences of the morning, she asked what they supposed +had become of Rosabella. + +"It is to be hoped she does not continue her relation with that base +man if she knows of his marriage," said Mrs. Percival; "for that would +involve a moral degradation painful for you to think of in Flora's +sister." + +"If she has ceased to interest his fancy, very likely he may have sold +her," said Mr. Percival; "for a man who could entertain the idea of +selling Flora, I think would sell his own Northern wife, if the law +permitted it and circumstances tempted him to it." + +"What do you think I ought to do in the premises?" inquired Mrs. +Delano. + +"I would hardly presume to say what you ought to do," rejoined Mrs. +Percival; "but I know what I should do, if I were as rich as you, and +as strongly attached to Flora." + +"Let me hear what you would do," said Mrs. Delano. + +The prompt reply was: "I would go in search of her. And if she was +sold, I would buy her and bring her home, and be a mother to her." + +"Thank you," said Mrs. Delano, warmly pressing her hand. "I thought +you would advise what was kindest and noblest. Money really seems +to me of very little value, except as a means of promoting human +happiness. And in this case I might perhaps prevent moral degradation, +growing out of misfortune and despair." + +After some conversation concerning vessels that were about to sail, +the friends parted. On her way homeward, she wondered within herself +whether they had any suspicion of the secret tie that bound her so +closely to these unfortunate girls. "I ought to do the same for them +without that motive," thought she; "but should I?" + +Though her call had not been very long, it seemed so to Flora, who +had latterly been little accustomed to solitude. She had no heart +for books or drawing. She sat listlessly watching the crowd on Monte +Pincio;--children chasing each other, or toddling about with nurses +in bright-red jackets; carriages going round and round, ever and anon +bringing into the sunshine gleams of gay Roman scarfs, or bright +autumnal ribbons fluttering in the breeze. She had enjoyed few things +more than joining that fashionable promenade to overlook the city in +the changing glories of sunset. But now she cared not for it. Her +thoughts were far away on the lonely island. As sunset quickly faded +into twilight, carriages and pedestrians wound their way down the +hill. The noble trees on its summit became solemn silhouettes against +the darkening sky, and the monotonous trickling of the fountain in the +court below sounded more distinct as the street noises subsided. She +was growing a little anxious, when she heard soft footfalls on the +stairs, which she at once recognized and hastened to meet. "O, you +have been gone so long!" she exclaimed. Happy, as all human beings +are, to have another heart so dependent on them, the gratified lady +passed her arm round the waist of the loving child, and they ascended +to their rooms like two confidential school-girls. + +After tea, Mrs. Delano said, "Now I will keep my promise of telling +you all I have discovered." Flora ran to an ottoman by her side, and, +leaning on her lap, looked up eagerly into her face. "You must try +not to be excitable, my dear," said her friend; "for I have some +unpleasant news to tell you." + +The expressive eyes, that were gazing wistfully into hers while she +spoke, at once assumed that startled, melancholy look, strangely in +contrast with their laughing shape. Her friend was so much affected by +it that she hardly knew how to proceed with her painful task. At last +Flora murmured, "Is she dead?" + +"I have heard no such tidings, darling," she replied. "But Mr. +Fitzgerald has married a Boston lady, and they were the visitors who +came here this morning." + +Flora sprung up and pressed her hand on her heart, as if a sharp arrow +had hit her. But she immediately sank on the ottoman again, and said +in tones of suppressed agitation: "Then he has left poor Rosa. How +miserable she must be! She loved him so! O, how wrong it was for me +to run away and leave her! And only to think how I have been enjoying +myself, when she was there all alone, with her heart breaking! Can't +we go to-morrow to look for her, dear Mamita?" + +"In three days a vessel will sail for Marseilles," replied Mrs. +Delano. "Our passage is taken; and Mr. and Mrs. Percival, who intended +to return home soon, are kind enough to say they will go with us. I +wish they could accompany us to the South; but he is so well known +as an Abolitionist that his presence would probably cause unpleasant +interruptions and delays, and perhaps endanger his life." + +Flora seized her hand and kissed it, while tears were dropping fast +upon it. And at every turn of the conversation, she kept repeating, +"How wrong it was for me to run away and leave her!" + +"No, my child," replied Mrs. Delano, "you did right in coming to me. +If you had stayed there, you would have made both her and yourself +miserable, beside doing what was very wrong. I met Mr. Fitzgerald once +on horseback, while I was visiting at Mr. Welby's plantation; but I +never fairly saw him until to-day. He is so very handsome, that, when +I looked at him, I could not but think it rather remarkable he did not +gain a bad power over you by his insinuating flattery, when you were +so very young and inexperienced." + +The guileless little damsel looked up with an expression of surprise, +and said: "How _could_ I bear to have him make love to _me_, when he +was Rosa's husband? He is so handsome and fascinating, that, if he had +loved me instead of Rosa, in the beginning, I dare say I should have +been as much in love with him as she was. I did dearly love him while +he was a kind brother; but I couldn't love him _so_. It would have +killed Rosa if I had. Besides, he told falsehoods; and papa taught us +to consider that as the meanest of faults. I have heard him tell Rosa +he never loved anybody but her, when an hour before he had told me he +loved me better than Rosa. What could I do but despise such a man? +Then, when he threatened to sell me, I became dreadfully afraid of +him." She started up, as if struck by a sudden thought, and exclaimed +wildly, "What if he has sold Rosa?" + +Her friend brought forward every argument and every promise she could +think of to pacify her; and when she had become quite calm, they sang +a few hymns together, and before retiring to rest knelt down side by +side and prayed for strength and guidance in these new troubles. + +Flora remained a long time wakeful, thinking of Rosa deserted and +alone. She had formed many projects concerning what was to be seen +and heard and done in Rome; but she forgot them all. She did not even +think of the much-anticipated opera, until she heard from the street +snatches of Norma, whistled or sung by the dispersing audience. A +tenor voice passed the house singing, _Vieni_ _in Roma_. "Ah," thought +she, "Gerald and I used to sing that duet together. And in those +latter days how languishingly he used to look at me, behind her back, +while he sang passionately, '_Ah, deh cedi, cedi a me_!' And poor +cheated Rosa would say, 'Dear Gerald, how much heart you put into your +voice!' O shame, shame! What _could_ I do but run away? Poor Rosa! How +I wish I could hear her sing 'Casta Diva,' as she used to do when we +sat gazing at the moon shedding its soft light over the pines in that +beautiful lonely island." + +And so, tossed for a long while on a sea of memories, she finally +drifted into dream-land. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +While Flora was listlessly gazing at Monte Pincio from the solitude of +her room in the Via delle Quattro Fontane, Rosabella was looking at +the same object, seen at a greater distance, over intervening houses, +from her high lodgings in the Corso. She could see the road winding +like a ribbon round the hill, with a medley of bright colors +continually moving over it. But she was absorbed in revery, and they +floated round and round before her mental eye, like the revolving +shadows of a magic lantern. + +She was announced to sing that night, as the new Spanish _prima +donna_, La Señorita Rosita Campaneo; and though she had been applauded +by manager and musicians at the rehearsal that morning, her spirit +shrank from the task. Recent letters from America had caused deep +melancholy; and the idea of singing, not _con amore_, but as a +performer before an audience of entire strangers, filled her with +dismay. She remembered how many times she and Flora and Gerald had +sung together from Norma; and an oppressive feeling of loneliness came +over her. Returning from rehearsal, a few hours before, she had seen +a young Italian girl, who strongly reminded her of her lost sister. +"Ah!" thought she, "if Flora and I had gone out into the world +together, to make our own way, as Madame first intended, how much +sorrow and suffering I might have been spared!" She went to the piano, +where the familiar music of Norma lay open before her, and from the +depths of her saddened soul gushed forth, "_Ah, bello a me Ritorno_." +The last tone passed sighingly away, and as her hands lingered on the +keys, she murmured, "Will my heart pass into it there, before that +crowd of strange faces, as it does here?" + +"To be sure it will, dear," responded Madame, who had entered softly +and stood listening to the last strains. + +"Ah, if all would hear with _your_ partial ears!" replied Rosabella, +with a glimmering smile. "But they will not. And I may be so +frightened that I shall lose my voice." + +"What have you to be afraid of, darling?" rejoined Madame. "It was +more trying to sing at private parties of accomplished musicians, as +you did in Paris; and especially at the palace, where there was such +an _élite_ company. Yet you know that Queen Amelia was so much pleased +with your performance of airs from this same opera, that she sent you +the beautiful enamelled wreath you are to wear to-night." + +"What I was singing when you came in wept itself out of the fulness of +my heart," responded Rosabella. "This dreadful news of Tulee and the +baby unfits me for anything. Do you think there is no hope it may +prove untrue?" + +"You know the letter explicitly states that my cousin and his wife, +the negro woman, and the white baby, all died of yellow-fever," +replied Madame. "But don't reproach me for leaving them, darling. I +feel badly enough about it, already. I thought it would be healthy so +far out of the city; and it really seemed the best thing to do with +the poor little _bambino_, until we could get established somewhere." + +"I did not intend to reproach you, my kind friend," answered Rosa. "I +know you meant it all for the best. But I had a heavy presentiment of +evil when you first told me they were left. This news makes it hard +for me to keep up my heart for the efforts of the evening. You know I +was induced to enter upon this operatic career mainly by the hope of +educating that poor child, and providing well for the old age of +you and Papa Balbino, as I have learned to call my good friend, the +Signor. And poor Tulee, too,--how much I intended to do for her! No +mortal can ever know what she was to me in the darkest hours of my +life." + +"Well, poor Tulee's troubles are all over," rejoined Madame, with a +sigh; "and _bambinos_ escape a great deal of suffering by going out of +this wicked world. For, between you and I, dear, I don't believe one +word about the innocent little souls staying in purgatory on account +of not being baptized." + +"O, my friend, if you only _knew_!" exclaimed Rosa, in a wild, +despairing tone. But she instantly checked herself, and said: "I will +try not to think of it; for if I do, I shall spoil my voice; and Papa +Balbino would be dreadfully mortified if I failed, after he had taken +so much pains to have me brought out." + +"That is right, darling," rejoined Madame, patting her on the +shoulder. "I will go away, and leave you to rehearse." + +Again and again Rosa sang the familiar airs, trying to put soul into +them, by imagining how she would feel if she were in Norma's position. +Some of the emotions she knew by her own experience, and those she +sang with her deepest feeling. + +"If I could only keep the same visions before me that I have here +alone, I should sing well to-night," she said to herself; "for now, +when I sing 'Casta Diva,' I seem to be sitting with my arm round dear +little Flora, watching the moon as it rises above the dark pines on +that lonely island." + +At last the dreaded hour came. Rosa appeared on the stage with her +train of priestesses. The orchestra and the audience were before her; +and she knew that Papa and Mamma Balbino were watching her from the +side with anxious hearts. She was very pale, and her first notes were +a little tremulous. But her voice soon became clear and strong; and +when she fixed her eyes on the moon, and sang "Casta Diva," the +fulness and richness of the tones took everybody by surprise. + +"_Bis! Bis_!" cried the audience; and the chorus was not allowed to +proceed till she had sung it a second and third time. She courtesied +her acknowledgments gracefully. But as she retired, ghosts of the past +went with her; and with her heart full of memories, she seemed to weep +in music, while she sang in Italian, "Restore to mine affliction one +smile of love's protection." Again the audience shouted, "_Bis! Bis_!" + +The duet with Adalgisa was more difficult; for she had not yet learned +to be an actress, and she was embarrassed by the consciousness of +being an object of jealousy to the _seconda donna_, partly because +she was _prima_, and partly because the tenor preferred her. But when +Adalgisa sang in Italian the words, "Behold him!" she chanced to +raise her eyes to a box near the stage, and saw the faces of Gerald +Fitzgerald and his wife bending eagerly toward her. She shuddered, and +for an instant her voice failed her. The audience were breathless. Her +look, her attitude, her silence, her tremor, all seemed inimitable +acting. A glance at the foot-lights and at the orchestra recalled the +recollection of where she was, and by a strong effort she controlled +herself; though there was still an agitation in her voice, which the +audience and the singers thought to be the perfection of acting. Again +she glanced at Fitzgerald, and there was terrible power in the tones +with which she uttered, in Italian, "Tremble, perfidious one! Thou +knowest the cause is ample." + +Her eyes rested for a moment on Mrs. Fitzgerald, and with a wonderful +depth of pitying sadness, she sang, "O, how his art deceived thee!" + +The wish she had formed was realized. She was enabled to give voice to +her own emotions, forgetful of the audience for the time being. And +even in subsequent scenes, when the recollection of being a performer +returned upon her, her inward excitation seemed to float her onward, +like a great wave. + +Once again her own feelings took her up, like a tornado, and made her +seem a wonderful actress. In the scene where Norma is tempted to kill +her children, she fixed her indignant gaze full upon Fitzgerald, and +there was an indescribable expression of stern resolution in her +voice, and of pride in the carriage of her queenly head, while she +sang: "Disgrace worse than death awaits them. Slavery? No! never!" + +Fitzgerald quailed before it. He grew pale, and slunk back in the +box. The audience had never seen the part so conceived, and a few +criticised it. But her beauty and her voice and her overflowing +feeling carried all before her; and this, also, was accepted as a +remarkable inspiration of theatrical genius. + +When the wave of her own excitement was subsiding, the magnetism of an +admiring audience began to affect her strongly. With an outburst of +fury, she sang, "War! War!" The audience cried, "_Bis! Bis_!" and she +sang it as powerfully the second time. + +What it was that had sustained and carried her through that terrible +ordeal, she could never understand. + +When the curtain dropped, Fitzgerald was about to rush after her; but +his wife caught his arm, and he was obliged to follow. It was an awful +penance he underwent, submitting to this necessary restraint; and +while his soul was seething like a boiling caldron, he was obliged to +answer evasively to Lily's frequent declaration that the superb voice +of this Spanish _prima donna_ was exactly like the wonderful voice +that went wandering round the plantation, like a restless ghost. + +Papa and Mamma Balbino were waiting to receive the triumphant +_cantatrice_, as she left the stage. "_Brava! Brava_!" shouted the +Signor, in a great fever of excitement; but seeing how pale she +looked, he pressed her hand in silence, while Madame wrapped her in +shawls. They lifted her into the carriage as quickly as possible, +where her head drooped almost fainting on Madame's shoulder. It +required them both to support her unsteady steps, as they mounted the +stairs to their lofty lodging. She told them nothing that night of +having seen Fitzgerald; and, refusing all refreshment save a sip of +wine, she sank on the bed utterly exhausted. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +She slept late the next day, and woke with a feeling of utter +weariness of body and prostration of spirit. When her dressing-maid +Giovanna came at her summons, she informed her that a gentleman had +twice called to see her, but left no name or card. "Let no one be +admitted to-day but the manager of the opera," said Rosa. "I will +dress now; and if Mamma Balbino is at leisure, I should like to have +her come and talk with me while I breakfast." + +"Madame has gone out to make some purchases," replied Giovanna. "She +said she should return soon, and charged me to keep everything quiet, +that you might sleep. The Signor is in his room waiting to speak to +you." + +"Please tell him I have waked," said Rosa; "and as soon as I have +dressed and breakfasted, ask him to come to me." + +Giovanna, who had been at the opera the preceding evening, felt the +importance of her mission in dressing the celebrated Señorita Rosita +Campaneo, of whose beauty and gracefulness everybody was talking. And +when the process was completed, the _cantatrice_ might well have been +excused if she had thought herself the handsomest of women. The glossy +dark hair rippled over her forehead in soft waves, and the massive +braids behind were intertwisted with a narrow band of crimson velvet, +that glowed like rubies where the sunlight fell upon it. Her morning +wrapper of fine crimson merino, embroidered with gold-colored silk, +was singularly becoming to her complexion, softened as the contact was +by a white lace collar fastened at the throat with a golden pin. But +though she was seated before the mirror, and though her own Spanish +taste had chosen the strong contrast of bright colors, she took no +notice of the effect produced. Her face was turned toward the +window, and as she gazed on the morning sky, all unconscious of its +translucent brilliancy of blue, there was an inward-looking expression +in her luminous eyes that would have made the fortune of an artist, if +he could have reproduced her as a Sibyl. Giovanna looked at her with +surprise, that a lady could be so handsome and so beautifully dressed, +yet not seem to care for it. She lingered a moment contemplating the +superb head with an exultant look, as if it were a picture of her +own painting, and then she went out noiselessly to bring the +breakfast-tray. + +The Señorita Campaneo ate with a keener appetite than she had ever +experienced as Rosabella the recluse; for the forces of nature, +exhausted by the exertions of the preceding evening, demanded +renovation. But the services of the cook were as little appreciated as +those of the dressing-maid; the luxurious breakfast was to her simply +food. The mirror was at her side, and Giovanna watched curiously to +see whether she would admire the effect of the crimson velvet gleaming +among her dark hair. But she never once glanced in that direction. +When she had eaten sufficiently, she sat twirling her spoon and +looking into the depths of her cup, as if it were a magic mirror +revealing all the future. + +She was just about to say, "Now you may call Papa Balbino," when +Giovanna gave a sudden start, and exclaimed, "Signorita! a gentleman!" + +And ere she had time to look round, Fitzgerald was kneeling at her +feet. He seized her hand and kissed it passionately, saying, in an +agony of entreaty: "O Rosabella, do say you forgive me! I am suffering +the tortures of the damned." + +The irruption was so sudden and unexpected, that for an instant she +failed to realize it. But her presence of mind quickly returned, and, +forcibly withdrawing the hand to which he clung, she turned to the +astonished waiting-maid and said quite calmly, "Please deliver +_immediately_ the message I spoke of." + +Giovanna left the room and proceeded directly to the adjoining +apartment, where Signor Balbino was engaged in earnest conversation +with another gentleman. + +Fitzgerald remained kneeling, still pleading vehemently for +forgiveness. + +"Mr. Fitzgerald," said she, "this audacity is incredible. I could not +have imagined it possible you would presume ever again to come into my +presence, after having sold me to that infamous man." + +"He took advantage of me, Rosa. I was intoxicated with wine, and knew +not what I did. I could not have done it if I had been in my senses. +I have always loved you as I never loved any other woman; and I never +loved you so wildly as now." + +"Leave me!" she exclaimed imperiously. "Your being here does me +injury. If you have any manhood in you, leave me!" + +He strove to clutch the folds of her robe, and in frenzied tones cried +out: "O Rosabella, don't drive me from you! I can't live without--" + +A voice like a pistol-shot broke in upon his sentence: "Villain! +Deceiver! What are you doing here? Out of the house this instant!" + +Fitzgerald sprung to his feet, pale with rage, and encountered the +flashing eyes of the Signor. "What right have _you_ to order me out of +the house?" said he. + +"I am her adopted father," replied the Italian; "and no man shall +insult her while I am alive." + +"So _you_ are installed as her protector!" retorted Fitzgerald, +sneeringly. "You are not the first gallant I have known to screen +himself behind his years." + +"By Jupiter!" vociferated the enraged Italian; and he made a spring to +clutch him by the throat. + +Fitzgerald drew out a pistol. With a look of utter distress, Rosa +threw herself between them, saying, in imploring accents, "_Will_ you +go?" + +At the same moment, a hand rested gently on the Signor's shoulder, and +a manly voice said soothingly, "Be calm, my friend." Then, turning to +Mr. Fitzgerald, the gentleman continued: "Slight as our acquaintance +is, sir, it authorizes me to remind you that scenes like this are +unfit for a lady's apartment." + +Fitzgerald slowly replaced his pistol, as he answered coldly: "I +remember your countenance, sir, but I don't recollect where I have +seen it, nor do I understand what right you have to intrude here." + +"I met you in New Orleans, something more than four years ago," +replied the stranger; "and I was then introduced to you by this lady's +father, as Mr. Alfred King of Boston." + +"O, I remember," replied Fitzgerald, with a slight curl of his lip. "I +thought you something of a Puritan then; but it seems _you_ are her +protector also." + +Mr. King colored to the temples; but he replied calmly: "I know not +whether Miss Royal recognizes me; for I have never seen her since the +evening we spent so delightfully at her father's house." + +"I do recognize you," replied Rosabella; "and as the son of my +father's dearest friend, I welcome you." + +She held out her hand as she spoke, and he clasped it for an +instant. But though the touch thrilled him, he betrayed no emotion. +Relinquishing it with a respectful bow, he turned to Mr. Fitzgerald, +and said: "You have seen fit to call me a Puritan, and may not +therefore accept me as a teacher of politeness; but if you wish to +sustain the character of a cavalier, you surely will not remain in a +lady's house after she has requested you to quit it." + +With a slight shrug of his shoulders, Mr. Fitzgerald took his hat, and +said, "Where ladies command, I am of course bound to obey." + +As he passed out of the door, he turned toward Rosabella, and, with a +low bow, said, "_Au revoir_!" + +The Signor was trembling with anger, but succeeded in smothering his +half-uttered anathemas. Mr. King compressed his lips tightly for a +moment, as if silence were a painful effort. Then, turning to Rosa, he +said: "Pardon my sudden intrusion, Miss Royal. Your father introduced +me to the Signor, and I last night saw him at the opera. That will +account for my being in his room to-day." He glanced at the Italian +with a smile, as he added: "I heard very angry voices, and I thought, +if there was to be a duel, perhaps the Signor would need a second. You +must be greatly fatigued with exertion and excitement. Therefore, I +will merely congratulate you on your brilliant success last evening, +and wish you good morning." + +"I _am_ fatigued," she replied; "but if I bid you good morning now, it +is with the hope of seeing you again soon. The renewal of acquaintance +with one whom my dear father loved is too pleasant to be willingly +relinquished." + +"Thank you," he said. But the simple words were uttered with a look +and tone so deep and earnest, that she felt the color rising to her +cheeks. + +"Am I then still capable of being moved by such tones?" she asked +herself, as she listened to his departing footsteps, and, for the +first time that morning, turned toward the mirror and glanced at her +own flushed countenance. + +"What a time you've been having, dear!" exclaimed Madame, who came +bustling in a moment after. "Only to think of Mr. Fitzgerald's coming +here! His impudence goes a little beyond anything I ever heard of. +Wasn't it lucky that Boston friend should drop down from the skies, +as it were, just at the right minute; for the Signor's such a +flash-in-the-pan, there 's no telling what might have happened. Tell +me all about it, dear." + +"I will tell you about it, dear mamma," replied Rosa; "but I must beg +you to excuse me just now; for I am really very much flurried and +fatigued. If you hadn't gone out, I should have told you this morning, +at breakfast, that I saw Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald at the opera, and +that I was singing at them in good earnest, while people thought I was +acting. We will talk it all over some time; but now I must study, for +I shall have hard work to keep the ground I have gained. You know I +must perform again to-night. O, how I dread it!" + +"You are a strange child to talk so, when you have turned everybody's +head," responded Madame. + +"Why should I care for everybody's head?" rejoined the successful +_cantatrice_. But she thought to herself: "I shall not feel, as I did +last night, that I am going to sing _merely_ to strangers. There will +be _one_ there who heard me sing to my dear father. I must try to +recall the intonations that came so naturally last evening, and see +whether I can act what I then felt." She seated herself at the piano, +and began to sing, "_Oh, di qual sei tu vittima_." Then, shaking her +head slowly, she murmured: "No; it doesn't come. I must trust to the +inspiration of the moment. But it is a comfort to know they will not +_all_ be strangers." + + * * * * * + +Mr. King took an opportunity that same day to call on Mr. Fitzgerald. +He was very haughtily received; but, without appearing to notice +it, he opened his errand by saying, "I have come to speak with you +concerning Miss Royal." + +"All I have to say to you, sir," replied Mr. Fitzgerald, "is, that +neither you nor any other man can induce me to give up my pursuit of +her. I will follow her wherever she goes." + +"What possible advantage can you gain by such a course?" inquired his +visitor. "Why uselessly expose yourself to disagreeable notoriety, +which must, of course, place Mrs. Fitzgerald in a mortifying +position?" + +"How do you know my perseverance would be useless?" asked Fitzgerald. +"Did she send you to tell me so?" + +"She does not know of my coming," replied Mr. King. "I have told you +that my acquaintance with Miss Royal is very slight. But you will +recollect that I met her in the freshness of her young life, when she +was surrounded by all the ease and elegance that a father's wealth and +tenderness could bestow; and it was unavoidable that her subsequent +misfortunes should excite my sympathy. She has never told me anything +of her own history, but from others I know all the particulars. It is +not my purpose to allude to them; but after suffering all she _has_ +suffered, now that she has bravely made a standing-place for herself, +and has such an arduous career before her, I appeal to your sense of +honor, whether it is generous, whether it is manly, to do anything +that will increase the difficulties of her position." + +"It is presumptuous in you, sir, to come here to teach me what is +manly," rejoined Fitzgerald. + +"I merely presented the case for the verdict of your own conscience," +answered his visitor; "but I will again take the liberty to suggest +for your consideration, that if you persecute this unfortunate young +lady with professions you know are unwelcome, it must necessarily +react in a very unpleasant way upon your own reputation, and +consequently upon the happiness of your family." + +"You mistook your profession, sir. You should have been a preacher," +said Fitzgerald, with a sarcastic smile. "I presume you propose to +console the lady for her misfortunes; but let me tell you, sir, that +whoever attempts to come between me and her will do it at his peril." + +"I respect Miss Royal too much to hear her name used in any such +discussion," replied Mr. King. "Good morning, sir." + +"The mean Yankee!" exclaimed the Southerner, as he looked after him. +"If he were a gentleman he would have challenged me, and I should have +met him like a gentleman; but one doesn't know what to do with such +cursed Yankee preaching." + +He was in a very perturbed state of mind. Rosabella had, in fact, made +a much deeper impression on him than any other woman had ever made. +And now that he saw her the bright cynosure of all eyes, fresh fuel +was heaped on the flickering flame of his expiring passion. Her +disdain piqued his vanity, while it produced the excitement of +difficulties to be overcome. He was exasperated beyond measure, that +the beautiful woman who had depended solely upon him should now be +surrounded by protectors. And if he could regain no other power, he +was strongly tempted to exert the power of annoyance. In some moods, +he formed wild projects of waylaying her, and carrying her off by +force. But the Yankee preaching, much as he despised it, was not +without its influence. He felt that it would be most politic to keep +on good terms with his rich wife, who was, besides, rather agreeable +to him. He concluded, on the whole, that he would assume superiority +to the popular enthusiasm about the new _prima donna_; that he would +coolly criticise her singing and her acting, while he admitted that +she had many good points. It was a hard task he undertook; for on the +stage Rosabella attracted him with irresistible power, to which was +added the magnetism of the admiring audience. After the first evening, +she avoided looking at the box where he sat; but he had an uneasy +satisfaction in the consciousness that it was impossible she could +forget he was present and watching her. + +The day after the second appearance of the Señorita Campaneo, Mrs. +Delano was surprised by another call from the Fitzgeralds. + +"Don't think we intend to persecute you," said the little lady. "We +merely came on business. We have just heard that you were to leave +Rome very soon; but Mr. Green seemed to think it couldn't be so soon +as was said." + +"Unexpected circumstances make it necessary for me to return sooner +than I intended," replied Mrs. Delano. "I expect to sail day after +to-morrow." + +"What a pity your daughter should go without hearing the new _prima +donna_!" exclaimed Mrs. Fitzgerald. "She is really a remarkable +creature. Everybody says she is as beautiful as a houri. And as for +her voice, I never heard anything like it, except the first night I +spent on Mr. Fitzgerald's plantation. There was somebody wandering +about in the garden and groves who sang just like her. Mr. Fitzgerald +didn't seem to be much struck with the voice, but I could never forget +it." + +"It was during our honeymoon," replied her husband; "and how could I +be interested in any other voice, when I had yours to listen to?" + +His lady tapped him playfully with her parasol, saying: "O, you +flatterer! But I wish I could get a chance to speak to this Señorita. +I would ask her if she had ever been in America." + +"I presume not," rejoined Mr. Fitzgerald. "They say an Italian +musician heard her in Andalusia, and was so much charmed with her +voice that he adopted her and educated her for the stage; and he named +her Campaneo, because there is such a bell-like echo in her voice +sometimes. Do you think, Mrs. Delano, that it would do your daughter +any serious injury to go with us this evening? We have a spare +ticket; and we would take excellent care of her. If she found herself +fatigued, I would attend upon her home any time she chose to leave." + +"It would be too exciting for her nerves," was Mrs. Delano's laconic +answer. + +"The fact is," said Mrs. Fitzgerald, "Mr. Green has told us so much +about her, that we are extremely anxious to be introduced to her. +He says she hasn't half seen Rome, and he wishes she could join our +party. I wish we could persuade you to leave her with us. I can assure +you Mr. Fitzgerald is a most agreeable and gallant protector to +ladies. And then it is such a pity, when she is so musical, that she +should go without hearing this new _prima donna_." + +"Thank you," rejoined Mrs. Delano; "but we have become so much +attached to each other's society, that I don't think either of us +could be happy separated. Since she cannot hear this musical wonder, I +shall not increase her regrets by repeating your enthusiastic account +of what she has missed." + +"If you had been present at her _début_, you wouldn't wonder at my +enthusiasm," replied the little lady. "Mr. Fitzgerald is getting over +the fever a little now, and undertakes to criticise. He says she +overacted her part; that she 'tore a passion to tatters,' and all +that. But I never saw him so excited as he was then. I think she +noticed it; for she fixed her glorious dark eyes directly upon our box +while she was singing several of her most effective passages." + +"My dear," interrupted her husband, "you are so opera-mad, that you +are forgetting the object of your call." + +"True," replied she. "We wanted to inquire whether you were certainly +going so soon, and whether any one had engaged these rooms. We took a +great fancy to them. What a desirable situation! So sunny! Such a fine +view of Monte Pincio and the Pope's gardens!" + +"They were not engaged last evening," answered Mrs. Delano. + +"Then you will secure them immediately, won't you, dear?" said the +lady, appealing to her spouse. + +With wishes that the voyage might prove safe and pleasant, they +departed. Mrs. Delano lingered a moment at the window, looking out +upon St. Peter's and the Etruscan Hills beyond, thinking the while how +strangely the skeins of human destiny sometimes become entangled with +each other. Yet she was unconscious of half the entanglement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +The engagement of the Señorita Rosita Campaneo was for four weeks, +during which Mr. King called frequently and attended the opera +constantly. Every personal interview, and every vision of her on the +stage, deepened the impression she made upon him when they first met. +It gratified him to see that, among the shower of bouquets she was +constantly receiving, his was the one she usually carried; nor was she +unobservant that he always wore a fresh rose. But she was unconscious +of his continual guardianship, and he was careful that she should +remain so. Every night that she went to the opera and returned from +it, he assumed a dress like the driver's, and sat with him on the +outside of the carriage,--a fact known only to Madame and the Signor, +who were glad enough to have a friend at hand in case Mr. Fitzgerald +should attempt any rash enterprise. Policemen were secretly employed +to keep the _cantatrice_ in sight, whenever she went abroad for air or +recreation. When she made excursions out of the city in company with +her adopted parents, Mr. King was always privately informed of it, and +rode in the same direction; at a sufficient distance, however, not +to be visible to her, or to excite gossiping remarks by appearing to +others to be her follower. Sometimes he asked himself: "What would my +dear prudential mother say, to see me leaving my business to +agents and clerks, while I devote my life to the service of an +opera-singer?--an opera-singer, too, who has twice been on the verge +of being sold as a slave, and who has been the victim of a sham +marriage!" But though such queries jostled against conventional ideas +received from education, they were always followed by the thought: "My +dear mother has gone to a sphere of wider vision, whence she can look +down upon the merely external distinctions of this deceptive world. +Rosabella must be seen as a pure, good soul, in eyes that see as the +angels do; and as the defenceless daughter of my father's friend, +it is my duty to protect her." So he removed from his more eligible +lodgings in the Piazza di Spagna, and took rooms in the Corso, +nearly opposite to hers, where day by day he continued his invisible +guardianship. + +He had reason, at various times, to think his precautions were not +entirely unnecessary. He had several times seen a figure resembling +Fitzgerald's lurking about the opera-house, wrapped in a cloak, and +with a cap very much drawn over his face. Once Madame and the Signor, +having descended from the carriage, with Rosa, to examine the tomb of +Cecilia Metella, were made a little uneasy by the appearance of four +rude-looking fellows, who seemed bent upon lurking in their vicinity. +But they soon recognized Mr. King in the distance, and not far from +him the disguised policemen in his employ. The fears entertained by +her friends were never mentioned to Rosa, and she appeared to feel no +uneasiness when riding in daylight with the driver and her adopted +parents. She was sometimes a little afraid when leaving the opera late +at night; but there was a pleasant feeling of protection in the idea +that a friend of her father's was in Rome, who knew better than the +Signor how to keep out of quarrels. That recollection also operated +as an additional stimulus to excellence in her art. This friend had +expressed himself very highly gratified by her successful _début_, +and that consideration considerably increased her anxiety to sustain +herself at the height she had attained. In some respects that was +impossible; for the thrilling circumstances of the first evening could +not again recur to set her soul on fire. Critics generally said she +never equalled her first acting; though some maintained that what she +had lost in power she had gained in a more accurate conception of the +character. Her voice was an unfailing source of wonder and delight. +They were never weary of listening to that volume of sound, so full +and clear, so flexible in its modulations, so expressive in its +intonations. + +As the completion of her engagement drew near, the manager was eager +for its renewal; and finding that she hesitated, he became more and +more liberal in his offers. Things were in this state, when Mr. King +called upon Madame one day while Rosa was absent at rehearsal. "She is +preparing a new aria for her last evening, when they will be sure to +encore the poor child to death," said Madame. "It is very flattering, +but very tiresome; and to my French ears their '_Bis! Bis_!' sounds +too much like a hiss." + +"Will she renew her engagement, think you?" inquired Mr. King. + +"I don't know certainly," replied Madame. "The manager makes very +liberal offers; but she hesitates. She seldom alludes to Mr. +Fitzgerald, but I can see that his presence is irksome to her; and +then his sudden irruption into her room, as told by Giovanna, has +given rise to some green-room gossip. The tenor is rather too +assiduous in his attentions, you know; and the _seconda donna_ is her +enemy, because she has superseded her in his affections. These things +make her wish to leave Rome; but I tell her she will have to encounter +very much the same anywhere." + +"Madame," said the young man, "you stand in the place of a mother +to Miss Royal; and as such, I have a favor to ask of you. Will you, +without mentioning the subject to her, enable me to have a private +interview with her to-morrow morning?" + +"You are aware that it is contrary to her established rule to see any +gentleman, except in the presence of myself or Papa Balbino. But you +have manifested so much delicacy, as well as friendliness, that we all +feel the utmost confidence in you." She smiled significantly as she +added: "If I slip out of the room, as it were by accident, I don't +believe I shall find it very difficult to make my peace with her." + +Alfred King looked forward to the next morning with impatience; yet +when he found himself, for the first time, alone with Rosabella, he +felt painfully embarrassed. She glanced at the fresh rose he wore, +but could not summon courage to ask whether roses were his favorite +flowers. He broke the momentary silence by saying: "Your performances +here have been a source of such inexpressible delight to me, Miss +Royal, that it pains me to think of such a thing as a last evening." + +"Thank you for calling me by that name," she replied. "It carries me +back to a happier time. I hardly know myself as La Señorita Campaneo. +It all seems to me so strange and unreal, that, were it not for a few +visible links with the past, I should feel as if I had died and passed +into another world." + +"May I ask whether you intend to renew your engagement?" inquired he. + +She looked up quickly and earnestly, and said, "What would you advise +me?" + +"The brevity of our acquaintance would hardly warrant my assuming the +office of adviser," replied he modestly. + +The shadow of a blush flitted over her face, as she answered, in a +bashful way: "Excuse me if the habit of associating you with the +memory of my father makes me forget the shortness of our acquaintance. +Beside, you once asked me if ever I was in trouble to call upon you as +I would upon a brother." + +"It gratifies me beyond measure that you should remember my offer, and +take me at my word," responded he. "But in order to judge for you, it +is necessary to know something of your own inclinations. Do you enjoy +the career on which you have entered?" + +"I should enjoy it if the audience were all my personal friends," +answered she. "But I have lived such a very retired life, that I +cannot easily become accustomed to publicity; and there is something +I cannot exactly define, that troubles me with regard to operas. If +I could perform only in pure and noble characters, I think it would +inspire me; for then I should represent what I at least wish to be; +but it affects me like a discord to imagine myself in positions which +in reality I should scorn and detest." + +"I am not surprised to hear you express this feeling," responded he. +"I had supposed it must be so. It seems to me the _libretti_ of operas +are generally singularly ill conceived, both morally and artistically. +Music is in itself so pure and heavenly, that it seems a desecration +to make it the expression of vile incidents and vapid words. But is +the feeling of which you speak sufficiently strong to induce you to +retire from the brilliant career now opening before you, and devote +yourself to concert-singing?" + +"There is one thing that makes me hesitate," rejoined she. "I wish +to earn money fast, to accomplish certain purposes I have at heart. +Otherwise, I don't think I care much for the success you call so +brilliant. It is certainly agreeable to feel that I delight the +audience, though they are strangers; but their cries of '_Bis! Bis_!' +give me less real pleasure than it did to have Papasito ask me to sing +over something that he liked. I seem to see him now, as he used to +listen to me in our flowery parlor. Do you remember that room, Mr. +King?" + +"Do I _remember_ it?" he said, with a look and emphasis so earnest +that a quick blush suffused her eloquent face. "I see that room as +distinctly as you can see it," he continued. "It has often been in my +dreams, and the changing events of my life have never banished it from +my memory for a single day. How _could I_ forget it, when my heart +there received its first and only deep impression. I have loved you +from the first evening I saw you. Judging that your affections were +pre-engaged, I would gladly have loved another, if I could; but though +I have since met fascinating ladies, none of them have interested me +deeply." + +An expression of pain passed over her face while she listened, and +when he paused she murmured softly, "I am sorry." + +"Sorry!" echoed he. "Is it then impossible for me to inspire you with +sentiments similar to my own?" + +"I am sorry," she replied, "because a first, fresh love, like yours, +deserves better recompense than it could receive from a bruised and +worn-out heart like mine. I can never experience the illusion of love +again. I have suffered too deeply." + +"I do not wish you to experience the _illusion_ of love again," he +replied. "But my hope is that the devotion of my life may enable you +to experience the true and tender _reality_" He placed his hand gently +and timidly upon hers as he spoke, and looked in her face earnestly. + +Without raising her eyes she said, "I suppose you are aware that my +mother was a slave, and that her daughters inherited her misfortune." + +"I am aware of it," he replied. "But that only makes me ashamed of my +country, not of her or of them. Do not, I pray you, pain yourself or +me by alluding to any of the unfortunate circumstances of your +past life, with the idea that they can depreciate your value in my +estimation. From Madame and the Signor I have learned the whole story +of your wrongs and your sufferings. Fortunately, my good father taught +me, both by precept and example, to look through the surface of things +to the reality. I have seen and heard enough to be convinced that your +own heart is noble and pure. Such natures cannot be sullied by the +unworthiness of others; they may even be improved by it. The famous +Dr. Spurzheim says, he who would have the best companion for his life +should choose a woman who has suffered. And though I would gladly have +saved you from suffering, I cannot but see that your character has +been elevated by it. Since I have known you here in Rome, I have been +surprised to observe how the young romantic girl has ripened into the +thoughtful, prudent woman. I will not urge you for an answer now, my +dear Miss Royal. Take as much time as you please to reflect upon it. +Meanwhile, if you choose to devote your fine musical genius to the +opera, I trust you will allow me to serve you in any way that a +brother could under similar circumstances. If you prefer to be a +concert-singer, my father had a cousin who married in England, where +she has a good deal of influence in the musical world. I am sure she +would take a motherly interest in you, both for your own sake and +mine. Your romantic story, instead of doing you injury in England, +would make you a great lioness, if you chose to reveal it." + +"I should dislike that sort of attention," she replied hastily. "Do +not suppose, however, that I am ashamed of my dear mother, or of her +lineage; but I wish to have any interest I excite founded on my own +merits, not on any extraneous circumstance. But you have not yet +advised me whether to remain on the stage or to retire from it." + +"If I presumed that my opinion would decide the point," rejoined he, +"I should be diffident about expressing it in a case so important to +yourself." + +"You are very delicate," she replied. "But I conjecture that you would +be best pleased if I decided in favor of concert-singing." + +While he was hesitating what to say, in order to leave her in perfect +freedom, she added: "And so, if you will have the goodness to +introduce me to your relative, and she is willing to be my patroness, +I will try my fortune in England. Of course she ought to be informed +of my previous history; but I should prefer to have her consider +it strictly confidential. And now, if you please, I will say, _An +revoir_; for Papa Balbino is waiting for some instructions on matters +of business." + +She offered her hand with a very sweet smile. He clasped it with a +slight pressure, bowed his head upon it for an instant, and said, with +deep emotion: "Thank you, dearest of women. You send me away a happy +man; for hope goes with me." + +When the door closed after him, she sank into a chair, and covered her +face with both her hands. "How different is his manner of making love +from that of Gerald," thought she. "Surely, I can trust _this_ time. +O, if I was only worthy of such love!" + +Her revery was interrupted by the entrance of Madame and the Signor. +She answered their inquisitive looks by saying, rather hastily, "When +you told Mr. King the particulars of my story, did you tell him about +the poor little _bambino_ I left in New Orleans?" + +Madame replied, "I mentioned to him how the death of the poor little +thing afflicted you." + +Rosa made no response, but occupied herself with selecting some pieces +of music connected with the performance at the opera. + +The Signor, as he went out with the music, said, "Do you suppose she +didn't want him to know about the _bambino_?" + +"Perhaps she is afraid he will think her heartless for leaving it," +replied Madame. "But I will tell her I took all the blame on myself. +If she is so anxious about his good opinion, it shows which way the +wind blows." + +The Señorita Rosita Campaneo and her attendants had flitted, no one +knew whither, before the public were informed that her engagement was +not to be renewed. Rumor added that she was soon to be married to a +rich American, who had withdrawn her from the stage. + +"Too much to be monopolized by one man," said Mr. Green to Mr. +Fitzgerald. "Such a glorious creature belongs to the world." + +"Who is the happy man?" inquired Mrs. Fitzgerald. + +"They say it is King, that pale-faced Puritan from Boston," rejoined +her husband. "I should have given her credit for better taste." + +In private, he made all possible inquiries; but merely succeeded in +tracing them to a vessel at Civita Vecchia, bound to Marseilles. + +To the public, the fascinating _prima donna_, who had rushed up from +the horizon like a brilliant rocket, and disappeared as suddenly, was +only a nine-days wonder. Though for some time after, when opera-goers +heard any other _cantatrice_ much lauded, they would say: "Ah, you +should have heard the Campaneo! Such a voice! She rose to the highest +D as easily as she breathed. And such glorious eyes!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +While Rosabella was thus exchanging the laurel crown for the myrtle +wreath, Flora and her friend were on their way to search the places +that had formerly known her. Accompanied by Mr. Jacobs, who had long +been a steward in her family, Mrs. Delano passed through Savannah, +without calling on her friend Mrs. Welby, and in a hired boat +proceeded to the island. Flora almost flew over the ground, so great +was her anxiety to reach the cottage. Nature, which pursues her course +with serene indifference to human vicissitudes, wore the same smiling +aspect it had worn two years before, when she went singing through the +woods, like Cinderella, all unconscious of the beneficent fairy she +was to meet there in the form of a new Mamita. Trees and shrubs were +beautiful with young, glossy foliage. Pines and firs offered their +aromatic incense to the sun. Birds were singing, and bees gathering +honey from the wild-flowers. A red-headed woodpecker was hammering +away on the umbrageous tree under which Flora used to sit while busy +with her sketches. He cocked his head to listen as they approached, +and, at first sight of them, flew up into the clear blue air, with +undulating swiftness. To Flora's great disappointment, they found all +the doors fastened; but Mr. Jacobs entered by a window and opened one +of them. The cottage had evidently been deserted for a considerable +time. Spiders had woven their tapestry in all the corners. A pane had +apparently been cut out of the window their attendant had opened, and +it afforded free passage to the birds. On a bracket of shell-work, +which Flora had made to support a vase of flowers, was a deserted +nest, bedded in soft green moss, which hung from it in irregular +streamers and festoons. + +"How pretty!" said Mrs. Delano. "If the little creature had studied +the picturesque, she couldn't have devised anything more graceful. Let +us take it, bracket and all, and carry it home carefully." + +"That was the very first shell-work I made after we came from Nassau," +rejoined Flora. "I used to put fresh flowers on it every morning, to +please Rosa. Poor Rosa! Where _can_ she be?" + +She turned away her head, and was silent for a moment. Then, pointing +to the window, she said: "There's that dead pine-tree I told you I +used to call Old Man of the Woods. He is swinging long pennants of +moss on his arms, just as he did when I was afraid to look at him in +the moonlight." + +She was soon busy with a heap of papers swept into a corner of the +room she used to occupy. They were covered with sketches of leaves and +flowers, and embroidery-patterns, and other devices with which she had +amused herself in those days. Among them she was delighted to find +the head and shoulders of Thistle, with a garland round his neck. In +Rosa's sleeping-room, an old music-book, hung with cobwebs, leaned +against the wall. + +"O Mamita Lila, I am glad to find this!" exclaimed Flora. "Here is +what Rosa and I used to sing to dear papa when we were ever so little. +He always loved old-fashioned music. Here are some of Jackson's +canzonets, that were his favorites." She began to hum, "Time has not +thinned my flowing hair." "Here is Dr. Arne's 'Sweet Echo.' Rosa used +to play and sing that beautifully. And here is what he always liked to +have us sing to him at sunset. We sang it to him the very night before +he died." She began to warble, "Now Phoebus sinketh in the west." +"Why, it seems as if I were a little girl again, singing to Papasito +and Mamita," said she. + +Looking up, she saw that Mrs. Delano had covered her face with her +handkerchief; and closing the music-book, she nestled to her side, +affectionately inquiring what had troubled her. For a little while her +friend pressed her hand in silence. + +"O darling," said she, "what a strange, sad gift is memory! I sang +that to your father the last time we ever saw the sunset together; and +perhaps when he heard it he used to see me sometimes, as plainly as I +now see him. It is consoling to think he did not quite forget me." + +"When we go home, I will sing it to you every evening if you would +like it, Mamita Lila," said Flora. + +Her friend patted her head fondly, and said: "You must finish your +researches soon, darling; for I think we had better go to Magnolia +Lawn to see if Tom and Chloe can be found." + +"How shall we get there? It's too far for you to walk, and poor +Thistle's gone," said Flora. + +"I have sent Mr. Jacobs to the plantation," replied Mrs. Delano, "and +I think he will find some sort of vehicle. Meanwhile, you had better +be getting together any little articles you want to carry away." + +As Flora took up the music-book, some of the loose leaves fell out, +and with them came a sketch of Tulee's head, with the large gold hoops +and the gay turban. "Here's Tulee!" shouted Flora. "It isn't well +drawn, but it _is_ like her. I'll make a handsome picture from it, and +frame it, and hang it by my bedside, where I can see it every morning. +Dear, good Tulee! How she jumped up and kissed us when we first +arrived here. I suppose she thinks I am dead, and has cried a great +deal about little Missy Flory. O, what wouldn't I give to see her!" + +She had peeped about everywhere, and was becoming very much dispirited +with the desolation, when Mr. Jacobs came back with a mule and a small +cart, which he said was the best conveyance he could procure. The +jolting over hillocks, and the occasional grunts of the mule, made it +an amusing ride; but it was a fruitless one. The plantation negroes +were sowing cotton, but all Mr. Fitzgerald's household servants were +leased out in Savannah during his absence in Europe. The white villa +at Magnolia Lawn peeped out from its green surroundings; but the +jalousies were closed, and the tracks on the carriage-road were +obliterated by rains. + +Hiring a negro to go with them to take back the cart, they made the +best of their way to the boat, which was waiting for them. Fatigued +and disconsolate with their fruitless search, they felt little +inclined to talk as they glided over the bright waters. The negro +boatmen frequently broke in upon the silence with some simple, wild +melody, which they sang in perfect unison, dipping their oars in +rhythm. When Savannah came in sight, they urged the boat faster, +and, improvising words to suit the occasion, they sang in brisker +strains:-- + + "Row, darkies, row! + See de sun down dar am creepin'; + Row, darkies, row! + Hab white ladies in yer keepin'; + Row, darkies, row!" + +With the business they had on hand, Mrs. Delano preferred not to seek +her friends in the city, and they took lodgings at a hotel. Early the +next morning, Mr. Jacobs was sent out to ascertain the whereabouts of +Mr. Fitzgerald's servants; and Mrs. Delano proposed that, during his +absence, they should drive to The Pines, which she described as an +extremely pleasant ride. Flora assented, with the indifference of a +preoccupied mind. But scarcely had the horses stepped on the thick +carpet of pine foliage with which the ground was strewn, when she +eagerly exclaimed, "Tom! Tom!" A black man, mounted on the seat of a +carriage that was passing them, reined in his horses and stopped. + +"Keep quiet, my dear," whispered Mrs. Delano to her companion, "till I +can ascertain who is in the carriage." + +"Are you Mr. Fitzgerald's Tom?" she inquired. + +"Yes, Missis," replied the negro, touching his hat. + +She beckoned him to come and open her carriage-door, and, speaking in +a low voice, she said: "I want to ask you about a Spanish lady who +used to live in a cottage, not far from Mr. Fitzgerald's plantation. +She had a black servant named Tulee, who used to call her Missy Rosy. +We went to the cottage yesterday, and found it shut up. Can you tell +us where they have gone?" + +Tom looked at them very inquisitively, and answered, "Dunno, Missis." + +"We are Missy Rosy's friends, and have come to bring her some good +news. If you can tell us anything about her, I will give you this gold +piece." + +Tom half stretched forth his hand to take the coin, then drew it back, +and repeated, "Dunno, Missis." + +Flora, who felt her heart rising in her throat, tossed back her veil, +and said, "Tom, don't you know me?" + +The negro started as if a ghost had risen before him. + +"Now tell me where Missy Rosy has gone, and who went with her," said +she, coaxingly. + +"Bress yer, Missy Flory! _am_ yer alive!" exclaimed the bewildered +negro. + +Flora laughed, and, drawing off her glove, shook hands with him. "Now +you know I'm alive, Tom. But don't tell anybody. Where's Missy Rosy +gone." + +"O Missy," replied Tom, "dar am heap ob tings to tell." + +Mrs. Delano suggested that it was not a suitable place; and Tom said +he must go home with his master's carriage. He told them he had +obtained leave to go and see his wife Chloe that evening; and +he promised to come to their hotel first. So, with the general +information that Missy Rosy and Tulee were safe, they parted for the +present. + +Tom's communication in the evening was very long, and intensely +interesting to his auditors; but it did not extend beyond a certain +point. He told of Rosa's long and dangerous illness; of Chloe's and +Tulee's patient praying and nursing; of the birth of the baby; of the +sale to Mr. Bruteman; and of the process by which she escaped with Mr. +Duroy. Further than that he knew nothing. He had never been in New +Orleans afterward, and had never heard Mr. Fitzgerald speak of Rosa. + +At that crisis in the conversation, Mrs. Delano summoned Mr. Jacobs, +and requested him to ascertain when a steamboat would go to New +Orleans. Flora kissed her hand, with a glance full of gratitude. Tom +looked at her in a very earnest, embarrassed way, and said: "Missis, +am yer one ob dem Ab-lish-nishts dar in de Norf, dat Massa swars +'bout?" + +Mrs. Delano turned toward Flora with a look of perplexity, and, +having received an interpretation of the question, she smiled as she +answered: "I rather think I am half an Abolitionist, Tom. But why do +you wish to know?" + +Tom went on to state, in "lingo" that had to be frequently explained, +that he wanted to run away to the North, and that he could manage to +do it if it were not for Chloe and the children. He had been in hopes +that Mrs. Fitzgerald would have taken her to the North to nurse her +baby while she was gone to Europe. In that case, he intended to follow +after; and he thought some good people would lend them money to buy +their little ones, and, both together, they could soon work off the +debt. But this project had been defeated by Mrs. Bell, who brought a +white nurse from Boston, and carried her infant grandson back with +her. + +"Yer see, Missis," said Tom, with a sly look, "dey tinks de niggers +don't none ob 'em wants dare freedom, so dey nebber totes 'em whar it +be." + +Ever since that disappointment had occurred, he and his wife had +resolved themselves into a committee of ways and means, but they had +not yet devised any feasible mode of escape. And now they were thrown +into great consternation by the fact that a slave-trader had been to +look at Chloe, because Mr. Fitzgerald wanted money to spend in Europe, +and had sent orders to have some of his negroes sold. + +Mrs. Delano told him she didn't see how she could help him, but she +would think about it; and Flora, with a sideway inclination of the +head toward her, gave Tom an expressive glance, which he understood as +a promise to persuade her. He urged the matter no further, but asked +what time it was. Being told it was near nine o'clock, he said he must +hasten to Chloe, for it was not allowable for negroes to be in the +street after that hour. + +He had scarcely closed the door, before Mrs. Delano said, "If Chloe is +sold, I must buy her." + +"I thought you would say so," rejoined Flora. + +A discussion then took place as to ways and means, and a strictly +confidential letter was written to a lawyer from the North, with whom +Mrs. Delano was acquainted, requesting him to buy the woman and her +children for her, if they were to be sold. + +It happened fortunately that a steamer was going to New Orleans the +next day. Just as they were going on board, a negro woman with two +children came near, and, dropping a courtesy, said: "Skuse, Missis. +Dis ere's Chloe. Please say Ise yer nigger! Do, Missis!" + +Flora seized the black woman's hand, and pressed it, while she +whispered: "Do, Mamita! They're going to sell her, you know." + +She took the children by the hand, and hurried forward without waiting +for an answer. They were all on board before Mrs. Delano had time to +reflect. Tom was nowhere to be seen. On one side of her stood +Chloe, with two little ones clinging to her skirts, looking at her +imploringly with those great fervid eyes, and saying in suppressed +tones, "Missis, dey's gwine to sell me away from de chillen"; and on +the other side was Flora, pressing her hand, and entreating, "Don't +send her back, Mamita! She was _so_ good to poor Rosa." + +"But, my dear, if they should trace her to me, it would be a very +troublesome affair," said the perplexed lady. + +"They won't look for her in New Orleans. They'll think she's gone +North," urged Flora. + +During this whispered consultation, Mr. Jacobs approached with some of +their baggage. Mrs. Delano stopped him, and said: "When you register +our names, add a negro servant and her two children." + +He looked surprised, but bowed and asked no questions. She was +scarcely less surprised at herself. In the midst of her anxiety to +have the boat start, she called to mind her former censures upon those +who helped servants to escape from Southern masters, and she could not +help smiling at the new dilemma in which she found herself. + +The search in New Orleans availed little. They alighted from their +carriage a few minutes to look at the house where Flora was born. She +pointed out to Mrs. Delano the spot whence her father had last spoken +to her on that merry morning, and the grove where she used to pelt him +with oranges; but neither of them cared to enter the house, now that +everything was so changed. Madame's house was occupied by strangers, +who knew nothing of the previous tenants, except that they were said +to have gone to Europe to live. They drove to Mr. Duroy's, and found +strangers there, who said the former occupants had all died of +yellow-fever,--the lady and gentleman, a negro woman, and a white +baby. Flora was bewildered to find every link with her past broken +and gone. She had not lived long enough to realize that the traces of +human lives often disappear from cities as quickly as the ocean closes +over the tracks of vessels. Mr. Jacobs proposed searching for some +one who had been in Mr. Duroy's employ; and with that intention, they +returned to the city. As they were passing a house where a large +bird-cage hung in the open window, Flora heard the words, "_Petit +blanc, mon bon frère! Ha! ha_!" + +She called out to Mr. Jacobs, "Stop! Stop!" and pushed at the carriage +door, in her impatience to get out. + +"What _is_ the matter, my child?" inquired Mrs. Delano. + +"That's Madame's parrot," replied she; and an instant after she was +ringing at the door of the house. She told the servant they wished to +make some inquiries concerning Signor and Madame Papanti, and Monsieur +Duroy; and she and Mrs. Delano were shown in to wait for the lady of +the house. They had no sooner entered, than the parrot flapped her +wings and cried out, "_Bon jour, joli petit diable_!" And then she +began to whistle and warble, twitter and crow, through a ludicrous +series of noisy variations. Flora burst into peals of laughter, in the +midst of which the lady of the house entered the room. "Excuse me, +Madame," said she. "This parrot is an old acquaintance of mine. I +taught her to imitate all sorts of birds, and she is showing me that +she has not forgotten my lessons." + +"It will be impossible to hear ourselves speak, unless I cover the +cage," replied the lady. + +"Allow me to quiet her, if you please," rejoined Flora. She opened the +door of the cage, and the bird hopped on her arm, flapping her wings, +and crying, "_Bon jour! Ha! ha_!" + +"_Taisez vous, jolie Manon_," said Flora soothingly, while she stroked +the feathery head. The bird nestled close and was silent. + +When their errand was explained, the lady repeated the same story they +had already heard about Mr. Duroy's family. + +"Was the black woman who died there named Tulee?" inquired Flora. + +"I never heard her name but once or twice," replied the lady. "It was +not a common negro name, and I think that was it. Madame Papanti had +put her and the baby there to board. After Mr. Duroy died, his son +came home from Arkansas to settle his affairs. My husband, who was one +of Mr. Duroy's clerks, bought some of the things at auction; and among +them was that parrot." + +"And what has become of Signor and Madame Papanti?" asked Mrs. Delano. + +The lady could give no information, except that they had returned to +Europe. Having obtained directions where to find her husband, they +thanked her, and wished her good morning. + +Flora held the parrot up to the cage, and said, "_Bon jour, jolie +Manon_!" + +"_Bon jour_!" repeated the bird, and hopped upon her perch. + +After they had entered the carriage, Flora said: "How melancholy it +seems that everybody is gone, except _Jolie Manon_! How glad the poor +thing seemed to be to see me! I wish I could take her home." + +"I will send to inquire whether the lady will sell her," replied her +friend. + +"O Mamita, you will spoil me, you indulge me so much," rejoined Flora. + +Mrs. Delano smiled affectionately, as she answered: "If you were very +spoilable, dear, I think that would have been done already." + +"But it will be such a bother to take care of Manon," said Flora. + +"Our new servant Chloe can do that," replied Mrs. Delano. "But I +really hope we shall get home without any further increase of our +retinue." + +From the clerk information was obtained that he heard Mr. Duroy tell +Mr. Bruteman that a lady named Rosabella Royal had sailed to Europe +with Signor and Madame Papanti in the ship Mermaid. He added that news +afterward arrived that the vessel foundered at sea, and all on board +were lost. + +With this sorrow on her heart, Flora returned to Boston. Mr. Percival +was immediately informed of their arrival, and hastened to meet them. +When the result of their researches was told, he said: "I shouldn't be +disheartened yet. Perhaps they didn't sail in the Mermaid. I will send +to the New York Custom-House for a list of the passengers." + +Flora eagerly caught at that suggestion; and Mrs. Delano said, with a +smile: "We have some other business in which we need your help. You +must know that I am involved in another slave case. If ever a quiet +and peace-loving individual was caught up and whirled about by a +tempest of events, I am surely that individual. Before I met this dear +little Flora, I had a fair prospect of living and dying a respectable +and respected old fogy, as you irreverent reformers call discreet +people. But now I find myself drawn into the vortex of abolition to +the extent of helping off four fugitive slaves. In Flora's case, I +acted deliberately, from affection and a sense of duty; but in this +second instance I was taken by storm, as it were. The poor woman was +aboard before I knew it, and I found myself too weak to withstand her +imploring looks and Flora's pleading tones." She went on to describe +the services Chloe had rendered to Rosa, and added: "I will pay any +expenses necessary for conveying this woman to a place of safety, and +supplying all that is necessary for her and her children, until she +can support them; but I do not feel as if she were safe here." + +"If you will order a carriage, I will take them directly to the house +of Francis Jackson, in Hollis Street," said Mr. Percival. "They will +be safe enough under the protection of that honest, sturdy friend of +freedom. His house is the depot of various subterranean railroads; and +I pity the slaveholder who tries to get on any of his tracks. He finds +himself 'like a toad under a harrow, where ilka tooth gies him a tug,' +as the Scotch say." + +While waiting for the carriage, Chloe and her children were brought +in. Flora took the little ones under her care, and soon had their +aprons filled with cakes and sugarplums. Chloe, unable to restrain her +feelings, dropped down on her knees in the midst of the questions they +were asking her, and poured forth an eloquent prayer that the Lord +would bless these good friends of her down-trodden people. + +When the carriage arrived, she rose, and, taking Mrs. Delano's hand, +said solemnly: "De Lord bress yer, Missis! De Lord bress yer! I seed +yer once fore ebber I knowed yer. I seed yer in a vision, when I war +prayin' to de Lord to open de free door fur me an' my chillen. Ye war +an angel wid white shiny wings. Bress de Lord! 'T war Him dat sent +yer.--An' now, Missy Flory, de Lord bress yer! Ye war allers good to +poor Chloe, down dar in de prison-house. Let me gib yer a kiss, little +Missy." + +Flora threw her arms round the bended neck, and promised to go and see +her wherever she was. + +When the carriage rolled away, emotion kept them both silent for a few +minutes. "How strange it seems to me now," said Mrs. Delano, "that +I lived so many years without thinking of the wrongs of these poor +people! I used to think prayer-meetings for slaves were very fanatical +and foolish. It seemed to me enough that they were included in our +prayer for 'all classes and conditions of men'; but after listening to +poor Chloe's eloquent outpouring, I am afraid such generalizing will +sound rather cold." + +"Mamita," said Flora, "you know you gave me some money to buy a silk +dress. Are you willing I should use it to buy clothes for Chloe and +her children?" + +"More than willing, my child," she replied. "There is no clothing so +beautiful as the raiment of righteousness." + +The next morning, Flora went out to make her purchases. Some time +after, Mrs. Delano, hearing voices near the door, looked out, and saw +her in earnest conversation with Florimond Blumenthal, who had a large +parcel in his arms. When she came in, Mrs. Delano said, "So you had an +escort home?" + +"Yes, Mamita," she replied; "Florimond would bring the parcel, and so +we walked together." + +"He was very polite," said Mrs. Delano; "but ladies are not accustomed +to stand on the doorstep talking with clerks who bring bundles for +them." + +"I didn't think anything about that," rejoined Flora. "He wanted to +know about Rosa, and I wanted to tell him. Florimond seems just like +a piece of my old home, because he loved papa so much. Mamita Lila, +didn't you say papa was a poor clerk when you and he first began to +love one another?" + +"Yes, my child," she replied; and she kissed the bright, innocent face +that came bending over her, looking so frankly into hers. + +When she had gone out of the room, Mrs. Delano said to herself, +"That darling child, with her strange history and unworldly ways, is +educating me more than I can educate her." + +A week later, Mr. and Mrs. Percival came, with tidings that no such +persons as Signor and Madame Papanti were on board the Mermaid; and +they proposed writing letters of inquiry forthwith to consuls in +various parts of Italy and France. + +Flora began to hop and skip and clap her hands. But she soon paused, +and said, laughingly: "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. Mamita often +tells me I was brought up in a bird-cage; and I ask her how then can +she expect me to do anything but hop and sing. Excuse me. I forgot +Mamita and I were not alone." + +"You pay us the greatest possible compliment," rejoined Mr. Percival. + +And Mrs. Percival added, "I hope you will always forget it when we are +here." + +"Do you really wish it?" asked Flora, earnestly. "Then I will." + +And so, with a few genial friends, an ever-deepening attachment +between her and her adopted mother, a hopeful feeling at her heart +about Rosa, Tulee's likeness by her bedside, and Madame's parrot to +wish her _Bon jour_! Boston came to seem to her like a happy home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +About two months after their return from the South, Mr. Percival +called one evening, and said: "Do you know Mr. Brick, the +police-officer? I met him just now, and he stopped me. 'There's plenty +of work for you Abolitionists now-a-days,' said he. 'There are five +Southerners at the Tremont, inquiring for runaways, and cursing +Garrison. An agent arrived last night from Fitzgerald's +plantation,--he that married Bell's daughter, you know. He sent for me +to give me a description of a nigger that had gone off in a mysterious +way to parts unknown. He wanted me to try to find the fellow, and, +of course, I did; for I always calculate to do my duty, as the law +directs. So I went immediately to Father Snowdon, and described the +black man, and informed him that his master had sent for him, in +a great hurry. I told him I thought it very likely he was lurking +somewhere in Belknap Street; and if he would have the goodness to hunt +him up, I would call, in the course of an hour or two, to see what +luck he had.'" + +"Who is Father Snowdon?" inquired Mrs. Delano. + +"He is the colored preacher in Belknap Street Church," replied Mr. +Percival, "and a remarkable man in his way. He fully equals Chloe in +prayer; and he is apt to command the ship Buzzard to the especial +attention of the Lord. The first time I entered his meeting, he was +saying, in a loud voice, 'We pray thee, O Lord, to bless her Majesty's +good ship, the Buzzard; and if there's a slave-trader now on the coast +of Africa, we pray thee, O Lord, to blow her straight under the lee of +the Buzzard.' He has been a slave himself, and he has perhaps helped +off more slaves than any man in the country. I doubt whether +Garrick himself had greater power to disguise his countenance. If a +slaveholder asks him about a slave, he is the most stolid-looking +creature imaginable. You wouldn't suppose he understood anything, or +ever _could_ understand anything. But if he meets an Abolitionist a +minute after, his black face laughs all over, and his roguish eyes +twinkle like diamonds, while he recounts how he 'come it' over the +Southern gentleman. That bright soul of his is a jewel set in ebony." + +"It seems odd that the police-officer should apply to _him_ to catch a +runaway," said Mrs. Delano. + +"That's the fun of it," responded Mr. Percival. "The extinguishers +are themselves taking fire. The fact is, Boston policemen don't feel +exactly in their element as slave-hunters. They are too near Bunker +Hill; and on the Fourth of July they are reminded of the Declaration +of Independence, which, though it is going out of fashion, is still +regarded by a majority of the people as a venerable document. Then +they have Whittier's trumpet-tones ringing in their ears,-- + + "'No slave hunt in _our_ borders! no pirate on _our_ strand! + No fetters in the Bay State! no slave upon _our_ land!'" + +"How did Mr. Brick describe Mr. Fitzgerald's runaway slave?" inquired +Flora. + +"He said he was tall and very black, with a white scar over his right +eye." + +"That's Tom!" exclaimed she. "How glad Chloe will be! But I wonder he +didn't come here the first thing. We could have told him how well she +was getting on in New Bedford." + +"Father Snowdon will tell him all about that," rejoined Mr. Percival. +"If Tom was in the city, he probably kept him closely hidden, on +account of the number of Southerners who have recently arrived; and +after the hint the police-officer gave him, he doubtless hustled him +out of town in the quickest manner." + +"I want to hurrah for that policeman," said Flora; "but Mamita would +think I was a very rude young lady, or rather that I was no lady at +all. But perhaps you'll let me _sing_ hurrah, Mamita?" + +Receiving a smile for answer, she flew to the piano, and, improvising +an accompaniment to herself, she began to sing hurrah! through all +manner of variations, high and low, rapidly trilled and slowly +prolonged, now bursting full upon the ear, now receding in the +distance. It was such a lively fantasia, that it made Mr. Percival +laugh, while Mrs. Delano's face was illuminated by a quiet smile. + +In the midst of the merriment, the door-bell rang. Flora started from +the piano, seized her worsted-work, and said, "Now, Mamita, I'm ready +to receive company like a pink of propriety." But the change was so +sudden, that her eyes were still laughing when Mr. Green entered an +instant after; and he again caught that archly demure expression which +seemed to him so fascinating. The earnestness of his salutation was so +different from his usual formal politeness, that Mrs. Delano could not +fail to observe it. The conversation turned upon incidents of travel +after they had parted so suddenly. "I shall never cease to regret," +said he, "that you missed hearing La Señorita Campaneo. She was a +most extraordinary creature. Superbly handsome; and do you know, Miss +Delano, I now and then caught a look that reminded me very much of +you. Unfortunately, you have lost your chance to hear her. For Mr. +King, the son of our Boston millionnaire, who has lately been piling +up money in the East, persuaded her to quit the stage when she had but +just started in her grand career. All the musical world in Rome were +vexed with him for preventing her re-engagement. As for Fitzgerald, I +believe he would have shot him if he could have found him. It was a +purely musical disappointment, for he was never introduced to the +fascinating Señorita; but he fairly pined upon it. I told him the best +way to drive off the blue devils would be to go with me and a few +friends to the Grotta Azzura. So off we started to Naples, and thence +to Capri. The grotto was one of the few novelties remaining for me +in Italy. I had heard much of it, but the reality exceeded all +descriptions. We seemed to be actually under the sea in a palace of +gems. Our boat glided over a lake of glowing sapphire, and our oars +dropped rubies. High above our heads were great rocks of sapphire, +deepening to lapis-lazuli at the base, with here and there a streak of +malachite." + +"It seems like Aladdin's Cave," remarked Flora. + +"Yes," replied Mr. Green; "only it was Aladdin's Cave undergoing a +wondrous 'sea change.' A poetess, who writes for the papers under the +name of Melissa Mayflower, had fastened herself upon our party in some +way; and I suppose she felt bound to sustain the reputation of the +quill. She said the Nereids must have built that marine palace, and +decorated it for a visit from fairies of the rainbow." + +"That was a pretty thought," said Flora. "It sounds like 'Lalla +Rookh.'" + +"It was a pretty thought," rejoined the gentleman, "but can give you +no idea of the unearthly splendor. I thought how you would have been +delighted if you had been with our party. I regretted your absence +almost as much as I did at the opera. But the Blue Grotto, wonderful +as it was, didn't quite drive away Fitzgerald's blue devils, though it +made him forget his vexations for the time. The fact is, just as we +started he received a letter from his agent, informing him of the +escape of a negro woman and her two children; and he spent most of the +way back to Naples swearing at the Abolitionists." + +Flora, the side of whose face was toward him, gave Mrs. Delano a +furtive glance full of fun; but he saw nothing of the mischief in her +expressive face, except a little whirlpool of a dimple, which played +about her mouth for an instant, and then subsided. A very broad smile +was on Mr. Percival's face, as he sat examining some magnificent +illustrations of the Alhambra. Mr. Green, quite unconscious of the +by-play in their thoughts, went on to say, "It is really becoming a +serious evil that Southern gentlemen have so little security for that +species of property." + +"Then you consider women and children _property_?" inquired Mr. +Percival, looking up from his book. + +Mr. Green bowed with a sort of mock deference, and replied: "Pardon +me, Mr. Percival, it is so unusual for gentlemen of your birth and +position to belong to the Abolition troop of rough-riders, that I may +be excused for not recollecting it." + +"I should consider my birth and position great misfortunes, if they +blinded me to the plainest principles of truth and justice," rejoined +Mr. Percival. + +The highly conservative gentleman made no reply, but rose to take +leave. + +"Did your friends the Fitzgeralds return with you?" inquired Mrs. +Delano. + +"No," replied he. "They intend to remain until October, Good evening, +ladies. I hope soon to have the pleasure of seeing you again." And +with an inclination of the head toward Mr. Percival, he departed. + +"Why did you ask him that question?" said Flora. "Are you afraid of +anything?" + +"Not in the slightest degree," answered Mrs. Delano. "If, without +taking much trouble, we can avoid your being recognized by Mr. +Fitzgerald, I should prefer it, because I do not wish to have any +conversation with him. But now that your sister's happiness is no +longer implicated, there is no need of caution. If he happens to see +you, I shall tell him you sought my protection, and that he has no +legal power over you." + +The conversation diverged to the Alhambra and Washington Irving; and +Flora ended the evening by singing the Moorish ballad of "Xarifa," +which she said always brought a picture of Rosabella before her eyes. + +The next morning, Mr. Green called earlier than usual. He did not +ask for Flora, whom he had in fact seen in the street a few minutes +before. "Excuse me, Mrs. Delano, for intruding upon you at such an +unseasonable hour," said he. "I chose it because I wished to be +sure of seeing you alone. You must have observed that I am greatly +interested in your adopted daughter." + +"The thought has crossed my mind," replied the lady; "but I was by no +means certain that she interested you more than a very pretty girl +must necessarily interest a gentleman of taste." + +"Pretty!" repeated he. "That is a very inadequate word to describe +the most fascinating young lady I have ever met. She attracts me so +strongly, that I have called to ask your permission to seek her for a +wife." + +Mrs. Delano hesitated for a moment, and then answered, "It is my duty +to inform you that she is not of high family on the father's side; and +on the mother's, she is scarcely what you would deem respectable." + +"Has she vulgar, disagreeable relations, who would be likely to be +intrusive?" he asked. + +"She has no relative, near or distant, that I know of," replied the +lady. + +"Then her birth is of no consequence," he answered. "My family would +be satisfied to receive her as your daughter. I am impatient to +introduce her to my mother and sisters, who I am sure will be charmed +with her." + +Mrs. Delano was embarrassed, much to the surprise of her visitor, who +was accustomed to consider his wealth and social position a prize that +would be eagerly grasped at. After watching her countenance for an +instant, he said, somewhat proudly: "You do not seem to receive my +proposal very cordially, Mrs. Delano. Have you anything to object to +my character or family?" + +"Certainly not," replied the lady. "My doubts are concerning my +daughter." + +"Is she engaged, or partially engaged, to another?" he inquired. + +"She is not," rejoined Mrs. Delano; "though I imagine she is not quite +'fancy free.'" + +"Would it be a breach of confidence to tell me who has been so +fortunate as to attract her?" + +"Nothing of the kind has ever been confided to me." answered the +lady. "It is merely an imagination of my own, and relates to a person +unknown to you." + +"Then I will enter the lists with my rival, if there is one," said he. +"Such a prize is not to be given up without an effort. But you have +not yet said that I have your consent." + +"Since you are so persistent," rejoined Mrs. Delano, "I will tell you +a secret, if you will pledge your honor, as a gentleman, never to +repeat it, or hint at it, to any mortal." + +"I pledge my honor," he replied, "that whatever you choose to tell me +shall be sacred between us." + +"It is not pleasant to tell the story of Flora's birth," responded +she; "but under present circumstances it seems to be a duty. When I +have informed you of the facts, you are free to engage her affections +if you can. On the paternal side, she descends from the French gentry +and the Spanish nobility; but her mother was a quadroon slave, and she +herself was sold as a slave." + +Mr. Green bowed his head upon his hand, and spoke no word. Drilled to +conceal his emotions, he seemed outwardly calm, though it cost him a +pang to relinquish the captivating young creature, who he felt would +have made his life musical, though by piquant contrast rather than by +harmony. After a brief, troubled silence, he rose and walked toward +the window, as if desirous to avoid looking the lady in the face. +After a while, he said, slowly, "Do you deem it quite right, Mrs. +Delano, to pass such a counterfeit on society?" + +"I have attempted to pass no counterfeit on society," she replied, +with dignity. "Flora is a blameless and accomplished young lady. +Her beauty and vivacity captivated me before I knew anything of her +origin; and in the same way they have captivated you. She was alone in +the world, and I was alone; and we adopted each other. I have never +sought to introduce her into society; and so far as relates to +yourself, I should have told you these facts sooner if I had known the +state of your feelings; but so long as they were not expressed, it +would scarcely have been delicate for me to take them for granted." + +"Very true," rejoined the disenchanted lover. "You certainly had a +right to choose a daughter for yourself; though I could hardly have +imagined that any amount of attraction would have overcome _such_ +obstacles in the mind of a lady of your education and refined views of +life. Excuse my using the word 'counterfeit.' I was slightly disturbed +when it escaped me." + +"It requires no apology," she replied. "I am aware that society would +take the same view of my proceeding that you do. As for my education, +I have learned to consider it as, in many respects, false. As for my +views, they have been greatly modified by this experience. I have +learned to estimate people and things according to their real value, +not according to any merely external accidents." + +Mr. Green extended his hand, saying: "I will bid you farewell, Mrs. +Delano; for, under existing circumstances, it becomes necessary to +deny myself the pleasure of again calling upon you. I must seek to +divert my mind by new travels, I hardly know where. I have exhausted +Europe, having been there three times. I have often thought I should +like to look on the Oriental gardens and bright waters of Damascus. +Everything is so wretchedly new, and so disagreeably fast, in this +country! It must be refreshing to see a place that has known no +changes for three thousand years." + +They clasped hands with mutual adieus; and the unfortunate son of +wealth, not knowing what to do in a country full of noble work, went +forth to seek a new sensation in the slow-moving caravans of the East. + +A few days afterward, when Flora returned from taking a lesson in +oil-colors, she said: "How do you suppose I have offended Mr. Green? +When I met him just now, he touched his hat in a very formal way, and +passed on, though I was about to speak to him." + +"Perhaps he was in a hurry," suggested Mrs. Delano. + +"No, it wasn't that," rejoined Flora. "He did just so day before +yesterday, and he can't always be in a hurry. Besides, you know he is +never in a hurry; he is too much of a gentleman." + +Her friend smiled as she answered, "You are getting to be quite a +judge of aristocratic manners, considering you were brought up in a +bird-cage." + +The young girl was not quite so ready as usual with a responsive +smile. She went on to say, in a tone of perplexity: "What _can_ +have occasioned such a change in his manner? You say I am sometimes +thoughtless about politeness. Do you think I have offended him in any +way?" + +"Would it trouble you very much if you had?" inquired Mrs. Delano. + +"Not _very_ much," she replied; "but I should be sorry if he thought +me rude to him, when he was so very polite to us in Europe. What is +it, Mamita? I think you know something about it." + +"I did not tell you, my child," replied she, "because I thought it +would be unpleasant. But you keep no secrets from me, and it is right +that I should be equally open-hearted with you. Did you never suspect +that Mr. Green was in love with you?" + +"The thought never occurred to me till he called here that first +evening after his return from Europe. Then, when he took my hand, he +pressed it a little. I thought it was rather strange in such a formal +gentleman; but I did not mention it to you, because I feared you would +think me vain. But if he is in love with me, why don't he tell me so? +And why does he pass me without speaking?" + +Her friend replied: "He deemed it proper to tell me first, and ask my +consent to pay his addresses to you. As he persisted very urgently, I +thought it my duty to tell him, under the seal of secrecy, that you +were remotely connected with the colored race. The announcement +somewhat disturbed his habitual composure. He said he must deny +himself the pleasure of calling again. He proposes to go to Damascus, +and there I hope he will forget his disappointment." + +Flora flared up as Mrs. Delano had never seen her. She reddened to +the temples, and her lip curled scornfully. "He is a mean man!" she +exclaimed. "If he thought that I myself was a suitable wife for his +serene highness, what had my great-grandmother to do with it? I wish +he had asked me to marry him. I should like to have him know I never +cared a button about him; and that, if I didn't care for him, I should +consider it more shameful to sell myself for his diamonds, than it +would have been to have been sold for a slave by papa's creditors +when I couldn't help myself. I am glad you don't feel like going into +parties, Mamita; and if you ever do feel like it, I hope you will +leave me at home. I don't want to be introduced to any of these cold, +aristocratic Bostonians." + +"Not all of them cold and aristocratic, darling," replied Mrs. Delano. +"Your Mamita is one of them; and she is becoming less cold and +aristocratic every day, thanks to a little Cinderella who came to her +singing through the woods, two years ago." + +"And who found a fairy godmother," responded Flora, subsiding into +a tenderer tone. "It _is_ ungrateful for me to say anything against +Boston; and with such friends as the Percivals too. But it does seem +mean that Mr. Green, if he really liked me, should decline speaking to +me because my great-grandmother had a dark complexion. I never knew +the old lady, though I dare say I should love her if I did know +her. Madame used to say Rosabella inherited pride from our Spanish +grandfather. I think I have some of it, too; and it makes me shy of +being introduced to your stylish acquaintance, who might blame you if +they knew all about me. I like people who do know all about me, and +who like me because I am I. That's one reason why I like Florimond. He +admired my mother, and loved my father; and he thinks just as well of +me as if I had never been sold for a slave." + +"Do you always call him Florimond?" inquired Mrs. Delano. + +"I call him Mr. Blumenthal before folks, and he calls me Miss Delano. +But when no one is by, he sometimes calls me Miss Royal, because he +says he loves that name, for the sake of old times; and then I call +him Blumen, partly for short, and partly because his cheeks are so +pink, it comes natural. He likes to have me call him so. He says Flora +is the _Göttinn der Blumen_ in German, and so I am the Goddess of +Blumen." + +Mrs. Delano smiled at these small scintillations of wit, which in the +talk of lovers sparkle to them like diamond-dust in the sunshine. + +"Has he ever told you that he loved _you_ as well as your name?" asked +she. + +"He never said so, Mamita; but I think he does," rejoined Flora. + +"What reason have you to think so?" inquired her friend. + +"He wants very much to come here," replied the young lady; "but he is +extremely modest. He says he knows he is not suitable company for such +a rich, educated lady as you are. He is taking dancing-lessons, and +lessons on the piano, and he is studying French and Italian and +history, and all sorts of things. And he says he means to make a mint +of money, and then perhaps he can come here sometimes to see me dance, +and hear me play on the piano." + +"I by no means require that all my acquaintance should make a mint of +money," answered Mrs. Delano. "I am very much pleased with the account +you give of this young Blumenthal. When you next see him, give him my +compliments, and tell him I should be happy to become acquainted with +him." + +Flora dropped on her knees and hid her face in her friend's lap. She +didn't express her thanks in words, but she cried a little. + +"This is more serious than I supposed," thought Mrs. Delano. + +A fortnight afterward, she obtained an interview with Mr. Goldwin, and +asked, "What is your estimate of that young Mr. Blumenthal, who has +been for some time in your employ?" + +"He is a modest young man, of good habits," answered the merchant; +"and of more than common business capacity." + +"Would you be willing to receive him as a partner?" she inquired. + +"The young man is poor," rejoined Mr. Goldwin; "and we have many +applications from those who can advance some capital." + +"If a friend would loan him ten thousand dollars for twenty years, and +leave it to him by will in case she should die meanwhile, would that +be sufficient to induce you?" said the lady. + +"I should be glad to do it, particularly if it obliges you, Mrs. +Delano," responded the merchant; "for I really think him a very worthy +young man." + +"Then consider it settled," she replied. "But let it be an affair +between ourselves, if you please; and to him you may merely say that a +friend of his former employer and benefactor wishes to assist him." + +When Blumenthal informed Flora of this unexpected good-fortune, they +of course suspected from whom it came; and they looked at each other, +and blushed. + +Mrs. Delano did not escape gossiping remarks. "How she has changed!" +said Mrs. Ton to Mrs. Style. "She used to be the most fastidious of +exclusives; and now she has adopted nobody knows whom, and one of Mr. +Goldwin's clerks seems to be on the most familiar footing there. I +should have no objection to invite the girl to my parties, for she is +Mrs. Delano's _adoptée_, and she would really be an ornament to my +rooms, besides being very convenient and an accomplished musician; +but, of course, I don't wish my daughters to be introduced to that +nobody of a clerk." + +"She has taken up several of the Abolitionists too," rejoined Mrs. +Style. "My husband looked into an anti-slavery meeting the other +evening, partly out of curiosity to hear what Garrison had to say, and +partly in hopes of obtaining some clew to a fugitive slave that one of +his Southern friends had written to him about. And who should he see +there, of all people in the world, but Mrs. Delano and her _adoptée_, +escorted by that young clerk. Think of her, with her dove-colored +silks and violet gloves, crowded and jostled by Dinah and Sambo! I +expect the next thing we shall hear will be that she has given a negro +party." + +"In that case, I presume she will choose to perfume her embroidered +handkerchiefs with musk, or pachouli, instead of her favorite breath +of violets," responded Mrs. Ton. + +And, smiling at their wit, the fashionable ladies parted, to quote it +from each other as among the good things they had recently heard. + +Only the faint echoes of such remarks reached Mrs. Delano; though she +was made to feel, in many small ways, that she had become a black +sheep in aristocratic circles. But these indications passed by her +almost unnoticed, occupied as she was in earnestly striving to redeem +the mistakes of the past by making the best possible use of the +present. + + + + +PART SECOND. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +An interval of nineteen years elapsed, bringing with them various +changes to the personages of this story. A year after Mr. +Fitzgerald's return from Europe, a feud sprang up between him and his +father-in-law, Mr. Bell, growing out of his dissipated and spendthrift +habits. His intercourse with Boston was consequently suspended, and +the fact of Flora's existence remained unknown to him. He died nine +years after he witnessed the dazzling apparition of Rosa in Rome, and +the history of his former relation to her was buried with him, as were +several other similar secrets. There was generally supposed to be +something mysterious about his exit. Those who were acquainted with +Mr. Bell's family were aware that the marriage had been an unhappy +one, and that there was an obvious disposition to hush inquiries +concerning it. Mrs. Fitzgerald had always continued to spend her +summers with her parents; and having lost her mother about the time of +her widowhood, she became permanently established at the head of her +father's household. She never in any way alluded to her married life, +and always dismissed the subject as briefly as possible, if any +stranger touched upon it. Of three children, only one, her eldest, +remained. Time had wrought changes in her person. Her once fairy-like +figure was now too short for its fulness, and the blue eyes were +somewhat dulled in expression; but the fair face and the paly-gold +tresses were still very pretty. + +When she had at last succeeded in obtaining an introduction to Flora, +during one of her summer visits to Boston, she had been very much +captivated by her, and was disposed to rally Mr. Green about his +diminished enthusiasm, after he had fallen in love with a fair cousin +of hers; but that gentleman was discreetly silent concerning the real +cause of his disenchantment. + +Mrs. Delano's nature was so much deeper than that of her pretty +neighbor, that nothing like friendship could grow up between them; but +Mrs. Fitzgerald called occasionally, to retail gossip of the outer +world, or to have what she termed a musical treat. + +Flora had long been Mrs. Blumenthal. At the time of her marriage, Mrs. +Delano said she was willing to adopt a son, but not to part with a +daughter; consequently, they formed one household. As years passed on, +infant faces and lisping voices came into the domestic circle,--fresh +little flowers in the floral garland of Mamita Lila's life. Alfred +Royal, the eldest, was a complete reproduction, in person and +character, of the grandfather whose name he bore. Rosa, three years +younger, was quite as striking a likeness of her namesake. Then came +two little ones, who soon went to live with the angels. And, lastly, +there was the five-year-old pet, Lila, who inherited her father's blue +eyes, pink cheeks, and flaxen hair. + +These children were told that their grandfather was a rich American +merchant in New Orleans, and their grandmother a beautiful and +accomplished Spanish lady; that their grandfather failed in business +and died poor; that his friend Mrs. Delano adopted their mother; and +that they had a very handsome Aunt Rosa, who went to Europe with some +good friends, and was lost at sea. It was not deemed wise to inform +them of any further particulars, till time and experience had matured +their characters and views of life. + +Applications to American consuls, in various places, for information +concerning Signor and Madame Papanti had proved unavailing, in +consequence of the Signor's change of name; and Rosabella had long +ceased to be anything but a very tender memory to her sister, whose +heart was now completely filled with new objects of affection. The +bond between her and her adopted mother strengthened with time, +because their influence on each other was mutually improving to their +characters. The affection and gayety of the young folks produced a +glowing atmosphere in Mrs. Delano's inner life, as their mother's +tropical taste warmed up the interior aspect of her dwelling. The +fawn-colored damask curtains had given place to crimson; and in lieu +of the silvery paper, the walls were covered with bird-of-paradise +color, touched with golden gleams. The centre-table was covered with +crimson, embroidered with a gold-colored garland; and the screen +of the gas-light was a gorgeous assemblage of bright flowers. Mrs. +Delano's lovely face was even more placid than it had been in earlier +years; but there was a sunset brightness about it, as of one growing +old in an atmosphere of love. The ash-colored hair, which Flora had +fancied to be violet-tinged, was of a silky whiteness now, and fell in +soft curls about the pale face. + +On the day when I again take up the thread of this story, she +was seated in her parlor, in a dress of silvery gray silk, which +contrasted pleasantly with the crimson chair. Under her collar of +Honiton lace was an amethystine ribbon, fastened with a pearl pin. Her +cap of rich white lace, made in the fashion of Mary Queen of Scots, +was very slightly trimmed with ribbon of the same color, and fastened +in front with a small amethyst set with pearls. For fanciful Flora had +said: "Dear Mamita Lila, don't have _every_thing about your dress cold +white or gray. Do let something violet or lilac peep out from the +snow, for the sake of 'auld lang syne.'" + +The lady was busy with some crochet-work, when a girl, apparently +about twelve years old, came through the half-opened folding-doors, +and settled on an ottoman at her feet. She had large, luminous dark +eyes, very deeply fringed, and her cheeks were like ripened peaches. +The dark mass of her wavy hair was gathered behind into what was +called a Greek cap, composed of brown network strewn with gold beads. +Here and there very small, thin dark curls strayed from under it, like +the tendrils of a delicate vine; and nestling close to each ear was a +little dark, downy crescent, which papa called her whisker when he was +playfully inclined to excite her juvenile indignation. + +"See!" said she. "This pattern comes all in a tangle. I have done the +stitches wrong. Will you please to help me, Mamita Lila?" + +Mrs. Delano looked up, smiling as she answered, "Let me see what the +trouble is, Rosy Posy." + +Mrs. Blumenthal, who was sitting opposite, noticed with artistic eye +what a charming contrast of beauty there was between that richly +colored young face, with its crown of dark hair, and that pale, +refined, symmetrical face, in its frame of silver. "What a pretty +picture I could make, if I had my crayons here," thought she. "How +gracefully the glossy folds of Mamita's gray dress fall over Rosa's +crimson merino." + +She was not aware that she herself made quite as charming a picture. +The spirit of laughter still flitted over her face, from eyes to +dimples; her shining black curls were lighted up with a rope of +cherry-colored chenille, hanging in a tassel at her ear; and her +graceful little figure showed to advantage in a neatly fitting dress +of soft brown merino, embroidered with cherry-colored silk. On her +lap was little Lila, dressed in white and azure, with her fine flaxen +curls tossed about by the motion of riding to "Banbury Cross." The +child laughed and clapped her hands at every caper; and if her steed +rested for a moment, she called out impatiently, "More agin, mamma!" + +But mamma was thinking of the picture she wanted to make, and at last +she said: "We sha'n't get to Banbury Cross to-day, Lila Blumen; so you +must fall off your horse, darling, and nursey will take you, while I +go to fetch my crayons." She had just taken her little pet by the +hand to lead her from the room, when the door-bell rang. "That's +Mrs. Fitzgerald," said she. "I know, because she always rings an +_appoggiatura_. Rosen Blumen, take sissy to the nursery, please." + +While the ladies were interchanging salutations with their visitor, +Rosa passed out of the room, leading her little sister by the hand. "I +declare," said Mrs. Fitzgerald, "that oldest daughter of yours, Mrs. +Blumenthal, bears a striking resemblance to the _cantatrice_ who was +turning everybody's head when I was in Rome. You missed hearing her, I +remember. Let me see, what was her _nomme de guerre_? I forget; but +it was something that signified a bell, because there was a peculiar +ringing in her voice. When I first saw your daughter, she reminded me +of somebody I had seen; but I never thought who it was till now. I +came to tell you some news about the fascinating Señorita; and I +suppose that brought the likeness to my mind. You know Mr. King, the +son of our rich old merchant, persuaded her to leave the stage to +marry him. They have been living in the South of France for some +years, but he has just returned to Boston. They have taken rooms at +the Revere House, while his father's house is being fitted up in grand +style for their reception. The lady will of course be a great lioness. +She is to make her first appearance at the party of my cousin, Mrs. +Green. The winter is so nearly at an end, that I doubt whether there +will be any more large parties this season; and I wouldn't fail of +attending this one on any account, if it were only for the sake of +seeing her. She was the handsomest creature I ever beheld. If you had +ever seen her, you would consider it a compliment indeed to be told +that your Rosa resembles her." + +"I should like to get a glimpse of her, if I could without the trouble +of going to a party," replied Mrs. Blumenthal. + +"I will come the day after," rejoined Mrs. Fitzgerald, "and tell you +how she was dressed, and whether she looks as handsome in the parlor +as she did on the stage." + +After some more chat about reported engagements, and the probable +fashions for the coming season, the lady took her leave. + +When she was gone, Mrs. Delano remarked: "Mrs. King must be very +handsome if she resembles our Rosa. But I hope Mrs. Fitzgerald will +not be so injudicious as to talk about it before the child. She is +free from vanity, and I earnestly wish she may remain so. By the way, +Flora, this Mr. King is your father's namesake,--the one who, you told +me, called at your house in New Orleans, when you were a little girl." + +"I was thinking of that very thing," rejoined Mrs. Blumenthal, "and I +was just going to ask you his Christian name. I should like to call +there to take a peep at his handsome lady, and see whether he would +recollect me. If he did, it would be no matter. So many years have +passed, and I am such an old story in Boston, that nobody will concern +themselves about me." + +"I also should be rather pleased to call," said Mrs. Delano. "His +father was a friend of mine; and it was through him that I became +acquainted with your father. They were inseparable companions when +they were young men. Ah, how long ago that seems! No wonder my hair is +white. But please ring for Rosa, dear. I want to arrange her pattern +before dinner." + +"There's the door-bell again, Mamita!" exclaimed Flora; "and a very +energetic ring it is, too. Perhaps you had better wait a minute." + +The servant came in to say that a person from the country wanted to +speak with Mrs. Delano; and a tall, stout man, with a broad face, full +of fun, soon entered. Having made a short bow, he said, "Mrs. Delano, +I suppose?" + +The lady signified assent by an inclination of the head. + +"My name's Joe Bright," continued he. "No relation of John Bright, the +bright Englishman. Wish I was. I come from Northampton, ma'am. The +keeper of the Mansion House told me you wanted to get board there in +some private family next summer; and I called to tell you that I can +let you have half of my house, furnished or not, just as you like. As +I'm plain Joe Bright the blacksmith, of course you won't find lace and +damask, and such things as you have here." + +"All we wish for," rejoined Mrs. Delano, "is healthy air and wholesome +food for the children." + +"Plenty of both, ma'am," replied the blacksmith. "And I guess you'll +like my wife. She ain't one of the kind that raises a great dust when +she sweeps. She's a still sort of body; but she knows a deal more than +she tells for." + +After a description of the accommodations he had to offer, and a +promise from Mrs. Delano to inform him of her decision in a few days, +he rose to go. But he stood, hat in hand, looking wistfully toward the +piano. "Would it be too great a liberty, ma'am, to ask which of you +ladies plays?" said he. + +"I seldom play," rejoined Mrs. Delano, "because my daughter, Mrs. +Blumenthal, plays so much better." + +Turning toward Flora, he said, "I suppose it would be too much trouble +to play me a tune?" + +"Certainty not," she replied; and, seating herself at the piano, she +dashed off, with voice and instrument, "The Campbells are coming, Oho! +Oho!" + +"By George!" exclaimed the blacksmith. "You was born to it, ma'am; +that's plain enough. Well, it was just so with me. I took to music as +a Newfoundland pup takes to the water. When my brother Sam and I were +boys, we were let out to work for a blacksmith. We wanted a fiddle +dreadfully; but we were too poor to buy one; and we couldn't have got +much time to play on't if we had had one, for our boss watched us as +a weasel watches mice. But we were bent on getting music somehow. The +boss always had plenty of iron links of all sizes, hanging in a row, +ready to be made into chains when wanted. One day, I happened to hit +one of the links with a piece of iron I had in my hand. 'By George! +Sam,' said I, 'that was Do.' 'Strike again,' says he. 'Blow! Sam, +blow!' said I. I was afraid the boss would come in and find the iron +cooling in the fire. So he kept blowing away, and I struck the link +again. 'That's Do, just as plain as my name's Sam,' said he. A few +days after, I said, 'By George! Sam, I've found Sol.' 'So you have,' +said he. 'Now let _me_ try. Blow, Joe, blow!' Sam, he found Re and La. +And in the course of two months we got so we could play Old Hundred. I +don't pretend to say we could do it as glib as you run over the ivory, +ma'am; but it was Old Hundred, and no mistake. And we played Yankee +Doodle, first rate. We called our instrument the Harmolinks; and we +enjoyed it all the more because it was our own invention. I tell you +what, ma'am, there's music hid away in everything, only we don't know +how to bring it out." + +"I think so," rejoined Mrs. Blumenthal. "Music is a sleeping beauty, +that needs the touch of a prince to waken her. Perhaps you will play +something for us, Mr. Bright?" She rose and vacated the music-stool as +she spoke. + +"I should be ashamed to try my clumsy fingers in your presence, +ladies," he replied. "But I'll sing the Star-spangled Banner, if you +will have the goodness to accompany me." + +She reseated herself, and he lifted up his voice and sang. When he had +done, he drew a long breath, wiped the perspiration from his face with +a bandana handkerchief, and laughed as he said: "I made the screen of +your gas-light shake, ma'am. The fact is, when I sing _that_, I _have_ +to put all my heart into it." + +"And all your voice, too," rejoined Mrs. Blumenthal. + +"O, no," answered he, "I could have put on a good deal more steam, if +I hadn't been afraid of drowning the piano. I'm greatly obliged to +you, ladies; and I hope I shall have the pleasure of hearing you again +in my own house. I should like to hear some more now, but I've stayed +too long. My wife agreed to meet me at a store, and I don't know what +she'll say to me." + +"Tell her we detained you by playing to you," said Mrs. Blumenthal. + +"O, that would be too much like Adam," rejoined he. "I always feel +ashamed to look a woman in the face, after reading that story. I +always thought Adam was a mean cuss to throw off all the blame on +Eve." With a short bow, and a hasty "Good morning, ladies," he went +out. + +His parting remark amused Flora so much, that she burst into one of +her musical peals of laughter; while her more cautious friend raised +her handkerchief to her mouth, lest their visitor should hear some +sound of mirth, and mistake its import. + +"What a great, beaming face!" exclaimed Flora. "It looks like a +sunflower. I have a fancy for calling him Monsieur Girasol. What a +pity Mr. Green hadn't longed for a musical instrument, and been +too poor to buy one. It would have done him so much good to have +astonished himself by waking up a tune in the Harmolinks." + +"Yes," responded Mrs. Delano, "it might have saved him the trouble of +going to Arabia Petraea or Damascus, in search of something new. What +do you think about accepting Mr. Bright's offer?" "O, I hope we shall +go, Mamita. The children would be delighted with him. If Alfred had +been here this morning, he would have exclaimed, 'Isn't he jolly?'" + +"I think things must go cheerfully where such a sunflower spirit +presides," responded Mrs. Delano. "And he is certainly sufficiently +_au naturel_ to suit you and Florimond." + +"Yes, he bubbles over," rejoined Flora. "It isn't the fashion; but I +like folks that bubble over." + +Mrs. Delano smiled as she answered: "So do I. And perhaps you can +guess who it was that made me in love with bubbling over?" + +Flora gave a knowing smile, and dotted one of her comic little +courtesies. "I don't see what makes you and Florimond like me so +well," said she. "I'm sure I'm neither wise nor witty." + +"But something better than either," replied Mamita. + +The vivacious little woman said truly that she was neither very wise +nor very witty; but she was a transparent medium of sunshine; and the +commonest glass, filled with sunbeams, becomes prismatic as a diamond. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +Mrs. Green's ball was _the_ party of the season. Five hundred +invitations were sent out, all of them to people unexceptionable for +wealth, or fashion, or some sort of high distinction, political, +literary, or artistic. Smith had received _carte blanche_ to prepare +the most luxurious and elegant supper possible. Mrs. Green was +resplendent with diamonds; and the house was so brilliantly +illuminated, that the windows of carriages traversing that part of +Beacon Street glittered as if touched by the noonday sun. A crowd +collected on the Common, listening to the band of music, and watching +the windows of the princely mansion, to obtain glimpses through its +lace curtains of graceful figures revolving in the dance, like a +vision of fairy-land seen through a veil of mist. + +In that brilliant assemblage, Mrs. King was the centre of attraction. +She was still a Rose Royal, as Gerald Fitzgerald had called her +twenty-three years before. A very close observer would have noticed +that time had slightly touched her head; but the general effect of +the wavy hair was as dark and glossy as ever. She had grown somewhat +stouter, but that only rendered her tall figure more majestic. It +still seemed as if the fluid Art, whose harmonies were always flowing +through her soul, had fashioned her form and was swaying all its +motions; and to this natural gracefulness was now added that peculiar +stylishness of manner, which can be acquired only by familiar +intercourse with elegant society. There was nothing foreign in her +accent, but the modulations of her voice were so musical, that +English, as she spoke it, seemed all vowels and liquid consonants. +She had been heralded as La Señorita, and her dress was appropriately +Spanish. It was of cherry-colored satin, profusely trimmed with black +lace. A mantilla of very rich transparent black lace was thrown over +her head, and fastened on one side with a cluster of red fuchsias, +the golden stamens of which were tipped with small diamonds. The lace +trimming on the corsage was looped up with a diamond star, and her +massive gold bracelets were clasped with, diamonds. + +Mr. Green received her with great _empressement_; evidently +considering her the "bright particular star" of the evening. She +accepted her distinguished position with the quietude of one +accustomed to homage. With a slight bow she gave Mr. Green the desired +promise to open the ball with him, and then turned to answer another +gentleman, who wished to obtain her for the second dance. She would +have observed her host a little more curiously, had she been aware +that he once proposed to place her darling Floracita at the head of +that stylish mansion. + +Mrs. King's peculiar style of beauty and rich foreign dress attracted +universal attention; but still greater admiration was excited by her +dancing, which was the very soul of music taking form in motion; and +as the tremulous diamond drops of the fuchsias kept time with her +graceful movements, they sparkled among the waving folds of her black +lace mantilla, like fire-flies in a dark night. She was, of course, +the prevailing topic of conversation; and when Mr. Green was not +dancing, he was called upon to repeat, again and again, the account +of her wonderful _début_ in the opera at Rome. In the midst of one of +these recitals, Mrs. Fitzgerald and her son entered; and a group soon +gathered round that lady, to listen to the same story from her lips. +It was familiar to her son; but he listened to it with quickened +interest, while he gazed at the beautiful opera-singer winding about +so gracefully in the evolutions of the dance. + +Mr. King was in the same set with his lady, and had just touched her +hand, as the partners crossed over, when he noticed a sudden flush on +her countenance, succeeded by deadly pallor. Following the direction +her eye had taken, he saw a slender, elegant young man, who, with +some variation in the fashion of dress, seemed the veritable Gerald +Fitzgerald to whom he had been introduced in the flowery parlor so +many years ago. His first feeling was pain, that this vision of her +first lover had power to excite such lively emotion in his wife; but +his second thought was, "He recalls her first-born son." + +Young Fitzgerald eagerly sought out Mr. Green, and said: "Please +introduce me the instant this dance is ended, that I may ask her for +the next. There will be so many trying to engage her, you know." + +He was introduced accordingly. The lady politely acceded to his +request, and the quick flush on her face was attributed by all, except +Mr. King, to the heat produced by dancing. + +When her young partner took her hand to lead her to the next dance, +she stole a glance toward her husband, and he saw that her soul was +troubled. The handsome couple were "the observed of all observers"; +and the youth was so entirely absorbed with his mature partner, that +not a little jealousy was excited in the minds of young ladies. When +he led her to a seat, she declined the numerous invitations that +crowded upon her, saying she should dance no more that evening. Young +Fitzgerald at once professed a disinclination to dance, and begged +that, when she was sufficiently rested, she would allow him to lead +her to the piano, that he might hear her sing something from Norma, by +which she had so delighted his mother, in Rome. + +"Your son seems to be entirely devoted to the queen of the evening," +said Mr. Green to his cousin. + +"How can you wonder at it?" replied Mrs. Fitzgerald. "She is such a +superb creature!" + +"What was her character in Rome?" inquired a lady who had joined the +group. + +"Her stay there was very short," answered Mrs. Fitzgerald. "Her +manners were said to be unexceptionable. The gentlemen were quite +vexed because she made herself so inaccessible." + +The conversation was interrupted by La Campaneo's voice, singing, +"_Ah, bello a me ritorno_." The orchestra hushed at once, and the +dancing was suspended, while the company gathered round the piano, +curious to hear the remarkable singer. Mrs. Fitzgerald had long +ceased to allude to what was once her favorite topic,--the wonderful +resemblance between La Señorita's voice and a mysterious voice she had +once heard on her husband's plantation. But she grew somewhat pale as +she listened; for the tones recalled that adventure in her bridal home +at Magnolia Lawn, and the fair moonlight vision was followed by dismal +spectres of succeeding years. Ah, if all the secret histories and sad +memories assembled in a ball-room should be at once revealed, what a +judgment night it would be! + +Mrs. King had politely complied with the request to sing, because she +was aware that her host and the company would be disappointed if she +refused; but it was known only to her own soul how much the effort +cost her. She bowed rather languidly to the profuse compliments which +followed-her performance, and used her fan as if she felt oppressed. + +"Fall back!" said one of the gentlemen, in a low voice. "There is too +great a crowd round her." + +The hint was immediately obeyed, and a servant was requested to bring +iced lemonade. She soon breathed more freely, and tried to rally +her spirits to talk with Mr. Green and others concerning European +reminiscences. Mrs. Fitzgerald drew near, and signified to her cousin +a wish to be introduced; for it would have mortified her vanity, when +she afterward retailed the gossip of the ball-room, if she had been +obliged to acknowledge that she was not presented to _la belle +lionne_. + +"If you are not too much fatigued," said she, "I hope you will allow +my son to sing a duet with you. He would esteem it such an honor! I +assure you he has a fine voice, and he is thought to sing with great +expression, especially '_M'odi! Ah, m'odi_!'" + +The young gentleman modestly disclaimed the compliment to his musical +powers, but eagerly urged his mother's request. As he bent near the +_cantatrice_, waiting for her reply, her watchful husband again +noticed a quick flush suffusing her face, succeeded by deadly pallor. +Gently moving young Fitzgerald aside, he said in a low tone, "Are you +not well, my dear?" + +She raised her eyes to his with a look of distress, and replied: "No, +I am not well. Please order the carriage." + +He took her arm within his, and as they made their way through the +crowd she bowed gracefully to the right and left, in answer to the +lamentations occasioned by her departure. Young Fitzgerald followed +to the hall door to offer, in the name of Mrs. Green, a beautiful +bouquet, enclosed within an arum lily of silver filigree. She bowed +her thanks, and, drawing from it a delicate tea-rose, presented it to +him. He wore it as a trophy the remainder of the evening; and none of +the young ladies who teased him for it succeeded in obtaining it. + +When Mr. and Mrs. King were in the carriage, he took her hand +tenderly, and said, "My dear, that young man recalled to mind your +infant son, who died with poor Tulee." + +With a heavy sigh she answered, "Yes, I am thinking of that poor +little baby." + +He held her hand clasped in his; but deeming it most kind not to +intrude into the sanctum of that sad and tender memory, he remained +silent. She spoke no other word as they rode toward their hotel. She +was seeing a vision of those two babes, lying side by side, on that +dreadful night when her tortured soul was for a while filled with +bitter hatred for the man she had loved so truly. + +Mrs. Fitzgerald and her son were the earliest among the callers the +next day. Mrs. King happened to rest her hand lightly on the back of +a chair, while she exchanged salutations with them, and her husband +noticed that the lace of her hanging sleeve trembled violently. + +"You took everybody by storm last evening, Mrs. King, just as you +did when you first appeared as Norma," said the loquacious Mrs. +Fitzgerald. "As for you, Mr. King, I don't know but you would have +received a hundred challenges, if gentlemen had known you were going +to carry off the prize. So sly of you, too! For I always heard you +were entirely indifferent to ladies." + +"Ah, well, the world don't always know what it's talking about," +rejoined Mr. King, smiling. Further remarks were interrupted by the +entrance of a young girl, whom he took by the hand, and introduced as +"My daughter Eulalia." + +Nature is very capricious in the varieties she produces by mixing +flowers with each other. Sometimes the different tints of each are +blended in a new color, compounded of both; sometimes the color of one +is delicately shaded into the other; sometimes one color is marked in +distinct stripes or rings upon the other; and sometimes the separate +hues are mottled and clouded. Nature had indulged in one of her freaks +in the production of Eulalia, a maiden of fifteen summers, the only +surviving child of Mr. and Mrs. King. She inherited her mother's tall, +flexile form, and her long dark eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair; but she +had her father's large blue eyes, and his rose-and-white complexion. +The combination was peculiar, and very handsome; especially the serene +eyes, which, looked out from their dark surroundings like clear blue +water deeply shaded by shrubbery around its edges. Her manners were a +little shy, for her parents had wisely forborne an early introduction +to society. But she entered pleasantly enough into some small talk +with Fitzgerald about the skating parties of the winter, and a new +polka that he thought she would like to practise. + +Callers began to arrive rapidly. There was a line of carriages at +the door, and still it lengthened. Mrs. King received them all with +graceful courtesy, and endeavored to say something pleasing to each; +but in the midst of it all, she never lost sight of Gerald and +Eulalia. After a short time she beckoned to her daughter with a slight +motion of her fan, and spoke a few words to her aside. The young +girl left the room, and did not return to it. Fitzgerald, after +interchanging some brief remarks with Mr. King about the classes at +Cambridge, approached the _cantatrice_, and said in lowered tones: +"I tried to call early with the hope of hearing you sing. But I was +detained by business for grandfather; and even if you were graciously +inclined to gratify my presumptuous wish, you will not be released +from company this morning. May I say, _Au revoir_?" + +"Certainly," she replied, looking up at him with an expression in her +beautiful eyes that produced a glow of gratified vanity. He bowed good +morning, with the smiling conviction that he was a great favorite with +the distinguished lady. + +When the last caller had retired, Mrs. King, after exchanging some +general observations with her husband concerning her impressions of +Boston and its people, seated herself at the window, with a number of +Harper's Weekly in her hand; but the paper soon dropped on her lap, +and she seemed gazing into infinity. The people passing and repassing +were invisible to her. She was away in that lonely island home, with +two dark-haired babies lying near her, side by side. + +Her husband looked at her over his newspaper, now and then; and +observing her intense abstraction, he stepped softly across the room, +and, laying his hand gently upon her head, said: "Rosa, dear, do +memories trouble you so much that you regret having returned to +America?" + +Without change of posture, she answered: "It matters not where we +are. We must always carry ourselves with us." Then, as if reproaching +herself for so cold a response to his kind inquiry, she looked up at +him, and, kissing his hand, said: "Dear Alfred! Good angel of my life! +I do not deserve such a heart as yours." + +He had never seen such a melancholy expression in her eyes since the +day she first encouraged him to hope for her affection. He made no +direct allusion to the subject of her thoughts, for the painful +history of her early love was a theme they mutually avoided; but he +sought, by the most assiduous tenderness, to chase away the gloomy +phantoms that were taking possession of her soul. In answer to his +urgent entreaty that she would express to him unreservedly any wish +she might form, she said, as if thinking aloud: "Of course they buried +poor Tulee among the negroes; but perhaps they buried the baby +with Mr. and Mrs. Duroy, and inscribed something about him on the +gravestone." + +"It is hardly probable," he replied; "but if it would give you +satisfaction to search, we will go to New Orleans." + +"Thank you," rejoined she; "and I should like it very much if you +could leave orders to engage lodgings for the summer somewhere distant +from Boston, that we might go and take possession as soon as we +return." + +He promised compliance with her wishes; but the thought flitted +through his mind, "Can it be possible the young man fascinates her, +that she wants to fly from him?" + +"I am going to Eulalia now," said she, with one of her sweet smiles. +"It will be pleasanter for the dear child when we get out of this +whirl of society, which so much disturbs our domestic companionship." + +As she kissed her hand to him at the door, he thought to himself, +"Whatever this inward struggle may be, she will remain true to her +pure and noble character." + +Mrs. Fitzgerald, meanwhile, quite unconscious that the flowery surface +she had witnessed covered such agitated depths, hastened to keep her +promise of describing the party to Mrs. Delano and her daughter. + +"I assure you," said she, "La Señorita looked quite as handsome in the +ball-room as she did on the stage. She is stouter than she was then, +but not so; 'fat and forty' as I am. Large proportions suit her +stately figure. As for her dress, I wish you could have seen it. It +was splendid, and wonderfully becoming to her rich complexion. It was +completely Spanish, from the mantilla on her head to the black satin +slippers with red bows and brilliants. She was all cherry-colored +satin, black lace, and diamonds." + +"How I should like to have seen her!" exclaimed Mrs. Blumenthal, whose +fancy was at once taken by the bright color and strong contrast of the +costume. + +But Mrs. Delano remarked: "I should think her style of dress rather +too _prononcé_ and theatrical; too suggestive of Fanny Elsler and the +Bolero." + +"Doubtless it would be so for you or I," rejoined Mrs. Fitzgerald. +"Mother used to say you had a poet lover, who called you the twilight +cloud, violet dissolving into lilac. And when I was a young lady, some +of my admirers compared me to the new moon, which must, of course, +appear in azure and silver. But I assure you Mrs. King's conspicuous +dress was extremely becoming to her style of face and figure. I wish I +had counted how many gentlemen quoted, 'She walks in beauty like the +night' It became really ridiculous at last. Gerald and I called upon +her this morning, and we found her handsome in the parlor by daylight, +which is a trying test to the forties, you know. We were introduced +to their only daughter, Eulalia,--a very peculiar-looking young miss, +with sky-blue eyes and black eyelashes, like some of the Circassian +beauties I have read off. Gerald thinks her almost as handsome as her +mother. What a fortune that girl will be! But I have promised ever so +many people to tell them about the party; so I must bid you good by." + +When the door closed after her, Flora remarked, "I never heard of +anybody but my Mamita who was named Eulalia." + +"Eulalia was a Spanish saint," responded Mrs. Delano; "and her name +is so very musical that it would naturally please the ear of La +Señorita." + +"My curiosity is considerably excited to see this stylish lady," said +Flora. + +"We will wait a little, till the first rush of visitors has somewhat +subsided, and then we will call," rejoined Mrs. Delano. + +They called three days after, and were informed that Mr. and Mrs. King +had gone to New Orleans. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +Strange contrasts occur in human society, even where there is such +a strong tendency toward equality as there is in New England. A few +hours before Queen Fashion held her splendid court in Beacon Street, a +vessel from New Orleans called "The King Cotton" approached Long Wharf +in Boston. Before she touched the pier, a young man jumped on board +from another vessel close by. He went directly up to the captain, and +said, in a low, hurried tone: "Let nobody land. You have slaves on +board. Mr. Bell is in a carriage on the wharf waiting to speak to +you." + +Having delivered this message, he disappeared in the same direction +that he came. + +This brief interview was uneasily watched by one of the passengers, a +young man apparently nineteen or twenty years old. He whispered to +a yellow lad, who was his servant, and both attempted to land by +crossing the adjoining vessel. But the captain intercepted them, +saying, "All must remain on board till we draw up to the wharf." + +With desperate leaps, they sprang past him. He tried to seize them, +calling aloud, "Stop thief! Stop thief!" Some of his sailors rushed +after them. As they ran up State Street, lads and boys, always ready +to hunt anything, joined in the pursuit. A young black man, who was +passing down the street as the crowd rushed up, saw the yellow lad +race by him, panting for breath, and heard him cry, "Help me!" + +The crowd soon turned backward, having caught the fugitives. The black +man hurried after, and as they were putting them on board the vessel +he pushed his way close to the yellow lad, and again heard him say, +"Help me! I am a slave." + +The black man paused only to look at the name of the vessel, and then +hastened with all speed to the house of Mr. Willard Percival. Almost +out of breath with his hurry, he said to that gentleman: "A vessel +from New Orleans, named 'The King Cotton,' has come up to Long Wharf. +They've got two slaves aboard. They was chasing 'em up State Street, +calling out, 'Stop thief!' and I heard a mulatto lad cry, 'Help me!' +I run after 'em; and just as they was going to put the mulatto lad +aboard the vessel, I pushed my way close up to him, and he said, 'Help +me! I'm a slave.' So I run fast as I could to tell you." + +"Wait a moment till I write a note to Francis Jackson, which you must +carry as quick as you can," said Mr. Percival. "I will go to Mr. +Sewall for a writ of _habeas corpus_" + +While this was going on, the captain had locked the fugitives in the +hold of his vessel, and hastened to the carriage, which had been +waiting for him at a short distance from the wharf. + +"Good evening, Mr. Bell," said he, raising his hat as he approached +the carriage door. + +"Good evening, Captain Kane," replied the gentleman inside. "You've +kept me waiting so long, I was nearly out of patience." + +"I sent you word they'd escaped, sir," rejoined the captain. "They +gave us a run; but we've got 'em fast enough in the hold. One of 'em +seems to be a white man. Perhaps he's an Abolitionist, that's been +helping the nigger off. It's good enough for him to be sent back to +the South. If they get hold of him there, he'll never have a chance to +meddle with gentlemen's property again." + +"They're both slaves," replied Mr. Bell. "The telegram I received +informed me that one would pass himself for a white man. But, captain, +you must take 'em directly to Castle Island. One of the officers there +will lock 'em up, if you tell them I sent you. And you can't be off +too quick; for as likely as not the Abolitionists will get wind of it, +and be raising a row before morning. There's no safety for property +now-a-days." + +Having given these orders, the wealthy merchant bade the captain good +evening, and his carriage rolled away. + +The unhappy fugitives were immediately taken from the hold of the +vessel, pinioned fast, and hustled on board a boat, which urged its +swift way through the waters to Castle Island, where they were safely +locked up till further orders. + +"O George, they'll send us back," said the younger one. "I wish we war +dead." + +George answered, with a deep groan: "O how I have watched the North +Star! thinking always it pointed to a land of freedom. O my God, is +there _no_ place of refuge for the slave?" + +"_You_ are so white, you could have got off, if you hadn't brought +_me_ with you," sobbed the other. + +"And what good would freedom do me without you, Henny?" responded the +young man, drawing his companion closer to his breast. "Cheer up, +honey! I'll try again; and perhaps we'll make out better next time." + +He tried to talk hopefully; but when yellow Henny, in her boy's dress, +cried herself to sleep on his shoulder, his tears dropped slowly on +her head, while he sat there gazing at the glittering stars, with a +feeling of utter discouragement and desolation. + +That same evening, the merchant who was sending them back to bondage, +without the slightest inquiry into their case, was smoking his +amber-lipped meerschaum, in an embroidered dressing-gown, on a +luxurious lounge; his daughter, Mrs. Fitzgerald, in azure satin +and pearls, was meandering through the mazes of the dance; and his +exquisitely dressed grandson, Gerald, was paying nearly equal homage +to Mrs. King's lambent eyes and the sparkle of her diamonds. + +When young Fitzgerald descended to a late breakfast, the morning after +the great party, his grandfather was lolling back in his arm-chair, +his feet ensconced in embroidered slippers, and resting on the +register, while he read the Boston Courier. + +"Good morning, Gerald," said he, "if it be not past that time of day. +If you are sufficiently rested from last night's dissipation, I should +like to have you attend to a little business for me." + +"I hope it won't take very long, grandfather," replied Gerald; "for I +want to call on Mrs. King early, before her rooms are thronged with +visitors." + +"That opera-singer seems to have turned your head, though she is old +enough to be your mother," rejoined Mr. Bell. + +"I don't know that my head was any more turned than others," answered +the young man, in a slightly offended tone. "If you call to see her, +sir, as mother says you intend to do, perhaps she will make _you_ feel +as if you had a young head on your shoulders." + +"Likely as not, likely as not," responded the old gentleman, smiling +complacently at the idea of re-enacting the beau. "But I wish you +to do an errand for me this morning, which I had rather not put in +writing, for fear of accidents, and which I cannot trust verbally to a +servant. I got somewhat chilled waiting in a carriage near the wharf, +last evening, and I feel some rheumatic twinges in consequence. Under +these circumstances, I trust you will excuse me if I ask the use of +your young limbs to save my own." + +"Certainly, sir," replied Gerald, with thinly disguised impatience. +"What is it you want me to do?" + +"Two slaves belonging to Mr. Bruteman of New Orleans, formerly a +friend of your father, have escaped in my ship, 'The King Cotton,' The +oldest, it seems, is a head carpenter, and would bring a high price, +Bruteman values them at twenty-five hundred dollars. He is my debtor +to a considerable amount, and those negroes are mortgaged to me. But +independently of that circumstance, it would be very poor policy, +dealing with the South as I do, to allow negroes to be brought away in +my vessels with impunity. Besides, there is a heavy penalty in all the +Southern States, if the thing is proved. You see, Gerald, it is every +way for my interest to make sure of returning those negroes; and +your interest is somewhat connected with mine, seeing that the small +pittance saved from the wreck of your father's property is quite +insufficient to supply your rather expensive wants." + +"I think I have been reminded of that often enough, sir, to be in no +danger of forgetting it," retorted the youth, reddening as he spoke. + +"Then you will perhaps think it no great hardship to transact a little +business for me now and then," coolly rejoined the grandfather. "I +shall send orders to have these negroes sold as soon as they arrive, +and the money transmitted to me; for when they once begin to run away, +the disease is apt to become chronic." + +"Have you seen them, sir," inquired Gerald. + +"No," replied the merchant. "That would have been unpleasant, without +being of any use. When a disagreeable duty is to be done, the quicker +it is done the better. Captain Kane took 'em down to Castle Island +last night; but it won't do for them to stay there. The Abolitionists +will ferret 'em out, and be down there with their devilish _habeas +corpus_. I want you to go on board 'The King Cotton,' take the captain +aside, and tell him, from me, to remove them forthwith from Castle +Island, keep them under strong guard, and skulk round with them in the +best hiding-places he can find, until a ship passes that will take +them to New Orleans. Of course, I need not caution you to be silent +about this affair, especially concerning the slaves being mortgaged to +me. If that is whispered abroad, it will soon get into the +Abolition papers that I am a man-stealer, as those rascals call the +slaveholders." + +The young man obeyed his instructions to the letter; and having had +some difficulty in finding Captain Kane, he was unable to dress for +quite so early a call at the Revere House as he had intended. "How +much trouble these niggers give us!" thought he, as he adjusted his +embroidered cravat, and took his fresh kid gloves from the box. + + * * * * * + +When Mr. Blumenthal went home to dine that day, the ladies of the +household noticed that he was unusually serious. As he sat after +dinner, absently playing a silent tune on the table-cloth, his wife +touched his hand with her napkin, and said, "_What_ was it so long +ago, Florimond?" + +He turned and smiled upon her, as he answered: "So my fingers were +moving to the tune of 'Long, long ago,' were they? I was not conscious +of it, but my thoughts were with the long ago. Yesterday afternoon, as +I was passing across State Street, I heard a cry of 'Stop thief!' and +I saw them seize a young man, who looked like an Italian. I gave no +further thought to the matter, and pursued the business I had in hand. +But to-day I have learned that he was a slave, who escaped in 'The +King Cotton' from New Orleans. I seem to see the poor fellow's +terrified look now; and it brings vividly to mind something dreadful +that came very near happening, long ago, to a person whose complexion +is similar to his. I was thinking how willingly I would then have +given the services of my whole life for a portion of the money which +our best friend here has enabled me to acquire." + +"What _was_ the dreadful thing that was going to happen, papa?" +inquired Rosa. + +"That is a secret between mamma and I," he replied. "It is something +not exactly suitable to talk with little girls about, Rosy Posy." He +took her hand, as it lay on the table, and pressed it affectionately, +by way of apology for refusing his confidence. + +Then, looking at Mrs. Delano, he said: "If I had only known the poor +fellow was a slave, I might, perhaps, have done something to rescue +him. But the Abolitionists are doing what can be done. They procured a +writ of _habeas corpus_, and went on board 'The King Cotton'; but they +could neither find the slaves nor obtain any information from the +captain. They are keeping watch on all vessels bound South, in which +Mr. Goldwin and I are assisting them. There are at least twenty spies +out on the wharves." + +"I heartily wish you as much success as I have had in that kind of +business," replied Mrs. Delano with a smile. + +"O, I do hope they'll be rescued," exclaimed Flora. "How shameful it +is to have such laws, while we keep singing, in the face of the world, +about 'the land of the free, and the home of the brave.' I don't mean +to sing that again; for it's false." + +"There'll come an end to this some time or other, as surely as God +reigns in the heavens," rejoined Blumenthal. + + * * * * * + +Two days passed, and the unremitting efforts of Mr. Percival and Mr. +Jackson proved unavailing to obtain any clew to the fugitives. After +an anxious consultation with Samuel E. Sewall, the wisest and kindest +legal adviser in such cases, they reluctantly came to the conclusion +that nothing more could be done without further information. As a last +resort, Mr. Percival suggested a personal appeal to Mr. Bell. + +"Rather a forlorn hope that," replied Francis Jackson. "He has named +his ship for the king that rules over us all, trampling on freedom of +petition, freedom of debate, and even on freedom of locomotion." + +"We will try," said Mr. Percival. "It is barely possible we may obtain +some light on the subject." + +Early in the evening they accordingly waited upon the merchant at his +residence. When the servant informed him that two gentlemen wished to +see him on business, he laid aside his meerschaum and the Courier, and +said, "Show them in." + +Captain Kane had informed him that the Abolitionists were "trying to +get up a row"; but he had not anticipated that they would call upon +him, and it was an unpleasant surprise when he saw who his visitors +were. He bowed stiffly, and waited in silence for them to explain +their business. + +"We have called," said Mr. Percival, "to make some inquiries +concerning two fugitives from slavery, who, it is said, were found on +board your ship, 'The King Cotton.'" + +"I know nothing about it," replied Mr. Bell. "My captains understand +the laws of the ports they sail from; and it is their business to see +that those laws are respected." + +"But," urged Mr. Percival "that a man is _claimed_ as a slave by no +means proves that he _is_ a slave. The law presumes that every man +has a right to personal liberty, until it is proved otherwise; and +in order to secure a fair trial of the question, the writ of _habeas +corpus_ has been provided." + +"It's a great disgrace to Massachusetts, sir, that she puts so many +obstacles in the way of enforcing the laws of the United States," +replied Mr. Bell. + +"If your grandson should be claimed as a slave, I rather think you +would consider the writ of _habeas corpus_ a wise and just provision," +said the plain-speaking Francis Jackson. "It is said that this young +stranger, whom they chased as a thief, and carried off as a slave, had +a complexion no darker than his." + +"I take it for granted," added Mr. Percival, "that you do not wish for +a state of things that would make every man and woman in Massachusetts +liable to be carried off as slaves, without a chance to prove their +right to freedom." + +Mr. Bell answered, in tones of suppressed anger, his face all ablaze +with excitement, "If I could choose _who_ should be thus carried off, +I would do the Commonwealth a service by ridding her of a swarm of +malignant fanatics." + +"If you were to try that game," quietly rejoined Francis Jackson, "I +apprehend you would find some of the fire of '76 still alive under the +ashes." + +"A man is strongly tempted to argue," said Mr. Percival, "when he +knows that all the laws of truth and justice and freedom are on his +side; but we did not come here to discuss the subject of slavery, Mr. +Bell. We came to appeal to your own good sense, whether it is right +or safe that men should be forcibly carried from the city of Boston +without any process of law." + +"I stand by the Constitution," answered Mr. Bell, doggedly. "I don't +presume to be wiser than the framers of that venerable document." + +"That is evading the question," responded Mr. Percival. "There is no +question before us concerning the framers of the Constitution. The +simple proposition is, whether it is right or safe for men to be +forcibly carried from Boston without process of law. Two strangers +_have_ been thus abducted; and you say it is your captain's business. +You know perfectly well that a single line from you would induce your +captain to give those men a chance for a fair trial. Is it not your +duty so to instruct him?" + +A little thrown off his guard, Mr. Bell exclaimed: "And give an +Abolition mob a chance to rescue them? I shall do no such thing." + +"It is not the Abolitionists who get up mobs," rejoined Francis +Jackson. "Garrison was dragged through the streets for writing against +slavery; but when Yancey of Alabama had the use of Faneuil Hall, for +the purpose of defending slavery, no Abolitionist attempted to disturb +his speaking." + +A slight smile hovered about Mr. Percival's lips; for it was well +known that State Street and Ann Street clasped hands when mobs were +wanted, and that money changed palms on such occasions; and the common +rumor was that Mr. Bell's purse had been freely used. + +The merchant probably considered it an offensive insinuation, for his +face, usually rubicund from the effects of champagne and oysters, +became redder, and his lips were tightly compressed; but he merely +reiterated, "I stand by the Constitution, sir." + +"Mr. Bell, I must again urge it upon your conscience," said Mr. +Percival, "that you are more responsible than the captain in this +matter. Your captains, of course, act under your orders, and would +do nothing contrary to your expressed wishes. Captain Kane has, +doubtless, consulted you in this business." + +"That's none of your concern, sir," retorted the irascible merchant. +"My captains know that I think Southern gentlemen ought to be +protected in their property; and that is sufficient. I stand by the +Constitution, sir. I honor the reverend gentleman who said he was +ready to send his mother or his brother into slavery, if the laws +required it. That's the proper spirit, sir. You fanatics, with your +useless abstractions about human rights, are injuring trade, and +endangering the peace of the country. You are doing all you can to +incite the slaves to insurrection. I don't pretend, to be wiser than +the framers of the Constitution, sir. I don't pretend to be wiser than +Daniel Webster, sir, who said in Congress that he; would support, to +the fullest extent, any law Southern gentlemen chose to frame for the +recovery of fugitive slaves." + +"I wish you a better conscience-keeper," rejoined Francis Jackson, +rising as he spoke. "I don't see, my friend, that there's any use in +staying here to talk any longer. There's none so deaf as those that +_won't_ hear." + +Mr. Percival rose at this suggestion, and "Good evening" was +exchanged, with formal bows on both sides. But sturdy Francis Jackson +made no bow, and uttered no "Good evening." When they were in the +street, and the subject was alluded to by his companion, he simply +replied: "I've pretty much done with saying or doing what I don't +mean. It's a pity that dark-complexioned grandson of his couldn't be +carried off as a slave. That might, perhaps, bring him to a realizing +sense of the state of things." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +A few days past the middle of the following May, a carriage stopped +before the house of Mr. Joseph Bright, in Northampton, and Mrs. +Delano, with all the Blumenthal family, descended from it. Mr. Bright +received them at the gate, his face smiling all over. "You're welcome, +ladies," said he. "Walk in! walk in! Betsey, this is Mrs. Delano. This +is Mrs. Bright, ladies. Things ain't so stylish here as at your house; +but I hope you'll find 'em comfortable." + +Mrs. Bright, a sensible-looking woman, with great moderation of +manner, showed them into a plainly furnished, but very neat parlor. + +"O, how pleasant this is!" exclaimed Mrs. Blumenthal, as she looked +out of one of the side-windows. + +The children ran up to her repeating: "How pleasant! What a nice +hedge, mamma! And see that wall all covered with pretty flowers!" + +"Those are moss-pinks," said Mrs. Bright. "I think they are very +ornamental to a wall." + +"Did you plant them?" inquired Rosa. + +"O, no," said Mr. Bright, who was bringing in various baskets and +shawls. "That's not our garden; but we have just as much pleasure +looking at it as if it was. A great Southern nabob lives there. He +made a heap o' money selling women and children, and he's come North +to spend it. He's a very pious man, and deacon of the church." The +children began to laugh; for Mr. Bright drawled out his words in +solemn tones, and made his broad face look very comical by trying to +lengthen it. "His name is Stillham," added he, "but I call him Deacon +Steal'em." + +As he passed out, Rosa whispered to her mother, "What does he mean +about a deacon's selling women and children?" + +Before an answer could be given, Mr. Bright reappeared with a +bird-cage. "I guess this is a pretty old parrot," said he. + +"Yes, she is quite old," replied Mrs. Delano. "But we are all attached +to her; and our house being shut up for the summer, we were unwilling +to trust her with strangers." + +The parrot, conscious of being talked about, turned up her head +sideways, and winked her eye, without stirring from the corner of +the cage, where she was rolled up like a ball of feathers. Then she +croaked out an English phrase, which she had learned of the children, +"Polly wants a cacker." + +"She shall have a cracker," said good-natured Mr. Bright; and Rosa and +little Lila were soon furnished with a cracker and a lump of sugar for +Poll. + +In a short time they were summoned to tea; and after enjoying Mrs. +Bright's light bread and sweet butter, they saw no more of their host +and hostess for the evening. In the morning the whole family were up +before the hour appointed for breakfast, and were out in the garden, +taking a look at the environments of their new abode. As Mrs. +Blumenthal was walking among the bushes, Mr. Bright's beaming face +suddenly uprose before her, from where he was stooping to pluck up +some weeds. + +"Good morning, ma'am," said he. "Do hear that old thief trying to come +Paddy over the Lord!" + +As he spoke, he pointed his thumb backward toward Deacon Stillham's +house, whence proceeded a very loud and monotonous voice of prayer. + +Mrs. Blumenthal smiled as she inquired, "What did you mean by saying +he sold women and children?" + +"Made his money by slave-trading down in Carolina, ma'am. I reckon a +man has to pray a deal to get himself out of that scrape; needs to +pray pretty loud too, or the voice of women screaming for their babies +would get to the throne afore him. He don't like us over and above +well, 'cause we're Abolitionists. But there's Betsey calling me; I +mustn't stop here talking." + +Mrs. Blumenthal amused her companions by a repetition of his remarks +concerning the Deacon. She was much entertained by their host's +original style of bubbling over, as she termed it. After breakfast +she said: "There he is in the garden. Let's go and talk with him, +Florimond." + +And taking her parasol, she went out, leaning on her husband's arm. + +"So you are an Abolitionist?" said Mr. Blumenthal, as they stopped +near their host. + +Mr. Bright tossed his hat on a bush, and, leaning on his hoe, sang +in a stentorian voice: "I am an Abolitionist; I glory in the +name.--There," said he, laughing, "I let out _all_ my voice, that the +Deacon might hear. He can pray the loudest; but I reckon I can sing +the loudest. I'll tell you what first made me begin to think about +slavery. You see I was never easy without I could be doing something +in the musical way, so I undertook to teach singing. One winter, I +thought I should like to run away from Jack Frost, and I looked in the +Southern papers to see if any of 'em advertised for a singing-master. +The first thing my eye lighted on was this advertisement:-- + +"Ran away from the subscriber a stout mulatto slave, named Joe; has +light sandy hair, blue eyes, and ruddy complexion; is intelligent, and +will pass himself for a white man. I will give one hundred dollars' +reward to whoever will seize him and put him in jail.' + +"'By George!' said I, 'that's a description of _me_. I didn't know +before that I was a mulatto. It'll never do for me to go _there_.' +So I went to Vermont to teach. I told 'em I was a runaway slave, and +showed 'em the advertisement that described me. Some of 'em believed +me, till I told 'em it was a joke. Well, it is just as bad for those +poor black fellows as it would have been for me; but that blue-eyed +Joe seemed to bring the matter home to me. It set me to thinking about +slavery, and I have kept thinking ever since." + +"Not exactly such a silent thinking as the apothecary's famous owl, I +judge," said Mrs. Blumenthal. + +"No," replied he, laughing. "I never had the Quaker gift of gathering +into the stillness, that's a fact. But I reckon even that 'pothecary's +owl wouldn't be silent if he could hear and understand all that Betsey +has told me about the goings-on down South. Before I married her, she +went there to teach; but she's a woman o' feeling, and she couldn't +stand it long. But, dear me, if I believed Deacon Steal'em's talk, I +should think it was just about the pleasantest thing in the world to +be sold; and that the niggers down South had nothing 'pon earth to do +but to lick treacle and swing on a gate. Then he proves it to be a +Divine institution from Scripture, chapter and verse. You may have +noticed, perhaps, that such chaps are always mighty well posted up +about the original designs of Providence; especially as to who's +foreordained to be kept down. He says God cussed Ham, and the niggers +are the descendants of Ham. I told him if there was an estate of Ham's +left unsettled, I reckoned 't would puzzle the 'cutest lawyer to hunt +up the rightful heirs." + +"I think so," rejoined Mr. Blumenthal, smiling; "especially when +they've become so mixed up that they advertise runaway negroes with +sandy hair, blue eyes, and ruddy complexion." + +"When the Deacon feels the ground a little shaky under him," resumed +Mr. Bright, he leans on his minister down in Carolina, who, he says, +is a Northern man, and so pious that folks come from far and near to +get him to pray for rain in a dry time; thinking the prayers of such +a godly man will be sure to bring down the showers. He says that man +preached a sermon that proved niggers were born to be servants of +servants unto their brethren. I told him I didn't doubt that part of +the prophecy was fulfilled about their serving their _brethren_; and +I showed him the advertisement about sandy hair and blue eyes. But +as for being servants of _servants_, I never heard of slaveholders +serving anybody except--a chap whose name it ain't polite to mention +before ladies. As for that preacher, he put me in mind of a minister +my father used to tell of. He'd been to a wedding, and when he come +home he couldn't light his lamp. After trying a long spell he found +out that the extinguisher was on it. I told the deacon that ministers +down South had put an extinguisher on their lamp, and couldn't be +expected to raise much of a light from it to guide anybody's steps." + +"Some of the Northern ministers are not much better guides, I think," +rejoined Mr. Blumenthal. + +"Just so," replied his host; "'cause they've got the same extinguisher +on; and ain't it curious to see 'em puffing and blowing at the old +lamp? I get 'most tired of talking common sense and common feeling to +the Deacon. You can't get it into him, and it won't stay on him. You +might as well try to heap a peck o' flax-seed. He keeps eating his +own words, too; though they don't seem to agree with him, neither. He +maintains that the slaves are perfectly contented and happy; and the +next minute, if you quote any of their cruel laws, he tells you they +are obliged to make such laws or else they would rise and cut their +masters' throats. He says blacks and whites won't mix any more than +oil and water; and the next minute he says if the slaves are freed +they'll marry our daughters. I tell him his arguments are like the +Kilkenny cats, that ate one another up to the tip o' their tails. The +Deacon is sensible enough, too, about many other subjects; but he nor +no other man can saw straight with a crooked saw." + +"It's an old saying," rejoined Blumenthal, "that, when men enter into +a league with Satan, he always deserts them at the tightest pinch; and +I've often observed he's sure to do it where arguments pinch." + +"I don't wonder you are far from being a favorite with the Deacon," +remarked Flora; "for, according to your own account, you hit him +rather hard." + +"I suppose I do," rejoined Mr. Bright. "I'm always in earnest myself; +and when I'm sure I'm in the right, I always drive ahead. I soon get +out o' patience trying to twist a string that ain't fastened at nary +end, as an old neighbor of my father used to say. I suppose some of us +Abolitionists _are_ a little rough at times; but I reckon the coarsest +of us do more good than the false prophets that prophesy smooth +things." + +"You said Mrs. Bright had been a teacher in the South. What part of +the South was it?" inquired Mrs. Blumenthal. + +"She went to Savannah to be nursery governess to Mrs. Fitzgerald's +little girl," replied he. "But part of the time she was on an island +where Mr. Fitzgerald had a cotton plantation. I dare say you've heard +of him, for he married the daughter of that rich Mr. Bell who lives in +your street. He died some years ago; at least they suppose he died, +but nobody knows what became of him." + +Flora pressed her husband's arm, and was about to inquire concerning +the mystery, when Mrs. Delano came, hand in hand with Rosa and Lila, +to say that she had ordered the carriage and wanted them to be in +readiness to take a drive. + +They returned to a late dinner; and when they rose from a long chat +over the dessert, Mr. Bright was not to be found, and his wife was +busy; so further inquiries concerning Mr. Fitzgerald's fate were +postponed. Mr. Blumenthal proposed a walk on Round Hill; but the +children preferred staying at home. Rosa had a new tune she wanted to +practise with her guitar; and her little sister had the promise of a +story from Mamita Lila. So Mr. Blumenthal and his wife went forth on +their ramble alone. The scene from Round Hill was beautiful with the +tender foliage of early spring. Slowly they sauntered round from point +to point, pausing now and then to look at the handsome villages before +them, at the blooming peach-trees, the glistening river, and the +venerable mountains, with feathery crowns of violet cloud. + +Suddenly a sound of music floated on the air; and they stood +spell-bound, with heads bowed, as if their souls were hushed in +prayer. When it ceased, Mr. Blumenthal drew a long breath, and said, +"Ah! that was our Mendelssohn." + +"How exquisitely it was played," observed his wife, "and how in +harmony it was with these groves! It sounded like a hymn in the +forest." + +They lingered, hoping again to hear the invisible musician. As they +leaned against the trees, the silver orb of the moon ascended from the +horizon, and rested on the brow of Mount Holyoke; and from the same +quarter whence Mendelssohn's "Song without Words" had proceeded, the +tones of "Casta Diva" rose upon the air. Flora seized her husband's +arm with a quick, convulsive grasp, and trembled all over. Wondering +at the intensity of her emotion, he passed his arm tenderly round her +waist and drew her closely to him. Thus, leaning upon his heart, she +listened with her whole being, from the inmost recesses of her soul, +throughout all her nerves, to her very fingers' ends. When the sounds +died away, she sobbed out: "O, how like Rosa's voice! It seemed as if +she had risen from the dead." + +He spoke soothingly, and in a few minutes they descended the hill and +silently wended their way homeward. The voice that had seemed to +come from another world invested the evening landscape with mystical +solemnity. The expression of the moon seemed transfigured, like a +great clairvoyant eye, reflecting light from invisible spheres, and +looking out upon the external world with dreamy abstraction. + +When they arrived at their lodgings, Flora exclaimed: "O Mamita Lila, +we have heard such heavenly music, and a voice so wonderfully like +Rosa's! I don't believe I shall sleep a wink to-night." + +"Do you mean the Aunt Rosa I was named for?" inquired her daughter. + +"Yes, Rosen Blumen," replied her mother; "and I wish you had gone with +us, that you might have an idea what a wonderful voice she had." + +This led to talk about old times, and to the singing of various airs +associated with those times. When they retired to rest, Flora fell +asleep with those tunes marching and dancing through her brain; and, +for the first time during many years, she dreamed of playing them to +her father, while Rosabella sang. + +The next morning, when the children had gone out to ramble in the +woods with their father, her memory being full of those old times, +she began to say over to the parrot some of the phrases that formerly +amused her father and Rosabella. The old bird was never talkative now; +but when urged by Flora, she croaked out some of her familiar phrases. + +"I'm glad we brought _pauvre Manon_ with us," said Mrs. Blumenthal. "I +think she seems livelier since she came here. Sometimes I fancy she +looks like good Madame Guirlande. Those feathers on her head make me +think of the bows on Madame's cap. Come, _jolie Manon_, I'll carry you +out doors, where the sun will shine upon you. You like sunshine, don't +you, Manon?" + +She took the cage, and was busy fastening it on the bough of a tree, +when a voice from the street said, "_Bon jour, jolie Manon_!" + +The parrot suddenly flapped her wings, gave a loud laugh, and burst +into a perfect tornado of French and Spanish phrases: "_Bon jour! +Buenos dias! Querida mia! Joli diable! Petit blanc! Ha! ha_!" + +Surprised at this explosion, Mrs. Blumenthal looked round to discover +the cause, and exclaiming, "_Oh ciel_!" she turned deadly pale, and +rushed into the house. + +"What _is_ the matter, my child? inquired Mrs. Delano, anxiously. + +"O Mamita, I've seen Rosa's ghost," she replied, sinking into a chair. + +Mrs. Delano poured some cologne on a handkerchief, and bathed her +forehead, while she said, "You were excited last night by the tune you +used to hear your sister sing; and it makes you nervous, dear." + +While she was speaking, Mrs. Bright entered the room, saying, "Have +you a bottle of sal volatile you can lend me? A lady has come in, who +says she is a little faint." + +"I will bring it from my chamber," replied Mrs. Delano. She left +the room, and was gone some time. When she returned, she found Mrs. +Blumenthal leaning her head on the table, with her face buried in her +hands. "My child, I want you to come into the other room," said Mrs. +Delano. "The lady who was faint is the famous Mrs. King, from Boston. +She is boarding on Round Hill, and I suppose it was her voice you +heard singing. She said she had seen a lady come into this house who +looked so much like a deceased relative that it made her feel faint. +Now don't be excited, darling; but this lady certainly resembles the +sketch you made of your sister; and it is barely possible--" + +Before she could finish the sentence, Flora started up, and flew into +the adjoining room. A short, quick cry, "O Floracita!" "O Rosabella!" +and they were locked in each other's arms. + +After hugging and kissing, and weeping and laughing by turns, Mrs. +King said: "That must have been Madame's parrot. The sight of her made +me think of old times, and I said, '_Bon jour, jolie Manon_! Your back +was toward me, and I should have passed on, if my attention had not +been arrested by her wild outpouring of French and Spanish. I suppose +she knew my voice." + +"Bless the dear old bird!" exclaimed Flora. "It was she who brought us +together again at last. She shall come in to see you." + +They went out to bring in their old pet. But _jolie Manon_ was lying +on the floor of her cage, with eyes closed and wings outstretched. The +joyful surprise had been too much for her feeble old nerves. She was +dead. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +"So you _are_ alive!" exclaimed Rosa, holding her sister back a +little, and gazing upon her face with all her soul in her eyes. + +"Yes, very _much_ alive," answered Flora, with a smile that brought +out all her dimples. + +"But do tell me," said Rosa, "how you came to go away so strangely, +and leave me to mourn for you as if you were dead." + +The dimples disappeared, and a shadow clouded Flora's expressive eyes, +as she replied: "It would take a long while to explain all that, +_sistita mia_. We will talk it over another time, please." + +Rosa sighed as she pressed her sister's hand, and said: "Perhaps I +have already conjectured rightly about it, Floracita. My eyes were +opened by bitter experiences after we were parted. Some time I will +explain to you how I came to run to Europe in such a hurry, with +Madame and the Signor." + +"But tell me, the first thing of all, whether Tulee is dead," rejoined +Flora. + +"You know Madame was always exceedingly careful about expense," +responded Rosa. "Mrs. Duroy was willing to board Tulee for her work, +and Madame thought it was most prudent to leave her there till we got +established in Europe, and could send for her; and just when we were +expecting her to rejoin us, letters came informing us that Mr. and +Mrs. Duroy and Tulee all died of yellow-fever. It distresses me beyond +measure to think of our having left poor, faithful Tulee." + +"When we found out that Mr. Fitzgerald had married another wife," +replied Flora, "my new Mamita kindly volunteered to go with me +in search of you and Tulee. We went to the cottage, and to the +plantation, and to New Orleans. Everybody I ever knew seemed to be +dead or gone away. But Madame's parrot was alive, and her chattering +led me into a stranger's house, where I heard that you were lost at +sea on your way to Europe; and that Tulee, with a white baby she had +charge of, had died of yellow-fever. Was that baby yours, dear?" + +Rosa lowered her eyes, and colored deeply, as she answered: "That +subject is very painful to me. I can never forgive myself for having +left Tulee and that poor little baby." + +Flora pressed her sister's hand in silence for a moment, and then +said: "You told me Madame and the Signor were alive and well. Where +are they?" + +"They lived with us in Provence," replied Rosa. "But when we concluded +to return to America, the Signor expressed a wish to end his days in +his native country. So Mr. King purchased an estate for them near +Florence, and settled an annuity upon them. I had a letter from Madame +a few days ago, and she writes that they are as happy as rabbits in +clover. The Signor is getting quite old; and if she survives him, it +is agreed that she will come and end her days with us. How it will +delight her heart to hear that you are alive! What a strange fortune +we have had! It seems that Mr. King always loved me, from the first +evening that he spent at our house. Do you remember how you laughed +because he offered to help us if ever we were in trouble? He knew more +about us then than we knew about ourselves; and he afterward did help +me out of very great troubles. I will tell you all about it some time. +But first I want to know about you. Who is this new Mamita that you +speak of?" + +"O, it was wonderful how she came to me when I had the greatest need +of a friend," answered Flora. "You must know that she and Papasito +were in love with each other when they were young; and she is in love +with his memory now. I sometimes think his spirit led her to me. I +will show you a picture I have made of Papasito and Mamita as guardian +angels, placing a crown of violets and lilies of the valley on the +head of my new Mamita. When I had to run away, she brought me to live +with her in Boston; and there I met with an old acquaintance. Do you +remember Florimond Blumenthal?" + +"The good German boy that Papasito took such an interest in?" inquired +Rosa. "To be sure I remember him." + +"Well, he's a good German boy now," rejoined Flora; "and I'm Mrs. +Blumenthal." + +"Is it possible?" exclaimed Rosa. "You look so exactly as you did when +you were such a merry little elf, that I never thought to inquire +whether you were married. In the joy of this sudden meeting, I forgot +how many years had passed since we saw each other." + +"You will realize how long it has been when you see my children," +rejoined Flora. "My oldest, Alfred Royal, is fitting for college. He +is the image of _cher Papa_; and you will see how Mamita Lila doats +upon him. She must have loved Papasito very much. Then I had a +daughter that died in a few days; then I had my Rosen Blumen, and +you will see who she looks like; then some more came and went to +the angels. Last of all came little Lila, who looks just like her +father,--flaxen hair, pink cheeks, and great German forget-me-nots for +eyes." + +"How I shall love them all!" exclaimed Rosa. "And you will love our +Eulalia. I had a little Alfred and a little Flora. They came to us +in Provence, and we left their pretty little bodies there among the +roses." + +The sisters sat folded in each other's arms, their souls wandering +about among memories, when Mr. Blumenthal returned from his long +ramble with the children. Then, of course, there was a scene of +exclamations and embraces. Little Lila was shy, and soon ran away to +take refuge in Mamita's chamber; but Rosen Blumen was full of wonder +and delight that such a grand, beautiful lady was the Aunt Rosa of +whom she had heard so much. + +"Mamita Lila has stayed away all this time, out of regard to our +privacy," said Flora; "but now I am going to bring her." + +She soon returned, arm in arm with Mrs. Delano. Mr. Blumenthal took +her hand respectfully, as she entered, and said: "This is our dear +benefactress, our best earthly friend." + +"My guardian angel, my darling Mamita," added Flora. + +Mrs. King eagerly stepped forward, and folded her in her arms, saying, +in a voice half stifled with emotion, "Thank God and you for all this +happiness." + +While they were speaking together, Flora held a whispered consultation +with her husband, who soon went forth in search of Mr. King, with +strict injunctions to say merely that an unexpected pleasure awaited +him. He hastened to obey the summons, wondering what it could mean. +There was no need of introducing him to his new-found relative. The +moment he entered the room, he exclaimed, "Why, Floracita!" + +"So you knew me?" she said, clasping his hand warmly. + +"To be sure I did," he answered. "You are the same little fairy that +danced in the floral parlor." + +"O, I'm a sober matron now," said she, with a comic attempt to look +demure about the mouth, while her eyes were laughing. "Here is my +daughter Rosa; and I have a tall lad, who bears two thirds of your +regal name." + +The happy group were loath to separate, though it was only to meet +again in the evening at Mr. King's lodgings on Round Hill. There, +memories and feelings, that tried in vain to express themselves fully +in words, found eloquent utterance in music. + +Day after day, and evening after evening, the sisters met, with a +hunger of the heart that could not be satisfied. Their husbands and +children, meanwhile, became mutually attached. Rosen Blumen, richly +colored with her tropical ancestry and her vigorous health, looked +upon her more ethereal cousin Eulalia as a sort of angel, and seemed +to worship her as such. Sometimes she accompanied her sweet, bird-like +voice with the guitar; sometimes they sang duets together; and +sometimes one played on the piano, while the other danced with +Lila, whose tiny feet kept time to the music, true as an echo. Not +unfrequently, the pretty little creature was called upon to dance a +_pas seul_; for she had improvised a dance for herself to the tune of +Yankee Doodle, and it was very amusing to see how emphatically she +stamped the rhythm. + +While the young people amused themselves thus, Flora often brought +forward her collection of drawings, which Rosa called the portfolio of +memories. + +There was the little fountain in their father's garden, the lonely +cottage on the island, the skeleton of the dead pine tree, with the +moon peeping through its streamers of moss, and Thistle with his +panniers full of flowers. Among the variety of foreign scenes, Mrs. +King particularly admired the dancing peasants from Frascati. + +"Ah," said Flora, "I see them now, just as they looked when we passed +them on our beautiful drive to Albano. It was the first really merry +day I had had for a long time. I was just beginning to learn to enjoy +myself without you. It was very selfish of me, dear Rosa, but I was +forgetful of you, that day. And, only to think of it! if it had not +been for that unlucky apparition of Mr. Fitzgerald, I should have gone +to the opera and seen you as Norma." + +"Very likely we should both have fainted," rejoined Rosa, "and then +the manager would have refused to let La Campaneo try her luck again. +But what is this, Floracita?" + +"That is a group on Monte Pincio," she replied. "I sketched it when I +was shut up in my room, the day before you came out in the opera." + +"I do believe it is Madame and the Signor and I," responded Rosa. "The +figures and the dresses are exactly the same; and I remember we went +to Monte Pincio that morning, on my return from rehearsal." + +"What a stupid donkey I was, not to know you were so near!" said +Flora. "I should have thought my fingers would have told me while I +was drawing it." + +"Ah," exclaimed Rosa, "here is Tulee!" Her eyes moistened while she +gazed upon it. "Poor Tulee!" said she, "how she cared for me, and +comforted me, during those dark and dreadful days! If it hadn't been +for her and Chloe, I could never have lived through that trouble. When +I began to recover, she told me how Chloe held my hand hour after +hour, and prayed over me without ceasing. I believe she prayed me up +out of the grave. She said our Mamita appeared to her once, and told +her she was my guardian angel; but if it had really been our Mamita, +I think she would have told her to tell me you were alive, Mignonne. +When Alfred and I went South, just before we came here, we tried to +find Tom and Chloe. We intend to go to New Bedford soon to see them. A +glimpse of their good-natured black faces would give me more pleasure +than all the richly dressed ladies I saw at Mrs. Green's great party." + +"Very likely you'll hear Tom preach when you go to New Bedford," +rejoined Flora, "for he is a Methodist minister now; and Chloe, they +say, is powerful in prayer at the meetings. I often smile when I think +about the manner of her coming away. It was so funny that my quiet, +refined Mamita Lila should all at once become a kidnapper. But here is +Rosen Blumen. Well, what now, Mignonne?" + +"Papa says Lila is very sleepy, and we ought to be going home," +replied the young damsel. + +"Then we will kiss good night, _sistita mia_?" said Mrs. Blumenthal; +"and you will bring Eulalia to us to-morrow." + +On their return home, Mr. Bright called to them over the garden fence. +"I've just had a letter from your neighbor, Mrs. Fitzgerald," said he. +"She wants to know whether we can accommodate her, and her father, and +her son with lodgings this summer. I'm mighty glad we can say we've +let all our rooms; for that old Mr. Bell treats mechanics as if he +thought they all had the small-pox, and he was afraid o' catching it. +So different from you, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. King! You ain't afraid +to take hold of a rough hand without a glove on. How is Mrs. King? +Hope she's coming to-morrow. If the thrushes and bobolinks could sing +human music, and put human feeling into it, her voice would beat 'em +all. How romantic that you should come here to Joe Bright's to find +your sister, that you thought was dead." + +When they had courteously answered his inquiries, he repeated a wish +he had often expressed, that somebody would write a story about it. +If he had been aware of all their antecedents, he would perhaps have +written one himself; but he only knew that the handsome sisters were +orphans, separated in youth, and led by a singular combination of +circumstances to suppose each other dead. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +When the sisters were alone together, the next day after dinner, +Flora said, "Rosa, dear, does it pain you very much to hear about Mr. +Fitzgerald?" + +"No; that wound has healed," she replied. "It is merely a sad memory +now." + +"Mrs. Bright was nursery governess in his family before her marriage," +rejoined Flora. "I suppose you have heard that he disappeared +mysteriously. I think she may know something about it, and I have been +intending to ask her; but your sudden appearance, and the quantity +of things we have had to say to each other, have driven it out of my +head. Do you object to my asking her to come in and tell us something +about her experiences?" + +"I should be unwilling to have her know we were ever acquainted with +Mr. Fitzgerald," responded Mrs. King. + +"So should I," said Flora. "It will be a sufficient reason for my +curiosity that Mrs. Fitzgerald is our acquaintance and neighbor." + +And she went out to ask her hostess to come and sit with them. After +some general conversation, Flora said: "You know Mrs. Fitzgerald is +our neighbor in Boston. I have some curiosity to know what were your +experiences in her family." + +"Mrs. Fitzgerald was always very polite to me," replied Mrs. Bright; +"and personally I had no occasion to find fault with Mr. Fitzgerald, +though I think the Yankee schoolma'am was rather a bore to him. +The South is a beautiful part of the country. I used to think the +sea-island, where they spent most of the summer, was as beautiful as +Paradise before the fall; but I never felt at home there. I didn't +like the state of things. It's my theory that everybody ought to help +in doing the work of the world. There's a great deal to be done, +ladies, and it don't seem right that some backs should be broken with +labor, while others have the spine complaint for want of exercise. It +didn't agree with my independent New England habits to be waited upon +so much. A negro woman named Venus took care of my room. The first +night I slept at the plantation, it annoyed me to see her kneel down +to take off my stockings and shoes. I told her she might go, for I +could undress myself. She seemed surprised; and I think her conclusion +was that I was no lady. But all the negroes liked me. They had got the +idea, somehow, that Northern people were their friends, and were doing +something to set them free." + +"Then they generally wanted their freedom, did they?" inquired Flora. + +"To be sure they did," rejoined Mrs. Bright. "Did you ever hear of +anybody that liked being a slave?" + +Mrs. King asked whether Mr. Fitzgerald was a hard master. + +"I don't think he was," said their hostess. "I have known him to do +very generous and kind things for his servants. But early habits had +made him indolent and selfish, and he left the overseer to do as he +liked. Besides, though he was a pleasant gentleman when sober, he was +violent when he was intoxicated; and he had become much addicted +to intemperance before I went there. They said he had been a very +handsome man; but he was red and bloated when I knew him. He had a +dissipated circle of acquaintances, who used to meet at his house in +Savannah, and gamble with cards till late into the night; and the +liquor they drank often made them very boisterous and quarrelsome. +Mrs. Fitzgerald never made any remark, in my presence, about these +doings; but I am sure they troubled her, for I often heard her walking +her chamber long after she had retired for the night. Indeed, they +made such an uproar, that it was difficult to sleep till they were +gone. Sometimes, after they had broken up, I heard them talking on the +piazza; and their oaths and obscene jests were shocking to hear; +yet if I met any of them the next day, they appeared like courtly +gentlemen. When they were intoxicated, niggers and Abolitionists +seemed always to haunt their imaginations. I remember one night in +particular. I judged by their conversation that they had been reading +in a Northern newspaper some discussion about allowing slaveholders to +partake of the sacrament. Their talk was a strange tipsy jumble. If +Mr. Bright had heard it, he would give you a comical account of it. As +they went stumbling down the steps, some were singing and some were +swearing. I heard one of them bawl out, 'God damn their souls to all +eternity, they're going to exclude us from the communion-table.' When +I first told the story to Mr. Bright, I said d---- their souls; but he +said that was all a sham, for everybody knew what d---- stood for, and +it was just like showing an ass's face to avoid speaking his name. So +I have spoken the word right out plain, just as I heard it. It was +shocking talk to hear, and you may think it very improper to repeat +it, ladies; but I have told it to give you an idea of the state of +things in the midst of which I found myself." + +Mrs. King listened in sad silence. The Mr. Fitzgerald of this +description was so unlike the elegant young gentleman who had won her +girlish love, that she could not recognize him as the same person. + +"Did Mr. Fitzgerald die before you left?" inquired Flora. + +"I don't know when or how he died," replied Mrs. Bright; "but I +have my suspicions. Out of regard to Mrs. Fitzgerald, I have never +mentioned them to any one but my husband; and if I name them to you, +ladies, I trust you will consider it strictly confidential." + +They promised, and she resumed. + +"I never pried into the secrets of the family, but I could not help +learning something about them, partly from my own observation, and +inferences drawn therefrom, and partly from the conversation of Venus, +my talkative waiting-maid. She told me that her master married a +Spanish lady, the most beautiful lady that ever walked the earth; and +that he conveyed her away secretly somewhere after he married the +milk-face, as she called Mrs. Fitzgerald. Venus was still good-looking +when I knew her. From her frequent remarks I judge that, when she was +young, her master thought her extremely pretty; and she frequently +assured me that he was a great judge 'ob we far sex.' She had a +handsome mulatto daughter, whose features greatly resembled his; +and she said there was good reason for it. I used to imagine Mrs. +Fitzgerald thought so too; for she always seemed to owe this handsome +Nelly a grudge. Mr. Fitzgerald had a body-servant named Jim, who was +so genteel that I always called him 'Dandy Jim o' Caroline.' Jim and +Nelly were in love with each other; but their master, for reasons of +his own, forbade their meeting together. + +"Finding that Nelly tried to elude his vigilance, he sold Jim to a New +Orleans trader, and the poor girl almost cried her handsome eyes out. +A day or two after he was sold, Mr. Fitzgerald and his lady went to +Beaufort on a visit, and took their little son and daughter with them. +The walls of my sleeping-room were to be repaired, and I was told to +occupy their chamber during their absence. The evening after they went +away, I sat up rather late reading, and when I retired the servants +were all asleep. As I sat before the looking-glass, arranging my hair +for the night, I happened to glance toward the reflection of the bed, +which showed plainly in the mirror; and I distinctly saw a dark eye +peeping through an opening in the curtains. My heart was in my throat, +I assure you; but I had the presence of mind not to cry out or to jump +up. I continued combing my hair, occasionally glancing toward the +eye. If it be one of the negroes, thought I, he surely cannot wish +to injure _me_, for they all know I am friendly to them. I tried to +collect all my faculties, to determine what it was best to do. I +reflected that, if I alarmed the servants, he might be driven to +attack me in self-defence. I began talking aloud to myself, leisurely +taking off my cuffs and collar as I did so, and laying my breastpin +and watch upon the table. 'I wish Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald were not +going to stay so long at Beaufort,' said I. 'It is lonesome here, and +I don't feel at home in this chamber. I sha'n't sleep if I go to bed; +so I think I'll read a little longer. 'I looked round on the table and +chairs, and added: 'There, now! I've left my book down stairs, and +must go for it.' I went down to the parlor and locked myself in. A few +minutes afterward I saw a dark figure steal across the piazza; and, +unless the moonlight deceived me, it was Dandy Jim. I wondered at it, +because I thought he was on his way to New Orleans. Of course, there +was no sleep for me that night. When the household were all astir, I +went to the chamber again. My watch and breastpin, which I had left on +purpose, were still lying on the table. It was evident that robbery +had not been the object. I did not mention the adventure to any one. +I pitied Jim, and if he had escaped, I had no mind to be the means of +his recapture. Whatever harm he had intended, he had not done it, and +there was no probability that he would loiter about in that vicinity. +I had reason to be glad of my silence; for the next day an agent from +the slave-trader arrived, saying that Jim had escaped, and that they +thought he might be lurking near where his wife was. When Mr. and Mrs. +Fitzgerald returned, they questioned Nelly, but she averred that she +had not seen Jim, or heard from him since he was sold. Mr. Fitzgerald +went away on horseback that afternoon. The horse came back in the +evening with an empty saddle, and he never returned. The next morning +Nelly was missing, and she was never found. I thought it right to be +silent about my adventure. To have done otherwise might have produced +mischievous results to Jim and Nelly, and could do their master no +good. I searched the woods in every direction, but I never came upon +any trace of Mr. Fitzgerald, except the marks of footsteps near the +sea, before the rising of the tide. I had made arrangements to return +to the North about that time; but Mrs. Fitzgerald's second son was +seized with fever, and I stayed with her till he was dead and buried. +Then we all came to Boston together. About a year after, her little +daughter, who had been my pupil, died." + +"Poor Mrs. Fitzgerald!" said Flora. "I have heard her allude to her +lost children, but I had no idea she had suffered so much." + +"She did suffer," replied Mrs. Bright, "though not so deeply as some +natures would have suffered in the same circumstances. Her present +situation is far from being enviable. Her father is a hard, grasping +man, and he was greatly vexed that her splendid marriage turned out to +be such a failure. It must be very mortifying to her to depend upon +him mainly for the support of herself and son. I pitied her, and I +pitied Mr. Fitzgerald too. He was selfish and dissipated, because he +was brought up with plenty of money, and slaves to obey everything he +chose to order. That is enough to spoil any man." + +Rosa had listened with downcast eyes, but now she looked up earnestly +and said, "That is a very kind judgment, Mrs. Bright, and I thank you +for the lesson." + +"It is a just judgment," replied their sensible hostess. "I often tell +Mr. Bright we cannot be too thankful that we were brought up to wait +upon ourselves and earn our own living. You will please to excuse me +now, ladies, for it is time to prepare tea." + +As she closed the door, Rosa pressed her sister's hand, and sighed as +she said, "O, this is dreadful!" + +"Dreadful indeed," rejoined Flora. "To think of him as he was when I +used to make you blush by singing, '_Petit blanc! mon bon frère_!' and +then to think what an end he came to!" + +The sisters sat in silence for some time, thinking with moistened eyes +of all that had been kind and pleasant in the man who had done them so +much wrong. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +IF young Fitzgerald had not been strongly inclined to spend the summer +in Northampton, he would have been urged to it by his worldly-minded +mother and grandfather, who were disposed to make any effort to place +him in the vicinity of Eulalia King. They took possession of lodgings +on Round Hill in June; and though very few weeks intervened before +the college vacation, the time seemed so long to Gerald, that he +impatiently counted the days. Twice he took the journey for a short +visit before he was established as an inmate of his grandfather's +household. Alfred Blumenthal had a vacation at the same time, and the +young people of the three families were together almost continually. +Songs and glees enlivened their evenings, and nearly every day there +were boating excursions, or rides on horseback, in which Mr. and Mrs. +King and Mr. and Mrs. Blumenthal invariably joined. No familiarity +could stale the ever fresh charm of the scenery. The beautiful river, +softly flowing in sunlight through richly cultivated meadows, always +seemed to Mr. Blumenthal like the visible music of Mendelssohn. Mr. +King, who had been in Germany, was strongly reminded of the Rhine and +the Black Forest, while looking on that wide level expanse of verdure, +with its broad band of sparkling silver, framed in with thick dark +woods along the river-range of mountains. The younger persons of the +party more especially enjoyed watching Mill River rushing to meet +the Connecticut, like an impatient boy let loose for the holidays, +shouting, and laughing, and leaping, on his way homeward. Mrs. Delano +particularly liked to see, from the summit of Mount Holyoke, the +handsome villages, lying so still in the distance, giving no sign +of all the passions, energies, and sorrows that were seething, +struggling, and aching there; and the great stretch of meadows, +diversified with long, unfenced rows of stately Indian corn, rich with +luxuriant foliage of glossy green, alternating with broad bands of +yellow grain, swayed by the breeze like rippling waves of the sea. +These regular lines of variegated culture, seen from such a height, +seemed like handsome striped calico, which earth had put on for her +working-days, mindful that the richly wooded hills were looking down +upon her picturesque attire. There was something peculiarly congenial +to the thoughtful soul of the cultured lady in the quiet pastoral +beauty of the extensive scene; and still more in the sense of +serene elevation above the whole, seeing it all dwindle into small +proportions, as the wisdom of age calmly surveys the remote panorama +of life. + +These riding parties attracted great attention as they passed through +the streets; for all had heard the rumor of their wealth, and all were +struck by the unusual amount of personal beauty, and the distinguished +style of dress. At that time, the Empress Eugenie had issued her +imperial decree that all the world should shine in "barbaric gold,"--a +fashion by no means distasteful to the splendor-loving sisters. Long +sprays of Scotch laburnum mingled their golden bells with the dark +tresses of Eulalia and Rosen Blumen; a cluster of golden wheat mixed +its shining threads with Flora's black curls; and a long, soft +feather, like "the raven down of darkness," dusted with gold, drooped +over the edge of Mrs. King's riding-cap, fastened to its band by a +golden star. Even Mrs. Fitzgerald so far changed her livery of the +moon as to wear golden buds mixed with cerulean flowers. Mrs. Delano +looked cool as evening among them in her small gray bonnet, with a few +violets half hidden in silver leaves. Old Mr. Bell not unfrequently +joined in these excursions. His white hair, and long silky white +beard, formed a picturesque variety in the group; while all recognized +at a glance the thoroughbred aristocrat in his haughty bearing, his +stern mouth, his cold, turquoise eyes, and the clenching expression of +his hand. Mrs. King seemed to have produced upon him the effect Gerald +had predicted. No youthful gallant could have been more assiduous at +her bridle-rein, and he seemed to envy his grandson every smile he +obtained from her beautiful lips. + +Both he and Mrs. Fitzgerald viewed with obvious satisfaction the +growing intimacy between that young gentleman and Eulalia. "Capital +match for Gerald, eh?" said Mr. Bell to his daughter. "They say King's +good for three millions at least,--some say four." + +"And Eulalia is such a lovely, gentle girl!" rejoined Mrs. Fitzgerald. +"I'm very fond of her, and she seems fond of me; though of course +that's on account of my handsome son." + +"Yes, she's a lovely girl," replied the old gentleman; "and Gerald +will be a lucky dog if he wins her. But her beauty isn't to be +compared to her mother's. If I were Emperor of France, and she were a +widow, I know who would have a chance to become Empress." + +But though Mrs. King lived in such an atmosphere of love, and was +the object of so much admiration, with ample means for indulging her +benevolence and her tastes, she was evidently far from being happy. +Flora observed it, and often queried with her husband what could be +the reason. One day she spoke to Mr. King of the entire absence of +gayety in her sister, and he said he feared young Mr. Fitzgerald +painfully reminded her of her lost son. + +Flora reflected upon this answer without being satisfied with it. "It +doesn't seem natural," said she to her husband. "She parted from that +baby when he was but a few weeks old, and he has been dead nearly +twenty years. She has Eulalia to love, and a noble husband, who +worships the very ground she treads on. It don't seem natural. I +wonder whether she has a cancer or some other secret disease." + +She redoubled her tenderness, and exerted all her powers of mimicry to +amuse her sister. The young folks screamed with laughter to see her +perform the shuffling dances of the negroes, or to hear her accompany +their singing with imitations of the growling contra-fagotto, or the +squeaking fife. In vain she filled the room with mocking-birds, or +showed off the accomplishments of the parrot, or dressed herself in a +cap with a great shaking bow, like Madame Guirlande's, or scolded in +vociferous Italian, like Signor Pimentero. The utmost these efforts +could elicit from her sister was a faint, vanishing smile. + +Mr. King noticed all this, and was pained to observe that his wife's +sadness increased daily. He would not himself have chosen young +Fitzgerald as a suitor for his daughter, fearing he might resemble his +father in character as he did in person; but he was willing to promote +their acquaintance, because the young man seemed to be a favorite with +his lady, and he thought that as a son-in-law he might supply the loss +of her first-born. But, in their rides and other excursions, he was +surprised to observe that Mrs. King assiduously tried to withdraw +Mr. Fitzgerald from her daughter, and attach him to herself. Her +attentions generally proved too flattering to be resisted; but if +the young man, yielding to attractions more suited to his age, soon +returned to Eulalia, there was an unmistakable expression of pain on +her mother's face. Mr. King was puzzled and pained by this conduct. +Entire confidence had hitherto existed between them. Why had she +become so reserved? Was the fire of first-love still smouldering in +her soul, and did a delicate consideration for him lead her to conceal +it? He could not believe it, she had so often repeated that to love +the unworthy was a thing impossible for her. Sometimes another thought +crossed his mind and gave him exquisite torture, though he repelled it +instantly: "Could it possibly be that his modest and dignified wife +was in love with this stripling, who was of an age suitable for her +daughter?" Whatever this mysterious cloud might be that cast its cold +shadow across the sunshine of his home, he felt that he could not +endure its presence. He resolved to seek an explanation with his +wife, and to propose an immediate return to Europe, if either of his +conjectures should prove true. Returning from a solitary walk, during +which these ideas had been revolving in his mind, he found her in +their chamber kneeling by the bedside, sobbing violently. With the +utmost tenderness he inquired what had grieved her. + +She answered with a wild exclamation, "O Alfred, this _must_ be +stopped!" + +"_What_ must be stopped, my dear?" said he. + +"Gerald Fitzgerald _must_ not court our daughter," she replied. + +"I thought it would please you, dearest," rejoined he. "The young +man has always seemed to be a favorite of yours. I should not have +selected him for our Eulalia, for fear the qualities of his father +might develop themselves in him; but you must remember that he has not +been educated among slaves. I think we can trust to that to make a +great difference in his character." + +She groaned aloud, and sobbed out: "It _must_ be stopped. It will kill +me." + +He sat down by her side, took her hand, and said very gravely: "Rosa, +you have often told me I was your best friend. Why then do you not +confide to me what it is that troubles you?" + +"O, I cannot! I cannot!" she exclaimed. "I am a guilty wretch." And +there came a fresh outburst of sobs, which she stifled by keeping her +face hidden in the bedclothes. + +"Rosa," said he, still more gravely, "you _must_ tell me the meaning +of this strange conduct. If an unworthy passion has taken possession +of you, it is your duty to try to conquer it for your own sake, for my +sake, for our daughter's sake. If you will confide in me, I will not +judge you harshly. I will return to Europe with you, and help you to +cure yourself. Tell me frankly, Rosa, do you love this young man?" + +She looked up suddenly, and, seeing the extreme sadness of his face, +she exclaimed: "O Alfred, if you have thought _that_, I _must_ tell +you all. I do love Gerald; but it is because he is my own son." + +"Your son!" he exclaimed, springing up, with the feeling that a great +load was lifted from his heart. He raised her to his bosom, and kissed +her tearful face again and again. The relief was so sudden, that for +an instant he forgot the strangeness of her declaration. But coming +to his senses immediately, he inquired, "How can it be that your son +passes for Mrs. Fitzgerald's son? And if it be so, why did you not +tell me of it?" + +"I ought to have told you when I consented to marry you," she replied. +"But your protecting love was so precious to me, that I had not the +courage to tell you anything that would diminish your esteem for me. +Forgive me, dearest. It is the only wrong I have ever done you. But I +will tell you all now; and if it changes your love for me, I must try +to bear it, as a just punishment for the wrong I have done. You know +how Mr. Fitzgerald deserted me, and how I was stricken down when I +discovered that I was his slave. My soul almost parted from my body +during the long illness that followed. When I came to my senses, I +humbled myself to entreat Mr. Fitzgerald to emancipate me, for the +sake of our unborn child. He promised to do it, but he did not. I +was a mere wreck when my babe was born, and I had the feeling that I +should soon die. I loved the helpless little thing; and every time I +looked at him, it gave me a pang to think that he was born a slave. I +sent again and again for papers of manumission, but they never came. +I don't know whether it was mere negligence on the part of Mr. +Fitzgerald, or whether he meant to punish me for my coldness toward +him after I discovered how he had deceived me. I was weak in body, and +much humbled in spirit, after that long illness. I felt no resentment +toward him. I forgave him, and pitied his young wife. The only thing +that bound me to life was my child. I wanted to recover my strength, +that I might carry him to some part of the world where slavery could +not reach him. I was in that state, when Madame sent Mr. Duroy to tell +me Mr. Fitzgerald was in debt, and had sold me to that odious Mr. +Bruteman, whom he had always represented to me as the filthiest soul +alive. I think that incredible cruelty and that horrible danger made +me insane. My soul was in a terrible tempest of hatred and revenge. If +Mr. Fitzgerald had appeared before me, I should have stabbed him. I +never had such feelings before nor since. Unfortunately Chloe had come +to the cottage that day, with Mrs. Fitzgerald's babe, and he was lying +asleep by the side of mine. I had wild thoughts of killing both the +babies, and then killing myself. I had actually risen in search of a +weapon, but I heard my faithful Tulee coming to look upon me, to see +that all was well, and I lay down again and pretended to be asleep. +While I waited for her to cease watching over me, that frightful mood +passed away. Thank God, I was saved from committing such horrible +deeds. But I was still half frantic with misery and fear. A wild, dark +storm was raging in my soul. I looked at the two babes, and thought +how one was born to be indulged and honored, while the other was born +a slave, liable to be sold by his unfeeling father or by his father's +creditors. Mine was only a week the oldest, and was no larger than his +brother. They were so exactly alike that I could distinguish them only +by their dress. I exchanged the dresses, Alfred; and while I did it, +I laughed to think that, if Mr. Fitzgerald should capture me and the +little one, and make us over to Mr. Bruteman, he would sell the child +of his Lily Bell. It was not like me to have such feelings. I hope I +was insane. Do you think I was?" + +He pressed her to his heart as he replied, "You surely had suffering +enough to drive you wild, dearest; and I do suppose your reason was +unsettled by intensity of anguish." + +She looked at him anxiously, as she asked, "Then it does not make you +love me less?" + +"No, darling," he replied; "for I am sure it was not my own gentle +Rosa who had such feelings." + +"O, how I thank you, dear one, for judging me so charitably," said +she. "I hope it was temporary insanity; and always when I think it +over, it seems to me it must have been. I fell asleep smiling over the +revenge I had taken, and I slept long and heavily. When I woke, my +first wish was to change the dresses back again; but Chloe had gone +to the plantation with my babe, and Mr. Duroy hurried me on board the +boat before sunrise. I told no one what I had done; but it filled me +with remorse then, and has troubled me ever since. I resolved to atone +for it, as far as I could, by taking the tenderest care of the little +changeling, and trying to educate him as well as his own mother could +have done. It was that which gave me strength to work so hard for +musical distinction; and that motive stimulated me to appear as an +opera-singer, though the publicity was distasteful to me. When I +heard that the poor little creature was dead, I was tormented with +self-reproach, and I was all the more unhappy because I could tell no +one of my trouble. Then you came to console and strengthen me with +your blessed love, and I grew cheerful again. If the changeling had +been living at the time you asked me to marry you, I should have told +you all; but the poor little creature was dead, and there seemed to +be no necessity of confessing the wrong I had done. It was a selfish +feeling. I couldn't bear the thought of diminishing the love that +was so precious to my wounded heart. I have now told you all, dear +husband." + +"Your excuse for concealment is very precious to my own heart," he +replied. "But I regret you did not tell me while we were in Europe; +for then I would not have returned to the United States till I was +quite sure all obstacles were removed. You know I never formed the +project until I knew Mr. Fitzgerald was dead." + +"The American gentleman who informed you of his death led me into a +mistake, which has proved disastrous," rejoined she. "He said that +Mrs. Fitzgerald lost her husband and son about the same time. I was +not aware of the existence of a second son, and therefore I supposed +that my first-born had died. I knew that you wanted to spend your old +age in your native country, and that you were particularly desirous to +have Eulalia marry in New England. The dread I had of meeting my child +as the son of another, and seeming to him a stranger, was removed by +his death; and though I shed tears in secret, a load was lifted from +my heart. But the old story of avenging Furies following the criminal +wheresoever he goes seems verified in my case. On the day of Mrs. +Green's ball, I heard two gentlemen in the Revere House talking about +Mr. Bell; and one of them said to the other that Mrs. Fitzgerald's +second son and her daughter had died, and that her oldest son was sole +heir to Mr. Bell's property. My first impulse was to tell you all; +but because I had so long concealed my fault, it was all the more +difficult to confess it then. You had so generously overlooked many +disagreeable circumstances connected with my history, that I found +it extremely painful to add this miserable entanglement to the list. +Still, I foresaw that it must be done, and I resolved to do it; but I +was cowardly, and wanted to put off the evil day. You may remember, +perhaps, that at the last moment I objected to attending that ball; +but you thought it would be rude to disappoint Mrs. Green, merely +because I felt out of spirits. I went, not dreaming of seeing my son +there. I had not looked upon him since the little black, silky head +drooped on my arm while I exchanged the dresses. You may partly +imagine what I suffered. And now he and Eulalia are getting in love +with each other; and I know not what is to be done. When you came in, +I was praying for strength to seek your counsel. What _can_ we do, +dear? It will be a great disappointment for you to return to Europe, +now that you have refitted your father's house, and made all your +arrangements to spend the remainder of our days here." + +"I would do it willingly," he replied, "if I thought it would avail +to separate Gerald and Eulalia. But a voyage to Europe is nothing +now-a-days, to people of their property. I believe he loves the +dear girl; and if he did not, my reputed millions would prevent his +grandfather and his mother from allowing him to lose sight of her. If +we were to build a castle on the top of Mount Himalaya, they would +scale it, you may depend. I see no other remedy than to tell Gerald +that Eulalia is his sister." + +"O, I cannot tell him!" exclaimed she. "It would be so dreadful to +have my son hate me! And he _would_ hate me; for I can see that he is +very proud." + +In very kind and serious tones he replied: "You know, dear Rosa, that +you expressed a wish the other day to go to the Catholic church in +which your mother worshipped, because you thought confession and +penance would be a comfort. You have wisely chosen me for your +confessor, and if I recommend penance I trust you will think it best +to follow my advice. I see how difficult it would be to tell all your +own and your mother's story to so young a man as Gerald, and he your +own son. I will tell him; and I need not assure you that you will have +a loving advocate to plead your cause with him. But his mother must +know why he relinquishes Eulalia, when he has had so much reason to +think himself in favor both with her and her parents. Gerald might +tell her the mere external facts; but she could appreciate and +understand them much better if told, as they would be told, by a +delicate and loving woman, who had suffered the wrongs that drove her +to madness, and who repented bitterly of the fault she had committed. +I think you ought to make a full confession to Mrs. Fitzgerald; and +having done that, we ought to do whatever she chooses to prescribe." + +"It will be a severe penance," she rejoined; "but I will do whatever +you think is right. If I could have all the suffering, I would not +murmur. But Gerald will suffer and Eulalia will suffer. And for some +weeks I have made you unhappy. How sad you look, dear." + +"I am a very happy man, Rosa, compared with what I was before you told +me this strange story. But I am very serious, because I want to be +sure of doing what is right in these difficult premises. As for Gerald +and Eulalia, their acquaintance has been very short, and I don't think +they have spoken of love to each other. Their extreme youth is also +a favorable circumstance. Rochefoucault says, 'Absence extinguishes +small passions, and increases great ones.' My own experience proved +the truth of one part of the maxim; but perhaps Gerald is of a more +volatile temperament, and will realize the other portion." + +"And do you still love me as well as you ever did?" she asked. + +He folded her more closely as he whispered, "I do, darling." And for +some minutes she wept in silence on his generous breast. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +That evening young Fitzgerald was closeted two or three hours with +Mr. King. Though the disclosure was made with the utmost delicacy and +caution, the young man was startled and shocked; for he inherited +pride from both his parents, and he had been educated in the +prejudices of his grandfather. At first he flushed with indignation, +and refused to believe he was so disgraced. + +"I don't see that you are disgraced, my young friend," replied Mr. +King. "The world might indeed so misjudge, because it is accustomed +to look only on externals; but there is no need that the world should +know anything about it. And as for your own estimate of yourself, you +were Mr. Fitzgerald the gentleman before you knew this singular story, +and you are Mr. Fitzgerald the gentleman still." + +"I am not so much of a philosopher," rejoined the young man. "I shall +not find it easy to endure the double stain of illegitimacy and +alliance with the colored race." + +Mr. King regarded him with a friendly smile, as he answered: "Perhaps +this experience, which you find so disagreeable, may educate you to +more wisdom than the schools have done. It may teach you the great +lesson of looking beneath the surface into the reality of things, my +son. Legally you are illegitimate; but morally you are not so. Your +mother believed herself married to your father, and through all the +vicissitudes of her life she has proved herself a modest, pure, and +noble woman. During twenty years of intimate acquaintance, I have +never known her to indulge an unworthy thought, or do a dishonorable +action, except that of substituting you for Mr. Fitzgerald's legal +heir. And if I have at all succeeded in impressing upon your mind the +frantic agony of her soul, desolate and shockingly abused as she +was, I think you will agree with me in considering that an excusable +offence; especially as she would have repaired the wrong a few hours +later, if it had been in her power. With regard to an alliance with +the colored race, I think it would be a more legitimate source +of pride to have descended from that truly great man, Toussaint +L'Ouverture, who was a full-blooded African, than from that +unprincipled filibuster called William the Conqueror, or from any +of his band of robbers, who transmitted titles of nobility to their +posterity. That is the way I have learned to read history, my young +friend, in the plain sunlight of truth, unchanged by looking at it +through the deceptive colored glasses of conventional prejudice. Only +yesterday you would have felt honored to claim my highly accomplished +and noble-minded wife as a near relative. She is as highly +accomplished and noble-minded a lady to-day as she was yesterday. The +only difference is, that to-day you are aware her grandmother had a +dark complexion. No human being can be really stained by anything +apart from his own character; but if there were any blot resting upon +you, it would come from your father. We should remember, however, +that He who made man can alone justly estimate man's temptations. For +myself, I believe that Mr. Fitzgerald's sins were largely attributable +to the system of slavery under which he had the misfortune to be +educated. He loved pleasure, he was rich, and he had irresponsible +power over many of his fellow-beings, whom law and public opinion +alike deprived of protection. Without judging him harshly, let his +career be a warning to you to resist the first enticements to evil; +and, as one means of doing so, let me advise you never to place +yourself in that state of society which had such a malign influence +upon him." + +"Give me time to think," rejoined the young man. "This has come upon +me so suddenly that I feel stunned." + +"That I can easily imagine," replied his friend. "But I wish you to +understand distinctly, that it depends entirely upon Mrs. Fitzgerald +and yourself to decide what is to be done in relation to this +perplexing affair. We are ready to do anything you wish, or to take +any position you prescribe for us. You may prefer to pass in society +merely as my young friend, but you are my step-son, you know; and +should you at any time of your life need my services, you may rely +upon me as an affectionate father." + +That word brought cherished hopes to Gerald's mind, and he sighed as +he answered, "I thank you." + +"Whatever outward inconveniences may arise from this state of things," +resumed Mr. King, "we prefer to have them fall upon ourselves. It +is of course desirable that you and my daughter should not meet at +present. Your vacation has nearly expired, and perhaps you will deem +it prudent to return a little sooner than you intended. We shall +remain here till late in the autumn; and then, if circumstances render +it necessary, we will remove Eulalia to Cuba, or elsewhere, for the +winter. Try to bear this disappointment bravely, my son. As soon as +you feel sufficiently calm, I would advise you to seek an interview +with your mother. Her heart yearns for you, and the longer your +meeting is deferred, the more embarrassing it will be." + +While this conversation was going on in the parlor, the two mothers +of the young man were talking confidentially up stairs. The intense +curiosity which Mrs. Fitzgerald had formerly felt was at once renewed +when Mrs. King said, "Do you remember having heard any one singing +about the house and garden at Magnolia Lawn, the first evening you +spent there?" + +"Indeed I do," she replied; "and when I first heard you in Rome, I +repeatedly said your voice was precisely like that singer's." + +"You might well be reminded of it," responded Mrs. King, "for I was +the person you heard at Magnolia Lawn, and these are the eyes that +peeped at you through the lattice of the veranda." + +"But why were you there? And why did you keep yourself invisible?" +inquired Mrs. Fitzgerald. + +Rosa hesitated a moment, embarrassed how to choose words to convey the +unwelcome facts. "My dear lady," said she, "we have both had very sad +experiences. On my side, they have been healed by time; and I trust +it is the same with you. Will it pain you too much to hear something +disparaging to the memory of your deceased husband?" + +Mrs. Fitzgerald colored very deeply, and remained silent. + +"Nothing but an imperious necessity would induce me to say what I +am about to say," continued Mrs. King; "not only because I am +very reluctant to wound your feelings, but because the recital is +humiliating and painful to myself. When I peeped at you in your bridal +attire, I believed myself to be Mr. Fitzgerald's wife. Our marriage +had been kept strictly private, he always assuring me that it was only +for a time. But you need not look so alarmed. I was not his wife. I +learned the next morning that I had been deceived by a sham ceremony. +And even if it had been genuine, the marriage would not have been +valid by the laws of Louisiana, where it was performed; though I did +not know that fact at the time. No marriage with a slave is valid in +that State. My mother was a quadroon slave, and by the law that 'a +child follows the condition of the mother,' I also became a slave." + +"_You_ a slave!" exclaimed Mrs. Fitzgerald, with unfeigned +astonishment. "That is incredible. That goes beyond any of the stories +Abolitionists make up to keep the country in agitation." + +"Judging by my own experience," rejoined Mrs. King, "I should say that +the most fertile imagination could invent nothing more strange and +romantic than many of the incidents which grow out of slavery." + +She then went on to repeat her story in detail; not accusing Mr. +Fitzgerald more than was absolutely necessary to explain the agonized +and frantic state of mind in which she had changed the children. Mrs. +Fitzgerald listened with increasing agitation as she went on; and when +it came to that avowal, she burst out with the passionate exclamation: +"Then Gerald is not my son! And I love him so!" + +Mrs. King took her hand and pressed it gently as she said: "You can +love him still, dear lady, and he will love you. Doubtless you will +always seem to him like his own mother. If he takes an aversion to me, +it will give me acute pain; but I shall try to bear it meekly, as a +part of the punishment my fault deserves." + +"If you don't intend to take him from me, what was the use of telling +me this dreadful story?" impatiently asked Mrs. Fitzgerald. + +"I felt compelled to do it on Eulalia's account," responded Mrs. King. + +"Ah, yes!" sighed the lady. "How disappointed he will be, poor +fellow!" After a brief pause, she added, vehemently: "But whatever you +may say, he is _my_ son. I never will give him up. He has slept in my +arms. I have sung him to sleep. I taught him all his little hymns and +songs. He loves me; and I will never consent to take a second place in +his affections." + +"You shall not be asked to do so, dear lady," meekly replied Mrs. +King. "I will, as in duty bound, take any place you choose to assign +me." + +Somewhat disarmed by this humility, Mrs. Fitzgerald said, in a +softened tone: "I pity you, Mrs. King. You have had a great deal of +trouble, and this is a very trying situation you are in. But it would +break my heart to give up Gerald. And then you must see, of course, +what an embarrassing position it would place me in before the world." + +"I see no reason why the world should know anything about it," +rejoined Mrs. King. "For Gerald's sake, as well as our own, it is very +desirable that the secret should be kept between ourselves." + +"You may safely trust my pride for that," she replied. + +"Do you think your father ought to be included in our confidence," +inquired Mrs. King. + +"No indeed," she replied, hastily. "He never can bear to hear my poor +husband mentioned. Besides, he has had the gout a good deal lately, +and is more irritable than usual." + +As she rose to go, Mrs. King said: "Then, with the exception of +Eulalia, everything remains outwardly as it was. Can you forgive me? +I do believe I was insane with misery; and you don't know how I have +been haunted with remorse." + +"You must have suffered terribly," rejoined Mrs. Fitzgerald, evading +a direct answer to the question. "But we had better not talk any more +about it now. I am bewildered, and don't know what to think. Only one +thing is fixed in my mind: Gerald is _my_ son." + +They parted politely, but with coldness on Mrs. Fitzgerald's side. +There had arisen in her mind a double dislike toward Mrs. King, as the +first love of her husband, and as the mother of the elegant young man +who was to her an object of pride as well as fondness. But her chagrin +was not without compensation. Mrs. King's superior wealth and beauty +had been felt by her as somewhat overshadowing; and the mortifying +circumstances she had now discovered in her history seemed, in her +imagination, to bring her down below a level with herself. She +and Gerald sat up late into the night, talking over this strange +disclosure. She was rather jealous of the compassion he expressed for +Mrs. King, and of his admiration for her manners and character; though +they mutually declared, again and again, that they could realize no +change whatever in their relation to each other. + +The wise words of Mr. King had not been without their effect on +Gerald. The tumult of emotions gradually subsided; and he began to +realize that these external accidents made no essential change in +himself. The next morning he requested an interview with Mrs. +King, and was received alone. When he entered, she cast upon him a +hesitating, beseeching look; but when he said, "My mother!" she flew +into his arms, and wept upon his neck. + +"Then you do not hate me?" she said, in a voice choked with emotion, +"You are not ashamed to call me mother?" + +"It was only yesterday," he replied, "that I thought with pride and +joy of the possibility that I might some day call you by that dear +name. If I had heard these particulars without knowing you, they might +have repelled me. But I have admired you from the first moment; I have +lately been learning to love you; and I am familiar with the thought +of being your son." + +She raised her expressive eyes to his with such a look of love, that +he could not refrain from giving her a filial kiss and pressing +her warmly to his heart. "I was so afraid you would regard me with +dislike," said she. "You can understand now why it made me so faint +to think of singing '_M'odi! Ah, m'odi_!' with you at Mrs. Green's +party. How could I have borne your tones of anguish when you +discovered that you were connected with the Borgias? And how could I +have helped falling on your neck when you sang '_Madre mia_'? But I +must not forget that the mother who tended your childhood has the best +claim to your affection," she added mournfully. + +"I love her, and always shall love her. It cannot be otherwise," +rejoined he. "It has been the pleasant habit of so many years. But +ought I not to consider myself a lucky fellow to have two such +mothers? I don't know how I am to distinguish you. I must call you +Rose-mother and Lily-mother, I believe." + +She smiled as he spoke, and she said, "Then it has not made you so +_very_ unhappy to know that you are my son?" + +His countenance changed as he replied: "My only unhappiness is the +loss of Eulalia. That disappointment I must bear as I can." + +"You are both very young," rejoined she; "and perhaps you may see +another--" + +"I don't want to hear about that now," he exclaimed impetuously, +moving hastily toward the window, against which he leaned for a +moment. When he turned, he saw that his mother was weeping; and +he stooped to kiss her forehead, with tender apologies for his +abruptness. + +"Thank God," she said, "for these brief moments of happiness with my +son." + +"Yes, they must be brief," he replied. "I must go away and stay away. +But I shall always think of you with affection, and cherish the +deepest sympathy for your wrongs and sufferings." + +Again she folded him in her arms, and they kissed and blessed each +other at parting. She gazed after him wistfully till he was out of +sight. "Alas!" murmured she, "he cannot be a son to me, and I cannot +be a mother to him." She recalled the lonely, sad hours when she +embroidered his baby clothes, with none but Tulee to sympathize with +her. She remembered how the little black silky head looked as she +first fondled him on her arm; and the tears began to flow like rain. +But she roused in a few moments, saying to herself: "This is all wrong +and selfish. I ought to be glad that he loves his Lily-mother, that he +can live with her, and that her heart will not be made desolate by my +fault. O Father of mercies! this is hard to bear. Help me to bear it +as I ought!" She bowed her head in silence for a while; then, rising +up, she said: "Have I not my lovely Eulalia? Poor child! I must be +very tender with her in this trial of her young heart." + +She saw there was need to be very tender, when a farewell card was +sent the next day, with a bouquet of delicate flowers from Gerald +Fitzgerald. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +The next morning after these conversations, Mrs. Blumenthal, who was +as yet unconscious of the secret they had revealed, was singing in the +garden, while she gathered some flowers for her vases. Mr. Bright, who +was cutting up weeds, stopped and listened, keeping time on the handle +of his hoe. When Flora came up to him, she glanced at the motion of +his fingers and smiled. "Can't help it, ma'am," said he. "When I hear +your voice, it's as much as ever I can do to keep from dancing; but if +I should do that, I should shock my neighbor the Deacon. Did you +see the stage stop there, last night? They've got visitors from +Carolina,--his daughter, and her husband and children. I reckon I +stirred him up yesterday. He came to my shop to pay for some shoeing +he'd had done. So I invited him to attend our anti-slavery meeting +to-morrow evening. He took it as an insult, and said he didn't need to +be instructed by such sort of men as spoke at our meetings. 'I know +some of us are what they call mudsills down South,' said I; 'but it +might do you good to go and hear 'em, Deacon. When a man's lamp's out, +it's better to light it by the kitchen fire than to go blundering +about in the dark, hitting himself against everything.' He said we +should find it very convenient if we had slaves here; for Northern +women were mere beasts of burden. I told him that was better than to +be beasts of prey. I thought afterward I wasn't very polite. I don't +mean to go headlong against other folks' prejudices; but the fact is, +a man never knows with what impetus he _is_ going till he comes up +against a post. I like to see a man firm as a rock in his opinions. I +have a sort of a respect for a _rock_, even if it _is_ a little mossy. +But when I come across a _post_, I like to give it a shaking, to find +out whether it's rotten at the foundation. As to things in general, I +calculate to be an obliging neighbor; but I shall keep a lookout on +these Carolina folks. If they've brought any blacks with 'em, I shall +let 'em know what the laws of Massachusetts are; and then they may +take their freedom or not, just as they choose." + +"That's right," replied Mrs. Blumenthal; "and when you and the Deacon +have another encounter, I hope I shall be near enough to hear it." + +As she walked away, tying up her bouquet with a spear of striped +grass, she heard him whistling the tune she had been singing. When she +returned to the parlor, she seated herself near the open window, with +a handkerchief, on which she was embroidering Mrs. Delano's initials. +Mr. Bright's remarks had somewhat excited her curiosity, and from +time to time she glanced toward Deacon Stillham's grounds. A hawthorn +hedge, neatly clipped, separated the two gardens; but here and there +the foliage had died away and left small open spaces. All at once, a +pretty little curly head appeared at one of these leafy lunettes, and +an infantile voice called out, "You're a Bob-o-lith-o-nitht!" + +"Do come here, Mamita Lila, and see this little darling," said Flora, +laughing. + +For a moment she was invisible. Then the cherub face came peeping out +again; and this time the little mouth was laughing, when it repeated, +"You're a Bob-o-lith-o-nitht." + +"Isn't it amusing to hear such an infant trying to abuse us with a +big mouthful of a word, to which she attaches no meaning?" said Mrs. +Delano. + +Flora beckoned with her hand, and called out, "Come in and see the +Bobolithonithts, darling." The little creature laughed and ran away. +At that moment, a bright turban was seen moving along above the +bushes. Then a black face became visible. Flora sprang up with a quick +cry, and rushed out of the room, upsetting her basket, and leaving +balls and thimble rolling about the floor. Placing her foot on a +stump, she leaped over the hedge like an opera-dancer, and the next +moment she had the negro woman in her arms, exclaiming: "Bless you, +Tulee! You _are_ alive, after all!" + +The black woman was startled and bewildered for an instant; then she +held her off at arm's length, and looked at her with astonishment, +saying: "Bless the Lord! Is it you, Missy Flory? or is it a sperit? +Well now, _is_ it you, little one?" + +"Yes, Tulee; it is I," she replied. "The same Missy Flory that used to +plague your life out with her tricks." + +The colored woman hugged and kissed, and hugged and kissed, and +laughed and cried; ever and anon exclaiming, "Bless the Lord!" + +Meanwhile, the playful cherub was peeping at Joe Bright through +another hole in the hedge, all unconscious how pretty her little fair +face looked in its frame of green leaves, but delighted with her own +sauciness, as she repeated, "You're a Bob-o-lith-o-nitht! you're a +Bob-o-lith-o-nitht!" When he tried to kiss her, she scampered away, +but soon reappeared again to renew the fun. + +While this by-play was going on, a white servant came through the +Deacon's grounds, and said to Tulee, "Mrs. Robbem wants you to come to +her immediately, and bring Laura." + +"I must go now, darling," said Tulee, clasping Flora's hand with a +warm pressure. + +"Come again quickly," said Flora. + +"As soon as I can," she replied, and hurried away with her little +charge. + +When Mr. Bright offered his hand to help Mrs. Blumenthal over the +hedge, he burst into a hearty laugh. "Wasn't it funny," said he, "to +hear that baby calling us Bob-o-lith-o-nithts? They begin education +early down South. Before the summer is out she'll be talking about the +cuth o' Ham, and telling the story of Onethimuth. But they've found a +mare's nest now, Mrs. Blumenthal. The Deacon will be writing to his +Carolina friends how the Massachusetts ladies hug and kiss niggers." + +Flora smiled as she answered: "I suppose it must seem strange to them, +Mr. Bright. But the fact is, that black woman tended me when I was a +child; and I haven't seen her for twenty years." + +As soon as she entered the house, she explained the scene to Mrs. +Delano, and then said to her daughter: "Now, Rosen Blumen, you may +leave your drawing and go to Aunt Rosa, and tell her I want to see her +for something special, and she must come as soon as possible. Don't +tell her anything more. You may stay and spend the day with Eulalia, +if you like." + +"How many mysteries and surprises we have," observed Mrs. Delano. "A +dozen novels might be made out of your adventures." + +The hasty summons found Mrs. King still melancholy with the thought +that her newly found son could be no more to her than a shadow. Glad +to have her thoughts turned in another direction, she sent Rosen +Blumen to her cousin, and immediately prepared to join her sister. +Flora, who was watching for her, ran out to the gate to meet her, +and before she entered the house announced that Tulee was alive. The +little that was known was soon communicated, and they watched with the +greatest anxiety for the reappearance of Tulee. But the bright turban +was seen no more during the forenoon; and throughout the afternoon no +one but the Deacon and his gardener were visible about the grounds. +The hours of waiting were spent by the sisters and Mrs. Delano in a +full explanation of the secret history of Gerald Fitzgerald, and Mrs. +King's consequent depression of spirits. The evening wore away without +any tidings from Tulee. Between nine and ten o'clock they heard the +voice of the Deacon loud in prayer. Joe Bright, who was passing the +open window, stopped to say: "He means his neighbors shall hear him, +anyhow. I reckon he thinks it's a good investment for character. He's +a cute manager, the Deacon is; and a quickster, too, according to his +own account; for he told me when he made up his mind to have religion, +he wasn't half an hour about it. I'd a mind to tell him I should think +slave-trading religion was a job done by contract, knocked up in a +hurry." + +"Mr. Bright," said Flora, in a low voice, "if you see that colored +woman, I wish you would speak to her, and show her the way in." + +The sisters sat talking over their affairs with their husbands, in low +tones, listening anxiously meanwhile to every sound. Mr. and Mrs. King +were just saying they thought it was best to return home, when Mr. +Bright opened the door and Tulee walked in. Of course, there was a +general exclaiming and embracing. There was no need of introducing the +husbands, for Tulee remembered them both. As soon as she could take +breath, she said: "I've had _such_ a time to get here! I've been +trying all day, and I couldn't get a chance, they kept such watch of +me. At last, when they was all abed and asleep, I crept down stairs +softly, and come out of the back door, and locked it after me." + +"Come right up stairs with me," said Rosa. "I want to speak to you." +As soon as they were alone, she said, "Tulee, where is the baby?" + +"Don't know no more than the dead what's become of the poor little +picaninny," she replied. "After ye went away, Missy Duroy's cousin, +who was a sea-captain, brought his baby with a black nurse to board +there, because his wife had died. I remember how ye looked at me when +ye said, 'Take good care of the poor little baby.' And I did try to +take good care of him. I toted him about a bit out doors whenever I +could get a chance. One day, just as I was going back into the house, +a gentleman o'horseback turned and looked at me. I didn't think +anything about it then; but the next day, he come to the house, and he +said I was Mr. Royal's slave, and that Mr. Fitzgerald bought me. He +wanted to know where ye was; and when I told him ye'd gone over the +sea with Madame and the Signor, he cursed and swore, and said he'd +been cheated. When he went away, Missis Duroy said it was Mr. +Bruteman. I didn't think there was much to be 'fraid of, 'cause ye'd +got away safe, and I had free papers, and the picaninny was too small +to be sold. But I remembered ye was always anxious about his being a +slave, and I was a little uneasy. One day when the sea-captain came to +see his baby, he was marking an anchor on his own arm with a needle +and some sort of black stuff; and he said 't would never come out. I +thought if they should carry off yer picaninny, it would be more easy +to find him again if he was marked. I told the captain I had heard ye +call him Gerald; and he said he would mark G.F. on his arm. The poor +little thing worried in his sleep while he was doing it, and Missis +Duroy scolded at me for hurting him. The next week Massa Duroy was +taken with yellow-fever; and then Missis Duroy was taken, and then the +captain's baby and the black nurse. I was frighted, and tried to keep +the picaninny out doors all I could. One day, when I'd gone a bit from +the house, two men grabbed us and put us in a cart. When I screamed, +they beat me, and swore at me for a runaway nigger. When I said I was +free, they beat me more, and told me to shut up. They put us in the +calaboose; and when I told 'em the picaninny belonged to a white +lady, they laughed and said there was a great many white niggers. Mr. +Bruteman come to see us, and he said we was his niggers. When I showed +him my free paper, he said 't want good for anything, and tore it to +pieces. O Missy Rosy, that was a dreadful dark time. The jailer's wife +didn't seem so hard-hearted as the rest. I showed her the mark on the +picaninny's arm, and gave her one of the little shirts ye embroidered; +and I told her if they sold me away from him, a white lady would +send for him. They did sell me, Missy Rosy. Mr. Robbem, a Caroliny +slave-trader bought me, and he's my massa now. I don't know what they +did with the picaninny. I didn't know how to write, and I didn't know +where ye was. I was always hoping ye would come for me some time; and +at last I thought ye must be dead." + +"Poor Tulee," said Rosa. "They wrote that Mr. and Mrs. Duroy and the +black woman and the white baby all died of yellow-fever; and we didn't +know there was any other black woman there. I've sent to New Orleans, +and I've been there; and many a cry I've had, because we couldn't find +you. But your troubles are all over now. You shall come and live with +us." + +"But I'm Mr. Robbem's slave," replied Tulee. + +"No, you are not," answered Rosa. "You became free the moment they +brought you to Massachusetts." + +"Is it really so?" said Tulee, brightening up in look and tone. +Then, with a sudden sadness, she added: "I've got three chil'ren in +Carolina. They've sold two on 'em; but they've left me my little +Benny, eight years old. They wouldn't have brought me here, if they +hadn't known Benny would pull me back." + +"We'll buy your children," said Rosa. + +"Bless ye, Missy Rosy!" she exclaimed. "Ye's got the same kind heart +ye always had. How glad I am to see ye all so happy!" + +"O Tulee!" groaned Rosa, "I can never be happy till that poor little +baby is found. I've no doubt that wicked Bruteman sold him." She +covered her face with her hands, and the tears trickled through her +fingers. + +"The Lord comfort ye!" said Tulee, "I did all I could for yer poor +little picaninny." + +"I know you did, Tulee," she replied. "But I am _so_ sorry Madame +didn't take you with us! When she told me she had left you, I was +afraid something bad would happen; and I would have gone back for +you if I could. But it is too late to talk any more now. Mr. King is +waiting for me to go home. Why can't you go with us to-night?" + +"I must go back," rejoined Tulee. "I've got the key with me, and I +left the picaninny asleep in my bed. I'll come again to-morrow night, +if I can." + +"Don't say if you can, Tulee," replied Mrs. King. "Remember you are +not a slave here. You can walk away at mid-day, and tell them you are +going to live with us." + +"They'd lock me up and send me back to Caroliny, if I told 'em so," +said Tulee. "But I'll come, Missy Rosy." + +Rosa kissed the dark cheek she had so often kissed when they were +children together, and they parted for the night. + +The next day and the next night passed without a visit from Tulee. +Mr. and Mrs. Bright, who entered into the affair with the liveliest +interest, expressed the opinion that she had been spirited away and +sent South. The sisters began to entertain a similar fear; and it +was decided that their husbands should call with them the following +morning, to have a talk with Mr. and Mrs. Robbem. But not long after +breakfast, Tulee stole into the back door with the cherub in her arms. + +"O Missy Flory," said she, "I tried to get here last night. But Missis +Robbem takes a heap o' care o' me." She said this with a mischievous +smile. "When we was at the Astor House, she locked up my clothes in +her room, 'cause New York was such a dreadful wicked place, she was +'fraid they'd be stole; and she never let me out o' her sight, for +fear the colored waiters in the hotel would be impudent to me. Last +night she sent me away up into the cupola to sleep, 'cause she said I +could have more room there. And when I'd got the picaninny asleep, and +was watching for a chance to steal away, she come all the way up there +very softly, and said she'd brought me some hot drink, 'cause I didn't +seem to be well. Then she begun to advise me not to go near the next +house. She told me Abolitionists was very bad people; that they +pretended to be great friends to colored folks, but all they wanted +was to steal 'em and sell 'em to the West Indies. I told her I didn't +know nothing 'bout Abolitionists; that the lady I was hugging and +kissing was a New Orleans lady that I used to wait upon when we was +picaninnies. She said if you had the feelings Southern ladies ought to +have, you wouldn't be boarding with Abolitionists. When she went down +stairs I didn't dare to come here, for fear she'd come up again with +some more hot drink. This morning she told me to walk up street with +the picaninny; and she watched me till I was out o' sight. But I went +round and round and got over a fence, and come through Massa Bright's +barn." + +Mr. and Mrs. King came in as she was speaking; and she turned to them, +saying anxiously, "Do you think, Massa, if I don't go back with 'em, +they'll let me have my chil'ren?" + +"Don't call me Massa," replied Mr. King, "I dislike the sound of it. +Speak to me as other people do. I have no doubt we shall manage it so +that you will have your children. I will lead home this pretty little +Tot, and tell them you are going to stay with us." + +With bonbons and funny talk he gained the favor of Tot, so that she +consented to walk with him. Tulee often applied her apron to her eyes, +as she watched the little creature holding by his finger, and +stepping along in childish fashion, turning her toes inward. When she +disappeared through the Deacon's front door, she sat down and cried +outright. "I love that little picaninny," sobbed she. "I've tended her +ever since she was born; and I love her. She'll cry for Tulee. But I +does want to be free, and I does want to live with ye, Missy Rosy and +Missy Flory." + +Mrs. Robbem met Mr. King as soon as he entered her father's door, and +said in a tone of stern surprise, "Where is my servant, sir?" + +He bowed and answered, "If you will allow me to walk in for a few +moments, I will explain my errand." As soon as they were seated he +said: "I came to inform you that Tulee does not wish to go back to +Carolina; and that by the laws of Massachusetts she has a perfect +right to remain here." + +"She's an ungrateful wench!" exclaimed Mrs. Robbem. "She's always been +treated kindly, and she wouldn't have thought of taking such a step, +if she hadn't been put up to it by meddlesome Abolitionists, who are +always interfering with gentlemen's servants." + +"The simple fact is," rejoined Mr. King, "Tulee used to be the +playmate and attendant of my wife when both of them were children. +They lived together many years, and are strongly attached to each +other." + +"If your wife is a Southern lady," replied Mrs. Robbem, "she ought to +be above such a mean Yankee trick as stealing my servant from me." + +Her husband entered at that moment, and the visitor rose and bowed as +he said, "Mr. Robbem, I presume." + +He lowered his head somewhat stiffly in reply; and his wife hastened +to say, "The Abolitionists have been decoying Tulee away from us." + +Mr. King repeated the explanation he had already made. + +"I thought the wench had more feeling," replied Mr. Robbem. "She left +children in Carolina. But the fact is, niggers have no more feeling +for their young than so many pigs." + +"I judge differently," rejoined Mr. King; "and my principal motive for +calling was to speak to you about those children. I wish to purchase +them for Tulee." + +"She shall never have them, sir!" exclaimed the slave-trader, +fiercely. "And as for you Abolitionists, all I wish is that we had you +down South." + +"Differences of opinion must be allowed in a free country," replied +Mr. King. "I consider slavery a bad institution, injurious to the +South, and to the whole country. But I did not come here to discuss +that subject. I simply wish to make a plain business statement to you. +Tulee chooses to take her freedom, and any court in Massachusetts will +decide that she has a right to take it. But, out of gratitude for +services she has rendered my wife, I am willing to make you gratuitous +compensation, provided you will enable me to buy all her children. +Will you name your terms now, or shall I call again?". + +"She shall never have her children," repeated Mr. Robbem; "she has +nobody but herself and the Abolitionists to blame for it." + +"I will, however, call again, after you have thought of it more +calmly," said Mr. King. "Good morning, sir; good morning, madam." + +His salutations were silently returned with cold, stiff bows. + +A second and third attempt was made with no better success. Tulee grew +very uneasy. "They'll sell my Benny," said she. "Ye see they ain't got +any heart, 'cause they's used to selling picaninnies." + +"What, does this Mr. Robbem carry on the Deacon's old business?" +inquired Mr. Bright. + +"Yes, Massa," replied Tulee. "Two years ago, Massa Stillham come down +to Caroliny to spend the winter, and he was round in the slave-pen +as brisk as Massa Robbem, counting the niggers, and telling how many +dollars they ought to sell for. He had a dreadful bad fever while he +was down there, and I nursed him. He was out of his head half the +time, and he was calling out: 'Going! going! How much for this likely +nigger? Stop that wench's squalling for her brat! Carry the brat off!' +It was dreadful to hear him." + +"I suppose he calculated upon going to heaven if he died," rejoined +Mr. Bright; "and if he'd gone into the kingdom with such words in his +mouth, it would have been a heavenly song for the four-and-twenty +elders to accompany with their golden harps." + +"They'll sell my Benny," groaned Tulee; "and then I shall never see +him again." + +"I have no doubt Mr. King will obtain your children," replied Mr. +Bright; "and you should remember that, if you go back South, just as +likely as not they will sell him where you will never see him or hear +from him." + +"I know it, Massa, I know it," answered she. + +"I am not your master," rejoined he. "I allow no man to call me +master, and certainly not any woman; though I don't belong to the +chivalry." + +His prediction proved true. The Deacon and his son-in-law held +frequent consultations. "This Mr. King is rich as Croesus," said the +Deacon; "and if he thinks his wife owes a debt to Tulee, he'll be +willing to give a round sum for her children. I reckon you can make a +better bargain with him than you could in the New Orleans market." + +"Do you suppose he'd give five thousand dollars for the young +niggers?" inquired the trader. + +"Try him," said the Deacon. + +The final result was that the sum was deposited by Mr. King, to be +paid over whenever Tulee's children made their appearance; and in due +time they all arrived. Tulee was full of joy and gratitude; but Mr. +Bright always maintained it was a sin and a shame to pay slave-traders +so much for what never belonged to them. + +Of course there were endless questions to be asked and answered +between the sisters and their faithful servant; but all she could tell +threw no further light on the destiny of the little changeling whom +she supposed to be Rosa's own child. In the course of these private +conversations, it came out that she herself had suffered, as all women +must suffer, who have the feelings of human beings, and the treatment +of animals. But her own humble little episode of love and separation, +of sorrow and shame, was whispered only to Missy Rosy and Missy Flory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +The probability that the lost child was alive and in slavery was +a very serious complication of existing difficulties. Thinking it +prudent to prepare Gerald's mind for any contingencies that might +occur, Mr. King proceeded immediately to Boston to have a conference +with him. The young man received the news with unexpected composure. + +"It will annoy Lily-mother very much," said he, "and on that account +I regret it; but so far as I am myself concerned, it would in some +respects be a relief to me to get out of the false position in which I +find myself. Grandfather Bell has always grumbled about the expense I +have been to him in consequence of my father's loss of fortune, and of +course that adds to the unpleasantness of feeling that I am practising +a fraud upon him. He is just now peculiarly vexed with me for leaving +Northampton so suddenly. He considers it an unaccountable caprice of +mine, and reproaches me with letting Eulalia slip through my fingers, +as he expresses it. Of course, he has no idea how it cuts me. This +state of things is producing a great change in my views. My prevailing +wish now is to obtain an independent position by my own exertions, and +thus be free to become familiar with my new self. At present, I feel +as if there were two of me, and that one was an impostor." + +"I heartily approve of your wish to rely upon your own resources," +replied Mr. King; "and I will gladly assist you to accomplish it. I +have already said you should be to me as a son, and I stand by my +word; but I advise you, as I would an own son, to devote yourself +assiduously to some business, profession, or art. Never be a gentleman +of leisure. It is the worst possible calling a man can have. Nothing +but stagnation of faculties and weariness of soul comes of it. But we +will talk about _your_ plans hereafter. The urgent business of the +present moment is to obtain some clew to your missing brother. My +conscientious wife will suffer continual anxiety till he is found. I +must go to New Orleans and seek out Mr. Bruteman, to ascertain whether +he has sold him." + +"Bruteman!" exclaimed the young man, with sudden interest. "Was he the +one who seized that negro woman and the child?" + +"Yes," rejoined Mr. King. "But why does that excite your interest?" + +"I am almost ashamed to tell you," replied Gerald. "But you know I +was educated in the prejudices of my father and grandfather. It was +natural that I should be proud of being the son of a slaveholder, +that I should despise the colored race, and consider abolition a very +vulgar fanaticism. But the recent discovery that I was myself born a +slave has put me upon my thoughts, and made me a little uneasy about +a transaction in which I was concerned. The afternoon preceding Mrs. +Green's splendid ball, where I first saw my beautiful Rose-mother, two +fugitive slaves arrived here in one of grandfather's ships called 'The +King Cotton.' Mr. Bruteman telegraphed to grandfather about them, and +the next morning he sent me to tell Captain Kane to send the slaves +down to the islands in the harbor, and keep them under guard till a +vessel passed that would take them back to New Orleans. I did his +errand, without bestowing upon the subjects of it any more thought or +care than I should have done upon two bales of cotton. At parting, +Captain Kane said to me, 'By George, Mr. Fitzgerald, one of these +fellows looks so much like you, that, if you were a little tanned by +exposure to the sun, I shouldn't know you apart.' 'That's flattering,' +replied I, 'to be compared to a negro.' And I hurried away, being +impatient to make an early call upon your lady at the Revere House. I +don't suppose I should ever have thought of it again, if your present +conversation had not brought it to my mind." + +"Do you know whether Mr. Bruteman sold those slaves after they were +sent back?" inquired Mr. King. + +"There is one fact connected with the affair which I will tell you, +if you promise not to mention it," replied the young man. "The +Abolitionists annoyed grandfather a good deal about those runaways, +and he is nervously sensitive lest they should get hold of it, and +publish it in their papers." Having received the desired promise, he +went on to say: "Those slaves were mortgaged to grandfather, and he +sent orders to have them immediately sold. I presume Mr. Bruteman +managed the transaction, for they were his slaves; but I don't know +whether he reported the name of the purchaser. He died two months +ago, leaving his affairs a good deal involved; and I heard that some +distant connections in Mississippi were his heirs." + +"Where can I find Captain Kane?" inquired Mr. King. + +"He sailed for Calcutta a fortnight ago," rejoined Gerald. + +"Then there is no other resource but to go to New Orleans, as soon as +the weather will permit," was the reply. + +"I honor your zeal," said the young man. "I wish my own record was +clean on the subject. Since I have taken the case home to myself, +I have felt that it was mean and wrong to send back fugitives from +slavery; but it becomes painful, when I think of the possibility of +having helped to send back my own brother,--and one, too, whom I have +supplanted in his birthright." + + * * * * * + +When Mr. King returned to Northampton, the information he had obtained +sent a new pang to the heart of his wife. "Then he _is_ a slave!" she +exclaimed. "And while the poor fellow was being bound and sent back +to slavery, I was dancing and receiving homage. Verily the Furies do +pursue me. Do you think it is necessary to tell Mrs. Fitzgerald of +this?" + +"In a reverse of cases, I think you would feel that you ought to be +informed of everything," he replied. "But I will save you from that +portion of the pain. It was most fitting that a woman should make the +first part of the disclosure; but this new light on the subject can be +as well revealed by myself." + +"Always kind and considerate," she said. "This news will be peculiarly +annoying to her, and perhaps she will receive it better from you than +from me; for I can see that I have lost her favor. But you have taught +me that it is of more consequence to _deserve_ favor than to _have_ +it; and I shall do my utmost to deserve a kindly estimate from her." + +"I confess I am somewhat puzzled by this tangle," rejoined her +husband. "But where there is both the will and the means to repair a +wrong, it will be strange if a way cannot be found." + +"I would like to sell my diamonds, and all my other expensive +ornaments, to buy that young man," said she. + +"That you can do, if it will be any gratification to you," he replied; +"but the few thousands I have invested in jewels for you would go but +little way toward the full remuneration I intend to make, if he can be +found. We will send the young people out of the way this evening, and +lay the case before a family council of the elders. I should like to +consult Blumenthal. I have never known a man whose natural instincts +were so true as his; and his entire freedom from conventional +prejudices reminds me of my good father. I have great reliance also +on Mrs. Delano's delicate perceptions and quiet good sense. And our +lively little Flora, though she jumps to her conclusions, always jumps +in a straight line, and usually hits the point." + +As soon as the council was convened, and the subject introduced, Mrs. +Blumenthal exclaimed: "Why, Florimond, those slaves in 'The King +Cotton' were the ones you and Mr. Goldwin tried so hard to help them +find." + +"Yes," rejoined he; "I caught a hasty glimpse of one of the poor +fellows just as they were seizing him with the cry of 'Stop thief!' +and his Italian look reminded me so forcibly of the danger Flora was +once in, that I was extremely troubled about him after I heard he was +a slave. As I recall him to my mind, I do think he resembled young +Fitzgerald. Mr. Percival might perhaps throw some light on the +subject; for he was unwearied in his efforts to rescue those +fugitives. He already knows Flora's history." + +"I should like to have you go to Boston with me and introduce me to +him," said Mr. King. + +"That I will do," answered Blumenthal. "I think both Mr. Bell and +Mrs. Fitzgerald would prefer to have it all sink into unquestioned +oblivion; but that does not change our duty with regard to the poor +fellow." + +"Do you think they ought to be informed of the present circumstances?" +inquired Mr. King. + +"If I were in their position, I should think I ought to know all the +particulars," replied he; "and the golden rule is as good as it is +simple." + +"Mrs. Fitzgerald has great dread of her father's knowing anything +about it," responded Rosa; "and I have an earnest desire to spare her +pain as far as possible. It seems as if she had a right to judge in +the premises." + +Mrs. Delano took Mr. Blumenthal's view of the subject, and it was +decided to leave that point for further consideration. Flora suggested +that some difficulties might be removed by at once informing Eulalia +that Gerald was her brother. But Mrs. Delano answered: "Some +difficulties might be avoided for ourselves by that process; but the +good of the young people is a paramount consideration. You know none +of them are aware of all the antecedents in their family history, +and it seems to me best that they should not know them till their +characters are fully formed. I should have no objection to telling +them of their colored ancestry, if it did not involve a knowledge of +laws and customs and experiences growing out of slavery, which might, +at this early age, prove unsettling to their principles. Anything that +mystifies moral perceptions is not so easily removed from youthful +minds as breath is wiped from a mirror." + +"I have that feeling very deeply fixed with regard to our Eulalia," +observed Mr. King; "and I really see no need of agitating their +young, unconscious minds with subjects they are too inexperienced to +understand. I will have a talk with Mrs. Fitzgerald, and then proceed +to Boston." + +Mrs. Fitzgerald received the announcement with much less equanimity +than she had manifested on a former occasion. Though habitually +polite, she said very abruptly: "I was in hopes I should never be +troubled any more with this vulgar subject. Since Mrs. King saw fit to +change the children, let her take care of the one she has chosen. Of +course, it would be very disagreeable to me to have a son who had been +brought up among slaves. If I wished to make his acquaintance, I could +not do it without exciting a great deal of remark; and there has +already been too much talk about my husband's affairs. But I have no +wish to see him. I have educated a son to my own liking, and everybody +says he is an elegant young man. If you would cease from telling me +that there is a stain in his blood, I should never be reminded of it." + +"We thought it right to inform you of everything," rejoined Mr. King, +"and leave you to decide what was to be done." + +"Then, once for all," said she, "please leave Gerald and me in peace; +and do what you choose about the other one. We have had sufficient +annoyance already; and I never wish to hear the subject mentioned +again." + +"I accept your decision," replied Mr. King. "If the unfortunate young +man can be found, I will educate him and establish him in business, +and do the same for him in all respects that you would have done if he +had been your acknowledged heir." + +"And keep him at a distance from me," said the perturbed lady; "for +if he resembles Gerald so strongly, it would of course give rise to +unpleasant inquiries and remarks." + +The gentleman bowed, wished her good morning, and departed, thinking +what he had heard was a strange commentary on natural instincts. + +Mr. Percival was of course greatly surprised and excited when he +learned the relation which one of the fugitives in "The King Cotton" +bore to Mr. Bell. "We hear a good deal about poetical justice," said +he; "but one rarely sees it meted out in this world. The hardness of +the old merchant when Mr. Jackson and I called upon him was a thing to +be remembered. He indorsed, with warm approbation, the declaration +of the reverend gentleman who professed his willingness to send his +mother or brother into slavery, if the laws of the United States +required it." + +"If our friend Mr. Bright was with us, he would say the Lord took him +at his word," rejoined Mr. Blumenthal, smiling. + +An earnest discussion ensued concerning the possibilities of the case, +and several days were spent in active investigation. But all the +additional light obtained was from a sailor, who had been one of the +boat's crew that conveyed the fugitives to the islands in the harbor; +and all he could tell was that he heard them call each other George +and Henry. When he was shown a colored photograph, which Gerald had +just had taken for his Rose-mother, he at once said that was the one +named George. + +"This poor fellow must be rescued," said Mr. King, after they returned +from their unsatisfactory conference with the sailor. "Mr. Bell may +know who purchased him, and a conversation with him seems to be the +only alternative." + +"Judging by my own experience, your task is not to be envied," +rejoined Mr. Percival. "He will be in a tremendous rage. But perhaps +the lesson will do him good. I remember Francis Jackson said at the +time, that if his dark-complexioned grandson should be sent into +slavery, it might bring him to a realizing sense of the state of +things he was doing his utmost to encourage." + +The undertaking did indeed seem more formidable to Mr. King than +anything he had yet encountered; but true to his sense of duty he +resolved to go bravely through with it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + +The old merchant received Mr. King with marked politeness; for though +he suspected him of anti-slavery proclivities, and despised him for +that weakness, he had great respect for a man whose name was as good +as gold, and who was the father of such an eligible match as Eulalia. + +After some discursive conversation, Mr. King said, "I am desirous to +tell you a short story, if you will have patience to listen to it." + +"Certainly, sir," replied the old gentleman. + +His visitor accordingly began by telling of Mr. Royal's having formed +one of those quadroon alliances so common in New Orleans; of his +having died insolvent; and of his two handsome octoroon daughters +having been claimed as slaves by his creditors. + +"What the deuce do you suppose I care about his octoroon daughters?" +interrupted Mr. Bell, impatiently. "I wasn't one of his creditors." + +"Perhaps you will take some interest in it," rejoined Mr. King, +"when I tell you that the eldest of them was married to Mr. Gerald +Fitzgerald of Savannah, and that she is still living." + +"Do you mean the Mr. Fitzgerald who married my daughter Lily?" +inquired he. + +"I do mean him," was the response. + +"It's false," vociferated Mr. Bell, growing almost purple in the face. + +"No, sir, it is not false," replied Mr. King. "But you need not be so +much excited. The first marriage did not render the second illegal; +first, because a sham ceremony was performed to deceive the +inexperienced girl; and secondly, because, according to the laws of +the South, any marriage with a slave, however sanctified by religious +forms, is utterly void in law." + +"I consider such a law a very wise provision," replied the merchant. +"It is necessary to prevent the inferior race from being put on an +equality with their superiors. The negroes were made to be servants, +sir. _You_ may be an advocate for amalgamation, but I am not." + +"I would simply ask you to observe that the law you so much approve is +not a preventive of amalgamation. Mr. Fitzgerald married the daughter +of the quadroon. The only effect of the law was to deprive her of a +legal right to his support and protection, and to prevent her son from +receiving any share of his father's property. By another Southern law, +that 'the child shall follow the condition of the mother,' her son +became a slave." + +"Well, sir, what interest do you suppose I can take in all this?" +interrupted the merchant. "It's nothing to me, sir. The South is +competent to make her own laws." + +Mr. King begged his attention a little longer. He then proceeded to +tell how Mr. Fitzgerald had treated the octoroon, at the time of his +marriage with Miss Bell; that he had subsequently sold her to a very +base man, in payment of a debt; that she, terrified and bewildered +by the prospect of such a fate, had, in a moment of frantic revenge, +changed her babe for his daughter's; and that consequently the Gerald +he had been educating as his grandson was in fact the son of the +octoroon, and born a slave. + +"Really, sir," said Mr. Bell, with a satirical smile, "that story +might sell for something to a writer of sensation novels; but I +should hardly have expected to hear it from a sensible gentleman like +yourself. Pray, on whose testimony do you expect me to believe such an +improbable fiction?" + +"On that of the mother herself," replied Mr. King. + +With a very contemptuous curl of his lip, Mr. Bell answered: "And +you really suppose, do you, that I can be induced to disinherit my +grandson on the testimony of a colored woman? Not I, sir. Thank God, I +am not infected with this negro mania." + +"But you have not asked who the woman is," rejoined Mr. King; "and +without knowing that, you cannot judge candidly of the value of her +testimony." + +"I don't ask, because I don't care," replied the merchant. "The +negroes are a lying set, sir; and I am no Abolitionist, that I should +go about retailing their lies." + +Mr. King looked at him an instant, and then answered, very calmly: +"The mother of that babe, whose word you treat so contemptuously, is +Mrs. King, my beloved and honored wife." + +The old merchant was startled from his propriety; and, forgetful of +the gout in his feet, he sprung from his chair, exclaiming, "The +Devil!" + +Mr. King, without noticing the abrupt exclamation, went on to relate +in detail the manner of his first introduction to Miss Royal, his +compassion for her subsequent misfortunes, his many reasons for +believing her a pure and noble woman, and the circumstances which +finally led to their marriage. He expressed his conviction that the +children had been changed in a fit of temporary insanity, and dwelt +much on his wife's exceeding anxiety to atone for the wrong, as far as +possible. "I was ignorant of the circumstance," said he, "until the +increasing attraction between Gerald and Eulalia made an avowal +necessary. It gives me great pain to tell you all this; but I thought +that, under a reverse of circumstances, I should myself prefer to know +the facts. I am desirous to do my utmost to repair the mischief done +by a deserted and friendless woman, at a moment when she was crazed +by distress and terror; a woman, too, whose character I have abundant +reason to love and honor. If you choose to disinherit Gerald, I will +provide for his future as if he were my own son; and I will repay with +interest all the expense you have incurred for him. I hope that this +affair may be kept secret from the world, and that we may amicably +settle it, in such a way that no one will be materially injured." + +Somewhat mollified by this proposal, the old gentleman inquired in a +milder tone, "And where is the young man who you say is my daughter's +son?" + +"Until very recently he was supposed to be dead," rejoined Mr. King; +"and unfortunately that circumstance led my wife to think there was +no need of speaking to me concerning this affair at the time of our +marriage. But we now have reason to think he may be living; and that +is why I have particularly felt it my duty to make this unpleasant +revelation." After repeating Tulee's story, he said, "You probably +have not forgotten that last winter two slaves escaped to Boston in +your ship 'The King Cotton'?" + +The old merchant started as if he had been shot. + +"Try not to be agitated," said Mr. King. "If we keep calm, and assist +each other, we may perhaps extricate ourselves from this disagreeable +dilemma, without any very disastrous results. I have but one reason +for thinking it possible there may be some connection between the lost +babe and one of the slaves whom you sent back to his claimant. The two +babes were very nearly of an age, and so much alike that the exchange +passed unnoticed; and the captain of 'The King Cotton' told Gerald +that the eldest of those slaves resembled him so much that he should +not know them apart." + +Mr. Bell covered his face and uttered a deep groan. Such distress in +an old man powerfully excited Mr. King's sympathy; and moving near to +him, he placed his hand on his and said: "Don't be so much troubled, +sir. This is a bad affair, but I think it can be so managed as to do +no very serious harm. My motive in coming to you at this time is to +ascertain whether you can furnish me with any clew to that young man. +I will myself go in search of him, and I will take him to Europe and +have him educated in a manner suitable to his condition, as your +descendant and the heir of your property." + +The drawn expression of the old merchant's mouth was something painful +to witness. It seemed as if every nerve was pulled to its utmost +tension by the excitement in his soul. He obviously had to make a +strong effort to speak when he said, "Do you suppose, sir, that a +merchant of my standing is going to leave his property to negroes?" + +"You forget that this young man is pure Anglo-Saxon," replied Mr. +King. + +"I tell you, sir," rejoined Mr. Bell, "that the mulatto who was with +him was his wife; and if he is proved to be my grandson, I'll never +see him, nor have anything to do with him, unless he gives her up; +not if you educate him with the Prince Royal of France or England. A +pretty dilemma you have placed me in, sir. My property, it seems, must +either go to Gerald, who you say has negro blood in his veins, or to +this other fellow, who is a slave with a negro wife." + +"But she could be educated in Europe also," pleaded Mr. King; "and I +could establish him permanently in lucrative business abroad. By this +arrangement--" + +"Go to the Devil with your arrangements!" interrupted the merchant, +losing all command of himself. "If you expect to arrange a pack of +mulatto heirs for _me_, you are mistaken, sir." + +He rose up and struck his chair upon the floor with a vengeance, and +his face was purple with rage, as he vociferated: "I'll have legal +redress for this, sir. I'll expose your wife, sir. I'll lay my damages +at a million, sir." + +Mr. King bowed and said, "I will see you again when you are more +calm." + +As he went out, he heard Mr. Bell striding across the room and +thrashing the furniture about. "Poor old gentleman!" thought he. "I +hope I shall succeed in convincing him how little I value money in +comparison with righting this wrong, as far as possible. Alas! it +would never have taken place had there not been a great antecedent +wrong; and that again grew out of the monstrous evil of slavery." + +He had said to the old merchant, "I will see you again when you are +calmer." And when he saw him again, he was indeed calm, for he had +died suddenly, of a fit produced by violent excitement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + +A few weeks after the funeral of Mr. Bell, Gerald wrote the following +letter to Mr. King:-- + +"My honored and dear Friend,--Lily-mother has decided to go to Europe +this fall, that I may have certain educational advantages which she +has planned for me. That is the only reason she assigns; but she is +evidently nervous about your investigations, and I think a wish to be +out of the country for the present has had some effect in producing +this decision. I have not sought to influence her concerning this, or +the other important point you wot of. My desire is to conform to her +wishes, and promote her happiness in any way she chooses. This it is +my duty as well as my pleasure to do. She intends to remain in Europe +a year, perhaps longer. I wish very much to see you all; and Eulalia +might well consider me a very impolite acquaintance, if I should go +without saying good by. If you do not return to Boston before we +sail, I will, with your permission, make a short call upon you in +Northampton. I thank Rose-mother for her likeness. It will be very +precious to me. I wish you would add your own and another; for +wherever my lot may be cast, you three will always be among my dearest +memories." + +"I am glad of this arrangement," said Mr. King. "At their age, I hope +a year of separation will prove sufficient." + +The Rose-mother covered the wound in her heart, and answered, "Yes, +it is best." But the constrained tone of the letter pained her, and +excited her mind to that most unsatisfactory of all occupations, the +thinking over what might have been. She had visions of her first-born +son, as he lay by her side a few hours before Chloe carried him away +from her sight; and then there rose before her the fair face of that +other son, whose pretty little body was passing into the roses of +Provence. Both of them had gone out of her life. Of one she received +no tidings from the mysterious world of spirits; while the other was +walking within her vision, as a shadow, the reality of which was +intangible. + +Mr. King returned to Boston with his family in season for Gerald +to make the proposed call before he sailed. There was a little +heightening of color when he and Eulalia met, but he had drilled +himself to perform the part of a polite acquaintance; and as she +thought she had been rather negligently treated of late, she was cased +in the armor of maidenly reserve. + +Both Mr. and Mrs. King felt it to be an arduous duty to call on Mrs. +Fitzgerald. That lady, though she respected their conscientiousness, +could not help disliking them. They had disturbed her relations with +Gerald, by suggesting the idea of another claim upon his affections; +and they had offended her pride by introducing the vulgar phantom of +a slave son to haunt her imagination. She was continually jealous of +Mrs. King; so jealous, that Gerald never ventured to show her the +likeness of his Rose-mother. But though the discerning eyes of Mr. and +Mrs. King read this in the very excess of her polite demonstrations, +other visitors who were present when they called supposed them to be +her dearest friends, and envied her the distinguished intimacy. + +Such formal attempts at intercourse only increased the cravings of +Rosa's heart, and Mr. King requested Gerald to grant her a private +interview. Inexpressibly precious were these few stolen moments, when +she could venture to call him son, and hear him call her mother. He +brought her an enamelled locket containing some of his hair, inscribed +with the word "Gerald"; and she told him that to the day of her death +she would always wear it next her heart. He opened a small morocco +case, on the velvet lining of which lay a lily of delicate silver +filigree. + +"Here is a little souvenir for Eulalia," said he. + +Her eyes moistened as she replied, "I fear it would not be prudent, my +son." + +He averted his face as he answered: "Then give it to her in my +mother's name. It will be pleasant to me to think that my sister is +wearing it." + + * * * * * + +A few days after Gerald had sailed for Europe, Mr. King started for +New Orleans, taking with him his wife and daughter. An auctioneer was +found, who said he had sold to a gentleman in Natchez a runaway slave +named Bob Bruteman, who strongly resembled the likeness of Gerald. +They proceeded to Natchez and had an interview with the purchaser, who +recognized a likeness between his slave Bob and the picture of +Gerald. He said he had made a bad bargain of it, for the fellow was +intelligent and artful, and had escaped from him two months ago. In +answer to his queries, Mr. King stated that, if Bob was the one he +supposed, he was a white man, and had friends who wished to redeem +him; but as the master had obtained no clew to the runaway, he could +of course give none. So their long journey produced no result, except +the satisfaction of thinking that the object of their interest had +escaped from slavery. + +It had been their intention to spend the coldest months at the South, +but a volcano had flared up all of a sudden at Harper's Ferry, and +boiling lava was rolling all over the land. Every Northern man who +visited the South was eyed suspiciously, as a possible emissary of +John Brown; and the fact that Mr. King was seeking to redeem a runaway +slave was far from increasing confidence in him. Finding that silence +was unsatisfactory, and that he must either indorse slavery or +be liable to perpetual provocations to quarrel, he wrote to Mr. +Blumenthal to have their house in readiness for their return; an +arrangement which Flora and her children hailed with merry shouts and +clapping of hands. + +When they arrived, they found their house as warm as June, with Flora +and her family there to receive them, backed by a small army of +servants, consisting of Tulee, with her tall son and daughter, and +little Benny, and Tom and Chloe; all of whom had places provided +for them, either in the household or in Mr. King's commercial +establishment. Their tropical exuberance of welcome made him smile. +When the hearty hand-shakings were over, he said to his wife, as they +passed into the parlor, "It really seemed as if we were landing on the +coast of Guinea with a cargo of beads." + +"O Alfred," rejoined she, "I am so grateful to you for employing them +all! You don't know, and never _can_ know, how I feel toward these +dusky friends; for you never had them watch over you, day after day, +and night after night, patiently and tenderly leading you up from the +valley of the shadow of death." + +He pressed her hand affectionately, and said, "Inasmuch as they did it +for you, darling, they did it for me." + +This sentiment was wrought into their daily deportment to their +servants; and the result was an harmonious relation between employer +and employed, which it was beautiful to witness. But there are +skeletons hidden away in the happiest households. Mrs. King had hers, +and Tom and Chloe had theirs. The death of Mr. Bell and the absence of +Mrs. Fitzgerald left no one in Boston who would be likely to recognize +them; but they knew that the Fugitive Slave Act was still in force, +and though they relied upon Mr. King's generosity in case of +emergency, they had an uncomfortable feeling of not being free. It was +not so with Tulee. She had got beyond Mount Pisgah into the Canaan of +freedom; and her happiness was unalloyed. Mr. King, though kind and +liberal to all, regarded her with especial favor, on account of old +associations. The golden hoops had been taken from her ears when she +was in the calaboose; but he had presented her with another pair, for +he liked to have her look as she did when she opened for him that door +in New Orleans, which had proved an entrance to the temple and palace +of his life. She felt herself to be a sort of prime minister in the +small kingdom, and began to deport herself as one having authority. +No empress ever had more satisfaction in a royal heir than she had in +watching her Benny trudging to school, with his spelling-book slung +over his shoulder, in a green satchel Mrs. King had made for him. The +stylishness of the establishment was also a great source of pride to +her; and she often remarked in the kitchen that she had always said +gold was none too good for Missy Rosy to walk upon. Apart from this +consideration, she herself had an Oriental delight in things that were +lustrous and gayly colored. Tom had learned to read quite fluently, +and was accustomed to edify his household companions with chapters +from the Bible on Sunday evenings. The descriptions of King Solomon's +splendor made a lively impression on Tulee's mind. When she dusted +the spacious parlors, she looked admiringly at the large mirrors, the +gilded circles of gas lights, and the great pictures framed in crimson +and gold, and thought that the Temple of Solomon could not have been +more grand. She could scarcely believe Mrs. Delano was wealthy. "She's +a beautiful lady," said she to Flora; "but if she's got plenty o' +money, what makes her dress so innocent and dull? There's Missy Rosy +now, when _she_'s dressed for company, she looks like the Queen of +Shebee." + +One morning Tulee awoke to look out upon a scene entirely new to her +Southern eyes, and far surpassing anything she had imagined of the +splendor of Solomon's Temple. On the evening previous, the air had +been full of mist, which, as it grew colder, had settled on the trees +of the Common, covering every little twig with a panoply of ice. A +very light snow had fallen softly during the night, and sprinkled the +ice with a feathery fleece. The trees, in this delicate white vesture, +standing up against a dark blue sky, looked like the glorified spirits +of trees. Here and there, the sun touched them, and dropped a shower +of diamonds. Tulee gazed a moment in delighted astonishment, and ran +to call Chloe, who exclaimed, "They looks like great white angels, and +Ise feared they'll fly away 'fore Missis gits up." + +Tulee was very impatient for the sound of Mrs. King's bell, and as +soon as the first tinkle was heard she rushed into her dressing-room, +exclaiming, "O, do come to the window, Missy Rosy! Sure this is silver +land." + +Rosa was no less surprised when she looked out upon that wonderful +vision of the earth, in its transfigured raiment of snow-glory. "Why, +Tulee," said she, "it is diamond land. I've seen splendid fairy scenes +in the theatres of Paris, but never anything so brilliant as this." + +"I used to think the woods down South, all covered with jess'mines, +was the beautifullest thing," responded Tulee; "but, Lors, Missy +Rosy, this is as much handsomer as Solomon's Temple was handsomer than +a meetin'-house." + +But neither the indoor nor the outdoor splendor, nor all the personal +comforts they enjoyed, made this favored band of colored people +forgetful of the brethren they had left in bondage. Every word about +John Brown was sought for and read with avidity. When he was first +taken captive, Chloe said: "The angel that let Peter out o' prison +ha'n't growed old an' hard o' hearing. If we prays loud enough, he'll +go and open the doors for old John Brown." + +Certainly, it was not for want of the colored people's praying loud +and long enough, that the prisoner was not supernaturally delivered. +They did not relinquish the hope till the 2d of December: and when +that sad day arrived, they assembled in their meeting-house to watch +and pray. All was silent, except now and then an occasional groan, +till the hands of the clock pointed to the moment of the martyr's exit +from this world. Then Tom poured forth his soul in a mighty voice of +prayer, ending with the agonized entreaty, "O Lord, thou hast taken +away our Moses. Raise us up a Joshua!" And all cried, "Amen!" + +Chloe, who had faith that could walk the stormiest waves, spoke words +of fervent cheer to the weeping congregation. + +"I tell ye they ha'n't killed old John Brown," said she; "'cause they +_couldn't_ kill him. The angel that opened the prison doors for Peter +has let him out, and sent him abroad in a different way from what we +'spected; that's all." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + + +Through the following year, the political sky grew ever darker with +impending clouds, crinkled with lightning, and vocal with growlings of +approaching thunder. The North continued to make servile concessions, +which history will blush to record; but they proved unavailing. +The arrogance of slaveholders grew by what it fed on. Though a +conscientious wish to avoid civil war mingled largely with the +selfishness of trade, and the heartless gambling of politicians, all +was alike interpreted by them as signs of Northern cowardice. At +last, the Sumter gun was heard booming through the gathering storm. +Instantly, the air was full of starry banners, and Northern pavements +resounded with the tramp of horse and the rolling of artillery wagons. +A thrill of patriotic enthusiasm kindled the souls of men. No more +sending back of slaves. All our cities became at once cities of +refuge; for men had risen above the letter of the Constitution into +the spirit of the Declaration of Independence. + +Gerald and his Lily-mother arrived in New York to find the social +atmosphere all aglow. Under its exciting influence, he wrote to Mr. +King:-- + +"Yesterday, I informed you of our arrival; and now I write to tell +you that they are forming a regiment here to march to the defence of +Washington, and I have joined it. Lily-mother was unwilling at +first. But a fine set of fellows are joining,--all first-class young +gentlemen. I told Lily-mother she would be ashamed to have me loiter +behind the sons of her acquaintance, and that Mr. Seward said it was +only an affair of sixty days. So she has consented. I enclose a letter +to Rose-mother, to ask her blessing on my enterprise, which I am quite +sure I shall have, together with your own." + +Thus, with the unreflecting exhilaration of youth, Gerald went forth +to the war, as light of heart as if he had been joining a boat-race or +a hunting excursion; so little did he comprehend that ferocious system +of despotism which was fastening its fangs on free institutions with +the death-grapple of a bloodhound. + +For the next two months, his letters, though hurried, were frequent, +and always cheerful; mostly filled with trifling gossipings about +camp-life, and affectionate remembrances to those he had left behind. +At last, Mr. King received one of graver import, which ran thus:-- + +"I have met with a strange adventure. A number of us were on picket +duty, with orders to keep a sharp lookout. We went pacing back and +forth on our allotted ground, now passing under the shadow of trees, +now coming out into the moonlight. I walked very erect, feeling myself +every inch a soldier. Sometimes I cast scrutinizing glances into +groups of shrubbery, and sometimes I gazed absently on the sparkling +Potomac, while memory was retracing the events of my life, and +recalling the dear ones connected with them. Just as I reached a large +tree which formed the boundary of my prescribed course, the next +sentinel, whose walk began where mine ended, approached the same tree, +and before he turned again we met face to face for an instant. I +started, and I confess to a momentary feeling of superstition; for I +thought I had seen myself; and that, you know, is said to be a warning +of approaching death. He could not have seen me very plainly, for I +was in shadow, while he for an instant was clearly revealed by the +moonlight. Anxious to be sure whether I had seen a vision or a +reality, when I again approached the tree I waited for him; and a +second time I saw such a likeness of myself as I never saw excepting +in the mirror. He turned quickly, and marched away with military +promptitude and precision. I watched him for a moment, as his erect +figure alternately dipped into shadow and emerged into light. I need +not tell you what I was thinking of while I looked; for you can easily +conjecture. The third time we met, I said, 'What is your name?' He +replied, 'George Falkner,' and marched away. I write on a drumhead, in +a hurry. As soon as I can obtain a talk with this duplicate of myself, +I will write to you again. But I shall not mention my adventure to +Lily-mother. It would only make her unhappy." + +Another letter, which arrived a week after, contained merely the +following paragraph on the subject that interested them most:-- + +"We soldiers cannot command our own movements or our time. I have been +able to see G.F. but once, and then our interview was brief. He seemed +very reserved about himself. He says he came from New York; but his +speech is Southern. He talks about 'toting' things, and says he +'disremembers,' I shall try to gain his confidence, and perhaps I +shall be able to draw him out." + +A fortnight later he wrote:-- + +"I have learned from G.F. that the first thing he remembers of himself +is living with an old negress, about ten miles from New Orleans, with +eight other children, of various shades, but none so white as himself. +He judges he was about nine years old when he was carried to New +Orleans, and let out by a rich man named Bruteman to a hotel-keeper, +to black boots, do errands, &c. One of the children that the old +negress brought up with him was a mulatto named Henriet. The boys +called her Hen, he said. He used to 'tote' her about when she was a +baby, and afterward they used to roll in the mud, and make mud-pies +together. When Hen was twelve years old, she was let out to work in +the same hotel where he was. Soon afterward, Mr. Bruteman put him out +to learn the carpenter's trade, and he soon became expert at it. But +though he earned five or six dollars a week, and finally nine or ten, +he never received any portion of it; except that now and then Mr. +Bruteman, when he counted his wages, gave him a fip. I never thought +of _this_ side of the question when I used to hear grandfather talk +about the rights of slaveholders; but I feel now, if this had been my +own case, I should have thought it confounded hard. He and Hen were +very young when they first begun to talk about being married; but he +couldn't bear the thoughts of bringing up a family to be slaves, and +they watched for an opportunity to run away. After several plans which +proved abortive, they went boldly on board 'The King Cotton,' he as a +white gentleman, and she disguised as his boy servant. You know how +that attempt resulted. He says they were kept two days, with hands and +feet tied, on an island that was nothing but rock. They suffered with +cold, though one of the sailors, who seemed kind-hearted, covered them +with blankets and overcoats. He probably did not like the business of +guarding slaves; for one night he whispered to G.F., 'Can't you swim?' +But George was very little used to the water, and Hen couldn't swim at +all. Besides, he said, the sailors had loaded guns, and some of them +would have fired upon them, if they had heard them plunge; and even +if by a miracle they had gained the shore, he thought they would be +seized and sent back again, just as they were in Boston. + +"You may judge how I felt, while I listened to this. I wanted to ask +his forgiveness, and give him all my money, and my watch, and my ring, +and everything. After they were carried back, Hen was sold to the +hotel-keeper for six hundred dollars, and he was sold to a man in +Natchez for fifteen hundred. After a while, he escaped in a woman's +dress, contrived to open a communication with Hen, and succeeded in +carrying her off to New York. There he changed his woman's dress, and +his slave name of Bob Bruteman, and called himself George Falkner. +When I asked him why he chose that name, he rolled up his sleeve and +showed me G.F. marked on his arm. He said he didn't know who put them +there, but he supposed they were the initials of his name. He is +evidently impressed by our great resemblance. If he asks me directly +whether I can conjecture anything about his origin, I hardly know how +it will be best to answer. Do write how much or how little I ought to +say. Feeling unsafe in the city of New York, and being destitute of +money, he applied to the Abolitionists for advice. They sent him to +New Rochelle, where he let himself to a Quaker, called Friend Joseph +Houseman, of whom he hired a small hut. There, Hen, whom he now calls +Henriet, takes in washing and ironing, and there a babe has been born +to them. When the war broke out he enlisted; partly because he thought +it would help him to pay off some old scores with slaveholders, and +partly because a set of rowdies in the village of New Rochelle said he +was a white man, and threatened to mob him for living with a nigger +wife. While they were in New York city, he and Henriet were regularly +married by a colored minister. He said he did it because he hated +slavery and couldn't bear to live as slaves did. I heard him read a +few lines from a newspaper, and he read them pretty well. He says a +little boy, son of the carpenter of whom he learned his trade, gave +him some instruction, and he bought a spelling-book for himself. +He showed me some beef-bones, on which he practises writing with a +pencil. When he told me how hard he had tried to get what little +learning he had, it made me ashamed to think how many cakes and toys I +received as a reward for studying my spelling-book. He is teaching an +old negro, who waits upon the soldiers. It is funny to see how hard +the poor old fellow tries, and to hear what strange work he makes of +it. It must be 'that stolen waters are sweet,' or slaves would never +take so much more pains than I was ever willing to take to learn to +spell out the Bible. Sometimes I help G.F. with his old pupil; and I +should like to have Mrs. Blumenthal make a sketch of us, as I sit on +the grass in the shade of some tree, helping the old negro hammer his +syllables together. My New York companions laugh at me sometimes; but +I have gained great favor with G.F. by this proceeding. He is such +an ingenious fellow, that he is always in demand to make or mend +something. When I see how skilful he is with tools, I envy him. I +begin to realize what you once told me, and which did not please me +much at the time, that being a fine gentleman is the poorest calling a +man can devote himself to. + +"I have written this long letter under difficulties, and at various +times. I have omitted many particulars, which I will try to remember +in my next. Enclosed is a note for Rose-mother. I hold you all in most +affectionate remembrance." + +Soon after the reception of this letter, news came of the defeat at +Bull Run, followed by tidings that Gerald was among the slain. Mr. +King immediately waited upon Mrs. Fitzgerald to offer any services +that he could render, and it was agreed that he should forthwith +proceed to Washington with her cousin, Mr. Green. They returned with a +long wooden box, on which was inscribed Gerald's name and regiment. It +was encased in black walnut without being opened, for those who loved +him dreaded to see him, marred as he was by battle. It was carried to +Stone Chapel, where a multitude collected to pay the last honors to +the youthful soldier. A sheathed sword was laid across the coffin, on +which Mrs. Fitzgerald placed a laurel wreath. Just above it, Mrs. King +deposited a wreath of white roses, in the centre of which Eulalia +timidly laid a white lily. A long procession followed it to Mount +Auburn, with a band playing Beethoven's Funeral March. Episcopal +services were performed at the grave, which friends and relatives +filled with flowers; and there, by the side of Mr. Bell, the beautiful +young man was hidden away from human sight. Mr. King's carriage had +followed next to Mrs. Fitzgerald's; a circumstance which the public +explained by a report that the deceased was to have married his +daughter. Mrs. Fitzgerald felt flattered to have it so understood, +and she never contradicted it. After her great disappointment in her +husband, and the loss of her other children, all the affection she +was capable of feeling had centred in Gerald. But hers was not a deep +nature, and the world held great sway over it. She suffered acutely +when she first heard of her loss; but she found no small degree of +soothing compensation in the praises bestowed on her young hero, in +the pomp of his funeral, and the general understanding that he was +betrothed to the daughter of the quatro-millionnaire. + +The depth of Mrs. King's sorrow was known only to Him who made the +heart. She endeavored to conceal it as far as possible, for she felt +it to be wrong to cast a shadow over the home of her husband and +daughter. Gerald's likeness was placed in her chamber, where she saw +it with the first morning light; but what were her reveries while she +gazed upon it was told to no one. Custom, as well as sincere sympathy, +made it necessary for her to make a visit of condolence to Mrs. +Fitzgerald. But she merely took her hand, pressed it gently, and said, +"May God comfort you." "May God comfort you, also," replied Mrs. +Fitzgerald, returning the pressure; and from that time henceforth the +name of Gerald was never mentioned between them. + +After the funeral it was noticed that Alfred Blumenthal appeared +abstracted, as if continually occupied with grave thoughts. One day, +as he stood leaning against the window, gazing on the stars and +stripes that floated across the street, he turned suddenly and +exclaimed: "It is wrong to be staying here. I ought to be fighting for +that flag. I _must_ supply poor Gerald's place." + +Mrs. Delano, who had been watching him anxiously, rose up and clasped +him round the neck, with stronger emotion than he had ever seen her +manifest. "_Must_ you go, my son?" she said. + +He laid his hand very gently on her head as he replied: "Dearest +Mamita, you always taught me to obey the voice of duty; and surely it +is a duty to help in rescuing Liberty from the bloody jaws of this +dragon Slavery." + +She lingered an instant on his breast then, raising her tearful face, +she silently pressed his hand, while she looked into those kind and +honest eyes, that so strongly reminded her of eyes closed long +ago. "You are right, my son," murmured she; "and may God give you +strength." + +Turning from her to hide the swelling of his own heart, Alfred saw +his mother sobbing on his father's bosom. "Dearest mamma," said he, +"Heaven knows it is hard for me. Do not make it harder." + +"It takes the manhood out of him to see you weep, darling," said Mr. +Blumenthal. "Be a brave little woman, and cheerfully give your dearest +and best for the country." + +She wiped her eyes, and, fervently kissing Alfred's hand, replied, "I +will. May God bless you, my dear, my only son!" + +His father clasped the other hand, and said, with forced calmness: +"You are right, Alfred. God bless you! And now, dear Flora, let us +consecrate our young hero's resolution by singing the Battle Song of +Korner." + +She seated herself at the piano, and Mrs. Delano joined in with her +weak but very sweet voice, while they sang, "Father! I call on thee." +But when they came to the last verse, the voices choked, and the +piano became silent. Rosen Blumen and Lila came in and found them all +weeping; and when their brother pressed them in his arms and whispered +to them the cause of all this sorrow, they cried as if their hearts +were breaking. Then their mother summoned all her resolution, and +became a comforter. While their father talked to them of the nobility +and beauty of self-sacrifice, she kissed them and soothed them with +hopeful words. Then, turning to Mrs. Delano, she tenderly caressed her +faded hair, while she said: "Dearest Mamita, I trust God will restore +to us our precious boy. I will paint his picture as St. George slaying +the dragon, and you shall hang it in your chamber, in memory of what +he said to you." + +Alfred, unable to control his emotions, hid himself in the privacy +of his own chamber. He struck his hand wildly against his forehead, +exclaiming, "O my country, great is the sacrifice I make for thee!" +Then, kneeling by the bed where he had had so many peaceful slumbers, +and dreamed so many pleasant dreams, he prayed fervently that God +would give him strength according to his need. + +And so he went forth from his happy home, self-consecrated to the +cause of freedom. The women now had but one absorbing interest and +occupation. All were eager for news from the army, and all were busy +working for the soldiers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + +When Mr. King returned from his mournful journey to Washington, he +said to his wife: "I saw George Falkner, and was pleased with him. His +resemblance to poor Gerald is wonderful. I could see no difference, +except a firmer expression of the mouth, which I suppose is owing to +his determined efforts to escape from slavery. Of course, he has not +Gerald's gracefulness; but his bearing seemed manly, and there was +no obvious stamp of vulgarity upon him. It struck me that his +transformation into a gentleman would be an easy process. I was glad +our interview was a hurried one, and necessarily taken up with details +about Gerald's death. It seems he carried him off in his own arms when +he was wounded, and that he did his utmost to stanch the blood. Gerald +never spoke after the bullet struck him, though he pressed his hand, +and appeared to try to say something. When he opened his vest to dress +the wound, he found this." + +Rosa looked at it, groaned out, "Poor Gerald!" and covered her face. +It was the photograph of Eulalia, with the upper part shot away. Both +remained for some time with their heads bowed in silence. + +After a while, Mr. King resumed: "In answer to Mr. Green's inquiries +concerning the mutilated picture, I replied that it was a likeness of +my daughter; and he answered that he had heard a marriage was thought +of between them. I was glad he happened to say that, for it will make +it seem natural to George that I should take a lively interest in him +on Gerald's account. The funeral, and Alfred's departure for the army, +have left me little time to arrange my thoughts on that subject. But I +have now formed definite plans, that I propose we should this evening +talk over at Blumenthal's." + +When the sisters met, and the girls had gone to another room to talk +over their lessons, and imagine what Alfred was then doing, Mr. King +began to speak of George Falkner. + +Rosa said: "My first wish is to go to New Rochelle and bring home +Henriet. She ought to be educated in a degree somewhat suitable to her +husband's prospects. I will teach her to read and write, and give her +lessons on the piano." + +"I think that would prove too much for your finely attuned musical +nerves," rejoined her husband. + +"Do you suppose you are going to make _all_ the sacrifices?" responded +she, smiling. "It isn't at all like you to wish to engross everything +to yourself." + +"Rosa has a predilection for penance," remarked Flora; "and if she +listens daily to a beginner knocking the scales up hill and down hill, +I think it will answer instead of walking to Jerusalem with peas in +her shoes." + +"Before I mention my plans, I should like to hear your view of the +subject, Blumenthal," said Mr. King. + +His brother-in-law replied: "I think Rosa is right about taking charge +of Henriet and educating her. But it seems to me the worst thing you +could do for her or her husband would be to let them know that they +have a claim to riches. Sudden wealth is apt to turn the heads of much +older people than they are; and having been brought up as slaves, +their danger would be greatly increased. If Henriet could be employed +to sew for you, she might be gratified with easy work and generous +wages, while you watched over her morals, and furnished her with +opportunities to improve her mind. If George survives the war, some +employment with a comfortable salary might be provided for him, with +a promise to advance him according to his industry and general good +habits. How does that strike you, Mamita?" + +"I agree perfectly with you," rejoined Mrs. Delano. "I think it would +be far more prudent to have their characters formed by habits of +exertion and self-reliance, before they are informed that they are +rich." + +"It gratifies me to have my own judgment thus confirmed," said Mr. +King. "You have given the outlines of a plan I had already formed. But +this judicious process must not, of course, deprive the young man of a +single cent that is due to him. You are aware that Mr. Bell left fifty +thousand dollars to his grandson, to be paid when he was twenty-two +years of age. I have already invested that sum for George, and placed +it in the care of Mr. Percival, with directions that the interest +shall be added to it from that date. The remainder of Mr. Bell's +property, with the exception of some legacies, was unreservedly left +to his daughter. I have taken some pains to ascertain the amount, and +I shall add a codicil to my will leaving an equal sum to George. If +I survive Mrs. Fitzgerald, the interest on it will date from her +decease; and I shall take the best legal advice as to the means of +securing her property from any claims, by George or his heirs, after +they are informed of the whole story, as they will be whenever Mrs. +Fitzgerald dies." + +"You are rightly named Royal King," rejoined Mr. Blumenthal, "you do +things in such princely style." + +"In a style better than that of most royal kings," replied he, "for +it is simply that of an honest man. If this entanglement had never +happened, I should have done as much for Gerald; and let me do what I +will, Eulalia will have more money than is good for her. Besides, +I rather expect this arrangement will prove a benefit to myself. I +intend to employ the young man as one of my agents in Europe; and if +he shows as much enterprise and perseverance in business as he did in +escaping from slavery, he will prove an excellent partner for me when +increasing years diminish my own energies. I would gladly adopt him, +and have him live with us; but I doubt whether such a great and sudden +change of condition would prove salutary, and his having a colored +wife would put obstructions in his way entirely beyond our power to +remove. But the strongest objection to it is, that such an arrangement +would greatly annoy Mrs. Fitzgerald, whose happiness we are bound to +consult in every possible way." + +"Has she been informed that the young man is found?" inquired Mrs. +Delano. + +"No," replied Mr. King. "It occurred very near the time of Gerald's +death; and we deem it unkind to disturb her mind about it for some +months to come." + + * * * * * + +The next week, Mr. and Mrs. King started for New York, and thence +proceeded to New Rochelle. Following the directions they had received, +they hired a carriage at the steamboat-landing, to convey them to a +farm-house a few miles distant. As they approached the designated +place, they saw a slender man, in drab-colored clothes, lowering a +bucket into the well. Mr. King alighted, and inquired, "Is this Mr. +Houseman's farm, sir?" + +"My name is Joseph Houseman," replied the Quaker. "I am usually called +Friend Joseph." + +Mr. King returned to the carriage, and saying, "This is the place," +he assisted his lady to alight. Returning to the farmer, he said: +"We have come to ask you about a young colored woman, named Henriet +Falkner. Her husband rendered service to a dear young friend of ours +in the army, and we would be glad to repay the obligation by kindness +to her." + +"Walk in," said the Quaker. He showed them into a neat, plainly +furnished parlor. "Where art thou from?" he inquired. + +"From Boston," was the reply. + +"What is thy name?" + +"Mr. King." + +"All men are called Mister," rejoined the Quaker. "What is thy given +name?" + +"My name is Alfred Royal King; and this is my wife, Rosa King." + +"Hast thou brought a letter from the woman's husband?" inquired Friend +Joseph. + +"No," replied Mr. King. "I saw George Falkner in Washington, a +fortnight ago, when I went to seek the body of our young friend; but I +did not then think of coming here. If you doubt me, you can write +to William Lloyd Garrison or Wendell Phillips, and inquire of them +whether Alfred R. King is capable of deceiving." + +"I like thy countenance, Friend Alfred, and I think thou art honest," +rejoined the Quaker; "but where colored people are concerned, I have +known very polite and fair-spoken men to tell falsehoods." + +Mr. King smiled as he answered: "I commend your caution, Friend +Joseph. I see how it is. You suspect we may be slaveholders in +disguise. But slaveholders are just now too busy seeking to destroy +this Republic to have any time to hunt fugitives; and when they have +more leisure, my opinion is they will find that occupation gone." + +"I should have more hope of that," replied the farmer, "if there was +not so much pro-slavery here at the North. And thee knows that the +generals of the United States are continually sending back fugitive +slaves to bleed under the lash of their taskmasters." + +"I honor your scruples, Friend Joseph," responded Mr. King; "and that +they may be completely removed, we will wait at the Metropolitan in +New York until you have received letters from Mr. Garrison and Mr. +Phillips. And lest you should think I may have assumed the name of +another, I will give you these to enclose in your letter." He opened +his pocket-book and took out two photographs. + +"I shall ask to have them sent back to me," replied the farmer; "for +I should like to keep a likeness of thee and thy Rosa. They will be +pleasant to look upon. As soon as I receive an answer, Friend Alfred, +I will call upon thee at the Metropolitan." + +"We shall be pleased to see you, Friend Joseph," said Rosa, with +one of her sweetest smiles, which penetrated the Quaker's soul, as +sunshine does the receptive earth. Yet, when the carriage had rolled +away, he harnessed his sleek horses to the wagon, and conveyed Henriet +and her babe to the house of a Friend at White Plains, till he +ascertained whether these stylish-looking strangers were what they +professed to be. + +A few days afterward, Friend Joseph called at the Metropolitan. When +he inquired for the wealthy Bostonian, the waiter stared at his plain +dress, and said, "Your card, sir." + +"I have no card," replied the farmer. "Tell him Friend Joseph wishes +to see him." + +The waiter returned, saying, "Walk this way, sir," and showed him into +the elegant reception-room. + +As he sat there, another servant, passing through, looked at him, and +said, "All gentlemen take off their hats in this room, sir." + +"That may be," quietly replied the Quaker; "but all _men_ do not, for +thee sees I keep mine on." + +The entrance of Mr. King, and his cordial salutation, made an +impression on the waiters' minds; and when Friend Joseph departed, +they opened the door very obsequiously. + +The result of the conference was that Mr. and Mrs. King returned to +Boston with Henriet and her little one. + +Tulee had proved in many ways that her discretion might be trusted; +and it was deemed wisest to tell her the whole story of the babe, who +had been carried to the calaboose with her when Mr. Bruteman's agent +seized her. This confidence secured her as a firm friend and ally +of Henriet, while her devoted attachment to Mrs. King rendered her +secrecy certain. When black Chloe saw the newcomer learning to play on +the piano, she was somewhat jealous because the same privilege had not +been offered to her children. "I didn't know Missy Rosy tought thar +war sech a mighty difference 'tween black an' brown," said she. "I +don't see nothin' so drefful pooty in dat ar molasses color." + +"Now ye shut up," rejoined Tulee. "Missy Rosy knows what she's 'bout. +Ye see Mr. Fitzgerald was in love with Missy Eulaly; an' Henret's +husban' took care o' him when he was dying. Mr. King is going to send +him 'cross the water on some gran' business, to pay him for 't; and +Missy Rosy wants his wife to be 'spectable out there 'mong strangers." + +Henriet proved good-natured and unassuming, and, with occasional +patronage from Tulee, she was generally able to keep her little boat +in smooth water. + +When she had been there a few months Mr. King enclosed to Mrs. +Fitzgerald the letters Gerald had written about George; and a few days +afterward he called to explain fully what he had done, and what he +intended to do. That lady's dislike for her rival was much diminished +since there was no Gerald to excite her jealousy of divided affection. +There was some perturbation in her manner, but she received her +visitor with great politeness; and when he had finished his statement +she said: "I have great respect for your motives and your conduct; +and I am satisfied to leave everything to your good judgment and kind +feelings. I have but one request to make. It is that this young man +may never know he is my son." + +"Your wishes shall be respected," replied Mr. King. "But he so +strongly resembles Gerald, that, if you should ever visit Europe +again, you might perhaps like to see him, if you only recognized him +as a relative of your husband." + +The lady's face flushed as she answered promptly: "No, sir. I shall +never recognize any person as a relative who has a colored wife. Much +as I loved Gerald, I would never have seen him again if he had formed +such an alliance; not even if his wife were the most beautiful and +accomplished creature that ever walked the earth." + +"You are treading rather closely upon _me_, Mrs. Fitzgerald," rejoined +Mr. King, smiling. + +The lady seemed embarrassed, and said she had forgotten Mrs. King's +origin. + +"Your son's wife is not so far removed from a colored ancestry as mine +is," rejoined Mr. King; "but I think you would soon forget her origin, +also, if you were in a country where others did not think of it. I +believe our American prejudice against color is one of what Carlyle +calls 'the phantom dynasties.'" + +"It may be so," she replied coldly; "but I do not wish to be convinced +of it." + +And Mr. King bowed good morning. + +A week or two after this interview, Mrs. Fitzgerald called upon Mrs. +King; for, after all, she felt a certain sort of attraction in the +secret history that existed between them; and she was unwilling +to have the world suppose her acquaintance had been dropped by so +distinguished a lady. By inadvertence of the servant at the door, she +was shown into the parlor while Henriet was there, with her child on +the floor, receiving directions concerning some muslin flounces she +was embroidering. Upon the entrance of a visitor, she turned to take +up her infant and depart. But Mrs. King said, "Leave little Hetty +here, Mrs. Falkner, till you bring my basket for me to select the +floss you need." + +Hetty, being thus left alone, scrambled up, and toddled toward Mrs. +King, as if accustomed to an affectionate reception. The black curls +that clustered round her yellow face shook, as her uncertain steps +hastened to a place of refuge; and when she leaned against her +friend's lap, a pretty smile quivered on her coral lips, and lighted +up her large dark eyes. + +Mrs. Fitzgerald looked at her with a strange mixture of feelings. + +"Don't you think she's a pretty little creature?" asked Mrs. King. + +"She might be pretty if the yellow could be washed off," replied Mrs. +Fitzgerald. + +"Her cheeks are nearly the color of your hair," rejoined Mrs. King; +"and I always thought that beautiful." + +Mrs. Fitzgerald glanced at the mirror, and sighed as she said: "Ah, +yes. My hair used to be thought very pretty when I was young; but I +can see that it begins to fade." + +When Henriet returned and took the child, she looked at her very +curiously. She was thinking to herself, "What _would_ my father +say?" But she asked no questions, and made no remark. + +She had joined a circle of ladies who were sewing and knitting for the +soldiers; and after some talk about the difficulty she had found in +learning to knit socks, and how fashionable it was for everybody to +knit now, she rose to take leave. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + +The months passed on, and brought ever-recurring demands for more +soldiers. Mr. King watched the progress of the struggle with the +deepest anxiety. + +One day, when he had seen a new regiment depart for the South, he +returned home in a still more serious mood than was now habitual to +him. After supper, he opened the Evening Transcript, and read for a +while. Then turning to his wife, who sat near him knitting for the +army, he said, "Dear Rosabella, during all the happy years that I have +been your husband, you have never failed to encourage me in every good +impulse, and I trust you will strengthen me now." + +With a trembling dread of what was coming, she asked, "What is it, +dear Alfred." + +"Rosa, this Republic _must_ be saved," replied he, with solemn +emphasis. "It is the day-star of hope to the toiling masses of the +world, and it _must_ not go out in darkness. It is not enough for me +to help with money. I ought to go and sustain our soldiers by cheering +words and a brave example. It fills me with shame and indignation when +I think that all this peril has been brought upon us by that foul +system which came so near making a wreck of _you_, my precious one, as +it has wrecked thousands of pure and gentle souls. I foresee that this +war is destined, by mere force of circumstances, to rid the Republic +of that deadly incubus. Rosa, are you not willing to give me up for +the safety of the country, and the freedom of your mother's race?" + +She tried to speak, but utterance failed her. After a struggle with +herself, she said: "Do you realize how hard is a soldier's life? You +will break down under it, dear Alfred; for you have been educated in +ease and luxury." + +"My education is not finished," replied he, smiling, as he looked +round on the elegant and luxurious apartment. "What are all these +comforts and splendors compared with the rescue of my country, and the +redemption of an oppressed race? What is my life, compared with the +life of this Republic? Say, dearest, that you will give me willingly +to this righteous cause." + +"Far rather would I give my own life," she said. "But I will never +seek to trammel your conscience, Alfred." + +They spoke together tenderly of the past, and hopefully of the future; +and then they knelt and prayed together. + +Some time was necessarily spent in making arrangements for the comfort +and safety of the family during his absence; and when those were +completed, he also went forth to rescue Liberty from the jaws of the +devouring dragon. When he bade farewell to Flora's family, he said: +"Look after my precious ones, Blumenthal; and if I never return, see +to it that Percival carries out all my plans with regard to George +Falkner." + +Eight or ten weeks later, Alfred Blumenthal was lying in a hospital at +Washington, dangerously wounded and burning with fever. His father and +mother and Mrs. Delano immediately went to him; and the women remained +until the trembling balance between life and death was determined in +his favor. The soldier's life, which he at first dreaded, had become +familiar to him, and he found a terrible sort of excitement in its +chances and dangers. Mrs. Delano sighed to observe that the gentle +expression of his countenance, so like the Alfred of her memory, was +changing to a sterner manhood. It was harder than the first parting +to send him forth again into the fiery hail of battle; but they put +strong constraint upon themselves, and tried to perform bravely their +part in the great drama. + +That visit to his suffering but uncomplaining son made a strong +impression on the mind of Mr. Blumenthal. He became abstracted and +restless. One evening, as he sat leaning his head on his hand, Flora +said, "What are you thinking of, Florimond?" + +He answered: "I am thinking, dear, of the agony I suffered when I +hadn't money to save you from the auction-block; and I am thinking how +the same accursed system is striving to perpetuate and extend itself. +The Republic has need of all her sons to stop its ravages; and I feel +guilty in staying here, while our Alfred is so heroically offering up +his young life in the cause of freedom." + +"I have dreaded this," she said. "I have seen for days that it was +coming. But, O Florimond, it is hard." + +She hid her face in his bosom, and he felt her heart beat violently, +while he talked concerning the dangers and duties of the time. Mrs. +Delano bowed her head over the soldier's sock she was knitting, and +tears dropped on it while she listened to them. + +The weight that lay so heavily upon their souls was suddenly lifted up +for a time by the entrance of Joe Bright. He came in with a radiant +face, and, bowing all round, said, "I've come to bid you good by; I'm +going to defend the old flag." He lifted up his voice and sang, + +"'Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave!" Flora went to the +piano, and accompanied him with instrument and voice. Her husband soon +struck in; and Rosen Blumen and Lila left their lessons to perform +their part in the spirit-stirring strain. When they had sung the last +line, Mr. Bright, without pausing to take breath, struck into "Scots +wha hae wi' Wallace bled," and they followed his lead. He put on all +his steam when he came to the verse, + + "By our country's woes and pains, + By our sons in servile chains, + We will drain our dearest veins, + But they _shall_ be free!" + +He emphasized the word _shall_, and brought his clenched hand down +upon the table so forcibly, that the shade over the gas-light shook. + +In the midst of it, Mrs. Delano stole out of the room. She had a great +respect and liking for Mr. Bright, but he was sometimes rather too +demonstrative to suit her taste. He was too much carried away with +enthusiasm to notice her noiseless retreat, and he went on to the +conclusion of his song with unabated energy. All earnestness is +magnetic. Mr. and Mrs. Blumenthal, and even the children, caught his +spirit. When the song ended, Mr. Blumenthal drew a long breath, and +said: "One needs strong lungs to accompany you, Mr. Bright. You sang +that like the tramp of a regiment." + +"And you blazed away like an explosion of artillery," rejoined he. + +"The fact is," replied Blumenthal. "the war spirit pervades the air, +and I've caught it. I'm going to join the army." + +"Are you?" exclaimed Mr. Bright, seizing his hand with so tight a grip +that it made him wince. "I hope you'll be my captain." + +Mr. Blumenthal rubbed his hand, and smiled as he said, "I pity the +Rebel that you get hold of, Mr. Bright." + +"Ask your pardon. Ask your pardon," rejoined he. "But speaking of the +tramp of a regiment, here it goes!" And he struck up "John Brown's +Hallelujah." They put their souls into it in such a manner, that the +spirit of the brave old martyr seemed marching all through it. + +When it came to a conclusion, Mr. Bright remarked: "Only to think how +that incendiary song is sung in Boston streets, and in the parlors +too, when only little more than a year ago a great mob was yelling +after Wendell Phillips, for speaking on the anniversary of John +Brown's execution. I said then the fools would get enough of slavery +before they'd done with it; and I reckon they're beginning to find it +out, not only the rowdies, but the nabobs that set 'em on. War ain't +a blessing, but it's a mighty great teacher; that's a fact. No wonder +the slavites hated Phillips. He aims sure and hits hard. No use in +trying to pass off shams upon _him_. If you bring him anything that +ain't real mahogany, his blows'll be sure to make the veneering fly. +But I'm staying too long. I only looked in to tell you I was going." +He glanced round for Mrs. Delano, and added: "I'm afraid I sung too +loud for that quiet lady. The fact is, I'm full of fight." + +"That's what the times demand," replied Mr. Blumenthal. + +They bade him "Good night," and smiled at each other to hear his +strong voice, as it receded in the distance, still singing, "His soul +is marching on." + +"Now I will go to Mamita," said Flora. "Her gentle spirit suffers in +these days. This morning, when she saw a company of soldiers marching +by, and heard the boys hurrahing, she said to me so piteously, 'O +Flora, these are wild times.' Poor Mamita! she's like a dove in a +tornado." + +"_You_ seemed to be strong as an eagle while you were singing," +responded her husband. + +"I felt like a drenched humming-bird when Mr. Bright came in," +rejoined she; "but he and the music together lifted me up into the +blue, as your Germans say." + +"And from that height can you say to me, 'Obey the call of duty, +Florimond'?" + +She put her little hand in his and answered, "I can. May God protect +us all!" + +Then, turning to her children, she said: "I am going to bring Mamita; +and presently, when I go away to be alone with papa a little while, I +want you to do everything to make the evening pleasant for Mamita. You +know she likes to hear you sing, 'Now Phoebus sinketh in the west.'" + +"And I will play that Nocturne of Mendelssohn's that she likes so +much," replied Rosen Blumen. "She says I play it almost as well as +Aunt Rosa." + +"And she likes to hear me sing, 'Once on a time there was a king,'" +said Lila. "She says she heard _you_ singing it in the woods a long +time ago, when she hadn't anybody to call her Mamita." + +"Very well, my children," replied their mother. "Do everything you can +to make Mamita happy; for there will never be such another Mamita." + + * * * * * + +During the anxious months that followed Mr. Blumenthal's departure, +the sisters and their families were almost daily at the rooms of the +Sanitary Commission, sewing, packing, or writing. Henriet had become +expert with the sewing-machine, and was very efficient help; and even +Tulee, though far from skilful with her needle, contrived to make +dozens of hospital slippers, which it was the pride of her heart to +deliver to the ladies of the Commission. Chloe added her quota of +socks, often elephantine in shape, and sometimes oddly decorated with +red tops and toes; but with a blessing for "the boys in blue" running +through all the threads. There is no need to say how eagerly they +watched for letters, and what a relief it was to recognize the writing +of beloved hands, feeling each time that it might be the last. + +Mr. King kept up occasional correspondence with the officers of George +Falkner's company, and sent from time to time favorable reports of his +bravery and good habits. Henriet received frequent letters from him, +imperfectly spelled, but full of love and loyalty. + +Two years after Mr. King left his happy home, he was brought back with +a Colonel's shoulder-strap, but with his right leg gone, and his right +arm in a sling. When the first joy of reunion had expressed itself +in caresses and affectionate words, he said to Rosa, "You see what a +cripple you have for a husband." + +"I make the same reply the English girl did to Commodore Barclay," she +replied; "'You're dear as ever to me, so long as there's body enough +to hold the soul,'" + +Eulalia wept tears of joy on her father's neck, while Flora, and Rosen +Blumen, and Lila clasped their arms round him, and Tulee stood peeping +in at the door, waiting for her turn to welcome the hero home. + +"Flora, you see my dancing days are over," said the Colonel. + +"Never mind, I'll do your dancing," she replied. "Rosen Blumen, play +uncle's favorite waltz." + +She passed her arm round Eulalia, and for a few moments they revolved +round the room to the circling music. She had so long been called the +life of the family, that she tried to keep up her claim to the title. +But her present mirthfulness was assumed; and it was contrary to her +nature to act a part. She kissed her hand to her brother-in-law, and +smiled as she whirled out of the room; but she ran up stairs and +pressed the tears back, as she murmured to herself, "Ah, if I could +only be sure Florimond and Alfred would come back, even mutilated as +he is!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + + +Another year brought with it what was supposed to be peace, and the +army was disbanded. Husband and son returned alive and well, and Flora +was her young self again. In the exuberance of her joy she seemed more +juvenile than her girls; jumping from husband to son and from son +to husband, kissing them and calling them all manner of pet names; +embracing Mrs. Delano at intervals, and exclaiming, "O Mamita, here we +are all together again! I wish my arms were long enough to hug you all +at once." + +"I thank God, my child, for your sake and for my own," replied Mrs. +Delano. She looked at Alfred, as she spoke, and the affectionate +glance he returned filled her heart with a deep and quiet joy. The +stern shadow of war vanished from his face in the sunshine of +home, and she recognized the same gentle expression that had been +photographed on her memory long years ago. + +When the family from Beacon Street came, a few minutes later, with +welcomes and congratulations, Alfred bestowed a different sort of +glance on his cousin Eulalia, and they both blushed; as young people +often do, without knowing the reason why. Rosen Blumen and Lila had +been studying with her the language of their father's country; and +when the general fervor had somewhat abated, the girls manifested some +disposition to show off the accomplishment. "Do hear them calling +Alfred _Mein lieber bruder_," said Flora to her husband, "while Rosa +and I are sprinkling them all with pet names in French and Spanish. +What a polyglot family we are! as _cher papa_ used to say. But, +Florimond, did you notice anything peculiar in the meeting between +Alfred and Eulalia?" + +"I thought I did," he replied. + +"How will Brother King like it?" she asked. "He thinks very highly of +Alfred; but you know he has a theory against the marriage of cousins." + +"So have I," answered Blumenthal; "but nations and races have been +pretty thoroughly mixed up in the ancestry of our children. What with +African and French, Spanish, American, and German, I think the dangers +of too close relationship are safely diminished." + +"They are a good-looking set, between you and I," said Flora; "though +they _are_ oddly mixed up. See Eulalia, with her great blue eyes, +and her dark eyebrows and eyelashes. Rosen Blumen looks just like a +handsome Italian girl. No one would think Lila Blumen was her sister, +with her German blue eyes, and that fine frizzle of curly light hair. +Your great-grandmother gave her the flax, and I suppose mine did the +frizzling." + +This side conversation was interrupted by Mr. King's saying: +"Blumenthal, you haven't asked for news concerning Mrs. Fitzgerald. +You know Mr. Green has been a widower for some time. Report says +that he finds in her company great consolation for the death of her +cousin." + +"That's what I call a capital arrangement," said Flora; "and I didn't +mean any joke about their money, either. Won't they sympathize +grandly? Won't she be in her element? Top notch. No end to balls and +parties; and a coat of arms on the coach." + +"The news made me very glad," observed Rosa; "for the thought of her +loneliness always cast a shadow over my happiness." + +"Even _they_ have grown a little during the war," rejoined Mr. King. +"Nabob Green, as they call him, did actually contribute money for the +raising of colored regiments. He so far abated his prejudice as to be +willing that negroes should have the honor of being shot in his stead; +and Mrs. Fitzgerald agreed with him. That was a considerable advance, +you must admit." + +They went on for some time talking over news, public and private; not +omitting the prospects of Tom's children, and the progress of Tulee's. +But such family chats are like the showers of manna, delicious as they +fall, but incapable of preservation. + +The first evening the families met at the house in Beacon Street, Mr. +Blumenthal expressed a wish to see Henriet, and she was summoned. The +improvement in her appearance impressed him greatly. Having lived +three years with kindly and judicious friends, who never reminded +her, directly or indirectly, that she was a black sheep in the social +flock, her faculties had developed freely and naturally; and belonging +to an imitative race, she readily adopted the language and manners of +those around her. Her features were not handsome, with the exception +of her dark, liquid-looking eyes; and her black hair was too crisp to +make a soft shading for her brown forehead. But there was a winning +expression of gentleness in her countenance, and a pleasing degree of +modest ease in her demeanor. A map, which she had copied very neatly, +was exhibited, and a manuscript book of poems, of her own selection, +written very correctly, in a fine flowing hand. "Really, this is +encouraging," said Mr. Blumenthal, as she left the room. "If half a +century of just treatment and free schools can bring them all up to +this level, our battles will not be in vain, and we shall deserve to +rank among the best benefactors of the country; to say nothing of a +corresponding improvement in the white population." + +"Thitherward is Providence leading us," replied Mr. King. "Not unto +us, but unto God, be all the glory. We were all of us working for +better than we knew." + + * * * * * + +Mr. King had written to George Falkner, to inform him of a situation +he had in store for him at Marseilles, and to request a previous +meeting in New York, as soon as he could obtain his discharge from the +army; being in this, as in all other arrangements, delicately careful +to avoid giving annoyance to Mrs. Fitzgerald. In talking this over +with his wife, he said: "I consider it a duty to go to Marseilles with +him. It will give us a chance to become acquainted with each other; +it will shield him from possible impertinences on the passage, on +Henriet's account; and it will be an advantage to him to be introduced +as my friend to the American Consul, and some commercial gentlemen of +my acquaintance." + +"I am to go with you, am I not?" asked Rosa. "I am curious to see +this young man, from whom I parted, so unconscious of all the strange +future, when he was a baby in Tulee's arms." + +"I think you had better not go, dear," he replied; "though the loss +of your company will deprive me of a great pleasure. Eulalia would +naturally wish to go with us; and as she knows nothing of George's +private history, it would be unwise to excite her curiosity by +introducing her to such a striking likeness of Gerald. But she might +stay with Rosen Blumen while you go to New York and remain with me +till the vessel sails. If I meet with no accidents, I shall return in +three months; for I go merely to give George a fair start, though, +when there, I shall have an eye to some other business, and take a run +to Italy to look in upon our good old friends, Madame and the Signor." + +The journey to New York was made at the appointed time, in company +with Henriet and her little one. George had risen to the rank of +lieutenant in the army, and had acquired a military bearing that +considerably increased the manliness of his appearance. He was browned +by exposure to sun and wind; but he so strongly resembled her handsome +Gerald, that Rosa longed to clasp him to her heart. His wife's +appearance evidently took him by surprise. "How you have changed!" +he exclaimed. "What a lady you are! I can hardly believe this is the +little Hen I used to make mud pies with." + +She laughed as she answered: "You are changed, too. If I have +improved, it is owing to these kind friends. Only think of it, George, +though Mrs. King is such a handsome and grand lady, she always called +me Mrs. Falkner." + +Mrs. King made several appropriate parting presents to Henriet and +little Hetty. To George she gave a gold watch, and a very beautiful +colored photograph of Gerald, in a morocco case, as a souvenir of +their brief friendship in the army. + +Mr. King availed himself of every hour of the voyage to gain the +confidence of the young man, and to instil some salutary lessons into +his very receptive mind. After they had become well acquainted, he +said: "I have made an estimate of what I think it will be necessary +for you to spend for rent, food, and clothing; also of what I think it +would be wise for you to spend in improving your education, and +for occasional amusements. I have not done this in the spirit of +dictation, my young friend, but merely with the wish of helping you by +my greater experience of life. It is important that you should +learn to write a good commercial hand, and also acquire, as soon as +possible, a very thorough knowledge of the French language. For these +you should employ the best teachers that can be found. Your wife can +help you in many ways. She has learned to spell correctly, to read +with fluency and expression, and to play quite well on the piano. You +will find it very profitable to read good books aloud to each other. +I advise you not to go to places of amusement oftener than once a +fortnight, and always to choose such places as will be suitable and +pleasant for your wife. I like that young men in my employ should +never taste intoxicating drinks, or use tobacco in any form. Both +those habits are expensive, and I have long ago abjured them as +injurious to health." + +The young man bowed, and replied, "I will do as you wish in all +respects, sir; I should be very ungrateful if I did not." + +"I shall give you eight hundred dollars for the first year," resumed +Mr. King; "and shall increase your salary year by year, according to +your conduct and capabilities. If you are industrious, temperate, and +economical, there is no reason why you should not become a rich man in +time; and it will be wise for you to educate yourself, your wife, and +your children, with a view to the station you will have it in your +power to acquire. If you do your best, you may rely upon my influence +and my fatherly interest to help you all I can." + +The young man colored, and, after a little embarrassed hesitation, +said: "You spoke of a fatherly interest, sir; and that reminds me that +I never had a father. May I ask whether you know anything about my +parents?" + +Mr. King had anticipated the possibility of such a question, and he +replied: "I will tell you who your father was, if you will give a +solemn promise never to ask a single question about your mother. +On that subject I have given a pledge of secrecy which it would be +dishonorable for me to break. Only this much I will say, that neither +of your parents was related to me in any degree, or connected with me +in any way." + +The young man answered, that he was of course very desirous to know +his whole history, but would be glad to obtain any information, +and was willing to give the required promise, which he would most +religiously keep. + +Mr. King then went on to say: "Your father was Mr. Gerald Fitzgerald, +a planter in Georgia. You have a right to his name, and I will so +introduce you to my friends, if you wish it. He inherited a handsome +fortune, but lost it all by gambling and other forms of dissipation. +He had several children by various mothers. You and the Gerald with +whom you became acquainted were brothers by the father's side. You are +unmixed white; but you were left in the care of a negro nurse, and one +of your father's creditors seized you both, and sold you into slavery. +Until a few months before you were acquainted with Gerald, it was +supposed that you died in infancy; and for that reason no efforts were +made to redeem you. Circumstances which I am not at liberty to explain +led to the discovery that you were living, and that Gerald had learned +your history as a slave. I feel the strongest sympathy with your +misfortunes, and cherish a lively gratitude for your kindness to my +young friend Gerald. All that I have told you is truth; and if it were +in my power, I would most gladly tell you the _whole_ truth." + +The young man listened with the deepest interest; and, having +expressed his thanks, said he should prefer to be called by his +father's name; for he thought he should feel more like a man to bear a +name to which he knew that he had a right. + + * * * * * + +When Mr. King again returned to his Boston home, as soon as the first +eager salutations were over, he exclaimed: "How the room is decorated +with vines and flowers! It reminds me of that dear floral parlor in +New Orleans." + +"Didn't you telegraph that you were coming? And is it not your +birthday?" inquired his wife. + +He kissed her, and said: "Well, Rosabella, I think you may now have a +tranquil mind; for I believe things have been so arranged that no one +is very seriously injured by that act of frenzy which has caused you +so much suffering. George will not be deprived of any of his pecuniary +rights; and he is in a fair way to become more of a man than he would +have been if he had been brought up in luxury. He and Henriet are as +happy in their prospects as two mortals well can be. Gerald enjoyed +his short life; and was more bewildered than troubled by the discovery +that he had two mothers. Eulalia was a tender, romantic memory to him; +and such, I think, he has become to our child. I don't believe Mrs. +Fitzgerald suffered much more than annoyance. Gerald was always the +same to her as a son; and if he had been really so, he would probably +have gone to the war, and have run the same chance of being killed." + +"Ah, Alfred," she replied, "I should never have found my way out of +that wretched entanglement if it had not been for you. You have really +acted toward me the part of Divine Providence. It makes me ashamed +that I have not been able to do anything in atonement for my own +fault, except the pain I suffered in giving up my Gerald to his +Lily-mother. When I think how that poor babe became enslaved by +my act, I long to sell my diamonds, and use the money to build +school-houses for the freedmen." + +"Those diamonds seem to trouble you, dearest," rejoined he, smiling. +"I have no objection to your selling them. You become them, and they +become you; but I think school-houses will shine as brighter jewels in +the better world." + +Here Flora came in with all her tribe; and when the welcomes were +over, her first inquiries were for Madame and the Signor. + +"They are well," replied Mr. King, "and they seem to be as contented +as tabbies on a Wilton rug. They show signs of age, of course. The +Signor has done being peppery, and Madame's energy has visibly abated; +but her mind is as lively as ever. I wish I could remember half the +stories she repeated about the merry pranks of your childhood. She +asked a great many questions about _Jolie Manon_; and she laughed till +she cried while she described, in dramatic style, how you crazed the +poor bird with imitations, till she called you _Joli petit diable_" + +"How I wish I had known mamma then! How funny she must have been!" +exclaimed Lila. + +"I think you have heard some performances of hers that were equally +funny," rejoined Mrs. Delano. "I used to be entertained with a variety +of them; especially when we were in Italy. If any of the _pifferari_ +went by, she would imitate the drone of their bagpipes in a manner +irresistibly comic. And if she saw a peasant-girl dancing, she +forthwith went through the performance to the life." + +"Yes, Mamita," responded Flora; "and you know I fancied myself a great +musical composer in those days,--a sort of feminine Mozart; but the +_qui vive_ was always the key I composed in." + +"I used to think the fairies helped you about that, as well as other +things," replied Mrs. Delano. + +"I think the fairies help her now," said Mr. Blumenthal; "and well +they may, for she is of their kith and kin." + +This playful trifling was interrupted by the sound of the +folding-doors rolling apart; and in the brilliantly lighted adjoining +room a tableau became visible, in honor of the birthday. Under +festoons of the American flag, surmounted by the eagle, stood Eulalia, +in ribbons of red, white, and blue, with a circle of stars round her +head. One hand upheld the shield of the Union, and in the other the +scales of Justice were evenly poised. By her side stood Rosen Blumen, +holding in one hand a gilded pole surmounted by a liberty-cap, while +her other hand rested protectingly on the head of Tulee's Benny, who +was kneeling and looking upward in thanksgiving. + +Scarcely had the vision appeared before Joe Bright's voice was heard +leading invisible singers through the tune "Hail to the Chief," which +Alfred Blumenthal accompanied with a piano. As they sang the last line +the striped festoons fell and veiled the tableau. Then Mr. Bright, who +had returned a captain, appeared with his company, consisting of Tom +and Chloe with their children, and Tulee with her children, singing a +parody composed by himself, of which the chorus was:-- + + "Blow ye the trumpet abroad o'er the sea, + Columbia has triumphed, the negro is free! + Praise to the God of our fathers! 'twas He, + Jehovah, that triumphed, Columbia, through thee." + +To increase the effect, the director of ceremonies had added a +flourish of trumpets behind the scenes. + +Then the colored band came forward, hand in hand, and sang together, +with a will, Whittier's immortal "Boat Song":-- + + "We own de hoe, we own de plough, + We own de hands dat hold; + We sell de pig, we sell de cow; + But nebber _chile_ be sold. + De yam will grow, de cotton blow, + We'll hab de rice an' corn: + O, nebber you fear, if nebber you hear + De driver blow his horn!" + +All the family, of all ages and colors, then joined in singing "The +Star-spangled Banner"; and when Mr. King had shaken hands with them +all, they adjourned to the breakfast-room, where refreshments were +plentifully provided. + +At last Mr. Bright said: "I don't want to bid you good night, friends; +but I must. I don't generally like to go among Boston folks. Just look +at the trees on the Common. They're dying because they've rolled the +surface of the ground so smooth. That's just the way in Boston, I +reckon. They take so much pains to make the surface smooth, that +it kills the roots o' things. But when I come here, or go to Mrs. +Blumenthal's, I feel as if the roots o' things wa'n't killed. Good +night, friends. I haven't enjoyed myself so well since I found Old +Hundred and Yankee Doodle in the Harmolinks." + +The sound of his whistling died away in the streets; the young people +went off to talk over their festival; the colored troop retired +to rest; and the elders of the two families sat together in the +stillness, holding sweet converse concerning the many strange +experiences that had been so richly crowned with blessings. + +A new surprise awaited them, prepared by the good taste of Mr. +Blumenthal. A German Liederkrantz in the hall closed the ceremonies of +the night with Mendelssohn's "Song of Praise." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A ROMANCE OF THE REPUBLIC*** + + +******* This file should be named 10549-8.txt or 10549-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/4/10549 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** diff --git a/old/10549-8.zip b/old/10549-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d0d85d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10549-8.zip diff --git a/old/10549.txt b/old/10549.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2282db8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10549.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14087 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Romance of the Republic, by Lydia Maria +Francis Child + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + + + + +Title: A Romance of the Republic + +Author: Lydia Maria Francis Child + +Release Date: December 30, 2003 [eBook #10549] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A ROMANCE OF THE REPUBLIC*** + + +E-text prepared by Dave Maddock, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +A ROMANCE OF THE REPUBLIC + +BY + +L. MARIA CHILD + +1867 + + + + + + +TO + +THE FATHER AND MOTHER OF + +COL. R.G. SHAW, + +THE EARLY AND EVER-FAITHFUL FRIENDS OF FREEDOM AND EQUAL RIGHTS, + +THIS VOLUME + +IS MOST RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY + +INSCRIBED + +BY + +THE AUTHOR. + + + + + + +PART FIRST. + + +CHAPTER I. + + +"What are you going to do with yourself this evening, Alfred?" said Mr. +Royal to his companion, as they issued from his counting-house in New +Orleans. "Perhaps I ought to apologize for not calling you Mr. King, +considering the shortness of our acquaintance; but your father and I +were like brothers in our youth, and you resemble him so much, I can +hardly realize that you are not he himself, and I still a young man. +It used to be a joke with us that we must be cousins, since he was a +King and I was of the Royal family. So excuse me if I say to you, as +I used to say to him. What are you going to do with yourself, Cousin +Alfred?" + +"I thank you for the friendly familiarity," rejoined the young man. +"It is pleasant to know that I remind you so strongly of my good +father. My most earnest wish is to resemble him in character as much +as I am said to resemble him in person. I have formed no plans for the +evening. I was just about to ask you what there was best worth seeing +or hearing in the Crescent City." + +"If I should tell you I thought there was nothing better worth seeing +than my daughters, you would perhaps excuse a father's partiality," +rejoined Mr. Royal. + +"Your daughters!" exclaimed his companion, in a tone of surprise. "I +never heard that you were married." + +A shadow of embarrassment passed over the merchant's face, as he +replied, "Their mother was a Spanish lady,--a stranger here,--and she +formed no acquaintance. She was a woman of a great heart and of rare +beauty. Nothing can ever make up her loss to me; but all the joy that +remains in life is centred in the daughters she has left me. I should +like to introduce them to you; and that is a compliment I never before +paid to any young man. My home is in the outskirts of the city; and +when we have dined at the hotel, according to my daily habit, I will +send off a few letters, and then, if you like to go there with me, I +will call a carriage." + +"Thank you," replied the young man; "unless it is your own custom to +ride, I should prefer to walk. I like the exercise, and it will give a +better opportunity to observe the city, which is so different from our +Northern towns that it has for me the attractions of a foreign land." + +In compliance with this wish, Mr. Royal took him through the principal +streets, pointing out the public buildings, and now and then stopping +to smile at some placard or sign which presented an odd jumble of +French and English. When they came to the suburbs of the city, the +aspect of things became charmingly rural. Houses were scattered here +and there among trees and gardens. Mr. Royal pointed out one of them, +nestled in flowers and half encircled by an orange-grove, and said, +"That is my home. When I first came here, the place where it stands +was a field of sugar-canes; but the city is fast stretching itself +into the suburbs." + +They approached the dwelling; and in answer to the bell, the door was +opened by a comely young negress, with a turban of bright colors +on her head and golden hoops in her ears. Before the gentlemen had +disposed of their hats and canes, a light little figure bounded from +one of the rooms, clapping her hands, and exclaiming, "Ah, Papasito!" +Then, seeing a stranger with him, she suddenly stood still, with a +pretty look of blushing surprise. + +"Never mind, Mignonne," said her father, fondly patting her head. +"This is Alfred Royal King, from Boston; my namesake, and the son of +a dear old friend of mine. I have invited him to see you dance. Mr. +King, this is my Floracita." + +The fairy dotted a courtesy, quickly and gracefully as a butterfly +touching a flower, and then darted back into the room she had left. +There they were met by a taller young lady, who was introduced as "My +daughter Rosabella." Her beauty was superlative and peculiar. Her +complexion was like a glowing reflection upon ivory from gold in the +sunshine. Her large brown eyes were deeply fringed, and lambent with +interior light. Lustrous dark brown hair shaded her forehead in little +waves, slight as the rippling of water touched by an insect's wing. It +was arranged at the back of her head in circling braids, over which +fell clusters of ringlets, with moss-rose-buds nestling among them. +Her full, red lips were beautifully shaped, and wore a mingled +expression of dignity and sweetness. The line from ear to chin was +that perfect oval which artists love, and the carriage of her head was +like one born to a kingdom. + +Floracita, though strikingly handsome, was of a model less superb than +her elder sister. She was a charming little brunette, with laughter +always lurking in ambush within her sparkling black eyes, a mouth like +"Cupid's bow carved in coral," and dimples in her cheeks, that well +deserved their French name, _berceaux d'amour_. + +These radiant visions of beauty took Alfred King so much by +surprise, that he was for a moment confused. But he soon recovered +self-possession, and, after the usual salutations, took a seat offered +him near a window overlooking the garden. While the commonplaces of +conversation were interchanged, he could not but notice the floral +appearance of the room. The ample white lace curtains were surmounted +by festoons of artificial roses, caught up by a bird of paradise. On +the ceiling was an exquisitely painted garland, from the centre +of which hung a tasteful basket of natural flowers, with delicate +vine-tresses drooping over its edge. The walls were papered with +bright arabesques of flowers, interspersed with birds and butterflies. +In one corner a statuette of Flora looked down upon a geranium covered +with a profusion of rich blossoms. In the opposite corner, ivy was +trained to form a dark background for Canova's "Dancer in Repose," +over whose arm was thrown a wreath of interwoven vines and +orange-blossoms. On brackets and tables were a variety of natural +flowers in vases of Sevres china, whereon the best artists of France +had painted flowers in all manner of graceful combinations. The +ottomans were embroidered with flowers. Rosabella's white muslin dress +was trailed all over with delicately tinted roses, and the lace around +the corsage was fastened in front with a mosaic basket of flowers. +Floracita's black curls fell over her shoulders mixed with crimson +fuchsias, and on each of her little slippers was embroidered a +bouquet. + +"This is the Temple of Flora," said Alfred, turning to his host. +"Flowers everywhere! Natural flowers, artificial flowers, painted +flowers, embroidered flowers, and human flowers excelling them +all,"--glancing at the young ladies as he spoke. + +Mr. Royal sighed, and in an absent sort of way answered, "Yes, yes." +Then, starting up, he said abruptly, "Excuse me a moment; I wish to +give the servants some directions." + +Floracita, who was cutting leaves from the geranium, observed his +quick movement, and, as he left the room, she turned toward their +visitor and said, in a childlike, confidential sort of way: "Our dear +Mamita used to call this room the Temple of Flora. She had a great +passion for flowers. She chose the paper, she made the garlands for +the curtains, she embroidered the ottomans, and painted that table so +prettily. Papasito likes to have things remain as she arranged them, +but sometimes they make him sad; for the angels took Mamita away from +us two years ago." + +"Even the names she gave you are flowery," said Alfred, with an +expression of mingled sympathy and admiration. + +"Yes; and we had a great many flowery pet-names beside," replied she. +"My name is Flora, but when she was very loving with me she called me +her Floracita, her little flower; and Papasito always calls me so now. +Sometimes Mamita called me _Pensee Vivace_." + +"In English we call that bright little flower Jump-up-and-kiss-me," +rejoined Alfred, smiling as he looked down upon the lively little +fairy. + +She returned the smile with an arch glance, that seemed to say, "I +sha'n't do it, though." And away she skipped to meet her father, whose +returning steps were heard. + +"You see I spoil her," said he, as she led him into the room with a +half-dancing step. "But how can I help it?" + +Before there was time to respond to this question, the negress with +the bright turban announced that tea was ready. + +"Yes, Tulipa? we will come," said Floracita. + +"Is _she_ a flower too?" asked Alfred. + +"Yes, she's a flower, too," answered Floracita, with a merry little +laugh. "We named her so because she always wears a red and yellow +turban; but we call her Tulee, for short." + +While they were partaking of refreshments, she and her father were +perpetually exchanging badinage, which, childish as it was, served to +enliven the repast. But when she began to throw oranges for him to +catch, a reproving glance from her dignified sister reminded her of +the presence of company. + +"Let her do as she likes, Rosa dear," said her father. "She is used to +being my little plaything, and I can't spare her to be a woman yet." + +"I consider it a compliment to forget that I am a stranger," said Mr. +King. "For my own part, I forgot it entirely before I had been in the +house ten minutes." + +Rosabella thanked him with a quiet smile and a slight inclination of +her head. Floracita, notwithstanding this encouragement, paused in her +merriment; and Mr. Royal began to talk over reminiscences connected +with Alfred's father. When they rose from table, he said, "Come here, +Mignonne! We won't be afraid of the Boston gentleman, will we?" +Floracita sprang to his side. He passed his arm fondly round her, and, +waiting for his guest and his elder daughter to precede them, they +returned to the room they had left. They had scarcely entered it, when +Floracita darted to the window, and, peering forth into the twilight, +she looked back roguishly at her sister, and began to sing:-- + + "Un petit blanc, que j'aime, + En ces lieux est venu. + Oui! oui! c'est lui meme! + C'est lui! je l'ai vue! + Petit blanc! mon bon frere! + Ha! ha! petit blanc si doux!" + +The progress of her song was checked by the entrance of a gentleman, +who was introduced to Alfred as Mr. Fitzgerald from Savannah. His +handsome person reminded one of an Italian tenor singer, and his +manner was a graceful mixture of _hauteur_ and insinuating courtesy. +After a brief interchange of salutations, he said to Floracita, +"I heard some notes of a lively little French tune, that went so +trippingly I should be delighted to hear more of it." + +Floracita had accidentally overheard some half-whispered words which +Mr. Fitzgerald had addressed to her sister, during his last visit, +and, thinking she had discovered an important secret, she was disposed +to use her power mischievously. Without waiting for a repetition of +his request, she sang:-- + + "Petit blanc, mon bon frere! + Ha! ha! petit blanc si doux! + Il n'y a rien sur la terre + De si joli que vous." + +While she was singing, she darted roguish glances at her sister, whose +cheeks glowed like the sun-ripened side of a golden apricot. Her +father touched her shoulder, and said in a tone of annoyance, "Don't +sing that foolish song, Mignonne!" She turned to him quickly with a +look of surprise; for she was accustomed only to endearments from him. +In answer to her look, he added, in a gentler tone, "You know I told +you I wanted my friend to see you dance. Select one of your prettiest, +_ma petite_, and Rosabella will play it for you." + +Mr. Fitzgerald assiduously placed the music-stool, and bent over the +portfolio while Miss Royal searched for the music. A servant lighted +the candelabra and drew the curtains. Alfred, glancing at Mr. Royal, +saw he was watching the pair who were busy at the portfolio, and that +the expression of his countenance was troubled. His eyes, however, +soon had pleasanter occupation; for as soon as Rosa touched the piano, +Floracita began to float round the room in a succession of graceful +whirls, as if the music had taken her up and was waltzing her along. +As she passed the marble Dancing Girl, she seized the wreath that was +thrown over its arm, and as she went circling round, it seemed as +if the tune had become a visible spirit, and that the garland was a +floating accompaniment to its graceful motions. Sometimes it was held +aloft by the right hand, sometimes by the left; sometimes it was +a whirling semicircle behind her; and sometimes it rested on her +shoulders, mingling its white orange buds and blossoms with her shower +of black curls and crimson fuchsias. Now it was twined round her head +in a flowery crown, and then it gracefully unwound itself, as if it +were a thing alive. Ever and anon the little dancer poised herself for +an instant on the point of one fairy foot, her cheeks glowing with +exercise and dimpling with smiles, as she met her father's delighted +gaze. Every attitude seemed spontaneous in its prettiness, as if the +music had made it without her choice. At last she danced toward her +father, and sank, with a wave-like motion, on the ottoman at his feet. +He patted the glossy head that nestled lovingly on his knee, and +drawing a long breath, as if oppressed with happiness, he murmured, +"Ah, Mignonne!" + +The floating fairy vision had given such exquisite pleasure, that all +had been absorbed in watching its variations. Now they looked at +each other and smiled. "You would make Taglioni jealous," said Mr. +Fitzgerald, addressing the little dancer; and Mr. King silently +thanked her with a very expressive glance. + +As Rosabella retired from the piano, she busied herself with +rearranging a bouquet she had taken from one of the vases. When Mr. +Fitzgerald stationed himself at her side, she lowered her eyes with a +perceptibly deepening color. On her peculiar complexion a blush showed +like a roseate cloud in a golden atmosphere. As Alfred gazed on the +long, dark, silky fringes resting on those warmly tinted cheeks, he +thought he had never seen any human creature so superbly handsome. + +"Nothing but music can satisfy us after such dancing," said Mr. +Fitzgerald. She looked up to him with a smile; and Alfred thought the +rising of those dark eyelashes surpassed their downcast expression, as +the glory of morning sunshine excels the veiled beauty of starlight. + +"Shall I accompany you while you sing, 'How brightly breaks the +morning'?" asked she. + +"That always sings itself into my heart, whenever you raise your eyes +to mine," replied he, in a low tone, as he handed her to the piano. + +Together they sang that popular melody, bright and joyful as sunrise +on a world of blossoms. Then came a Tyrolese song, with a double +voice, sounding like echoes from the mountains. This was followed +by some tender, complaining Russian melodies, novelties which Mr. +Fitzgerald had brought on a preceding visit. Feeling they were too +much engrossed with each other, she said politely, "Mr. King has not +yet chosen any music." + +"The moon becomes visible through the curtains," replied he. "Perhaps +you will salute her with 'Casta Diva.'" + +"That is a favorite with us," she replied. "Either Flora or I sing it +almost every moonlight night." + +She sang it in very pure Italian. Then turning round on the +music-stool she looked at her father, and said, "Now, _Papasito +querido_, what shall I sing for you?" + +"You know, dear, what I always love to hear," answered he. + +With gentle touch, she drew from the keys a plaintive prelude, which +soon modulated itself into "The Light of other Days." She played and +sang it with so much feeling, that it seemed the voice of memory +floating with softened sadness over the far-off waters of the past. +The tune was familiar to Alfred, but it had never sung itself into his +heart, as now. "I felt as I did in Italy, listening to a vesper-bell +sounding from a distance in the stillness of twilight," said he, +turning toward his host. + +"All who hear Rosabella sing notice a bell in her voice," rejoined her +father. + +"Undoubtedly it is the voice of a belle," said Mr. Fitzgerald. + +Her father, without appearing to notice the commonplace pun, went on +to say, "You don't know, Mr. King, what tricks she can play with her +voice. I call her a musical ventriloquist. If you want to hear the +bell to perfection, ask her to sing 'Toll the bell for lovely Nell.'" + +"Do give me that pleasure," said Alfred, persuasively. + +She sang the pathetic melody, and with voice and piano imitated to +perfection the slow tolling of a silver-toned bell. After a short +pause, during which she trifled with the keys, while some general +remarks were passing, she turned to Mr. Fitzgerald, who was leaning on +the piano, and said, "What shall I sing for _you_?" It was a simple +question, but it pierced the heart of Alfred King with a strange new +pain. What would he not have given for such a soft expression in those +glorious eyes when she looked at _him_! + +"Since you are in a ventriloqual mood," answered Mr. Fitzgerald, +"I should like to hear again what you played the last time I was +here,--Agatha's Moonlight Prayer, from _Der Freyschuetz_." + +She smiled, and with voice and instrument produced the indescribably +dreamy effect of the two flutes. It was the very moonlight of sound. + +"This is perfectly magical," murmured Alfred. He spoke in a low, +almost reverential tone; for the spell of moonlight was on him, and +the clear, soft voice of the singer, the novelty of her peculiar +beauty, and the surpassing gracefulness of her motions, as she swayed +gently to the music of the tones she produced, inspired him with a +feeling of poetic deference. Through the partially open window came +the lulling sound of a little trickling fountain in the garden, and +the air was redolent of jasmine and orange-blossoms. On the pier-table +was a little sleeping Cupid, from whose torch rose the fragrant +incense of a nearly extinguished _pastille_. The pervasive spirit of +beauty in the room, manifested in forms, colors, tones, and motions, +affected the soul as perfume did the senses. The visitors felt they +had stayed too long, and yet they lingered. Alfred examined the +reclining Cupid, and praised the gracefulness of its outline. + +"Cupid could never sleep here, nor would the flame of his torch ever +go out," said Mr. Fitzgerald; "but it is time _we_ were going out." + +The young gentlemen exchanged parting salutations with their host and +his daughters, and moved toward the door. But Mr. Fitzgerald paused on +the threshold to say, "Please play us out with Mozart's 'Good Night.'" + +"As organists play worshippers out of the church," added Mr. King. + +Rosabella bowed compliance, and, as they crossed the outer threshold, +they heard the most musical of voices singing Mozart's beautiful +little melody, "Buona Notte, amato bene." The young men lingered near +the piazza till the last sounds floated away, and then they walked +forth in the moonlight,--Fitzgerald repeating the air in a subdued +whistle. + +His first exclamation was, "Isn't that girl a Rose Royal?" + +"She is, indeed," replied Mr. King; "and the younger sister is also +extremely fascinating." + +"Yes, I thought you seemed to think so," rejoined his companion. +"Which do you prefer?" + +Shy of revealing his thoughts to a stranger, Mr. King replied that +each of the sisters was so perfect in her way, the other would be +wronged by preference. + +"Yes, they are both rare gems of beauty," rejoined Fitzgerald. "If I +were the Grand Bashaw, I would have them both in my harem." + +The levity of the remark jarred on the feelings of his companion, who +answered, in a grave, and somewhat cold tone, "I saw nothing in the +manners of the young ladies to suggest such a disposition of them." + +"Excuse me," said Fitzgerald, laughing. "I forgot you were from the +land of Puritans. I meant no indignity to the young ladies, I assure +you. But when one amuses himself with imagining the impossible, it is +not worth while to be scrupulous about details. I am _not_ the Grand +Bashaw; and when I pronounced them fit for his harem, I merely meant +a compliment to their superlative beauty. That Floracita is a +mischievous little sprite. Did you ever see anything more roguish than +her expression while she was singing 'Petit blanc, mon bon frere'?" + +"That mercurial little song excited my curiosity," replied Alfred. +"Pray what is its origin?" + +"I think it likely it came from the French West Indies," said +Fitzgerald. "It seems to be the love-song of a young negress, +addressed to a white lover. Floracita may have learned it from her +mother, who was half French, half Spanish. You doubtless observed +the foreign sprinkling in their talk. They told me they never spoke +English with their mother. Those who have seen her describe her as a +wonderful creature, who danced like Taglioni and sang like Malibran, +and was more beautiful than her daughter Rosabella. But the last part +of the story is incredible. If she were half as handsome, no wonder +Mr. Royal idolized her, as they say he did." + +"Did he marry her in the French Islands?" inquired Alfred. + +"They were not married," answered Fitzgerald. "Of course not, for she +was a quadroon. But here are my lodgings, and I must bid you good +night." + +These careless parting words produced great disturbance in the spirit +of Alfred King. He had heard of those quadroon connections, as one +hears of foreign customs, without any realizing sense of their +consequences. That his father's friend should be a partner in such an +alliance, and that these two graceful and accomplished girls should by +that circumstance be excluded from the society they would so greatly +ornament, surprised and bewildered him. He recalled that tinge in +Rosa's complexion, not golden, but like a faint, luminous reflection +of gold, and that slight waviness in the glossy hair, which seemed +to him so becoming. He could not make these peculiarities seem less +beautiful to his imagination, now that he knew them as signs of +her connection with a proscribed race. And that bewitching little +Floracita, emerging into womanhood, with the auroral light of +childhood still floating round her, she seemed like a beautiful +Italian child, whose proper place was among fountains and statues +and pictured forms of art. The skill of no Parisian _coiffeur_ could +produce a result so pleasing as the profusion of raven hair, that +_would_ roll itself into ringlets. Octoroons! He repeated the word +to himself, but it did not disenchant him. It was merely something +foreign and new to his experience, like Spanish or Italian beauty. Yet +he felt painfully the false position in which they were placed by the +unreasoning prejudice of society. + +Though he had had a fatiguing day, when he entered his chamber he felt +no inclination to sleep. As he slowly paced up and down the room, he +thought to himself, "My good mother shares the prejudice. How could +I introduce them to _her_?" Then, as if impatient with himself, he +murmured, in a vexed tone, "Why should I _think_ of introducing them +to my mother? A few hours ago I didn't know of their existence." + +He threw himself on the bed and tried to sleep; but memory was +too busy with the scene of enchantment he had recently left. A +catalpa-tree threw its shadow on the moon-lighted curtain. He began to +count the wavering leaves, in hopes the monotonous occupation would +induce slumber. After a while he forgot to count; and as his spirit +hovered between the inner and the outer world, Floracita seemed to be +dancing on the leaf shadows in manifold graceful evolutions. Then he +was watching a little trickling fountain, and the falling drops were +tones of "The Light of other Days." Anon he was wandering among +flowers in the moonlight, and from afar some one was heard singing +"Casta Diva." The memory of that voice, + + "While slept the limbs and senses all, + Made everything seem musical." + +Again and again the panorama of the preceding evening revolved through +the halls of memory with every variety of fantastic change. A light +laugh broke in upon the scenes of enchantment, with the words, "Of +course not, for she was a quadroon." Then the plaintive melody of +"Toll the bell" resounded in his ears; not afar off, but loud and +clear, as if the singer were in the room. He woke with a start, and +heard the vibrations of a cathedral bell subsiding into silence. It +had struck but twice, but in his spiritual ear the sounds had been +modulated through many tones. "Even thus strangely," thought he, "has +that rich, sonorous voice struck into the dream of my life," + +Again he saw those large, lustrous eyes lowering their long-fringed +veils under the ardent gaze of Gerald Fitzgerald. Again he thought of +his mother, and sighed. At last a dreamless sleep stole over him, and +both pleasure and pain were buried in deep oblivion. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The sun was up before he woke. He rose hastily and ordered breakfast +and a horse; for he had resolved the day before upon an early ride. A +restless, undefined feeling led him in the same direction he had taken +the preceding evening. He passed the house that would forevermore be +a prominent feature in the landscape of his life. Vines were gently +waving in the morning air between the pillars of the piazza, where he +had lingered entranced to hear the tones of "Buena Notte." The bright +turban of Tulipa was glancing about, as she dusted the blinds. A +peacock on the balustrade, in the sunshine, spread out his tail into a +great Oriental fan, and slowly lowered it, making a prismatic shower +of topaz, sapphires, and emeralds as it fell. It was the first of +March; but as he rode on, thinking of the dreary landscape and +boisterous winds of New England at that season, the air was filled +with the fragrance of flowers, and mocking-birds and thrushes saluted +him with their songs. In many places the ground was thickly strewn +with oranges, and the orange-groves were beautiful with golden fruit +and silver flowers gleaming among the dark glossy green foliage. +Here and there was the mansion of a wealthy planter, surrounded by +whitewashed slave-cabins. The negroes at their work, and their black +picaninnies rolling about on the ground, seemed an appropriate part of +the landscape, so tropical in its beauty of dark colors and luxuriant +growth. + +He rode several miles, persuading himself that he was enticed solely +by the healthy exercise and the novelty of the scene. But more +alluring than the pleasant landscape and the fragrant air was the hope +that, if he returned late, the young ladies might be on the piazza, +or visible at the windows. He was destined to be disappointed. As he +passed, a curtain was slowly withdrawn from one of the windows and +revealed a vase of flowers. He rode slowly, in hopes of seeing a face +bend over the flowers; but the person who drew the curtain remained +invisible. On the piazza nothing was in motion, except the peacock +strutting along, stately as a court beauty, and drawing after him +his long train of jewelled plumage. A voice, joyous as a bobolink's, +sounded apparently from the garden. He could not hear the words, but +the lively tones at once suggested, "Petit blanc, mon bon frere." He +recalled the words so carelessly uttered, "Of course not, for she was +a quadroon," and they seemed to make harsh discord with the refrain of +the song. He remembered the vivid flush that passed over Rosa's face +while her playful sister teased her with that tuneful badinage. It +seemed to him that Mr. Fitzgerald was well aware of his power, for +he had not attempted to conceal his consciousness of the singer's +mischievous intent. This train of thought was arrested by the inward +question, "What is it to _me_ whether he marries her or not?" +Impatiently he touched his horse with the whip, as if he wanted to +rush from the answer to his own query. + +He had engaged to meet Mr. Royal at his counting-house, and he was +careful to keep the appointment. He was received with parental +kindness slightly tinged with embarrassment. After some conversation +about business, Mr. Royal said: "From your silence concerning your +visit to my house last evening, I infer that Mr. Fitzgerald has given +you some information relating to my daughters' history. I trust, my +young friend, that you have not suspected me of any intention to +deceive or entrap you. I intended to have told you myself; but I had a +desire to know first how my daughters would impress you, if judged by +their own merits. Having been forestalled in my purpose, I am afraid +frankness on your part will now be difficult." + +"A feeling of embarrassment did indeed prevent me from alluding to +my visit as soon as I met you this morning," replied Alfred; "but no +circumstances could alter my estimate of your daughters. Their beauty +and gracefulness exceed anything I have seen." + +"And they are as innocent and good as they are beautiful," rejoined +the father. "But you can easily imagine that my pride and delight in +them is much disturbed by anxiety concerning their future. Latterly, +I have thought a good deal about closing business and taking them to +France to reside. But when men get to be so old as I am, the process +of being transplanted to a foreign soil seems onerous. If it were as +well for _them_, I should greatly prefer returning to my native New +England." + +"They are tropical flowers," observed Alfred. "There is nothing +Northern in their natures." + +"Yes, they are tropical flowers," rejoined the father, "and my wish is +to place them in perpetual sunshine. I doubt whether they could ever +feel quite at home far away from jasmines and orange-groves. But +climate is the least of the impediments in the way of taking them +to New England. Their connection with the enslaved race is so very +slight, that it might easily be concealed; but the consciousness of +practising concealment is always unpleasant. Your father was more free +from prejudices of all sorts than any man I ever knew. If he were +living, I would confide all to him, and be guided implicitly by his +advice. You resemble him so strongly, that I have been involuntarily +drawn to open my heart to you, as I never thought to do to so young a +man. Yet I find the fulness of my confidence checked by the fear of +lowering myself in the estimation of the son of my dearest friend. But +perhaps, if you knew all the circumstances, and had had my experience, +you would find some extenuation of my fault. I was very unhappy when I +first came to New Orleans. I was devotedly attached to a young lady, +and I was rudely repelled by her proud and worldly family. I was +seized with a vehement desire to prove to them that I could become +richer than they were. I rushed madly into the pursuit of wealth, and +I was successful; but meanwhile they had married her to another, and I +found that wealth alone could not bring happiness. In vain the profits +of my business doubled and quadrupled. I was unsatisfied, lonely, and +sad. Commercial transactions brought me into intimate relations with +Senor Gonsalez, a Spanish gentleman in St. Augustine. He had formed an +alliance with a beautiful slave, whom he had bought in the French West +Indies. I never saw her, for she died before my acquaintance with him; +but their daughter, then a girl of sixteen, was the most charming +creature I ever beheld. The irresistible attraction I felt toward her +the first moment I saw her was doubtless the mere fascination of the +senses; but when I came to know her more, I found her so gentle, so +tender, so modest, and so true, that I loved her with a strong and +deep affection. I admired her, too, for other reasons than her beauty; +for she had many elegant accomplishments, procured by her father's +fond indulgence during two years' residence in Paris. He was wealthy +at that time; but he afterward became entangled in pecuniary +difficulties, and his health declined. He took a liking to me, and +proposed that I should purchase Eulalia, and thus enable him to cancel +a debt due to a troublesome creditor whom he suspected of having an +eye upon his daughter. I gave him a large sum for her, and brought her +with me to New Orleans. Do not despise me for it, my young friend. If +it had been told to me a few years before, in my New England home, +that I could ever become a party in such a transaction, I should have +rejected the idea with indignation. But my disappointed and lonely +condition rendered me an easy prey to temptation, and I was where +public opinion sanctioned such connections. Besides, there were kindly +motives mixed up with selfish ones. I pitied the unfortunate father, +and I feared his handsome daughter might fall into hands that would +not protect her so carefully as I resolved to do. I knew the freedom +of her choice was not interfered with, for she confessed she loved me. + +"Senor Gonsalez, who was more attached to her than to anything else +in the world, soon afterward gathered up the fragments of his +broken fortune, and came to reside near us. I know it was a great +satisfaction to his dying hours that he left Eulalia in my care, and +the dear girl was entirely happy with me. If I had manumitted her, +carried her abroad, and legally married her, I should have no remorse +mingled with my sorrow for her loss. Loving her faithfully, as I did +to the latest moment of her life, I now find it difficult to explain +to myself how I came to neglect such an obvious duty. I was always +thinking that I would do it at some future time. But marriage with a +quadroon would have been void, according to the laws of Louisiana; +and, being immersed in business, I never seemed to find time to take +her abroad. When one has taken the first wrong step, it becomes +dangerously easy to go on in the same path. A man's standing here is +not injured by such irregular connections; and my faithful, loving +Eulalia meekly accepted her situation as a portion of her inherited +destiny. Mine was the fault, not hers; for I was free to do as I +pleased, and she never had been. I acted in opposition to moral +principles, which the education of false circumstances had given her +no opportunity to form. I had remorseful thoughts at times, but I am +quite sure she was never troubled in that way. She loved and trusted +me entirely. She knew that the marriage of a white man with one of her +race was illegal; and she quietly accepted the fact, as human +beings do accept what they are powerless to overcome. Her daughters +attributed her olive complexion to a Spanish origin; and their only +idea was, and is, that she was my honored wife, as indeed she was in +the inmost recesses of my heart. I gradually withdrew from the few +acquaintances I had formed in New Orleans; partly because I was +satisfied with the company of Eulalia and our children, and partly +because I could not take her with me into society. She had no +acquaintances here, and we acquired the habit of living in a little +world by ourselves,--a world which, as you have seen, was transformed +into a sort of fairy-land by her love of beautiful things. After I +lost her, it was my intention to send the children immediately to +France to be educated. But procrastination is my besetting sin; and +the idea of parting with them was so painful, that I have deferred and +deferred it. The suffering I experience on their account is a just +punishment for the wrong I did their mother. When I think how +beautiful, how talented, how affectionate, and how pure they are, and +in what a cruel position I have placed them, I have terrible writhings +of the heart. I do not think I am destined to long life; and who will +protect them when I am gone?" + +A consciousness of last night's wishes and dreams made Alfred blush +as he said, "It occurred to me that your eldest daughter might be +betrothed to Mr. Fitzgerald." + +"I hope not," quickly rejoined Mr. Royal. "He is not the sort of man +with whom I would like to intrust her happiness. I think, if it were +so, Rosabella would have told me, for my children always confide in +me." + +"I took it for granted that you liked him," replied Alfred; "for you +said an introduction to your home was a favor you rarely bestowed." + +"I never conferred it on any young man but yourself," answered Mr. +Royal, "and you owed it partly to my memory of your honest father, and +partly to the expression of your face, which so much resembles his." +The young man smiled and bowed, and his friend continued: "When I +invited you, I was not aware Mr. Fitzgerald was in the city. I am +but slightly acquainted with him, but I conjecture him to be what is +called a high-blood. His manners, though elegant, seem to me flippant +and audacious. He introduced himself into my domestic sanctum; and, as +I partook of his father's hospitality years ago, I find it difficult +to eject him. He came here a few months since, to transact some +business connected with the settlement of his father's estate, and, +unfortunately, he heard Rosabella singing as he rode past my house. He +made inquiries concerning the occupants; and, from what I have heard, +I conjecture that he has learned more of my private history than I +wished to have him know. He called without asking my permission, +and told my girls that his father was my friend, and that he had +consequently taken the liberty to call with some new music, which he +was very desirous of hearing them sing. When I was informed of this, +on my return home, I was exceedingly annoyed; and I have ever since +been thinking of closing business as soon as possible, and taking my +daughters to France. He called twice again during his stay in the +city, but my daughters made it a point to see him only when I was +at home. Now he has come again, to increase the difficulties of my +position by his unwelcome assiduities." + +"Unwelcome to _you_" rejoined Alfred; "but, handsome and fascinating +as he is, they are not likely to be unwelcome to your daughters. Your +purpose of conveying them to France is a wise one." + +"Would I had done it sooner!" exclaimed Mr. Royal. "How weak I have +been in allowing circumstances to drift me along!" He walked up and +down the room with agitated steps; then, pausing before Alfred, he +laid his hand affectionately on his shoulder, as he said, with solemn +earnestness, "My young friend, I am glad your father did not accept my +proposal to receive you into partnership. Let me advise you to live in +New England. The institutions around us have an effect on character +which it is difficult to escape entirely. Bad customs often lead +well-meaning men into wrong paths." + +"That was my father's reason for being unwilling I should reside in +New Orleans," replied Alfred. "He said it was impossible to exaggerate +the importance of social institutions. He often used to speak of +having met a number of Turkish women when he was in the environs of +Constantinople. They were wrapped up like bales of cloth, with two +small openings for their eyes, mounted on camels, and escorted by the +overseer of the harem. The animal sound of their chatter and giggling, +as they passed him, affected him painfully; for it forced upon him the +idea what different beings those women would have been if they had +been brought up amid the free churches and free schools of New +England. He always expounded history to me in the light of that +conviction; and he mourned that temporary difficulties should prevent +lawgivers from checking the growth of evils that must have a blighting +influence on the souls of many generations. He considered slavery a +cumulative poison in the veins of this Republic, and predicted that it +would some day act all at once with deadly power." + +"Your father was a wise man," replied Mr. Royal, "and I agree with +him. But it would be unsafe to announce it here; for slavery is a +tabooed subject, except to talk in favor of it." + +"I am well aware of that," rejoined Alfred. "And now I must bid you +good morning. You know my mother is an invalid, and I may find letters +at the post-office that will render immediate return necessary. But +I will see you again; and hereafter our acquaintance may perhaps be +renewed in France." + +"That is a delightful hope," rejoined the merchant, cordially +returning the friendly pressure of his hand. As he looked after the +young man, he thought how pleasant it would be to have such a son; +and he sighed deeply over the vision of a union that might have been, +under other circumstances, between his family and that of his old +friend. Alfred, as he walked away, was conscious of that latent, +unspoken wish. Again the query began to revolve through his mind +whether the impediments were really insurmountable. There floated +before him a vision of that enchanting room, where the whole of life +seemed to be composed of beauty and gracefulness, music and flowers. +But a shadow of Fitzgerald fell across it, and the recollection of +Boston relatives rose up like an iceberg between him and fairy-land. + +A letter informing him of his mother's increasing illness excited +a feeling of remorse that new acquaintances had temporarily nearly +driven her from his thoughts. He resolved to depart that evening; but +the desire to see Rosabella again could not be suppressed. Failing to +find Mr. Royal at his counting-room or his hotel, he proceeded to his +suburban residence. When Tulipa informed him that "massa" had not +returned from the city, he inquired for the young ladies, and was +again shown into that parlor every feature of which was so indelibly +impressed upon his memory. Portions of the music of _Cenerentola_ lay +open on the piano, and the leaves fluttered softly in a gentle breeze +laden with perfumes from the garden. Near by was swinging the beaded +tassel of a book-mark between the pages of a half-opened volume. He +looked at the title and saw that it was Lalla Rookh. He smiled, as he +glanced round the room on the flowery festoons, the graceful tangle +of bright arabesques on the walls, the Dancing Girl, and the Sleeping +Cupid. "All is in harmony with Canova, and Moore, and Rossini," +thought he. "The Lady in Milton's Comus _has_ been the ideal of my +imagination; and now here I am so strangely taken captive by--" + +Rosabella entered at that moment, and almost startled him with the +contrast to his ideal. Her glowing Oriental beauty and stately grace +impressed him more than ever. Floracita's fairy form and airy motions +were scarcely less fascinating. Their talk was very girlish. Floracita +had just been reading in a French paper about the performance of _La +Bayadere_, and she longed to see the ballet brought out in Paris. +Rosabella thought nothing could be quite so romantic as to float on +the canals of Venice by moonlight and listen to the nightingales; and +she should _so_ like to cross the Bridge of Sighs! Then they went into +raptures over the gracefulness of Rossini's music, and the brilliancy +of Auber's. Very few and very slender thoughts were conveyed in their +words, but to the young man's ear they had the charm of music; for +Floracita's talk went as trippingly as a lively dance, and the sweet +modulations of Rosabella's voice so softened English to Italian sound, +that her words seemed floating on a liquid element, like goldfish +in the water. Indeed, her whole nature seemed to partake the fluid +character of music. Beauty born of harmonious sound "had passed into +her face," and her motions reminded one of a water-lily undulating on +its native element. + +The necessity of returning immediately to Boston was Alfred's apology +for a brief call. Repressed feeling imparted great earnestness to the +message he left for his father's friend. While he was uttering it, the +conversation he had recently had with Mr. Royal came back to him with +painful distinctness. After parting compliments were exchanged, he +turned to say, "Excuse me, young ladies, if, in memory of our fathers' +friendship, I beg of you to command my services, as if I were a +brother, should it ever be in my power to serve you." + +Rosabella thanked him with a slight inclination of her graceful head; +and Floracita, dimpling a quick little courtesy, said sportively, "If +some cruel Blue-Beard should shut us up in his castle, we will send +for you." + +"How funny!" exclaimed the volatile child, as the door closed after +him. "He spoke as solemn as a minister; but I suppose that's the way +with Yankees. I think _cher papa_ likes to preach sometimes." + +Rosabella, happening to glance at the window, saw that Alfred King +paused in the street and looked back. How their emotions would have +deepened could they have foreseen the future! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +A year passed away, and the early Southern spring had again returned +with flowers and fragrance. After a day in music and embroidery, with +sundry games at Battledoor and The Graces with her sister, Floracita +heard the approaching footsteps of her father, and, as usual, bounded +forth to meet him. Any one who had not seen him since he parted from +the son of his early New England friend would have observed that he +looked older and more careworn; but his daughters, accustomed to see +him daily, had not noticed the gradual change. + +"You have kept us waiting a little, Papasito," said Rosabella, turning +round on the music-stool, and greeting him with a smile. + +"Yes, my darling," rejoined he, placing his hand fondly on her head. +"Getting ready to go to Europe makes a deal of work." + +"If we were sons, we could help you," said Rosabella. + +"I wish you _were_ sons!" answered he, with serious emphasis and a +deep sigh. + +Floracita nestled close to him, and, looking up archly in his face, +said, "And pray what would you do, papa, without your nightingale and +your fairy, as you call us?" + +"Sure enough, what _should_ I do, my little flower?" said he, as with +a loving smile he stooped to kiss her. + +They led him to the tea-table; and when the repast was ended, they +began to talk over their preparations for leaving home. + +"_Cher papa_, how long before we shall go to Paris?" inquired +Floracita. + +"In two or three weeks, I hope," was the reply. + +"Won't it be delightful!" exclaimed she. "You will take us to see +ballets and everything." + +"When I am playing and singing fragments of operas," said Rosabella, +"I often think to myself how wonderfully beautiful they would sound, +if all the parts were brought out by such musicians as they have in +Europe. I should greatly enjoy hearing operas in Paris; but I often +think, Papasito, that we can never be so happy anywhere as we have +been in this dear home. It makes me feel sad to leave all these pretty +things,--so many of them--" + +She hesitated, and glanced at her father. + +"So intimately associated with your dear mother, you were about to +say," replied he. "That thought is often present with me, and the idea +of parting with them pains me to the heart. But I do not intend they +shall ever be handled by strangers. We will pack them carefully and +leave them with Madame Guirlande; and when we get settled abroad, in +some nice little cottage, we will send for them. But when you have +been in Paris, when you have seen the world and the world has seen +you, perhaps you won't be contented to live in a cottage with your old +Papasito. Perhaps your heads will become so turned with flattery, that +you will want to be at balls and operas all the time." + +"No flattery will be so sweet as yours, _cher papa_," said Floracita. + +"No indeed!" exclaimed Rosa. But, looking up, she met his eye, and +blushed crimson. She was conscious of having already listened to +flattery that was at least more intoxicating than his. Her father +noticed the rosy confusion, and felt a renewal of pain that unexpected +entanglements had prevented his going to Europe months ago. He +tenderly pressed her hand, that lay upon his knee, and looked at her +with troubled earnestness, as he said, "Now that you are going to make +acquaintance with the world, my daughters, and without a mother to +guide you, I want you to promise me that you will never believe any +gentleman sincere in professions of love, unless he proposes marriage, +and asks my consent." + +Rosabella was obviously agitated, but she readily replied, "Do you +suppose, Papasito, that we would accept a lover without asking you +about it? When _Mamita querida_ died, she charged us to tell you +everything; and we always do." + +"I do not doubt you, my children," he replied; "but the world is full +of snares; and sometimes they are so covered with flowers, that the +inexperienced slip into them unawares. I shall try to shield you from +harm, as I always have done; but when I am gone--" + +"O, don't say that!" exclaimed Floracita, with a quick, nervous +movement. + +And Rosabella looked at him with swimming eyes, as she repeated, +"Don't say that, _Papasito querido_!" + +He laid a hand on the head of each. His heart was very full. With +solemn tenderness he tried to warn them of the perils of life. But +there was much that he was obliged to refrain from saying, from +reverence for their inexperienced purity. And had he attempted to +describe the manners of a corrupt world, they could have had no +realizing sense of his meaning; for it is impossible for youth to +comprehend the dangers of the road it is to travel. + +The long talk at last subsided into serious silence. After remaining +very still a few moments, Rosabella said softy, "Wouldn't you like to +hear some music before you go to bed, _Papasito mio_?" + +He nodded assent, and she moved to the piano. Their conversation had +produced an unusually tender and subdued state of feeling, and she +sang quietly many plaintive melodies that her mother loved. The +fountain trickling in the garden kept up a low liquid accompaniment, +and the perfume of the orange-groves seemed like the fragrant breath +of the tones. + +It was late when they parted for the night. "_Bon soir, cher papa_" +said Floracita, kissing her father's hand. + +"_Buenas noches, Papasito querido_" said Rosabella, as she touched his +cheek with her beautiful lips. + +There was moisture in his eyes as he folded them to his heart and +said, "God bless you! God protect you, my dear ones!" Those melodies +of past times had brought their mother before him in all her loving +trustfulness, and his soul was full of sorrow for the irreparable +wrong he had done her children. + +The pensive mood, that had enveloped them all in a little cloud the +preceding evening, was gone in the morning. There was the usual +bantering during breakfast, and after they rose from table they +discussed in a lively manner various plans concerning their residence +in France. Rosabella evidently felt much less pleasure in the prospect +than did her younger sister; and her father, conjecturing the reason, +was the more anxious to expedite their departure. "I must not linger +here talking," said he. "I must go and attend to business; for there +are many things to be arranged before we can set out on our travels," + +"_Hasta luego, Papasito mio_" said Rosabella, with an affectionate +smile. + +"_Au revoir, cher papa_" said Floracita, as she handed him his hat. + +He patted her head playfully as he said, "What a polyglot family we +are! Your grandfather's Spanish, your grandmother's French, and your +father's English, all mixed up in an _olla podrida_. Good morning, my +darlings." + +Floracita skipped out on the piazza, calling after him, "Papa, what +_is_ polyglot?" + +He turned and shook his finger laughingly at her, as he exclaimed, "O, +you little ignoramus!" + +The sisters lingered on the piazza, watching him till he was out of +sight. When they re-entered the house, Floracita occupied herself with +various articles of her wardrobe; consulting with Rosa whether any +alterations would be necessary before they were packed for France. +It evidently cost Rosa some effort to attend to her innumerable +questions, for the incessant chattering disturbed her revery. At +every interval she glanced round the room with a sort of farewell +tenderness. It was more to her than the home of a happy childhood; for +nearly all the familiar objects had become associated with glances and +tones, the memory of which excited restless longings in her heart. As +she stood gazing on the blooming garden and the little fountain, whose +sparkling rills crossed each other in the sunshine like a silvery +network strung with diamonds, she exclaimed, "O Floracita, we shall +never be so happy anywhere else as we have been here." + +"How do you know that, _sistita mia_?" rejoined the lively little +chatterer. "Only think, we have never been to a ball! And when we get +to France, Papasito will go everywhere with us. He says he will." + +"I should like to hear operas and see ballets in Paris," said +Rosabella; "but I wish we could come back _here_ before long." + +Floracita's laughing eyes assumed the arch expression which rendered +them peculiarly bewitching, and she began to sing,-- + + "Petit blanc, mon bon frere! + Ha! ha! petit blanc si doux! + Il n'y a rien sur la terre + De si joli que vous. + + "Un petit blanc que j'aime--" + +A quick flush mantled her sister's face, and she put her hand over the +mischievous mouth, exclaiming, "Don't, Flora! don't!" + +The roguish little creature went laughing and capering out of the +room, and her voice was still heard singing,-- + + "Un petit blanc que j'aime." + +The arrival of Signor Papanti soon summoned her to rehearse a music +lesson. She glanced roguishly at her sister when she began; and as she +went on, Rosa could not help smiling at her musical antics. The old +teacher bore it patiently for a while, then he stopped trying to +accompany her, and, shaking his finger at her, said, "_Diavolessa_!" + +"Did I make a false note?" asked she, demurely. + +"No, you little witch, you _can't_ make a false note. But how do you +suppose I can keep hold of the tail of the Air, if you send me chasing +after it through so many capricious variations? Now begin again, _da +capo_" + +The lesson was recommenced, but soon ran riot again. The Signor became +red in the face, shut the music-book with a slam, and poured forth a +volley of wrath in Italian, When she saw that he was really angry, she +apologized, and promised to do better. The third time of trying, she +acquitted herself so well that her teacher praised her; and when +she bade him good morning, with a comic little courtesy, he smiled +good-naturedly, as he said, "_Ah, Malizietta_!" + +"I knew I should make Signor Pimentero sprinkle some pepper," +exclaimed she, laughing, as she saw him walk away. + +"You are too fond of sobriquets," said Rosa. "If you are not careful, +you will call him Signor Pimentero to his face, some day." + +"What did you tell me _that_ for?" asked the little rogue. "It will +just make me do it. Now I am going to pester Madame's parrot." + +She caught up her large straw hat, with flying ribbons, and ran to the +house of their next neighbor, Madame Guirlande. She was a French lady, +who had given the girls lessons in embroidery, the manufacture of +artificial flowers, and other fancy-work. Before long, Floracita +returned through the garden, skipping over a jumping-rope. "This is +a day of compliments," said she, as she entered the parlor, "Signor +Pimentero called me _Diavolessa_; Madame Guirlande called me _Joli +petit diable_; and the parrot took it up, and screamed it after me, as +I came away." + +"I don't wonder at it," replied Rosa. "I think I never saw even you so +full of mischief." + +Her frolicsome mood remained through the day. One moment she assumed +the dignified manner of Rosabella, and, stretching herself to the +utmost, she stood very erect, giving sage advice. The next, she was +impersonating a negro preacher, one of Tulipa's friends. Hearing a +mocking-bird in the garden, she went to the window and taxed his +powers to the utmost, by running up and down difficult _roulades_, +interspersed with the talk of parrots, the shrill fanfare of trumpets, +and the deep growl of a contra-fagotto. The bird produced a grotesque +fantasia in his efforts to imitate her. The peacock, as he strutted up +and down the piazza, trailing his gorgeous plumage in the sunshine, +ever and anon turned his glossy neck, and held up his ear to listen, +occasionally performing his part in the _charivari_ by uttering a +harsh scream. The mirthfulness of the little madcap was contagious, +and not unfrequently the giggle of Tulipa and the low musical laugh of +Rosabella mingled with the concert. + +Thus the day passed merrily away, till the gilded Flora that leaned +against the timepiece pointed her wand toward the hour when their +father was accustomed to return. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Floracita was still in the full career of fun, when footsteps were +heard approaching; and, as usual, she bounded forth to welcome her +father. Several men, bearing a palanquin on their shoulders, were +slowly ascending the piazza. She gave one glance at their burden, and +uttered a shrill scream. Rosabella hastened to her in great alarm. +Tulipa followed, and quickly comprehending that something terrible had +happened, she hurried away to summon Madame Guirlande. Rosabella, pale +and trembling, gasped out, "What has happened to my father?" + +Franz Blumenthal, a favorite clerk of Mr. Royal's, replied, in a low, +sympathizing tone, "He was writing letters in the counting-room this +afternoon, and when I went in to speak to him, I found him on the +floor senseless. We called a doctor immediately, but he failed to +restore him." + +"O, call another doctor!" said Rosa, imploringly; and Floracita almost +shrieked, "Tell me where to _go_ for a doctor." + +"We have already summoned one on the way," said young Blumenthal, "but +I will go to hasten him";--and, half blinded by his tears, he hurried +into the street. + +The doctor came in two minutes, and yet it seemed an age. Meanwhile +the wretched girls were chafing their father's cold hands, and holding +sal-volatile to his nose, while Madame Guirlande and Tulipa were +preparing hot water and hot cloths. When the physician arrived, they +watched his countenance anxiously, while he felt the pulse and laid +his hand upon the heart. After a while he shook his head and said, +"Nothing can be done. He is dead." + +Rosabella fell forward, fainting, on the body. Floracita uttered +shriek upon shriek, while Madame Guirlande and Tulipa vainly tried to +pacify her. The doctor at last persuaded her to swallow some valerian, +and Tulipa carried her in her arms and laid her on the bed. Madame +Guirlande led Rosa away, and the two sisters lay beside each other, on +the same pillows where they had dreamed such happy dreams the night +before. Floracita, stunned by the blow that had fallen on her so +suddenly, and rendered drowsy by the anodyne she had taken, soon fell +into an uneasy slumber, broken by occasional starts and stifled sobs. +Rosabella wept silently, but now and then a shudder passed over her, +that showed how hard she was struggling with grief. After a short +time, Flora woke up bewildered. A lamp was burning in the farther part +of the room, and Madame Guirlande, who sat there in spectacles and +ruffled cap, made a grotesque black shadow on the wall. Floracita +started up, screaming, "What is that?" Madame Guirlande went to her, +and she and Rosa spoke soothingly, and soon she remembered all. + +"O, let me go home with _you_" she said to Madame "I am afraid to stay +here." + +"Yes, my children," replied the good Frenchwoman. "You had better both +go home and stay with me to-night." + +"I cannot go away and leave _him_ alone," murmured Rosa, in tones +almost inaudible. + +"Franz Blumenthal is going to remain here," replied Madame Guirlande," +and Tulipa has offered to sit up all night. It is much better for you +to go with me than to stay here, my children." + +Thus exhorted, they rose and began to make preparations for departure. +But all at once the tender good-night of the preceding evening rushed +on Rosa's memory, and she sank down in a paroxysm of grief. After +weeping bitterly for some minutes, she sobbed out, "O, this is worse +than it was when Mamita died. Papasito was so tender with us then; and +now we are _all_ alone." + +"Not all alone," responded Madame. "Jesus and the Blessed Virgin are +with you." + +"O, I don't know where _they_ are!" exclaimed Flora, in tones of wild +agony. "I want my Papasito! I want to die and go to my Papasito." + +Rosabella folded her in her arms, and they mingled their tears +together, as she whispered: "Let us try to be tranquil, Sistita. We +must not be troublesome to our kind friend. I did wrong to say we were +all alone. We have always a Father in heaven, and he still spares us +to love each other. Perhaps, too, our dear Papasito is watching over +us. You know he used to tell us Mamita had become our guardian angel." + +Floracita kissed her, and pressed her hand in silence. Then they made +preparations to go with their friendly neighbor; all stepping very +softly, as if afraid of waking the beloved sleeper. + +The sisters had lived in such extreme seclusion, that when sorrow came +upon them, like the sudden swoop and swift destruction of a tropical +storm, they had no earthly friend to rely upon but Madame Guirlande. +Only the day before, they had been so rich in love, that, had she +passed away from the earth, it would have made no distressing change +in their existence. They would have said, "Poor Madame Guirlande! She +was a good soul. How patient she used to be with us!" and after a day +or two, they would have danced and sung the same as ever. But one day +had so beggared them in affection, that they leaned upon her as their +only earthly support. + +After an almost untasted breakfast, they all went back to the +desolated home. The flowery parlor seemed awfully lonesome. The piano +was closed, the curtains drawn, and their father's chair was placed +against the wall. The murmur of the fountain sounded as solemn as a +dirge, and memories filled the room like a troop of ghosts. Hand in +hand, the bereaved ones went to kiss the lips that would speak to them +no more in this world. They knelt long beside the bed, and poured +forth their breaking hearts in prayer. They rose up soothed and +strengthened, with the feeling that their dear father and mother were +still near them. They found a sad consolation in weaving garlands and +flowery crosses, which they laid on the coffin with tender reverence. + +When the day of the funeral came, Madame Guirlande kept them very near +her, holding a hand of each. She had provided them with long veils, +which she requested them not to remove; for she remembered how +anxiously their father had screened their beauty from the public gaze. +A number of merchants, who had known and respected Mr. Royal, followed +his remains to the grave. Most of them had heard of his quadroon +connection, and some supposed that the veiled mourners might be his +daughters; but such things were too common to excite remark, or to +awaken much interest. The girls passed almost unnoticed; having, out +of respect to the wishes of their friend, stifled their sobs till they +were alone in the carriage with her and their old music-teacher. + +The conviction that he was not destined to long life, which Mr. Royal +had expressed to Alfred King, was founded on the opinion of physicians +that his heart was diseased. This furnished an additional motive for +closing his business as soon as possible, and taking his children to +France. But the failure of several houses with which he was connected +brought unexpected entanglements. Month by month, these became more +complicated, and necessarily delayed the intended emigration. His +anxiety concerning his daughters increased to an oppressive degree, +and aggravated the symptoms of his disease. With his habitual desire +to screen them from everything unpleasant, he unwisely concealed from +them both his illness and his pecuniary difficulties. He knew he could +no longer be a rich man; but he still had hope of saving enough of his +fortune to live in a moderate way in some cheap district of France. +But on the day when he bade his daughters good morning so cheerfully, +he received a letter informing him of another extensive failure, which +involved him deeply. He was alone in his counting-room when he read +it; and there Franz Blumenthal found him dead, with the letter in his +hand. His sudden exit of course aroused the vigilance of creditors, +and their examination into the state of his affairs proved anything +but satisfactory. + +The sisters, unconscious of all this, were undisturbed by any anxiety +concerning future support. The necessity of living without their +father's love and counsel weighed heavily on their spirits; but +concerning his money they took no thought. Hitherto they had lived +as the birds do, and it did not occur to them that it could ever be +otherwise. The garden and the flowery parlor, which their mother had +created and their father had so dearly loved, seemed almost as much a +portion of themselves as their own persons. It had been hard to think +of leaving them, even for the attractions of Paris; and now _that_ +dream was over, it seemed a necessity of their existence to live on in +the atmosphere of beauty to which they had always been accustomed. But +now that the sunshine of love had vanished from it, they felt lonely +and unprotected there. They invited Madame Guirlande to come and live +with them on what terms she chose; and when she said there ought to be +some elderly man in the house, they at once suggested inviting their +music-teacher. Madame, aware of the confidence Mr. Royal had always +placed in him, thought it was the best arrangement that could be made, +at least for the present. While preparations were being made to effect +this change, her proceedings were suddenly arrested by tidings that +the house and furniture were to be sold at auction, to satisfy the +demands of creditors. She kept back the unwelcome news from the girls, +while she held long consultations with Signor Papanti. He declared +his opinion that Rosabella could make a fortune by her voice, and +Floracita by dancing. + +"But then they are so young," urged Madame,--"one only sixteen, the +other only fourteen." + +"Youth is a disadvantage one soon outgrows," replied the Signor. "They +can't make fortunes immediately, of course; but they can earn a living +by giving lessons. I will try to open a way for them, and the sooner +you prepare them for it the better." + +Madame dreaded the task of disclosing their poverty, but she found it +less painful than she had feared. They had no realizing sense of what +it meant, and rather thought that giving lessons would be a pleasant +mode of making time pass less heavily. Madame, who fully understood +the condition of things, kept a watchful lookout for their interests. +Before an inventory was taken, she gathered up and hid away many +trifling articles which would be useful to them, though of little or +no value to the creditors. Portfolios of music, patterns for drawings, +boxes of paint and crayons, baskets of chenille for embroidery, and a +variety of other things, were safely packed away out of sight, without +the girls' taking any notice of her proceedings. + +During her father's lifetime, Floracita was so continually whirling +round in fragmentary dances, that he often told her she rested on her +feet less than a humming-bird. But after he was gone, she remained +very still from morning till night. When Madame spoke to her of +the necessity of giving dancing-lessons, it suggested the idea of +practising. But she felt that she could not dance where she had been +accustomed to dance before _him_; and she had not the heart to ask +Rosa to play for her. She thought she would try, in the solitude of +her chamber, how it would seem to give dancing-lessons. But without +music, and without a spectator, it seemed so like the ghost of dancing +that after a few steps the poor child threw herself on the bed and +sobbed. + +Rosa did not open the piano for several days after the funeral; but +one morning, feeling as if it would be a relief to pour forth the +sadness that oppressed her, she began to play languidly. Only requiems +and prayers came. Half afraid of summoning an invisible spirit, she +softly touched the keys to "The Light of other Days." But remembering +it was the very last tune she ever played to her father, she leaned +her head forward on the instrument, and wept bitterly. + +While she sat thus the door-bell rang, and she soon became conscious +of steps approaching the parlor. Her heart gave a sudden leap; for her +first thought was of Gerald Fitzgerald. She raised her head, wiped +away her tears, and rose to receive the visitor. Three strangers +entered. She bowed to them, and they, with a little look of surprise, +bowed to her. "What do you wish for, gentlemen?" she asked. + +"We are here concerning the settlement of Mr. Royal's estate," replied +one of them. "We have been appointed to take an inventory of the +furniture." + +While he spoke, one of his companions was inspecting the piano, to see +who was the maker, and another was examining the timepiece. + +It was too painful; and Rosa, without trusting herself to speak +another word, walked quietly out of the room, the gathering moisture +in her eyes making it difficult for her to guide her steps. + +"Is that one of the daughters we have heard spoken of?" inquired one +of the gentlemen. + +"I judge so," rejoined his companion. "What a royal beauty she is! +Good for three thousand, I should say." + +"More likely five thousand," added the third. "Such a fancy article as +that don't appear in the market once in fifty years." + +"Look here!" said the first speaker. "Do you see that pretty little +creature crossing the garden? I reckon that's the other daughter." + +"They'll bring high prices," continued the third speaker. "They're +the best property Royal has left. We may count them eight or ten +thousand, at least. Some of our rich fanciers would jump at the chance +of obtaining _one_ of them for that price." As he spoke, he looked +significantly at the first speaker, who refrained from expressing any +opinion concerning their pecuniary value. + +All unconscious of the remarks she had elicited, Rosa retired to her +chamber, where she sat at the window plunged in mournful revery. +She was thinking of various articles her mother had painted and +embroidered, and how her father had said he could not bear the thought +of their being handled by strangers. Presently Floracita came running +in, saying, in a flurried way, "Who are those men down stairs, Rosa?" + +"I don't know who they are," replied her sister. "They said they came +to take an inventory of the furniture. I don't know what right they +have to do it. I wish Madame would come." + +"I will run and call her," said Floracita. + +"No, you had better stay with me," replied Rosa. "I was just going to +look for you when you came in." + +"I ran into the parlor first, thinking you were there," rejoined +Floracita. "I saw one of those men turning over Mamita's embroidered +ottoman, and chalking something on it. How dear papa would have felt +if he had seen it! One of them looked at me in such a strange way! I +don't know what he meant; but it made me want to run away in a minute. +Hark! I do believe they have come up stairs, and are in papa's room. +They won't come here, will they?" + +"Bolt the door!" exclaimed Rosa; and it was quickly done. They sat +folded in each other's arms, very much afraid, though they knew not +wherefore. + +"Ah!" said Rosa, with a sigh of relief, "there is Madame coming." She +leaned out of the window, and beckoned to her impatiently. + +Her friend hastened her steps; and when she heard of the strangers who +were in the house, she said, "You had better go home with me, and stay +there till they are gone." + +"What are they going to do?" inquired Floracita. + +"I will tell you presently," replied Madame, as she led them +noiselessly out of the house by a back way. + +When they entered her own little parlor, the parrot called out, "_Joli +petit diable_!" and after waiting for the old familiar response, "_Bon +jour, jolie Manon_!" she began to call herself "_Jolie Manon_!" and to +sing, "_Ha! ha! petit blanc, mon bon frere_!" The poor girls had no +heart for play; and Madame considerately silenced the noisy bird by +hanging a cloth over the cage. + +"My dear children," said she, "I would gladly avoid telling you +anything calculated to make you more unhappy. But you _must_ know the +state of things sooner or later, and it is better that a friend should +tell you. Your father owed money to those men, and they are seeing +what they can find to sell in order to get their pay." + +"Will they sell the table and boxes Mamita painted, and the ottomans +she embroidered?" inquired Rosa, anxiously. + +"Will they sell the piano that papa gave to Rosa for a birthday +present?" asked Flora. + +"I am afraid they will," rejoined Madame. + +The girls covered their faces and groaned. + +"Don't be so distressed, my poor children," said their sympathizing +friend. "I have been trying to save a little something for you. See +here!" And she brought forth some of the hidden portfolios and boxes, +saying, "These will be of great use to you, my darlings, in helping +you to earn your living, and they would bring almost nothing at +auction." + +They thanked their careful friend for her foresight. But when she +brought forward their mother's gold watch and diamond ring, Rosa said, +"I would rather not keep such expensive things, dear friend. You know +our dear father was the soul of honor. It would have troubled him +greatly not to pay what he owed. I would rather have the ring and the +watch sold to pay his debts." + +"I will tell the creditors what you say," answered Madame, "and they +will be brutes if they don't let you keep your mother's things. Your +father owed Signor Papanti a little bill, and he says he will try to +get the table and boxes, and some other things, in payment, and then +you shall have them all. You will earn enough to buy another piano by +and by, and you can use mine, you know; so don't be discouraged, my +poor children." + +"God has been very good to us to raise us up such friends as you and +the Signor," replied Rosa. "You don't know how it comforts me to have +you call us your children, for without you we should be all alone in +the world." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Such sudden reverses, such overwhelming sorrows, mature characters +with wonderful rapidity. Rosa, though formed by nature and habit to +cling to others, soon began to form plans for future support. Her +inexperienced mind foresaw few of the difficulties involved in the +career her friends had suggested. She merely expected to study and +work hard; but that seemed a trifle, if she could avoid for herself +and her sister the publicity which their father had so much dreaded. + +Floracita, too, seemed like a tamed bird. She was sprightly as ever in +her motions, and quick in her gestures; but she would sit patiently at +her task of embroidery, hour after hour, without even looking up to +answer the noisy challenges of the parrot. Sometimes the sisters, +while they worked, sang together the hymns they had been accustomed +to sing with their father on Sundays; and memory of the missing voice +imparted to their tones a pathos that no mere skill could imitate. + +One day, when they were thus occupied, the door-bell rang, and they +heard a voice, which they thought they recognized, talking with +Madame. It was Franz Blumenthal. "I have come to bring some small +articles for the young ladies," said he. "A week before my best +friend died, a Frenchwoman came to the store, and wished to sell some +fancy-baskets. She said she was a poor widow; and Mr. Royal, who +was always kind and generous, commissioned her to make two of her +handsomest baskets, and embroider the names of his daughters on them. +She has placed them in my hands to-day, and I have brought them myself +in order to explain the circumstances." + +"Are they paid for?" inquired Madame. + +"I have paid for them," replied the young man, blushing deeply; "but +please not to inform the young ladies of that circumstance. And, +Madame, I have a favor to ask of you. Here are fifty dollars. I want +you to use them for the young ladies without their knowledge; and I +should like to remit to you half my wages every month for the same +purpose. When Mr. Royal was closing business, he wrote several letters +of recommendation for me, and addressed them to well-established +merchants. I feel quite sure of getting a situation where I can earn +more than I need for myself." + +"_Bon garcon_!" exclaimed Madame, patting him on the shoulder. "I will +borrow the fifty dollars; but I trust we shall be able to pay you +before many months." + +"It will wound my feelings if you ever offer to repay me," replied the +young man. "My only regret is, that I cannot just now do any more for +the daughters of my best friend and benefactor, who did so much for me +when I was a poor, destitute boy. But would it be asking too great a +favor, Madame, to be allowed to see the young ladies, and place in +their hands these presents from their father?" + +Madame Guirlande smiled as she thought to herself, "What is he but a +boy now? He grows tall though." + +When she told her _protegees_ that Franz Blumenthal had a message +he wished to deliver to them personally, Rosa said, "Please go and +receive it, Sistita. I had rather not leave my work." + +Floracita glanced at the mirror, smoothed her hair a little, arranged +her collar, and went out. The young clerk was awaiting her appearance +with a good deal of trepidation. He had planned a very nice little +speech to make; but before he had stammered out all the story about +the baskets, he saw an expression in Flora's face which made him feel +that it was indelicate to intrude upon her emotion; and he hurried +away, scarcely hearing her choked voice as she said, "I thank you." + +Very reverently the orphans opened the box which contained the +posthumous gifts of their beloved father. The baskets were +manufactured with exquisite taste. They were lined with quilled +apple-green satin. Around the outside of one was the name of Rosabella +embroidered in flowers, and an embroidered garland of roses formed the +handle. The other bore the name of Floracita in minute flowers, and +the handle was formed of _Pensees vivaces_. They turned them round +slowly, unable to distinguish the colors through their swimming tears. + +"How like Papasito, to be so kind to the poor woman, and so thoughtful +to please us," said Rosabella. "But he was always so." + +"And he must have told her what flowers to put on the baskets," said +Floracita. "You know Mamita often called me _Pensee vivace_. O, there +never _was_ such a Papasito!" + +Notwithstanding the sadness that invested tokens coming as it were +from the dead, they inspired a consoling consciousness of his +presence; and their work seemed pleasanter all the day for having +their little baskets by them. + +The next morning witnessed a private conference between Madame and the +Signor. If any one had seen them without hearing their conversation, +he would certainly have thought they were rehearsing some very +passionate scene in a tragedy. + +The fiery Italian rushed up and down the room, plucking his hair; +while the Frenchwoman ever and anon threw up her hands, exclaiming, +"_Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu_!" + +When the violence of their emotions had somewhat abated, Madame said, +"Signor, there must be some mistake about this. It cannot be true. Mr. +Royal would never have left things in such a way." + +"At your request," replied the Signor, "I went to one of the +creditors, to ask whether Mr. Royal's family could not be allowed to +keep their mother's watch and jewels. He replied that Mr. Royal +left no family; that his daughters were slaves, and, being property +themselves, they could legally hold no property. I was so sure my +friend Royal would not have left things in such a state, that I told +him he lied, and threatened to knock him down. He out with his pistol; +but when I told him I had left mine at home, he said I must settle +with him some other time, unless I chose to make an apology. I told +him I would do so whenever I was convinced that his statement was +true. I was never more surprised than when he told me that Madame +Royal was a slave. I knew she was a quadroon, and I supposed she was a +_places_, as so many of the quadroons are. But now it seems that Mr. +Royal bought her of her father; and he, good, easy man, neglected to +manumit her. He of course knew that by law 'the child follows the +condition of the mother,' but I suppose it did not occur to him that +the daughters of so rich a man as he was could ever be slaves. At all +events, he neglected to have manumission papers drawn till it was too +late; for his property had become so much involved that he no longer +had a legal right to convey any of it away from creditors." + +Madame swung back and forth in the vehemence of her agitation, +exclaiming, "What _is_ to be done? What _is_ to be done?" + +The Italian strode up and down the room, clenching his fist, and +talking rapidly. "To think of that Rosabella!" exclaimed he,--"a +girl that would grace any throne in Europe! To think of _her_ on the +auction-stand, with a crowd of low-bred rascals staring at her, and +rich libertines, like that Mr. Bruteman--Pah! I can't endure to think +of it. How like a satyr he looked while he was talking to me about +their being slaves. It seems he got sight of them when they took an +inventory of the furniture. And that handsome little witch, Floracita, +whom her father loved so tenderly, to think of her being bid off to +some such filthy wretch! But they sha'n't have 'em! They sha'n't have +'em! I swear I'll shoot any man that comes to take 'em." He wiped the +perspiration from his forehead, and rushed round like a tiger in a +cage. + +"My friend," replied Madame, "they have the law on their side; and if +you try to resist, you will get yourself into trouble without doing +the girls any good. I'll tell you what we must do. We must disguise +them, and send them to the North." + +"Send them to the North!" exclaimed the Italian. "Why, they'd no more +know how to get there than a couple of kittens." + +"Then I must go with them," replied Madame; "and they must be got out +of this house before another day; for now that we know of it, we shall +be watched." + +The impetuous Italian shook her hand cordially. "You have a brave +heart, Madame," said he. "I should rather march up to the cannon's +mouth than tell them such news as this." + +The bewildered Frenchwoman felt the same dread of the task before her; +but she bravely said, "What _must_ be done, _can_ be done." + +After some further talk with the Signor concerning ways and means, +she bade him good morning, and sat still for a moment to collect her +thoughts. She then proceeded to the apartment assigned to the orphans. +They were occupied with a piece of embroidery she had promised to +sell for them. She looked at the work, praised the exactness of the +stitches and the tasteful shading of the flowers; but while she +pointed out the beauties of the pattern, her hand and voice trembled. + +Rosabella noticed it, and, looking up, said, "What troubles you, dear +friend?" + +"O, this is a world of trouble," replied Madame, "and you have had +such a storm beating on your young heads, that I wonder you keep your +senses." + +"I don't know as we could," said Rosa, "if the good God had not given +us such a friend as you." + +"If any _new_ trouble should come, I trust you will try to keep up +brave hearts, my children," rejoined Madame. + +"I don't know of any new trouble that _can_ come to us now," said +Rosa, "unless you should be taken from us, as our father was. It seems +as if everything else had happened that _could_ happen." + +"O, there are worse things than having _me_ die," replied Madame. + +Floracita had paused with her thread half drawn through her work, and +was looking earnestly at the troubled countenance of their friend. +"Madame," exclaimed she, "something has happened. What is it?" + +"I will tell you," said Madame, "if you will promise not to scream +or faint, and will try to keep your wits collected, so as to help me +think what is best to be done." + +They promised; and, watching her countenance with an expression of +wonder and anxiety, they waited to hear what she had to communicate. +"My dear children," said she, "I have heard something that will +distress you very much. Something neither you nor I ever suspected. +Your mother was a slave." + +"_Our_ mother a slave!" exclaimed Rosa, coloring vehemently. "_Whose_ +slave could she be, when she was Papasito's wife, and he loved her so? +It is impossible, Madame." + +"Your father bought her when she was very young, my dear; but I know +very well that no wife was ever loved better than she was." + +"But she always lived with her own father till she married papa," said +Floracita. "How then _could_ she be his slave?" + +"Her father got into trouble about money, my dear; and he sold her." + +"Our Grandpapa Gonsalez sold his daughter!" exclaimed Rosa. "How +incredible! Dear friend, I wonder you can believe such things." + +"The world is full of strange things, my child,--stranger than +anything you ever read in story-books." + +"If she was only Papasito's slave," said Flora, "I don't think Mamita +found _that_ any great hardship." + +"She did not, my dear. I don't suppose she ever thought of it; but a +great misfortune has grown out of it." + +"What is it?" they both asked at once. + +Their friend hesitated. "Remember, you have promised to be calm," said +she. "I presume you don't know that, by the laws of Louisiana, 'the +child follows the condition of the mother.' The consequence is, that +_you_ are slaves, and your father's creditors claim a right to sell +you." + +Rosabella turned very pale, and the hand with which she clutched a +chair trembled violently. But she held her head erect, and her look +and tone were very proud, as she exclaimed, "_We_ become slaves! I +will die rather." + +Floracita, unable to comprehend this new misfortune, looked from one +to the other in a bewildered way. Nature had written mirthfulness in +the shape of her beautiful eyes, which now contrasted strangely with +their startled and sad expression. + +The kind-hearted Frenchwoman bustled about the room, moving chairs, +and passing her handkerchief over boxes, while she tried hard to +swallow the emotions that choked her utterance. Having conquered in +the struggle, she turned toward them, and said, almost cheerfully: +"There's no need of dying, my children. Perhaps your old friend can +help you out of this trouble. We must disguise ourselves as gentlemen, +and start for the North this very evening." + +Floracita looked at her sister, and said, hesitatingly: "Couldn't you +write to Mr. Fitzgerald, and ask _him_ to come here? Perhaps he could +help us." + +Rosa's cheeks glowed, as she answered proudly: "Do you think I would +_ask_ him to come? I wouldn't do such a thing if we were as rich and +happy as we were a little while ago; and certainly I wouldn't do it +now." + +"There spoke Grandpa Gonsalez!" said Madame. "How grand the old +gentleman used to look, walking about so erect, with his gold-headed +cane! But we must go to work in a hurry, my children. Signor Papanti +has promised to send the disguises, and we must select and pack such +things as it is absolutely necessary we should carry. I am sorry now +that Tulee is let out in the city, for we need her help. + +"She must go with us," said Flora. "I can't leave Tulee." + +"We must do as we can," replied Madame. "In this emergency we can't do +as we would. _We_ are all white, and if we can get a few miles from +here, we shall have no further trouble. But if we had a negro with +us, it would lead to questions, perhaps. Besides, we haven't time to +disguise her and instruct her how to perform her part. The Signor will +be a good friend to her; and as soon as we can earn some money, we +will send and buy her." + +"But where can we go when we get to the North?" asked Rosa. + +"I will tell you," said Floracita. "Don't you remember that Mr. King +from Boston, who came to see us a year ago? His father was papa's best +friend, you know; and when he went away, he told us if ever we were in +trouble, to apply to him, as if he were our brother." + +"Did he?" said Madame. "That lets in a gleam of light. I heard your +father say he was a very good young man, and rich." + +"But Papasito said, some months ago, that Mr. King had gone to Europe +with his mother, on account of her health," replied Rosa. "Besides, +if he were at home, it would be very disagreeable to go to a young +gentleman as beggars and runaways, when he was introduced to us as +ladies." + +"You must put your pride in your pocket for the present, Senorita +Gonsalez," said Madame, playfully touching her under the chin. "If +this Mr. King is absent, I will write to him. They say there is a man +in Boston, named William Lloyd Garrison, who takes great interest in +slaves. We will tell him our story, and ask him about Mr. King. I did +think of stopping awhile with relatives in New York. But it would be +inconvenient for them, and they might not like it. This plan pleases +me better. To Boston we will go. The Signor has gone to ask my cousin, +Mr. Duroy, to come here and see to the house. When I have placed you +safely, I will come back slyly to my cousin's house, a few miles from +here, and with his help I will settle up my affairs. Then I will +return to you, and we will all go to some secure place and live +together. I never starved yet, and I don't believe I ever shall." + +The orphans clung to her, and kissed her hands, as they said: "How +kind you are to us, dear friend! What shall we ever do to repay you?" + +"Your father and mother were generous friends to me," replied Madame; +"and now their children are in trouble, I will not forsake them." + +As the good lady was to leave her apartments for an indefinite time, +there was much to be done and thought of, beside the necessary packing +for the journey. The girls tried their best to help her, but they were +continually proposing to carry something because it was a keepsake +from Mamita or Papasito. + +"This is no time for sentiment, my children," said Madame. "We must +not take anything we can possibly do without. Bless my soul, there +goes the bell! What if it should be one of those dreadful creditors +come here to peep and pry? Run to your room, my children, and bolt the +door." + +A moment afterward, she appeared before them smiling, and said: "There +was no occasion for being so frightened, but I am getting nervous with +all this flurry. Come back again, dears. It is only Franz Blumenthal." + +"What, come again?" asked Rosa. "Please go, Floracita, and I will come +directly, as soon as I have gathered up these things that we must +carry." + +The young German blushed like a girl as he offered two bouquets, one +of heaths and orange-buds, the other of orange-blossoms and fragrant +geraniums; saying as he did so, "I have taken the liberty to bring +some flowers, Miss Floracita." + +"My name is Miss Royal, sir," she replied, trying to increase her +stature to the utmost. It was an unusual caprice in one whose nature +was so childlike and playful; but the recent knowledge that she was a +slave had made her, for the first time, jealous of her dignity. She +took it into her head that he knew the humiliating fact, and presumed +upon it. + +But the good lad was as yet unconscious of this new trouble, and the +unexpected rebuke greatly surprised him. Though her slight figure and +juvenile face made her attempt at majesty somewhat comic, it was quite +sufficient to intimidate the bashful youth; and he answered, very +meekly: "Pardon me, Miss Royal. Floracita is such a very pretty name, +and I have always liked it so much, that I spoke it before I thought." + +The compliment disarmed her at once; and with one of her winning +smiles, and a quick little courtesy, she said: "Do you think it's a +pretty name? You _may_ call me Floracita, if you like it so much." + +"I think it is the prettiest name in the world," replied he. "I used +to like to hear your mother say it. She said everything so sweetly! Do +you remember she used to call me Florimond when I was a little boy, +because, she said, my face was so florid? Now I always write my name +Franz Florimond Blumenthal, in memory of her." + +"I will always call you Florimond, just as Mamita did," said she. + +Their very juvenile _tete-a-tete_ was interrupted by the entrance of +Madame with Rosa, who thanked him graciously for her portion of the +flowers, and told him her father was so much attached to him that she +should always think of him as a brother. + +He blushed crimson as he thanked her, and went away with a very warm +feeling at his heart, thinking Floracita a prettier name than ever, +and happily unconscious that he was parting from her. + +He had not been gone long when the bell rang again, and the girls +again hastened to hide themselves. Half an hour elapsed without their +seeing or hearing anything of Madame; and they began to be extremely +anxious lest something unpleasant was detaining her. But she came at +last, and said, "My children, the Signor wants to speak to you." + +They immediately descended to the sitting-room, where they found the +Signor looking down and slowly striking the ivory head of his cane +against his chin, as he was wont to do when buried in profound +thought. He rose as they entered, and Rosa said, with one of her +sweetest smiles, "What is it you wish, dear friend?" He dropped a thin +cloak from his shoulders and removed his hat, which brought away a +grizzled wig with it, and Mr. Fitzgerald stood smiling before them. + +The glad surprise excited by this sudden realization of a latent hope +put maidenly reserve to flight, and Rosa dropped on her knees before +him, exclaiming, "O Gerald, save us!" + +He raised her tenderly, and, imprinting a kiss on her forehead, said: +"Save you, my precious Rose? To be sure I will. That's what I came +for." + +"And me too," said Flora, clinging to him, and hiding her face under +his arm. + +"Yes, and you too, mischievous fairy," replied he, giving her a less +ceremonious kiss than he had bestowed on her sister. "But we must talk +fast, for there is a great deal to be done in a short time. I was +unfortunately absent from home, and did not receive the letter +informing me of your good father's death so soon as I should otherwise +have done. I arrived in the city this morning, but have been too busy +making arrangements for your escape to come here any earlier. The +Signor and I have done the work of six during the last few hours. +The creditors are not aware of my acquaintance with you, and I have +assumed this disguise to prevent them from discovering it. The Signor +has had a talk with Tulee, and told her to keep very quiet, and not +tell any mortal that she ever saw me at your father's house. A passage +for you and Madame is engaged on board a vessel bound to Nassau, +which will sail at midnight. Soon, after I leave this house, Madame's +cousin, Mr. Duroy, will come with two boys. You and Madame will assume +their dresses, and they will put on some clothes the Signor has +already sent, in such boxes as Madame is accustomed to receive, full +of materials for her flowers. All, excepting ourselves, will suppose +you have gone North, according to the original plan, in order that +they may swear to that effect if they are brought to trial. When I go +by the front of the house whistling _Ca ira_, you will pass through +the garden to the street in the rear, where you will find my servant +with a carriage, which will convey you three miles, to the house of +one of my friends. I will come there in season to accompany you on +board the ship." + +"O, how thoughtful and how kind you are!" exclaimed Rosa. "But can't +we contrive some way to take poor Tulee with us?" + +"It would be imprudent," he replied. "The creditors must be allowed to +sell her. She knows it, but she has my assurance that I will take good +care of her. No harm shall come to Tulee, I promise you. I cannot go +with you to Nassau; because, if I do, the creditors may suspect my +participation in the plot. I shall stay in New Orleans a week or ten +days, then return to Savannah, and take an early opportunity to sail +for Nassau, by the way of New York. Meanwhile, I will try to manage +matters so that Madame can safely return to her house. Then we will +decide where to make a happy home for ourselves." + +The color forsook Rosa's cheeks, and her whole frame quivered, as she +said, "I thank you, Gerald, for all this thoughtful care; but I cannot +go to Nassau,--indeed I cannot!" + +"Cannot go!" exclaimed he. "Where _will_ you go, then?" + +"Before you came, Madame had made ready to take us to Boston, you +know. We will go there with her." + +"Rosa, do you distrust me?" said he reproachfully. "Do you doubt my +love?" + +"I do not distrust you," she replied; "but"--she looked down, and +blushed deeply as she added--"but I promised my father that I would +never leave home with any gentleman unless I was married to him." + +"But, Rosa dear, your father did not foresee such a state of things +as this. Everything is arranged, and there is no time to lose. If you +knew all that I know, you would see the necessity of leaving this city +before to-morrow." + +"I cannot go with you," she repeated in tones of the deepest +distress,--"I _cannot_ go with you, for I promised my dear father the +night before he died." + +He looked at her for an instant, and then, drawing her close to him, +he said: "It shall be just as you wish, darling. I will bring a +clergyman to the house of my friend, and we will be married before you +sail." + +Rosa, without venturing to look up, said, in a faltering tone: "I +cannot bear to bring degradation upon you, Gerald. It seems wrong to +take advantage of your generous forgetfulness of yourself. When you +first told me you loved me, you did not know I was an octoroon, and +a--slave." + +"I knew your mother was a quadroon," he replied; "and as for the rest, +no circumstance can degrade _you_, my Rose Royal." + +"But if your plan should not succeed, how ashamed you would feel to +have us seized!" said she. + +"It _will_ succeed, dearest. But even if it should not, you shall +never be the property of any man but myself." + +"_Property_!"! she exclaimed in the proud Gonsalez tone, striving to +withdraw herself from his embrace. + +He hastened to say: "Forgive me, Rosabella. I am so intoxicated with +happiness that I cannot be careful of my words. I merely meant to +express the joyful feeling that you would be surely mine, wholly +mine." + +While they were talking thus, Floracita had glided out of the room to +carry the tidings to Madame. The pressure of misfortune had been so +heavy upon her, that, now it was lifted a little, her elastic spirit +rebounded with a sudden spring, and she felt happier than she had ever +thought of being since her father died. In the lightness of her heart +she began to sing, "_Petit blanc, mon bon frere_!" but she stopped at +the first line, for she recollected how her father had checked her in +the midst of that frisky little song; and now that she knew they were +octoroons, she partly comprehended why it had been disagreeable to +him. But the gayety that died out of her voice passed into her steps. +She went hopping and jumping up to Madame, exclaiming: "What do you +think is going to happen now? Rosabella is going to be married right +off. What a pity she can't be dressed like a bride! She would look so +handsome in white satin and pearls, and a great lace veil! But here +are the flowers Florimond brought so opportunely. I will put the +orange-buds in her hair, and she shall have a bouquet in her hand." + +"She will look handsome in anything," rejoined Madame. "But tell me +about it, little one." + +After receiving Flora's answers to a few brief questions, she +stationed herself within sight of the outer door, that she might ask +Fitzgerald for more minute directions concerning what they were to do. +He very soon made his appearance, again disguised as the Signor. + +After a hurried consultation, Madame said: "I do hope nothing will +happen to prevent our getting off safely. Rosabella has so much +Spanish pride, I verily believe she would stab herself rather than go +on the auction-stand." + +"Heavens and earth! don't speak of that!" exclaimed he, impetuously. +"Do you suppose I would allow my beautiful rose to be trampled by +swine. If we fail, I will buy them if it costs half my fortune. But we +shall _not_ fail. Don't let the girls go out of the door till you hear +the signal." + +"No danger of that," she replied. "Their father always kept them like +wax flowers under a glass cover. They are as timid as hares." Before +she finished the words, he was gone. + +Rosabella remained where he had left her, with her head bowed on the +table. Floracita was nestling by her side, pouring forth her girlish +congratulations. Madame came in, saying, in her cheerly way: "So you +are going to be married to night! Bless my soul, how the world whirls +round!" + +"Isn't God _very_ good to us?" asked Rosa, looking up. "How noble and +kind Mr. Fitzgerald is, to wish to marry me now that everything is so +changed!" + +"_You_ are not changed, darling," she replied; "except that I think +you are a little better, and that seemed unnecessary. But you must be +thinking, my children, whether everything is in readiness." + +"He told us we were not to go till evening, and it isn't dark yet," +said Floracita. "Couldn't we go into Papasito's garden one little +minute, and take one sip from the fountain, and just one little walk +round the orange-grove?" + +"It wouldn't be safe, my dear. There's no telling who may be lurking +about. Mr. Fitzgerald charged me not to let you go out of doors. +But you can go to my chamber, and take a last look of the house and +garden." + +They went up stairs, and stood, with their arms around each other, +gazing at their once happy home. "How many times we have walked in +that little grove, hand in hand with Mamita and Papasito! and now they +are both gone," sighed Rosa. + +"Ah, yes," said Flora; "and now we are afraid to go there for a +minute. How strangely everything has changed! We don't hear Mamita's +Spanish and papa's English any more. We have nobody to talk _olla +podrida_ to now. It's all French with Madame, and all Italian with the +Signor." + +"But what kind souls they are, to do so much for us!" responded Rosa. +"If such good friends hadn't been raised up for us in these dreadful +days, what _should_ we have done?" + +Here Madame came hurrying in to say, "Mr. Duroy and the boys have +come. We must change dresses before the whistler goes by." + +The disguises were quickly assumed; and the metamorphosis made Rosa +both blush and smile, while her volatile sister laughed outright. But +she checked herself immediately, saying: "I am a wicked little wretch +to laugh, for you and your friends may get into trouble by doing all +this for us. What shall you tell them about us when you get back from +Nassau?" + +"I don't intend to tell them much of anything," replied Madame. "I +may, perhaps, give them a hint that one of your father's old friends +invited you to come to the North, and that I did not consider it my +business to hinder you." + +"O fie, Madame!" said Floracita; "what a talent you have for +arranging the truth with variations!" + +Madame tried to return a small volley of French pleasantry; but the +effort was obviously a forced one. The pulses of her heart were +throbbing with anxiety and fear; and they all began to feel suspense +increasing to agony, when at last the whistled tones of _Ca ira_ were +heard. + +"Now don't act as if you were afraid," whispered Madame, as she put +her hand on the latch of the door. "Go out naturally. Remember I am my +cousin, and you are the boys." + +They passed through the garden into the street, feeling as if some +rough hand might at any instant seize them. But all was still, save +the sound of voices in the distance. When they came in sight of the +carriage, the driver began to bum carelessly to himself, "Who goes +there? Stranger, quickly tell!" + +"A friend. Good night,"--sang the disguised Madame, in the same +well-known tune of challenge and reply. The carriage door was +instantly opened, they entered, and the horses started at a brisk +pace. At the house where the driver stopped, they were received as +expected guests. Their disguises were quickly exchanged for dresses +from their carpet-bags, which had been conveyed out in Madame's boxes, +and smuggled into the carriage by their invisible protector. Flora, +who was intent upon having things seem a little like a wedding, made +a garland of orange-buds for her sister's hair, and threw over her +braids a white gauze scarf. The marriage ceremony was performed at +half past ten; and at midnight Madame was alone with _her protegees_ +in the cabin of the ship Victoria, dashing through the dark waves +under a star-bright sky. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Mr. Fitzgerald lingered on the wharf till the vessel containing his +treasure was no longer visible. Then he returned to the carriage, +and was driven to his hotel. Notwithstanding a day of very unusual +excitement and fatigue, when he retired to rest he felt no inclination +to sleep. Rosabella floated before him as he had first seen her, a +radiant vision of beauty surrounded by flowers. He recalled the shy +pride and maidenly modesty with which she had met his ardent glances +and impassioned words. He thought of the meek and saddened expression +of her face, as he had seen it in these last hurried interviews, and +it seemed to him she had never appeared so lovely. He remembered with +a shudder what Madame Guirlande had said about the auction-stand. He +was familiar with such scenes, for he had seen women offered for +sale, and had himself bid for them in competition with rude, indecent +crowds. It was revolting to his soul to associate the image of Rosa +with such base surroundings; but it seemed as if some fiend persisted +in holding the painful picture before him. He seemed to see her +graceful figure gazed at by a brutal crowd, while the auctioneer +assured them that she was warranted to be an entirely new and +perfectly sound article,--a moss rosebud from a private royal +garden,--a diamond fit for a king's crown. And men, whose upturned +faces were like greedy satyrs, were calling upon her to open her ruby +lips and show her pearls. He turned restlessly on his pillow with a +muttered oath. Then he smiled as he thought to himself that, by saving +her from such degradation, he had acquired complete control of her +destiny. From the first moment he heard of her reverses, he had felt +that her misfortunes were his triumph. Madly in love as he had been +for more than a year, his own pride, and still more the dreaded scorn +of proud relatives, had prevented him from offering marriage; while +the watchful guardianship of her father, and her dutiful respect to +his wishes, rendered any less honorable alliance hopeless. But now he +was her sole protector; and though he had satisfied her scruples by +marriage, he could hide her away and keep his own secret; while she, +in the fulness of her grateful love, would doubtless be satisfied +with any arrangement he chose to make. But there still remained some +difficulties in his way. He was unwilling to leave his own luxurious +home and exile himself in the British West Indies; and if he should +bring the girls to Georgia, he foresaw that disastrous consequences +might ensue, if his participation in their elopement should ever be +discovered, or even suspected. "It would have been far more convenient +to have bought them outright, even at a high price," thought he; "but +after the Signor repeated to me that disgusting talk of Bruteman's, +there could be no mistake that he had _his_ eye fixed upon them; and +it would have been ruinous to enter into competition with such a +wealthy _roue_ as he is. He values money no more than pebble-stones, +when he is in pursuit of such game. But though I have removed them +from his grasp for the present, I can feel no security if I bring them +back to this country. I must obtain a legal ownership of them; but how +shall I manage it?" Revolving many plans in his mind, he at last fell +asleep. + +His first waking thought was to attend a meeting of the creditors at +noon, and hear what they had to say. He found ten or twelve persons +present, some of gentlemanly appearance, others hard-looking +characters. Among them, and in singular contrast with their +world-stamped faces, was the ingenuous countenance of Florimond +Blumenthal. Three hundred dollars of his salary were due to him, and +he hoped to secure some portion of the debt for the benefit of the +orphans. A few individuals, who knew Mr. Fitzgerald, said, "What, are +you among the creditors?" + +"I am not a creditor," he replied, "but I am here to represent the +claims of Mr. Whitwell of Savannah, who, being unable to be present in +person, requested me to lay his accounts before you." + +He sat listening to the tedious details of Mr. Royal's liabilities, +and the appraisement of his property, with an expression of listless +indifference; often moving his fingers to a tune, or making the motion +of whistling, without the rudeness of emitting a sound. + +Young Blumenthal, on the contrary, manifested the absorbed attention +of one who loved his benefactor, and was familiar with the details of +his affairs. No notice was taken of him, however, for his claim was +small, and he was too young to be a power in the commercial world. He +modestly refrained from making any remarks; and having given in his +account, he rose to take his hat, when his attention was arrested by +hearing Mr. Bruteman say: "We have not yet mentioned the most valuable +property Mr. Royal left. I allude to his daughters." + +Blumenthal sank into his chair again, and every vestige of color +left his usually blooming countenance; but though Fitzgerald was on +tenter-hooks to know whether the escape was discovered, he betrayed no +sign of interest. + +Mr. Bruteman went on to say, "We appraised them at six thousand +dollars." + +"Much less than they would bring at auction," observed Mr. Chandler," +as you would all agree, gentlemen, if you had seen them; for they are +fancy articles, A No. 1." + +"Is it certain the young ladies are slaves?" inquired Blumenthal, with +a degree of agitation that attracted attention toward him. + +"It _is_ certain," replied Mr. Bruteman. "Their mother was a slave, +and was never manumitted." + +"Couldn't a subscription be raised, or an appeal be made to some court +in their behalf?" asked the young man, with constrained calmness +in his tones, while the expression of his face betrayed his inward +suffering. "They are elegant, accomplished young ladies, and their +good father brought them up with the greatest indulgence." + +"Perhaps you are in love with one or both of them," rejoined Mr. +Bruteman. "If so, you must buy them at auction, if you can. The law is +inexorable. It requires that all the property of an insolvent debtor +should be disposed of at public sale." + +"I am very slightly acquainted with the young ladies," said the +agitated youth; "but their father was my benefactor when I was a poor +destitute orphan, and I would sacrifice my life to save _his_ orphans +from such a dreadful calamity. I know little about the requirements of +the law, gentlemen, but I implore you to tell me if there isn't _some_ +way to prevent this. If it can be done by money, I will serve any +gentleman gratuitously any number of years he requires, if he will +advance the necessary sum." + +"We are not here to talk sentiment, my lad," rejoined Mr. Bruteman. +"We are here to transact business." + +"I respect this youth for the feeling he has manifested toward his +benefactor's children," said a gentleman named Ammidon. "If we _could_ +enter into some mutual agreement to relinquish this portion of the +property, I for one should be extremely glad. I should be willing to +lose much more than my share, for the sake of bringing about such an +arrangement. And, really, the sale of such girls as these are said to +be is not very creditable to the country. If any foreign travellers +happen to be looking on, they will make great capital out of such a +story. At all events, the Abolitionists will be sure to get it into +their papers, and all Europe will be ringing changes upon it." + +"Let 'em ring!" fiercely exclaimed Mr. Chandler. "I don't care a damn +about the Abolitionists, nor Europe neither. I reckon we can manage +our own affairs in this free country." + +"I should judge by your remarks that you were an Abolitionist +yourself, Mr. Ammidon," said Mr. Bruteman. "I am surprised to hear +a Southerner speak as if the opinions of rascally abolition- +amalgamationists were of the slightest consequence. I consider +such sentiments unworthy any Southern _gentleman_, sir." + +Mr. Ammidon flushed, and answered quickly, "I allow no man to call in +question my being a gentleman, sir." + +"If you consider yourself insulted, you know your remedy," rejoined +Mr. Bruteman. "I give you your choice of place and weapons." + +Mr. Fitzgerald consulted his watch, and two or three others followed +his example. + +"I see," said Mr. Ammidon, "that gentlemen are desirous to adjourn." + +"It is time that we did so," rejoined Mr. Bruteman. "Officers have +been sent for these slaves of Mr. Royal, and they are probably now +lodged in jail. At our next meeting we will decide upon the time of +sale." + +Young Blumenthal rose and attempted to go out; but a blindness came +over him, and he staggered against the wall. + +"I reckon that youngster's an Abolitionist," muttered Mr. Chandler. +"At any rate, he seems to think there's a difference in niggers,--and +all such ought to have notice to quit." + +Mr. Ammidon called for water, with which he sprinkled the young man's +face, and two or three others assisted to help him into a carriage. + +Another meeting was held the next day, which Mr. Fitzgerald did not +attend, foreseeing that it would be a stormy one. The result of it was +shown in the arrest and imprisonment of Signor Papanti, and a vigilant +search for Madame Guirlande. Her cousin, Mr. Duroy, declared that he +had been requested to take care of her apartments for a few weeks, as +she was obliged to go to New York on business; that she took her young +lady boarders with her, and that was all he knew. Despatches were +sent in hot haste to the New York and Boston police, describing the +fugitives, declaring them to be thieves, and demanding that they +should be sent forthwith to New Orleans for trial. The policeman who +had been employed to watch Madame's house, and who had been induced to +turn his back for a while by some mysterious process best known to +Mr. Fitzgerald, was severely cross-examined and liberally pelted with +oaths. In the course of the investigations, it came out that Florimond +Blumenthal had visited the house on the day of the elopement, and that +toward dusk he had been seen lingering about the premises, watching +the windows. The story got abroad that he had been an accomplice in +helping off two valuable slaves. The consequence was that he received +a written intimation that, if he valued his neck, he had better quit +New Orleans within twenty-four hours, signed Judge Lynch. + +Mr. Fitzgerald appeared to take no share in the excitement. When he +met any of the creditors, he would sometimes ask, carelessly, "Any +news yet about those slaves of Royal's?" He took occasion to remark to +two or three of them, that, Signor Papanti being an old friend of his, +he had been to the prison to see him; that he was convinced he had no +idea where those girls had gone; he was only their music-teacher, and +such an impetuous, peppery man, that they never would have thought of +trusting him with any important secret. Having thus paved the way, he +came out with a distinct proposition at the next meeting. "I feel a +great deal of sympathy for Signor Papanti," said he. "I have been +acquainted with him a good while, and have taken lessons of him, both +in music and Italian; and I like the old gentleman. He is getting ill +in prison, and he can never tell you any more than he has told you. +Doubtless he knew that Madame intended to convey those girls to the +North if she possibly could; but I confess I should have despised him +if he had turned informer against the daughters of his friend, who had +been his own favorite pupils. If you will gratify me by releasing him, +I will make you an offer for those girls, and take my chance of ever +finding them." + +"What sum do you propose to offer?" inquired the creditors. + +"I will pay one thousand dollars if you accede to my terms." + +"Say two thousand, and we will take the subject under consideration," +they replied. + +"In that case I must increase my demands," said he. "I have reason +to suspect that my friend the Signor would like to make a match with +Madame Guirlande. If you will allow her to come back to her business +and remain undisturbed, and will make me a sale of these girls, I +don't care if I do say two thousand." + +"He has told you where they are!" exclaimed Mr. Bruteman, abruptly; +"and let me tell you, if you know where they are, you are not acting +the part of a gentleman." + +"He has not told me, I assure you, nor has he given me the slightest +intimation. It is my firm belief that he does not know. But I am +rather fond of gambling, and this is such a desperate throw, that it +will be all the more exciting. I never tried my luck at buying slaves +running, and I have rather a fancy for experimenting in that game +of chance. And I confess my curiosity has been so excited by the +wonderful accounts I have heard of those nonpareil girls, that I +should find the pursuit of them a stimulating occupation. If I should +not succeed, I should at least have the satisfaction of having done a +good turn to my old Italian friend." + +They asked more time to reflect upon it, and to hear from New York +and Boston. With inward maledictions on their slowness, he departed, +resolving in his own mind that nothing should keep him much longer +from Nassau, come what would. + +As he went out, Mr. Chandler remarked: "It's very much like him. He's +always ready to gamble in anything." + +"After all, I have my suspicion that he's got a clew to the mystery +somehow, and that he expects to find those handsome wenches," said Mr. +Bruteman. "I'd give a good deal to baffle him." + +"It seems pretty certain that _we_ cannot obtain any clew," rejoined +Mr. Ammidon, "and we have already expended considerable in the effort. +If he can be induced to offer two thousand five hundred, I think we +had better accept it." + +After a week's absence in Savannah and its vicinity, making various +arrangements for the reception of the sisters, Mr. Fitzgerald returned +to New Orleans, and took an early opportunity to inform the creditors +that he should remain a very short time. He made no allusion to his +proposed bargain, and when they alluded to it he affected great +indifference. + +"I should be willing to give you five hundred dollars to release my +musical friend," said he. "But as for those daughters of Mr. Royal, it +seems to me, upon reflection, to be rather a quixotic undertaking to +go in pursuit of them. You know it's a difficult job to catch a slave +after he gets to the North, if he's as black as the ace of spades; and +all Yankeedom would be up in arms at any attempt to seize such white +ladies. Of course, I could obtain them in no other way than by +courting them and gaining their goodwill." + +Mr. Bruteman and Mr. Chandler made some remarks unfit for repetition, +but which were greeted with shouts of laughter. After much dodging +and doubling on the financial question, Fitzgerald agreed to pay two +thousand five hundred dollars, if all his demands were complied with. +The papers were drawn and signed with all due formality. He clasped +them in his pocket-book, and walked off with an elastic step, saying, +"Now for Nassau!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The scenery of the South was in the full glory of June, when Mr. +Fitzgerald, Rosa, and Floracita were floating up the Savannah River in +a boat manned by negroes, who ever and anon waked the stillness of +the woods with snatches of wild melody. They landed on a sequestered +island which ocean and river held in their arms. Leaving the servants +to take care of the luggage, they strolled along over a carpet of +wild-flowers, through winding bridle-paths, where glances of bright +water here and there gleamed through the dark pines that were singing +their sleepy chorus, with its lulling sound of the sea, and filling +the air with their aromatic breath. Before long, they saw a +gay-colored turban moving among the green foliage, and the sisters at +once exclaimed, "Tulipa!" + +"Dear Gerald, you didn't tell us Tulee was here," said Rosa. + +"I wanted to give you a pleasant surprise," he replied. + +She thanked him with a glance more expressive than words. Tulipa, +meanwhile, was waving a white towel with joyful energy, and when +she came up to them, she half smothered them with hugs and kisses, +exclaiming: "The Lord bless ye, Missy Rosy! The Lord bless ye, Missy +Flory! It does Tulee's eyes good to see ye agin." She eagerly led the +way through flowering thickets to a small lawn, in the midst of which +was a pretty white cottage. + +It was evident at a glance that she, as well as the master of the +establishment, had done her utmost to make the interior of the +dwelling resemble their old home as much as possible. Rosa's piano was +there, and on it were a number of books which their father had +given them. As Floracita pointed to the ottomans their mother had +embroidered, and the boxes and table she had painted, she said: "Our +good friend the Signor sent those. He promised to buy them." + +"He could not buy them, poor man!" answered Fitzgerald, "for he was in +prison at the time of the auction; but he did not forget to enjoin it +upon me to buy them." + +A pleasant hour was spent in joyful surprises over pretty novelties +and cherished souvenirs. Rosa was full of quiet happiness, and +Floracita expressed her satisfaction in lively little gambols. The sun +was going down when they refreshed themselves with the repast Tulipa +had provided. Unwilling to invite the merciless mosquitoes, they sat, +while the gloaming settled into darkness, playing and singing melodies +associated with other times. + +Floracita felt sorry when the hour of separation for the night came. +Everything seemed so fearfully still, except the monotonous wash of +the waves on the sea-shore! And as far as she could see the landscape +by the light of a bright little moon-sickle, there was nothing but +a thick screen of trees and shrubbery. She groped her way to her +sleeping-apartment, expecting to find Tulee there. She had been there, +and had left a little glimmering taper behind a screen, which threw a +fantastic shadow on the ceiling, like a face with a monstrous nose. It +affected the excitable child like some kind of supernatural presence. +She crept to the window, and through the veil of the mosquito-bar she +dimly saw the same thick wall of greenery. Presently she espied a +strange-looking long face peering out from its recesses. On their +voyage home from Nassau, Gerald had sometimes read aloud to them +from "The Midsummer Night's Dream." Could it be that there were such +creatures in the woods as Shakespeare described? A closet adjoining +her room had been assigned to Tulee. She opened the door and said, +"Tulee, are you there? Why don't you come?" There was no answer. Again +she gave a timid look at the window. The long face moved, and a +most unearthly sound was heard. Thoroughly frightened, she ran out, +calling, "Tulee! Tulee! In the darkness, she ran against her faithful +attendant, and the sudden contact terrified her still more. + +"It's only Tulee. What is the matter with my little one?" said the +negress. As she spoke, the fearful sound was heard again. + +"O Tulee, what is that?" she exclaimed, all of a tremble. + +"That is only Jack," she replied. + +"Who's Jack?" quickly asked the nervous little maiden. + +"Why, the jackass, my puppet," answered Tulee. "Massa Gerald bought +him for you and Missy Rosy to ride. In hot weather there's so many +snakes about in the woods, he don't want ye to walk." + +"What does he make that horrid noise for?" asked Flora, somewhat +pacified. + +"Because he was born with music in him, like the rest of ye," answered +Tulee, laughing. + +She assisted her darling to undress, arranged her pillows, and kissed +her cheek just as she had kissed it ever since the rosy little mouth +had learned to speak her name. Then she sat by the bedside talking +over things that had happened since they parted. + +"So you were put up at auction and sold!" exclaimed Flora. "Poor +Tulee! how dreadfully I should have felt to see you there! But Gerald +bought you; and I suppose you like to belong to _him_." + +"Ise nothin' to complain of Massa Gerald," she answered; "but I'd like +better to belong to myself." + +"So you'd like to be free, would you?" asked Flora. + +"To be sure I would," said Tulee. "Yo like it yerself, don't ye, +little missy?" + +Then, suddenly recollecting what a narrow escape her young lady had +had from the auction-stand, she hastened with intuitive delicacy to +change the subject. But the same thought had occurred to Flora; and +she fell asleep, thinking how Tulee's wishes could be gratified. + +When morning floated upward out of the arms of night, in robe of +brightest saffron, the aspect of everything was changed. Floracita +sprang out of bed early, eager to explore the surroundings of their +new abode. The little lawn looked very beautiful, sprinkled all +over with a variety of wild-flowers, in whose small cups dewdrops +glistened, prismatic as opals. The shrubbery was no longer a dismal +mass of darkness, but showed all manner of shadings of glossy green +leaves, which the moisture of the night had ornamented with shimmering +edges of crystal beads. She found the phantom of the night before +browsing among flowers behind the cottage, and very kindly disposed to +make her acquaintance. As he had a thistle blossom sticking out of his +mouth, she forthwith named him Thistle. She soon returned to the +house with her apron full of vines, and blossoms, and prettily tinted +leaves. "See, Tulee," said she, "what a many flowers! I'm going +to make haste and dress the table, before Gerald and Rosa come to +breakfast." They took graceful shape under her nimble fingers, and, +feeling happy in her work, she began to hum, + +"How brightly breaks the morning!" + +"Whisper low!" sang Gerald, stealing up behind her, and making her +start by singing into her very ear; while Rosa exclaimed, "What a +fairy-land you have made here, with all these flowers,_pichoncita +mia_" + +The day passed pleasantly enough, with some ambling along the +bridle-paths on Thistle's back, some reading and sleeping, and a good +deal of music. The next day, black Tom came with a barouche, and they +took a drive round the lovely island. The cotton-fields were all +abloom on Gerald's plantation, and his stuccoed villa, with spacious +veranda and high porch, gleamed out in whiteness among a magnificent +growth of trees, and a garden gorgeous with efflorescence. The only +drawback to the pleasure was, that Gerald charged them to wear thick +veils, and never to raise them when any person was in sight. They made +no complaint, because he told them that he should be deeply involved +in trouble if his participation in their escape should be discovered; +but, happy as Rosa was in reciprocated love, this necessity of +concealment was a skeleton ever sitting at her feast; and Floracita, +who had no romantic compensation for it, chafed under the restraint. +It was dusk when they returned to the cottage, and the thickets were +alive with fire-flies, as if Queen Mab and all her train were out +dancing in spangles. + +A few days after was Rosa's birthday, and Floracita busied herself +in adorning the rooms with flowery festoons. After breakfast, Gerald +placed a small parcel in the hand of each of the sisters. Rosa's +contained her mother's diamond ring, and Flora's was her mother's gold +watch, in the back of which was set a small locket-miniature of +her father. Their gratitude took the form of tears, and the +pleasure-loving young man, who had more taste for gayety than +sentiment, sought to dispel it by lively music. When he saw the smiles +coming again, he bowed playfully, and said: "This day is yours, dear +Rosa. Whatsoever you wish for, you shall have, if it is attainable." + +"I do wish for one thing," she replied promptly. "Floracita has found +out that Tulee would like to be free. I want you to gratify her wish." + +"Tulee is yours," rejoined he. "I bought her to attend upon you." + +"She will attend upon me all the same after she is free," responded +Rosa; "and we should all be happier." + +"I will do it," he replied. "But I hope you won't propose to make _me_ +free, for I am happier to be your slave." + +The papers were brought a few days after, and Tulee felt a great deal +richer, though there was no outward change in her condition. + +As the heat increased, mosquitoes in the woods and sand-flies on the +beach rendered the shelter of the house desirable most of the +time. But though Fitzgerald had usually spent the summer months in +travelling, he seemed perfectly contented to sing and doze and trifle +away his time by Rosa's side, week after week. Floracita did not find +it entertaining to be a third person with a couple of lovers. She had +been used to being a person of consequence in her little world; and +though they were very kind to her, they often forgot that she was +present, and never seemed to miss her when she was away. She had led +a very secluded life from her earliest childhood, but she had never +before been so entirely out of sight of houses and people. During the +few weeks she had passed in Nassau, she had learned to do shell-work +with a class of young girls; and it being the first time she had +enjoyed such companionship, she found it peculiarly agreeable. She +longed to hear their small talk again; she longed to have Rosa to +herself, as in the old times; she longed for her father's caresses, +for Madame Guirlande's brave cheerfulness, for the Signor's peppery +outbursts, which she found very amusing; and sometimes she thought +how pleasant it would be to hear Florimond say that her name was the +prettiest in the world. She often took out a pressed geranium blossom, +under which was written "Souvenir de Florimond "; and she thought +_his_ name was very pretty too. She sang Moore's Melodies a great +deal; and when she warbled, + + "Sweet vale of Avoca! how calm could I rest + In thy bosom of shade, with the friend I love best!" + +she sighed, and thought to herself, "Ah! if I only _had_ a friend +to love best!" She almost learned "Lalla Rookh" by heart; and she +pictured herself as the Persian princess listening to a minstrel in +Oriental costume, but with a very German face. It was not that the +child was in love, but her heart was untenanted; and as memories +walked through it, it sounded empty. + +Tulee, who was very observing where her affections were concerned, +suspected that she was comparing her own situation with that of Rosa. +One day, when she found her in dreamy revery, she patted her silky +curls, and said: "Does she feel as if she was laid by, like a fifth +wheel to a coach? Never mind! My little one will have a husband +herself one of these days." + +Without looking up, she answered, very pensively: "Do you think I ever +shall, Tulee? I don't see how I can, for I never see anybody." + +Tulipa took the little head between her black hands, and, raising +the pretty face toward her, replied: "Yes, sure, little missy. Do ye +s'pose ye had them handsome eyes for nothin' but to look at the moon? +But come, now, with me, and feed Thistle. I'm going to give him a +pailful of water. Thistle knows us as well as if he was a Christian." + +Jack Thistle was a great resource for Tulee in her isolation, and +scarcely less so for Flora. She often fed him from her hand, decorated +him with garlands, talked to him, and ambled about with him in the +woods and on the sea-shore. The visits of black Tom also introduced a +little variety into their life. He went back and forth from Savannah +to procure such articles as were needed at the cottage, and he always +had a budget of gossip for Tulee. Tom's Chloe was an expert +ironer; and as Mr. Fitzgerald was not so well pleased with Tulee's +performances of that kind, baskets of clothes were often sent to +Chloe, who was ingenious in finding excuses for bringing them back +herself. She was a great singer of Methodist hymns and negro songs, +and had wonderful religious experiences to tell. To listen to her and +Tom was the greatest treat Tulee had; but as she particularly prided +herself on speaking like white people, she often remarked that she +couldn't understand half their "lingo." Floracita soon learned it to +perfection, and excited many a laugh by her imitations. + +Tulee once obtained Rosa's permission to ride back with Tom, and spend +a couple of hours at his cabin near "the Grat Hus," as he called his +master's villa. But when Mr. Fitzgerald heard of it, he interdicted +such visits in the future. He wished to have as little communication +as possible between the plantation and the lonely cottage; and if he +had overheard some of the confidences between Chloe and Tulee, +he probably would have been confirmed in the wisdom of such a +prohibition. But Tom was a factotum that could not be dispensed with. +They relied upon him for provisions, letters, and newspapers. + +Three or four weeks after their arrival he brought a box containing a +long letter from Madame Guirlande, and the various articles she had +saved for the orphans from the wreck of their early home. Not long +afterward another letter came, announcing the marriage of Madame and +the Signor. Answering these letters and preparing bridal presents for +their old friends gave them busy days. Gerald sometimes ordered new +music and new novels from New York, and their arrival caused great +excitement. Floracita's natural taste for drawing had been cultivated +by private lessons from a French lady, and she now used the pretty +accomplishment to make likenesses of Thistle with and without +garlands, of Tulee in her bright turban, and of Madame Guirlande's +parrot, inscribed, "_Bon jour, jolie Manon_!" + +One day Rosa said: "As soon as the heat abates, so that we can use our +needles without rusting, we will do a good deal of embroidery, and +give it to Madame. She sells such articles, you know; and we can make +beautiful things of those flosses and chenilles the good soul saved +for us." + +"I like that idea," replied Flora. "I've been wanting to do something +to show our gratitude." + +There was wisdom as well as kindness in the plan, though they never +thought of the wisdom. Hours were whiled away by the occupation, which +not only kept their needles from rusting, but also their affections +and artistic faculties. + +As the tide of time flowed on, varied only by these little eddies and +ripples, Gerald, though always very loving with Rosa, became somewhat +less exclusive. His attentions were more equally divided between the +sisters. He often occupied himself with Floracita's work, and would +pick out the shades of silk for her, as well as for Rosa. He more +frequently called upon her to sing a solo, as well as to join in +duets and trios. When the weather became cooler, it was a favorite +recreation with him to lounge at his ease, while Rosa played, and +Floracita's fairy figure floated through the evolutions of some +graceful dance. Sometimes he would laugh, and say: "Am I not a lucky +dog? I don't envy the Grand Bashaw his Circassian beauties. He'd give +his biggest diamond for such a dancer as Floracita; and what is his +Flower of the World compared to my Rosamunda?" + +Floracita, whose warm heart always met affection as swiftly as one +drop of quicksilver runs to another, became almost as much attached to +him as she was to Rosa. "How kind Gerald is to me!" she would say to +Tulee. "Papa used to wish we had a brother; but I didn't care for one +then, because he was just as good for a playmate. But now it _is_ +pleasant to have a brother." + +To Rosa, also, it was gratifying to have his love for her overflow +upon what was dearest to her; and she would give him one of her +sweetest smiles when he called her sister "Mignonne" or "Querida." +To both of them the lonely island came to seem like a happy home. +Floracita was not so wildly frolicsome as she was before those +stunning blows fell upon her young life; but the natural buoyancy of +her spirits began to return. She was always amusing them with "quips +and cranks." If she was out of doors, her return to the house would be +signalized by imitations of all sorts of birds or musical instruments; +and often, when Gerald invited her to "trip it on the light, fantastic +toe," she would entertain him with one of the negroes' clumsy, +shuffling dances. Her sentimental songs fell into disuse, and were +replaced by livelier tunes. Instead of longing to rest in the "sweet +vale of Avoca," she was heard musically chasing "Figaro here! Figaro +there! Figaro everywhere!" + +Seven months passed without other material changes than the changing +seasons. When the flowers faded, and the leafless cypress-trees were +hung with their pretty pendulous seed-vessels, Gerald began to make +longer visits to Savannah. He was, however, rarely gone more than a +week; and, though Rosa's songs grew plaintive in his absence, her +spirits rose at once when he came to tell how homesick he had been. As +for Floracita, she felt compensated for the increased stillness by the +privilege of having Rosa all to herself. + +One day in January, when he had been gone from home several days, she +invited Rosa to a walk, and, finding her desirous to finish a letter +to Madame Guirlande, she threw on her straw hat, and went out half +dancing, as she was wont to do. The fresh air was exhilarating, the +birds were singing, and the woods were already beautified with every +shade of glossy green, enlivened by vivid buds and leaflets of reddish +brown. She gathered here and there a pretty sprig, sometimes +placing them in her hair, sometimes in her little black silk apron, +coquettishly decorated with cherry-colored ribbons. She stopped before +a luxuriant wild myrtle, pulling at the branches, while she sang, + + "When the little hollow drum beats to bed, + When the little fifer hangs his head, + When is mute the Moorish flute--" + +Her song was suddenly interrupted by a clasp round the waist, and a +warm kiss on the lips. + +"O Gerald, you've come back!" she exclaimed. "How glad Rosa will be!" + +"And nobody else will be glad, I suppose?" rejoined he. "Won't you +give me back my kiss, when I've been gone a whole week?" + +"Certainly, _mon bon frere_," she replied; and as he inclined his face +toward her, she imprinted a slight kiss on his cheek. + +"That's not giving me back _my_ kiss," said he. "I kissed your mouth, +and you must kiss mine." + +"I will if you wish it," she replied, suiting the action to the +word. "But you needn't hold me so tight," she added, as she tried +to extricate herself. Finding he did not release her, she looked up +wonderingly in his face, then lowered her eyes, blushing crimson. No +one had ever looked at her so before. + +"Come, don't be coy, _ma petite_," said he. + +She slipped from him with sudden agility, and said somewhat sharply: +"Gerald, I don't want to be always called _petite_; and I don't want +to be treated as if I were a child. I am no longer a child. I am +fifteen. I am a young lady." + +"So you are, and a very charming one," rejoined he, giving her a +playful tap on the cheek as he spoke. + +"I am going to tell Rosa you have come," said she; and she started on +the run. + +When they were all together in the cottage she tried not to seem +constrained; but she succeeded so ill that Rosa would have noticed it +if she had not been so absorbed in her own happiness. Gerald was all +affection to her, and full of playful raillery with Flora,--which, +however, failed to animate her as usual. + +From that time a change came over the little maiden, and increased as +the days passed on. She spent much of her time in her own room; and +when Rosa inquired why she deserted them so, she excused herself +by saying she wanted to do a great deal of shell-work for Madame +Guirlande, and that she needed so many boxes they would be in the way +in the sitting-room. Her passion for that work grew wonderfully, and +might be accounted for by the fascination of perfect success; for her +coronets and garlands and bouquets and baskets were arranged with so +much lightness and elegance, and the different-colored shells were so +tastefully combined, that they looked less like manufactured articles +than like flowers that grew in the gardens of the Nereids. + +Tulee wondered why her vivacious little pet had all of a sudden become +so sedentary in her habits,--why she never took her customary rambles +except when Mr. Fitzgerald was gone, and even then never without her +sister. The conjecture she formed was not very far amiss, for Chloe's +gossip had made her better acquainted with the character of her master +than were the other inmates of the cottage; but the extraordinary +industry was a mystery to her. One evening, when she found Floracita +alone in her room at dusk, leaning her head on her hand and gazing out +of the window dreamily, she put her hand on the silky head and said, +"Is my little one homesick?" + +"I have no home to be sick for," she replied, sadly. + +"Is she lovesick then?" + +"I have no lover," she replied, in the same desponding tone. + +"What is it, then, my pet? Tell Tulee." + +"I wish I could go to Madame Guirlande," responded Flora. "She was so +kind to us in our first troubles." + +"It would do you good to make her a visit," said Tulee, "and I should +think you might manage to do it somehow." + +"No. Gerald said, a good while ago, that it would be dangerous for us +ever to go to New Orleans." + +"Does he expect to keep you here always?" asked Tulee. "He might just +as well keep you in a prison, little bird." + +"O, what's the use of talking, Tulee!" exclaimed she, impatiently. "I +have no friends to go to, and I _must_ stay here." But, reproaching +herself for rejecting the sympathy so tenderly offered, she rose and +kissed the black cheek as she added, "Good Tulee! kind Tulee! I _am_ a +little homesick; but I shall feel better in the morning." + +The next afternoon Gerald and Rosa invited her to join them in a drive +round the island. She declined, saying the box that was soon to be +sent to Madame was not quite full, and she wanted to finish some more +articles to put in it. But she felt a longing for the fresh air, and +the intense blue glory of the sky made the house seem prison-like. As +soon as they were gone, she took down her straw hat and passed out, +swinging it by the strings. She stopped on the lawn to gather some +flame-colored buds from a Pyrus Japonica, and, fastening them in the +ribbons as she went, she walked toward her old familiar haunts in the +woods. + +It was early in February, but the warm sunshine brought out a +delicious aroma from the firs, and golden garlands of the wild +jasmine, fragrant as heliotrope, were winding round the evergreen +thickets, and swinging in flowery festoons from the trees. Melancholy +as she felt when she started from the cottage, her elastic nature was +incapable of resisting the glory of the sky, the beauty of the earth, +the music of the birds, and the invigorating breath of the ocean, +intensified as they all were by a joyful sense of security and +freedom, growing out of the constraint that had lately been put upon +her movements. She tripped along faster, carolling as she went an +old-fashioned song that her father used to be often humming:-- + + "Begone, dull care! + I prithee begone from me! + Begone, dull care! + Thou and I shall never agree!" + +The walk changed to hopping and dancing, as she warbled various +snatches from ballets and operas, settling at last upon the quaint +little melody, "Once on a time there was a king," and running it +through successive variations. + +A very gentle and refined voice, from behind a clump of evergreens, +said, "Is this Cinderella coming from the ball?" + +She looked up with quick surprise, and recognized a lady she had +several times seen in Nassau. + +"And it is really you, Senorita Gonsalez!" said the lady. "I thought +I knew your voice. But I little dreamed of meeting you here. I +have thought of you many times since I parted from you at Madame +Conquilla's store of shell-work. I am delighted to see you again." + +"And I am glad to see you again, Mrs. Delano," replied Flora; "and I +am very much pleased that you remember me." + +"How could I help remembering you?" asked the lady. "You were a +favorite with me from the first time I saw you, and I should like very +much to renew our acquaintance. Where do you live, my dear?" + +Covered with crimson confusion, Flora stammered out: "I don't live +anywhere, I'm only staying here. Perhaps I shall meet you again in the +woods or on the beach. I hope I shall." + +"Excuse me," said the lady. "I have no wish to intrude upon your +privacy. But if you would like to call upon me at Mr. Welby's +plantation, where I shall be for three or four weeks, I shall always +be glad to receive you." + +"Thank you," replied Flora, still struggling with embarrassment. "I +should like to come very much, but I don't have a great deal of time +for visiting." + +"It's not common to have such a pressure of cares and duties at your +age," responded the lady, smiling. "My carriage is waiting on the +beach. Trusting you will find a few minutes to spare for me, I will +not say adieu, but _au revoir_." + +As she turned away, she thought to herself: "What a fascinating child! +What a charmingly unsophisticated way she took to tell me she would +rather not have me call on her! I observed there seemed to be some +mystery about her when she was in Nassau. What can it be? Nothing +wrong, I hope." + +Floracita descended to the beach and gazed after the carriage as +long as she could see it. Her thoughts were so occupied with this +unexpected interview, that she took no notice of the golden drops +which the declining sun was showering on an endless procession of +pearl-crested waves; nor did she cast one of her customary loving +glances at the western sky, where masses of violet clouds, with edges +of resplendent gold, enclosed lakes of translucent beryl, in which +little rose-colored islands were floating. She retraced her steps to +the woods, almost crying. "How strange my answers must appear to her!" +murmured she. "How I do wish I could go about openly, like other +people! I am so tired of all this concealment!" She neither jumped, +nor danced, nor sung, on her way homeward. She seemed to be revolving +something in her mind very busily. + +After tea, as she and Rosa were sitting alone in the twilight, her +sister, observing that she was unusually silent, said, "What are you +thinking of, Mignonne?" + +"I am thinking of the time we passed in Nassau," replied she, "and of +that Yankee lady who seemed to take such a fancy to me when she came +to Madame Conquilla's to look at the shell-work. + +"I remember your talking about her," rejoined Rosa. "You thought her +beautiful." + +"Yes," said Floracita, "and it was a peculiar sort of beauty. She +wasn't the least like you or Mamita. Everything about her was violet. +Her large gray eyes sometimes had a violet light in them. Her hair was +not exactly flaxen, it looked like ashes of violets. She always wore +fragrant violets. Her ribbons and dresses were of some shade of +violet; and her breastpin was an amethyst set with pearls. Something +in her ways, too, made me think of a violet. I think she knew it, and +that was the reason she always wore that color. How delicate she was! +She must have been very beautiful when she was young." + +"You used to call her the Java sparrow," said Rosa. + +"Yes, she made me think of my little Java sparrow, with pale +fawn-colored feathers, and little gleams of violet on the neck," +responded Flora. + +"That lady seems to have made a great impression on your imagination," +said Rosa; and Floracita explained that it was because she had never +seen anything like her. She did not mention that she had seen that +lady on the island. The open-hearted child was learning to be +reticent. + +A few minutes afterward, Rosa exclaimed, "There's Gerald coming!" +Her sister watched her as she ran out to meet him, and sighed, "Poor +Rosa!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +A week later, when Gerald had gone to Savannah and Rosa was taking her +daily siesta, Floracita filled Thistle's panniers with several little +pasteboard boxes, and, without saying anything to Tulee, mounted and +rode off in a direction she had never taken, except in the barouche. +She was in search of the Welby plantation. + +Mrs. Delano, who was busy with her crochet-needle near the open +window, was surprised to see a light little figure seated on a donkey +riding up the avenue. As soon as Floracita dismounted, she recognized +her, and descended the steps of the piazza to welcome her. + +"So you have found the Welby plantation," said she. "I thought you +wouldn't have much difficulty, for there are only two plantations on +the island, this and Mr. Fitzgerald's. I don't know that there are any +other _dwellings_ except the huts of the negroes." She spoke the last +rather in a tone of inquiry; but Flora merely answered that she had +once passed the Welby plantation in a barouche. + +As the lady led the way into the parlor, she said, "What is that you +have in your hand, my dear?" + +"You used to admire Madame Conquilla's shell-work," replied Flora," +and I have brought you some of mine, to see whether you think I +succeed tolerably in my imitations." As she spoke, she took out a +small basket and poised it on her finger. + +"Why, that is perfectly beautiful!" said Mrs. Delano. "I don't know +how you could contrive to give it such an air of lightness and grace. +I used to think shell-work heavy, and rather vulgar, till I saw those +beautiful productions at Nassau. But you excel your teacher, my dear +Miss Gonsalez. I should think the sea-fairies made this." + +Four or five other articles were brought forth from the boxes and +examined with similar commendation. Then they fell into a pleasant +chat about their reminiscences of Nassau; and diverged from that +to speak of the loveliness of their lonely little island, and the +increasing beauty of the season. After a while, Flora looked at her +watch, and said, "I must not stay long, for I didn't tell anybody I +was going away." + +Mrs. Delano, who caught a glimpse of the medallion inserted in the +back, said: "That is a peculiar little watch. Have you the hair of +some friend set in it?" + +"No," replied Flora. "It is the likeness of my father." She slipped +the slight chain from her neck, and placed the watch in the lady's +hand. Her face flushed as she looked at it, but the habitual paleness +soon returned. + +"You were introduced to me as a Spanish young lady," said she, "but +this face is not Spanish. What was your father's name?" + +"Mr. Alfred Royal of New Orleans," answered Flora. + +"But _your_ name is Gonsalez," said she. + +Flora blushed crimson with the consciousness of having betrayed the +incognito assumed at Nassau. "Gonsalez was my mother's name," she +replied, gazing on the floor while she spoke. + +Mrs. Delano looked at her for an instant, then, drawing her gently +toward her, she pressed her to her side, and said with a sigh, "Ah, +Flora, I wish you were my daughter." + +"O, how I wish I was!" exclaimed the young girl, looking up with a +sudden glow; but a shadow immediately clouded her expressive face, +as she added, "But you wouldn't want me for a daughter, if you knew +everything about me." + +The lady was obviously troubled. "You seem to be surrounded by +mysteries, my little friend," responded she. "I will not ask you for +any confidence you are unwilling to bestow. But I am a good deal +older than you, and I know the world better than you do. If anything +troubles you, or if you are doing anything wrong, perhaps if you were +to tell me, I could help you out of it." + +"O, no, I'm not doing anything wrong," replied Floracita, eagerly. "I +never did anything wrong in my life." Seeing a slight smile hovering +about the lady's lips, she made haste to add: "I didn't mean exactly +that. I mean I never did anything _very_ wrong. I'm cross sometimes, +and I have told some _fibititas_; but then I couldn't seem to help it, +things were in such a tangle. It comes more natural to me to tell the +truth." + +"That I can readily believe," rejoined Mrs. Delano. "But I am not +trying to entrap your ingenuousness into a betrayal of your secrets. +Only remember one thing; if you ever do want to open your heart to any +one, remember that I am your true friend, and that you can trust me." + +"O, thank you! thank you!" exclaimed Flora, seizing her hand and +kissing it fervently. + +"But tell me one thing, my little friend," continued Mrs. Delano. "Is +there anything I can do for you now?" + +"I came to ask you to do something for me," replied Flora; "but you +have been so kind to me, that it has made me almost forget my errand. +I have very particular reasons for wanting to earn some money. You +used to admire the shell-work in Nassau so much, that I thought, if +you liked mine, you might be willing to buy it, and that perhaps you +might have friends who would buy some. I have tried every way to think +how I could manage, to sell my work." + +"I will gladly buy all you have," rejoined the lady, "and I should +like to have you make me some more; especially of these garlands of +rice-shells, trembling so lightly on almost invisible silver wire." + +"I will make some immediately," replied Flora. "But I must go, dear +Mrs. Delano. I wish I could stay longer, but I cannot." + +"When will you come again?" asked the lady. + +"I can't tell," responded Flora, "for I have to manage to come here." + +"That seems strange," said Mrs. Delano. + +"I know it seems strange," answered the young girl, with a kind of +despairing impatience in her tone. "But please don't ask me, for +everything seems to come right out to you; and I don't know what I +ought to say, indeed I don't." + +"I want you to come again as soon as you can," said Mrs. Delano, +slipping a gold eagle into her hand. "And now go, my dear, before you +tell me more than you wish to." + +"Not more than I wish," rejoined Floracita; "but more than I ought. I +_wish_ to tell you everything." + +In a childish way she put up her lips for a kiss, and the lady drew +her to her heart and caressed her tenderly. + +When Flora had descended the steps of the piazza, she turned and +looked up. Mrs. Delano was leaning against one of the pillars, +watching her departure. Vines of gossamer lightness were waving round +her, and her pearly complexion and violet-tinted dress looked lovely +among those aerial arabesques of delicate green. The picture impressed +Flora all the more because it was such a contrast to the warm and +gorgeous styles of beauty to which she had been accustomed. She smiled +and kissed her hand in token of farewell; the lady returned the +salutation, but she thought the expression of her face was sad, and +the fear that this new friend distrusted her on account of unexplained +mysteries haunted her on her way homeward. + +Mrs. Delano looked after her till she and her donkey disappeared among +the trees in the distance. "What a strange mystery is this!" murmured +she. "Alfred Royal's child, and yet she bears her mother's name. And +why does she conceal from me where she lives? Surely, she cannot +be consciously doing anything wrong, for I never saw such perfect +artlessness of look and manner." The problem occupied her thoughts for +days after, without her arriving at any satisfactory conjecture. + +Flora, on her part, was troubled concerning the distrust which +she felt must be excited by her mysterious position, and she was +continually revolving plans to clear herself from suspicion in +the eyes of her new friend. It would have been an inexpressible +consolation if she could have told her troubles to her elder sister, +from whom she had never concealed anything till within the last few +weeks. But, alas! by the fault of another, a barrier had arisen +between them, which proved an obstruction at every turn of their daily +intercourse; for while she had been compelled to despise and dislike +Gerald, Rosa was always eulogizing his noble and loving nature, and +was extremely particular to have his slightest wishes obeyed. Apart +from any secret reasons for wishing to obtain money, Floracita was +well aware that it would not do to confess her visit to Mrs. Delano; +for Gerald had not only forbidden their making any acquaintances, +but he had also charged them not to ride or walk in the direction of +either of the plantations unless he was with them. + +Day after day, as Flora sat at work upon the garlands she had +promised, she was on the watch to elude his vigilance; but more than a +week passed without her finding any safe opportunity. At last Gerald +proposed to gratify Rosa's often-expressed wish, by taking a sail to +one of the neighboring islands. They intended to make a picnic of it, +and return by moonlight. Rosa was full of pleasant anticipations, +which, however, were greatly damped when her sister expressed a +decided preference for staying at home. Rosa entreated, and Gerald +became angry, but she persisted in her refusal. She said she wanted to +use up all her shells, and all her flosses and chenilles. Gerald swore +that he hated the sight of them, and that he would throw them all +into the sea if she went on wearing her beautiful eyes out over them. +Without looking up from her work, she coolly answered, "Why need you +concern yourself about _my_ eyes, when you have a wife with such +beautiful eyes?"' + +Black Tom and Chloe and the boat were in waiting, and after a flurried +scene they departed reluctantly without her. + +"I never saw any one so changed as she is," said Rosa. "She used to +be so fond of excursions, and now she wants to work from morning till +night." + +"She's a perverse, self-willed, capricious little puss. She's been too +much indulged. She needs to be brought under discipline," said Gerald, +angrily whipping off a blossom with his rattan as they walked toward +the boat. + +As soon as they were fairly off, Flora started on a second visit to +the Welby plantation. Tulee noticed all this in silence, and shook her +head, as if thoughts were brooding there unsafe for utterance. + +Mrs. Delano was bending over her writing-desk finishing a letter, when +she perceived a wave of fragrance, and, looking up, she saw Flora on +the threshold of the open door, with her arms full of flowers. + +"Excuse me for interrupting you," said she, dropping one of her little +quick courtesies, which seemed half frolic, half politeness. "The +woods are charming to-day. The trees are hung with curtains of +jasmine, embroidered all over with golden flowers. You love perfumes +so well, I couldn't help stopping by the way to load Thistle with an +armful of them." + +"Thank you, dear," replied Mrs. Delano. "I rode out yesterday +afternoon, and I thought I had never seen anything so beautiful as the +flowery woods and the gorgeous sunset. After being accustomed to the +splendor of these Southern skies, the Northern atmosphere will seem +cold and dull." + +"Shall you go to the North soon?" inquired Flora, anxiously. + +"I shall leave here in ten or twelve days," she replied; "but I may +wait a short time in Savannah, till March has gone; for that is a +blustering, disagreeable month in New England, though it brings you +roses and perfume. I came to Savannah to spend the winter with my +friends, Mr. and Mrs. Welby; but I have always taken a great fancy to +this island, and when they were suddenly called away to Arkansas by +the illness of a son, I asked their permission to come here for a few +weeks and watch the beautiful opening of the spring. I find myself +much inclined to solitude since I lost a darling daughter, who died +two years ago. If she had lived, she would have been about your age." + +"I am _so_ sorry you are going away," said Flora. "It seems as if I +had always known you. I don't know what I shall do without you. But +when you go back among your friends, I suppose you will forget all +about poor little me." + +"No, my dear little friend, I shall never forget you," she replied; +"and when I come again, I hope I shall find you here." + +"I felt troubled when I went away the other day," said Flora. "I +thought you seemed to look sadly after me, and I was afraid you +thought I had done something wicked, because I said you wouldn't wish +I were your daughter if you knew everything about me. So I have come +to tell you my secrets, as far as I can without betraying other +people's. I am afraid you won't care anything more about me after I +have told you; but I can't help it if you don't. Even that would be +better than to have you suspect me of being bad." + +Mrs. Delano drew an ottoman toward her, and said, "Come and sit here, +dear, and tell me all about it, the same as if I were your mother." + +Floracita complied; and resting one elbow on her knee, and leaning +her cheek upon the hand, she looked up timidly and wistfully into the +friendly face that was smiling serenely over her. After a moment's +pause, she said abruptly: "I don't know how to begin, so I won't begin +at all, but tell it right out. You see, dear Mrs. Delano, I am a +colored girl." + +The lady's smile came nearer to a laugh than was usual with her. She +touched the pretty dimpled cheek with her jewelled finger, as she +replied: "O, you mischievous little kitten! I thought you were really +going to tell me something about your troubles. But I see you are +hoaxing me. I remember when you were at Madame Conquilla's you always +seemed to be full of fun, and the young ladies there said you were a +great rogue." + +"But this is not fun; indeed it is not," rejoined Flora. "I _am_ a +colored girl." + +She spoke so earnestly that the lady began to doubt the evidence of +her own eyes. "But you told me that Mr. Alfred Royal was your father," +said she. + +"So he was my father," replied Flora; "and the kindest father that +ever was. Rosa and I were brought up like little princesses, and we +never knew that we were colored. My mother was the daughter of a rich +Spanish gentleman named Gonsalez. She was educated in Paris, and was +elegant and accomplished. She was handsomer than Rosa; and if you were +to see Rosa, you would say nobody _could_ be handsomer than she is. +She was good, too. My father was always saying she was the dearest and +best wife in the world. You don't know how he mourned when she died. +He couldn't bear to have anything moved that she had touched. But +_cher papa_ died very suddenly; and first they told us that we were +very poor, and must earn our living; and then they told us that our +mother was a slave, and so, according to law, we were slaves too. They +would have sold us at auction, if a gentleman who knew us when papa +was alive hadn't smuggled us away privately to Nassau. He had been +very much in love with Rosa for a good while; and he married her, and +I live with them. But he keeps us very much hidden; because, he says, +he should get into lawsuits and duels and all sorts of troubles with +papa's creditors if they should find out that he helped us off. And +that was the reason I was called Senorita Gonsalez in Nassau, though +my real name is Flora Royal." + +She went on to recount the kindness of Madame Guirlande, and the +exciting particulars of their escape; to all of which Mrs. Delano +listened with absorbed attention. As they sat thus, they made a +beautiful picture. The lady, mature in years, but scarcely showing the +touch of time, was almost as fair as an Albiness, with serene lips, +and a soft moonlight expression in her eyes. Every attitude and every +motion indicated quietude and refinement. The young girl, on the +contrary, even when reclining, seemed like impetuosity in repose for +a moment, but just ready to spring. Her large dark eyes laughed and +flashed and wept by turns, and her warmly tinted face glowed like the +sunlight, in its setting of glossy black hair. The lady looked down +upon her with undisguised admiration while she recounted their +adventures in lively dramatic style, throwing in imitations of the +whistling of _Ca ira_, and the tones of the coachman as he sang, "Who +goes there?" + +"But you have not told me," said Mrs. Delano, "who the gentleman was +that married your sister. Ah, I see you hesitate. No matter. Only tell +me one thing,--is he kind to you?" + +Flora turned red and pale, and red again. + +"Let that pass, too," said the lady. "I asked because I wished to know +if I could help you in any way. I see you have brought some more boxes +of shell-work, and by and by we will examine them. But first I want to +tell you that I also have a secret, and I will confide it to you that +you may feel assured I shall love you always. Flora, dear, when your +father and I were young, we were in love with each other, and I +promised to be his wife." + +"So you might have been my Mamita!" exclaimed Floracita, impetuously. + +"No, not _your_ Mamita, dear," replied Mrs. Delano, smiling. "You +call me the Java sparrow, and Java sparrows never hatch gay little +humming-birds or tuneful mocking-birds. I might tell you a long story +about myself, dear; but the sun is declining, and you ought not to be +out after dusk. My father was angry about our love, because Alfred was +then only a clerk with a small salary. They carried me off to Europe, +and for two years I could hear nothing from Alfred. Then they told +me he was married; and after a while they persuaded me to marry Mr. +Delano. I ought not to have married him, because my heart was not in +it. He died and left me with a large fortune and the little daughter +I told you of. I have felt very much alone since my darling was taken +from me. That void in my heart renders young girls very interesting to +me. Your looks and ways attracted me when I first met you; and when +you told me Alfred Royal was your father, I longed to clasp you to my +heart. And now you know, my dear child, that you have a friend ever +ready to listen to any troubles you may choose to confide, and +desirous to remove them if she can." + +She rose to open the boxes of shell-work; but Flora sprung up, and +threw herself into her arms, saying, "My Papasito sent you to me,--I +know he did." + +After a few moments spent in silent emotion, Mrs. Delano again spoke +of the approaching twilight, and with mutual caresses they bade each +other adieu. + +Four or five days later, Floracita made her appearance at the Welby +plantation in a state of great excitement. She was in a nervous +tremor, and her eyelids were swollen as if with much weeping. Mrs. +Delano hastened to enfold her in her arms, saying: "What is it, my +child? Tell your new Mamita what it is that troubles you so." + +"O, _may_ I call you Mamita?" asked Flora, looking up with an +expression of grateful love that warmed all the fibres of her friend's +heart. "O, I do so need a Mamita! I am very wretched; and if you don't +help me, I don't know what I _shall_ do!" + +"Certainly, I will help you, if possible, when you have told me your +trouble," replied Mrs. Delano. + +"Yes, I will tell," said Flora, sighing. "Mr. Fitzgerald is the +gentleman who married my sister; but we don't live at his plantation. +We live in a small cottage hidden away in the woods. You never saw +anybody so much in love as he was with Rosa. When we first came here, +he was never willing to have her out of his sight a moment. And Rosa +loves him so! But for these eight or ten weeks past he has been making +love to me; though he is just as affectionate as ever with Rosa. When +she is playing to him, and I am singing beside her, he keeps throwing +kisses to me behind her back. It makes me feel so ashamed that I can't +look my sister in the face. I have tried to--keep out of his way. When +I am in the house I stick to Rosa like a burr; and I have given up +riding or walking, except when he is away. But there's no telling +when he _is_ away. He went away yesterday, and said he was going to +Savannah to be gone a week; but this morning, when I went into the +woods behind the cottage to feed Thistle, he was lurking there. He +seized me, and held his hand over my mouth, and said I _should_ hear +him. Then he told me that Rosa and I were his slaves; that he bought +us of papa's creditors, and could sell us any day. And he says he will +carry me off to Savannah and sell me if I don't treat him better. He +would not let me go till I promised to meet him in Cypress Grove +at dusk to-night. I have been trying to earn money to go to Madame +Guirlande, and get her to send me somewhere where I could give +dancing-lessons, or singing-lessons, without being in danger of being +taken up for a slave. But I don't know how to get to New Orleans +alone; and if I am his slave, I am afraid he will come there with +officers to take me. So, dear new Mamita, I have come to you, to see +if you can't help me to get some money and go somewhere." + +Mrs. Delano pressed her gently to her heart, and responded in tones of +tenderest pity: "Get some money and go somewhere, you poor child! Do +you think I shall let dear Alfred's little daughter go wandering +alone about the world? No, darling, you shall live with me, and be my +daughter." + +"And don't you care about my being colored and a slave?" asked +Floracita, humbly. + +"Let us never speak of that," replied her friend. "The whole +transaction is so odious and wicked that I can't bear to think of it." + +"I do feel so grateful to you, my dear new Mamita, that I don't know +what to say. But it tears my heart in two to leave Rosa. We have never +been separated for a day since I was born. And she is so good, and she +loves me so! And Tulee, too. I didn't dare to try to speak to her. I +knew I should break down. All the way coming here I was frightened +for fear Gerald would overtake me and carry me off. And I cried so, +thinking about Rosa and Tulee, not knowing when I should see them +again, that I couldn't see; and if Thistle hadn't known the way +himself, I shouldn't have got here. Poor Thistle! It seemed as if my +heart would break when I threw the bridle on his neck and left him to +go back alone; I didn't dare to hug, him but once, I was so afraid. O, +I am so glad that you will let me stay here!" + +"I have been thinking it will not be prudent for you to stay here, +my child," replied Mrs. Delano. "Search will be made for you in the +morning, and you had better be out of the way before that. There are +some dresses belonging to Mrs. Welby's daughter in a closet up stairs. +I will borrow one of them for you to wear. The boat from Beaufort to +Savannah will stop here in an hour to take some freight. We will go to +Savannah. My colored laundress there has a chamber above her wash-room +where you will be better concealed than in more genteel lodgings. I +will come back here to arrange things, and in a few days I will return +to you and take you to my Northern home." + +The necessary arrangements were soon made; and when Flora was +transformed into Miss Welby, she smiled very faintly as she remarked, +"How queer it seems to be always running away." + +"This is the last time, my child," replied Mrs. Delano. "I will keep +my little bird carefully under my wings." + +When Flora was in the boat, hand in hand with her new friend, and no +one visible whom she had ever seen before, her excitement began to +subside, but sadness increased. In her terror the poor child had +scarcely thought of anything except the necessity of escaping +somewhere. But when she saw her island home receding from her, she +began to realize the importance of the step she was taking. She fixed +her gaze on that part where the lonely cottage was embowered, and +she had a longing to see even a little whiff of smoke from Tulee's +kitchen. But there was no sign of life save a large turkey-buzzard, +like a black vulture, sailing gracefully over the tree-tops. The +beloved sister, the faithful servant, the brother from whom she had +once hoped so much, the patient animal that had borne her through so +many pleasant paths, the flowery woods, and the resounding sea, had +all vanished from her as suddenly as did her father and the bright +home of her childhood. + +The scenes through which they were passing were beautiful as Paradise, +and all nature seemed alive and jubilant. The white blossoms of +wild-plum-trees twinkled among dark evergreens, a vegetable imitation +of starlight. Wide-spreading oaks and superb magnolias were lighted up +with sudden flashes of color, as scarlet grosbeaks flitted from tree +to tree. Sparrows were chirping, doves cooing, and mocking-birds +whistling, now running up the scale, then down the scale, with an +infinity of variations between. The outbursts of the birds were the +same as in seasons that were gone, but the listener was changed. +Rarely before had her quick musical ear failed to notice how they +would repeat the same note with greater or less emphasis, then flat +it, then sharp it, varying their performances with all manner of +unexpected changes. But now she was merely vaguely conscious of +familiar sounds, which brought before her that last merry day in her +father's house, when Rosabella laughed so much to hear her puzzle the +birds with her musical vagaries. Memory held up her magic mirror, in +which she saw pictured processions of the vanished years. Thus the +lonely child, with her loving, lingering looks upon the past, was +floated toward an unknown future with the new friend a kind Providence +had sent her. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Rosa was surprised at the long absence of her sister; and when the sun +showed only a narrow golden edge above the horizon, she began to feel +anxious. She went to the kitchen and said, "Tulee, have you seen +anything of Floracita lately? She went away while I was sleeping." + +"No, missy," she replied. "The last I see of her was in her room, with +the embroidery-frame before her. She was looking out of the window, as +she did sometimes, as if she was looking nowhere. She jumped up and +hugged and kissed me, and called me 'Dear Tulee, good Tulee.' The +little darling was always mighty loving. When I went there again, her +needle was sticking in her work, and her thimble was on the frame, but +she was gone. I don't know when she went away. Thistle's come back +alone; but he does that sometimes when little missy goes rambling +round." + +There was no uneasiness expressed in her tones, but, being more +disquieted than she wished to acknowledge, she went forth to search +the neighboring wood-paths and the sea-shore. When she returned, Rosa +ran out with the eager inquiry, "Is she anywhere in sight?" In reply +to the negative answer, she said: "I don't know what to make of it. +Have you ever seen anybody with Floracita since we came here?" + +"Nobody but Massa Gerald," replied Tulee. + +"I wonder whether she was discontented here," said Rosa. "I don't see +why she should be, for we all loved her dearly; and Gerald was as kind +to her as if she had been his own sister. But she hasn't seemed like +herself lately; and this forenoon she hugged and kissed me ever so +many times, and cried. When I asked her what was the matter, she said +she was thinking of the pleasant times when _Papasito querido_ was +alive. Do you think she was unhappy?" + +"She told me once she was homesick for Madame Guirlande," replied +Tulee. + +"Did she? Perhaps she was making so many things for Madame because she +meant to go there. But she couldn't find her way alone, and she knew +it would be very dangerous for either of us to go to New Orleans." + +Tulee made no reply. She seated herself on a wooden bench by the open +door, swinging her body back and forth in an agitated way, ever and +anon jumping up and looking round in all directions. The veil of +twilight descended upon the earth, and darkness followed. The two +inmates of the cottage felt very miserable and helpless, as they sat +there listening to every sound. For a while nothing was heard but the +dash of the waves, and the occasional hooting of an owl. The moon rose +up above the pines, and flooded earth and sea with silvery splendor. + +"I want to go to the plantation and call Tom," said Rosa; "and there +is such bright moonshine we might go, but I am afraid Gerald would be +displeased." + +Tulee at once volunteered to bring out Thistle, and to walk beside her +mistress. + +Both started at the sound of footsteps. They were not light enough for +Floracita, but they thought it might be some one bringing news. It +proved to be the master of the house. + +"Why, Gerald, how glad I am! I thought you were in Savannah," +exclaimed Rosa. "Have you seen anything of Floracita?" + +"No. Isn't she here?" inquired he, in such a tone of surprise, that +Tulee's suspicions were shaken. + +Rosa repeated the story of her disappearance, and concluded by saying, +"She told Tulee she was homesick to go to Madame." + +"She surely wouldn't dare to do that," he replied. + +"Massa Gerald," said Tulee, and she watched him closely while she +spoke, "there's something I didn't tell Missy Rosy, 'cause I was +feared it would worry her. I found this little glove of Missy Flory's, +with a bunch of sea-weed, down on the beach; and there was marks of +her feet all round." + +Rosa uttered a cry. "O heavens!" she exclaimed, "I saw an alligator a +few days ago." + +An expression of horror passed over his face. "I've cautioned her not +to fish so much for shells and sea-mosses," said he; "but she was +always so self-willed." + +"_Don't_ say anything against the little darling!" implored Rosa. +"Perhaps we shall never see her again." + +He spoke a few soothing words, and then took his hat, saying, "I am +going to the sea-shore." + +"Take good care of yourself, dear Gerald!" cried Rosa. + +"No danger 'bout that," muttered Tulee, as she walked out of hearing. +"There's things with handsomer mouths than alligators that may be more +dangerous. Poor little bird! I wonder where he has put her." + +His feelings as he roamed on the beach were not to be envied. His mind +was divided between the thoughts that she had committed suicide, +or had been drowned accidentally. That she had escaped from his +persecutions by flight he could not believe; for he knew she was +entirely unused to taking care of herself, and felt sure she had no +one to help her. He returned to say that the tide had washed away the +footprints, and that he found no vestige of the lost one. + +At dawn he started for the plantation, whence, after fruitless +inquiries, he rode to the Welby estate. Mrs. Delano had requested +the household servants not to mention having seen a small young lady +there, and they had nothing to communicate. + +He resolved to start for New Orleans as soon as possible. After a +fortnight's absence he returned, bringing grieved and sympathizing +letters from the Signor and Madame; and on the minds of all, except +Tulee, the conviction settled that Floracita was drowned. Hope +lingered long in her mind. "Wherever the little pet may be, she'll +surely contrive to let us know," thought she. "She ain't like the poor +slaves when _they_'re carried off. She can write." Her mistress +talked with her every day about the lost darling; but of course such +suspicions were not to be mentioned to her. Gerald, who disliked +everything mournful, avoided the subject entirely; and Rosabella, +looking upon him only with the eyes of love, considered it a sign of +deep feeling, and respected it accordingly. + +But, blinded as she was, she gradually became aware that he did not +seem exactly like the same man who first won her girlish love. Her +efforts to please him were not always successful. He was sometimes +moody and fretful. He swore at the slightest annoyance, and often +flew into paroxysms of anger with Tom and Tulee. He was more and more +absent from the cottage, and made few professions of regret for such +frequent separations. Some weeks after Flora's disappearance, he +announced his intention to travel in the North during the summer +months. Rosabella looked up in his face with a pleading expression, +but pride prevented her from asking whether she might accompany him. +She waited in hopes he would propose it; but as he did not even think +of it, he failed to interpret the look of disappointment in her +expressive eyes, as she turned from him with a sigh. + +"Tom will come with the carriage once a week," said he; "and either he +or Joe will be here every night." + +"Thank you," she replied. + +But the tone was so sad that he took her hand with the tenderness of +former times, and said, "You are sorry to part with me, Bella Rosa?" + +"How can I be otherwise than sorry," she asked, "when I am all alone +in the world without you? Dear Gerald, are we always to live thus? +Will you never acknowledge me as your wife?" + +"How can I do it," rejoined he, "without putting myself in the power +of those cursed creditors? It is no fault of mine that your mother was +a slave." + +"We should be secure from them in Europe," she replied. "Why couldn't +we live abroad?" + +"Do you suppose my rich uncle would leave me a cent if he found out I +had married the daughter of a quadroon?" rejoined he. "I have met with +losses lately, and I can't afford to offend my uncle. I am sorry, +dear, that you are dissatisfied with the home I have provided for +you." + +"I am not dissatisfied with my home," said she. "I have no desire to +mix with the world, but it is necessary for you, and these separations +are dreadful." + +His answer was: "I will write often, dearest, and I will send you +quantities of new music. I shall always be looking forward to the +delight of hearing it when I return. You must take good care of your +health, for my sake. You must go ambling about with Thistle every +day." + +The suggestion brought up associations that overcame her at once. "O +how Floracita loved Thistle!" she exclaimed. "And it really seems as +if the poor beast misses her. I am afraid we neglected her too much, +Gerald. We were so taken up with our own happiness, that we didn't +think of her so much as we ought to have done." + +"I am sure I tried to gratify all her wishes," responded he. "I have +nothing to reproach myself with, and certainly you were always a +devoted sister. This is a morbid state of feeling, and you must try to +drive it off. You said a little while ago that you wanted to see how +the plantation was looking, and what flowers had come out in the +garden. Shall I take you there in the barouche to-morrow?" + +She gladly assented, and a few affectionate words soon restored her +confidence in his love. + +When the carriage was brought to the entrance of the wood the next +day, she went to meet it with a smiling face and a springing step. As +he was about to hand her in, he said abruptly, "You have forgotten +your veil." + +Tulee was summoned to bring it. As Rosa arranged it round her head, +she remarked, "One would think you were ashamed of me, Gerald." + +The words were almost whispered, but the tone sounded more like a +reproach than anything she had ever uttered. With ready gallantry he +responded aloud, "I think so much of my treasure that I want to keep +it all to myself." + +He was very affectionate during their drive; and this, combined with +the genial air, the lovely scenery, and the exhilaration of swift +motion, restored her to a greater sense of happiness than she had felt +since her darling sister vanished so suddenly. + +The plantation was in gala dress. The veranda was almost covered with +the large, white, golden-eyed stars of the Cherokee rose, gleaming out +from its dark, lustrous foliage. The lawn was a sheet of green velvet +embroidered with flowers. Magnolias and oaks of magnificent growth +ornamented the extensive grounds. In the rear was a cluster of negro +huts. Black picaninnies were rolling about in the grass, mingling +their laughter with the songs of the birds. The winding paths of the +garden were lined with flowering shrubs, and the sea sparkled in the +distance. Wherever the eye glanced, all was sunshine, bloom, and +verdure. + +For the first time, he invited her to enter the mansion. Her first +movement was toward the piano. As she opened it, and swept her hand +across the keys, he said: "It is sadly out of tune. It has been +neglected because its owner had pleasanter music elsewhere." + +"But the tones are very fine," rejoined she. "What a pity it shouldn't +be used!" As she glanced out of the window on the blooming garden and +spacious lawn, she said: "How pleasant it would be if we could live +here! It is so delightful to look out on such an extensive open +space." + +"Perhaps we will some time or other, my love," responded he. + +She smiled, and touched the keys, while she sang snatches of familiar +songs. The servants who brought in refreshments wondered at her +beauty, and clear, ringing voice. Many dark faces clustered round +the crack of the door to obtain a peep; and as they went away they +exchanged nudges and winks with each other. Tom and Chloe had +confidentially whispered to some of them the existence of such a lady, +and that Tulee said Massa married her in the West Indies; and they +predicted that she would be the future mistress of Magnolia Lawn. +Others gave it as their opinion, that Massa would never hide her as +he did if she was to be the Missis. But all agreed that she was a +beautiful, grand lady, and they paid her homage accordingly. Her +cheeks would have burned to scarlet flame if she had heard all their +comments and conjectures; but unconscious of blame or shame, she gave +herself up to the enjoyment of those bright hours. + +A new access of tenderness seemed to have come over Fitzgerald; partly +because happiness rendered her beauty more radiant, and partly because +secret thoughts that were revolving in his mind brought some twinges +of remorse. He had never seemed more enamored, not even during the +first week in Nassau, when he came to claim her as his bride. Far down +in the garden was an umbrageous walk, terminating in a vine-covered +bower. They remained there a long time, intertwined in each other's +arms, talking over the memories of their dawning consciousness of +love, and singing together the melodies in which their voices had +first mingled. + +Their road home was through woods and groves festooned with vines, +some hanging in massive coils, others light and aerial enough for +fairy swings; then over the smooth beach, where wave after wave leaped +up and tossed its white foam-garland on the shore. The sun was sinking +in a golden sea, and higher toward the zenith little gossamer clouds +blushingly dissolved in the brilliant azure, and united again, as if +the fragrance of roses had floated into form. + +When they reached the cottage, Rosa passed through the silent little +parlor with swimming eyes, murmuring to herself: "Poor little +Floracita! how the sea made me think of her. I ought not to have been +so happy." + +But memory wrote the record of that halcyon day in illuminated +manuscript, all glowing with purple and gold, with angel faces peeping +through a graceful network of flowers. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Rosabella had never experienced such loneliness as in the months +that followed. All music was saddened by far-off echoes of past +accompaniments. Embroidery lost its interest with no one to praise the +work, or to be consulted in the choice of colors and patterns. The +books Gerald occasionally sent were of a light character, and though +they served to while away a listless hour, there was nothing in them +to strengthen or refresh the soul. The isolation was the more painful +because there was everything around her to remind her of the lost and +the absent. Flora's unfinished embroidery still remained in the frame, +with the needle in the last stitch of a blue forget-me-not. Over the +mirror was a cluster of blush-roses she had made. On the wall was a +spray of sea-moss she had pressed and surrounded with a garland of +small shells. By the door was a vine she had transplanted from the +woods; and under a tree opposite was a turf seat where she used to +sit sketching the cottage, and Tulee, and Thistle, and baskets of +wild-flowers she had gathered. The sight of these things continually +brought up visions of the loving and beautiful child, who for so many +years had slept nestling in her arms, and made the days tuneful with +her songs. Then there was Gerald's silent flute, and the silken +cushion she had embroidered for him, on which she had so often seen +him reposing, and thought him handsome as a sleeping Adonis. A letter +from him made her cheerful for days; but they did not come often, +and were generally brief. Tom came with the carriage once a week, +according to his master's orders; but she found solitary drives so +little refreshing to body or mind that she was often glad to avail +herself of Tulee's company. + +So the summer wore away, and September came to produce a new aspect of +beauty in the landscape, by tinging the fading flowers and withering +leaves with various shades of brown and crimson, purple and orange. +One day, early in the month, when Tom came with the carriage, she told +him to drive to Magnolia Lawn. She had long been wishing to revisit +the scene where she had been so happy on that bright spring day; but +she had always said to herself, "I will wait till Gerald comes." Now +she had grown so weary with hope deferred, that she felt as if she +could wait no longer. + +As she rode along she thought of improvements in the walks that she +would suggest to Gerald, if they ever went there to live, as he had +intimated they might. The servants received her with their usual +respectful manner and wondering looks; but when she turned back to +ask some question, she saw them whispering together with an unusual +appearance of excitement. Her cheeks glowed with a consciousness that +her anomalous position was well calculated to excite their curiosity; +and she turned away, thinking how different it had been with her +mother,--how sheltered and protected she had always been. She +remembered how very rarely her father left home, and how he always +hastened to return. She stood awhile on the veranda, thinking sadly, +"If Gerald loves me as Papasito loved Mamita, how can he be contented +to leave me so much?" With a deep sigh she turned and entered the +house through an open window. The sigh changed at once to a bright +smile. The parlor had undergone a wondrous transformation since she +last saw it. The woodwork had been freshly painted, and the walls were +covered with silvery-flowered paper. Over curtains of embroidered lace +hung a drapery of apple-green damask, ornamented with deep white-silk +fringe and heavy tassels. "How kind of Gerald!" murmured she. "He has +done this because I expressed a wish to live here. How ungrateful I +was to doubt him in my thoughts!" + +She passed into the chamber, where she found a white French bedstead, +on which were painted bouquets of roses. It was enveloped in roseate +lace drapery, caught up at the centre in festoons on the silver arrow +of a pretty little Cupid. From silver arrows over the windows there +fell the same soft, roseate folds. Her whole face was illuminated with +happiness as she thought to herself: "Ah! I know why everything has a +tinge of _roses_. How kind of him to prepare such a beautiful surprise +for me!" + +She traversed the garden walks, and lingered long in the sequestered +bower. On the floor was a bunch of dried violets which he had +placed in her belt on that happy day. She took them up, kissed them +fervently, and placed them near her heart. That heart was lighter than +it had been for months. "At last he is going to acknowledge me as his +wife," thought she. "How happy I shall be when there is no longer any +need of secrecy!" + +The servants heard her singing as she traversed the garden, and +gathered in groups to listen; but they scattered as they saw her +approach the house. + +"She's a mighty fine lady," said Dinah, the cook. + +"Mighty fine lady," repeated Tom; "an' I tell yer she's married to +Massa, an' she's gwine to be de Missis." + +Venus, the chambermaid, who would have passed very well for a bronze +image of the sea-born goddess, tossed her head as she replied: "Dunno +bout dat ar. Massa does a heap o' courtin' to we far sex." + +"How yer know dat ar?" exclaimed Dinah. "Whar d' yer git dem +year-rings?" And then there was a general titter. + +Rosabella, all unconscious in her purity, came up to Tom while the +grin was still upon his face, and in her polite way asked him to have +the goodness to bring the carriage. It was with great difficulty that +she could refrain from outbursts of song as she rode homeward; but +Gerald had particularly requested her not to sing in the carriage, +lest her voice should attract the attention of some one who chanced to +be visiting the island. + +Her first words when she entered the cottage were: "O Tulee, I am _so_ +happy! Gerald has fitted up Magnolia Lawn beautifully, because I told +him I wished we could live there. He said, that day we were there, +that he would try to make some arrangement with Papasito's creditors, +and I do believe he has, and that I shall not have to hide much +longer. He has been fitting up the house as if it were for a queen. +Isn't he kind?" + +Tulee, who listened rather distrustfully to praises bestowed on the +master, replied that nobody could do anything too good for Missy Rosy. + +"Ah, Tulee, you have always done your best to spoil me," said she, +laying her hand affectionately on the shoulder of her petted servant, +while a smile like sunshine mantled her face. "But do get me something +to eat. The ride has made me hungry." + +"Ise glad to hear that, Missy Rosy. I begun to think 't want no use to +cook nice tidbits for ye, if ye jist turned 'em over wi' yer fork, and +ate one or two mouthfuls, without knowing what ye was eatin'." + +"I've been pining for Gerald, Tulee; and I've been afraid sometimes +that he didn't love me as he used to do. But now that he has made +such preparations for us to live at Magnolia Lawn, I am as happy as a +queen." + +She went off singing, and as Tulee looked after her she murmured to +herself: "And what a handsome queen she'd make! Gold ain't none +too good for her to walk on. But is it the truth he told her about +settling with the creditors? There's never no telling anything by +what _he_ says. Do hear her singing now! It sounds as lively as Missy +Flory. Ah! that was a strange business. I wonder whether the little +darling _is_ dead." + +While she was preparing supper, with such cogitations passing through +her mind, Rosa began to dash off a letter, as follows:-- + +"DEARLY BELOVED,--I am so happy that I cannot wait a minute without +telling you about it. I have done a naughty thing, but, as it is the +first time I ever disobeyed you, I hope you will forgive me. You told +me never to go to the plantation without you. But I waited and waited, +and you didn't come; and we were so happy there, that lovely day, that +I longed to go again. I knew it would be very lonesome without you; +but I thought it would be some comfort to see again the places where +we walked together, and sang together, and called each other all +manner of foolish fond names. Do you remember how many variations you +rung upon my name,--Rosabella, Rosalinda, Rosamunda, Rosa Regina? How +you did pelt me with roses! Do you remember how happy we were in the +garden bower? How we sang together the old-fashioned canzonet, 'Love +in thine eyes forever plays'? And how the mocking-bird imitated your +guitar, while you were singing the Don Giovanni serenade? + +"I was thinking this all over, as I rode alone over the same ground +we traversed on that happy day. But it was so different without the +love-light of your eyes and the pressure of your dear hand, that I +felt the tears gathering, and had all manner of sad thoughts. I feared +you didn't care for me as you used to do, and were finding it easy +to live without me. But when I entered the parlor that overlooks the +beautiful lawn, all my doubts vanished. You had encouraged me to hope +that it might be our future home; but I little dreamed it was to be +so soon, and that you were preparing such a charming surprise for me. +Don't be vexed with me, dearest, for finding out your secret. It made +me _so_ happy! It made the world seem like Paradise. Ah! I _knew_ why +everything was so _rose_-colored. It was so like _you_ to think of +that! Then everything is so elegant! You knew your Rosamunda's taste +for elegance. + +"But Tulee summons me to supper. Dear, good, faithful Tulee! What a +comfort she has been to me in this lonesome time!" + + * * * * * + +"Now I have come back to the pretty little writing-desk you gave me, +and I will finish my letter. I feel as if I wanted to write to you +forever, if I can't have you to talk to. You can't imagine how +lonesome I have been. The new music you sent me was charming; but +whatever I practised or improvised took a solemn and plaintive +character, like the moaning of the sea and the whispering of the +pines. One's own voice sounds so solitary when there is no other voice +to lean upon, and no appreciating ear to listen for the coming chords. +I have even found it a relief to play and sing to Tulee, who is always +an admiring listener, if not a very discriminating one; and as for +Tom, it seems as if the eyes would fly out of his head when I play +to him. I have tried to take exercise every day, as you advised; +but while the hot weather lasted, I was afraid of snakes, and the +mosquitoes and sand-flies were tormenting. Now it is cooler I ramble +about more, but my loneliness goes everywhere with me. Everything is +so still here, that it sometimes makes me afraid. The moonlight looks +awfully solemn on the dark pines. You remember that dead pine-tree? +The wind has broken it, and there it stands in front of the evergreen +grove, with two arms spread out, and a knot like a head with a hat +on it, and a streamer of moss hanging from it. It looks so white and +strange in the moonlight, that it seems as if Floracita's spirit were +beckoning to me. + +"But I didn't mean to write about sad things. I don't feel sad now; +I was only telling you how lonely and nervous I _had_ been, that +you might imagine how much good it has done me to see such kind +arrangements at Magnolia Lawn. Forgive me for going there, contrary +to your orders. I did so long for a little variety! I couldn't have +dreamed you were planning such a pleasant surprise for me. Sha'n't we +be happy there, calling one another all the old foolish pet names? +Dear, good Gerald, I shall never again have any ungrateful doubts of +your love. + +"_Adios, luz de mes ojos_. Come soon to + +"Your grateful and loving + +"ROSA." + +That evening the plash of the waves no longer seemed like a requiem +over her lost sister; the moonlight gave poetic beauty to the pines; +and even the blasted tree, with its waving streamer of moss, seemed +only another picturesque feature in the landscape; so truly does +Nature give us back a reflection of our souls. + +She waked from a refreshing sleep with a consciousness of happiness +unknown for a long time. When Tom came to say he was going to +Savannah, she commissioned him to go to the store where her dresses +were usually ordered, and buy some fine French merino. She gave him +very minute directions, accompanied with a bird-of-paradise pattern. +"That is Gerald's favorite color," she said to herself. "I will +embroider it with white floss-silk, and tie it with white silk cord +and tassels. The first time we breakfast together at Magnolia Lawn I +will wear it, fastened at the throat with that pretty little knot of +silver filigree he gave me on my birthday. Then I shall look as bridal +as the home he is preparing for me." + +The embroidery of this dress furnished pleasant occupation for many +days. When it was half finished, she tried it on before the mirror, +and smiled to see how becoming was the effect. She queried whether +Gerald would like one or two of Madame Guirlande's pale amber-colored +artificial nasturtiums in her hair. She placed them coquettishly by +the side of her head for a moment, and laid them down, saying to +herself: "No; too much dress for the morning. He will like better the +plain braids of my hair with the curls falling over them." As she sat, +hour after hour, embroidering the dress which was expected to produce +such a sensation, Tulee's heart was gladdened by hearing her sing +almost continually. "Bless her dear heart!" exclaimed she; "that +sounds like the old times." + +But when a fortnight passed without an answer to her letter, the +showers of melody subsided. Shadows of old doubts began to creep over +the inward sunshine; though she tried to drive them away by recalling +Gerald's promise to try to secure her safety by making a compromise +with her father's creditors. And were not the new arrangements at +Magnolia Lawn a sign that he had accomplished his generous purpose? +She was asking herself that question for the hundredth time, as she +sat looking out on the twilight landscape, when she heard a well-known +voice approaching, singing, "C'est l'amour, l'amour, l'amour, qui fait +le monde a la ronde"; and a moment after she was folded in Gerald's +arms, and he was calling her endearing names in a polyglot of +languages, which he had learned from her and Floracita. + +"So you are not very angry with me for going there and finding out +your secret," inquired she. + +"I _was_ angry," he replied; "but while I was coming to you all my +anger melted away." + +"And you do love me as well as ever," said she. "I thought perhaps so +many handsome ladies would fall in love with you, that I should not be +your Rosa _munda_ any more." + +"I have met many handsome ladies," responded he, "but never one worthy +to bear the train of my Rosa Regina." + +Thus the evening passed in conversation more agreeable to them than +the wittiest or the wisest would have been. But it has been well said, +"the words of lovers are like the rich wines of the South,--they are +delicious in their native soil, but will not bear transportation." + +The next morning he announced the necessity of returning to the North +to complete some business, and said he must, in the mean time, spend +some hours at the plantation. "And Rosa dear," added he, "I shall +really be angry with you if you go there again unless I am with you." + +She shook her finger at him, and said, with one of her most expressive +smiles: "Ah, I see through you! You are planning some more pleasant +surprises for me. How happy we shall be there! As for that rich uncle +of yours, if you will only let me see him, I will do my best to make +him love me, and perhaps I shall succeed." + +"It would be wonderful if you did not, you charming enchantress," +responded he. He folded her closely, and looked into the depths of her +beautiful eyes with intensity, not unmingled with sadness. + +A moment after he was waving his hat from the shrubbery; and so he +passed away out of her sight. His sudden reappearance, his lavish +fondness, his quick departure, and the strange earnestness of his +farewell look, were remembered like the flitting visions of a dream. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +In less than three weeks after that tender parting, an elegant +barouche stopped in front of Magnolia Lawn, and Mr. Fitzgerald +assisted a very pretty blonde young lady to alight from it. As +she entered the parlor, wavering gleams of sunset lighted up the +pearl-colored paper, softened by lace-shadows from the windows. The +lady glanced round the apartment with a happy smile, and, turning to +the window, said: "What a beautiful lawn! What superb trees!" + +"Does it equal your expectations, dear?" he asked. "You had formed +such romantic ideas of the place, I feared you might be disappointed." + +"I suppose that was the reason you tried to persuade me to spend our +honeymoon in Savannah," rejoined she. "But we should be so bored with +visitors. Here, it seems like the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve +had it all to themselves, before the serpent went there to make +mischief. I had heard father and mother tell so much about Magnolia +Lawn that I was eager to see it." + +"They visited it in spring, when it really does look like Paradise," +replied he. "It has its beauties now; but this is not the favorable +season for seeing it; and after we have been here a few days, I think +we had better return to Savannah, and come again when the lawn is +carpeted with flowers." + +"I see your mind is bent upon not staying here," answered she; "and I +suppose it _would_ be rather tiresome to have no other company than +your stupid little Lily Bell." + +She spoke with a pouting affectation of reproach, and he exclaimed, +"Lily, darling!" as he passed his arm round her slender waist, and, +putting aside a shower of pale yellowish ringlets, gazed fondly into +the blue eyes that were upturned to his. + +They were interrupted by the entrance of Venus, who came to ask their +orders. "Tell them to serve supper at seven, and then come and show +your mistress to her dressing-room," he said. As she retired, he +added: "Now she'll have something to tell of. She'll be proud enough +of being the first to get a full sight of the new Missis; and it _is_ +a sight worth talking about." + +With a gratified smile, she glanced at the pier-glass which reflected +her graceful little figure, and, taking his arm, she walked slowly +round the room, praising the tasteful arrangements. "Everything has +such a bridal look!" she said. + +"Of course," replied he; "when I have such a fair Lily Bell for a +bride, I wish to have her bower pearly and lily-like. But here is +Venus come to show you to your dressing-room. I hope you will like the +arrangements up stairs also." + +She kissed her hand to him as she left the room, and he returned the +salute. When she had gone, he paced slowly up and down for a few +moments. As he passed the piano, he touched the keys in a rambling +way. The tones he brought out were a few notes of an air he and +Rosabella had sung in that same room a few months before. He turned +abruptly from the instrument, and looked out from the window in the +direction of the lonely cottage, Nothing was visible but trees and a +line of the ocean beyond. But the chambers of his soul were filled +with visions of Rosa. He thought of the delightful day they had spent +together, looking upon these same scenes; of their songs and caresses +in the bower; of her letter, so full of love and glad surprise at the +bridal arrangements she supposed he had made for her, "I really hope +Lily won't insist upon staying here long," thought he; "for it is +rather an embarrassing position for me." + +He seated himself at the piano and swept his hand up and down the +keys, as if trying to drown his thoughts in a tempest of sound. But, +do what he would, the thoughts spoke loudest; and after a while he +leaned his head forward on the piano, lost in revery. + +A soft little hand touched his head, and a feminine voice inquired, +"What are you thinking of, Gerald?" + +"Of you, my pearl," he replied, rising hastily, and stooping to +imprint a kiss on the forehead of his bride. + +"And pray what were you thinking about _me_?" she asked. + +"That you are the greatest beauty in the world, and that I love you +better than man ever loved woman," rejoined he. And so the game of +courtship went on, till it was interrupted by a summons to supper. + +When they returned some time later, the curtains were drawn and +candles lighted. "You have not yet tried the piano," said he, as he +placed the music-stool. + +She seated herself, and, after running up and down the keys, and +saying she liked the tone of the instrument, she began to play and +sing "Robin Adair." She had a sweet, thin voice, and her style of +playing indicated rather one who had learned music, than one whose +soul lived in its element. Fitzgerald thought of the last singing he +had heard at that piano; and without asking for another song, he began +to sing to her accompaniment, "Drink to me only with thine eyes." He +had scarcely finished the line, "Leave a kiss within the cup, and +I'll not ask for wine," when clear, liquid tones rose on the air, +apparently from the veranda; and the words they carried on their wings +were these:-- + + "Down in the meadow, 'mong the clover, + I walked with Nelly by my side. + Now all those happy days are over, + Farewell, my dark Virginia bride. + Nelly was a lady; + Last night she died. + Toll the bell for lovely Nell, + My dark Virginia bride." + +The bride listened intensely, her fingers resting lightly on the keys, +and when the sounds--died away she started up, exclaiming, "What a +voice! I never heard anything like it." + +She moved eagerly toward the veranda, but was suddenly arrested by her +husband. "No, no, darling," said he. "You mustn't expose yourself to +the night air." + +"Then do go out yourself and bring her in," urged she. "I must hear +more of that voice. Who is she?" + +"One of the darkies, I suppose," rejoined he. "You know they all have +musical gifts." + +"Not such gifts as that, I imagine," she replied. "Do go out and bring +her in." + +She was about to draw the curtain aside to look out, when he nervously +called her attention to another window. "See here!" he exclaimed. "My +people are gathering to welcome their new missis. In answer to Tom's +request, I told him I would introduce you to them to-night. But you +are tired, and I am afraid you will take cold in the evening air; so +we will postpone the ceremony until to-morrow." + +"O, no," she replied, "I would prefer to go now. How their black faces +will shine when they see the glass beads and gay handkerchiefs I have +brought for them! Besides, I want to find out who that singer is. It's +strange you don't take more interest in such a voice as that, when +you are so full of music. Will you have the goodness to ring for my +shawl?" + +With a decision almost peremptory in its tone, he said, "No; I had +rather you would _not_ go out." Seeing that his manner excited some +surprise, he patted her head and added: "Mind your husband now, that's +a good child. Amuse yourself at the piano while I go out." + +She pouted a little, but finished by saying coaxingly, "Come back +soon, dear." She attempted to follow him far enough to look out on the +veranda, but he gently put her back, and, kissing his hand to her, +departed. She raised a corner of the curtain and peeped out to catch +the last glimpse of his figure. The moon was rising, and she could see +that he walked slowly, peering into spots of dense shadow or thickets +of shrubbery, as if looking for some one. But all was motionless and +still, save the sound of a banjo from the group of servants. "How I +wish I could hear that voice again!" she thought to herself. "It's +very singular Gerald should appear so indifferent to it. What can be +the meaning of it?" + +She pondered for a few minutes, and then she tried to play; but not +finding it entertaining without an auditor, she soon rose, and, +drawing aside one of the curtains, looked out upon the lovely night. +The grand old trees cast broad shadows on the lawn, and the shrubbery +of the garden gleamed in the soft moonlight. She felt solitary +without any one to speak to, and, being accustomed to have her whims +gratified, she was rather impatient under the prohibition laid upon +her. She rung the bell and requested Venus to bring her shawl. The +obsequious dressing-maid laid it lightly on her shoulders, and holding +out a white nubia of zephyr worsted, she said, "P'r'aps missis would +like to war dis ere." She stood watching while her mistress twined the +gossamer fabric round her head with careless grace. She opened the +door for her to pass out on the veranda, and as she looked after her +she muttered to herself, "She's a pooty missis; but not such a gran' +hansom lady as turrer." A laugh shone through her dark face as she +added, "'T would be curus ef she should fine turrer missis out dar." +As she passed through the parlor she glanced at the large mirror, +which dimly reflected her dusky charms, and said with a smile: "Massa +knows what's hansome. He's good judge ob we far sex." + +The remark was inaudible to the bride, who walked up and down the +veranda, ever and anon glancing at the garden walks, to see if Gerald +were in sight. She had a little plan of hiding among the vines when +she saw him coming, and peeping out suddenly as he approached. She +thought to herself she should look so pretty in the moonlight, that he +would forget to chide her. And certainly she was a pleasant vision. +Her fairy figure, enveloped in soft white folds of muslin, her +delicate complexion shaded by curls so fair that they seemed a portion +of the fleecy nubia, were so perfectly in unison with the mild +radiance of the evening, that she seemed like an embodied portion of +the moonlight. Gerald absented himself so long that her little plan +of surprising him had time to cool. She paused more frequently in +her promenade, and looked longer at the distant sparkle of the sea. +Turning to resume her walk, after one of these brief moments of +contemplation, she happened to glance at the lattice-work of the +veranda, and through one of its openings saw a large, dark eye +watching her. She started to run into the house, but upon second +thought she called out, "Gerald, you rogue, why didn't you speak to +let me know you were there?" She darted toward the lattice, but the +eye disappeared. She tried to follow, but saw only a tall shadow +gliding away behind the corner of the house. She pursued, but found +only a tremulous reflection of vines in the moonlight. She kept on +round the house, and into the garden, frequently calling out, "Gerald! +Gerald!" "Hark! hark!" she murmured to herself, as some far-off tones +of "Toll the bell" floated through the air. The ghostly moonlight, +the strange, lonely place, and the sad, mysterious sounds made her a +little afraid. In a more agitated tone, she called Gerald again. In +obedience to her summons, she saw him coming toward her in the +garden walk. Forgetful of her momentary fear, she sprang toward him, +exclaiming: "Are you a wizard? How did you get there, when two minutes +ago you were peeping at me through the veranda lattice?" + +"I haven't been there," he replied; "but why are you out here, Lily, +when I particularly requested you to stay in the house till I came?" + +"O, you were so long coming, that I grew tired of being alone. The +moonlight looked so inviting that I went out on the veranda to watch +for you; and when I saw you looking at me through the lattice, I ran +after you, and couldn't find you." + +"I haven't been near the lattice," he replied. "If you saw somebody +looking at you, I presume it was one of the servants peeping at the +new missis." + +"None of your tricks!" rejoined she, snapping her fingers at him +playfully. "It was _your_ eye that I saw. If it weren't for making you +vain, I would ask you whether your handsome eyes could be mistaken for +the eyes of one of your negroes. But I want you to go with me to that +bower down there." + +"Not to-night, dearest," said he. "I will go with you to-morrow." + +"Now is just the time," persisted she. "Bowers never look so pretty +as by moonlight. I don't think you are very gallant to your bride to +refuse her such a little favor." + +Thus urged, he yielded, though reluctantly, to her whim. As she +entered the bower, and turned to speak to him, the moonlight fell full +upon her figure. "What a pretty little witch you are!" he exclaimed. +"My Lily Bell, my precious pearl, my sylph! You look like a spirit +just floated down from the moon." + +"All moonshine!" replied she, with a smile. + +He kissed the saucy lips, and the vines which had witnessed other +caresses in that same bower, a few months earlier, whispered to each +other, but told no tales. She leaned her head upon his bosom, and +looking out upon the winding walks of the garden, so fair and peaceful +in sheen and shadow, she said that her new home was more beautiful +than she had dreamed. "Hark!" said she, raising her head suddenly, and +listening. "I thought I heard a sigh." + +"It was only the wind among the vines," he replied. "Wandering about +in the moonlight has made you nervous." + +"I believe I _was_ a little afraid before you came," said she. "That +eye looking at me through the lattice gave me a start; and while I was +running after your shadow, I heard that voice again singing, 'Toll the +bell.' I wonder how you can be so indifferent about such a remarkable +voice, when you are such a lover of music." + +"I presume, as I told you before, that it was one of the darkies," +rejoined he. "I will inquire about it to-morrow." + +"I should sooner believe it to be the voice of an angel from heaven, +than a darky," responded the bride. "I wish I could hear it again +before I sleep." + +In immediate response to her wish, the full rich voice she had invoked +began to sing an air from "Norma," beginning, "O, how his art deceived +thee!" + +Fitzgerald started so suddenly, he overturned a seat near them. +"Hush!" she whispered, clinging to his arm. Thus they stood in +silence, she listening with rapt attention, he embarrassed and +angry almost beyond endurance. The enchanting sounds were obviously +receding. + +"Let us follow her, and settle the question who she is," said Lily, +trying to pull him forward. But he held her back strongly. + +"No more running about to-night," he answered almost sternly. Then, +immediately checking himself, he added, in a gentler tone: "It is +imprudent in you to be out so long in the evening air; and I am really +very tired, dear Lily. To-morrow I will try to ascertain which of the +servants has been following you round in this strange way." + +"Do you suppose any servant could sing _that_?" she exclaimed. + +"They are nearly all musical, and wonderfully imitative," answered he. +"They can catch almost anything they hear." He spoke in a nonchalant +tone, but she felt his arm tremble as she leaned upon it. He had never +before made such an effort to repress rage. + +In tones of tender anxiety, she said: "I am afraid you are very tired, +dear. I am sorry I kept you out so long." + +"I am rather weary," he replied, taking her hand, and holding it in +his. He was so silent as they walked toward the house, that she feared +he was seriously offended with her. + +As they entered the parlor she said, "I didn't think you cared about +my not going out, Gerald, except on account of my taking cold; and +with my shawl and nubia I don't think there was the least danger of +that. It was such a beautiful night, I wanted to go out to meet you, +dear." + +He kissed her mechanically, and replied, "I am not offended, darling." + +"Then, if the blue devils possess you, we will try Saul's method of +driving them away," said she. She seated herself at the piano, and +asked him whether he would accompany her with voice or flute. He tried +the flute, but played with such uncertainty, that she looked at him +with surprise. Music was the worst remedy she could have tried to +quiet the disturbance in his soul; for its voice evoked ghosts of the +past. + +"I am really tired, Lily," said he; and, affecting a drowsiness he did +not feel, he proposed retiring for the night. + +The chamber was beautiful with the moon shining through its +rose-tinted drapery, and the murmur of the ocean was a soothing +lullaby. But it was long before either of them slept; and when they +slumbered, the same voice went singing through their dreams. He was in +the flowery parlor at New Orleans, listening to "The Light of other +Days"; and she was following a veiled shadow through a strange garden, +hearing the intermingled tones of "Norma" and "Toll the bell." + +It was late in the morning when she awoke. Gerald was gone, but +a bouquet of fragrant flowers lay on the pillow beside her. Her +dressing-gown was on a chair by the bedside, and Venus sat at the +window sewing. + +"Where is Mr. Fitzgerald?" she inquired. + +"He said he war gwine to turrer plantation on business. He leff dem +flower dar, an' tole me to say he 'd come back soon." + +The fair hair was neatly arranged by the black hands that contrasted +so strongly with it. The genteel little figure was enveloped in a +morning-dress of delicate blue and white French cambric, and the +little feet were ensconced in slippers of azure velvet embroidered +with silver. The dainty breakfast, served on French porcelain, was +slowly eaten, and still Gerald returned not. She removed to the +chamber window, and, leaning her cheek on her hand, looked out upon +the sun-sparkle of the ocean. Her morning thought was the same with +which she had passed into slumber the previous night. How strange it +was that Gerald would take no notice of that enchanting voice! The +incident that seemed to her a charming novelty had, she knew not why, +cast a shadow over the first evening in their bridal home. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Mr. Fitzgerald had ordered his horse to be saddled at an earlier hour +than Tom had ever known him to ride, except on a hunting excursion, +and in his own mind he concluded that his master would be asleep at +the hour he had indicated. Before he stretched himself on the floor +for the night, he expressed this opinion to the cook by saying, "Yer +know, Dinah, white folks is allers mighty wide awake de night afore +dey gits up." + +To his surprise, however, Mr. Fitzgerald made his appearance at the +stable just as he was beginning to comb the horse. "You lazy black +rascal," he exclaimed, "didn't I order you to have the horse ready by +this time?" + +"Yes, Massa," replied Tom, sheering out of the way of the upraised +whip; "but it peers like Massa's watch be leetle bit faster dan de sun +dis ere mornin'." + +The horse was speedily ready, and Tom looked after his master as he +leaped into the saddle and dashed off in the direction of the lonely +cottage. There was a grin on his face as he muttered, "Reckon Missis +don't know whar yer gwine." He walked toward the house, whistling, +"Nelly was a lady." + +"Dat ar war gwine roun' an' roun' de hus las' night, jes like a +sperit. 'Twar dat ar Spanish lady," said Dinah. + +"She sings splendiferous," rejoined Tom, "an' Massa liked it more dan +de berry bes bottle ob wine." He ended by humming, "Now all dem happy +days am ober." + +"Better not let Massa hear yer sing dat ar," said Dinah. "He make yer +sing nudder song." + +"She's mighty gran' lady, an' a bery perlite missis, an' Ise sorry fur +her," replied Tom. + +Mr. Fitzgerald had no sense of refreshment in his morning ride. He +urged his horse along impatiently, with brow contracted and lips +firmly compressed. He was rehearsing in his mind the severe reprimand +he intended to bestow upon Rosa. He expected to be met with tears and +reproaches, to which he would show himself hard till she made contrite +apologies for her most unexpected and provoking proceedings. It was +his purpose to pardon her at last, for he was far enough from wishing +to lose her; and she had always been so gentle and submissive, that he +entertained no doubt the scene would end with a loving willingness to +accept his explanations, and believe in his renewed professions. "She +loves me to distraction, and she is entirely in my power," thought he. +"It will be strange indeed if I cannot mould her as I will." + +Arrived at the cottage, he found Tulee washing on a bench outside the +kitchen. "Good morning, Tulee," said he. "Is your mistress up yet?" + +"Missy Rosy ha'n't been asleep," she answered in a very cold tone, +without looking up from her work. + +He entered the house, and softly opened the door of Rosa's sleeping +apartment. She was walking slowly, with arms crossed, looking +downward, as if plunged in thought. Her extreme pallor disarmed him, +and there was no hardness in his tone when he said, "Rosabella!" + +She started, for she had supposed the intruder was Tulee. With head +proudly erect, nostrils dilated, and eyes that flashed fire, she +exclaimed, "How dare you come here?" + +This reception was so entirely unexpected, that it disconcerted him; +and instead of the severe reproof he had contemplated, he said, in an +expostulating tone: "Rosa, I always thought you the soul of honor. +When we parted, you promised not to go to the plantation unless I was +with you. Is this the way you keep your word?" + +"_You_ talk of honor and promises!" she exclaimed. + +The sneer conveyed in the tones stung him to the quick. But he made an +effort to conceal his chagrin, and said, with apparent calmness: "You +must admit it was an unaccountable freak to start for the plantation +in the evening, and go wandering round the grounds in that mysterious +way. What could have induced you to take such a step?" + +"I accidentally overheard Tom telling Tulee that you were to bring +home a bride from the North yesterday. I could not believe it of you, +and I was too proud to question him. But after reflecting upon it, I +chose to go and see for myself. And when I _had_ seen for myself, I +wished to remind you of that past which you seemed to have forgotten." + +"Curse on Tom!" he exclaimed. "He shall smart for this mischief." + +"Don't be so unmanly as to punish a poor servant for mentioning a +piece of news that interested the whole plantation, and which must of +course be a matter of notoriety," she replied very quietly. "Both he +and Tulee were delicate enough to conceal it from me." + +Fitzgerald felt embarrassed by her perfect self-possession. After a +slight pause, during which she kept her face averted from him, he +said: "I confess that appearances are against me, and that you have +reason to feel offended. But if you knew just how I was situated, you +would, perhaps, judge me less harshly. I have met with heavy losses +lately, and I was in danger of becoming bankrupt unless I could keep +up my credit by a wealthy marriage. The father of this young lady is +rich, and she fell in love with me. I have married her; but I tell you +truly, dear Rosa, that I love you more than I ever loved any other +woman." + +"You say she loved you, and yet you could deceive her so," she +replied. "You could conceal from her that you already had a wife. When +I watched her as she walked on the veranda I was tempted to reveal +myself, and disclose your baseness." + +Fitzgerald's eyes flashed with sudden anger, as he vociferated, "Rosa, +if you ever dare to set up any such claim--" + +"If I _dare_!" she exclaimed, interrupting him in a tone of proud +defiance, that thrilled through all his nerves. + +Alarmed by the strength of character which he had never dreamed she +possessed, he said: "In your present state of mind, there is no +telling what you may dare to do. It becomes necessary for you to +understand your true position. You are not my wife. The man who +married us had no legal authority to perform the ceremony." + +"O steeped in falsehood to the lips!" exclaimed she. "And _you_ are +the idol I have worshipped!" + +He looked at her with astonishment not unmingled with admiration. +"Rosa, I could not have believed you had such a temper," rejoined he. +"But why will you persist in making yourself and me unhappy? As long +as my wife is ignorant of my love for you, no harm is done. If you +would only listen to reason, we might still be happy. I could manage +to visit you often. You would find me as affectionate as ever; and I +will provide amply for you." + +"_Provide_ for me?" she repeated slowly, looking him calmly and +loftily in the face. "What have you ever seen in me, Mr. Fitzgerald, +that has led you to suppose I would consent to sell myself?" + +His susceptible temperament could not withstand the regal beauty of +her proud attitude and indignant look. "O Rosa," said he, "there is no +woman on earth to be compared with you. If you only knew how I idolize +you at this moment, after all the cruel words you have uttered, you +surely would relent. Why will you not be reasonable, dearest? Why not +consent to live with me as your mother lived with your father?" + +"Don't wrong the memory of my mother," responded she hastily. "She +was too pure and noble to be dishonored by your cruel laws. She would +never have entered into any such base and degrading arrangement as +you propose. She couldn't have lived under the perpetual shame of +deceiving another wife. She couldn't have loved my father, if he had +deceived her as you have deceived me. She trusted him entirely, and in +return he gave her his undivided affection." + +"And I give you undivided affection," he replied. "By all the stars +of heaven, I swear that you are now, as you always have been, my Rosa +Regina, my Rosa _munda_." + +"Do not exhaust your oaths," rejoined she, with a contemptuous curl of +the lip. "Keep some of them for your Lily Bell, your precious pearl, +your moonlight sylph." + +Thinking the retort implied a shade of jealousy, he felt encouraged +to persevere. "You may thank your own imprudence for having overheard +words so offensive to you," responded he. "But Rosa, dearest, you +cannot, with all your efforts, drive from you the pleasant memories of +our love. You surely do not hate me?" + +"No, Mr. Fitzgerald; you have fallen below hatred. I despise you." + +His brow contracted, and his lips tightened. "I cannot endure this +treatment," said he, in tones of suppressed rage. "You tempt me too +far. You compel me to humble your pride. Since I cannot persuade you +to listen to expostulations and entreaties, I must inform you that my +power over you is complete. You are my slave. I bought you of your +father's creditors before I went to Nassau. I can sell you any day I +choose; and, by Jove, I will, if--" + +The sudden change that came over her arrested him. She pressed one +hand hard upon her heart, and gasped for breath. He sank at once on +his knees, crying, "O, forgive me, Rosa! I was beside myself." + +But she gave no sign of hearing him; and seeing her reel backward into +a chair, with pale lips and closing eyes, he hastened to summon Tulee. +Such remorse came over him that he longed to wait for her returning +consciousness. But he remembered that his long absence must excite +surprise in the mind of his bride, and might, perhaps, connect itself +with the mysterious singer of the preceding evening. Goaded by +contending feelings, he hurried through the footpaths whence he had so +often kissed his hand to Rosa in fond farewell, and hastily mounted +his horse without one backward glance. + +Before he came in sight of the plantation, the perturbation of his +mind had subsided, and he began to think himself a much-injured +individual. "Plague on the caprices of women!" thought he. "All this +comes of Lily's taking the silly, romantic whim of coming here to +spend the honeymoon. And Rosa, foolish girl, what airs she assumes! I +wanted to deal generously by her; but she rejected all my offers as +haughtily as if she had been queen of Spain and all the Americas. +There's a devilish deal more of the Spanish blood in her than I +thought for. Pride becomes her wonderfully; but it won't hold out +forever. She'll find that she can't live without me. I can wait." + +Feeling the need of some safety-valve to let off his vexation, he +selected poor Tom for that purpose. When the obsequious servant came +to lead away the horse, his master gave him a sharp cut of the whip, +saying, "I'll teach you to tell tales again, you black rascal!" +But having a dainty aversion to the sight of pain, he summoned the +overseer, and consigned him to his tender mercies. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +If Flora could have known all this, the sisters would have soon been +locked in each other's arms; but while she supposed that Rosa +still regarded Mr. Fitzgerald with perfect love and confidence, no +explanation of her flight could be given. She did indeed need to be +often reminded by Mrs. Delano that it would be the most unkind thing +toward her sister, as well as hazardous to herself, to attempt any +communication. Notwithstanding the tenderest care for her comfort +and happiness, she could not help being sometimes oppressed with +homesickness. Her Boston home was tasteful and elegant, but everything +seemed foreign and strange. She longed for Rosa and Tulee, and Madame +and the Signor. She missed what she called the _olla-podrida_ phrases +to which she had always been accustomed; and in her desire to behave +with propriety, there was an unwonted sense of constraint. When +callers came, she felt like a colt making its first acquaintance +with harness. She endeavored to conceal such feelings from her kind +benefactress; but sometimes, if she was surprised in tears, she +would say apologetically, "I love you dearly, Mamita Lila; but it is +dreadful to be so far away from anybody that ever knew anything about +the old times." + +"But you forget that I do know something about them, darling," replied +Mrs. Delano. "I am never so happy as when you are telling me about +your father. Perhaps by and by, when you have become enough used to +your new home to feel as mischievous as you are prone to be, you will +take a fancy to sing to me, 'O, there's nothing half so sweet in life +as love's _old_ dream.'" + +It was beautiful to see how girlish the sensible and serious lady +became in her efforts to be companionable to her young _protegee_. Day +after day, her intimate friends found her playing battledoor or the +Graces, or practising pretty French romanzas, flowery rondeaux, or +lively dances. She was surprised at herself; for she had not supposed +it possible for her ever to take an interest in such things after her +daughter died. But, like all going out of self, these efforts brought +their recompense. + +She always introduced the little stranger as "Miss Flora Delano, my +adopted daughter." To those who were curious to inquire further, she +said: "She is an orphan, in whom I became much interested in the West +Indies. As we were both very much alone in the world, I thought the +wisest thing we could do would be to cheer each other's loneliness." +No allusion was ever made to her former name, for that might have +led to inconvenient questions concerning her father's marriage; and, +moreover, the lady had no wish to resuscitate the little piece of +romance in her own private history, now remembered by few. + +It was contrary to Mrs. Delano's usual caution and deliberation to +adopt a stranger so hastily; and had she been questioned beforehand, +she would have pronounced it impossible for her to enter into such a +relation with one allied to the colored race, and herself a slave. But +a strange combination of circumstances had all at once placed her in +this most unexpected position. She never for one moment regretted +the step she had taken; but the consciousness of having a secret to +conceal, especially a secret at war with the conventional rules of +society, was distasteful to her, and felt as some diminution of +dignity. She did not believe in the genuineness of Rosa's marriage, +though she deemed it best not to impart such doubts to Flora. If Mr. +Fitzgerald should marry another, she foresaw that it would be her duty +to assist in the reunion of the sisters, both of whom were slaves. +She often thought to herself, "In what a singular complication I have +become involved! So strange for me, who have such an aversion to all +sorts of intrigues and mysteries." With these reflections were mingled +anxieties concerning Flora's future. Of course, it would not be well +for her to be deprived of youthful companionship; and if she mixed +with society, her handsome person, her musical talent, and her +graceful dancing would be sure to attract admirers. And then, would it +be right to conceal her antecedents? And if they should be explained +or accidentally discovered, after her young affections were engaged, +what disappointment and sadness might follow! + +But Flora's future was in a fair way to take care of itself. One day +she came flying into the parlor with her face all aglow. "O Mamita +Lila," exclaimed she, "I have had such a pleasant surprise! I went to +Mr. Goldwin's store to do your errand, and who should I find there but +Florimond Blumenthal!" + +"And, pray, who is Florimond Blumenthal?" inquired Mrs. Delano. + +"O, haven't I told you? I thought I had told you all about everybody +and everything. He was a poor orphan, that papa took for an +errand-boy. He sent him to school, and afterward he was his clerk. He +came to our house often when I was a little girl; but after he grew +tall, papa used to send an old negro man to do our errands. So I +didn't see him any more till _cher papa_ died. He was very kind to us +then. He was the one that brought those beautiful baskets I told you +of. Isn't it funny? They drove him away from New Orleans because they +said he was an Abolitionist, and that he helped us to escape, when he +didn't know anything at all about it. He said he heard we had gone to +the North. And he went looking all round in New York, and then he came +to Boston, hoping to see us or hear from us some day; but he had about +done expecting it when I walked into the store. You never saw anybody +so red as he was, when he held out his hand and said, in such a +surprised way, 'Miss Royal, is it you?' Just out of mischief, I told +him very demurely that my name was Delano. Then he became very formal +all at once, and said, 'Does this silk suit you, Mrs. Delano?' That +made me laugh, and blush too. I told him I wasn't married, but a kind +lady in Summer Street had adopted me and given me her name. Some other +customers came up to the counter, and so I had to come away." + +"Did you ask him not to mention your former name?" inquired Mrs. +Delano. + +"No, I hadn't time to think of that," replied Flora; "but I _will_ ask +him." + +"Don't go to the store on purpose to see him, dear. Young ladies +should be careful about such things," suggested her maternal friend. + +Two hours afterward, as they returned from a carriage-drive, Flora had +just drawn off her gloves, when she began to rap on the window, and +instantly darted into the street. Mrs. Delano, looking out, saw her on +the opposite sidewalk, in earnest conversation with a young gentleman. +When she returned, she said to her: "You shouldn't rap on the windows +to young gentlemen, my child. It hasn't a good appearance." + +"I didn't rap to young gentlemen," replied Flora. "It was only +Florimond. I wanted to tell him not to mention my name. He asked me +about my sister, and I told him she was alive and well, and I couldn't +tell him any more at present. Florimond won't mention anything I +request him not to,--I know he won't." + +Mrs. Delano smiled to herself at Flora's quick, off-hand way of doing +things. "But after all," thought she, "it is perhaps better settled +so, than it would have been with more ceremony." Then speaking aloud, +she said, "Your friend has a very blooming name." + +"His name was Franz," rejoined Flora; "but Mamita called him +Florimond, because he had such pink cheeks; and he liked Mamita so +much, that he always writes his name Franz Florimond. We always had so +many flowery names mixed up with our _olla-podrida_ talk. _Your_ name +is flowery too. I used to say Mamita would have called you Lady Viola; +but violet colors and lilac colors are cousins, and they both suit +your complexion and your name, Mamita Lila." + +After dinner, she began to play and sing with more gayety than she +had manifested for many a day. While her friend played, she practised +several new dances with great spirit; and after she had kissed +good-night, she went twirling through the door, as if music were +handing her out. + +Mrs. Delano sat awhile in revery. She was thinking what a splendid +marriage her adopted daughter might make, if it were not for that +stain upon her birth. She was checked by the thought: "How I have +fallen into the world's ways, which seemed to me so mean and heartless +when I was young! Was _I_ happy in the splendid marriage they made for +_me_? From what Flora lets out occasionally, I judge her father felt +painfully the anomalous position of his handsome daughters. Alas! if +I had not been so weak as to give him up, all this miserable +entanglement might have been prevented. So one wrong produces another +wrong; and thus frightfully may we affect the destiny of others, while +blindly following the lead of selfishness. But the past, with all its +weaknesses and sins, has gone beyond recall; and I must try to write a +better record on the present." + +As she passed to her sleeping-room, she softly entered the adjoining +chamber, and, shading the lamp with her hand, she stood for a moment +looking at Flora. Though it was but a few minutes since she was +darting round like a humming-bird, she was now sleeping as sweetly as +a babe. She made an extremely pretty picture in her slumber, with the +long dark eyelashes resting on her youthful cheek, and a shower of +dark curls falling over her arm. "No wonder Alfred loved her so +dearly," thought she. "If his spirit can see us, he must bless me +for saving his innocent child." Filled with this solemn and tender +thought, she knelt by the bedside, and prayed for blessing and +guidance in the task she had undertaken. + +The unexpected finding of a link connected with old times had a +salutary effect on Flora's spirits. In the morning, she said that she +had had pleasant dreams about Rosabella and Tulee, and that she didn't +mean to be homesick any more. "It's very ungrateful," added she, "when +my dear, good Mamita Lila does so much to make me happy." + +"To help you keep your good resolution, I propose that we go to the +Athenaeum," said Mrs. Delano, smiling. Flora had never been in a +gallery of paintings, and she was as much pleased as a little child +with a new picture-book. Her enthusiasm attracted attention, and +visitors smiled to see her clap her hands, and to hear her little +shouts of pleasure or of fun. Ladies said to each other, "It's plain +that this lively little _adoptee_ of Mrs. Delano's has never been much +in good society." And gentlemen answered, "It is equally obvious that +she has never kept vulgar company." + +Mrs. Delano's nice ideas of conventional propriety were a little +disturbed, and she was slightly annoyed by the attention they +attracted. But she said to herself, "If I am always checking the +child, I shall spoil the naturalness which makes her so charming." So +she quietly went on explaining the pictures, and giving an account of +the artists. + +The next day it rained; and Mrs. Delano read aloud "The Lady of the +Lake," stopping now and then to explain its connection with Scottish +history, or to tell what scenes Rossini had introduced in _La Donna +del Lago_, which she had heard performed in Paris. The scenes of the +opera were eagerly imbibed, but the historical lessons rolled off +her memory, like water from a duck's back. It continued to rain and +drizzle for three days; and Flora, who was very atmospheric, began +to yield to the dismal influence of the weather. Her watchful friend +noticed the shadow of homesickness coming over the sunlight of her +eyes, and proposed that they should go to a concert. Flora objected, +saying that music would make her think so much of Rosabella, she was +afraid she should cry in public. But when the programme was produced, +she saw nothing associated with her sister, and said, "I will go if +you wish it, Mamita Lila, because I like to do everything you wish." +She felt very indifferent about going; but when Mr. Wood came forward, +singing, "The sea, the sea, the open sea!" in tones so strong and full +that they seemed the voice of the sea itself, she was half beside +herself with delight. She kept time with her head and hands, with a +degree of animation that made the people round her smile. She, quite +unconscious of observation, swayed to the music, and ever and anon +nodded her approbation to a fair-faced young gentleman, who seemed to +be enjoying the concert very highly, though not to such a degree as to +be oblivious of the audience. + +Mrs. Delano was partly amused and partly annoyed. She took Flora's +hand, and by a gentle pressure, now and then, sought to remind her +that they were in public; but she understood it as an indication of +musical sympathy, and went on all the same. + +When they entered the carriage to return home, she drew a long breath, +and exclaimed, O Mamita, how I have enjoyed the concert!" + +"I am very glad of it," replied her friend. "I suppose that was Mr. +Blumenthal to whom you nodded several times, and who followed you to +the carriage. But, my dear, it isn't the custom for young ladies to +keep nodding to young gentlemen in public places." + +"Isn't it? I didn't think anything about it," rejoined Flora. "But +Florimond isn't a gentleman. He's an old acquaintance. Don't you find +it very tiresome, Mamita, to be always remembering what is the custom? +I'm sure _I_ shall never learn." + +When she went singing up stairs that night, Mrs. Delano smiled to +herself as she said, "What _am_ I to do with this mercurial young +creature? What an overturn she makes in all my serious pursuits and +quiet ways! But there is something singularly refreshing about the +artless little darling." + +Warm weather was coming, and Mrs. Delano began to make arrangements +for passing the summer at Newport; but her plans were suddenly +changed. One morning Flora wished to purchase some colored crayons to +finish a drawing she had begun. As she was going out, her friend said +to her, "The sun shines so brightly, you had better wear your veil." + +"O, I've been muffled up so much, I do detest veils," replied Flora, +half laughingly and half impatiently. "I like to have a whole world +full of air to breathe in. But if you wish it, Mamita Lila, I will +wear it." + +It seemed scarcely ten minutes after, when the door-bell was rung with +energy, and Flora came in nervously agitated. + +"O Mamita!" exclaimed she, "I am so glad you advised me to wear a +veil. I met Mr. Fitzgerald in this very street. I don't think he saw +me, for my veil was close, and as soon as I saw him coming I held my +head down. He can't take me here in Boston, and carry me off, can he?" + +"He shall not carry you off, darling; but you must not go in the +street, except in the carriage with me. We will sit up stairs, a +little away from the windows; and if I read aloud, you won't forget +yourself and sing at your embroidery or drawing, as you are apt to do. +It's not likely he will remain in the city many days, and I will try +to ascertain his movements." + +Before they had settled to their occupations, a ring at the door made +Flora start, and quickened the pulses of her less excitable friend. It +proved to be only a box of flowers from the country. But Mrs. Delano, +uneasy in the presence of an undefined danger, the nature and extent +of which she did not understand, opened her writing-desk and wrote the +following note:-- + +"MR. WILLARD PERCIVAL. + +"Dear Sir,--If you can spare an hour this evening to talk with me on a +subject of importance, you will greatly oblige yours, + +"Very respectfully, + +"LILA DELANO" + +A servant was sent with the note, and directed to admit no gentleman +during the day or evening, without first bringing up his name. + +While they were lingering at the tea-table, the door-bell rang, and +Flora, with a look of alarm, started to run up stairs. "Wait a moment, +till the name is brought in," said her friend. "If I admit the +visitor, I should like to have you follow me to the parlor, and remain +there ten or fifteen minutes. You can then go to your room, and when +you are there, dear, be careful not to sing loud. Mr. Fitzgerald shall +not take you from me; but if he were to find out you were here, it +might give rise to talk that would be unpleasant." + +The servant announced Mr. Willard Percival; and a few moments +afterward Mrs. Delano introduced her _protegee_. Mr. Percival was too +well bred to stare, but the handsome, foreign-looking little damsel +evidently surprised him. He congratulated them both upon the relation +between them, and said he need not wish the young lady happiness in +her new home, for he believed Mrs. Delano always created an +atmosphere of happiness around her. After a few moments of desultory +conversation, Flora left the room. When she had gone, Mr. Percival +remarked, "That is a very fascinating young person." + +"I thought she would strike you agreeably," replied Mrs. Delano. "Her +beauty and gracefulness attracted me the first time I saw her; and +afterward I was still more taken by her extremely _naive_ manner. +She has been brought up in seclusion as complete as Miranda's on the +enchanted island; and there is no resisting the charm of her impulsive +naturalness. But, if you please, I will now explain the note I sent +to you this morning. I heard some months ago that you had joined the +Anti-Slavery Society." + +"And did you send for me hoping to convert me from the error of my +ways?" inquired he, smiling. + +"On the contrary, I sent for you to consult concerning a slave in whom +I am interested." + +"_You_, Mrs. Delano!" he exclaimed, in a tone of great surprise. + +"You may well think it strange," she replied, "knowing, as you do, +how bitterly both my father and my husband were opposed to the +anti-slavery agitation, and how entirely apart my own life has been +from anything of that sort. But while I was at the South this winter, +I heard of a case which greatly interested my feelings. A wealthy +American merchant in New Orleans became strongly attached to a +beautiful quadroon, who was both the daughter and the slave of a +Spanish planter. Her father became involved in some pecuniary trouble, +and sold his daughter to the American merchant, knowing that they were +mutually attached. Her bondage was merely nominal, for the tie of +affection remained constant between them as long as she lived; and he +would have married her if such marriages had been legal in Louisiana. +By some unaccountable carelessness, he neglected to manumit her. She +left two handsome and accomplished daughters, who always supposed +their mother to be a Spanish lady, and the wedded wife of their +father. But he died insolvent, and, to their great dismay, they found +themselves claimed as slaves under the Southern law, that 'the child +follows the condition of the mother.' A Southern gentleman, who was in +love with the eldest, married her privately, and smuggled them both +away to Nassau. After a while he went there to meet them, having +previously succeeded in buying them of the creditors. But his conduct +toward the younger was so base, that she absconded. The question I +wish to ask of you is, whether, if he should find her in the Free +States, he could claim her as his slave, and have his claim allowed by +law." + +"Not if he sent them to Nassau," replied Mr. Percival. "British soil +has the enviable distinction of making free whosoever touches it." + +"But he afterward brought them back to an island between Georgia and +South Carolina," said Mrs. Delano. "The eldest proved a most loving +and faithful wife, and to this day has no suspicion of his designs +with regard to her sister." + +"If he married her before he went to Nassau, the ceremony is not +binding," rejoined Mr. Percival; "for no marriage with a slave is +legal in the Southern States." + +"I was ignorant of that law," said Mrs. Delano, "being very little +informed on the subject of slavery. But I suspected trickery of some +sort in the transaction, because he proved himself so unprincipled +with regard to the sister." + +"And where is the sister?" inquired Mr. Percival. + +"I trust to your honor as a gentleman to keep the secret from every +mortal," answered Mrs. Delano. "You have seen her this evening." + +"Is it possible," he exclaimed, "that you mean to say she is your +adopted daughter?" + +"I did mean to say that," she replied. "I have placed great confidence +in you; for you can easily imagine it would be extremely disagreeable +to me, as well as to her, to become objects of public notoriety." + +"Your confidence is a sacred deposit," answered he. "I have long been +aware that the most romantic stories in the country have grown out of +the institution of slavery; but this seems stranger than fiction. With +all my knowledge of the subject, I find it hard to realize that such +a young lady as that has been in danger of being sold on the +auction-block in this republic. It makes one desirous to conceal that +he is an American." + +"My principal reason for wishing to consult you," said Mrs. Delano, +"is, that Mr. Fitzgerald, the purchaser of these girls, is now in the +city, and Flora met him this morning. Luckily, she was closely veiled, +and he did not recognize her. I think it is impossible he can have +obtained any clew to my connivance at her escape, and yet I feel a +little uneasy. I am so ignorant of the laws on this subject, that I +don't know what he has the power to do if he discovers her. Can he +claim her here in Boston?" + +"He could claim her and bring her before the United States Court," +replied Mr. Percival; "but I doubt whether he _would_ do it. To claim +such a girl as _that_ for a slave, would excite general sympathy +and indignation, and put too much ammunition into the hands of us +Abolitionists. Besides, no court in the Free States could help +deciding that, if he sent her to Nassau, she became free. If he should +discover her whereabouts, I shouldn't wonder if attempts were made to +kidnap her; for men of his character are very unscrupulous, and there +are plenty of caitiffs in Boston ready to do any bidding of their +Southern masters. If she were conveyed to the South, though the courts +_ought_ to decide she was free, it is doubtful whether they _would_ do +it; for, like Achilles, they scorn the idea that laws were made for +such as they." + +"If I were certain that Mr. Fitzgerald knew of her being here, or +that he even suspected it," said Mrs. Delano, "I would at once +take measures to settle the question by private purchase; but the +presumption is that he and the sister suppose Flora to be dead, and +her escape cannot be made known without betraying the cause of it. +Flora has a great dread of disturbing her sister's happiness, and she +thinks that, now she is away, all will go well. Another difficulty is, +that, while the unfortunate lady believes herself to be his lawful +wife, she is really his slave, and if she should offend him in any way +he could sell her. It troubles me that I cannot discover any mode of +ascertaining whether he deserts her or not. He keeps her hidden in the +woods in that lonely island, where her existence is unknown, except to +a few of his negro slaves. The only white friends she seems to have in +the world are her music teacher and French teacher in New Orleans. Mr. +Fitzgerald has impressed it upon their minds that the creditors of her +father will prosecute him, and challenge him, if they discover that he +first conveyed the girls away and then bought them at reduced prices. +Therefore, if I should send an agent to New Orleans at any time to +obtain tidings of the sister, those cautious friends would doubtless +consider it a trap of the creditors, and would be very secretive." + +"It is a tangled skein to unravel," rejoined Mr. Percival. "I do +not see how anything can be done for the sister, under present +circumstances." + +"I feel undecided what course to pursue with regard to my adopted +daughter," said Mrs. Delano. "Entire seclusion is neither cheerful nor +salutary at her age. But her person and manners attract attention and +excite curiosity. I am extremely desirous to keep her history secret, +but I already find it difficult to answer questions without resorting +to falsehood, which is a practice exceedingly abhorrent to me, and a +very bad education for her. After this meeting with Mr. Fitzgerald, +I cannot take her to any public place without a constant feeling of +uneasiness. The fact is, I am so unused to intrigues and mysteries, +and I find it so hard to realize that a young girl like her _can_ be +in such a position, that I am bewildered, and need time to settle my +thoughts upon a rational basis." + +"Such a responsibility is so new to you, so entirely foreign to your +habits, that it must necessarily be perplexing," replied her visitor. +"I would advise you to go abroad for a while. Mrs. Percival and I +intend to sail for Europe soon, and if you will join us we shall +consider ourselves fortunate." + +"I accept the offer thankfully," said the lady. "It will help me out +of a present difficulty in the very way I was wishing for." + +When the arrangement was explained to Flora, with a caution not to go +in the streets, or show herself at the windows meanwhile, she made no +objection. But she showed her dimples with a broad smile, as she said, +"It is written in the book of fate, Mamita Lila, 'Always hiding or +running away.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Alfred R. King, when summoned home to Boston by the illness of his +mother, had, by advice of physicians, immediately accompanied her to +the South of France, and afterward to Egypt. Finding little benefit +from change of climate, and longing for familiar scenes and faces, +she urged her son to return to New England, after a brief sojourn in +Italy. She was destined never again to see the home for which she +yearned. The worn-out garment of her soul was laid away under a +flowery mound in Florence, and her son returned alone. During the two +years thus occupied, communication with the United States had been +much interrupted, and his thoughts had been so absorbed by his dying +mother, that the memory of that bright evening in New Orleans recurred +less frequently than it would otherwise have done. Still, the veiled +picture remained in his soul, making the beauty of all other women +seem dim. As he recrossed the Atlantic, lonely and sad, a radiant +vision of those two sisters sometimes came before his imagination with +the distinctness of actual presence. As he sat silently watching the +white streak of foam in the wake of the vessel, he could see, as in +a mirror, all the details of that flowery parlor; he could hear the +continuous flow of the fountain in the garden, and the melodious tones +of "Buena Notte, amato bene." + +Arrived in Boston, his first inquiry of the merchants was whether they +had heard anything of Mr. Royal. He received the news of his death +with a whirl of emotions. How he longed for tidings concerning the +daughters! But questions would of course be unavailing, since their +existence was entirely unknown at the North. That Mr. Royal had died +insolvent, and his property had been disposed of at auction, filled +him with alarm. It instantly occurred to him how much power such +circumstances would place in the hands of Mr. Fitzgerald. The thought +passed through his mind, "Would he marry Rosabella?" And he seemed to +hear a repetition of the light, careless tones, "Of course not,--she +was a quadroon." His uneasiness was too strong to be restrained, and +the second day after his arrival he started for New Orleans. + +He found the store of his old friend occupied by strangers, who could +only repeat what he had already heard. He rode out to the house where +he had passed that never-to-be-forgotten evening. There all was +painfully changed. The purchasers had refurnished the house with +tasteless gewgaws, and the spirit of gracefulness had vanished. Their +unmodulated voices grated on his ear, in contrast with the liquid +softness of Rosabella's tones, and the merry, musical tinkling of +Floracita's prattle. All they could tell him was, that they heard the +quadroons who used to be kept there by the gentleman that owned the +house had gone to the North somewhere. A pang shot through his soul as +he asked himself whether they remembered his offer of assistance, and +had gone in search of him. He turned and looked back upon the house, +as he had done that farewell morning, when he assured them that he +would be a brother in time of need. He could hardly believe that all +the life and love and beauty which animated that home had vanished +into utter darkness. It seemed stranger than the changes of a dream. + +Very sad at heart, he returned to the city and sought out a merchant +with whom his father had been accustomed to transact business. "Mr. +Talbot," said he, "I have come to New Orleans to inquire concerning +the affairs of the late Mr. Alfred Royal, who was a particular friend +of my father. I have been surprised to hear that he died insolvent; +for I supposed him to be wealthy." + +"He was generally so considered," rejoined Mr. Talbot. "But he was +brought down by successive failures, and some unlucky investments, as +we merchants often are, you know." + +"Were you acquainted with him," asked Alfred. + +"I knew very little of him, except in the way of business," replied +the merchant. "He was disinclined to society, and therefore some +people considered him eccentric; but he had the reputation of being a +kind-hearted, honorable man." + +"I think he never married," said Alfred, in a tone of hesitating +inquiry, which he hoped might lead to the subject he had at heart. + +But it only elicited the brief reply, "He was a bachelor." + +"Did you ever hear of any family not legitimated by law?" inquired the +young man. + +"There was a rumor about his living somewhere out of the city with a +handsome quadroon," answered the merchant. "But such arrangements are +so common here, they excite no curiosity." + +"Can you think of any one who had intimate relations with him, of whom +I could learn something about that connection?" + +"No, I cannot. As I tell you, he never mixed with society, and people +knew very little about him. Ha! there's a gentleman going by now, who +may be able to give you some information. Hallo, Signor Papanti!" + +The Italian, who was thus hailed, halted in his quick walk, and, being +beckoned to by Mr. Talbot, crossed the street and entered the store. + +"I think you brought a bill against the estate of the late Mr. Alfred +Royal for lessons given to some quadroon girls. Did you not?" inquired +the merchant. + +Having received an answer in the affirmative, he said: "This is +Mr. King, a young gentleman from the North, who wishes to obtain +information on that subject. Perhaps you can give it to him." + +"I remember the young gentleman," replied the Signor. "Mr. Royal did +introduce me to him at his store." + +The two gentlemen thus introduced bade Mr. Talbot good morning, and +walked away together, when Mr. King said, "My father and Mr. Royal +were as brothers, and that is the reason I feel interested to know +what has become of his daughters." + +The Italian replied, "I will tell _you_, sir, because Mr. Royal told +me you were an excellent man, and the son of his old friend." + +Rapid questions and answers soon brought out the principal features of +the sisters' strange history. When it came to the fact of their being +claimed as slaves, Mr. King started. "Is such a thing possible in this +country?" he exclaimed. "Girls so elegant and accomplished as they +were!" + +"Quite possible, sir," responded the Signor. "I have known several +similar instances in this city. But in this case I was surprised, +because I never knew their mother was a slave. She was a singularly +handsome and ladylike woman." + +"How was it possible that Mr. Royal neglected to manumit her?" +inquired the young man. + +"I suppose he never thought of her otherwise than as his wife, and +never dreamed of being otherwise than rich," rejoined the Signor." +Besides, you know how often death does overtake men with their duties +half fulfilled. He did manumit his daughters a few months before his +decease; but it was decided that he was then too deeply in debt to +have a right to dispose of any portion of his property." + +"Property!" echoed the indignant young man. "Such a term applied to +women makes me an Abolitionist." + +"Please not to speak that word aloud," responded the Italian. "I was +in prison several weeks on the charge of helping off those interesting +pupils of mine, and I don't know what might have become of me, if Mr. +Fitzgerald had not helped me by money and influence. I have my own +opinions about slavery, but I had rather go out of New Orleans before +I express them." + +"A free country indeed!" exclaimed the young man, "where one cannot +safely express his indignation against such enormities. But tell me +how the girls were rescued from such a dreadful fate; for by the +assurance you gave me at the outset that they needed no assistance, I +infer that they were rescued." + +He listened with as much composure as he could to the account of Mr. +Fitzgerald's agency in their escape, his marriage, Rosabella's devoted +love for him, and her happy home on a Paradisian island. The Signor +summed it up by saying, "I believe her happiness has been entirely +without alloy, except the sad fate of her sister, of which we heard a +few weeks ago." + +"What has happened to her?" inquired Alfred, with eager interest. + +"She went to the sea-shore to gather mosses, and never returned," +replied the Signor. "It is supposed she slipped into the water and was +drowned, or that she was seized by an alligator." + +"O horrid!" exclaimed Alfred. "Poor Floracita! What a bright, beaming +little beauty she was! But an alligator's mouth was a better fate than +slavery." + +"Again touching upon the dangerous topic!" rejoined the Signor. "If +you stay here long, I think you and the prison-walls will become +acquainted. But here is what used to be poor Mr. Royal's happy home, +and yonder is where Madame Papanti resides,--the Madame Guirlande I +told you of, who befriended the poor orphans when they had no other +friend. Her kindness to them, and her courage in managing for them, +was what first put it in my head to ask her to be my wife. Come in and +have a _tete-a-tete_ with her, sir. She knew the girls from the time +they were born, and she loved them like a mother." + +Within the house, the young man listened to a more prolonged account, +some of the details of which were new, others a repetition. Madame +dwelt with evident satisfaction on the fact that Rosa, in the midst +of all her peril, refused to accept the protection of Mr. Fitzgerald, +unless she were married to him; because she had so promised her +father, the night before he died. + +"That was highly honorable to her," replied Mr. King; "but marriage +with a slave is not valid in law." + +"So the Signor says," rejoined Madame. "I was so frightened and +hurried, and I was so relieved when a protector offered himself, that +I didn't think to inquire anything about it. Before Mr. Fitzgerald +made his appearance, we had planned to go to Boston in search of you." + +"Of _me_!" he exclaimed eagerly. "O, how I wish you had, and that I +had been in Boston to receive you!" + +"Well, I don't know that anything better could be done than has been +done," responded Madame. "The girls were handsome to the perdition +of their souls, as we say in France; and they knew no more about the +world than two blind kittens. Their mother came here a stranger, and +she made no acquaintance. Thus they seemed to be left singularly alone +when their parents were gone. Mr. Fitzgerald was so desperately in +love with Rosabella, and she with him, that they could not have been +kept long apart any way. He has behaved very generously toward +them. By purchasing them, he has taken them out of the power of the +creditors, some of whom were very bad men. He bought Rosa's piano, and +several other articles to which they were attached on their father's +and mother's account, and conveyed them privately to the new home he +had provided for them. Rosabella always writes of him as the most +devoted of husbands; and dear little Floracita used to mention him as +the kindest of brothers. So there seems every reason to suppose that +Rosa will be as fortunate as her mother was." + +"I hope so," replied Mr. King. "But I know Mr. Royal had very little +confidence in Mr. Fitzgerald; and the brief acquaintance I had with +him impressed me with the idea that he was a heartless, insidious man. +Moreover, they are his slaves." + +"They don't know that," rejoined Madame. "He has had the delicacy to +conceal it from them." + +"It would have been more delicate to have recorded their manumission," +responded Mr. King. + +"That would necessarily involve change of residence," remarked the +Signor; "for the laws of Georgia forbid the manumission of slaves +within the State." + +"What blasphemy to call such cruel enactments by the sacred name of +law!" replied the young man. "As well might the compacts of robbers to +secure their plunder be called law. The walls have no ears or tongues, +Signor," added he, smiling; "so I think you will not be thrust in jail +for having such an imprudent guest. But, as I was saying, I cannot +help having misgivings concerning the future. I want you to keep a +sharp lookout concerning the welfare of those young ladies, and to +inform me from time to time. Wheresoever I may happen to be, I will +furnish you with my address, and I wish you also to let me know where +you are to be found, if you should change your residence. My father +and Mr. Royal were like brothers when they were young men, and if +my father were living he would wish to protect the children of his +friend. The duty that he would have performed devolves upon me. I will +deposit five thousand dollars with Mr. Talbot, for their use, subject +to your order, should any unhappy emergency occur. I say _their_ use, +bearing in mind the possibility that Floracita may reappear, though +that seems very unlikely. But, my friends, I wish to bind you, by the +most solemn promise, never to mention my name in connection with this +transaction, and never to give any possible clew to it. I wish you +also to conceal my having come here to inquire concerning them. If +they ever need assistance, I do not wish them to know or conjecture +who their benefactor is. If you have occasion to call for the money, +merely say that an old friend of their father's deposited it for their +use." + +"I will solemnly pledge myself to secrecy," answered the Signor; "and +though secrets are not considered very safe with women, I believe +Madame may be trusted to any extent, where the welfare of these girls +is concerned." + +"I think you might say rather more than that, my friend," rejoined +Madame. "But that will do. I promise to do in all respects as the +young gentleman has requested, though I trust and believe that his +precautions will prove needless. Mr. Fitzgerald is very wealthy, and I +cannot suppose it possible that he would ever allow Rosabella to want +for anything." + +"That may be," replied Mr. King. "But storms come up suddenly in +the sunniest skies, as was the case with poor Mr. Royal. If Mr. +Fitzgerald's love remains constant, he may fail, or he may die, +without making provision for her manumission or support." + +"That is very true," answered the Signor. "How much forecast you +Yankees have!" + +"I should hardly deserve that compliment, my friends, if I failed to +supply you with the necessary means to carry out my wishes." He put +two hundred dollars into the hands of each, saying, "You will keep me +informed on the subject; and if Mrs. Fitzgerald should be ill or in +trouble, your will go to her." + +They remonstrated, saying it was too much. "Take it then for what you +_have_ done," replied he. + +When he had gone, Madame said, "Do you suppose he does all this on +account of the friendship of their fathers?" + +"He's an uncommon son, if he does," replied the Signor. "But I'm glad +Rosabella has such a firm anchor to the windward if a storm should +come." + +Mr. King sought Mr. Talbot again, and placed five thousand dollars in +his hands, with the necessary forms and instructions, adding: "Should +any unforeseen emergency render a larger sum necessary, please to +advance it, and draw on me. I am obliged to sail for Smyrna soon, on +business, or I would not trouble you to attend to this." + +Mr. Talbot smiled significantly, as he said, "These young ladies must +be very charming, to inspire so deep an interest in their welfare." + +The young man, clad in the armor of an honest purpose, did not feel +the point of the arrow, and answered quietly: "They _are_ very +charming. I saw them for a few hours only, and never expect to see +them again. Their father and mine were very intimate friends, and I +feel it a duty to protect them from misfortune if possible." When the +business was completed, and they had exchanged parting salutations, he +turned back to say, "Do you happen to know anything of Mr. Fitzgerald +of Savannah?" + +"I never had any acquaintance with him," replied Mr. Talbot; "but +he has the name of being something of a _roue_, and rather fond of +cards." + +"Can the death of Floracita be apocryphal?" thought Alfred. "Could he +be capable of selling her? No. Surely mortal man could not wrong that +artless child." + +He returned to his lodgings, feeling more fatigued and dispirited than +usual. He had done all that was possible for the welfare of the woman +who had first inspired him with love; but O, what would he not have +given for such an opportunity as Fitzgerald had! He was obliged to +confess to himself that the utter annihilation of his hope was more +bitter than he had supposed it would be. He no longer doubted that +he would have married her if he could, in full view of all her +antecedents, and even with his mother's prejudices to encounter. He +could not, however, help smiling at himself, as he thought: "Yet how +very different she was from what I had previously resolved to choose! +How wisely I have talked to young men about preferring character to +beauty! And lo! I found myself magnetized at first sight by mere +beauty!" + +But manly pride rebelled against the imputation of such weakness. "No, +it was not mere outward beauty," he said to himself. "True, I had no +opportunity of becoming acquainted with the qualities of her soul, +but her countenance unmistakably expressed sweetness, modesty, and +dignity, and the inflexions of her voice were a sure guaranty for +refinement." + +With visions of past and future revolving round him, he fell +asleep and dreamed he saw Rosabella alone on a plank, sinking in a +tempestuous sea. Free as he thought himself from superstition, the +dream made an uncomfortable impression on him, though he admitted that +it was the natural sequence of his waking thoughts. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Rosa came out of her swoon in a slow fever accompanied with delirium. +Tulee was afraid to leave her long enough to go to the plantation in +search of Tom; and having no medicines at hand, she did the best thing +that could have been done. She continually moistened the parched +tongue with water, and wiped the hot skin with wet cloths. While she +was doing this, tears fell on her dear young mistress, lying there +so broken and helpless, talking incoherently about her father and +Floracita, about being a slave and being sold. This continued eight or +ten days, during which she never seemed to recognize Tulee's presence, +or to be conscious where she was. She was never wild or troublesome, +but there were frequent restless motions, and signs of being afraid +of something. Then such a heavy drowsiness came over her, that it +was difficult to arouse her sufficiently to swallow a spoonful of +nourishment. She slept, and slept, till it seemed as if she would +sleep forever. "Nature, dear goddess," was doing the best she could +for the poor weak body, that had been so racked by the torture of the +soul. + +Three weeks passed before Mr. Fitzgerald again made his appearance +at the lonely cottage. He had often thought of Rosa meanwhile, not +without uneasiness and some twinges of self-reproach. But considering +the unlucky beginning of his honeymoon at Magnolia Lawn, he deemed it +prudent to be very assiduous in his attentions to his bride. He took +no walks or drives without her, and she seemed satisfied with his +entire devotion; but a veiled singing shadow haunted the chambers of +her soul. When she and her husband were occupied with music, she half +expected the pauses would be interrupted by another voice; nor was +he free from fears that those wandering sounds would come again. But +annoyed as he would have been by the rich tones of that voice once +so dear to him, his self-love was piqued that Rosa took no steps to +recall him. He had such faith in his power over her, that he had been +daily hoping for a conciliatory note. Tom had been as attentive to the +invalid as his enslaved condition would admit; but as Tulee said very +decidedly that she didn't want Massa Fitzgerald to show his face +there, he did not volunteer any information. At last, his master said +to him one day, "You've been to the cottage, I suppose, Tom?" + +"Yes, Massa." + +"How are they getting on there?" + +"Missy Rosy hab bin bery sick, but she done better now." + +"Why didn't you tell me, you black rascal?" + +"Massa hab neber ax me," replied Tom. + +Mr. Fitzgerald found some food for vanity in this news. He presumed +the illness was caused by love for him, which Rosa found herself +unable to conquer. This idea was very pleasant to him; for it was not +easy to relinquish the beautiful young creature who had loved him so +exclusively. Making a pretext of business, he mounted his horse and +rode off; throwing a farewell kiss to his bride as he went. For +greater security, he travelled a few moments in another direction, and +then sought the sequestered cottage by a circuitous route. Tulee was +vexed at heart when she heard him, as he came through the woods, +humming, "_C'est l'amour, l'amour_"; and when he entered the cottage, +she wished she was a white man, that she could strike him. But when he +said, "Tulee, how is your mistress?" she civilly answered, "Better, +Massa." + +He passed softly into Rosa's room. She was lying on the bed, in a +loose white robe, over which fell the long braids of her dark hair. +The warm coloring had entirely faded from her cheeks, leaving only +that faintest reflection of gold which she inherited from her mother; +and the thinness and pallor of her face made her large eyes seem +larger and darker. They were open, but strangely veiled; as if shadows +were resting on the soul, like fogs upon a landscape. When Gerald bent +over her, she did not see him, though she seemed to be looking at him. +He called her by the tenderest names; he cried out in agony, "O Rosa, +speak to me, darling!" She did not hear him. He had never before been +so deeply moved. He groaned aloud, and, covering his face with his +hands, he wept. + +When Tulee, hearing the sound, crept in to see whether all was well +with her mistress, she found him in that posture. She went out +silently, but when she was beyond hearing she muttered to herself, +"Ise glad he's got any human feelin'." + +After the lapse of a few moments, he came to her, saying, "O Tulee, do +you think she's going to die? Couldn't a doctor save her?" + +"No, Massa, I don't believe she's going to die," replied Tulee; "but +she'll be very weak for a great while. I don't think all the doctors +in the world could do poor Missy Rosy any good. It's her soul that's +sick, Massa; and nobody but the Great Doctor above can cure that." + +Her words cut him like a knife; but, without any attempt to excuse the +wrong he had done, he said: "I am going to Savannah for the winter. I +will leave Tom and Chloe at the plantation, with instructions to do +whatever you want done. If I am needed, you can send Tom for me." + +The melancholy wreck he had seen saddened him for a day or two; those +eyes, with their mysterious expression of somnambulism, haunted him, +and led him to drown uncomfortable feelings in copious draughts of +wine. But, volatile as he was impressible, the next week saw him the +gayest of the gay in parties at Savannah, where his pretty little +bride was quite the fashion. + +At the cottage there was little change, except that Chloe, by +her master's permission, became a frequent visitor. She was an +affectionate, useful creature, with good voice and ear, and a little +wild gleam of poetry in her fervid eyes. When she saw Rosa lying there +so still, helpless and unconscious as a new-born babe, she said, +solemnly, "De sperit hab done gone somewhar." She told many stories of +wonderful cures she had performed by prayer; and she would kneel by +the bedside, hour after hour, holding the invalid's hand, praying, +"O Lord, fotch back de sperit! Fotch back de sperit! Fotch back de +sperit!" she would continue to repeat in ascending tones, till they +rose to wild imploring. Tulee, looking on one day, said, "Poor Missy +Rosy don't hear nothin' ye say, though ye call so loud." + +"De good Lord up dar, He hars," replied Chloe, reverently pointing +upward; and she went on with the vehement repetition. These +supplications were often varied with Methodist hymns and negro +melodies, of which the most common refrain was, "O glory! glory! +glory!" But whether singing or praying, she made it a point to hold +the invalid's hand and look into her eyes. For a long while, the +spirit that had gone somewhere showed no signs of returning, in +obedience to the persevering summons. But after several weeks had +elapsed, there was a blind groping for Chloe's hand; and when it was +found, Tulee thought she perceived something like a little flickering +gleam flit over the pale face. Still, neither of the nurses was +recognized; and no one ever knew what the absent soul was seeing and +hearing in that mysterious somewhere whither it had flown. At last, +Chloe's patient faith was rewarded by a feeble pressure of her hand. +Their watchfulness grew more excited; and never did mother welcome the +first gleam of intelligence in her babe with more thrilling joy, than +the first faint, quivering smile on Rosa's lips was welcomed by those +anxious, faithful friends. The eyes began to resume their natural +expression. The fog was evidently clearing away from the soul, and +the sunshine was gleaming through. The process of resuscitation was +thenceforth constant, though very slow. It was three months after +those cruel blows fell upon her loving heart before she spoke and +feebly called them by their names. And not until a month later was +she able to write a few lines to quiet the anxiety of Madame and the +Signor. + +A few days before her last ghostly visit to Magnolia Lawn, she +had written them a very joyful letter, telling them of Gerald's +preparations to acknowledge her as his wife, and make her the mistress +of his beautiful home. They received the tidings with great joy, and +answered with hearty congratulations. The Signor was impatient +to write to Mr. King; but Madame, who had learned precaution and +management by the trials and disappointments of a changing life, +thought it best to wait till they could inform him of the actual fact. +As Rosa had never been in the habit of writing oftener than once in +four or five weeks, they felt no uneasiness until after that time had +elapsed; and even then they said to each other, "She delays writing, +as we do, until everything is arranged." But when seven or eight weeks +had passed, Madame wrote again, requesting an immediate answer. Owing +to the peculiar position of the sisters, letters to them had always +been sent under cover to Mr. Fitzgerald; and when this letter arrived, +he was naturally curious to ascertain whether Madame was aware of his +marriage. It so happened that it had not been announced in the only +paper taken by the Signor; and as they lived in a little foreign +world of their own, they remained in ignorance of it. Having read the +letter, Mr. Fitzgerald thought, as Rosa was not in a condition to read +it, it had better be committed to the flames. But fearing that Madame +or the Signor might come to Savannah in search of tidings, and that +some unlucky accident might bring them to speech of his bride, he +concluded it was best to ward off such a contingency. He accordingly +wrote a very studied letter to Madame, telling her that, with her +knowledge of the world, he supposed she must be well aware that the +daughter of a quadroon slave could not be legally recognized as the +wife of a Southern gentleman; that he still loved Rosa better than any +other woman, but wishing for legal heirs to his hereditary estate, it +was necessary for him to marry. He stated that Rosa was recovering +from a slow fever, and had requested him to say that they must not +feel anxious about her; that she had everything for her comfort, had +been carefully attended by two good nurses, was daily getting better, +and would write in a few weeks; meanwhile, if anything retarded her +complete recovery, he would again write. + +This letter he thought would meet the present emergency. His plans +for the future were unsettled. He still hoped that Rosa, alone and +unprotected as she was, without the legal ownership of herself, and +subdued by sickness and trouble, would finally accede to his terms. + +She, in her unconscious state, was of course ignorant of this +correspondence. For some time after she recognized her nurses, she +continued to be very drowsy, and manifested no curiosity concerning +her condition. She was as passive in their hands as an infant, and +they treated her as such. Chloe sung to her, and told her stories, +which were generally concerning her own remarkable experiences; for +she was a great seer of visions. Perhaps she owed them to gifts of +imagination, of which culture would have made her a poet; but to her +they seemed to be an objective reality. She often told of seeing +Jesus, as she walked to and from the plantation. Once she had met him +riding upon Thistle, with a golden crown upon his head. One evening he +had run before her all the way, as a very little child, whose shining +garments lighted up all the woods. + +Four months after the swift destruction of her hopes, Rosa, after +taking some drink from Tulee's hand, looked up in her face, and said, +"How long have I been sick, dear Tulee?" + +"No matter about that, darling," she replied, patting her head fondly. +"Ye mustn't disturb your mind 'bout that." + +After a little pause, the invalid said, "But tell me how long." + +"Well then, darling, I didn't keep no 'count of the time; but Tom says +it's February now." + +"Yer see, Missy Rosy," interposed Chloe, "yer sperit hab done gone +somewhar, an' yer didn't know nottin'. But a booful angel, all in +white, tuk yer by de han' an' toted yer back to Tulee an' Chloe. Dat +ar angel hab grat hansum eyes, an' she tole me she war yer mudder; +an' dat she war gwine to be wid yer allers, cause twar de will ob de +Lord." + +Rosa listened with a serious, pleased expression in her face; for the +words of her simple comforter inspired a vague consciousness of some +supernatural presence surrounding her with invisible protection. + +A few hours after, she asked, with head averted from her attendant, +"Has any one been here since I have been ill?" + +Anxious to soothe the wounded heart as much as possible, Tulee +answered: "Massa Gerald come to ask how ye did; and when he went to +Savannah, he left Tom and Chloe at the plantation to help me take care +of ye." + +She manifested no emotion; and after a brief silence she inquired +for letters from Madame. Being informed that there were none, she +expressed a wish to be bolstered up, that she might try to write a few +lines to her old friend. Chloe, in reply, whispered something in her +ear, which seemed to surprise her. Her cheeks flushed, the first +time for many a day; but she immediately closed her eyes, and tears +glistened on the long, dark lashes. In obedience to the caution of +her nurses, she deferred any attempt to write till the next week. She +remained very silent during the day, but they knew that her thoughts +were occupied; for they often saw tears oozing through the closed +eyelids. + +Meanwhile, her friends in New Orleans were in a state of great +anxiety. Mr. Fitzgerald had again written in a strain very similar to +his first letter, but from Rosa herself nothing had been received. + +"I don't know what to make of this," said Madame. "Rosa is not a +girl that would consent to a secondary position where her heart was +concerned." + +"You know how common it is for quadroons to accede to such double +arrangements," rejoined the Signor. + +"Of course I am well aware of that," she replied; "but they are +educated, from childhood, to accommodate themselves to their +subordinate position, as a necessity that cannot be avoided. It was +far otherwise with Rosa. Moreover, I believe there is too much of +Grandpa Gonsalez in her to submit to anything she deemed dishonorable. +I think, my friend, somebody ought to go to Savannah to inquire into +this business. If you should go, I fear you would get into a duel. +You know dear Floracita used to call you Signor Pimentero. But Mr. +Fitzgerald won't fight _me_, let me say what I will. So I think I had +better go." + +"Yes, you had better go. You're a born diplomate, which I am not," +replied the Signor. + +Arrangements were accordingly made for going in a day or two; but they +were arrested by three or four lines from Rosa, stating that she was +getting well, that she had everything for her comfort, and would write +more fully soon. But what surprised them was that she requested them +to address her as Madame Gonsalez, under cover to her mantuamaker in +Savannah, whose address was given. + +"That shows plainly enough that she and Fitzgerald have dissolved +partnership," said Madame; "but as she does not ask me to come, I will +wait for her letter of explanation." Meanwhile, however, she wrote +very affectionately in reply to the brief missive, urging Rosa to come +to New Orleans, and enclosing fifty dollars, with the statement that +an old friend of her father's had died and left a legacy for his +daughters. Madame had, as Floracita observed, a talent for arranging +the truth with variations. + +The March of the Southern spring returned, wreathed with garlands, and +its pathway strewn with flowers. She gave warm kisses to the firs and +pines as she passed, and they returned her love with fragrant sighs. +The garden at Magnolia Lawn had dressed itself with jonquils, +hyacinths, and roses, and its bower was a nest of glossy greenery, +where mocking-birds were singing their varied tunes, moving their +white tail-feathers in time to their music. Mrs. Fitzgerald, who was +not strong in health, was bent upon returning thither early in the +season, and the servants were busy preparing for her reception. Chloe +was rarely spared to go to the hidden cottage, where her attendance +upon Rosa was no longer necessary; but Tom came once a week, as he +always had done, to do whatever jobs or errands the inmates required. +One day Tulee was surprised to hear her mistress ask him whether +Mr. Fitzgerald was at the plantation; and being answered in the +affirmative, she said, "Have the goodness to tell him that Missy Rosy +would like to see him soon." + +When Mr. Fitzgerald received the message, he adjusted his necktie at +the mirror, and smiled over his self-complacent thoughts. He had hopes +that the proud beauty was beginning to relent. Having left his wife in +Savannah, there was no obstacle in the way of his obeying the summons. +As he passed over the cottage lawn, he saw that Rosa was sewing at the +window. He slackened his pace a little, with the idea that she might +come out to meet him; but when he entered the parlor, she was still +occupied with her work. She rose on his entrance, and moved a chair +toward him; and when he said, half timidly, "How do you do now, dear +Rosa?" she quietly replied, "Much better, I thank you. I have sent for +you, Mr. Fitzgerald, to ask a favor." + +"If it is anything in my power, it shall be granted," he replied. + +"It is a very easy thing for you to do," rejoined she, "and very +important to me. I want you to give me papers of manumission." + +"Are you so afraid of me?" he asked, coloring as he remembered a +certain threat he had uttered. + +"I did not intend the request as any reproach to you," answered she, +mildly; "but simply as a very urgent necessity to myself. As soon +as my health will permit, I wish to be doing something for my own +support, and, if possible, to repay you what you expended for me and +my sister." + +"Do you take me for a mean Yankee," exclaimed he indignantly, "that +you propose such an account of dollars and cents?" + +"I expressed my own wishes, not what I supposed you would require," +replied she. "But aside from that, you can surely imagine it must be +painful to have my life haunted by this dreadful spectre of slavery." + +"Rosa," said he earnestly, "do me the justice to remember that I did +not purchase you as a slave, or consider you a slave. I expended money +with all my heart to save my best-beloved from misfortune." + +"I believe those were your feelings then," she replied. "But let the +past be buried. I simply ask you now, as a gentleman who has it in his +power to confer a great favor on an unprotected woman, whether you +will manumit me." + +"Certainly I will," answered he, much discomposed by her cool business +tone. + +She rose at once, and placed the writing-desk before him. It was the +pretty little desk he had given her for a birthday present. + +He put his finger on it, and, looking up in her face, with one of his +old insinuating glances, he said, "Rosa, do you remember what we said +when I gave you this?" + +Without answering the question, she said, "Will you have the goodness +to write it now?" + +"Why in such haste?" inquired he. "I have given you my promise, and do +you suppose I have no sense of honor?" + +A retort rose to her lips, but she suppressed it. "None of us can be +sure of the future," she replied. "You know what happened when my dear +father died." Overcome by that tender memory, she covered her eyes +with her hand, and the tears stole through her fingers. + +He attempted to kiss away the tears, but she drew back, and went on to +say: "At that time I learned the bitter significance of the law, 'The +child shall follow the condition of the mother.' It was not mainly on +my own account that I sent for you, Mr. Fitzgerald. I wish to secure +my child from such a dreadful contingency as well-nigh ruined me and +my sister." She blushed, and lowered her eyes as she spoke. + +"O Rosa!" he exclaimed. The impulse was strong to fold her to his +heart; but he could not pass the barrier of her modest dignity. + +After an embarrassed pause, she looked up bashfully, and said, +"Knowing this, you surely will not refuse to write it now." + +"I must see a lawyer and obtain witnesses," he replied. + +She sighed heavily. "I don't know what forms are necessary," said she. +"But I beg of you to take such steps as will make me perfectly secure +against any accidents. And don't delay it, Mr. Fitzgerald. Will you +send the papers next week?" + +"I see you have no confidence in me," replied he, sadly. Then, +suddenly dropping on his knees beside her, he exclaimed, "O Rosa, +don't call me Mr. again. Do call me Gerald once more! Do say you +forgive me!" + +She drew back a little, but answered very gently: "I do forgive you, +and I hope your innocent little wife will never regret having loved +you; for that is a very bitter trial. I sincerely wish you may be +happy; and you may rest assured I shall not attempt to interfere +with your happiness. But I am not strong enough to talk much. Please +promise to send those papers next week." + +He made the promise, with averted head and a voice that was slightly +tremulous. + +"I thank you," she replied; "but I am much fatigued, and will bid you +good morning." She rose to leave the room, but turned back and added, +with solemn earnestness, "I think it will be a consolation on your +death-bed if you do not neglect to fulfil Rosa's last request." She +passed into the adjoining room, fastened the door, and threw herself +on the couch, utterly exhausted. How strange and spectral this meeting +seemed! She heard his retreating footsteps without the slightest +desire to obtain a last glimpse of his figure. How entirely he had +passed out of her life, he who so lately was _all_ her life! + +The next day Rosa wrote as follows to Madame and the Signor:-- + +"Dearest and best friends,--It would take days to explain to you all +that has happened since I wrote you that long, happy letter; and at +present I have not strength to write much. When we meet we will talk +about it more fully, though I wish to avoid the miserable particulars +as far as possible. The preparations I so foolishly supposed were +being made for me were for a rich Northern bride,--a pretty, +innocent-looking little creature. The marriage with me, it seems, was +counterfeit. When I discovered it, my first impulse was to fly to you. +But a strange illness came over me, and I was oblivious of everything +for four months. My good Tulee and a black woman named Chloe brought +me back to life by their patient nursing. I suppose it was wrong, but +when I remembered who and what I was, I felt sorry they didn't let +me go. I was again seized with a longing to fly to you, who were as +father and mother to me and my darling little sister in the days of +our first misfortune. But I was too weak to move, and I am still far +from being able to bear the fatigue of such a journey. Moreover, I am +fastened here for the present by another consideration. Mr. Fitzgerald +says he bought us of papa's creditors, and that I am his slave. I have +entreated him, for the sake of our unborn child, to manumit me, and he +has promised to do it. If I could only be safe in New Orleans, it is +my wish to come and live with you, and find some way to support myself +and my child. But I could have no peace, so long as there was the +remotest possibility of being claimed as slaves. Mr. Fitzgerald may +not mean that I shall ever come to harm; but he may die without +providing against it, as poor papa did. I don't know what forms are +necessary for my safety. I don't understand how it is that there is no +law to protect a defenceless woman, who has done no wrong. I will +wait here a little longer to recruit my strength and have this matter +settled. I wish it were possible for you, my dear, good mother, to +come to me for two or three weeks in June; then perhaps you could take +back with you your poor Rosa and her baby, if their lives should be +spared. But if you cannot come, there is an experienced old negress +here, called Granny Nan, who, Tulee says, will take good care of me. +I thank you for your sympathizing, loving letter. Who could papa's +friend be that left me a legacy? I was thankful for the fifty dollars, +for it is very unpleasant to me to use any of Mr. Fitzgerald's money, +though he tells Tom to supply everything I want. If it were not for +you, dear friends, I don't think I should have courage to try to live. +But something sustains me wonderfully through these dreadful trials. +Sometimes I think poor Chloe's prayers bring me help from above; for +the good soul is always praying for me. + +"Adieu. May the good God bless you both. + +"Your loving and grateful + +"ROSABELLA." + + * * * * * + +Week passed after week, and the promised papers did not come. The +weary days dragged their slow length along, unsoothed by anything +except Tulee's loving care and Madame's cheering letters. The piano +was never opened; for all tones of music were draped in mourning, and +its harmonies were a funeral march over buried love. But she enjoyed +the open air and the fragrance of the flowers. Sometimes she walked +slowly about the lawn, and sometimes Tulee set her upon Thistle's +back, and led him round and round through the bridle-paths. But out +of the woods that concealed their nest they never ventured, lest they +should meet Mrs. Fitzgerald. Tulee, who was somewhat proud on her +mistress's account, was vexed by this limitation. "I don't see why ye +should hide yerself from her," said she. "Yese as good as she is; and +ye've nothin' to be shamed of." + +"It isn't on my own account that I wish to avoid her seeing me," +replied Rosa. "But I pity the innocent young creature. She didn't know +of disturbing my happiness, and I should be sorry to disturb hers." + +As the weeks glided away without bringing any fulfilment of +Fitzgerald's promise, anxiety changed to distrust. She twice requested +Tom to ask his master for the papers he had spoken of, and received +a verbal answer that they would be sent as soon as they were ready. +There were greater obstacles in the way than she, in her inexperience, +was aware of. The laws of Georgia restrained humane impulses by +forbidding the manumission of a slave. Consequently, he must either +incur very undesirable publicity by applying to the legislature for a +special exception in this case, or she must be manumitted in another +State. He would gladly have managed a journey without the company of +his wife, if he could thereby have regained his former influence with +Rosa; but he was disinclined to take so much trouble to free her +entirely from him. When he promised to send the papers, he intended to +satisfy her with a sham certificate, as he had done with a counterfeit +marriage; but he deferred doing it, because he had a vague sense of +satisfaction in being able to tantalize the superior woman over whom +he felt that he no longer had any other power. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +Madame's anxiety was much diminished after she began to receive +letters in Rosa's own handwriting; but, knowing the laws of Georgia, +and no longer doubtful concerning Fitzgerald's real character, she +placed small reliance upon his promise of manumission. "This is +another of his deceptions," said she to the Signor. "I have been +thinking a good deal about the state of things, and I am convinced +there will be no security in this country for that poor girl. You have +been saying for some time that you wanted to see your beautiful Italy +again, and I have the same feeling about my beautiful France. We each +of us have a little money laid up; and if we draw upon the fund Mr. +King has deposited, we can take Rosabella to Europe and bring her out +as a singer." + +"She would have a great career, no doubt," replied the Signor; "and I +was going to suggest such a plan to you. But you would have to change +your name again on my account, Madame; for I was obliged to leave +Italy because I was discovered to be one of the Carbonari; and though +fifteen years have elapsed, it is possible the watchful authorities +have not forgotten my name." + +"That's a trifling obstacle," resumed Madame. "You had better give +notice to your pupils at once that you intend to leave as soon as +present engagements are fulfilled. I will use up my stock for fancy +articles, and sell off as fast as possible, that we may be ready to +start for Europe as soon as Rosa has sufficient strength." + +This resolution was immediately acted upon; but the fates were +unpropitious to Madame's anticipated visit to the lonely island. A few +days before her intended departure, the Signor was taken seriously +ill, and remained so for two or three weeks. He fretted and fumed, +more on her account than his own, but she, as usual, went through the +trial bravely. She tried to compensate Rosa for the disappointment, +as far as she could, by writing frequent letters, cheerful in tone, +though prudently cautious concerning details. Fearing that Mr. +Fitzgerald's suspicions might be excited by an apparent cessation of +correspondence, she continued to write occasionally under cover to +him, in a style adapted to his views, in case he should take a fancy +to open the letters. The Signor laughed, and said, "Your talent for +diplomacy is not likely to rust for want of use, Madame." Even Rosa, +sad at heart as she was, could not help smiling sometimes at the +totally different tone of the letters which she received under +different covers. + +She had become so accustomed to passive endurance, that no murmur +escaped her when she found that her only white friend could not come +to her, as she had expected. Granny Nan boasted of having nursed many +grand white ladies, and her skill in the vocation proved equal to her +pretensions. Only her faithful Tulee and the kind old colored mammy +were with her when, hovering between life and death, she heard the cry +that announced the advent of a human soul. Nature, deranged by bodily +illness and mental trouble, provided no nourishment for the little +one; but this, which under happier circumstances would have been a +disappointment, called forth no expressions of regret from the patient +sufferer. When Tulee held the babe before her in its first dress, she +smiled faintly, but immediately closed her eyes. As she lay there, day +after day, with the helpless little creature nestling in her arms, +the one consoling reflection was that she had not given birth to a +daughter. A chaos of thoughts were revolving through her mind; the +theme of all the variations being how different it was from what it +might have been, if the ideal of her girlhood had not been shattered +so cruelly. Had it not been for that glimmering light in the future +which Madame so assiduously presented to her view, courage would have +forsaken her utterly. As it was, she often listened to the dash of the +sea with the melancholy feeling that rest might be found beneath its +waves. But she was still very young, the sky was bright, the earth was +lovely, and she had a friend who had promised to provide a safe asylum +for her somewhere. She tried to regain her strength, that she might +leave the island, with all its sad reminders of departed happiness. +Thinking of this, she rose one day and wandered into the little +parlor to take a sort of farewell look. There was the piano, so long +unopened, with a whole epic of love and sorrow in its remembered +tones; the pretty little table her mother had painted; the basket she +had received from her father after his death; Floracita's paintings +and mosses; and innumerable little tokens of Gerald's love. Walking +round slowly and feebly in presence of all those memories, how +alone she felt, with none to speak to but Tulee and the old colored +mammy,--she, who had been so tenderly cared for by her parents, so +idolized by him to whom she gave her heart! She was still gazing +pensively on these souvenirs of the past, when her attention was +arrested by Tom's voice, saying: "Dar's a picaninny at de Grat Hus. +How's turrer picaninny?" + +The thought rushed upon her, "Ah, that baby had a father to welcome it +and fondle it; but _my_ poor babe--" A sensation of faintness came over +her; and, holding on by the chairs and tables, she staggered back to +the bed she had left. + +Before the babe was a fortnight old, Tom announced that he was to +accompany his master to New Orleans, whither he had been summoned by +business. The occasion was eagerly seized by Rosa to send a letter +and some small articles to Madame and the Signor. Tulee gave him very +particular directions how to find the house, and charged him over and +over again to tell them everything. When she cautioned him not to let +his master know that he carried anything, Tom placed his thumb on the +tip of his nose, and moved the fingers significantly, saying: "Dis ere +nigger ha'n't jus' wakum'd up. Bin wake mos' ob de time sense twar +daylight." He foresaw it would be difficult to execute the commission +he had undertaken; for as a slave he of course had little control over +his own motions. He, however, promised to try; and Tulee told him she +had great confidence in his ingenuity in finding out ways and means. + +"An' I tinks a heap o' ye, Tulee. Ye knows a heap more dan mos' +niggers," was Tom's responsive compliment. In his eyes Tulee was in +fact a highly accomplished person; for though she could neither read +nor write, she had caught the manners and speech of white people, +by living almost exclusively with them, and she was, by habit, as +familiar with French as English, beside having a little smattering of +Spanish. To have his ingenuity praised by her operated as a fillip +upon his vanity, and he inwardly resolved to run the risk of a +flogging, rather than fail to do her bidding. He was also most loyal +in the service of Rosa, whose beauty and kindliness had won his heart, +before his sympathy had been called out by her misfortunes. But none +of them foresaw what important consequences would result from his +mission. + +The first day he was in New Orleans, he found no hour when he could be +absent without the liability of being called for by his master. The +next day Mr. Bruteman dined with his master, and Tom was in attendance +upon the table. Their conversation was at first about cotton crops, +the prices of negroes, and other business matters, to which Tom paid +little attention. But a few minutes afterward his ears were wide open. + +"I suppose you came prepared to pay that debt you owe me," said Mr. +Bruteman. + +"I am obliged to ask an extension of your indulgence," replied Mr. +Fitzgerald. "It is not in my power to raise that sum just now." + +"How is that possible," inquired Mr. Bruteman, "when you have married +the daughter of a Boston nabob?" + +"The close old Yankee keeps hold of most of his money while he lives," +rejoined his companion; "and Mrs. Fitzgerald has expensive tastes to +be gratified." + +"And do you expect me to wait till the old Yankee dies?" asked Mr. +Bruteman. "Gentlemen generally consider themselves bound to be prompt +in paying debts of honor." + +"I'll pay you as soon as I can. What the devil can you ask more?" +exclaimed Fitzgerald. "It seems to me it's not the part of a gentleman +to play the dun so continually." + +They had already drank pretty freely; but Mr. Bruteman took up +a bottle, and said, "Let us drink another glass to the speedy +replenishing of your purse." They poured full bumpers, touched +glasses, and drank the contents. + +There was a little pause, during which Mr. Bruteman sat twirling +his glass between thumb and finger, with looks directed toward his +companion. All at once he said, "Fitzgerald, did you ever find those +handsome octoroon girls?" + +"What octoroon girls?" inquired the other. + +"O, you disremember them, do you?" rejoined he. "I mean how did that +bargain turn out that you made with Royal's creditors? You seemed to +have small chance of finding the girls; unless, indeed, you hid them +away first, for the purpose of buying them for less than half they +would have brought to the creditors,--which, of course, is not to be +supposed, because no gentleman would do such a thing." + +Thrown off his guard by too much wine, Fitzgerald vociferated, "Do you +mean to insinuate that I am no gentleman?" + +Mr. Bruteman smiled, as he answered: "I said such a thing was not to +be supposed. But come, Fitzgerald, let us understand one another. I'd +rather, a devilish sight, have those girls than the money you owe me. +Make them over to me, and I'll cancel the debt. Otherwise, I shall be +under the necessity of laying an attachment on some of your property." + +There was a momentary silence before Mr. Fitzgerald answered, "One of +them is dead." + +"Which one?" inquired his comrade. + +"Flora, the youngest, was drowned." + +"And that queenly beauty, where is she? I don't know that I ever heard +her name." + +"Rosabella Royal," replied Fitzgerald. "She is living at a convenient +distance from my plantation." + +"Well, I will be generous," said Bruteman. "If you will make _her_ +over to me, I will cancel the debt." + +"She is not in strong health at present," rejoined Fitzgerald. "She +has a babe about two weeks old." + +"You know you have invited me to visit your island two or three +weeks hence," replied Bruteman; "and then I shall depend upon you to +introduce me to your fair Rosamond. But we will draw up the papers and +sign them now, if you please." + +Some jests unfit for repetition were uttered by the creditor, to which +the unhappy debtor made no reply. When he called Tom to bring paper +and ink, the observing servant noticed that he was very pale, though +but a few moments before his face had been flushed. + +That night, he tried to drown recollection in desperate gambling and +frequent draughts of wine. Between one and two o'clock in the morning, +his roisterous companions were led off by their servants, and he was +put into bed by Tom, where he immediately dropped into a perfectly +senseless sleep. + +As soon as there was sufficient light, Tom started for the house of +the Signor; judging that he was safe from his master for three hours +at least. Notwithstanding the earliness of the hour, Madame made her +appearance in a very few moments after her servant informed her who +was in waiting, and the Signor soon followed. In the course of the +next hour and a half an incredible amount of talking was done in negro +"lingo" and broken English. The impetuous Signor strode up and down, +clenching his fists, cursing slavery, and sending Fitzgerald to the +Devil in a volley of phrases hard enough in their significance, though +uttered in soft-flowing Italian. + +"Swearing does no good, my friend," said Madame; "besides, there isn't +time for it. Rosabella must be brought away immediately. Bruteman will +be on the alert, you may depend. She slipped through his fingers once, +and he won't trust Fitzgerald again." + +The Signor cooled down, and proposed to go for her himself. But that +was overruled, in a very kind way, by his prudent wife, who argued +that he was not well enough for such an exciting adventure, or to +be left without her nursing, when his mind would be such a prey to +uneasiness. It was her proposition to send at once for her cousin +Duroy, and have him receive very particular directions from Tom how to +reach the island and find the cottage. Tom said he didn't know whether +he could get away for an hour again, because his master was always +very angry if he was out of the way when called; but if Mr. Duroy +would come to the hotel, he would find chances to tell him what to do. +And that plan was immediately carried into effect. + +While these things were going on in New Orleans, Mrs. Fitzgerald was +taking frequent drives about the lovely island with her mother, Mrs. +Bell; while Rosa was occasionally perambulating her little circuit of +woods on the back of patient Thistle. One day Mrs. Fitzgerald and her +mother received an invitation to the Welby plantation, to meet some +Northern acquaintances who were there; and as Mrs. Fitzgerald's +strength was not yet fully restored, Mrs. Welby proposed that they +should remain all night. Chloe, who had lost her own baby, was chosen +to nurse her master's new-born heir, and was consequently tied so +closely that she could find no chance to go to the cottage, whose +inmates she had a great longing to see. But when master and mistress +were both gone, she thought she might take her freedom for a while +without incurring any great risk. The other servants agreed to keep +her secret, and Joe the coachman promised to drive her most of the +way when he came back with the carriage. Accordingly, she made her +appearance at the cottage quite unexpectedly, to the great joy of +Tulee. + +When she unwrapped the little black-haired baby from its foldings +of white muslin, Tulee exclaimed: "He looks jus' like his +good-for-nothing father; and so does Missy Rosy's baby. I'm 'fraid 't +will make poor missy feel bad to see it, for she don't know nothin' +'bout it." + +"Yes I do, Tulee," said Rosa, who had heard Chloe's voice, and gone +out to greet her. "I heard Tom tell you about it." + +She took up the little hand, scarcely bigger than a bird's claw, and +while it twined closely about her finger, she looked into its eyes, +so like to Gerald's in shape and color. She was hoping that those +handsome eyes might never be used as his had been, but she gave +no utterance to her thoughts. Her manner toward Chloe was full of +grateful kindness; and the poor bondwoman had some happy hours, +playing free for a while. She laid the infant on its face in her lap, +trotting it gently, and patting its back, while she talked over with +Tulee all the affairs at the "Grat Hus." And when the babe was asleep, +she asked and obtained Rosa's permission to lay him on her bed beside +his little brother. Then poor Chloe's soul took wing and soared aloft +among sun-lighted clouds. As she prayed, and sang her fervent hymns, +and told of her visions and revelations, she experienced satisfaction +similar to that of a troubadour, or palmer from Holy Land, with an +admiring audience listening to his wonderful adventures. + +While she was thus occupied, Tulee came in hastily to say that a +stranger gentleman was coming toward the house. Such an event in that +lonely place produced general excitement, and some consternation. Rosa +at once drew her curtain and bolted the door. But Tulee soon came +rapping gently, saying, "It's only I, Missy Rosy." As the door +partially opened, she said, "It's a friend Madame has sent ye." Rosa, +stepping forward, recognized Mr. Duroy, the cousin in whose clothes +Madame had escaped with them from New Orleans. She was very slightly +acquainted with him, but it was such a comfort to see any one who knew +of the old times that she could hardly refrain from throwing herself +on his neck and bursting into tears. As she grasped his hand with a +close pressure, he felt the thinness of her emaciated fingers. The +paleness of her cheeks, and the saddened expression of her large eyes, +excited his compassion. He was too polite to express it in words, +but it was signified by the deference of his manner and the extreme +gentleness of his tones. He talked of Madame's anxious love for her, +of the Signor's improving health, of the near completion of their plan +for going to Europe, and of their intention to take her with them. +Rosa was full of thankfulness, but said she was as yet incapable of +much exertion. Mr. Duroy went on to speak of Tom's visit to Madame; +and slowly and cautiously he prepared the way for his account of the +conversation between Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Bruteman. But careful as +he was, he noticed that her features tightened and her hands were +clenched. When he came to the interchange of writings, she sprung to +her feet, and, clutching his arm convulsively, exclaimed, "Did he +do that?" Her eyes were like a flame, and her chest heaved with the +quick-coming breath. + +He sought to draw her toward him, saying in soothing tones, "They +shall not harm you, my poor girl. Trust to me, as if I were your +father." But she burst from him impetuously, and walked up and down +rapidly; such a sudden access of strength had the body received from +the frantic soul. + +"Try not to be so much agitated," said he. "In a very short time you +will be in Europe, and then you will be perfectly safe." + +She paused an instant in her walk, and, with a strange glare in her +eyes, she hissed out, "I hate him." + +He laid his hand gently upon her shoulder, and said: "I want very much +that you should try to be calm. Some negroes are coming with a boat +at daybreak, and it is necessary we should all go away with them. You +ought to rest as much as possible beforehand." + +"_Rest_!" repeated she with bitter emphasis. And clenching her teeth +hard, she again said, "I hate him!" + +Poor Rosa! It had taken a mountain-weight of wrong so to crush out all +her gentleness. + +Mr. Duroy became somewhat alarmed. He hastened to the kitchen and +told Chloe to go directly to Miss Rosa. He then briefly explained his +errand to Tulee, and told her to prepare for departure as fast as +possible. "But first go to your mistress," said he; "for I am afraid +she may go crazy." + +The sufferer yielded more readily to Tulee's accustomed influence than +she had done to that of Mr. Duroy. She allowed herself to be laid upon +the bed; but while her forehead and temples were being bathed, her +heart beat violently, and all her pulses were throbbing. It was, +however, necessary to leave her with Chloe, who knelt by the bedside, +holding her hand, and praying in tones unusually low for her. + +"I'm feared for her," said Tulee to Mr. Duroy. "I never see Missy Rosy +look so wild and strange." + +A short time after, when she looked into the room, Rosa's eyes were +closed. She whispered to Chloe: "Poor Missy's asleep. You can come and +help me a little now." + +But Rosa was not in the least drowsy. She had only remained still, to +avoid being talked to. As soon as her attendants had withdrawn, she +opened her eyes, and, turning toward the babes, she gazed upon them +for a long time. There they lay side by side, like twin kittens. But +ah! thought she, how different is their destiny! One is born to be +cherished and waited upon all his days, the other is an outcast and +a slave. My poor fatherless babe! He wouldn't manumit us. It was not +thoughtlessness. He _meant_ to sell us. "He _meant_ to sell us," she +repeated aloud; and again the wild, hard look came into her eyes. Such +a tempest was raging in her soul, that she felt as if she could kill +him if he stood before her. This savage paroxysm of revenge was +followed by thoughts of suicide. She was about to rise, but hearing +the approach of Tulee, she closed her eyes and remained still. + +Language is powerless to describe the anguish of that lacerated soul. +At last the storm subsided, and she fell into a heavy sleep. + +Meanwhile the two black women were busy with arrangements for +the early flight. Many things had been already prepared with the +expectation of a summons to New Orleans, and not long after midnight +all was in readiness. Chloe, after a sound nap on the kitchen floor, +rose up with the first peep of light. She and Tulee hugged each other, +with farewell kisses and sobs. She knelt by Rosa's bedside to whisper +a brief prayer, and, giving her one long, lingering look, she took up +her baby, and set off for the plantation, wondering at the mysterious +ways of Providence. + +They deferred waking Rosa as long as possible, and when they roused +her, she had been so deeply sunk in slumber that she was at first +bewildered. When recollection returned, she looked at her babe. +"Where's Chloe?" she asked. + +"Gone back to the plantation," was the reply. + +"O, I am so sorry!" sighed Rosa. + +"She was feared they would miss her," rejoined Tulee. "So she went +away as soon as she could see. But she prayed for ye, Missy Rosy; and +she told me to say poor Chloe would never forget ye." + +"O, I'm _so_ sorry!" repeated Rosa, mournfully. + +She objected to taking the nourishment Tulee offered, saying she +wanted to die. But Mr. Duroy reminded her that Madame was longing to +see her, and she yielded to that plea. When Tulee brought the same +travelling-dress in which she had first come to the cottage, she +shrunk from it at first, but seemed to remember immediately that she +ought not to give unnecessary trouble to her friends. While she was +putting it on, Tulee said, "I tried to remember to put up everything +ye would want, darling." + +"I don't want _any_thing," she replied listlessly. Then, looking up +suddenly, with that same wild, hard expression, she added, "Don't let +me ever see anything that came from _him_!" She spoke so sternly, that +Tulee, for the first time in her life, was a little afraid of her. + +The eastern sky was all of a saffron glow, but the golden edge of the +sun had not yet appeared above the horizon, when they entered the boat +which was to convey them to the main-land. Without one glance toward +the beautiful island where she had enjoyed and suffered so much, the +unhappy fugitive nestled close to Tulee, and hid her face on her +shoulder, as if she had nothing else in the world to cling to. + + * * * * * + +A week later, a carriage stopped before Madame's door, and Tulee +rushed in with the baby on her shoulder, exclaiming, "_Nous voici_!" +while Mr. Duroy was helping Rosa to alight. Then such huggings and +kissings, such showers of French from Madame, and of mingled French +and Italian from the Signor, while Tulee stood by, throwing up her +hand, and exclaiming, "Bless the Lord! bless the Lord!" The parrot +listened with ear upturned, and a lump of sugar in her claw, then +overtopped all their voices with the cry of "_Bon jour, Rosabella! je +suis enchantee_." + +This produced a general laugh, and there was the faint gleam of a +smile on Rosa's face, as she looked up at the cage and said, "_Bon +jour, jolie Manon_!" But she soon sank into a chair with an expression +of weariness. + +"You are tired, darling," said Madame, as she took off her bonnet and +tenderly put back the straggling hair. "No wonder, after all you have +gone through, my poor child!" + +Rosa clasped her round the neck, and murmured, "O my dear friend, I +_am_ tired, _so_ tired!" + +Madame led her to the settee, and arranged her head comfortably on its +pillows. Then, giving her a motherly kiss, she said, "Rest, darling, +while Tulee and I look after the boxes." + +When they had all passed into another room, she threw up her hands and +exclaimed: "How she's changed! How thin and pale she is! How large her +eyes look! But she's beautiful as an angel." + +"I never see Missy Rosy but once when she wasn't beautiful as an +angel," said Tulee; "and that was the night Massa Duroy told her she +was sold to Massa Bruteman. Then she looked as if she had as many +devils as that Mary Magdalene Massa Royal used to read about o' +Sundays." + +"No wonder, poor child!" exclaimed Madame. "But I hope the little one +is some comfort to her." + +"She ha'n't taken much notice of him, or anything else, since Massa +Duroy told her that news," rejoined Tulee. + +Madame took the baby and tried to look into its face as well as the +lopping motions of its little head would permit. "I shouldn't think +she'd have much comfort in looking at it," said she; "for it's the +image of its father; but the poor little dear ain't to blame for +that." + +An animated conversation followed concerning what had happened since +Tulee went away,--especially the disappearance of Flora. Both hinted +at having entertained similar suspicions, but both had come to the +conclusion that she could not be alive, or she would have written. + +Rosa, meanwhile, left alone in the little parlor, where she had +listened so anxiously for the whistling of _Ca ira_, was scarcely +conscious of any other sensation than the luxury of repose, after +extreme fatigue of body and mind. There was, indeed, something +pleasant in the familiar surroundings. The parrot swung in the same +gilded ring in her cage. Madame's table, with its basket of chenilles, +stood in the same place, and by it was her enamelled snuffbox. Rosa +recognized a few articles that had been purchased at the auction of +her father's furniture;--his arm-chair, and the astral lamp by which +he used to sit to read his newspaper; a sewing-chair that was her +mother's; and one of Flora's embroidered slippers, hung up for a +watch-case. With these memories floating before her drowsy eyes, she +fell asleep, and slept for a long time. As her slumbers grew lighter, +dreams of father, mother, and sister passed through various changes; +the last of which was that Flora was puzzling the mocking-birds. She +waked to the consciousness that some one was whistling in the room. + +"Who is that!" exclaimed she; and the parrot replied with a tempest of +imitations. Madame, hearing the noise, came in, saying: "How stupid I +was not to cover the cage! She is _so_ noisy! Her memory is wonderful. +I don't think she'll ever forget a note of all the _melange_ dear +Floracita took so much pains to teach her." + +She began to call up reminiscences of Flora's incessant mischief; but +finding Rosa in no mood for anything gay, she proceeded to talk over +the difficulties of her position, concluding with the remark: "To-day +and to-night you must rest, my child. But early to-morrow you and +the Signor will start for New York, whence you will take passage to +Marseilles, under the name of Signor Balbino and daughter." + +"I wish I could stay here, at least for a little while," sighed Rosa. + +"It's never wise to wish for what cannot be had," rejoined Madame. "It +would cause great trouble and expense to obtain your freedom; and it +is doubtful whether we could secure it at all, for Bruteman won't give +you up if he can avoid it. The voyage will recruit your strength, and +it will do you good to be far away from anything that reminds you +of old troubles. I have nothing left to do but to dispose of my +furniture, and settle about the lease of this house. You will wait at +Marseilles for me. I shall be uneasy till I have the sea between me +and the agents of Mr. Bruteman, and I shall hurry to follow after you +as soon as possible." + +"And Tulee and the baby?" asked Rosa. + +"Yes, with Tulee and the baby," replied Madame. "But I shall send them +to my cousin's to-morrow, to be out of the way of being seen by the +neighbors. He lives off the road, and three miles out. They'll be +nicely out of the way there." + +It was all accomplished as the energetic Frenchwoman had planned. Rosa +was whirled away, without time to think of anything. At parting, she +embraced Tulee, and looked earnestly in the baby's face, while she +stroked his shining black hair. "Good by, dear, kind Tulee," said she. +"Take good care of the little one." + +At Philadelphia, her strength broke down, and they were detained three +days. Consequently, when they arrived in New York, they found that +the Mermaid, in which they expected to take passage, had sailed. The +Signor considered it imprudent to correspond with his wife on the +subject, and concluded to go out of the city and wait for the next +vessel. When they went on board, they found Madame, and explained to +her the circumstances. + +"I am glad I didn't know of the delay," said she; "for I was +frightened enough as it was. But, luckily, I got off without anybody's +coming to make inquiries." + +"But where are Tulee and the baby? Are they down below?" asked Rosa. + +"No, dear, I didn't bring them." + +"O, how came you to leave them?" said Rosa. "Something will happen to +them." + +"I have provided well for their safety," rejoined Madame. "The reason +I did it was this. We have no certain home or prospects at present; +and I thought we had better be settled somewhere before the baby was +brought. My cousin is coming to Marseilles in about three months, +and he will bring them with him. His wife was glad to give Tulee her +board, meanwhile, for what work she could do. I really think it was +best, dear. The feeble little thing will be stronger for the voyage by +that time; and you know Tulee will take just as good care of it as if +it were her own." + +"Poor Tulee!" sighed Rosa. "Was she willing to be left?" + +"She didn't know when I came away," replied Madame. + +Rosa heaved an audible groan, as she said: "I am so sorry you did +this, Madame! If anything should happen to them, it would be a weight +on my mind as long as I live." + +"I did what I thought was for the best," answered Madame. "I was in +such a hurry to get away, on your account, that, if I hadn't all my +wits about me, I hope you will excuse me. But I think myself I made +the best arrangement." + +Rosa, perceiving a slight indication of pique in her tone, hastened to +kiss her, and call her her best and dearest friend. But in her heart +she mourned over what she considered, for the first time in her life, +a great mistake in the management of Madame. + + * * * * * + +After Tom's return from New Orleans, he continued to go to the cottage +as usual, and so long as no questions were asked, he said nothing; but +when his master inquired how they were getting on there, he answered +that Missy Rosy was better. When a fortnight had elapsed, he thought +the fugitives must be out of harm's way, and he feared Mr. Bruteman +might be coming soon to claim his purchase. Accordingly he one day +informed his master, with a great appearance of astonishment and +alarm, that the cottage was shut up, and all the inmates gone. + +Fitzgerald's first feeling was joy; for he was glad to be relieved +from the picture of Rosa's horror and despair, which had oppressed him +like the nightmare. But he foresaw that Bruteman would suspect him of +having forewarned her, though he had solemnly pledged himself not +to do so. He immediately wrote him the tidings, with expressions of +surprise and regret. The answer he received led to a duel, in which he +received a wound in the shoulder, that his wife always supposed was +occasioned by a fall from his horse. + +When Mr. Bruteman ascertained that Madame and the Signor had left +the country, he at once conjectured that the fugitive was with them. +Having heard that Mr. Duroy was a relative, he waited upon him, at his +place of business, and was informed that Rosabella Royal had sailed +for France, with his cousin, in the ship Mermaid. Not long after, it +was stated in the ship news that the Mermaid had foundered at sea, and +all on board were lost. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +While Rosabella had been passing through these dark experiences, Flora +was becoming more and more accustomed to her new situation. She +strove bravely to conceal the homesickness which she could not always +conquer; but several times, in the course of their travels, Mrs. +Delano noticed moisture gathering on her long black eyelashes when she +saw the stars and stripes floating from the mast of a vessel. Once, +when a rose was given her, she wept outright; but she soon wiped her +eyes, and apologized by saying: "I wonder whether a _Pensee-Vivace_ +makes Rosa feel as I do when I see a rose? But what an ungrateful +child I am, when I have such a dear, kind, new Mamita!" And a loving +smile again lighted up her swimming eyes,--those beautiful April eyes +of tears and sunshine, that made rainbows in the heart. + +Mrs. Delano wisely kept her occupied with a succession of teachers and +daily excursions. Having a natural genius for music and drawing, +she made rapid progress in both during a residence of six months in +England, six months in France, and three months in Switzerland. And as +Mr. and Mrs. Percival were usually with them, she picked up, in +her quick way, a good degree of culture from the daily tone of +conversation. The one drawback to the pleasure of new acquisitions was +that she could not share them with Rosa. + +One day, when she was saying this, Mrs. Delano replied: "We will go to +Italy for a short time, and then we will return to live in Boston. I +have talked the matter over a good deal with Mr. Percival, and I think +I should know how to guard against any contingency that may occur. And +as you are so anxious about your sister, I have been revolving plans +for taking you back to the island, to see whether we can ascertain +what is going on in that mysterious cottage." + +From that time there was a very perceptible increase of cheerfulness +in Flora's spirits. The romance of such an adventure hit her youthful +fancy, while the idea of getting even a sly peep at Rosa filled her +with delight. She imagined all sorts of plans to accomplish this +object, and often held discussions upon the propriety of admitting +Tulee to their confidence. + +Her vivacity redoubled when they entered Italy. She was herself +composed of the same materials of which Italy was made; and without +being aware of the spiritual relationship, she at once felt at home +there. She was charmed with the gay, impulsive people, the bright +costumes, the impassioned music, and the flowing language. The clear, +intense blue of the noonday sky, and the sun setting in a glowing sea +of amber, reminded her of her Southern home; and the fragrance of the +orange-groves was as incense waved by the memory of her childhood. +The ruins of Rome interested her less than any other features of the +landscape; for, like Bettini, she never asked who any of the ancients +were, for fear they would tell her. The play of sunshine on the +orange-colored lichens interested her more than the inscriptions they +covered; and while their guide was telling the story of mouldering +arches, she was looking through them at the clear blue sky and the +soft outline of the hills. + +One morning they rode out early to spend a whole day at Albano; and +every mile of the ride presented her with some charming novelty. The +peasants who went dancing by in picturesque costumes, and the finely +formed women walking erect with vases of water on their heads, or +drawing an even thread from their distaffs, as they went singing +along, furnished her memory with subjects for many a picture. +Sometimes her exclamations would attract the attention of a group of +dancers, who, pleased with an exuberance of spirits akin to their own, +and not unmindful of forthcoming coin, would beckon to the driver +to stop, while they repeated their dances for the amusement of the +Signorina. A succession of pleasant novelties awaited her at Albano. +Running about among the ilex-groves in search of bright mosses, she +would come suddenly in front of an elegant villa, with garlands in +stucco, and balconies gracefully draped with vines. Wandering away +from that, she would utter a little cry of joy at the unexpected sight +of some reclining marble nymph, over which a little fountain threw a +transparent veil of gossamer sparkling with diamonds. Sometimes she +stood listening to the gurgling and dripping of unseen waters; and +sometimes melodies floated from the distance, which her quick ear +caught at once, and her tuneful voice repeated like a mocking-bird. +The childlike zest with which she entered into everything, and made +herself a part of everything, amused her quiet friend, and gave her +even more pleasure than the beauties of the landscape. + +After a picnic repast, they ascended Monte Cavo, and looked down on +the deep basins of the lakes, once blazing with volcanic fire, now +full of water blue as the sky it reflected; like human souls in which +the passions have burned out, and left them calm recipients of those +divine truths in which the heavens are mirrored. As Mrs. Delano +pointed out various features in the magnificent panorama around them, +she began to tell Flora of scenes in the Aeneid with which they were +intimately connected. The young girl, who was serious for the moment, +dropped on the grass to listen, with elbows on her friend's lap, and +her upturned face supported by her hands. But the lecture was too +grave for her mercurial spirit; and she soon sprang up, exclaiming: +"O Mamita Lila, all those people were dead and buried so long ago! I +don't believe the princess that Aeneas was fighting about was half +as handsome as that dancing Contadina from Frascati, with a scarlet +bodice and a floating veil fastened among her black braids with a +silver arrow. How her eyes sparkled, and her cheeks glowed! And the +Contadino who was dancing with her, with those long streamers of red +ribbon flying round his peaked hat, he looked almost as handsome as +she did. How I wish I could see them dance the saltarello again! O +Mamita Lila, as soon as we get back to Rome, do buy a tambourine." +Inspired by the remembrance, she straightway began to hum the +monotonous tune of that grasshopper dance, imitating the hopping steps +and the quick jerks of the arms, marking the time with ever-increasing +rapidity on her left hand, as if it were a tambourine. She was so +aglow with the exercise, and so graceful in her swift motions, that +Mrs. Delano watched her with admiring smiles. But when the extempore +entertainment came to a close, she thought to herself: "It is a +hopeless undertaking to educate her after the New England pattern. One +might as well try to plough with a butterfly, as to teach her ancient +history." + +When they had wandered about a little while longer, happy as souls +newly arrived in the Elysian Fields, Mrs. Delano said: "My child, you +have already gathered mosses enough to fill the carriage, and it is +time for us to return. You know twilight passes into darkness very +quickly here." + +"Just let me gather this piece of golden lichen," pleaded she. "It +will look so pretty among the green moss, in the cross I am going to +make you for Christmas." + +When all her multifarious gleanings were gathered up, they lingered +a little to drink in the beauty of the scene before them. In the +distance was the Eternal City, girdled by hills that stood out with +wonderful distinctness in the luminous atmosphere of that brilliant +day, which threw a golden veil over all its churches, statues, and +ruins. Before they had gone far on their homeward ride, all things +passed through magical changes. The hills were seen in vapory visions, +shifting their hues with opaline glances; and over the green, billowy +surface of the broad Campagna was settling a prismatic robe of mist, +changing from rose to violet. Earth seemed to be writing, in colored +notes, with tenderest modulations, her farewell hymn to the departing +God of Light. And the visible music soon took voice in the vibration +of vesper-bells, in the midst of which they entered Rome. Flora, who +was sobered by the solemn sounds and the darkening landscape, scarcely +spoke, except to remind Mrs. Delano of the tambourine as they drove +through the crowded Corso; and when they entered their lodgings in Via +delle Quattro Fontane, she passed to her room without any of her usual +skipping and singing. When they met again at supper her friend said: +"Why so serious? Is my little one tired?" + +"I have been thinking, Mamita, that something is going to happen to +me," she replied; "for always when I am very merry something happens." + +"I should think something would happen very often then," rejoined Mrs. +Delano with a smile, to which she responded with her ready little +laugh. "Several visitors called while we were gone," said Mrs. Delano. +"Our rich Boston friend, Mr. Green, has left his card. He follows us +very diligently." She looked at Flora as she spoke; but though the +light from a tall lamp fell directly on her face, she saw no emotion, +either of pleasure or embarrassment. + +She merely looked up with a smile, as she remarked: "He always seems +to be going round very leisurely in search of something to entertain +him. I wonder whether he has found it yet." + +Though she was really tired with the exertions of the day, the sight +of the new tambourine, after supper, proved too tempting; and she was +soon practising the saltarello again, with an agility almost equal to +that of the nimble Contadina from whom she had learned it. She was +whirling round more and more swiftly, as if fatigue were a thing +impossible to her, when Mr. Green was announced; and a very stylishly +dressed gentleman, with glossy shirt-bosom and diamond studs, entered +the room. She had had scarcely time to seat herself, and her face was +still flushed with exercise, while her dimples were revealed by a sort +of shy smile at the consciousness of having been so nearly caught +in her rompish play by such an exquisite. The glowing cheek and the +dimpling smile were a new revelation to Mr. Green; for he had never +interested her sufficiently to call out the vivacity which rendered +her so charming. + +Mrs. Delano noticed his glance of admiration, and the thought +occurred, as it had often done before, what an embarrassing dilemma +she would be in, if he should propose marriage to her _protegee_. + +"I called this morning," said he, "and found you had gone to Albano. I +was tempted to follow, but thought it likely I should miss you. It is +a charming drive." + +"Everything is charming here, I think," rejoined Flora. + +"Ah, it is the first time you have seen Rome," said he. "I envy you +the freshness of your sensations. This is the third time I have been +here, and of course it palls a little upon me." + +"Why don't you go to some new place then?" inquired Flora. + +"Where _is_ there any new place?" responded he languidly. "To be sure, +there is Arabia Petraea, but the accommodations are not good. Besides, +Rome has attractions for me at present; and I really think I meet more +acquaintances here than I should at home. Rome is beginning to swarm +with Americans, especially with Southerners. One can usually recognize +them at a glance by their unmistakable air of distinction. They are +obviously of porcelain clay, as Willis says." + +"I think our New England Mr. Percival is as polished a gentleman as +any. I have seen," observed Mrs. Delano. + +"He is a gentleman in manners and attainments, I admit," replied Mr. +Green; "but with his family and education, what a pity it is he has so +disgraced himself." + +"Pray what has he done?" inquired the lady. + +"Didn't you know he was an Abolitionist?" rejoined Mr. Green. "It is a +fact that he has actually spoken at their meetings. I was surprised +to see him travelling with you in England. It must be peculiarly +irritating to the South to see a man of his position siding with those +vulgar agitators. Really, unless something effectual can be done to +stop that frenzy, I fear Southern gentlemen will be unable to recover +a fugitive slave." + +Flora looked at Mrs. Delano with a furtive, sideway glance, and a +half-smile on her lips. Her impulse was to jump up, dot one of her +quick courtesies, and say: "I am a fugitive slave. Please, sir, don't +give _me_ up to any of those distinguished gentlemen." + +Mr. Green noticed her glance, and mistook it for distaste of his +theme. "Pardon me, ladies," said he, "for introducing a subject +tabooed in polite society. I called for a very different purpose. One +novelty remains for me in Rome. I have never seen the statues of the +Vatican by torchlight. Some Americans are forming a party for that +purpose to-morrow evening, and if you would like to join them, it will +give me great pleasure to be your escort." + +Flora, being appealed to, expressed acquiescence, and Mrs. Delano +replied: "We will accept your invitation with pleasure. I have a great +predilection for sculpture." + +"Finding myself so fortunate in one request encourages me to make +another," rejoined Mr. Green. "On the evening following Norma is to +be brought out, with a new _prima donna_, from whom great things are +expected. I should be much gratified if you would allow me to procure +tickets and attend upon you." + +Flora's face lighted up at once. "I see what my musical daughter +wishes," said Mrs. Delano. "We will therefore lay ourselves under +obligations to you for two evenings' entertainment." + +The gentleman, having expressed his thanks, bade them good evening. + +Flora woke up the next morning full of pleasant anticipations. When +Mrs. Delano looked in upon her, she found her already dressed, and +busy with a sketch of the dancing couple from Frascati. "I cannot make +them so much alive as I wish," said she, "because they are not +in motion. No picture can give the gleamings of the arrow or the +whirlings of the veil. I wish we could dress like Italians. How I +should like to wear a scarlet bodice, and a veil fastened with a +silver arrow." + +"If we remained till Carnival, you might have that pleasure," replied +Mrs. Delano; "for everybody masquerades as they like at that time. But +I imagine you would hardly fancy my appearance in scarlet jacket, with +laced sleeves, big coral necklace, and long ear-rings, like that old +Contadina we met riding on a donkey." + +Flora laughed. "To think of Mamita Lila in such costume!" exclaimed +she. "The old Contadina would make a charming picture; but a picture +of the Campagna, sleepy with purple haze, would be more like you." + +"Am I then so sleepy?" inquired her friend. + +"O, no, not sleepy. You know I don't mean that. But so quiet; and +always with some sort of violet or lilac cloud for a dress. But here +comes Carlina to call us to breakfast," said she, as she laid down her +crayon, and drummed the saltarello on her picture while she paused a +moment to look at it. + +As Mrs. Delano wished to write letters, and Flora expected a teacher +in drawing, it was decided that they should remain at home until +the hour arrived for visiting the Vatican. "We have been about +sight-seeing so much," said Mrs. Delano, "that I think it will be +pleasant to have a quiet day." Flora assented; but as Mrs. Delano +wrote, she could not help smiling at her ideas of quietude. Sometimes +rapid thumps on the tambourine might be heard, indicating that the +saltarello was again in rehearsal. If a _piffero_ strolled through the +street, the monotonous drone of his bagpipe was reproduced in most +comical imitation; and anon there was a gush of bird-songs, as if a +whole aviary were in the vicinity. Indeed, no half-hour passed without +audible indication that the little recluse was in merry mood. + +At the appointed time Mr. Green came to conduct them to the Vatican. +They ascended the wide slopes, and passed through open courts into +long passages lined with statues, and very dimly lighted with +occasional lamps. Here and there a marble figure was half revealed, +and looked so spectral in the gloaming that they felt as if they were +entering the world of spirits. Several members of the party preceded +them, and all seemed to feel the hushing influence, for they passed +on in silence, and stepped softly as they entered the great Palace +of Art. The torch-bearers were soon in readiness to illuminate the +statues, which they did by holding a covered light over each, making +it stand out alone in the surrounding darkness, with very striking +effects of light and shadow. Flora, who was crouched on a low seat by +the side of Mrs. Delano, gazed with a reverent, half-afraid feeling +on the thoughtful, majestic looking Minerva Medica. When the graceful +vision of Venus Anadyomene was revealed, she pressed her friend's +hand, and the pressure was returned. But when the light was held over +a beautiful Cupid, the face looked out from the gloom with such +an earnest, childlike expression, that she forgot the presence of +strangers, and impulsively exclaimed, "O Mamita, how lovely!" + +A gentleman some little distance in front of them turned toward +them suddenly, at the sound of her voice; and a movement of the +torch-bearer threw the light full upon him for an instant. Flora hid +her face in the lap of Mrs. Delano, who attributed the quick action +to her shame at having spoken so audibly. But placing her hand +caressingly on her shoulder, she felt that she was trembling +violently. She stooped toward her, and softly inquired, "What is the +matter, dear?" + +Flora seized her head with both hands, and, drawing it closer, +whispered: "Take me home, Mamita! Do take me right home!" + +Wondering what sudden caprice had seized the emotional child, she +said, "Why, are you ill, dear?" + +Flora whispered close into her ear: "No, Mamita. But Mr. Fitzgerald is +here." + +Mrs. Delano rose very quietly, and, approaching Mr. Green, said: "My +daughter is not well, and we wish to leave. But I beg you will return +as soon as you have conducted us to the carriage." + +But though he was assured by both the ladies that nothing alarming was +the matter, when they arrived at their lodgings he descended from the +driver's seat to assist them in alighting. Mrs. Delano, with polite +regrets at having thus disturbed his pleasure, thanked him, and bade +him good evening. She hurried after Flora, whom she found in her room, +weeping bitterly. "Control your feelings, my child," said she. "You +are perfectly safe here in Italy." + +"But if he saw me, it will make it so very unpleasant for you, +Mamita." + +"He couldn't see you; for we were sitting in very deep shadow," +replied Mrs. Delano. "But even if he had seen you, I should know how +to protect you." + +"But what I am thinking of," said Floracita, still weeping, "is that +he may have brought Rosa with him, and I can't run to her this very +minute. I _must_ see her! I _will_ see her! If I have to tell ever so +many _fibititas_ about the reason of my running away." + +"I wouldn't prepare any _fibititas_ at present," rejoined Mrs. Delano. +"I always prefer the truth. I will send for Mr. Percival, and ask +him to ascertain whether Mr. Fitzgerald brought a lady with him. +Meanwhile, you had better lie down, and keep as quiet as you can. As +soon as I obtain any information, I will come and tell you." + +When Mr. Percival was informed of the adventure at the Vatican, he +sallied forth to examine the lists of arrivals; and before long +he returned with the statement that Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald were +registered among the newcomers. "Flora would, of course, consider that +conclusive," said he; "but you and I, who have doubts concerning that +clandestine marriage, will deem it prudent to examine further." + +"If it should prove to be her sister, it will be a very embarrassing +affair," rejoined Mrs. Delano. + +Mr. Percival thought it very unlikely, but said he would ascertain +particulars to-morrow. + +With that general promise, without a knowledge of the fact already +discovered, Flora retired to rest; but it was nearly morning before +she slept. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Though Flora had been so wakeful the preceding night, she tapped at +Mrs. Delano's door very early the next morning. "Excuse me for coming +before you were dressed," said she; "but I wanted to ask you how long +you think it will be before Mr. Percival can find out whether Mr. +Fitzgerald has brought Rosa with him." + +"Probably not before noon," replied Mrs. Delano, drawing the anxious +little face toward her, and imprinting on it her morning kiss. "Last +evening I wrote a note to Mr. Green, requesting him to dispose of the +opera tickets to other friends. Mr. Fitzgerald is so musical, he will +of course be there; and whether your sister is with him or not, you +will be in too nervous a state to go to any public place. You had +better stay in your room, and busy yourself with books and drawings, +till we can ascertain the state of things. I will sit with you as +much as I can; and when I am absent you must try to be a good, quiet +child." + +"I will try to be good, because I don't want to trouble you, Mamita +Lila; but you know I can't be quiet in my mind. I did long for the +opera; but unless Mr. Fitzgerald brought Rosa with him, and I could +see her before I went, it would almost kill me to hear Norma; for +every part of it is associated with her." + +After breakfast, Mrs. Delano sat some time in Flora's room, inspecting +her recent drawings, and advising her to work upon them during the +day, as the best method of restraining restlessness. While they were +thus occupied, Carlina brought in a beautiful bouquet for Miss Delano, +accompanied with a note for the elder lady, expressing Mr. Green's +great regret at being deprived of the pleasure of their company for +the evening. + +"I am sorry I missed seeing him," thought Mrs. Delano; "for he is +always so intimate with Southerners, I dare say he would know all +about Mr. Fitzgerald; though I should have been at a loss how to +introduce the inquiry." + +Not long afterward Mr. Percival called, and had what seemed to Flora +a very long private conference with Mrs. Delano. The information he +brought was, that the lady with Mr. Fitzgerald was a small, slight +figure, with yellowish hair and very delicate complexion. + +"That is in all respects the very opposite of Flora's description of +her sister," rejoined Mrs. Delano. + +Their brief conversation on the subject was concluded by a request +that Mr. Percival would inquire at Civita Vecchia for the earliest +vessels bound either to France or England. + +Mrs. Delano could not at once summon sufficient resolution to recount +all the particulars to Flora; to whom she merely said that she +considered it certain that her sister was not with Mr. Fitzgerald. + +"Then why can't I go right off to the United States to-day?" exclaimed +the impetuous little damsel. + +"Would you then leave Mamita Lila so suddenly?" inquired her friend; +whereupon the emotional child began to weep and protest. This little +scene was interrupted by Carlina with two visiting-cards on a silver +salver. Mrs. Delano's face flushed unusually as she glanced at them. +She immediately rose to go, saying to Flora: "I must see these people; +but I will come back to you as soon as I can. Don't leave your room, +my dear." + +In the parlor, she found a gentleman and lady, both handsome, but +as different from each other as night and morning. The lady stepped +forward and said: "I think you will recollect me; for we lived in the +same street in Boston, and you and my mother used to visit together." + +"Miss Lily Bell," rejoined Mrs. Delano, offering her hand. "I had not +heard you were on this side the Atlantic." + +"Not Miss Bell now, but Mrs. Fitzgerald," replied the fair little +lady. "Allow me to introduce you to Mr. Fitzgerald." + +Mrs. Delano bowed, rather coldly; and her visitor continued: "I was so +sorry I didn't know you were with the Vatican party last night. Mr. +Green told us of it this morning, and said you were obliged to leave +early, on account of the indisposition of Miss Delano. I hope she has +recovered, for Mr. Green has told me so much about her that I am dying +with curiosity to see her." + +"She is better, I thank you, but not well enough to see company," +replied Mrs. Delano. + +"What a pity she will be obliged to relinquish the opera to-night!" +observed Mr. Fitzgerald. "I hear she is very musical; and they tell +wonderful stories about this new _prima donna_. They say she has two +more notes in the altissimo scale than any singer who has been heard +here, and that her sostenuto is absolutely marvellous." + +Mrs. Delano replied politely, expressing regret that she and her +daughter were deprived of the pleasure of hearing such a musical +genius. After some desultory chat concerning the various sights in +Rome, the visitors departed. + +"I'm glad your call was short," said Mr. Fitzgerald. "That lady is a +perfect specimen of Boston ice." + +Whereupon his companion began to rally him for want of gallantry in +saying anything disparaging of Boston. + +Meanwhile Mrs. Delano was pacing the parlor in a disturbed state +of mind. Though she had foreseen such a contingency as one of the +possible consequences of adopting Flora, yet when it came so suddenly +in a different place, and under different circumstances from any she +had thought of, the effect was somewhat bewildering. She dreaded the +agitation into which the news would throw Flora, and she wanted to +mature her own future plans before she made the announcement. So, in +answer to Flora's questions about the visitors, she merely said a lady +from Boston, the daughter of one of her old acquaintances, had called +to introduce her husband. After dinner, they spent some time reading +Tasso's Aminta together; and then Mrs. Delano said: "I wish to go and +have a talk with Mr. and Mrs. Percival. I have asked him to inquire +about vessels at Civita Vecchia; for, under present circumstances, I +presume you would be glad to set out sooner than we intended on that +romantic expedition in search of your sister." + +"O, thank you! thank you!" exclaimed Flora, jumping up and kissing +her. + +"I trust you will not go out, or sing, or show yourself at the windows +while I am gone," said Mrs. Delano; "for though Mr. Fitzgerald can do +you no possible harm, it would be more agreeable to slip away without +his seeing you." + +The promise was readily and earnestly given, and she proceeded to the +lodgings of Mr. and Mrs. Percival in the next street. After she had +related the experiences of the morning, she asked what they supposed +had become of Rosabella. + +"It is to be hoped she does not continue her relation with that base +man if she knows of his marriage," said Mrs. Percival; "for that would +involve a moral degradation painful for you to think of in Flora's +sister." + +"If she has ceased to interest his fancy, very likely he may have sold +her," said Mr. Percival; "for a man who could entertain the idea of +selling Flora, I think would sell his own Northern wife, if the law +permitted it and circumstances tempted him to it." + +"What do you think I ought to do in the premises?" inquired Mrs. +Delano. + +"I would hardly presume to say what you ought to do," rejoined Mrs. +Percival; "but I know what I should do, if I were as rich as you, and +as strongly attached to Flora." + +"Let me hear what you would do," said Mrs. Delano. + +The prompt reply was: "I would go in search of her. And if she was +sold, I would buy her and bring her home, and be a mother to her." + +"Thank you," said Mrs. Delano, warmly pressing her hand. "I thought +you would advise what was kindest and noblest. Money really seems +to me of very little value, except as a means of promoting human +happiness. And in this case I might perhaps prevent moral degradation, +growing out of misfortune and despair." + +After some conversation concerning vessels that were about to sail, +the friends parted. On her way homeward, she wondered within herself +whether they had any suspicion of the secret tie that bound her so +closely to these unfortunate girls. "I ought to do the same for them +without that motive," thought she; "but should I?" + +Though her call had not been very long, it seemed so to Flora, who +had latterly been little accustomed to solitude. She had no heart +for books or drawing. She sat listlessly watching the crowd on Monte +Pincio;--children chasing each other, or toddling about with nurses +in bright-red jackets; carriages going round and round, ever and anon +bringing into the sunshine gleams of gay Roman scarfs, or bright +autumnal ribbons fluttering in the breeze. She had enjoyed few things +more than joining that fashionable promenade to overlook the city in +the changing glories of sunset. But now she cared not for it. Her +thoughts were far away on the lonely island. As sunset quickly faded +into twilight, carriages and pedestrians wound their way down the +hill. The noble trees on its summit became solemn silhouettes against +the darkening sky, and the monotonous trickling of the fountain in the +court below sounded more distinct as the street noises subsided. She +was growing a little anxious, when she heard soft footfalls on the +stairs, which she at once recognized and hastened to meet. "O, you +have been gone so long!" she exclaimed. Happy, as all human beings +are, to have another heart so dependent on them, the gratified lady +passed her arm round the waist of the loving child, and they ascended +to their rooms like two confidential school-girls. + +After tea, Mrs. Delano said, "Now I will keep my promise of telling +you all I have discovered." Flora ran to an ottoman by her side, and, +leaning on her lap, looked up eagerly into her face. "You must try +not to be excitable, my dear," said her friend; "for I have some +unpleasant news to tell you." + +The expressive eyes, that were gazing wistfully into hers while she +spoke, at once assumed that startled, melancholy look, strangely in +contrast with their laughing shape. Her friend was so much affected by +it that she hardly knew how to proceed with her painful task. At last +Flora murmured, "Is she dead?" + +"I have heard no such tidings, darling," she replied. "But Mr. +Fitzgerald has married a Boston lady, and they were the visitors who +came here this morning." + +Flora sprung up and pressed her hand on her heart, as if a sharp arrow +had hit her. But she immediately sank on the ottoman again, and said +in tones of suppressed agitation: "Then he has left poor Rosa. How +miserable she must be! She loved him so! O, how wrong it was for me +to run away and leave her! And only to think how I have been enjoying +myself, when she was there all alone, with her heart breaking! Can't +we go to-morrow to look for her, dear Mamita?" + +"In three days a vessel will sail for Marseilles," replied Mrs. +Delano. "Our passage is taken; and Mr. and Mrs. Percival, who intended +to return home soon, are kind enough to say they will go with us. I +wish they could accompany us to the South; but he is so well known +as an Abolitionist that his presence would probably cause unpleasant +interruptions and delays, and perhaps endanger his life." + +Flora seized her hand and kissed it, while tears were dropping fast +upon it. And at every turn of the conversation, she kept repeating, +"How wrong it was for me to run away and leave her!" + +"No, my child," replied Mrs. Delano, "you did right in coming to me. +If you had stayed there, you would have made both her and yourself +miserable, beside doing what was very wrong. I met Mr. Fitzgerald once +on horseback, while I was visiting at Mr. Welby's plantation; but I +never fairly saw him until to-day. He is so very handsome, that, when +I looked at him, I could not but think it rather remarkable he did not +gain a bad power over you by his insinuating flattery, when you were +so very young and inexperienced." + +The guileless little damsel looked up with an expression of surprise, +and said: "How _could_ I bear to have him make love to _me_, when he +was Rosa's husband? He is so handsome and fascinating, that, if he had +loved me instead of Rosa, in the beginning, I dare say I should have +been as much in love with him as she was. I did dearly love him while +he was a kind brother; but I couldn't love him _so_. It would have +killed Rosa if I had. Besides, he told falsehoods; and papa taught us +to consider that as the meanest of faults. I have heard him tell Rosa +he never loved anybody but her, when an hour before he had told me he +loved me better than Rosa. What could I do but despise such a man? +Then, when he threatened to sell me, I became dreadfully afraid of +him." She started up, as if struck by a sudden thought, and exclaimed +wildly, "What if he has sold Rosa?" + +Her friend brought forward every argument and every promise she could +think of to pacify her; and when she had become quite calm, they sang +a few hymns together, and before retiring to rest knelt down side by +side and prayed for strength and guidance in these new troubles. + +Flora remained a long time wakeful, thinking of Rosa deserted and +alone. She had formed many projects concerning what was to be seen +and heard and done in Rome; but she forgot them all. She did not even +think of the much-anticipated opera, until she heard from the street +snatches of Norma, whistled or sung by the dispersing audience. A +tenor voice passed the house singing, _Vieni_ _in Roma_. "Ah," thought +she, "Gerald and I used to sing that duet together. And in those +latter days how languishingly he used to look at me, behind her back, +while he sang passionately, '_Ah, deh cedi, cedi a me_!' And poor +cheated Rosa would say, 'Dear Gerald, how much heart you put into your +voice!' O shame, shame! What _could_ I do but run away? Poor Rosa! How +I wish I could hear her sing 'Casta Diva,' as she used to do when we +sat gazing at the moon shedding its soft light over the pines in that +beautiful lonely island." + +And so, tossed for a long while on a sea of memories, she finally +drifted into dream-land. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +While Flora was listlessly gazing at Monte Pincio from the solitude of +her room in the Via delle Quattro Fontane, Rosabella was looking at +the same object, seen at a greater distance, over intervening houses, +from her high lodgings in the Corso. She could see the road winding +like a ribbon round the hill, with a medley of bright colors +continually moving over it. But she was absorbed in revery, and they +floated round and round before her mental eye, like the revolving +shadows of a magic lantern. + +She was announced to sing that night, as the new Spanish _prima +donna_, La Senorita Rosita Campaneo; and though she had been applauded +by manager and musicians at the rehearsal that morning, her spirit +shrank from the task. Recent letters from America had caused deep +melancholy; and the idea of singing, not _con amore_, but as a +performer before an audience of entire strangers, filled her with +dismay. She remembered how many times she and Flora and Gerald had +sung together from Norma; and an oppressive feeling of loneliness came +over her. Returning from rehearsal, a few hours before, she had seen +a young Italian girl, who strongly reminded her of her lost sister. +"Ah!" thought she, "if Flora and I had gone out into the world +together, to make our own way, as Madame first intended, how much +sorrow and suffering I might have been spared!" She went to the piano, +where the familiar music of Norma lay open before her, and from the +depths of her saddened soul gushed forth, "_Ah, bello a me Ritorno_." +The last tone passed sighingly away, and as her hands lingered on the +keys, she murmured, "Will my heart pass into it there, before that +crowd of strange faces, as it does here?" + +"To be sure it will, dear," responded Madame, who had entered softly +and stood listening to the last strains. + +"Ah, if all would hear with _your_ partial ears!" replied Rosabella, +with a glimmering smile. "But they will not. And I may be so +frightened that I shall lose my voice." + +"What have you to be afraid of, darling?" rejoined Madame. "It was +more trying to sing at private parties of accomplished musicians, as +you did in Paris; and especially at the palace, where there was such +an _elite_ company. Yet you know that Queen Amelia was so much pleased +with your performance of airs from this same opera, that she sent you +the beautiful enamelled wreath you are to wear to-night." + +"What I was singing when you came in wept itself out of the fulness of +my heart," responded Rosabella. "This dreadful news of Tulee and the +baby unfits me for anything. Do you think there is no hope it may +prove untrue?" + +"You know the letter explicitly states that my cousin and his wife, +the negro woman, and the white baby, all died of yellow-fever," +replied Madame. "But don't reproach me for leaving them, darling. I +feel badly enough about it, already. I thought it would be healthy so +far out of the city; and it really seemed the best thing to do with +the poor little _bambino_, until we could get established somewhere." + +"I did not intend to reproach you, my kind friend," answered Rosa. "I +know you meant it all for the best. But I had a heavy presentiment of +evil when you first told me they were left. This news makes it hard +for me to keep up my heart for the efforts of the evening. You know I +was induced to enter upon this operatic career mainly by the hope of +educating that poor child, and providing well for the old age of +you and Papa Balbino, as I have learned to call my good friend, the +Signor. And poor Tulee, too,--how much I intended to do for her! No +mortal can ever know what she was to me in the darkest hours of my +life." + +"Well, poor Tulee's troubles are all over," rejoined Madame, with a +sigh; "and _bambinos_ escape a great deal of suffering by going out of +this wicked world. For, between you and I, dear, I don't believe one +word about the innocent little souls staying in purgatory on account +of not being baptized." + +"O, my friend, if you only _knew_!" exclaimed Rosa, in a wild, +despairing tone. But she instantly checked herself, and said: "I will +try not to think of it; for if I do, I shall spoil my voice; and Papa +Balbino would be dreadfully mortified if I failed, after he had taken +so much pains to have me brought out." + +"That is right, darling," rejoined Madame, patting her on the +shoulder. "I will go away, and leave you to rehearse." + +Again and again Rosa sang the familiar airs, trying to put soul into +them, by imagining how she would feel if she were in Norma's position. +Some of the emotions she knew by her own experience, and those she +sang with her deepest feeling. + +"If I could only keep the same visions before me that I have here +alone, I should sing well to-night," she said to herself; "for now, +when I sing 'Casta Diva,' I seem to be sitting with my arm round dear +little Flora, watching the moon as it rises above the dark pines on +that lonely island." + +At last the dreaded hour came. Rosa appeared on the stage with her +train of priestesses. The orchestra and the audience were before her; +and she knew that Papa and Mamma Balbino were watching her from the +side with anxious hearts. She was very pale, and her first notes were +a little tremulous. But her voice soon became clear and strong; and +when she fixed her eyes on the moon, and sang "Casta Diva," the +fulness and richness of the tones took everybody by surprise. + +"_Bis! Bis_!" cried the audience; and the chorus was not allowed to +proceed till she had sung it a second and third time. She courtesied +her acknowledgments gracefully. But as she retired, ghosts of the past +went with her; and with her heart full of memories, she seemed to weep +in music, while she sang in Italian, "Restore to mine affliction one +smile of love's protection." Again the audience shouted, "_Bis! Bis_!" + +The duet with Adalgisa was more difficult; for she had not yet learned +to be an actress, and she was embarrassed by the consciousness of +being an object of jealousy to the _seconda donna_, partly because +she was _prima_, and partly because the tenor preferred her. But when +Adalgisa sang in Italian the words, "Behold him!" she chanced to +raise her eyes to a box near the stage, and saw the faces of Gerald +Fitzgerald and his wife bending eagerly toward her. She shuddered, and +for an instant her voice failed her. The audience were breathless. Her +look, her attitude, her silence, her tremor, all seemed inimitable +acting. A glance at the foot-lights and at the orchestra recalled the +recollection of where she was, and by a strong effort she controlled +herself; though there was still an agitation in her voice, which the +audience and the singers thought to be the perfection of acting. Again +she glanced at Fitzgerald, and there was terrible power in the tones +with which she uttered, in Italian, "Tremble, perfidious one! Thou +knowest the cause is ample." + +Her eyes rested for a moment on Mrs. Fitzgerald, and with a wonderful +depth of pitying sadness, she sang, "O, how his art deceived thee!" + +The wish she had formed was realized. She was enabled to give voice to +her own emotions, forgetful of the audience for the time being. And +even in subsequent scenes, when the recollection of being a performer +returned upon her, her inward excitation seemed to float her onward, +like a great wave. + +Once again her own feelings took her up, like a tornado, and made her +seem a wonderful actress. In the scene where Norma is tempted to kill +her children, she fixed her indignant gaze full upon Fitzgerald, and +there was an indescribable expression of stern resolution in her +voice, and of pride in the carriage of her queenly head, while she +sang: "Disgrace worse than death awaits them. Slavery? No! never!" + +Fitzgerald quailed before it. He grew pale, and slunk back in the +box. The audience had never seen the part so conceived, and a few +criticised it. But her beauty and her voice and her overflowing +feeling carried all before her; and this, also, was accepted as a +remarkable inspiration of theatrical genius. + +When the wave of her own excitement was subsiding, the magnetism of an +admiring audience began to affect her strongly. With an outburst of +fury, she sang, "War! War!" The audience cried, "_Bis! Bis_!" and she +sang it as powerfully the second time. + +What it was that had sustained and carried her through that terrible +ordeal, she could never understand. + +When the curtain dropped, Fitzgerald was about to rush after her; but +his wife caught his arm, and he was obliged to follow. It was an awful +penance he underwent, submitting to this necessary restraint; and +while his soul was seething like a boiling caldron, he was obliged to +answer evasively to Lily's frequent declaration that the superb voice +of this Spanish _prima donna_ was exactly like the wonderful voice +that went wandering round the plantation, like a restless ghost. + +Papa and Mamma Balbino were waiting to receive the triumphant +_cantatrice_, as she left the stage. "_Brava! Brava_!" shouted the +Signor, in a great fever of excitement; but seeing how pale she +looked, he pressed her hand in silence, while Madame wrapped her in +shawls. They lifted her into the carriage as quickly as possible, +where her head drooped almost fainting on Madame's shoulder. It +required them both to support her unsteady steps, as they mounted the +stairs to their lofty lodging. She told them nothing that night of +having seen Fitzgerald; and, refusing all refreshment save a sip of +wine, she sank on the bed utterly exhausted. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +She slept late the next day, and woke with a feeling of utter +weariness of body and prostration of spirit. When her dressing-maid +Giovanna came at her summons, she informed her that a gentleman had +twice called to see her, but left no name or card. "Let no one be +admitted to-day but the manager of the opera," said Rosa. "I will +dress now; and if Mamma Balbino is at leisure, I should like to have +her come and talk with me while I breakfast." + +"Madame has gone out to make some purchases," replied Giovanna. "She +said she should return soon, and charged me to keep everything quiet, +that you might sleep. The Signor is in his room waiting to speak to +you." + +"Please tell him I have waked," said Rosa; "and as soon as I have +dressed and breakfasted, ask him to come to me." + +Giovanna, who had been at the opera the preceding evening, felt the +importance of her mission in dressing the celebrated Senorita Rosita +Campaneo, of whose beauty and gracefulness everybody was talking. And +when the process was completed, the _cantatrice_ might well have been +excused if she had thought herself the handsomest of women. The glossy +dark hair rippled over her forehead in soft waves, and the massive +braids behind were intertwisted with a narrow band of crimson velvet, +that glowed like rubies where the sunlight fell upon it. Her morning +wrapper of fine crimson merino, embroidered with gold-colored silk, +was singularly becoming to her complexion, softened as the contact was +by a white lace collar fastened at the throat with a golden pin. But +though she was seated before the mirror, and though her own Spanish +taste had chosen the strong contrast of bright colors, she took no +notice of the effect produced. Her face was turned toward the +window, and as she gazed on the morning sky, all unconscious of its +translucent brilliancy of blue, there was an inward-looking expression +in her luminous eyes that would have made the fortune of an artist, if +he could have reproduced her as a Sibyl. Giovanna looked at her with +surprise, that a lady could be so handsome and so beautifully dressed, +yet not seem to care for it. She lingered a moment contemplating the +superb head with an exultant look, as if it were a picture of her +own painting, and then she went out noiselessly to bring the +breakfast-tray. + +The Senorita Campaneo ate with a keener appetite than she had ever +experienced as Rosabella the recluse; for the forces of nature, +exhausted by the exertions of the preceding evening, demanded +renovation. But the services of the cook were as little appreciated as +those of the dressing-maid; the luxurious breakfast was to her simply +food. The mirror was at her side, and Giovanna watched curiously to +see whether she would admire the effect of the crimson velvet gleaming +among her dark hair. But she never once glanced in that direction. +When she had eaten sufficiently, she sat twirling her spoon and +looking into the depths of her cup, as if it were a magic mirror +revealing all the future. + +She was just about to say, "Now you may call Papa Balbino," when +Giovanna gave a sudden start, and exclaimed, "Signorita! a gentleman!" + +And ere she had time to look round, Fitzgerald was kneeling at her +feet. He seized her hand and kissed it passionately, saying, in an +agony of entreaty: "O Rosabella, do say you forgive me! I am suffering +the tortures of the damned." + +The irruption was so sudden and unexpected, that for an instant she +failed to realize it. But her presence of mind quickly returned, and, +forcibly withdrawing the hand to which he clung, she turned to the +astonished waiting-maid and said quite calmly, "Please deliver +_immediately_ the message I spoke of." + +Giovanna left the room and proceeded directly to the adjoining +apartment, where Signor Balbino was engaged in earnest conversation +with another gentleman. + +Fitzgerald remained kneeling, still pleading vehemently for +forgiveness. + +"Mr. Fitzgerald," said she, "this audacity is incredible. I could not +have imagined it possible you would presume ever again to come into my +presence, after having sold me to that infamous man." + +"He took advantage of me, Rosa. I was intoxicated with wine, and knew +not what I did. I could not have done it if I had been in my senses. +I have always loved you as I never loved any other woman; and I never +loved you so wildly as now." + +"Leave me!" she exclaimed imperiously. "Your being here does me +injury. If you have any manhood in you, leave me!" + +He strove to clutch the folds of her robe, and in frenzied tones cried +out: "O Rosabella, don't drive me from you! I can't live without--" + +A voice like a pistol-shot broke in upon his sentence: "Villain! +Deceiver! What are you doing here? Out of the house this instant!" + +Fitzgerald sprung to his feet, pale with rage, and encountered the +flashing eyes of the Signor. "What right have _you_ to order me out of +the house?" said he. + +"I am her adopted father," replied the Italian; "and no man shall +insult her while I am alive." + +"So _you_ are installed as her protector!" retorted Fitzgerald, +sneeringly. "You are not the first gallant I have known to screen +himself behind his years." + +"By Jupiter!" vociferated the enraged Italian; and he made a spring to +clutch him by the throat. + +Fitzgerald drew out a pistol. With a look of utter distress, Rosa +threw herself between them, saying, in imploring accents, "_Will_ you +go?" + +At the same moment, a hand rested gently on the Signor's shoulder, and +a manly voice said soothingly, "Be calm, my friend." Then, turning to +Mr. Fitzgerald, the gentleman continued: "Slight as our acquaintance +is, sir, it authorizes me to remind you that scenes like this are +unfit for a lady's apartment." + +Fitzgerald slowly replaced his pistol, as he answered coldly: "I +remember your countenance, sir, but I don't recollect where I have +seen it, nor do I understand what right you have to intrude here." + +"I met you in New Orleans, something more than four years ago," +replied the stranger; "and I was then introduced to you by this lady's +father, as Mr. Alfred King of Boston." + +"O, I remember," replied Fitzgerald, with a slight curl of his lip. "I +thought you something of a Puritan then; but it seems _you_ are her +protector also." + +Mr. King colored to the temples; but he replied calmly: "I know not +whether Miss Royal recognizes me; for I have never seen her since the +evening we spent so delightfully at her father's house." + +"I do recognize you," replied Rosabella; "and as the son of my +father's dearest friend, I welcome you." + +She held out her hand as she spoke, and he clasped it for an +instant. But though the touch thrilled him, he betrayed no emotion. +Relinquishing it with a respectful bow, he turned to Mr. Fitzgerald, +and said: "You have seen fit to call me a Puritan, and may not +therefore accept me as a teacher of politeness; but if you wish to +sustain the character of a cavalier, you surely will not remain in a +lady's house after she has requested you to quit it." + +With a slight shrug of his shoulders, Mr. Fitzgerald took his hat, and +said, "Where ladies command, I am of course bound to obey." + +As he passed out of the door, he turned toward Rosabella, and, with a +low bow, said, "_Au revoir_!" + +The Signor was trembling with anger, but succeeded in smothering his +half-uttered anathemas. Mr. King compressed his lips tightly for a +moment, as if silence were a painful effort. Then, turning to Rosa, he +said: "Pardon my sudden intrusion, Miss Royal. Your father introduced +me to the Signor, and I last night saw him at the opera. That will +account for my being in his room to-day." He glanced at the Italian +with a smile, as he added: "I heard very angry voices, and I thought, +if there was to be a duel, perhaps the Signor would need a second. You +must be greatly fatigued with exertion and excitement. Therefore, I +will merely congratulate you on your brilliant success last evening, +and wish you good morning." + +"I _am_ fatigued," she replied; "but if I bid you good morning now, it +is with the hope of seeing you again soon. The renewal of acquaintance +with one whom my dear father loved is too pleasant to be willingly +relinquished." + +"Thank you," he said. But the simple words were uttered with a look +and tone so deep and earnest, that she felt the color rising to her +cheeks. + +"Am I then still capable of being moved by such tones?" she asked +herself, as she listened to his departing footsteps, and, for the +first time that morning, turned toward the mirror and glanced at her +own flushed countenance. + +"What a time you've been having, dear!" exclaimed Madame, who came +bustling in a moment after. "Only to think of Mr. Fitzgerald's coming +here! His impudence goes a little beyond anything I ever heard of. +Wasn't it lucky that Boston friend should drop down from the skies, +as it were, just at the right minute; for the Signor's such a +flash-in-the-pan, there 's no telling what might have happened. Tell +me all about it, dear." + +"I will tell you about it, dear mamma," replied Rosa; "but I must beg +you to excuse me just now; for I am really very much flurried and +fatigued. If you hadn't gone out, I should have told you this morning, +at breakfast, that I saw Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald at the opera, and +that I was singing at them in good earnest, while people thought I was +acting. We will talk it all over some time; but now I must study, for +I shall have hard work to keep the ground I have gained. You know I +must perform again to-night. O, how I dread it!" + +"You are a strange child to talk so, when you have turned everybody's +head," responded Madame. + +"Why should I care for everybody's head?" rejoined the successful +_cantatrice_. But she thought to herself: "I shall not feel, as I did +last night, that I am going to sing _merely_ to strangers. There will +be _one_ there who heard me sing to my dear father. I must try to +recall the intonations that came so naturally last evening, and see +whether I can act what I then felt." She seated herself at the piano, +and began to sing, "_Oh, di qual sei tu vittima_." Then, shaking her +head slowly, she murmured: "No; it doesn't come. I must trust to the +inspiration of the moment. But it is a comfort to know they will not +_all_ be strangers." + + * * * * * + +Mr. King took an opportunity that same day to call on Mr. Fitzgerald. +He was very haughtily received; but, without appearing to notice +it, he opened his errand by saying, "I have come to speak with you +concerning Miss Royal." + +"All I have to say to you, sir," replied Mr. Fitzgerald, "is, that +neither you nor any other man can induce me to give up my pursuit of +her. I will follow her wherever she goes." + +"What possible advantage can you gain by such a course?" inquired his +visitor. "Why uselessly expose yourself to disagreeable notoriety, +which must, of course, place Mrs. Fitzgerald in a mortifying +position?" + +"How do you know my perseverance would be useless?" asked Fitzgerald. +"Did she send you to tell me so?" + +"She does not know of my coming," replied Mr. King. "I have told you +that my acquaintance with Miss Royal is very slight. But you will +recollect that I met her in the freshness of her young life, when she +was surrounded by all the ease and elegance that a father's wealth and +tenderness could bestow; and it was unavoidable that her subsequent +misfortunes should excite my sympathy. She has never told me anything +of her own history, but from others I know all the particulars. It is +not my purpose to allude to them; but after suffering all she _has_ +suffered, now that she has bravely made a standing-place for herself, +and has such an arduous career before her, I appeal to your sense of +honor, whether it is generous, whether it is manly, to do anything +that will increase the difficulties of her position." + +"It is presumptuous in you, sir, to come here to teach me what is +manly," rejoined Fitzgerald. + +"I merely presented the case for the verdict of your own conscience," +answered his visitor; "but I will again take the liberty to suggest +for your consideration, that if you persecute this unfortunate young +lady with professions you know are unwelcome, it must necessarily +react in a very unpleasant way upon your own reputation, and +consequently upon the happiness of your family." + +"You mistook your profession, sir. You should have been a preacher," +said Fitzgerald, with a sarcastic smile. "I presume you propose to +console the lady for her misfortunes; but let me tell you, sir, that +whoever attempts to come between me and her will do it at his peril." + +"I respect Miss Royal too much to hear her name used in any such +discussion," replied Mr. King. "Good morning, sir." + +"The mean Yankee!" exclaimed the Southerner, as he looked after him. +"If he were a gentleman he would have challenged me, and I should have +met him like a gentleman; but one doesn't know what to do with such +cursed Yankee preaching." + +He was in a very perturbed state of mind. Rosabella had, in fact, made +a much deeper impression on him than any other woman had ever made. +And now that he saw her the bright cynosure of all eyes, fresh fuel +was heaped on the flickering flame of his expiring passion. Her +disdain piqued his vanity, while it produced the excitement of +difficulties to be overcome. He was exasperated beyond measure, that +the beautiful woman who had depended solely upon him should now be +surrounded by protectors. And if he could regain no other power, he +was strongly tempted to exert the power of annoyance. In some moods, +he formed wild projects of waylaying her, and carrying her off by +force. But the Yankee preaching, much as he despised it, was not +without its influence. He felt that it would be most politic to keep +on good terms with his rich wife, who was, besides, rather agreeable +to him. He concluded, on the whole, that he would assume superiority +to the popular enthusiasm about the new _prima donna_; that he would +coolly criticise her singing and her acting, while he admitted that +she had many good points. It was a hard task he undertook; for on the +stage Rosabella attracted him with irresistible power, to which was +added the magnetism of the admiring audience. After the first evening, +she avoided looking at the box where he sat; but he had an uneasy +satisfaction in the consciousness that it was impossible she could +forget he was present and watching her. + +The day after the second appearance of the Senorita Campaneo, Mrs. +Delano was surprised by another call from the Fitzgeralds. + +"Don't think we intend to persecute you," said the little lady. "We +merely came on business. We have just heard that you were to leave +Rome very soon; but Mr. Green seemed to think it couldn't be so soon +as was said." + +"Unexpected circumstances make it necessary for me to return sooner +than I intended," replied Mrs. Delano. "I expect to sail day after +to-morrow." + +"What a pity your daughter should go without hearing the new _prima +donna_!" exclaimed Mrs. Fitzgerald. "She is really a remarkable +creature. Everybody says she is as beautiful as a houri. And as for +her voice, I never heard anything like it, except the first night I +spent on Mr. Fitzgerald's plantation. There was somebody wandering +about in the garden and groves who sang just like her. Mr. Fitzgerald +didn't seem to be much struck with the voice, but I could never forget +it." + +"It was during our honeymoon," replied her husband; "and how could I +be interested in any other voice, when I had yours to listen to?" + +His lady tapped him playfully with her parasol, saying: "O, you +flatterer! But I wish I could get a chance to speak to this Senorita. +I would ask her if she had ever been in America." + +"I presume not," rejoined Mr. Fitzgerald. "They say an Italian +musician heard her in Andalusia, and was so much charmed with her +voice that he adopted her and educated her for the stage; and he named +her Campaneo, because there is such a bell-like echo in her voice +sometimes. Do you think, Mrs. Delano, that it would do your daughter +any serious injury to go with us this evening? We have a spare +ticket; and we would take excellent care of her. If she found herself +fatigued, I would attend upon her home any time she chose to leave." + +"It would be too exciting for her nerves," was Mrs. Delano's laconic +answer. + +"The fact is," said Mrs. Fitzgerald, "Mr. Green has told us so much +about her, that we are extremely anxious to be introduced to her. +He says she hasn't half seen Rome, and he wishes she could join our +party. I wish we could persuade you to leave her with us. I can assure +you Mr. Fitzgerald is a most agreeable and gallant protector to +ladies. And then it is such a pity, when she is so musical, that she +should go without hearing this new _prima donna_." + +"Thank you," rejoined Mrs. Delano; "but we have become so much +attached to each other's society, that I don't think either of us +could be happy separated. Since she cannot hear this musical wonder, I +shall not increase her regrets by repeating your enthusiastic account +of what she has missed." + +"If you had been present at her _debut_, you wouldn't wonder at my +enthusiasm," replied the little lady. "Mr. Fitzgerald is getting over +the fever a little now, and undertakes to criticise. He says she +overacted her part; that she 'tore a passion to tatters,' and all +that. But I never saw him so excited as he was then. I think she +noticed it; for she fixed her glorious dark eyes directly upon our box +while she was singing several of her most effective passages." + +"My dear," interrupted her husband, "you are so opera-mad, that you +are forgetting the object of your call." + +"True," replied she. "We wanted to inquire whether you were certainly +going so soon, and whether any one had engaged these rooms. We took a +great fancy to them. What a desirable situation! So sunny! Such a fine +view of Monte Pincio and the Pope's gardens!" + +"They were not engaged last evening," answered Mrs. Delano. + +"Then you will secure them immediately, won't you, dear?" said the +lady, appealing to her spouse. + +With wishes that the voyage might prove safe and pleasant, they +departed. Mrs. Delano lingered a moment at the window, looking out +upon St. Peter's and the Etruscan Hills beyond, thinking the while how +strangely the skeins of human destiny sometimes become entangled with +each other. Yet she was unconscious of half the entanglement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +The engagement of the Senorita Rosita Campaneo was for four weeks, +during which Mr. King called frequently and attended the opera +constantly. Every personal interview, and every vision of her on the +stage, deepened the impression she made upon him when they first met. +It gratified him to see that, among the shower of bouquets she was +constantly receiving, his was the one she usually carried; nor was she +unobservant that he always wore a fresh rose. But she was unconscious +of his continual guardianship, and he was careful that she should +remain so. Every night that she went to the opera and returned from +it, he assumed a dress like the driver's, and sat with him on the +outside of the carriage,--a fact known only to Madame and the Signor, +who were glad enough to have a friend at hand in case Mr. Fitzgerald +should attempt any rash enterprise. Policemen were secretly employed +to keep the _cantatrice_ in sight, whenever she went abroad for air or +recreation. When she made excursions out of the city in company with +her adopted parents, Mr. King was always privately informed of it, and +rode in the same direction; at a sufficient distance, however, not +to be visible to her, or to excite gossiping remarks by appearing to +others to be her follower. Sometimes he asked himself: "What would my +dear prudential mother say, to see me leaving my business to +agents and clerks, while I devote my life to the service of an +opera-singer?--an opera-singer, too, who has twice been on the verge +of being sold as a slave, and who has been the victim of a sham +marriage!" But though such queries jostled against conventional ideas +received from education, they were always followed by the thought: "My +dear mother has gone to a sphere of wider vision, whence she can look +down upon the merely external distinctions of this deceptive world. +Rosabella must be seen as a pure, good soul, in eyes that see as the +angels do; and as the defenceless daughter of my father's friend, +it is my duty to protect her." So he removed from his more eligible +lodgings in the Piazza di Spagna, and took rooms in the Corso, +nearly opposite to hers, where day by day he continued his invisible +guardianship. + +He had reason, at various times, to think his precautions were not +entirely unnecessary. He had several times seen a figure resembling +Fitzgerald's lurking about the opera-house, wrapped in a cloak, and +with a cap very much drawn over his face. Once Madame and the Signor, +having descended from the carriage, with Rosa, to examine the tomb of +Cecilia Metella, were made a little uneasy by the appearance of four +rude-looking fellows, who seemed bent upon lurking in their vicinity. +But they soon recognized Mr. King in the distance, and not far from +him the disguised policemen in his employ. The fears entertained by +her friends were never mentioned to Rosa, and she appeared to feel no +uneasiness when riding in daylight with the driver and her adopted +parents. She was sometimes a little afraid when leaving the opera late +at night; but there was a pleasant feeling of protection in the idea +that a friend of her father's was in Rome, who knew better than the +Signor how to keep out of quarrels. That recollection also operated +as an additional stimulus to excellence in her art. This friend had +expressed himself very highly gratified by her successful _debut_, +and that consideration considerably increased her anxiety to sustain +herself at the height she had attained. In some respects that was +impossible; for the thrilling circumstances of the first evening could +not again recur to set her soul on fire. Critics generally said she +never equalled her first acting; though some maintained that what she +had lost in power she had gained in a more accurate conception of the +character. Her voice was an unfailing source of wonder and delight. +They were never weary of listening to that volume of sound, so full +and clear, so flexible in its modulations, so expressive in its +intonations. + +As the completion of her engagement drew near, the manager was eager +for its renewal; and finding that she hesitated, he became more and +more liberal in his offers. Things were in this state, when Mr. King +called upon Madame one day while Rosa was absent at rehearsal. "She is +preparing a new aria for her last evening, when they will be sure to +encore the poor child to death," said Madame. "It is very flattering, +but very tiresome; and to my French ears their '_Bis! Bis_!' sounds +too much like a hiss." + +"Will she renew her engagement, think you?" inquired Mr. King. + +"I don't know certainly," replied Madame. "The manager makes very +liberal offers; but she hesitates. She seldom alludes to Mr. +Fitzgerald, but I can see that his presence is irksome to her; and +then his sudden irruption into her room, as told by Giovanna, has +given rise to some green-room gossip. The tenor is rather too +assiduous in his attentions, you know; and the _seconda donna_ is her +enemy, because she has superseded her in his affections. These things +make her wish to leave Rome; but I tell her she will have to encounter +very much the same anywhere." + +"Madame," said the young man, "you stand in the place of a mother +to Miss Royal; and as such, I have a favor to ask of you. Will you, +without mentioning the subject to her, enable me to have a private +interview with her to-morrow morning?" + +"You are aware that it is contrary to her established rule to see any +gentleman, except in the presence of myself or Papa Balbino. But you +have manifested so much delicacy, as well as friendliness, that we all +feel the utmost confidence in you." She smiled significantly as she +added: "If I slip out of the room, as it were by accident, I don't +believe I shall find it very difficult to make my peace with her." + +Alfred King looked forward to the next morning with impatience; yet +when he found himself, for the first time, alone with Rosabella, he +felt painfully embarrassed. She glanced at the fresh rose he wore, +but could not summon courage to ask whether roses were his favorite +flowers. He broke the momentary silence by saying: "Your performances +here have been a source of such inexpressible delight to me, Miss +Royal, that it pains me to think of such a thing as a last evening." + +"Thank you for calling me by that name," she replied. "It carries me +back to a happier time. I hardly know myself as La Senorita Campaneo. +It all seems to me so strange and unreal, that, were it not for a few +visible links with the past, I should feel as if I had died and passed +into another world." + +"May I ask whether you intend to renew your engagement?" inquired he. + +She looked up quickly and earnestly, and said, "What would you advise +me?" + +"The brevity of our acquaintance would hardly warrant my assuming the +office of adviser," replied he modestly. + +The shadow of a blush flitted over her face, as she answered, in a +bashful way: "Excuse me if the habit of associating you with the +memory of my father makes me forget the shortness of our acquaintance. +Beside, you once asked me if ever I was in trouble to call upon you as +I would upon a brother." + +"It gratifies me beyond measure that you should remember my offer, and +take me at my word," responded he. "But in order to judge for you, it +is necessary to know something of your own inclinations. Do you enjoy +the career on which you have entered?" + +"I should enjoy it if the audience were all my personal friends," +answered she. "But I have lived such a very retired life, that I +cannot easily become accustomed to publicity; and there is something +I cannot exactly define, that troubles me with regard to operas. If +I could perform only in pure and noble characters, I think it would +inspire me; for then I should represent what I at least wish to be; +but it affects me like a discord to imagine myself in positions which +in reality I should scorn and detest." + +"I am not surprised to hear you express this feeling," responded he. +"I had supposed it must be so. It seems to me the _libretti_ of operas +are generally singularly ill conceived, both morally and artistically. +Music is in itself so pure and heavenly, that it seems a desecration +to make it the expression of vile incidents and vapid words. But is +the feeling of which you speak sufficiently strong to induce you to +retire from the brilliant career now opening before you, and devote +yourself to concert-singing?" + +"There is one thing that makes me hesitate," rejoined she. "I wish +to earn money fast, to accomplish certain purposes I have at heart. +Otherwise, I don't think I care much for the success you call so +brilliant. It is certainly agreeable to feel that I delight the +audience, though they are strangers; but their cries of '_Bis! Bis_!' +give me less real pleasure than it did to have Papasito ask me to sing +over something that he liked. I seem to see him now, as he used to +listen to me in our flowery parlor. Do you remember that room, Mr. +King?" + +"Do I _remember_ it?" he said, with a look and emphasis so earnest +that a quick blush suffused her eloquent face. "I see that room as +distinctly as you can see it," he continued. "It has often been in my +dreams, and the changing events of my life have never banished it from +my memory for a single day. How _could I_ forget it, when my heart +there received its first and only deep impression. I have loved you +from the first evening I saw you. Judging that your affections were +pre-engaged, I would gladly have loved another, if I could; but though +I have since met fascinating ladies, none of them have interested me +deeply." + +An expression of pain passed over her face while she listened, and +when he paused she murmured softly, "I am sorry." + +"Sorry!" echoed he. "Is it then impossible for me to inspire you with +sentiments similar to my own?" + +"I am sorry," she replied, "because a first, fresh love, like yours, +deserves better recompense than it could receive from a bruised and +worn-out heart like mine. I can never experience the illusion of love +again. I have suffered too deeply." + +"I do not wish you to experience the _illusion_ of love again," he +replied. "But my hope is that the devotion of my life may enable you +to experience the true and tender _reality_" He placed his hand gently +and timidly upon hers as he spoke, and looked in her face earnestly. + +Without raising her eyes she said, "I suppose you are aware that my +mother was a slave, and that her daughters inherited her misfortune." + +"I am aware of it," he replied. "But that only makes me ashamed of my +country, not of her or of them. Do not, I pray you, pain yourself or +me by alluding to any of the unfortunate circumstances of your +past life, with the idea that they can depreciate your value in my +estimation. From Madame and the Signor I have learned the whole story +of your wrongs and your sufferings. Fortunately, my good father taught +me, both by precept and example, to look through the surface of things +to the reality. I have seen and heard enough to be convinced that your +own heart is noble and pure. Such natures cannot be sullied by the +unworthiness of others; they may even be improved by it. The famous +Dr. Spurzheim says, he who would have the best companion for his life +should choose a woman who has suffered. And though I would gladly have +saved you from suffering, I cannot but see that your character has +been elevated by it. Since I have known you here in Rome, I have been +surprised to observe how the young romantic girl has ripened into the +thoughtful, prudent woman. I will not urge you for an answer now, my +dear Miss Royal. Take as much time as you please to reflect upon it. +Meanwhile, if you choose to devote your fine musical genius to the +opera, I trust you will allow me to serve you in any way that a +brother could under similar circumstances. If you prefer to be a +concert-singer, my father had a cousin who married in England, where +she has a good deal of influence in the musical world. I am sure she +would take a motherly interest in you, both for your own sake and +mine. Your romantic story, instead of doing you injury in England, +would make you a great lioness, if you chose to reveal it." + +"I should dislike that sort of attention," she replied hastily. "Do +not suppose, however, that I am ashamed of my dear mother, or of her +lineage; but I wish to have any interest I excite founded on my own +merits, not on any extraneous circumstance. But you have not yet +advised me whether to remain on the stage or to retire from it." + +"If I presumed that my opinion would decide the point," rejoined he, +"I should be diffident about expressing it in a case so important to +yourself." + +"You are very delicate," she replied. "But I conjecture that you would +be best pleased if I decided in favor of concert-singing." + +While he was hesitating what to say, in order to leave her in perfect +freedom, she added: "And so, if you will have the goodness to +introduce me to your relative, and she is willing to be my patroness, +I will try my fortune in England. Of course she ought to be informed +of my previous history; but I should prefer to have her consider +it strictly confidential. And now, if you please, I will say, _An +revoir_; for Papa Balbino is waiting for some instructions on matters +of business." + +She offered her hand with a very sweet smile. He clasped it with a +slight pressure, bowed his head upon it for an instant, and said, with +deep emotion: "Thank you, dearest of women. You send me away a happy +man; for hope goes with me." + +When the door closed after him, she sank into a chair, and covered her +face with both her hands. "How different is his manner of making love +from that of Gerald," thought she. "Surely, I can trust _this_ time. +O, if I was only worthy of such love!" + +Her revery was interrupted by the entrance of Madame and the Signor. +She answered their inquisitive looks by saying, rather hastily, "When +you told Mr. King the particulars of my story, did you tell him about +the poor little _bambino_ I left in New Orleans?" + +Madame replied, "I mentioned to him how the death of the poor little +thing afflicted you." + +Rosa made no response, but occupied herself with selecting some pieces +of music connected with the performance at the opera. + +The Signor, as he went out with the music, said, "Do you suppose she +didn't want him to know about the _bambino_?" + +"Perhaps she is afraid he will think her heartless for leaving it," +replied Madame. "But I will tell her I took all the blame on myself. +If she is so anxious about his good opinion, it shows which way the +wind blows." + +The Senorita Rosita Campaneo and her attendants had flitted, no one +knew whither, before the public were informed that her engagement was +not to be renewed. Rumor added that she was soon to be married to a +rich American, who had withdrawn her from the stage. + +"Too much to be monopolized by one man," said Mr. Green to Mr. +Fitzgerald. "Such a glorious creature belongs to the world." + +"Who is the happy man?" inquired Mrs. Fitzgerald. + +"They say it is King, that pale-faced Puritan from Boston," rejoined +her husband. "I should have given her credit for better taste." + +In private, he made all possible inquiries; but merely succeeded in +tracing them to a vessel at Civita Vecchia, bound to Marseilles. + +To the public, the fascinating _prima donna_, who had rushed up from +the horizon like a brilliant rocket, and disappeared as suddenly, was +only a nine-days wonder. Though for some time after, when opera-goers +heard any other _cantatrice_ much lauded, they would say: "Ah, you +should have heard the Campaneo! Such a voice! She rose to the highest +D as easily as she breathed. And such glorious eyes!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +While Rosabella was thus exchanging the laurel crown for the myrtle +wreath, Flora and her friend were on their way to search the places +that had formerly known her. Accompanied by Mr. Jacobs, who had long +been a steward in her family, Mrs. Delano passed through Savannah, +without calling on her friend Mrs. Welby, and in a hired boat +proceeded to the island. Flora almost flew over the ground, so great +was her anxiety to reach the cottage. Nature, which pursues her course +with serene indifference to human vicissitudes, wore the same smiling +aspect it had worn two years before, when she went singing through the +woods, like Cinderella, all unconscious of the beneficent fairy she +was to meet there in the form of a new Mamita. Trees and shrubs were +beautiful with young, glossy foliage. Pines and firs offered their +aromatic incense to the sun. Birds were singing, and bees gathering +honey from the wild-flowers. A red-headed woodpecker was hammering +away on the umbrageous tree under which Flora used to sit while busy +with her sketches. He cocked his head to listen as they approached, +and, at first sight of them, flew up into the clear blue air, with +undulating swiftness. To Flora's great disappointment, they found all +the doors fastened; but Mr. Jacobs entered by a window and opened one +of them. The cottage had evidently been deserted for a considerable +time. Spiders had woven their tapestry in all the corners. A pane had +apparently been cut out of the window their attendant had opened, and +it afforded free passage to the birds. On a bracket of shell-work, +which Flora had made to support a vase of flowers, was a deserted +nest, bedded in soft green moss, which hung from it in irregular +streamers and festoons. + +"How pretty!" said Mrs. Delano. "If the little creature had studied +the picturesque, she couldn't have devised anything more graceful. Let +us take it, bracket and all, and carry it home carefully." + +"That was the very first shell-work I made after we came from Nassau," +rejoined Flora. "I used to put fresh flowers on it every morning, to +please Rosa. Poor Rosa! Where _can_ she be?" + +She turned away her head, and was silent for a moment. Then, pointing +to the window, she said: "There's that dead pine-tree I told you I +used to call Old Man of the Woods. He is swinging long pennants of +moss on his arms, just as he did when I was afraid to look at him in +the moonlight." + +She was soon busy with a heap of papers swept into a corner of the +room she used to occupy. They were covered with sketches of leaves and +flowers, and embroidery-patterns, and other devices with which she had +amused herself in those days. Among them she was delighted to find +the head and shoulders of Thistle, with a garland round his neck. In +Rosa's sleeping-room, an old music-book, hung with cobwebs, leaned +against the wall. + +"O Mamita Lila, I am glad to find this!" exclaimed Flora. "Here is +what Rosa and I used to sing to dear papa when we were ever so little. +He always loved old-fashioned music. Here are some of Jackson's +canzonets, that were his favorites." She began to hum, "Time has not +thinned my flowing hair." "Here is Dr. Arne's 'Sweet Echo.' Rosa used +to play and sing that beautifully. And here is what he always liked to +have us sing to him at sunset. We sang it to him the very night before +he died." She began to warble, "Now Phoebus sinketh in the west." +"Why, it seems as if I were a little girl again, singing to Papasito +and Mamita," said she. + +Looking up, she saw that Mrs. Delano had covered her face with her +handkerchief; and closing the music-book, she nestled to her side, +affectionately inquiring what had troubled her. For a little while her +friend pressed her hand in silence. + +"O darling," said she, "what a strange, sad gift is memory! I sang +that to your father the last time we ever saw the sunset together; and +perhaps when he heard it he used to see me sometimes, as plainly as I +now see him. It is consoling to think he did not quite forget me." + +"When we go home, I will sing it to you every evening if you would +like it, Mamita Lila," said Flora. + +Her friend patted her head fondly, and said: "You must finish your +researches soon, darling; for I think we had better go to Magnolia +Lawn to see if Tom and Chloe can be found." + +"How shall we get there? It's too far for you to walk, and poor +Thistle's gone," said Flora. + +"I have sent Mr. Jacobs to the plantation," replied Mrs. Delano, "and +I think he will find some sort of vehicle. Meanwhile, you had better +be getting together any little articles you want to carry away." + +As Flora took up the music-book, some of the loose leaves fell out, +and with them came a sketch of Tulee's head, with the large gold hoops +and the gay turban. "Here's Tulee!" shouted Flora. "It isn't well +drawn, but it _is_ like her. I'll make a handsome picture from it, and +frame it, and hang it by my bedside, where I can see it every morning. +Dear, good Tulee! How she jumped up and kissed us when we first +arrived here. I suppose she thinks I am dead, and has cried a great +deal about little Missy Flory. O, what wouldn't I give to see her!" + +She had peeped about everywhere, and was becoming very much dispirited +with the desolation, when Mr. Jacobs came back with a mule and a small +cart, which he said was the best conveyance he could procure. The +jolting over hillocks, and the occasional grunts of the mule, made it +an amusing ride; but it was a fruitless one. The plantation negroes +were sowing cotton, but all Mr. Fitzgerald's household servants were +leased out in Savannah during his absence in Europe. The white villa +at Magnolia Lawn peeped out from its green surroundings; but the +jalousies were closed, and the tracks on the carriage-road were +obliterated by rains. + +Hiring a negro to go with them to take back the cart, they made the +best of their way to the boat, which was waiting for them. Fatigued +and disconsolate with their fruitless search, they felt little +inclined to talk as they glided over the bright waters. The negro +boatmen frequently broke in upon the silence with some simple, wild +melody, which they sang in perfect unison, dipping their oars in +rhythm. When Savannah came in sight, they urged the boat faster, +and, improvising words to suit the occasion, they sang in brisker +strains:-- + + "Row, darkies, row! + See de sun down dar am creepin'; + Row, darkies, row! + Hab white ladies in yer keepin'; + Row, darkies, row!" + +With the business they had on hand, Mrs. Delano preferred not to seek +her friends in the city, and they took lodgings at a hotel. Early the +next morning, Mr. Jacobs was sent out to ascertain the whereabouts of +Mr. Fitzgerald's servants; and Mrs. Delano proposed that, during his +absence, they should drive to The Pines, which she described as an +extremely pleasant ride. Flora assented, with the indifference of a +preoccupied mind. But scarcely had the horses stepped on the thick +carpet of pine foliage with which the ground was strewn, when she +eagerly exclaimed, "Tom! Tom!" A black man, mounted on the seat of a +carriage that was passing them, reined in his horses and stopped. + +"Keep quiet, my dear," whispered Mrs. Delano to her companion, "till I +can ascertain who is in the carriage." + +"Are you Mr. Fitzgerald's Tom?" she inquired. + +"Yes, Missis," replied the negro, touching his hat. + +She beckoned him to come and open her carriage-door, and, speaking in +a low voice, she said: "I want to ask you about a Spanish lady who +used to live in a cottage, not far from Mr. Fitzgerald's plantation. +She had a black servant named Tulee, who used to call her Missy Rosy. +We went to the cottage yesterday, and found it shut up. Can you tell +us where they have gone?" + +Tom looked at them very inquisitively, and answered, "Dunno, Missis." + +"We are Missy Rosy's friends, and have come to bring her some good +news. If you can tell us anything about her, I will give you this gold +piece." + +Tom half stretched forth his hand to take the coin, then drew it back, +and repeated, "Dunno, Missis." + +Flora, who felt her heart rising in her throat, tossed back her veil, +and said, "Tom, don't you know me?" + +The negro started as if a ghost had risen before him. + +"Now tell me where Missy Rosy has gone, and who went with her," said +she, coaxingly. + +"Bress yer, Missy Flory! _am_ yer alive!" exclaimed the bewildered +negro. + +Flora laughed, and, drawing off her glove, shook hands with him. "Now +you know I'm alive, Tom. But don't tell anybody. Where's Missy Rosy +gone." + +"O Missy," replied Tom, "dar am heap ob tings to tell." + +Mrs. Delano suggested that it was not a suitable place; and Tom said +he must go home with his master's carriage. He told them he had +obtained leave to go and see his wife Chloe that evening; and +he promised to come to their hotel first. So, with the general +information that Missy Rosy and Tulee were safe, they parted for the +present. + +Tom's communication in the evening was very long, and intensely +interesting to his auditors; but it did not extend beyond a certain +point. He told of Rosa's long and dangerous illness; of Chloe's and +Tulee's patient praying and nursing; of the birth of the baby; of the +sale to Mr. Bruteman; and of the process by which she escaped with Mr. +Duroy. Further than that he knew nothing. He had never been in New +Orleans afterward, and had never heard Mr. Fitzgerald speak of Rosa. + +At that crisis in the conversation, Mrs. Delano summoned Mr. Jacobs, +and requested him to ascertain when a steamboat would go to New +Orleans. Flora kissed her hand, with a glance full of gratitude. Tom +looked at her in a very earnest, embarrassed way, and said: "Missis, +am yer one ob dem Ab-lish-nishts dar in de Norf, dat Massa swars +'bout?" + +Mrs. Delano turned toward Flora with a look of perplexity, and, +having received an interpretation of the question, she smiled as she +answered: "I rather think I am half an Abolitionist, Tom. But why do +you wish to know?" + +Tom went on to state, in "lingo" that had to be frequently explained, +that he wanted to run away to the North, and that he could manage to +do it if it were not for Chloe and the children. He had been in hopes +that Mrs. Fitzgerald would have taken her to the North to nurse her +baby while she was gone to Europe. In that case, he intended to follow +after; and he thought some good people would lend them money to buy +their little ones, and, both together, they could soon work off the +debt. But this project had been defeated by Mrs. Bell, who brought a +white nurse from Boston, and carried her infant grandson back with +her. + +"Yer see, Missis," said Tom, with a sly look, "dey tinks de niggers +don't none ob 'em wants dare freedom, so dey nebber totes 'em whar it +be." + +Ever since that disappointment had occurred, he and his wife had +resolved themselves into a committee of ways and means, but they had +not yet devised any feasible mode of escape. And now they were thrown +into great consternation by the fact that a slave-trader had been to +look at Chloe, because Mr. Fitzgerald wanted money to spend in Europe, +and had sent orders to have some of his negroes sold. + +Mrs. Delano told him she didn't see how she could help him, but she +would think about it; and Flora, with a sideway inclination of the +head toward her, gave Tom an expressive glance, which he understood as +a promise to persuade her. He urged the matter no further, but asked +what time it was. Being told it was near nine o'clock, he said he must +hasten to Chloe, for it was not allowable for negroes to be in the +street after that hour. + +He had scarcely closed the door, before Mrs. Delano said, "If Chloe is +sold, I must buy her." + +"I thought you would say so," rejoined Flora. + +A discussion then took place as to ways and means, and a strictly +confidential letter was written to a lawyer from the North, with whom +Mrs. Delano was acquainted, requesting him to buy the woman and her +children for her, if they were to be sold. + +It happened fortunately that a steamer was going to New Orleans the +next day. Just as they were going on board, a negro woman with two +children came near, and, dropping a courtesy, said: "Skuse, Missis. +Dis ere's Chloe. Please say Ise yer nigger! Do, Missis!" + +Flora seized the black woman's hand, and pressed it, while she +whispered: "Do, Mamita! They're going to sell her, you know." + +She took the children by the hand, and hurried forward without waiting +for an answer. They were all on board before Mrs. Delano had time to +reflect. Tom was nowhere to be seen. On one side of her stood +Chloe, with two little ones clinging to her skirts, looking at her +imploringly with those great fervid eyes, and saying in suppressed +tones, "Missis, dey's gwine to sell me away from de chillen"; and on +the other side was Flora, pressing her hand, and entreating, "Don't +send her back, Mamita! She was _so_ good to poor Rosa." + +"But, my dear, if they should trace her to me, it would be a very +troublesome affair," said the perplexed lady. + +"They won't look for her in New Orleans. They'll think she's gone +North," urged Flora. + +During this whispered consultation, Mr. Jacobs approached with some of +their baggage. Mrs. Delano stopped him, and said: "When you register +our names, add a negro servant and her two children." + +He looked surprised, but bowed and asked no questions. She was +scarcely less surprised at herself. In the midst of her anxiety to +have the boat start, she called to mind her former censures upon those +who helped servants to escape from Southern masters, and she could not +help smiling at the new dilemma in which she found herself. + +The search in New Orleans availed little. They alighted from their +carriage a few minutes to look at the house where Flora was born. She +pointed out to Mrs. Delano the spot whence her father had last spoken +to her on that merry morning, and the grove where she used to pelt him +with oranges; but neither of them cared to enter the house, now that +everything was so changed. Madame's house was occupied by strangers, +who knew nothing of the previous tenants, except that they were said +to have gone to Europe to live. They drove to Mr. Duroy's, and found +strangers there, who said the former occupants had all died of +yellow-fever,--the lady and gentleman, a negro woman, and a white +baby. Flora was bewildered to find every link with her past broken +and gone. She had not lived long enough to realize that the traces of +human lives often disappear from cities as quickly as the ocean closes +over the tracks of vessels. Mr. Jacobs proposed searching for some +one who had been in Mr. Duroy's employ; and with that intention, they +returned to the city. As they were passing a house where a large +bird-cage hung in the open window, Flora heard the words, "_Petit +blanc, mon bon frere! Ha! ha_!" + +She called out to Mr. Jacobs, "Stop! Stop!" and pushed at the carriage +door, in her impatience to get out. + +"What _is_ the matter, my child?" inquired Mrs. Delano. + +"That's Madame's parrot," replied she; and an instant after she was +ringing at the door of the house. She told the servant they wished to +make some inquiries concerning Signor and Madame Papanti, and Monsieur +Duroy; and she and Mrs. Delano were shown in to wait for the lady of +the house. They had no sooner entered, than the parrot flapped her +wings and cried out, "_Bon jour, joli petit diable_!" And then she +began to whistle and warble, twitter and crow, through a ludicrous +series of noisy variations. Flora burst into peals of laughter, in the +midst of which the lady of the house entered the room. "Excuse me, +Madame," said she. "This parrot is an old acquaintance of mine. I +taught her to imitate all sorts of birds, and she is showing me that +she has not forgotten my lessons." + +"It will be impossible to hear ourselves speak, unless I cover the +cage," replied the lady. + +"Allow me to quiet her, if you please," rejoined Flora. She opened the +door of the cage, and the bird hopped on her arm, flapping her wings, +and crying, "_Bon jour! Ha! ha_!" + +"_Taisez vous, jolie Manon_," said Flora soothingly, while she stroked +the feathery head. The bird nestled close and was silent. + +When their errand was explained, the lady repeated the same story they +had already heard about Mr. Duroy's family. + +"Was the black woman who died there named Tulee?" inquired Flora. + +"I never heard her name but once or twice," replied the lady. "It was +not a common negro name, and I think that was it. Madame Papanti had +put her and the baby there to board. After Mr. Duroy died, his son +came home from Arkansas to settle his affairs. My husband, who was one +of Mr. Duroy's clerks, bought some of the things at auction; and among +them was that parrot." + +"And what has become of Signor and Madame Papanti?" asked Mrs. Delano. + +The lady could give no information, except that they had returned to +Europe. Having obtained directions where to find her husband, they +thanked her, and wished her good morning. + +Flora held the parrot up to the cage, and said, "_Bon jour, jolie +Manon_!" + +"_Bon jour_!" repeated the bird, and hopped upon her perch. + +After they had entered the carriage, Flora said: "How melancholy it +seems that everybody is gone, except _Jolie Manon_! How glad the poor +thing seemed to be to see me! I wish I could take her home." + +"I will send to inquire whether the lady will sell her," replied her +friend. + +"O Mamita, you will spoil me, you indulge me so much," rejoined Flora. + +Mrs. Delano smiled affectionately, as she answered: "If you were very +spoilable, dear, I think that would have been done already." + +"But it will be such a bother to take care of Manon," said Flora. + +"Our new servant Chloe can do that," replied Mrs. Delano. "But I +really hope we shall get home without any further increase of our +retinue." + +From the clerk information was obtained that he heard Mr. Duroy tell +Mr. Bruteman that a lady named Rosabella Royal had sailed to Europe +with Signor and Madame Papanti in the ship Mermaid. He added that news +afterward arrived that the vessel foundered at sea, and all on board +were lost. + +With this sorrow on her heart, Flora returned to Boston. Mr. Percival +was immediately informed of their arrival, and hastened to meet them. +When the result of their researches was told, he said: "I shouldn't be +disheartened yet. Perhaps they didn't sail in the Mermaid. I will send +to the New York Custom-House for a list of the passengers." + +Flora eagerly caught at that suggestion; and Mrs. Delano said, with a +smile: "We have some other business in which we need your help. You +must know that I am involved in another slave case. If ever a quiet +and peace-loving individual was caught up and whirled about by a +tempest of events, I am surely that individual. Before I met this dear +little Flora, I had a fair prospect of living and dying a respectable +and respected old fogy, as you irreverent reformers call discreet +people. But now I find myself drawn into the vortex of abolition to +the extent of helping off four fugitive slaves. In Flora's case, I +acted deliberately, from affection and a sense of duty; but in this +second instance I was taken by storm, as it were. The poor woman was +aboard before I knew it, and I found myself too weak to withstand her +imploring looks and Flora's pleading tones." She went on to describe +the services Chloe had rendered to Rosa, and added: "I will pay any +expenses necessary for conveying this woman to a place of safety, and +supplying all that is necessary for her and her children, until she +can support them; but I do not feel as if she were safe here." + +"If you will order a carriage, I will take them directly to the house +of Francis Jackson, in Hollis Street," said Mr. Percival. "They will +be safe enough under the protection of that honest, sturdy friend of +freedom. His house is the depot of various subterranean railroads; and +I pity the slaveholder who tries to get on any of his tracks. He finds +himself 'like a toad under a harrow, where ilka tooth gies him a tug,' +as the Scotch say." + +While waiting for the carriage, Chloe and her children were brought +in. Flora took the little ones under her care, and soon had their +aprons filled with cakes and sugarplums. Chloe, unable to restrain her +feelings, dropped down on her knees in the midst of the questions they +were asking her, and poured forth an eloquent prayer that the Lord +would bless these good friends of her down-trodden people. + +When the carriage arrived, she rose, and, taking Mrs. Delano's hand, +said solemnly: "De Lord bress yer, Missis! De Lord bress yer! I seed +yer once fore ebber I knowed yer. I seed yer in a vision, when I war +prayin' to de Lord to open de free door fur me an' my chillen. Ye war +an angel wid white shiny wings. Bress de Lord! 'T war Him dat sent +yer.--An' now, Missy Flory, de Lord bress yer! Ye war allers good to +poor Chloe, down dar in de prison-house. Let me gib yer a kiss, little +Missy." + +Flora threw her arms round the bended neck, and promised to go and see +her wherever she was. + +When the carriage rolled away, emotion kept them both silent for a few +minutes. "How strange it seems to me now," said Mrs. Delano, "that +I lived so many years without thinking of the wrongs of these poor +people! I used to think prayer-meetings for slaves were very fanatical +and foolish. It seemed to me enough that they were included in our +prayer for 'all classes and conditions of men'; but after listening to +poor Chloe's eloquent outpouring, I am afraid such generalizing will +sound rather cold." + +"Mamita," said Flora, "you know you gave me some money to buy a silk +dress. Are you willing I should use it to buy clothes for Chloe and +her children?" + +"More than willing, my child," she replied. "There is no clothing so +beautiful as the raiment of righteousness." + +The next morning, Flora went out to make her purchases. Some time +after, Mrs. Delano, hearing voices near the door, looked out, and saw +her in earnest conversation with Florimond Blumenthal, who had a large +parcel in his arms. When she came in, Mrs. Delano said, "So you had an +escort home?" + +"Yes, Mamita," she replied; "Florimond would bring the parcel, and so +we walked together." + +"He was very polite," said Mrs. Delano; "but ladies are not accustomed +to stand on the doorstep talking with clerks who bring bundles for +them." + +"I didn't think anything about that," rejoined Flora. "He wanted to +know about Rosa, and I wanted to tell him. Florimond seems just like +a piece of my old home, because he loved papa so much. Mamita Lila, +didn't you say papa was a poor clerk when you and he first began to +love one another?" + +"Yes, my child," she replied; and she kissed the bright, innocent face +that came bending over her, looking so frankly into hers. + +When she had gone out of the room, Mrs. Delano said to herself, +"That darling child, with her strange history and unworldly ways, is +educating me more than I can educate her." + +A week later, Mr. and Mrs. Percival came, with tidings that no such +persons as Signor and Madame Papanti were on board the Mermaid; and +they proposed writing letters of inquiry forthwith to consuls in +various parts of Italy and France. + +Flora began to hop and skip and clap her hands. But she soon paused, +and said, laughingly: "Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. Mamita often +tells me I was brought up in a bird-cage; and I ask her how then can +she expect me to do anything but hop and sing. Excuse me. I forgot +Mamita and I were not alone." + +"You pay us the greatest possible compliment," rejoined Mr. Percival. + +And Mrs. Percival added, "I hope you will always forget it when we are +here." + +"Do you really wish it?" asked Flora, earnestly. "Then I will." + +And so, with a few genial friends, an ever-deepening attachment +between her and her adopted mother, a hopeful feeling at her heart +about Rosa, Tulee's likeness by her bedside, and Madame's parrot to +wish her _Bon jour_! Boston came to seem to her like a happy home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +About two months after their return from the South, Mr. Percival +called one evening, and said: "Do you know Mr. Brick, the +police-officer? I met him just now, and he stopped me. 'There's plenty +of work for you Abolitionists now-a-days,' said he. 'There are five +Southerners at the Tremont, inquiring for runaways, and cursing +Garrison. An agent arrived last night from Fitzgerald's +plantation,--he that married Bell's daughter, you know. He sent for me +to give me a description of a nigger that had gone off in a mysterious +way to parts unknown. He wanted me to try to find the fellow, and, +of course, I did; for I always calculate to do my duty, as the law +directs. So I went immediately to Father Snowdon, and described the +black man, and informed him that his master had sent for him, in +a great hurry. I told him I thought it very likely he was lurking +somewhere in Belknap Street; and if he would have the goodness to hunt +him up, I would call, in the course of an hour or two, to see what +luck he had.'" + +"Who is Father Snowdon?" inquired Mrs. Delano. + +"He is the colored preacher in Belknap Street Church," replied Mr. +Percival, "and a remarkable man in his way. He fully equals Chloe in +prayer; and he is apt to command the ship Buzzard to the especial +attention of the Lord. The first time I entered his meeting, he was +saying, in a loud voice, 'We pray thee, O Lord, to bless her Majesty's +good ship, the Buzzard; and if there's a slave-trader now on the coast +of Africa, we pray thee, O Lord, to blow her straight under the lee of +the Buzzard.' He has been a slave himself, and he has perhaps helped +off more slaves than any man in the country. I doubt whether +Garrick himself had greater power to disguise his countenance. If a +slaveholder asks him about a slave, he is the most stolid-looking +creature imaginable. You wouldn't suppose he understood anything, or +ever _could_ understand anything. But if he meets an Abolitionist a +minute after, his black face laughs all over, and his roguish eyes +twinkle like diamonds, while he recounts how he 'come it' over the +Southern gentleman. That bright soul of his is a jewel set in ebony." + +"It seems odd that the police-officer should apply to _him_ to catch a +runaway," said Mrs. Delano. + +"That's the fun of it," responded Mr. Percival. "The extinguishers +are themselves taking fire. The fact is, Boston policemen don't feel +exactly in their element as slave-hunters. They are too near Bunker +Hill; and on the Fourth of July they are reminded of the Declaration +of Independence, which, though it is going out of fashion, is still +regarded by a majority of the people as a venerable document. Then +they have Whittier's trumpet-tones ringing in their ears,-- + + "'No slave hunt in _our_ borders! no pirate on _our_ strand! + No fetters in the Bay State! no slave upon _our_ land!'" + +"How did Mr. Brick describe Mr. Fitzgerald's runaway slave?" inquired +Flora. + +"He said he was tall and very black, with a white scar over his right +eye." + +"That's Tom!" exclaimed she. "How glad Chloe will be! But I wonder he +didn't come here the first thing. We could have told him how well she +was getting on in New Bedford." + +"Father Snowdon will tell him all about that," rejoined Mr. Percival. +"If Tom was in the city, he probably kept him closely hidden, on +account of the number of Southerners who have recently arrived; and +after the hint the police-officer gave him, he doubtless hustled him +out of town in the quickest manner." + +"I want to hurrah for that policeman," said Flora; "but Mamita would +think I was a very rude young lady, or rather that I was no lady at +all. But perhaps you'll let me _sing_ hurrah, Mamita?" + +Receiving a smile for answer, she flew to the piano, and, improvising +an accompaniment to herself, she began to sing hurrah! through all +manner of variations, high and low, rapidly trilled and slowly +prolonged, now bursting full upon the ear, now receding in the +distance. It was such a lively fantasia, that it made Mr. Percival +laugh, while Mrs. Delano's face was illuminated by a quiet smile. + +In the midst of the merriment, the door-bell rang. Flora started from +the piano, seized her worsted-work, and said, "Now, Mamita, I'm ready +to receive company like a pink of propriety." But the change was so +sudden, that her eyes were still laughing when Mr. Green entered an +instant after; and he again caught that archly demure expression which +seemed to him so fascinating. The earnestness of his salutation was so +different from his usual formal politeness, that Mrs. Delano could not +fail to observe it. The conversation turned upon incidents of travel +after they had parted so suddenly. "I shall never cease to regret," +said he, "that you missed hearing La Senorita Campaneo. She was a +most extraordinary creature. Superbly handsome; and do you know, Miss +Delano, I now and then caught a look that reminded me very much of +you. Unfortunately, you have lost your chance to hear her. For Mr. +King, the son of our Boston millionnaire, who has lately been piling +up money in the East, persuaded her to quit the stage when she had but +just started in her grand career. All the musical world in Rome were +vexed with him for preventing her re-engagement. As for Fitzgerald, I +believe he would have shot him if he could have found him. It was a +purely musical disappointment, for he was never introduced to the +fascinating Senorita; but he fairly pined upon it. I told him the best +way to drive off the blue devils would be to go with me and a few +friends to the Grotta Azzura. So off we started to Naples, and thence +to Capri. The grotto was one of the few novelties remaining for me +in Italy. I had heard much of it, but the reality exceeded all +descriptions. We seemed to be actually under the sea in a palace of +gems. Our boat glided over a lake of glowing sapphire, and our oars +dropped rubies. High above our heads were great rocks of sapphire, +deepening to lapis-lazuli at the base, with here and there a streak of +malachite." + +"It seems like Aladdin's Cave," remarked Flora. + +"Yes," replied Mr. Green; "only it was Aladdin's Cave undergoing a +wondrous 'sea change.' A poetess, who writes for the papers under the +name of Melissa Mayflower, had fastened herself upon our party in some +way; and I suppose she felt bound to sustain the reputation of the +quill. She said the Nereids must have built that marine palace, and +decorated it for a visit from fairies of the rainbow." + +"That was a pretty thought," said Flora. "It sounds like 'Lalla +Rookh.'" + +"It was a pretty thought," rejoined the gentleman, "but can give you +no idea of the unearthly splendor. I thought how you would have been +delighted if you had been with our party. I regretted your absence +almost as much as I did at the opera. But the Blue Grotto, wonderful +as it was, didn't quite drive away Fitzgerald's blue devils, though it +made him forget his vexations for the time. The fact is, just as we +started he received a letter from his agent, informing him of the +escape of a negro woman and her two children; and he spent most of the +way back to Naples swearing at the Abolitionists." + +Flora, the side of whose face was toward him, gave Mrs. Delano a +furtive glance full of fun; but he saw nothing of the mischief in her +expressive face, except a little whirlpool of a dimple, which played +about her mouth for an instant, and then subsided. A very broad smile +was on Mr. Percival's face, as he sat examining some magnificent +illustrations of the Alhambra. Mr. Green, quite unconscious of the +by-play in their thoughts, went on to say, "It is really becoming a +serious evil that Southern gentlemen have so little security for that +species of property." + +"Then you consider women and children _property_?" inquired Mr. +Percival, looking up from his book. + +Mr. Green bowed with a sort of mock deference, and replied: "Pardon +me, Mr. Percival, it is so unusual for gentlemen of your birth and +position to belong to the Abolition troop of rough-riders, that I may +be excused for not recollecting it." + +"I should consider my birth and position great misfortunes, if they +blinded me to the plainest principles of truth and justice," rejoined +Mr. Percival. + +The highly conservative gentleman made no reply, but rose to take +leave. + +"Did your friends the Fitzgeralds return with you?" inquired Mrs. +Delano. + +"No," replied he. "They intend to remain until October, Good evening, +ladies. I hope soon to have the pleasure of seeing you again." And +with an inclination of the head toward Mr. Percival, he departed. + +"Why did you ask him that question?" said Flora. "Are you afraid of +anything?" + +"Not in the slightest degree," answered Mrs. Delano. "If, without +taking much trouble, we can avoid your being recognized by Mr. +Fitzgerald, I should prefer it, because I do not wish to have any +conversation with him. But now that your sister's happiness is no +longer implicated, there is no need of caution. If he happens to see +you, I shall tell him you sought my protection, and that he has no +legal power over you." + +The conversation diverged to the Alhambra and Washington Irving; and +Flora ended the evening by singing the Moorish ballad of "Xarifa," +which she said always brought a picture of Rosabella before her eyes. + +The next morning, Mr. Green called earlier than usual. He did not +ask for Flora, whom he had in fact seen in the street a few minutes +before. "Excuse me, Mrs. Delano, for intruding upon you at such an +unseasonable hour," said he. "I chose it because I wished to be +sure of seeing you alone. You must have observed that I am greatly +interested in your adopted daughter." + +"The thought has crossed my mind," replied the lady; "but I was by no +means certain that she interested you more than a very pretty girl +must necessarily interest a gentleman of taste." + +"Pretty!" repeated he. "That is a very inadequate word to describe +the most fascinating young lady I have ever met. She attracts me so +strongly, that I have called to ask your permission to seek her for a +wife." + +Mrs. Delano hesitated for a moment, and then answered, "It is my duty +to inform you that she is not of high family on the father's side; and +on the mother's, she is scarcely what you would deem respectable." + +"Has she vulgar, disagreeable relations, who would be likely to be +intrusive?" he asked. + +"She has no relative, near or distant, that I know of," replied the +lady. + +"Then her birth is of no consequence," he answered. "My family would +be satisfied to receive her as your daughter. I am impatient to +introduce her to my mother and sisters, who I am sure will be charmed +with her." + +Mrs. Delano was embarrassed, much to the surprise of her visitor, who +was accustomed to consider his wealth and social position a prize that +would be eagerly grasped at. After watching her countenance for an +instant, he said, somewhat proudly: "You do not seem to receive my +proposal very cordially, Mrs. Delano. Have you anything to object to +my character or family?" + +"Certainly not," replied the lady. "My doubts are concerning my +daughter." + +"Is she engaged, or partially engaged, to another?" he inquired. + +"She is not," rejoined Mrs. Delano; "though I imagine she is not quite +'fancy free.'" + +"Would it be a breach of confidence to tell me who has been so +fortunate as to attract her?" + +"Nothing of the kind has ever been confided to me." answered the +lady. "It is merely an imagination of my own, and relates to a person +unknown to you." + +"Then I will enter the lists with my rival, if there is one," said he. +"Such a prize is not to be given up without an effort. But you have +not yet said that I have your consent." + +"Since you are so persistent," rejoined Mrs. Delano, "I will tell you +a secret, if you will pledge your honor, as a gentleman, never to +repeat it, or hint at it, to any mortal." + +"I pledge my honor," he replied, "that whatever you choose to tell me +shall be sacred between us." + +"It is not pleasant to tell the story of Flora's birth," responded +she; "but under present circumstances it seems to be a duty. When I +have informed you of the facts, you are free to engage her affections +if you can. On the paternal side, she descends from the French gentry +and the Spanish nobility; but her mother was a quadroon slave, and she +herself was sold as a slave." + +Mr. Green bowed his head upon his hand, and spoke no word. Drilled to +conceal his emotions, he seemed outwardly calm, though it cost him a +pang to relinquish the captivating young creature, who he felt would +have made his life musical, though by piquant contrast rather than by +harmony. After a brief, troubled silence, he rose and walked toward +the window, as if desirous to avoid looking the lady in the face. +After a while, he said, slowly, "Do you deem it quite right, Mrs. +Delano, to pass such a counterfeit on society?" + +"I have attempted to pass no counterfeit on society," she replied, +with dignity. "Flora is a blameless and accomplished young lady. +Her beauty and vivacity captivated me before I knew anything of her +origin; and in the same way they have captivated you. She was alone in +the world, and I was alone; and we adopted each other. I have never +sought to introduce her into society; and so far as relates to +yourself, I should have told you these facts sooner if I had known the +state of your feelings; but so long as they were not expressed, it +would scarcely have been delicate for me to take them for granted." + +"Very true," rejoined the disenchanted lover. "You certainly had a +right to choose a daughter for yourself; though I could hardly have +imagined that any amount of attraction would have overcome _such_ +obstacles in the mind of a lady of your education and refined views of +life. Excuse my using the word 'counterfeit.' I was slightly disturbed +when it escaped me." + +"It requires no apology," she replied. "I am aware that society would +take the same view of my proceeding that you do. As for my education, +I have learned to consider it as, in many respects, false. As for my +views, they have been greatly modified by this experience. I have +learned to estimate people and things according to their real value, +not according to any merely external accidents." + +Mr. Green extended his hand, saying: "I will bid you farewell, Mrs. +Delano; for, under existing circumstances, it becomes necessary to +deny myself the pleasure of again calling upon you. I must seek to +divert my mind by new travels, I hardly know where. I have exhausted +Europe, having been there three times. I have often thought I should +like to look on the Oriental gardens and bright waters of Damascus. +Everything is so wretchedly new, and so disagreeably fast, in this +country! It must be refreshing to see a place that has known no +changes for three thousand years." + +They clasped hands with mutual adieus; and the unfortunate son of +wealth, not knowing what to do in a country full of noble work, went +forth to seek a new sensation in the slow-moving caravans of the East. + +A few days afterward, when Flora returned from taking a lesson in +oil-colors, she said: "How do you suppose I have offended Mr. Green? +When I met him just now, he touched his hat in a very formal way, and +passed on, though I was about to speak to him." + +"Perhaps he was in a hurry," suggested Mrs. Delano. + +"No, it wasn't that," rejoined Flora. "He did just so day before +yesterday, and he can't always be in a hurry. Besides, you know he is +never in a hurry; he is too much of a gentleman." + +Her friend smiled as she answered, "You are getting to be quite a +judge of aristocratic manners, considering you were brought up in a +bird-cage." + +The young girl was not quite so ready as usual with a responsive +smile. She went on to say, in a tone of perplexity: "What _can_ +have occasioned such a change in his manner? You say I am sometimes +thoughtless about politeness. Do you think I have offended him in any +way?" + +"Would it trouble you very much if you had?" inquired Mrs. Delano. + +"Not _very_ much," she replied; "but I should be sorry if he thought +me rude to him, when he was so very polite to us in Europe. What is +it, Mamita? I think you know something about it." + +"I did not tell you, my child," replied she, "because I thought it +would be unpleasant. But you keep no secrets from me, and it is right +that I should be equally open-hearted with you. Did you never suspect +that Mr. Green was in love with you?" + +"The thought never occurred to me till he called here that first +evening after his return from Europe. Then, when he took my hand, he +pressed it a little. I thought it was rather strange in such a formal +gentleman; but I did not mention it to you, because I feared you would +think me vain. But if he is in love with me, why don't he tell me so? +And why does he pass me without speaking?" + +Her friend replied: "He deemed it proper to tell me first, and ask my +consent to pay his addresses to you. As he persisted very urgently, I +thought it my duty to tell him, under the seal of secrecy, that you +were remotely connected with the colored race. The announcement +somewhat disturbed his habitual composure. He said he must deny +himself the pleasure of calling again. He proposes to go to Damascus, +and there I hope he will forget his disappointment." + +Flora flared up as Mrs. Delano had never seen her. She reddened to +the temples, and her lip curled scornfully. "He is a mean man!" she +exclaimed. "If he thought that I myself was a suitable wife for his +serene highness, what had my great-grandmother to do with it? I wish +he had asked me to marry him. I should like to have him know I never +cared a button about him; and that, if I didn't care for him, I should +consider it more shameful to sell myself for his diamonds, than it +would have been to have been sold for a slave by papa's creditors +when I couldn't help myself. I am glad you don't feel like going into +parties, Mamita; and if you ever do feel like it, I hope you will +leave me at home. I don't want to be introduced to any of these cold, +aristocratic Bostonians." + +"Not all of them cold and aristocratic, darling," replied Mrs. Delano. +"Your Mamita is one of them; and she is becoming less cold and +aristocratic every day, thanks to a little Cinderella who came to her +singing through the woods, two years ago." + +"And who found a fairy godmother," responded Flora, subsiding into +a tenderer tone. "It _is_ ungrateful for me to say anything against +Boston; and with such friends as the Percivals too. But it does seem +mean that Mr. Green, if he really liked me, should decline speaking to +me because my great-grandmother had a dark complexion. I never knew +the old lady, though I dare say I should love her if I did know +her. Madame used to say Rosabella inherited pride from our Spanish +grandfather. I think I have some of it, too; and it makes me shy of +being introduced to your stylish acquaintance, who might blame you if +they knew all about me. I like people who do know all about me, and +who like me because I am I. That's one reason why I like Florimond. He +admired my mother, and loved my father; and he thinks just as well of +me as if I had never been sold for a slave." + +"Do you always call him Florimond?" inquired Mrs. Delano. + +"I call him Mr. Blumenthal before folks, and he calls me Miss Delano. +But when no one is by, he sometimes calls me Miss Royal, because he +says he loves that name, for the sake of old times; and then I call +him Blumen, partly for short, and partly because his cheeks are so +pink, it comes natural. He likes to have me call him so. He says Flora +is the _Goettinn der Blumen_ in German, and so I am the Goddess of +Blumen." + +Mrs. Delano smiled at these small scintillations of wit, which in the +talk of lovers sparkle to them like diamond-dust in the sunshine. + +"Has he ever told you that he loved _you_ as well as your name?" asked +she. + +"He never said so, Mamita; but I think he does," rejoined Flora. + +"What reason have you to think so?" inquired her friend. + +"He wants very much to come here," replied the young lady; "but he is +extremely modest. He says he knows he is not suitable company for such +a rich, educated lady as you are. He is taking dancing-lessons, and +lessons on the piano, and he is studying French and Italian and +history, and all sorts of things. And he says he means to make a mint +of money, and then perhaps he can come here sometimes to see me dance, +and hear me play on the piano." + +"I by no means require that all my acquaintance should make a mint of +money," answered Mrs. Delano. "I am very much pleased with the account +you give of this young Blumenthal. When you next see him, give him my +compliments, and tell him I should be happy to become acquainted with +him." + +Flora dropped on her knees and hid her face in her friend's lap. She +didn't express her thanks in words, but she cried a little. + +"This is more serious than I supposed," thought Mrs. Delano. + +A fortnight afterward, she obtained an interview with Mr. Goldwin, and +asked, "What is your estimate of that young Mr. Blumenthal, who has +been for some time in your employ?" + +"He is a modest young man, of good habits," answered the merchant; +"and of more than common business capacity." + +"Would you be willing to receive him as a partner?" she inquired. + +"The young man is poor," rejoined Mr. Goldwin; "and we have many +applications from those who can advance some capital." + +"If a friend would loan him ten thousand dollars for twenty years, and +leave it to him by will in case she should die meanwhile, would that +be sufficient to induce you?" said the lady. + +"I should be glad to do it, particularly if it obliges you, Mrs. +Delano," responded the merchant; "for I really think him a very worthy +young man." + +"Then consider it settled," she replied. "But let it be an affair +between ourselves, if you please; and to him you may merely say that a +friend of his former employer and benefactor wishes to assist him." + +When Blumenthal informed Flora of this unexpected good-fortune, they +of course suspected from whom it came; and they looked at each other, +and blushed. + +Mrs. Delano did not escape gossiping remarks. "How she has changed!" +said Mrs. Ton to Mrs. Style. "She used to be the most fastidious of +exclusives; and now she has adopted nobody knows whom, and one of Mr. +Goldwin's clerks seems to be on the most familiar footing there. I +should have no objection to invite the girl to my parties, for she is +Mrs. Delano's _adoptee_, and she would really be an ornament to my +rooms, besides being very convenient and an accomplished musician; +but, of course, I don't wish my daughters to be introduced to that +nobody of a clerk." + +"She has taken up several of the Abolitionists too," rejoined Mrs. +Style. "My husband looked into an anti-slavery meeting the other +evening, partly out of curiosity to hear what Garrison had to say, and +partly in hopes of obtaining some clew to a fugitive slave that one of +his Southern friends had written to him about. And who should he see +there, of all people in the world, but Mrs. Delano and her _adoptee_, +escorted by that young clerk. Think of her, with her dove-colored +silks and violet gloves, crowded and jostled by Dinah and Sambo! I +expect the next thing we shall hear will be that she has given a negro +party." + +"In that case, I presume she will choose to perfume her embroidered +handkerchiefs with musk, or pachouli, instead of her favorite breath +of violets," responded Mrs. Ton. + +And, smiling at their wit, the fashionable ladies parted, to quote it +from each other as among the good things they had recently heard. + +Only the faint echoes of such remarks reached Mrs. Delano; though she +was made to feel, in many small ways, that she had become a black +sheep in aristocratic circles. But these indications passed by her +almost unnoticed, occupied as she was in earnestly striving to redeem +the mistakes of the past by making the best possible use of the +present. + + + + +PART SECOND. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +An interval of nineteen years elapsed, bringing with them various +changes to the personages of this story. A year after Mr. +Fitzgerald's return from Europe, a feud sprang up between him and his +father-in-law, Mr. Bell, growing out of his dissipated and spendthrift +habits. His intercourse with Boston was consequently suspended, and +the fact of Flora's existence remained unknown to him. He died nine +years after he witnessed the dazzling apparition of Rosa in Rome, and +the history of his former relation to her was buried with him, as were +several other similar secrets. There was generally supposed to be +something mysterious about his exit. Those who were acquainted with +Mr. Bell's family were aware that the marriage had been an unhappy +one, and that there was an obvious disposition to hush inquiries +concerning it. Mrs. Fitzgerald had always continued to spend her +summers with her parents; and having lost her mother about the time of +her widowhood, she became permanently established at the head of her +father's household. She never in any way alluded to her married life, +and always dismissed the subject as briefly as possible, if any +stranger touched upon it. Of three children, only one, her eldest, +remained. Time had wrought changes in her person. Her once fairy-like +figure was now too short for its fulness, and the blue eyes were +somewhat dulled in expression; but the fair face and the paly-gold +tresses were still very pretty. + +When she had at last succeeded in obtaining an introduction to Flora, +during one of her summer visits to Boston, she had been very much +captivated by her, and was disposed to rally Mr. Green about his +diminished enthusiasm, after he had fallen in love with a fair cousin +of hers; but that gentleman was discreetly silent concerning the real +cause of his disenchantment. + +Mrs. Delano's nature was so much deeper than that of her pretty +neighbor, that nothing like friendship could grow up between them; but +Mrs. Fitzgerald called occasionally, to retail gossip of the outer +world, or to have what she termed a musical treat. + +Flora had long been Mrs. Blumenthal. At the time of her marriage, Mrs. +Delano said she was willing to adopt a son, but not to part with a +daughter; consequently, they formed one household. As years passed on, +infant faces and lisping voices came into the domestic circle,--fresh +little flowers in the floral garland of Mamita Lila's life. Alfred +Royal, the eldest, was a complete reproduction, in person and +character, of the grandfather whose name he bore. Rosa, three years +younger, was quite as striking a likeness of her namesake. Then came +two little ones, who soon went to live with the angels. And, lastly, +there was the five-year-old pet, Lila, who inherited her father's blue +eyes, pink cheeks, and flaxen hair. + +These children were told that their grandfather was a rich American +merchant in New Orleans, and their grandmother a beautiful and +accomplished Spanish lady; that their grandfather failed in business +and died poor; that his friend Mrs. Delano adopted their mother; and +that they had a very handsome Aunt Rosa, who went to Europe with some +good friends, and was lost at sea. It was not deemed wise to inform +them of any further particulars, till time and experience had matured +their characters and views of life. + +Applications to American consuls, in various places, for information +concerning Signor and Madame Papanti had proved unavailing, in +consequence of the Signor's change of name; and Rosabella had long +ceased to be anything but a very tender memory to her sister, whose +heart was now completely filled with new objects of affection. The +bond between her and her adopted mother strengthened with time, +because their influence on each other was mutually improving to their +characters. The affection and gayety of the young folks produced a +glowing atmosphere in Mrs. Delano's inner life, as their mother's +tropical taste warmed up the interior aspect of her dwelling. The +fawn-colored damask curtains had given place to crimson; and in lieu +of the silvery paper, the walls were covered with bird-of-paradise +color, touched with golden gleams. The centre-table was covered with +crimson, embroidered with a gold-colored garland; and the screen +of the gas-light was a gorgeous assemblage of bright flowers. Mrs. +Delano's lovely face was even more placid than it had been in earlier +years; but there was a sunset brightness about it, as of one growing +old in an atmosphere of love. The ash-colored hair, which Flora had +fancied to be violet-tinged, was of a silky whiteness now, and fell in +soft curls about the pale face. + +On the day when I again take up the thread of this story, she +was seated in her parlor, in a dress of silvery gray silk, which +contrasted pleasantly with the crimson chair. Under her collar of +Honiton lace was an amethystine ribbon, fastened with a pearl pin. Her +cap of rich white lace, made in the fashion of Mary Queen of Scots, +was very slightly trimmed with ribbon of the same color, and fastened +in front with a small amethyst set with pearls. For fanciful Flora had +said: "Dear Mamita Lila, don't have _every_thing about your dress cold +white or gray. Do let something violet or lilac peep out from the +snow, for the sake of 'auld lang syne.'" + +The lady was busy with some crochet-work, when a girl, apparently +about twelve years old, came through the half-opened folding-doors, +and settled on an ottoman at her feet. She had large, luminous dark +eyes, very deeply fringed, and her cheeks were like ripened peaches. +The dark mass of her wavy hair was gathered behind into what was +called a Greek cap, composed of brown network strewn with gold beads. +Here and there very small, thin dark curls strayed from under it, like +the tendrils of a delicate vine; and nestling close to each ear was a +little dark, downy crescent, which papa called her whisker when he was +playfully inclined to excite her juvenile indignation. + +"See!" said she. "This pattern comes all in a tangle. I have done the +stitches wrong. Will you please to help me, Mamita Lila?" + +Mrs. Delano looked up, smiling as she answered, "Let me see what the +trouble is, Rosy Posy." + +Mrs. Blumenthal, who was sitting opposite, noticed with artistic eye +what a charming contrast of beauty there was between that richly +colored young face, with its crown of dark hair, and that pale, +refined, symmetrical face, in its frame of silver. "What a pretty +picture I could make, if I had my crayons here," thought she. "How +gracefully the glossy folds of Mamita's gray dress fall over Rosa's +crimson merino." + +She was not aware that she herself made quite as charming a picture. +The spirit of laughter still flitted over her face, from eyes to +dimples; her shining black curls were lighted up with a rope of +cherry-colored chenille, hanging in a tassel at her ear; and her +graceful little figure showed to advantage in a neatly fitting dress +of soft brown merino, embroidered with cherry-colored silk. On her +lap was little Lila, dressed in white and azure, with her fine flaxen +curls tossed about by the motion of riding to "Banbury Cross." The +child laughed and clapped her hands at every caper; and if her steed +rested for a moment, she called out impatiently, "More agin, mamma!" + +But mamma was thinking of the picture she wanted to make, and at last +she said: "We sha'n't get to Banbury Cross to-day, Lila Blumen; so you +must fall off your horse, darling, and nursey will take you, while I +go to fetch my crayons." She had just taken her little pet by the +hand to lead her from the room, when the door-bell rang. "That's +Mrs. Fitzgerald," said she. "I know, because she always rings an +_appoggiatura_. Rosen Blumen, take sissy to the nursery, please." + +While the ladies were interchanging salutations with their visitor, +Rosa passed out of the room, leading her little sister by the hand. "I +declare," said Mrs. Fitzgerald, "that oldest daughter of yours, Mrs. +Blumenthal, bears a striking resemblance to the _cantatrice_ who was +turning everybody's head when I was in Rome. You missed hearing her, I +remember. Let me see, what was her _nomme de guerre_? I forget; but +it was something that signified a bell, because there was a peculiar +ringing in her voice. When I first saw your daughter, she reminded me +of somebody I had seen; but I never thought who it was till now. I +came to tell you some news about the fascinating Senorita; and I +suppose that brought the likeness to my mind. You know Mr. King, the +son of our rich old merchant, persuaded her to leave the stage to +marry him. They have been living in the South of France for some +years, but he has just returned to Boston. They have taken rooms at +the Revere House, while his father's house is being fitted up in grand +style for their reception. The lady will of course be a great lioness. +She is to make her first appearance at the party of my cousin, Mrs. +Green. The winter is so nearly at an end, that I doubt whether there +will be any more large parties this season; and I wouldn't fail of +attending this one on any account, if it were only for the sake of +seeing her. She was the handsomest creature I ever beheld. If you had +ever seen her, you would consider it a compliment indeed to be told +that your Rosa resembles her." + +"I should like to get a glimpse of her, if I could without the trouble +of going to a party," replied Mrs. Blumenthal. + +"I will come the day after," rejoined Mrs. Fitzgerald, "and tell you +how she was dressed, and whether she looks as handsome in the parlor +as she did on the stage." + +After some more chat about reported engagements, and the probable +fashions for the coming season, the lady took her leave. + +When she was gone, Mrs. Delano remarked: "Mrs. King must be very +handsome if she resembles our Rosa. But I hope Mrs. Fitzgerald will +not be so injudicious as to talk about it before the child. She is +free from vanity, and I earnestly wish she may remain so. By the way, +Flora, this Mr. King is your father's namesake,--the one who, you told +me, called at your house in New Orleans, when you were a little girl." + +"I was thinking of that very thing," rejoined Mrs. Blumenthal, "and I +was just going to ask you his Christian name. I should like to call +there to take a peep at his handsome lady, and see whether he would +recollect me. If he did, it would be no matter. So many years have +passed, and I am such an old story in Boston, that nobody will concern +themselves about me." + +"I also should be rather pleased to call," said Mrs. Delano. "His +father was a friend of mine; and it was through him that I became +acquainted with your father. They were inseparable companions when +they were young men. Ah, how long ago that seems! No wonder my hair is +white. But please ring for Rosa, dear. I want to arrange her pattern +before dinner." + +"There's the door-bell again, Mamita!" exclaimed Flora; "and a very +energetic ring it is, too. Perhaps you had better wait a minute." + +The servant came in to say that a person from the country wanted to +speak with Mrs. Delano; and a tall, stout man, with a broad face, full +of fun, soon entered. Having made a short bow, he said, "Mrs. Delano, +I suppose?" + +The lady signified assent by an inclination of the head. + +"My name's Joe Bright," continued he. "No relation of John Bright, the +bright Englishman. Wish I was. I come from Northampton, ma'am. The +keeper of the Mansion House told me you wanted to get board there in +some private family next summer; and I called to tell you that I can +let you have half of my house, furnished or not, just as you like. As +I'm plain Joe Bright the blacksmith, of course you won't find lace and +damask, and such things as you have here." + +"All we wish for," rejoined Mrs. Delano, "is healthy air and wholesome +food for the children." + +"Plenty of both, ma'am," replied the blacksmith. "And I guess you'll +like my wife. She ain't one of the kind that raises a great dust when +she sweeps. She's a still sort of body; but she knows a deal more than +she tells for." + +After a description of the accommodations he had to offer, and a +promise from Mrs. Delano to inform him of her decision in a few days, +he rose to go. But he stood, hat in hand, looking wistfully toward the +piano. "Would it be too great a liberty, ma'am, to ask which of you +ladies plays?" said he. + +"I seldom play," rejoined Mrs. Delano, "because my daughter, Mrs. +Blumenthal, plays so much better." + +Turning toward Flora, he said, "I suppose it would be too much trouble +to play me a tune?" + +"Certainty not," she replied; and, seating herself at the piano, she +dashed off, with voice and instrument, "The Campbells are coming, Oho! +Oho!" + +"By George!" exclaimed the blacksmith. "You was born to it, ma'am; +that's plain enough. Well, it was just so with me. I took to music as +a Newfoundland pup takes to the water. When my brother Sam and I were +boys, we were let out to work for a blacksmith. We wanted a fiddle +dreadfully; but we were too poor to buy one; and we couldn't have got +much time to play on't if we had had one, for our boss watched us as +a weasel watches mice. But we were bent on getting music somehow. The +boss always had plenty of iron links of all sizes, hanging in a row, +ready to be made into chains when wanted. One day, I happened to hit +one of the links with a piece of iron I had in my hand. 'By George! +Sam,' said I, 'that was Do.' 'Strike again,' says he. 'Blow! Sam, +blow!' said I. I was afraid the boss would come in and find the iron +cooling in the fire. So he kept blowing away, and I struck the link +again. 'That's Do, just as plain as my name's Sam,' said he. A few +days after, I said, 'By George! Sam, I've found Sol.' 'So you have,' +said he. 'Now let _me_ try. Blow, Joe, blow!' Sam, he found Re and La. +And in the course of two months we got so we could play Old Hundred. I +don't pretend to say we could do it as glib as you run over the ivory, +ma'am; but it was Old Hundred, and no mistake. And we played Yankee +Doodle, first rate. We called our instrument the Harmolinks; and we +enjoyed it all the more because it was our own invention. I tell you +what, ma'am, there's music hid away in everything, only we don't know +how to bring it out." + +"I think so," rejoined Mrs. Blumenthal. "Music is a sleeping beauty, +that needs the touch of a prince to waken her. Perhaps you will play +something for us, Mr. Bright?" She rose and vacated the music-stool as +she spoke. + +"I should be ashamed to try my clumsy fingers in your presence, +ladies," he replied. "But I'll sing the Star-spangled Banner, if you +will have the goodness to accompany me." + +She reseated herself, and he lifted up his voice and sang. When he had +done, he drew a long breath, wiped the perspiration from his face with +a bandana handkerchief, and laughed as he said: "I made the screen of +your gas-light shake, ma'am. The fact is, when I sing _that_, I _have_ +to put all my heart into it." + +"And all your voice, too," rejoined Mrs. Blumenthal. + +"O, no," answered he, "I could have put on a good deal more steam, if +I hadn't been afraid of drowning the piano. I'm greatly obliged to +you, ladies; and I hope I shall have the pleasure of hearing you again +in my own house. I should like to hear some more now, but I've stayed +too long. My wife agreed to meet me at a store, and I don't know what +she'll say to me." + +"Tell her we detained you by playing to you," said Mrs. Blumenthal. + +"O, that would be too much like Adam," rejoined he. "I always feel +ashamed to look a woman in the face, after reading that story. I +always thought Adam was a mean cuss to throw off all the blame on +Eve." With a short bow, and a hasty "Good morning, ladies," he went +out. + +His parting remark amused Flora so much, that she burst into one of +her musical peals of laughter; while her more cautious friend raised +her handkerchief to her mouth, lest their visitor should hear some +sound of mirth, and mistake its import. + +"What a great, beaming face!" exclaimed Flora. "It looks like a +sunflower. I have a fancy for calling him Monsieur Girasol. What a +pity Mr. Green hadn't longed for a musical instrument, and been +too poor to buy one. It would have done him so much good to have +astonished himself by waking up a tune in the Harmolinks." + +"Yes," responded Mrs. Delano, "it might have saved him the trouble of +going to Arabia Petraea or Damascus, in search of something new. What +do you think about accepting Mr. Bright's offer?" "O, I hope we shall +go, Mamita. The children would be delighted with him. If Alfred had +been here this morning, he would have exclaimed, 'Isn't he jolly?'" + +"I think things must go cheerfully where such a sunflower spirit +presides," responded Mrs. Delano. "And he is certainly sufficiently +_au naturel_ to suit you and Florimond." + +"Yes, he bubbles over," rejoined Flora. "It isn't the fashion; but I +like folks that bubble over." + +Mrs. Delano smiled as she answered: "So do I. And perhaps you can +guess who it was that made me in love with bubbling over?" + +Flora gave a knowing smile, and dotted one of her comic little +courtesies. "I don't see what makes you and Florimond like me so +well," said she. "I'm sure I'm neither wise nor witty." + +"But something better than either," replied Mamita. + +The vivacious little woman said truly that she was neither very wise +nor very witty; but she was a transparent medium of sunshine; and the +commonest glass, filled with sunbeams, becomes prismatic as a diamond. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +Mrs. Green's ball was _the_ party of the season. Five hundred +invitations were sent out, all of them to people unexceptionable for +wealth, or fashion, or some sort of high distinction, political, +literary, or artistic. Smith had received _carte blanche_ to prepare +the most luxurious and elegant supper possible. Mrs. Green was +resplendent with diamonds; and the house was so brilliantly +illuminated, that the windows of carriages traversing that part of +Beacon Street glittered as if touched by the noonday sun. A crowd +collected on the Common, listening to the band of music, and watching +the windows of the princely mansion, to obtain glimpses through its +lace curtains of graceful figures revolving in the dance, like a +vision of fairy-land seen through a veil of mist. + +In that brilliant assemblage, Mrs. King was the centre of attraction. +She was still a Rose Royal, as Gerald Fitzgerald had called her +twenty-three years before. A very close observer would have noticed +that time had slightly touched her head; but the general effect of +the wavy hair was as dark and glossy as ever. She had grown somewhat +stouter, but that only rendered her tall figure more majestic. It +still seemed as if the fluid Art, whose harmonies were always flowing +through her soul, had fashioned her form and was swaying all its +motions; and to this natural gracefulness was now added that peculiar +stylishness of manner, which can be acquired only by familiar +intercourse with elegant society. There was nothing foreign in her +accent, but the modulations of her voice were so musical, that +English, as she spoke it, seemed all vowels and liquid consonants. +She had been heralded as La Senorita, and her dress was appropriately +Spanish. It was of cherry-colored satin, profusely trimmed with black +lace. A mantilla of very rich transparent black lace was thrown over +her head, and fastened on one side with a cluster of red fuchsias, +the golden stamens of which were tipped with small diamonds. The lace +trimming on the corsage was looped up with a diamond star, and her +massive gold bracelets were clasped with, diamonds. + +Mr. Green received her with great _empressement_; evidently +considering her the "bright particular star" of the evening. She +accepted her distinguished position with the quietude of one +accustomed to homage. With a slight bow she gave Mr. Green the desired +promise to open the ball with him, and then turned to answer another +gentleman, who wished to obtain her for the second dance. She would +have observed her host a little more curiously, had she been aware +that he once proposed to place her darling Floracita at the head of +that stylish mansion. + +Mrs. King's peculiar style of beauty and rich foreign dress attracted +universal attention; but still greater admiration was excited by her +dancing, which was the very soul of music taking form in motion; and +as the tremulous diamond drops of the fuchsias kept time with her +graceful movements, they sparkled among the waving folds of her black +lace mantilla, like fire-flies in a dark night. She was, of course, +the prevailing topic of conversation; and when Mr. Green was not +dancing, he was called upon to repeat, again and again, the account +of her wonderful _debut_ in the opera at Rome. In the midst of one of +these recitals, Mrs. Fitzgerald and her son entered; and a group soon +gathered round that lady, to listen to the same story from her lips. +It was familiar to her son; but he listened to it with quickened +interest, while he gazed at the beautiful opera-singer winding about +so gracefully in the evolutions of the dance. + +Mr. King was in the same set with his lady, and had just touched her +hand, as the partners crossed over, when he noticed a sudden flush on +her countenance, succeeded by deadly pallor. Following the direction +her eye had taken, he saw a slender, elegant young man, who, with +some variation in the fashion of dress, seemed the veritable Gerald +Fitzgerald to whom he had been introduced in the flowery parlor so +many years ago. His first feeling was pain, that this vision of her +first lover had power to excite such lively emotion in his wife; but +his second thought was, "He recalls her first-born son." + +Young Fitzgerald eagerly sought out Mr. Green, and said: "Please +introduce me the instant this dance is ended, that I may ask her for +the next. There will be so many trying to engage her, you know." + +He was introduced accordingly. The lady politely acceded to his +request, and the quick flush on her face was attributed by all, except +Mr. King, to the heat produced by dancing. + +When her young partner took her hand to lead her to the next dance, +she stole a glance toward her husband, and he saw that her soul was +troubled. The handsome couple were "the observed of all observers"; +and the youth was so entirely absorbed with his mature partner, that +not a little jealousy was excited in the minds of young ladies. When +he led her to a seat, she declined the numerous invitations that +crowded upon her, saying she should dance no more that evening. Young +Fitzgerald at once professed a disinclination to dance, and begged +that, when she was sufficiently rested, she would allow him to lead +her to the piano, that he might hear her sing something from Norma, by +which she had so delighted his mother, in Rome. + +"Your son seems to be entirely devoted to the queen of the evening," +said Mr. Green to his cousin. + +"How can you wonder at it?" replied Mrs. Fitzgerald. "She is such a +superb creature!" + +"What was her character in Rome?" inquired a lady who had joined the +group. + +"Her stay there was very short," answered Mrs. Fitzgerald. "Her +manners were said to be unexceptionable. The gentlemen were quite +vexed because she made herself so inaccessible." + +The conversation was interrupted by La Campaneo's voice, singing, +"_Ah, bello a me ritorno_." The orchestra hushed at once, and the +dancing was suspended, while the company gathered round the piano, +curious to hear the remarkable singer. Mrs. Fitzgerald had long +ceased to allude to what was once her favorite topic,--the wonderful +resemblance between La Senorita's voice and a mysterious voice she had +once heard on her husband's plantation. But she grew somewhat pale as +she listened; for the tones recalled that adventure in her bridal home +at Magnolia Lawn, and the fair moonlight vision was followed by dismal +spectres of succeeding years. Ah, if all the secret histories and sad +memories assembled in a ball-room should be at once revealed, what a +judgment night it would be! + +Mrs. King had politely complied with the request to sing, because she +was aware that her host and the company would be disappointed if she +refused; but it was known only to her own soul how much the effort +cost her. She bowed rather languidly to the profuse compliments which +followed-her performance, and used her fan as if she felt oppressed. + +"Fall back!" said one of the gentlemen, in a low voice. "There is too +great a crowd round her." + +The hint was immediately obeyed, and a servant was requested to bring +iced lemonade. She soon breathed more freely, and tried to rally +her spirits to talk with Mr. Green and others concerning European +reminiscences. Mrs. Fitzgerald drew near, and signified to her cousin +a wish to be introduced; for it would have mortified her vanity, when +she afterward retailed the gossip of the ball-room, if she had been +obliged to acknowledge that she was not presented to _la belle +lionne_. + +"If you are not too much fatigued," said she, "I hope you will allow +my son to sing a duet with you. He would esteem it such an honor! I +assure you he has a fine voice, and he is thought to sing with great +expression, especially '_M'odi! Ah, m'odi_!'" + +The young gentleman modestly disclaimed the compliment to his musical +powers, but eagerly urged his mother's request. As he bent near the +_cantatrice_, waiting for her reply, her watchful husband again +noticed a quick flush suffusing her face, succeeded by deadly pallor. +Gently moving young Fitzgerald aside, he said in a low tone, "Are you +not well, my dear?" + +She raised her eyes to his with a look of distress, and replied: "No, +I am not well. Please order the carriage." + +He took her arm within his, and as they made their way through the +crowd she bowed gracefully to the right and left, in answer to the +lamentations occasioned by her departure. Young Fitzgerald followed +to the hall door to offer, in the name of Mrs. Green, a beautiful +bouquet, enclosed within an arum lily of silver filigree. She bowed +her thanks, and, drawing from it a delicate tea-rose, presented it to +him. He wore it as a trophy the remainder of the evening; and none of +the young ladies who teased him for it succeeded in obtaining it. + +When Mr. and Mrs. King were in the carriage, he took her hand +tenderly, and said, "My dear, that young man recalled to mind your +infant son, who died with poor Tulee." + +With a heavy sigh she answered, "Yes, I am thinking of that poor +little baby." + +He held her hand clasped in his; but deeming it most kind not to +intrude into the sanctum of that sad and tender memory, he remained +silent. She spoke no other word as they rode toward their hotel. She +was seeing a vision of those two babes, lying side by side, on that +dreadful night when her tortured soul was for a while filled with +bitter hatred for the man she had loved so truly. + +Mrs. Fitzgerald and her son were the earliest among the callers the +next day. Mrs. King happened to rest her hand lightly on the back of +a chair, while she exchanged salutations with them, and her husband +noticed that the lace of her hanging sleeve trembled violently. + +"You took everybody by storm last evening, Mrs. King, just as you +did when you first appeared as Norma," said the loquacious Mrs. +Fitzgerald. "As for you, Mr. King, I don't know but you would have +received a hundred challenges, if gentlemen had known you were going +to carry off the prize. So sly of you, too! For I always heard you +were entirely indifferent to ladies." + +"Ah, well, the world don't always know what it's talking about," +rejoined Mr. King, smiling. Further remarks were interrupted by the +entrance of a young girl, whom he took by the hand, and introduced as +"My daughter Eulalia." + +Nature is very capricious in the varieties she produces by mixing +flowers with each other. Sometimes the different tints of each are +blended in a new color, compounded of both; sometimes the color of one +is delicately shaded into the other; sometimes one color is marked in +distinct stripes or rings upon the other; and sometimes the separate +hues are mottled and clouded. Nature had indulged in one of her freaks +in the production of Eulalia, a maiden of fifteen summers, the only +surviving child of Mr. and Mrs. King. She inherited her mother's tall, +flexile form, and her long dark eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair; but she +had her father's large blue eyes, and his rose-and-white complexion. +The combination was peculiar, and very handsome; especially the serene +eyes, which, looked out from their dark surroundings like clear blue +water deeply shaded by shrubbery around its edges. Her manners were a +little shy, for her parents had wisely forborne an early introduction +to society. But she entered pleasantly enough into some small talk +with Fitzgerald about the skating parties of the winter, and a new +polka that he thought she would like to practise. + +Callers began to arrive rapidly. There was a line of carriages at +the door, and still it lengthened. Mrs. King received them all with +graceful courtesy, and endeavored to say something pleasing to each; +but in the midst of it all, she never lost sight of Gerald and +Eulalia. After a short time she beckoned to her daughter with a slight +motion of her fan, and spoke a few words to her aside. The young +girl left the room, and did not return to it. Fitzgerald, after +interchanging some brief remarks with Mr. King about the classes at +Cambridge, approached the _cantatrice_, and said in lowered tones: +"I tried to call early with the hope of hearing you sing. But I was +detained by business for grandfather; and even if you were graciously +inclined to gratify my presumptuous wish, you will not be released +from company this morning. May I say, _Au revoir_?" + +"Certainly," she replied, looking up at him with an expression in her +beautiful eyes that produced a glow of gratified vanity. He bowed good +morning, with the smiling conviction that he was a great favorite with +the distinguished lady. + +When the last caller had retired, Mrs. King, after exchanging some +general observations with her husband concerning her impressions of +Boston and its people, seated herself at the window, with a number of +Harper's Weekly in her hand; but the paper soon dropped on her lap, +and she seemed gazing into infinity. The people passing and repassing +were invisible to her. She was away in that lonely island home, with +two dark-haired babies lying near her, side by side. + +Her husband looked at her over his newspaper, now and then; and +observing her intense abstraction, he stepped softly across the room, +and, laying his hand gently upon her head, said: "Rosa, dear, do +memories trouble you so much that you regret having returned to +America?" + +Without change of posture, she answered: "It matters not where we +are. We must always carry ourselves with us." Then, as if reproaching +herself for so cold a response to his kind inquiry, she looked up at +him, and, kissing his hand, said: "Dear Alfred! Good angel of my life! +I do not deserve such a heart as yours." + +He had never seen such a melancholy expression in her eyes since the +day she first encouraged him to hope for her affection. He made no +direct allusion to the subject of her thoughts, for the painful +history of her early love was a theme they mutually avoided; but he +sought, by the most assiduous tenderness, to chase away the gloomy +phantoms that were taking possession of her soul. In answer to his +urgent entreaty that she would express to him unreservedly any wish +she might form, she said, as if thinking aloud: "Of course they buried +poor Tulee among the negroes; but perhaps they buried the baby +with Mr. and Mrs. Duroy, and inscribed something about him on the +gravestone." + +"It is hardly probable," he replied; "but if it would give you +satisfaction to search, we will go to New Orleans." + +"Thank you," rejoined she; "and I should like it very much if you +could leave orders to engage lodgings for the summer somewhere distant +from Boston, that we might go and take possession as soon as we +return." + +He promised compliance with her wishes; but the thought flitted +through his mind, "Can it be possible the young man fascinates her, +that she wants to fly from him?" + +"I am going to Eulalia now," said she, with one of her sweet smiles. +"It will be pleasanter for the dear child when we get out of this +whirl of society, which so much disturbs our domestic companionship." + +As she kissed her hand to him at the door, he thought to himself, +"Whatever this inward struggle may be, she will remain true to her +pure and noble character." + +Mrs. Fitzgerald, meanwhile, quite unconscious that the flowery surface +she had witnessed covered such agitated depths, hastened to keep her +promise of describing the party to Mrs. Delano and her daughter. + +"I assure you," said she, "La Senorita looked quite as handsome in the +ball-room as she did on the stage. She is stouter than she was then, +but not so; 'fat and forty' as I am. Large proportions suit her +stately figure. As for her dress, I wish you could have seen it. It +was splendid, and wonderfully becoming to her rich complexion. It was +completely Spanish, from the mantilla on her head to the black satin +slippers with red bows and brilliants. She was all cherry-colored +satin, black lace, and diamonds." + +"How I should like to have seen her!" exclaimed Mrs. Blumenthal, whose +fancy was at once taken by the bright color and strong contrast of the +costume. + +But Mrs. Delano remarked: "I should think her style of dress rather +too _prononce_ and theatrical; too suggestive of Fanny Elsler and the +Bolero." + +"Doubtless it would be so for you or I," rejoined Mrs. Fitzgerald. +"Mother used to say you had a poet lover, who called you the twilight +cloud, violet dissolving into lilac. And when I was a young lady, some +of my admirers compared me to the new moon, which must, of course, +appear in azure and silver. But I assure you Mrs. King's conspicuous +dress was extremely becoming to her style of face and figure. I wish I +had counted how many gentlemen quoted, 'She walks in beauty like the +night' It became really ridiculous at last. Gerald and I called upon +her this morning, and we found her handsome in the parlor by daylight, +which is a trying test to the forties, you know. We were introduced +to their only daughter, Eulalia,--a very peculiar-looking young miss, +with sky-blue eyes and black eyelashes, like some of the Circassian +beauties I have read off. Gerald thinks her almost as handsome as her +mother. What a fortune that girl will be! But I have promised ever so +many people to tell them about the party; so I must bid you good by." + +When the door closed after her, Flora remarked, "I never heard of +anybody but my Mamita who was named Eulalia." + +"Eulalia was a Spanish saint," responded Mrs. Delano; "and her name +is so very musical that it would naturally please the ear of La +Senorita." + +"My curiosity is considerably excited to see this stylish lady," said +Flora. + +"We will wait a little, till the first rush of visitors has somewhat +subsided, and then we will call," rejoined Mrs. Delano. + +They called three days after, and were informed that Mr. and Mrs. King +had gone to New Orleans. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +Strange contrasts occur in human society, even where there is such +a strong tendency toward equality as there is in New England. A few +hours before Queen Fashion held her splendid court in Beacon Street, a +vessel from New Orleans called "The King Cotton" approached Long Wharf +in Boston. Before she touched the pier, a young man jumped on board +from another vessel close by. He went directly up to the captain, and +said, in a low, hurried tone: "Let nobody land. You have slaves on +board. Mr. Bell is in a carriage on the wharf waiting to speak to +you." + +Having delivered this message, he disappeared in the same direction +that he came. + +This brief interview was uneasily watched by one of the passengers, a +young man apparently nineteen or twenty years old. He whispered to +a yellow lad, who was his servant, and both attempted to land by +crossing the adjoining vessel. But the captain intercepted them, +saying, "All must remain on board till we draw up to the wharf." + +With desperate leaps, they sprang past him. He tried to seize them, +calling aloud, "Stop thief! Stop thief!" Some of his sailors rushed +after them. As they ran up State Street, lads and boys, always ready +to hunt anything, joined in the pursuit. A young black man, who was +passing down the street as the crowd rushed up, saw the yellow lad +race by him, panting for breath, and heard him cry, "Help me!" + +The crowd soon turned backward, having caught the fugitives. The black +man hurried after, and as they were putting them on board the vessel +he pushed his way close to the yellow lad, and again heard him say, +"Help me! I am a slave." + +The black man paused only to look at the name of the vessel, and then +hastened with all speed to the house of Mr. Willard Percival. Almost +out of breath with his hurry, he said to that gentleman: "A vessel +from New Orleans, named 'The King Cotton,' has come up to Long Wharf. +They've got two slaves aboard. They was chasing 'em up State Street, +calling out, 'Stop thief!' and I heard a mulatto lad cry, 'Help me!' +I run after 'em; and just as they was going to put the mulatto lad +aboard the vessel, I pushed my way close up to him, and he said, 'Help +me! I'm a slave.' So I run fast as I could to tell you." + +"Wait a moment till I write a note to Francis Jackson, which you must +carry as quick as you can," said Mr. Percival. "I will go to Mr. +Sewall for a writ of _habeas corpus_" + +While this was going on, the captain had locked the fugitives in the +hold of his vessel, and hastened to the carriage, which had been +waiting for him at a short distance from the wharf. + +"Good evening, Mr. Bell," said he, raising his hat as he approached +the carriage door. + +"Good evening, Captain Kane," replied the gentleman inside. "You've +kept me waiting so long, I was nearly out of patience." + +"I sent you word they'd escaped, sir," rejoined the captain. "They +gave us a run; but we've got 'em fast enough in the hold. One of 'em +seems to be a white man. Perhaps he's an Abolitionist, that's been +helping the nigger off. It's good enough for him to be sent back to +the South. If they get hold of him there, he'll never have a chance to +meddle with gentlemen's property again." + +"They're both slaves," replied Mr. Bell. "The telegram I received +informed me that one would pass himself for a white man. But, captain, +you must take 'em directly to Castle Island. One of the officers there +will lock 'em up, if you tell them I sent you. And you can't be off +too quick; for as likely as not the Abolitionists will get wind of it, +and be raising a row before morning. There's no safety for property +now-a-days." + +Having given these orders, the wealthy merchant bade the captain good +evening, and his carriage rolled away. + +The unhappy fugitives were immediately taken from the hold of the +vessel, pinioned fast, and hustled on board a boat, which urged its +swift way through the waters to Castle Island, where they were safely +locked up till further orders. + +"O George, they'll send us back," said the younger one. "I wish we war +dead." + +George answered, with a deep groan: "O how I have watched the North +Star! thinking always it pointed to a land of freedom. O my God, is +there _no_ place of refuge for the slave?" + +"_You_ are so white, you could have got off, if you hadn't brought +_me_ with you," sobbed the other. + +"And what good would freedom do me without you, Henny?" responded the +young man, drawing his companion closer to his breast. "Cheer up, +honey! I'll try again; and perhaps we'll make out better next time." + +He tried to talk hopefully; but when yellow Henny, in her boy's dress, +cried herself to sleep on his shoulder, his tears dropped slowly on +her head, while he sat there gazing at the glittering stars, with a +feeling of utter discouragement and desolation. + +That same evening, the merchant who was sending them back to bondage, +without the slightest inquiry into their case, was smoking his +amber-lipped meerschaum, in an embroidered dressing-gown, on a +luxurious lounge; his daughter, Mrs. Fitzgerald, in azure satin +and pearls, was meandering through the mazes of the dance; and his +exquisitely dressed grandson, Gerald, was paying nearly equal homage +to Mrs. King's lambent eyes and the sparkle of her diamonds. + +When young Fitzgerald descended to a late breakfast, the morning after +the great party, his grandfather was lolling back in his arm-chair, +his feet ensconced in embroidered slippers, and resting on the +register, while he read the Boston Courier. + +"Good morning, Gerald," said he, "if it be not past that time of day. +If you are sufficiently rested from last night's dissipation, I should +like to have you attend to a little business for me." + +"I hope it won't take very long, grandfather," replied Gerald; "for I +want to call on Mrs. King early, before her rooms are thronged with +visitors." + +"That opera-singer seems to have turned your head, though she is old +enough to be your mother," rejoined Mr. Bell. + +"I don't know that my head was any more turned than others," answered +the young man, in a slightly offended tone. "If you call to see her, +sir, as mother says you intend to do, perhaps she will make _you_ feel +as if you had a young head on your shoulders." + +"Likely as not, likely as not," responded the old gentleman, smiling +complacently at the idea of re-enacting the beau. "But I wish you +to do an errand for me this morning, which I had rather not put in +writing, for fear of accidents, and which I cannot trust verbally to a +servant. I got somewhat chilled waiting in a carriage near the wharf, +last evening, and I feel some rheumatic twinges in consequence. Under +these circumstances, I trust you will excuse me if I ask the use of +your young limbs to save my own." + +"Certainly, sir," replied Gerald, with thinly disguised impatience. +"What is it you want me to do?" + +"Two slaves belonging to Mr. Bruteman of New Orleans, formerly a +friend of your father, have escaped in my ship, 'The King Cotton,' The +oldest, it seems, is a head carpenter, and would bring a high price, +Bruteman values them at twenty-five hundred dollars. He is my debtor +to a considerable amount, and those negroes are mortgaged to me. But +independently of that circumstance, it would be very poor policy, +dealing with the South as I do, to allow negroes to be brought away in +my vessels with impunity. Besides, there is a heavy penalty in all the +Southern States, if the thing is proved. You see, Gerald, it is every +way for my interest to make sure of returning those negroes; and +your interest is somewhat connected with mine, seeing that the small +pittance saved from the wreck of your father's property is quite +insufficient to supply your rather expensive wants." + +"I think I have been reminded of that often enough, sir, to be in no +danger of forgetting it," retorted the youth, reddening as he spoke. + +"Then you will perhaps think it no great hardship to transact a little +business for me now and then," coolly rejoined the grandfather. "I +shall send orders to have these negroes sold as soon as they arrive, +and the money transmitted to me; for when they once begin to run away, +the disease is apt to become chronic." + +"Have you seen them, sir," inquired Gerald. + +"No," replied the merchant. "That would have been unpleasant, without +being of any use. When a disagreeable duty is to be done, the quicker +it is done the better. Captain Kane took 'em down to Castle Island +last night; but it won't do for them to stay there. The Abolitionists +will ferret 'em out, and be down there with their devilish _habeas +corpus_. I want you to go on board 'The King Cotton,' take the captain +aside, and tell him, from me, to remove them forthwith from Castle +Island, keep them under strong guard, and skulk round with them in the +best hiding-places he can find, until a ship passes that will take +them to New Orleans. Of course, I need not caution you to be silent +about this affair, especially concerning the slaves being mortgaged to +me. If that is whispered abroad, it will soon get into the +Abolition papers that I am a man-stealer, as those rascals call the +slaveholders." + +The young man obeyed his instructions to the letter; and having had +some difficulty in finding Captain Kane, he was unable to dress for +quite so early a call at the Revere House as he had intended. "How +much trouble these niggers give us!" thought he, as he adjusted his +embroidered cravat, and took his fresh kid gloves from the box. + + * * * * * + +When Mr. Blumenthal went home to dine that day, the ladies of the +household noticed that he was unusually serious. As he sat after +dinner, absently playing a silent tune on the table-cloth, his wife +touched his hand with her napkin, and said, "_What_ was it so long +ago, Florimond?" + +He turned and smiled upon her, as he answered: "So my fingers were +moving to the tune of 'Long, long ago,' were they? I was not conscious +of it, but my thoughts were with the long ago. Yesterday afternoon, as +I was passing across State Street, I heard a cry of 'Stop thief!' and +I saw them seize a young man, who looked like an Italian. I gave no +further thought to the matter, and pursued the business I had in hand. +But to-day I have learned that he was a slave, who escaped in 'The +King Cotton' from New Orleans. I seem to see the poor fellow's +terrified look now; and it brings vividly to mind something dreadful +that came very near happening, long ago, to a person whose complexion +is similar to his. I was thinking how willingly I would then have +given the services of my whole life for a portion of the money which +our best friend here has enabled me to acquire." + +"What _was_ the dreadful thing that was going to happen, papa?" +inquired Rosa. + +"That is a secret between mamma and I," he replied. "It is something +not exactly suitable to talk with little girls about, Rosy Posy." He +took her hand, as it lay on the table, and pressed it affectionately, +by way of apology for refusing his confidence. + +Then, looking at Mrs. Delano, he said: "If I had only known the poor +fellow was a slave, I might, perhaps, have done something to rescue +him. But the Abolitionists are doing what can be done. They procured a +writ of _habeas corpus_, and went on board 'The King Cotton'; but they +could neither find the slaves nor obtain any information from the +captain. They are keeping watch on all vessels bound South, in which +Mr. Goldwin and I are assisting them. There are at least twenty spies +out on the wharves." + +"I heartily wish you as much success as I have had in that kind of +business," replied Mrs. Delano with a smile. + +"O, I do hope they'll be rescued," exclaimed Flora. "How shameful it +is to have such laws, while we keep singing, in the face of the world, +about 'the land of the free, and the home of the brave.' I don't mean +to sing that again; for it's false." + +"There'll come an end to this some time or other, as surely as God +reigns in the heavens," rejoined Blumenthal. + + * * * * * + +Two days passed, and the unremitting efforts of Mr. Percival and Mr. +Jackson proved unavailing to obtain any clew to the fugitives. After +an anxious consultation with Samuel E. Sewall, the wisest and kindest +legal adviser in such cases, they reluctantly came to the conclusion +that nothing more could be done without further information. As a last +resort, Mr. Percival suggested a personal appeal to Mr. Bell. + +"Rather a forlorn hope that," replied Francis Jackson. "He has named +his ship for the king that rules over us all, trampling on freedom of +petition, freedom of debate, and even on freedom of locomotion." + +"We will try," said Mr. Percival. "It is barely possible we may obtain +some light on the subject." + +Early in the evening they accordingly waited upon the merchant at his +residence. When the servant informed him that two gentlemen wished to +see him on business, he laid aside his meerschaum and the Courier, and +said, "Show them in." + +Captain Kane had informed him that the Abolitionists were "trying to +get up a row"; but he had not anticipated that they would call upon +him, and it was an unpleasant surprise when he saw who his visitors +were. He bowed stiffly, and waited in silence for them to explain +their business. + +"We have called," said Mr. Percival, "to make some inquiries +concerning two fugitives from slavery, who, it is said, were found on +board your ship, 'The King Cotton.'" + +"I know nothing about it," replied Mr. Bell. "My captains understand +the laws of the ports they sail from; and it is their business to see +that those laws are respected." + +"But," urged Mr. Percival "that a man is _claimed_ as a slave by no +means proves that he _is_ a slave. The law presumes that every man +has a right to personal liberty, until it is proved otherwise; and +in order to secure a fair trial of the question, the writ of _habeas +corpus_ has been provided." + +"It's a great disgrace to Massachusetts, sir, that she puts so many +obstacles in the way of enforcing the laws of the United States," +replied Mr. Bell. + +"If your grandson should be claimed as a slave, I rather think you +would consider the writ of _habeas corpus_ a wise and just provision," +said the plain-speaking Francis Jackson. "It is said that this young +stranger, whom they chased as a thief, and carried off as a slave, had +a complexion no darker than his." + +"I take it for granted," added Mr. Percival, "that you do not wish for +a state of things that would make every man and woman in Massachusetts +liable to be carried off as slaves, without a chance to prove their +right to freedom." + +Mr. Bell answered, in tones of suppressed anger, his face all ablaze +with excitement, "If I could choose _who_ should be thus carried off, +I would do the Commonwealth a service by ridding her of a swarm of +malignant fanatics." + +"If you were to try that game," quietly rejoined Francis Jackson, "I +apprehend you would find some of the fire of '76 still alive under the +ashes." + +"A man is strongly tempted to argue," said Mr. Percival, "when he +knows that all the laws of truth and justice and freedom are on his +side; but we did not come here to discuss the subject of slavery, Mr. +Bell. We came to appeal to your own good sense, whether it is right +or safe that men should be forcibly carried from the city of Boston +without any process of law." + +"I stand by the Constitution," answered Mr. Bell, doggedly. "I don't +presume to be wiser than the framers of that venerable document." + +"That is evading the question," responded Mr. Percival. "There is no +question before us concerning the framers of the Constitution. The +simple proposition is, whether it is right or safe for men to be +forcibly carried from Boston without process of law. Two strangers +_have_ been thus abducted; and you say it is your captain's business. +You know perfectly well that a single line from you would induce your +captain to give those men a chance for a fair trial. Is it not your +duty so to instruct him?" + +A little thrown off his guard, Mr. Bell exclaimed: "And give an +Abolition mob a chance to rescue them? I shall do no such thing." + +"It is not the Abolitionists who get up mobs," rejoined Francis +Jackson. "Garrison was dragged through the streets for writing against +slavery; but when Yancey of Alabama had the use of Faneuil Hall, for +the purpose of defending slavery, no Abolitionist attempted to disturb +his speaking." + +A slight smile hovered about Mr. Percival's lips; for it was well +known that State Street and Ann Street clasped hands when mobs were +wanted, and that money changed palms on such occasions; and the common +rumor was that Mr. Bell's purse had been freely used. + +The merchant probably considered it an offensive insinuation, for his +face, usually rubicund from the effects of champagne and oysters, +became redder, and his lips were tightly compressed; but he merely +reiterated, "I stand by the Constitution, sir." + +"Mr. Bell, I must again urge it upon your conscience," said Mr. +Percival, "that you are more responsible than the captain in this +matter. Your captains, of course, act under your orders, and would +do nothing contrary to your expressed wishes. Captain Kane has, +doubtless, consulted you in this business." + +"That's none of your concern, sir," retorted the irascible merchant. +"My captains know that I think Southern gentlemen ought to be +protected in their property; and that is sufficient. I stand by the +Constitution, sir. I honor the reverend gentleman who said he was +ready to send his mother or his brother into slavery, if the laws +required it. That's the proper spirit, sir. You fanatics, with your +useless abstractions about human rights, are injuring trade, and +endangering the peace of the country. You are doing all you can to +incite the slaves to insurrection. I don't pretend, to be wiser than +the framers of the Constitution, sir. I don't pretend to be wiser than +Daniel Webster, sir, who said in Congress that he; would support, to +the fullest extent, any law Southern gentlemen chose to frame for the +recovery of fugitive slaves." + +"I wish you a better conscience-keeper," rejoined Francis Jackson, +rising as he spoke. "I don't see, my friend, that there's any use in +staying here to talk any longer. There's none so deaf as those that +_won't_ hear." + +Mr. Percival rose at this suggestion, and "Good evening" was +exchanged, with formal bows on both sides. But sturdy Francis Jackson +made no bow, and uttered no "Good evening." When they were in the +street, and the subject was alluded to by his companion, he simply +replied: "I've pretty much done with saying or doing what I don't +mean. It's a pity that dark-complexioned grandson of his couldn't be +carried off as a slave. That might, perhaps, bring him to a realizing +sense of the state of things." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + +A few days past the middle of the following May, a carriage stopped +before the house of Mr. Joseph Bright, in Northampton, and Mrs. +Delano, with all the Blumenthal family, descended from it. Mr. Bright +received them at the gate, his face smiling all over. "You're welcome, +ladies," said he. "Walk in! walk in! Betsey, this is Mrs. Delano. This +is Mrs. Bright, ladies. Things ain't so stylish here as at your house; +but I hope you'll find 'em comfortable." + +Mrs. Bright, a sensible-looking woman, with great moderation of +manner, showed them into a plainly furnished, but very neat parlor. + +"O, how pleasant this is!" exclaimed Mrs. Blumenthal, as she looked +out of one of the side-windows. + +The children ran up to her repeating: "How pleasant! What a nice +hedge, mamma! And see that wall all covered with pretty flowers!" + +"Those are moss-pinks," said Mrs. Bright. "I think they are very +ornamental to a wall." + +"Did you plant them?" inquired Rosa. + +"O, no," said Mr. Bright, who was bringing in various baskets and +shawls. "That's not our garden; but we have just as much pleasure +looking at it as if it was. A great Southern nabob lives there. He +made a heap o' money selling women and children, and he's come North +to spend it. He's a very pious man, and deacon of the church." The +children began to laugh; for Mr. Bright drawled out his words in +solemn tones, and made his broad face look very comical by trying to +lengthen it. "His name is Stillham," added he, "but I call him Deacon +Steal'em." + +As he passed out, Rosa whispered to her mother, "What does he mean +about a deacon's selling women and children?" + +Before an answer could be given, Mr. Bright reappeared with a +bird-cage. "I guess this is a pretty old parrot," said he. + +"Yes, she is quite old," replied Mrs. Delano. "But we are all attached +to her; and our house being shut up for the summer, we were unwilling +to trust her with strangers." + +The parrot, conscious of being talked about, turned up her head +sideways, and winked her eye, without stirring from the corner of +the cage, where she was rolled up like a ball of feathers. Then she +croaked out an English phrase, which she had learned of the children, +"Polly wants a cacker." + +"She shall have a cracker," said good-natured Mr. Bright; and Rosa and +little Lila were soon furnished with a cracker and a lump of sugar for +Poll. + +In a short time they were summoned to tea; and after enjoying Mrs. +Bright's light bread and sweet butter, they saw no more of their host +and hostess for the evening. In the morning the whole family were up +before the hour appointed for breakfast, and were out in the garden, +taking a look at the environments of their new abode. As Mrs. +Blumenthal was walking among the bushes, Mr. Bright's beaming face +suddenly uprose before her, from where he was stooping to pluck up +some weeds. + +"Good morning, ma'am," said he. "Do hear that old thief trying to come +Paddy over the Lord!" + +As he spoke, he pointed his thumb backward toward Deacon Stillham's +house, whence proceeded a very loud and monotonous voice of prayer. + +Mrs. Blumenthal smiled as she inquired, "What did you mean by saying +he sold women and children?" + +"Made his money by slave-trading down in Carolina, ma'am. I reckon a +man has to pray a deal to get himself out of that scrape; needs to +pray pretty loud too, or the voice of women screaming for their babies +would get to the throne afore him. He don't like us over and above +well, 'cause we're Abolitionists. But there's Betsey calling me; I +mustn't stop here talking." + +Mrs. Blumenthal amused her companions by a repetition of his remarks +concerning the Deacon. She was much entertained by their host's +original style of bubbling over, as she termed it. After breakfast +she said: "There he is in the garden. Let's go and talk with him, +Florimond." + +And taking her parasol, she went out, leaning on her husband's arm. + +"So you are an Abolitionist?" said Mr. Blumenthal, as they stopped +near their host. + +Mr. Bright tossed his hat on a bush, and, leaning on his hoe, sang +in a stentorian voice: "I am an Abolitionist; I glory in the +name.--There," said he, laughing, "I let out _all_ my voice, that the +Deacon might hear. He can pray the loudest; but I reckon I can sing +the loudest. I'll tell you what first made me begin to think about +slavery. You see I was never easy without I could be doing something +in the musical way, so I undertook to teach singing. One winter, I +thought I should like to run away from Jack Frost, and I looked in the +Southern papers to see if any of 'em advertised for a singing-master. +The first thing my eye lighted on was this advertisement:-- + +"Ran away from the subscriber a stout mulatto slave, named Joe; has +light sandy hair, blue eyes, and ruddy complexion; is intelligent, and +will pass himself for a white man. I will give one hundred dollars' +reward to whoever will seize him and put him in jail.' + +"'By George!' said I, 'that's a description of _me_. I didn't know +before that I was a mulatto. It'll never do for me to go _there_.' +So I went to Vermont to teach. I told 'em I was a runaway slave, and +showed 'em the advertisement that described me. Some of 'em believed +me, till I told 'em it was a joke. Well, it is just as bad for those +poor black fellows as it would have been for me; but that blue-eyed +Joe seemed to bring the matter home to me. It set me to thinking about +slavery, and I have kept thinking ever since." + +"Not exactly such a silent thinking as the apothecary's famous owl, I +judge," said Mrs. Blumenthal. + +"No," replied he, laughing. "I never had the Quaker gift of gathering +into the stillness, that's a fact. But I reckon even that 'pothecary's +owl wouldn't be silent if he could hear and understand all that Betsey +has told me about the goings-on down South. Before I married her, she +went there to teach; but she's a woman o' feeling, and she couldn't +stand it long. But, dear me, if I believed Deacon Steal'em's talk, I +should think it was just about the pleasantest thing in the world to +be sold; and that the niggers down South had nothing 'pon earth to do +but to lick treacle and swing on a gate. Then he proves it to be a +Divine institution from Scripture, chapter and verse. You may have +noticed, perhaps, that such chaps are always mighty well posted up +about the original designs of Providence; especially as to who's +foreordained to be kept down. He says God cussed Ham, and the niggers +are the descendants of Ham. I told him if there was an estate of Ham's +left unsettled, I reckoned 't would puzzle the 'cutest lawyer to hunt +up the rightful heirs." + +"I think so," rejoined Mr. Blumenthal, smiling; "especially when +they've become so mixed up that they advertise runaway negroes with +sandy hair, blue eyes, and ruddy complexion." + +"When the Deacon feels the ground a little shaky under him," resumed +Mr. Bright, he leans on his minister down in Carolina, who, he says, +is a Northern man, and so pious that folks come from far and near to +get him to pray for rain in a dry time; thinking the prayers of such +a godly man will be sure to bring down the showers. He says that man +preached a sermon that proved niggers were born to be servants of +servants unto their brethren. I told him I didn't doubt that part of +the prophecy was fulfilled about their serving their _brethren_; and +I showed him the advertisement about sandy hair and blue eyes. But +as for being servants of _servants_, I never heard of slaveholders +serving anybody except--a chap whose name it ain't polite to mention +before ladies. As for that preacher, he put me in mind of a minister +my father used to tell of. He'd been to a wedding, and when he come +home he couldn't light his lamp. After trying a long spell he found +out that the extinguisher was on it. I told the deacon that ministers +down South had put an extinguisher on their lamp, and couldn't be +expected to raise much of a light from it to guide anybody's steps." + +"Some of the Northern ministers are not much better guides, I think," +rejoined Mr. Blumenthal. + +"Just so," replied his host; "'cause they've got the same extinguisher +on; and ain't it curious to see 'em puffing and blowing at the old +lamp? I get 'most tired of talking common sense and common feeling to +the Deacon. You can't get it into him, and it won't stay on him. You +might as well try to heap a peck o' flax-seed. He keeps eating his +own words, too; though they don't seem to agree with him, neither. He +maintains that the slaves are perfectly contented and happy; and the +next minute, if you quote any of their cruel laws, he tells you they +are obliged to make such laws or else they would rise and cut their +masters' throats. He says blacks and whites won't mix any more than +oil and water; and the next minute he says if the slaves are freed +they'll marry our daughters. I tell him his arguments are like the +Kilkenny cats, that ate one another up to the tip o' their tails. The +Deacon is sensible enough, too, about many other subjects; but he nor +no other man can saw straight with a crooked saw." + +"It's an old saying," rejoined Blumenthal, "that, when men enter into +a league with Satan, he always deserts them at the tightest pinch; and +I've often observed he's sure to do it where arguments pinch." + +"I don't wonder you are far from being a favorite with the Deacon," +remarked Flora; "for, according to your own account, you hit him +rather hard." + +"I suppose I do," rejoined Mr. Bright. "I'm always in earnest myself; +and when I'm sure I'm in the right, I always drive ahead. I soon get +out o' patience trying to twist a string that ain't fastened at nary +end, as an old neighbor of my father used to say. I suppose some of us +Abolitionists _are_ a little rough at times; but I reckon the coarsest +of us do more good than the false prophets that prophesy smooth +things." + +"You said Mrs. Bright had been a teacher in the South. What part of +the South was it?" inquired Mrs. Blumenthal. + +"She went to Savannah to be nursery governess to Mrs. Fitzgerald's +little girl," replied he. "But part of the time she was on an island +where Mr. Fitzgerald had a cotton plantation. I dare say you've heard +of him, for he married the daughter of that rich Mr. Bell who lives in +your street. He died some years ago; at least they suppose he died, +but nobody knows what became of him." + +Flora pressed her husband's arm, and was about to inquire concerning +the mystery, when Mrs. Delano came, hand in hand with Rosa and Lila, +to say that she had ordered the carriage and wanted them to be in +readiness to take a drive. + +They returned to a late dinner; and when they rose from a long chat +over the dessert, Mr. Bright was not to be found, and his wife was +busy; so further inquiries concerning Mr. Fitzgerald's fate were +postponed. Mr. Blumenthal proposed a walk on Round Hill; but the +children preferred staying at home. Rosa had a new tune she wanted to +practise with her guitar; and her little sister had the promise of a +story from Mamita Lila. So Mr. Blumenthal and his wife went forth on +their ramble alone. The scene from Round Hill was beautiful with the +tender foliage of early spring. Slowly they sauntered round from point +to point, pausing now and then to look at the handsome villages before +them, at the blooming peach-trees, the glistening river, and the +venerable mountains, with feathery crowns of violet cloud. + +Suddenly a sound of music floated on the air; and they stood +spell-bound, with heads bowed, as if their souls were hushed in +prayer. When it ceased, Mr. Blumenthal drew a long breath, and said, +"Ah! that was our Mendelssohn." + +"How exquisitely it was played," observed his wife, "and how in +harmony it was with these groves! It sounded like a hymn in the +forest." + +They lingered, hoping again to hear the invisible musician. As they +leaned against the trees, the silver orb of the moon ascended from the +horizon, and rested on the brow of Mount Holyoke; and from the same +quarter whence Mendelssohn's "Song without Words" had proceeded, the +tones of "Casta Diva" rose upon the air. Flora seized her husband's +arm with a quick, convulsive grasp, and trembled all over. Wondering +at the intensity of her emotion, he passed his arm tenderly round her +waist and drew her closely to him. Thus, leaning upon his heart, she +listened with her whole being, from the inmost recesses of her soul, +throughout all her nerves, to her very fingers' ends. When the sounds +died away, she sobbed out: "O, how like Rosa's voice! It seemed as if +she had risen from the dead." + +He spoke soothingly, and in a few minutes they descended the hill and +silently wended their way homeward. The voice that had seemed to +come from another world invested the evening landscape with mystical +solemnity. The expression of the moon seemed transfigured, like a +great clairvoyant eye, reflecting light from invisible spheres, and +looking out upon the external world with dreamy abstraction. + +When they arrived at their lodgings, Flora exclaimed: "O Mamita Lila, +we have heard such heavenly music, and a voice so wonderfully like +Rosa's! I don't believe I shall sleep a wink to-night." + +"Do you mean the Aunt Rosa I was named for?" inquired her daughter. + +"Yes, Rosen Blumen," replied her mother; "and I wish you had gone with +us, that you might have an idea what a wonderful voice she had." + +This led to talk about old times, and to the singing of various airs +associated with those times. When they retired to rest, Flora fell +asleep with those tunes marching and dancing through her brain; and, +for the first time during many years, she dreamed of playing them to +her father, while Rosabella sang. + +The next morning, when the children had gone out to ramble in the +woods with their father, her memory being full of those old times, +she began to say over to the parrot some of the phrases that formerly +amused her father and Rosabella. The old bird was never talkative now; +but when urged by Flora, she croaked out some of her familiar phrases. + +"I'm glad we brought _pauvre Manon_ with us," said Mrs. Blumenthal. "I +think she seems livelier since she came here. Sometimes I fancy she +looks like good Madame Guirlande. Those feathers on her head make me +think of the bows on Madame's cap. Come, _jolie Manon_, I'll carry you +out doors, where the sun will shine upon you. You like sunshine, don't +you, Manon?" + +She took the cage, and was busy fastening it on the bough of a tree, +when a voice from the street said, "_Bon jour, jolie Manon_!" + +The parrot suddenly flapped her wings, gave a loud laugh, and burst +into a perfect tornado of French and Spanish phrases: "_Bon jour! +Buenos dias! Querida mia! Joli diable! Petit blanc! Ha! ha_!" + +Surprised at this explosion, Mrs. Blumenthal looked round to discover +the cause, and exclaiming, "_Oh ciel_!" she turned deadly pale, and +rushed into the house. + +"What _is_ the matter, my child? inquired Mrs. Delano, anxiously. + +"O Mamita, I've seen Rosa's ghost," she replied, sinking into a chair. + +Mrs. Delano poured some cologne on a handkerchief, and bathed her +forehead, while she said, "You were excited last night by the tune you +used to hear your sister sing; and it makes you nervous, dear." + +While she was speaking, Mrs. Bright entered the room, saying, "Have +you a bottle of sal volatile you can lend me? A lady has come in, who +says she is a little faint." + +"I will bring it from my chamber," replied Mrs. Delano. She left +the room, and was gone some time. When she returned, she found Mrs. +Blumenthal leaning her head on the table, with her face buried in her +hands. "My child, I want you to come into the other room," said Mrs. +Delano. "The lady who was faint is the famous Mrs. King, from Boston. +She is boarding on Round Hill, and I suppose it was her voice you +heard singing. She said she had seen a lady come into this house who +looked so much like a deceased relative that it made her feel faint. +Now don't be excited, darling; but this lady certainly resembles the +sketch you made of your sister; and it is barely possible--" + +Before she could finish the sentence, Flora started up, and flew into +the adjoining room. A short, quick cry, "O Floracita!" "O Rosabella!" +and they were locked in each other's arms. + +After hugging and kissing, and weeping and laughing by turns, Mrs. +King said: "That must have been Madame's parrot. The sight of her made +me think of old times, and I said, '_Bon jour, jolie Manon_! Your back +was toward me, and I should have passed on, if my attention had not +been arrested by her wild outpouring of French and Spanish. I suppose +she knew my voice." + +"Bless the dear old bird!" exclaimed Flora. "It was she who brought us +together again at last. She shall come in to see you." + +They went out to bring in their old pet. But _jolie Manon_ was lying +on the floor of her cage, with eyes closed and wings outstretched. The +joyful surprise had been too much for her feeble old nerves. She was +dead. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +"So you _are_ alive!" exclaimed Rosa, holding her sister back a +little, and gazing upon her face with all her soul in her eyes. + +"Yes, very _much_ alive," answered Flora, with a smile that brought +out all her dimples. + +"But do tell me," said Rosa, "how you came to go away so strangely, +and leave me to mourn for you as if you were dead." + +The dimples disappeared, and a shadow clouded Flora's expressive eyes, +as she replied: "It would take a long while to explain all that, +_sistita mia_. We will talk it over another time, please." + +Rosa sighed as she pressed her sister's hand, and said: "Perhaps I +have already conjectured rightly about it, Floracita. My eyes were +opened by bitter experiences after we were parted. Some time I will +explain to you how I came to run to Europe in such a hurry, with +Madame and the Signor." + +"But tell me, the first thing of all, whether Tulee is dead," rejoined +Flora. + +"You know Madame was always exceedingly careful about expense," +responded Rosa. "Mrs. Duroy was willing to board Tulee for her work, +and Madame thought it was most prudent to leave her there till we got +established in Europe, and could send for her; and just when we were +expecting her to rejoin us, letters came informing us that Mr. and +Mrs. Duroy and Tulee all died of yellow-fever. It distresses me beyond +measure to think of our having left poor, faithful Tulee." + +"When we found out that Mr. Fitzgerald had married another wife," +replied Flora, "my new Mamita kindly volunteered to go with me +in search of you and Tulee. We went to the cottage, and to the +plantation, and to New Orleans. Everybody I ever knew seemed to be +dead or gone away. But Madame's parrot was alive, and her chattering +led me into a stranger's house, where I heard that you were lost at +sea on your way to Europe; and that Tulee, with a white baby she had +charge of, had died of yellow-fever. Was that baby yours, dear?" + +Rosa lowered her eyes, and colored deeply, as she answered: "That +subject is very painful to me. I can never forgive myself for having +left Tulee and that poor little baby." + +Flora pressed her sister's hand in silence for a moment, and then +said: "You told me Madame and the Signor were alive and well. Where +are they?" + +"They lived with us in Provence," replied Rosa. "But when we concluded +to return to America, the Signor expressed a wish to end his days in +his native country. So Mr. King purchased an estate for them near +Florence, and settled an annuity upon them. I had a letter from Madame +a few days ago, and she writes that they are as happy as rabbits in +clover. The Signor is getting quite old; and if she survives him, it +is agreed that she will come and end her days with us. How it will +delight her heart to hear that you are alive! What a strange fortune +we have had! It seems that Mr. King always loved me, from the first +evening that he spent at our house. Do you remember how you laughed +because he offered to help us if ever we were in trouble? He knew more +about us then than we knew about ourselves; and he afterward did help +me out of very great troubles. I will tell you all about it some time. +But first I want to know about you. Who is this new Mamita that you +speak of?" + +"O, it was wonderful how she came to me when I had the greatest need +of a friend," answered Flora. "You must know that she and Papasito +were in love with each other when they were young; and she is in love +with his memory now. I sometimes think his spirit led her to me. I +will show you a picture I have made of Papasito and Mamita as guardian +angels, placing a crown of violets and lilies of the valley on the +head of my new Mamita. When I had to run away, she brought me to live +with her in Boston; and there I met with an old acquaintance. Do you +remember Florimond Blumenthal?" + +"The good German boy that Papasito took such an interest in?" inquired +Rosa. "To be sure I remember him." + +"Well, he's a good German boy now," rejoined Flora; "and I'm Mrs. +Blumenthal." + +"Is it possible?" exclaimed Rosa. "You look so exactly as you did when +you were such a merry little elf, that I never thought to inquire +whether you were married. In the joy of this sudden meeting, I forgot +how many years had passed since we saw each other." + +"You will realize how long it has been when you see my children," +rejoined Flora. "My oldest, Alfred Royal, is fitting for college. He +is the image of _cher Papa_; and you will see how Mamita Lila doats +upon him. She must have loved Papasito very much. Then I had a +daughter that died in a few days; then I had my Rosen Blumen, and +you will see who she looks like; then some more came and went to +the angels. Last of all came little Lila, who looks just like her +father,--flaxen hair, pink cheeks, and great German forget-me-nots for +eyes." + +"How I shall love them all!" exclaimed Rosa. "And you will love our +Eulalia. I had a little Alfred and a little Flora. They came to us +in Provence, and we left their pretty little bodies there among the +roses." + +The sisters sat folded in each other's arms, their souls wandering +about among memories, when Mr. Blumenthal returned from his long +ramble with the children. Then, of course, there was a scene of +exclamations and embraces. Little Lila was shy, and soon ran away to +take refuge in Mamita's chamber; but Rosen Blumen was full of wonder +and delight that such a grand, beautiful lady was the Aunt Rosa of +whom she had heard so much. + +"Mamita Lila has stayed away all this time, out of regard to our +privacy," said Flora; "but now I am going to bring her." + +She soon returned, arm in arm with Mrs. Delano. Mr. Blumenthal took +her hand respectfully, as she entered, and said: "This is our dear +benefactress, our best earthly friend." + +"My guardian angel, my darling Mamita," added Flora. + +Mrs. King eagerly stepped forward, and folded her in her arms, saying, +in a voice half stifled with emotion, "Thank God and you for all this +happiness." + +While they were speaking together, Flora held a whispered consultation +with her husband, who soon went forth in search of Mr. King, with +strict injunctions to say merely that an unexpected pleasure awaited +him. He hastened to obey the summons, wondering what it could mean. +There was no need of introducing him to his new-found relative. The +moment he entered the room, he exclaimed, "Why, Floracita!" + +"So you knew me?" she said, clasping his hand warmly. + +"To be sure I did," he answered. "You are the same little fairy that +danced in the floral parlor." + +"O, I'm a sober matron now," said she, with a comic attempt to look +demure about the mouth, while her eyes were laughing. "Here is my +daughter Rosa; and I have a tall lad, who bears two thirds of your +regal name." + +The happy group were loath to separate, though it was only to meet +again in the evening at Mr. King's lodgings on Round Hill. There, +memories and feelings, that tried in vain to express themselves fully +in words, found eloquent utterance in music. + +Day after day, and evening after evening, the sisters met, with a +hunger of the heart that could not be satisfied. Their husbands and +children, meanwhile, became mutually attached. Rosen Blumen, richly +colored with her tropical ancestry and her vigorous health, looked +upon her more ethereal cousin Eulalia as a sort of angel, and seemed +to worship her as such. Sometimes she accompanied her sweet, bird-like +voice with the guitar; sometimes they sang duets together; and +sometimes one played on the piano, while the other danced with +Lila, whose tiny feet kept time to the music, true as an echo. Not +unfrequently, the pretty little creature was called upon to dance a +_pas seul_; for she had improvised a dance for herself to the tune of +Yankee Doodle, and it was very amusing to see how emphatically she +stamped the rhythm. + +While the young people amused themselves thus, Flora often brought +forward her collection of drawings, which Rosa called the portfolio of +memories. + +There was the little fountain in their father's garden, the lonely +cottage on the island, the skeleton of the dead pine tree, with the +moon peeping through its streamers of moss, and Thistle with his +panniers full of flowers. Among the variety of foreign scenes, Mrs. +King particularly admired the dancing peasants from Frascati. + +"Ah," said Flora, "I see them now, just as they looked when we passed +them on our beautiful drive to Albano. It was the first really merry +day I had had for a long time. I was just beginning to learn to enjoy +myself without you. It was very selfish of me, dear Rosa, but I was +forgetful of you, that day. And, only to think of it! if it had not +been for that unlucky apparition of Mr. Fitzgerald, I should have gone +to the opera and seen you as Norma." + +"Very likely we should both have fainted," rejoined Rosa, "and then +the manager would have refused to let La Campaneo try her luck again. +But what is this, Floracita?" + +"That is a group on Monte Pincio," she replied. "I sketched it when I +was shut up in my room, the day before you came out in the opera." + +"I do believe it is Madame and the Signor and I," responded Rosa. "The +figures and the dresses are exactly the same; and I remember we went +to Monte Pincio that morning, on my return from rehearsal." + +"What a stupid donkey I was, not to know you were so near!" said +Flora. "I should have thought my fingers would have told me while I +was drawing it." + +"Ah," exclaimed Rosa, "here is Tulee!" Her eyes moistened while she +gazed upon it. "Poor Tulee!" said she, "how she cared for me, and +comforted me, during those dark and dreadful days! If it hadn't been +for her and Chloe, I could never have lived through that trouble. When +I began to recover, she told me how Chloe held my hand hour after +hour, and prayed over me without ceasing. I believe she prayed me up +out of the grave. She said our Mamita appeared to her once, and told +her she was my guardian angel; but if it had really been our Mamita, +I think she would have told her to tell me you were alive, Mignonne. +When Alfred and I went South, just before we came here, we tried to +find Tom and Chloe. We intend to go to New Bedford soon to see them. A +glimpse of their good-natured black faces would give me more pleasure +than all the richly dressed ladies I saw at Mrs. Green's great party." + +"Very likely you'll hear Tom preach when you go to New Bedford," +rejoined Flora, "for he is a Methodist minister now; and Chloe, they +say, is powerful in prayer at the meetings. I often smile when I think +about the manner of her coming away. It was so funny that my quiet, +refined Mamita Lila should all at once become a kidnapper. But here is +Rosen Blumen. Well, what now, Mignonne?" + +"Papa says Lila is very sleepy, and we ought to be going home," +replied the young damsel. + +"Then we will kiss good night, _sistita mia_?" said Mrs. Blumenthal; +"and you will bring Eulalia to us to-morrow." + +On their return home, Mr. Bright called to them over the garden fence. +"I've just had a letter from your neighbor, Mrs. Fitzgerald," said he. +"She wants to know whether we can accommodate her, and her father, and +her son with lodgings this summer. I'm mighty glad we can say we've +let all our rooms; for that old Mr. Bell treats mechanics as if he +thought they all had the small-pox, and he was afraid o' catching it. +So different from you, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. King! You ain't afraid +to take hold of a rough hand without a glove on. How is Mrs. King? +Hope she's coming to-morrow. If the thrushes and bobolinks could sing +human music, and put human feeling into it, her voice would beat 'em +all. How romantic that you should come here to Joe Bright's to find +your sister, that you thought was dead." + +When they had courteously answered his inquiries, he repeated a wish +he had often expressed, that somebody would write a story about it. +If he had been aware of all their antecedents, he would perhaps have +written one himself; but he only knew that the handsome sisters were +orphans, separated in youth, and led by a singular combination of +circumstances to suppose each other dead. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + +When the sisters were alone together, the next day after dinner, +Flora said, "Rosa, dear, does it pain you very much to hear about Mr. +Fitzgerald?" + +"No; that wound has healed," she replied. "It is merely a sad memory +now." + +"Mrs. Bright was nursery governess in his family before her marriage," +rejoined Flora. "I suppose you have heard that he disappeared +mysteriously. I think she may know something about it, and I have been +intending to ask her; but your sudden appearance, and the quantity +of things we have had to say to each other, have driven it out of my +head. Do you object to my asking her to come in and tell us something +about her experiences?" + +"I should be unwilling to have her know we were ever acquainted with +Mr. Fitzgerald," responded Mrs. King. + +"So should I," said Flora. "It will be a sufficient reason for my +curiosity that Mrs. Fitzgerald is our acquaintance and neighbor." + +And she went out to ask her hostess to come and sit with them. After +some general conversation, Flora said: "You know Mrs. Fitzgerald is +our neighbor in Boston. I have some curiosity to know what were your +experiences in her family." + +"Mrs. Fitzgerald was always very polite to me," replied Mrs. Bright; +"and personally I had no occasion to find fault with Mr. Fitzgerald, +though I think the Yankee schoolma'am was rather a bore to him. +The South is a beautiful part of the country. I used to think the +sea-island, where they spent most of the summer, was as beautiful as +Paradise before the fall; but I never felt at home there. I didn't +like the state of things. It's my theory that everybody ought to help +in doing the work of the world. There's a great deal to be done, +ladies, and it don't seem right that some backs should be broken with +labor, while others have the spine complaint for want of exercise. It +didn't agree with my independent New England habits to be waited upon +so much. A negro woman named Venus took care of my room. The first +night I slept at the plantation, it annoyed me to see her kneel down +to take off my stockings and shoes. I told her she might go, for I +could undress myself. She seemed surprised; and I think her conclusion +was that I was no lady. But all the negroes liked me. They had got the +idea, somehow, that Northern people were their friends, and were doing +something to set them free." + +"Then they generally wanted their freedom, did they?" inquired Flora. + +"To be sure they did," rejoined Mrs. Bright. "Did you ever hear of +anybody that liked being a slave?" + +Mrs. King asked whether Mr. Fitzgerald was a hard master. + +"I don't think he was," said their hostess. "I have known him to do +very generous and kind things for his servants. But early habits had +made him indolent and selfish, and he left the overseer to do as he +liked. Besides, though he was a pleasant gentleman when sober, he was +violent when he was intoxicated; and he had become much addicted +to intemperance before I went there. They said he had been a very +handsome man; but he was red and bloated when I knew him. He had a +dissipated circle of acquaintances, who used to meet at his house in +Savannah, and gamble with cards till late into the night; and the +liquor they drank often made them very boisterous and quarrelsome. +Mrs. Fitzgerald never made any remark, in my presence, about these +doings; but I am sure they troubled her, for I often heard her walking +her chamber long after she had retired for the night. Indeed, they +made such an uproar, that it was difficult to sleep till they were +gone. Sometimes, after they had broken up, I heard them talking on the +piazza; and their oaths and obscene jests were shocking to hear; +yet if I met any of them the next day, they appeared like courtly +gentlemen. When they were intoxicated, niggers and Abolitionists +seemed always to haunt their imaginations. I remember one night in +particular. I judged by their conversation that they had been reading +in a Northern newspaper some discussion about allowing slaveholders to +partake of the sacrament. Their talk was a strange tipsy jumble. If +Mr. Bright had heard it, he would give you a comical account of it. As +they went stumbling down the steps, some were singing and some were +swearing. I heard one of them bawl out, 'God damn their souls to all +eternity, they're going to exclude us from the communion-table.' When +I first told the story to Mr. Bright, I said d---- their souls; but he +said that was all a sham, for everybody knew what d---- stood for, and +it was just like showing an ass's face to avoid speaking his name. So +I have spoken the word right out plain, just as I heard it. It was +shocking talk to hear, and you may think it very improper to repeat +it, ladies; but I have told it to give you an idea of the state of +things in the midst of which I found myself." + +Mrs. King listened in sad silence. The Mr. Fitzgerald of this +description was so unlike the elegant young gentleman who had won her +girlish love, that she could not recognize him as the same person. + +"Did Mr. Fitzgerald die before you left?" inquired Flora. + +"I don't know when or how he died," replied Mrs. Bright; "but I +have my suspicions. Out of regard to Mrs. Fitzgerald, I have never +mentioned them to any one but my husband; and if I name them to you, +ladies, I trust you will consider it strictly confidential." + +They promised, and she resumed. + +"I never pried into the secrets of the family, but I could not help +learning something about them, partly from my own observation, and +inferences drawn therefrom, and partly from the conversation of Venus, +my talkative waiting-maid. She told me that her master married a +Spanish lady, the most beautiful lady that ever walked the earth; and +that he conveyed her away secretly somewhere after he married the +milk-face, as she called Mrs. Fitzgerald. Venus was still good-looking +when I knew her. From her frequent remarks I judge that, when she was +young, her master thought her extremely pretty; and she frequently +assured me that he was a great judge 'ob we far sex.' She had a +handsome mulatto daughter, whose features greatly resembled his; +and she said there was good reason for it. I used to imagine Mrs. +Fitzgerald thought so too; for she always seemed to owe this handsome +Nelly a grudge. Mr. Fitzgerald had a body-servant named Jim, who was +so genteel that I always called him 'Dandy Jim o' Caroline.' Jim and +Nelly were in love with each other; but their master, for reasons of +his own, forbade their meeting together. + +"Finding that Nelly tried to elude his vigilance, he sold Jim to a New +Orleans trader, and the poor girl almost cried her handsome eyes out. +A day or two after he was sold, Mr. Fitzgerald and his lady went to +Beaufort on a visit, and took their little son and daughter with them. +The walls of my sleeping-room were to be repaired, and I was told to +occupy their chamber during their absence. The evening after they went +away, I sat up rather late reading, and when I retired the servants +were all asleep. As I sat before the looking-glass, arranging my hair +for the night, I happened to glance toward the reflection of the bed, +which showed plainly in the mirror; and I distinctly saw a dark eye +peeping through an opening in the curtains. My heart was in my throat, +I assure you; but I had the presence of mind not to cry out or to jump +up. I continued combing my hair, occasionally glancing toward the +eye. If it be one of the negroes, thought I, he surely cannot wish +to injure _me_, for they all know I am friendly to them. I tried to +collect all my faculties, to determine what it was best to do. I +reflected that, if I alarmed the servants, he might be driven to +attack me in self-defence. I began talking aloud to myself, leisurely +taking off my cuffs and collar as I did so, and laying my breastpin +and watch upon the table. 'I wish Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald were not +going to stay so long at Beaufort,' said I. 'It is lonesome here, and +I don't feel at home in this chamber. I sha'n't sleep if I go to bed; +so I think I'll read a little longer. 'I looked round on the table and +chairs, and added: 'There, now! I've left my book down stairs, and +must go for it.' I went down to the parlor and locked myself in. A few +minutes afterward I saw a dark figure steal across the piazza; and, +unless the moonlight deceived me, it was Dandy Jim. I wondered at it, +because I thought he was on his way to New Orleans. Of course, there +was no sleep for me that night. When the household were all astir, I +went to the chamber again. My watch and breastpin, which I had left on +purpose, were still lying on the table. It was evident that robbery +had not been the object. I did not mention the adventure to any one. +I pitied Jim, and if he had escaped, I had no mind to be the means of +his recapture. Whatever harm he had intended, he had not done it, and +there was no probability that he would loiter about in that vicinity. +I had reason to be glad of my silence; for the next day an agent from +the slave-trader arrived, saying that Jim had escaped, and that they +thought he might be lurking near where his wife was. When Mr. and Mrs. +Fitzgerald returned, they questioned Nelly, but she averred that she +had not seen Jim, or heard from him since he was sold. Mr. Fitzgerald +went away on horseback that afternoon. The horse came back in the +evening with an empty saddle, and he never returned. The next morning +Nelly was missing, and she was never found. I thought it right to be +silent about my adventure. To have done otherwise might have produced +mischievous results to Jim and Nelly, and could do their master no +good. I searched the woods in every direction, but I never came upon +any trace of Mr. Fitzgerald, except the marks of footsteps near the +sea, before the rising of the tide. I had made arrangements to return +to the North about that time; but Mrs. Fitzgerald's second son was +seized with fever, and I stayed with her till he was dead and buried. +Then we all came to Boston together. About a year after, her little +daughter, who had been my pupil, died." + +"Poor Mrs. Fitzgerald!" said Flora. "I have heard her allude to her +lost children, but I had no idea she had suffered so much." + +"She did suffer," replied Mrs. Bright, "though not so deeply as some +natures would have suffered in the same circumstances. Her present +situation is far from being enviable. Her father is a hard, grasping +man, and he was greatly vexed that her splendid marriage turned out to +be such a failure. It must be very mortifying to her to depend upon +him mainly for the support of herself and son. I pitied her, and I +pitied Mr. Fitzgerald too. He was selfish and dissipated, because he +was brought up with plenty of money, and slaves to obey everything he +chose to order. That is enough to spoil any man." + +Rosa had listened with downcast eyes, but now she looked up earnestly +and said, "That is a very kind judgment, Mrs. Bright, and I thank you +for the lesson." + +"It is a just judgment," replied their sensible hostess. "I often tell +Mr. Bright we cannot be too thankful that we were brought up to wait +upon ourselves and earn our own living. You will please to excuse me +now, ladies, for it is time to prepare tea." + +As she closed the door, Rosa pressed her sister's hand, and sighed as +she said, "O, this is dreadful!" + +"Dreadful indeed," rejoined Flora. "To think of him as he was when I +used to make you blush by singing, '_Petit blanc! mon bon frere_!' and +then to think what an end he came to!" + +The sisters sat in silence for some time, thinking with moistened eyes +of all that had been kind and pleasant in the man who had done them so +much wrong. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + +IF young Fitzgerald had not been strongly inclined to spend the summer +in Northampton, he would have been urged to it by his worldly-minded +mother and grandfather, who were disposed to make any effort to place +him in the vicinity of Eulalia King. They took possession of lodgings +on Round Hill in June; and though very few weeks intervened before +the college vacation, the time seemed so long to Gerald, that he +impatiently counted the days. Twice he took the journey for a short +visit before he was established as an inmate of his grandfather's +household. Alfred Blumenthal had a vacation at the same time, and the +young people of the three families were together almost continually. +Songs and glees enlivened their evenings, and nearly every day there +were boating excursions, or rides on horseback, in which Mr. and Mrs. +King and Mr. and Mrs. Blumenthal invariably joined. No familiarity +could stale the ever fresh charm of the scenery. The beautiful river, +softly flowing in sunlight through richly cultivated meadows, always +seemed to Mr. Blumenthal like the visible music of Mendelssohn. Mr. +King, who had been in Germany, was strongly reminded of the Rhine and +the Black Forest, while looking on that wide level expanse of verdure, +with its broad band of sparkling silver, framed in with thick dark +woods along the river-range of mountains. The younger persons of the +party more especially enjoyed watching Mill River rushing to meet +the Connecticut, like an impatient boy let loose for the holidays, +shouting, and laughing, and leaping, on his way homeward. Mrs. Delano +particularly liked to see, from the summit of Mount Holyoke, the +handsome villages, lying so still in the distance, giving no sign +of all the passions, energies, and sorrows that were seething, +struggling, and aching there; and the great stretch of meadows, +diversified with long, unfenced rows of stately Indian corn, rich with +luxuriant foliage of glossy green, alternating with broad bands of +yellow grain, swayed by the breeze like rippling waves of the sea. +These regular lines of variegated culture, seen from such a height, +seemed like handsome striped calico, which earth had put on for her +working-days, mindful that the richly wooded hills were looking down +upon her picturesque attire. There was something peculiarly congenial +to the thoughtful soul of the cultured lady in the quiet pastoral +beauty of the extensive scene; and still more in the sense of +serene elevation above the whole, seeing it all dwindle into small +proportions, as the wisdom of age calmly surveys the remote panorama +of life. + +These riding parties attracted great attention as they passed through +the streets; for all had heard the rumor of their wealth, and all were +struck by the unusual amount of personal beauty, and the distinguished +style of dress. At that time, the Empress Eugenie had issued her +imperial decree that all the world should shine in "barbaric gold,"--a +fashion by no means distasteful to the splendor-loving sisters. Long +sprays of Scotch laburnum mingled their golden bells with the dark +tresses of Eulalia and Rosen Blumen; a cluster of golden wheat mixed +its shining threads with Flora's black curls; and a long, soft +feather, like "the raven down of darkness," dusted with gold, drooped +over the edge of Mrs. King's riding-cap, fastened to its band by a +golden star. Even Mrs. Fitzgerald so far changed her livery of the +moon as to wear golden buds mixed with cerulean flowers. Mrs. Delano +looked cool as evening among them in her small gray bonnet, with a few +violets half hidden in silver leaves. Old Mr. Bell not unfrequently +joined in these excursions. His white hair, and long silky white +beard, formed a picturesque variety in the group; while all recognized +at a glance the thoroughbred aristocrat in his haughty bearing, his +stern mouth, his cold, turquoise eyes, and the clenching expression of +his hand. Mrs. King seemed to have produced upon him the effect Gerald +had predicted. No youthful gallant could have been more assiduous at +her bridle-rein, and he seemed to envy his grandson every smile he +obtained from her beautiful lips. + +Both he and Mrs. Fitzgerald viewed with obvious satisfaction the +growing intimacy between that young gentleman and Eulalia. "Capital +match for Gerald, eh?" said Mr. Bell to his daughter. "They say King's +good for three millions at least,--some say four." + +"And Eulalia is such a lovely, gentle girl!" rejoined Mrs. Fitzgerald. +"I'm very fond of her, and she seems fond of me; though of course +that's on account of my handsome son." + +"Yes, she's a lovely girl," replied the old gentleman; "and Gerald +will be a lucky dog if he wins her. But her beauty isn't to be +compared to her mother's. If I were Emperor of France, and she were a +widow, I know who would have a chance to become Empress." + +But though Mrs. King lived in such an atmosphere of love, and was +the object of so much admiration, with ample means for indulging her +benevolence and her tastes, she was evidently far from being happy. +Flora observed it, and often queried with her husband what could be +the reason. One day she spoke to Mr. King of the entire absence of +gayety in her sister, and he said he feared young Mr. Fitzgerald +painfully reminded her of her lost son. + +Flora reflected upon this answer without being satisfied with it. "It +doesn't seem natural," said she to her husband. "She parted from that +baby when he was but a few weeks old, and he has been dead nearly +twenty years. She has Eulalia to love, and a noble husband, who +worships the very ground she treads on. It don't seem natural. I +wonder whether she has a cancer or some other secret disease." + +She redoubled her tenderness, and exerted all her powers of mimicry to +amuse her sister. The young folks screamed with laughter to see her +perform the shuffling dances of the negroes, or to hear her accompany +their singing with imitations of the growling contra-fagotto, or the +squeaking fife. In vain she filled the room with mocking-birds, or +showed off the accomplishments of the parrot, or dressed herself in a +cap with a great shaking bow, like Madame Guirlande's, or scolded in +vociferous Italian, like Signor Pimentero. The utmost these efforts +could elicit from her sister was a faint, vanishing smile. + +Mr. King noticed all this, and was pained to observe that his wife's +sadness increased daily. He would not himself have chosen young +Fitzgerald as a suitor for his daughter, fearing he might resemble his +father in character as he did in person; but he was willing to promote +their acquaintance, because the young man seemed to be a favorite with +his lady, and he thought that as a son-in-law he might supply the loss +of her first-born. But, in their rides and other excursions, he was +surprised to observe that Mrs. King assiduously tried to withdraw +Mr. Fitzgerald from her daughter, and attach him to herself. Her +attentions generally proved too flattering to be resisted; but if +the young man, yielding to attractions more suited to his age, soon +returned to Eulalia, there was an unmistakable expression of pain on +her mother's face. Mr. King was puzzled and pained by this conduct. +Entire confidence had hitherto existed between them. Why had she +become so reserved? Was the fire of first-love still smouldering in +her soul, and did a delicate consideration for him lead her to conceal +it? He could not believe it, she had so often repeated that to love +the unworthy was a thing impossible for her. Sometimes another thought +crossed his mind and gave him exquisite torture, though he repelled it +instantly: "Could it possibly be that his modest and dignified wife +was in love with this stripling, who was of an age suitable for her +daughter?" Whatever this mysterious cloud might be that cast its cold +shadow across the sunshine of his home, he felt that he could not +endure its presence. He resolved to seek an explanation with his +wife, and to propose an immediate return to Europe, if either of his +conjectures should prove true. Returning from a solitary walk, during +which these ideas had been revolving in his mind, he found her in +their chamber kneeling by the bedside, sobbing violently. With the +utmost tenderness he inquired what had grieved her. + +She answered with a wild exclamation, "O Alfred, this _must_ be +stopped!" + +"_What_ must be stopped, my dear?" said he. + +"Gerald Fitzgerald _must_ not court our daughter," she replied. + +"I thought it would please you, dearest," rejoined he. "The young +man has always seemed to be a favorite of yours. I should not have +selected him for our Eulalia, for fear the qualities of his father +might develop themselves in him; but you must remember that he has not +been educated among slaves. I think we can trust to that to make a +great difference in his character." + +She groaned aloud, and sobbed out: "It _must_ be stopped. It will kill +me." + +He sat down by her side, took her hand, and said very gravely: "Rosa, +you have often told me I was your best friend. Why then do you not +confide to me what it is that troubles you?" + +"O, I cannot! I cannot!" she exclaimed. "I am a guilty wretch." And +there came a fresh outburst of sobs, which she stifled by keeping her +face hidden in the bedclothes. + +"Rosa," said he, still more gravely, "you _must_ tell me the meaning +of this strange conduct. If an unworthy passion has taken possession +of you, it is your duty to try to conquer it for your own sake, for my +sake, for our daughter's sake. If you will confide in me, I will not +judge you harshly. I will return to Europe with you, and help you to +cure yourself. Tell me frankly, Rosa, do you love this young man?" + +She looked up suddenly, and, seeing the extreme sadness of his face, +she exclaimed: "O Alfred, if you have thought _that_, I _must_ tell +you all. I do love Gerald; but it is because he is my own son." + +"Your son!" he exclaimed, springing up, with the feeling that a great +load was lifted from his heart. He raised her to his bosom, and kissed +her tearful face again and again. The relief was so sudden, that for +an instant he forgot the strangeness of her declaration. But coming +to his senses immediately, he inquired, "How can it be that your son +passes for Mrs. Fitzgerald's son? And if it be so, why did you not +tell me of it?" + +"I ought to have told you when I consented to marry you," she replied. +"But your protecting love was so precious to me, that I had not the +courage to tell you anything that would diminish your esteem for me. +Forgive me, dearest. It is the only wrong I have ever done you. But I +will tell you all now; and if it changes your love for me, I must try +to bear it, as a just punishment for the wrong I have done. You know +how Mr. Fitzgerald deserted me, and how I was stricken down when I +discovered that I was his slave. My soul almost parted from my body +during the long illness that followed. When I came to my senses, I +humbled myself to entreat Mr. Fitzgerald to emancipate me, for the +sake of our unborn child. He promised to do it, but he did not. I +was a mere wreck when my babe was born, and I had the feeling that I +should soon die. I loved the helpless little thing; and every time I +looked at him, it gave me a pang to think that he was born a slave. I +sent again and again for papers of manumission, but they never came. +I don't know whether it was mere negligence on the part of Mr. +Fitzgerald, or whether he meant to punish me for my coldness toward +him after I discovered how he had deceived me. I was weak in body, and +much humbled in spirit, after that long illness. I felt no resentment +toward him. I forgave him, and pitied his young wife. The only thing +that bound me to life was my child. I wanted to recover my strength, +that I might carry him to some part of the world where slavery could +not reach him. I was in that state, when Madame sent Mr. Duroy to tell +me Mr. Fitzgerald was in debt, and had sold me to that odious Mr. +Bruteman, whom he had always represented to me as the filthiest soul +alive. I think that incredible cruelty and that horrible danger made +me insane. My soul was in a terrible tempest of hatred and revenge. If +Mr. Fitzgerald had appeared before me, I should have stabbed him. I +never had such feelings before nor since. Unfortunately Chloe had come +to the cottage that day, with Mrs. Fitzgerald's babe, and he was lying +asleep by the side of mine. I had wild thoughts of killing both the +babies, and then killing myself. I had actually risen in search of a +weapon, but I heard my faithful Tulee coming to look upon me, to see +that all was well, and I lay down again and pretended to be asleep. +While I waited for her to cease watching over me, that frightful mood +passed away. Thank God, I was saved from committing such horrible +deeds. But I was still half frantic with misery and fear. A wild, dark +storm was raging in my soul. I looked at the two babes, and thought +how one was born to be indulged and honored, while the other was born +a slave, liable to be sold by his unfeeling father or by his father's +creditors. Mine was only a week the oldest, and was no larger than his +brother. They were so exactly alike that I could distinguish them only +by their dress. I exchanged the dresses, Alfred; and while I did it, +I laughed to think that, if Mr. Fitzgerald should capture me and the +little one, and make us over to Mr. Bruteman, he would sell the child +of his Lily Bell. It was not like me to have such feelings. I hope I +was insane. Do you think I was?" + +He pressed her to his heart as he replied, "You surely had suffering +enough to drive you wild, dearest; and I do suppose your reason was +unsettled by intensity of anguish." + +She looked at him anxiously, as she asked, "Then it does not make you +love me less?" + +"No, darling," he replied; "for I am sure it was not my own gentle +Rosa who had such feelings." + +"O, how I thank you, dear one, for judging me so charitably," said +she. "I hope it was temporary insanity; and always when I think it +over, it seems to me it must have been. I fell asleep smiling over the +revenge I had taken, and I slept long and heavily. When I woke, my +first wish was to change the dresses back again; but Chloe had gone +to the plantation with my babe, and Mr. Duroy hurried me on board the +boat before sunrise. I told no one what I had done; but it filled me +with remorse then, and has troubled me ever since. I resolved to atone +for it, as far as I could, by taking the tenderest care of the little +changeling, and trying to educate him as well as his own mother could +have done. It was that which gave me strength to work so hard for +musical distinction; and that motive stimulated me to appear as an +opera-singer, though the publicity was distasteful to me. When I +heard that the poor little creature was dead, I was tormented with +self-reproach, and I was all the more unhappy because I could tell no +one of my trouble. Then you came to console and strengthen me with +your blessed love, and I grew cheerful again. If the changeling had +been living at the time you asked me to marry you, I should have told +you all; but the poor little creature was dead, and there seemed to +be no necessity of confessing the wrong I had done. It was a selfish +feeling. I couldn't bear the thought of diminishing the love that +was so precious to my wounded heart. I have now told you all, dear +husband." + +"Your excuse for concealment is very precious to my own heart," he +replied. "But I regret you did not tell me while we were in Europe; +for then I would not have returned to the United States till I was +quite sure all obstacles were removed. You know I never formed the +project until I knew Mr. Fitzgerald was dead." + +"The American gentleman who informed you of his death led me into a +mistake, which has proved disastrous," rejoined she. "He said that +Mrs. Fitzgerald lost her husband and son about the same time. I was +not aware of the existence of a second son, and therefore I supposed +that my first-born had died. I knew that you wanted to spend your old +age in your native country, and that you were particularly desirous to +have Eulalia marry in New England. The dread I had of meeting my child +as the son of another, and seeming to him a stranger, was removed by +his death; and though I shed tears in secret, a load was lifted from +my heart. But the old story of avenging Furies following the criminal +wheresoever he goes seems verified in my case. On the day of Mrs. +Green's ball, I heard two gentlemen in the Revere House talking about +Mr. Bell; and one of them said to the other that Mrs. Fitzgerald's +second son and her daughter had died, and that her oldest son was sole +heir to Mr. Bell's property. My first impulse was to tell you all; +but because I had so long concealed my fault, it was all the more +difficult to confess it then. You had so generously overlooked many +disagreeable circumstances connected with my history, that I found +it extremely painful to add this miserable entanglement to the list. +Still, I foresaw that it must be done, and I resolved to do it; but I +was cowardly, and wanted to put off the evil day. You may remember, +perhaps, that at the last moment I objected to attending that ball; +but you thought it would be rude to disappoint Mrs. Green, merely +because I felt out of spirits. I went, not dreaming of seeing my son +there. I had not looked upon him since the little black, silky head +drooped on my arm while I exchanged the dresses. You may partly +imagine what I suffered. And now he and Eulalia are getting in love +with each other; and I know not what is to be done. When you came in, +I was praying for strength to seek your counsel. What _can_ we do, +dear? It will be a great disappointment for you to return to Europe, +now that you have refitted your father's house, and made all your +arrangements to spend the remainder of our days here." + +"I would do it willingly," he replied, "if I thought it would avail +to separate Gerald and Eulalia. But a voyage to Europe is nothing +now-a-days, to people of their property. I believe he loves the +dear girl; and if he did not, my reputed millions would prevent his +grandfather and his mother from allowing him to lose sight of her. If +we were to build a castle on the top of Mount Himalaya, they would +scale it, you may depend. I see no other remedy than to tell Gerald +that Eulalia is his sister." + +"O, I cannot tell him!" exclaimed she. "It would be so dreadful to +have my son hate me! And he _would_ hate me; for I can see that he is +very proud." + +In very kind and serious tones he replied: "You know, dear Rosa, that +you expressed a wish the other day to go to the Catholic church in +which your mother worshipped, because you thought confession and +penance would be a comfort. You have wisely chosen me for your +confessor, and if I recommend penance I trust you will think it best +to follow my advice. I see how difficult it would be to tell all your +own and your mother's story to so young a man as Gerald, and he your +own son. I will tell him; and I need not assure you that you will have +a loving advocate to plead your cause with him. But his mother must +know why he relinquishes Eulalia, when he has had so much reason to +think himself in favor both with her and her parents. Gerald might +tell her the mere external facts; but she could appreciate and +understand them much better if told, as they would be told, by a +delicate and loving woman, who had suffered the wrongs that drove her +to madness, and who repented bitterly of the fault she had committed. +I think you ought to make a full confession to Mrs. Fitzgerald; and +having done that, we ought to do whatever she chooses to prescribe." + +"It will be a severe penance," she rejoined; "but I will do whatever +you think is right. If I could have all the suffering, I would not +murmur. But Gerald will suffer and Eulalia will suffer. And for some +weeks I have made you unhappy. How sad you look, dear." + +"I am a very happy man, Rosa, compared with what I was before you told +me this strange story. But I am very serious, because I want to be +sure of doing what is right in these difficult premises. As for Gerald +and Eulalia, their acquaintance has been very short, and I don't think +they have spoken of love to each other. Their extreme youth is also +a favorable circumstance. Rochefoucault says, 'Absence extinguishes +small passions, and increases great ones.' My own experience proved +the truth of one part of the maxim; but perhaps Gerald is of a more +volatile temperament, and will realize the other portion." + +"And do you still love me as well as you ever did?" she asked. + +He folded her more closely as he whispered, "I do, darling." And for +some minutes she wept in silence on his generous breast. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + +That evening young Fitzgerald was closeted two or three hours with +Mr. King. Though the disclosure was made with the utmost delicacy and +caution, the young man was startled and shocked; for he inherited +pride from both his parents, and he had been educated in the +prejudices of his grandfather. At first he flushed with indignation, +and refused to believe he was so disgraced. + +"I don't see that you are disgraced, my young friend," replied Mr. +King. "The world might indeed so misjudge, because it is accustomed +to look only on externals; but there is no need that the world should +know anything about it. And as for your own estimate of yourself, you +were Mr. Fitzgerald the gentleman before you knew this singular story, +and you are Mr. Fitzgerald the gentleman still." + +"I am not so much of a philosopher," rejoined the young man. "I shall +not find it easy to endure the double stain of illegitimacy and +alliance with the colored race." + +Mr. King regarded him with a friendly smile, as he answered: "Perhaps +this experience, which you find so disagreeable, may educate you to +more wisdom than the schools have done. It may teach you the great +lesson of looking beneath the surface into the reality of things, my +son. Legally you are illegitimate; but morally you are not so. Your +mother believed herself married to your father, and through all the +vicissitudes of her life she has proved herself a modest, pure, and +noble woman. During twenty years of intimate acquaintance, I have +never known her to indulge an unworthy thought, or do a dishonorable +action, except that of substituting you for Mr. Fitzgerald's legal +heir. And if I have at all succeeded in impressing upon your mind the +frantic agony of her soul, desolate and shockingly abused as she +was, I think you will agree with me in considering that an excusable +offence; especially as she would have repaired the wrong a few hours +later, if it had been in her power. With regard to an alliance with +the colored race, I think it would be a more legitimate source +of pride to have descended from that truly great man, Toussaint +L'Ouverture, who was a full-blooded African, than from that +unprincipled filibuster called William the Conqueror, or from any +of his band of robbers, who transmitted titles of nobility to their +posterity. That is the way I have learned to read history, my young +friend, in the plain sunlight of truth, unchanged by looking at it +through the deceptive colored glasses of conventional prejudice. Only +yesterday you would have felt honored to claim my highly accomplished +and noble-minded wife as a near relative. She is as highly +accomplished and noble-minded a lady to-day as she was yesterday. The +only difference is, that to-day you are aware her grandmother had a +dark complexion. No human being can be really stained by anything +apart from his own character; but if there were any blot resting upon +you, it would come from your father. We should remember, however, +that He who made man can alone justly estimate man's temptations. For +myself, I believe that Mr. Fitzgerald's sins were largely attributable +to the system of slavery under which he had the misfortune to be +educated. He loved pleasure, he was rich, and he had irresponsible +power over many of his fellow-beings, whom law and public opinion +alike deprived of protection. Without judging him harshly, let his +career be a warning to you to resist the first enticements to evil; +and, as one means of doing so, let me advise you never to place +yourself in that state of society which had such a malign influence +upon him." + +"Give me time to think," rejoined the young man. "This has come upon +me so suddenly that I feel stunned." + +"That I can easily imagine," replied his friend. "But I wish you to +understand distinctly, that it depends entirely upon Mrs. Fitzgerald +and yourself to decide what is to be done in relation to this +perplexing affair. We are ready to do anything you wish, or to take +any position you prescribe for us. You may prefer to pass in society +merely as my young friend, but you are my step-son, you know; and +should you at any time of your life need my services, you may rely +upon me as an affectionate father." + +That word brought cherished hopes to Gerald's mind, and he sighed as +he answered, "I thank you." + +"Whatever outward inconveniences may arise from this state of things," +resumed Mr. King, "we prefer to have them fall upon ourselves. It +is of course desirable that you and my daughter should not meet at +present. Your vacation has nearly expired, and perhaps you will deem +it prudent to return a little sooner than you intended. We shall +remain here till late in the autumn; and then, if circumstances render +it necessary, we will remove Eulalia to Cuba, or elsewhere, for the +winter. Try to bear this disappointment bravely, my son. As soon as +you feel sufficiently calm, I would advise you to seek an interview +with your mother. Her heart yearns for you, and the longer your +meeting is deferred, the more embarrassing it will be." + +While this conversation was going on in the parlor, the two mothers +of the young man were talking confidentially up stairs. The intense +curiosity which Mrs. Fitzgerald had formerly felt was at once renewed +when Mrs. King said, "Do you remember having heard any one singing +about the house and garden at Magnolia Lawn, the first evening you +spent there?" + +"Indeed I do," she replied; "and when I first heard you in Rome, I +repeatedly said your voice was precisely like that singer's." + +"You might well be reminded of it," responded Mrs. King, "for I was +the person you heard at Magnolia Lawn, and these are the eyes that +peeped at you through the lattice of the veranda." + +"But why were you there? And why did you keep yourself invisible?" +inquired Mrs. Fitzgerald. + +Rosa hesitated a moment, embarrassed how to choose words to convey the +unwelcome facts. "My dear lady," said she, "we have both had very sad +experiences. On my side, they have been healed by time; and I trust +it is the same with you. Will it pain you too much to hear something +disparaging to the memory of your deceased husband?" + +Mrs. Fitzgerald colored very deeply, and remained silent. + +"Nothing but an imperious necessity would induce me to say what I +am about to say," continued Mrs. King; "not only because I am +very reluctant to wound your feelings, but because the recital is +humiliating and painful to myself. When I peeped at you in your bridal +attire, I believed myself to be Mr. Fitzgerald's wife. Our marriage +had been kept strictly private, he always assuring me that it was only +for a time. But you need not look so alarmed. I was not his wife. I +learned the next morning that I had been deceived by a sham ceremony. +And even if it had been genuine, the marriage would not have been +valid by the laws of Louisiana, where it was performed; though I did +not know that fact at the time. No marriage with a slave is valid in +that State. My mother was a quadroon slave, and by the law that 'a +child follows the condition of the mother,' I also became a slave." + +"_You_ a slave!" exclaimed Mrs. Fitzgerald, with unfeigned +astonishment. "That is incredible. That goes beyond any of the stories +Abolitionists make up to keep the country in agitation." + +"Judging by my own experience," rejoined Mrs. King, "I should say that +the most fertile imagination could invent nothing more strange and +romantic than many of the incidents which grow out of slavery." + +She then went on to repeat her story in detail; not accusing Mr. +Fitzgerald more than was absolutely necessary to explain the agonized +and frantic state of mind in which she had changed the children. Mrs. +Fitzgerald listened with increasing agitation as she went on; and when +it came to that avowal, she burst out with the passionate exclamation: +"Then Gerald is not my son! And I love him so!" + +Mrs. King took her hand and pressed it gently as she said: "You can +love him still, dear lady, and he will love you. Doubtless you will +always seem to him like his own mother. If he takes an aversion to me, +it will give me acute pain; but I shall try to bear it meekly, as a +part of the punishment my fault deserves." + +"If you don't intend to take him from me, what was the use of telling +me this dreadful story?" impatiently asked Mrs. Fitzgerald. + +"I felt compelled to do it on Eulalia's account," responded Mrs. King. + +"Ah, yes!" sighed the lady. "How disappointed he will be, poor +fellow!" After a brief pause, she added, vehemently: "But whatever you +may say, he is _my_ son. I never will give him up. He has slept in my +arms. I have sung him to sleep. I taught him all his little hymns and +songs. He loves me; and I will never consent to take a second place in +his affections." + +"You shall not be asked to do so, dear lady," meekly replied Mrs. +King. "I will, as in duty bound, take any place you choose to assign +me." + +Somewhat disarmed by this humility, Mrs. Fitzgerald said, in a +softened tone: "I pity you, Mrs. King. You have had a great deal of +trouble, and this is a very trying situation you are in. But it would +break my heart to give up Gerald. And then you must see, of course, +what an embarrassing position it would place me in before the world." + +"I see no reason why the world should know anything about it," +rejoined Mrs. King. "For Gerald's sake, as well as our own, it is very +desirable that the secret should be kept between ourselves." + +"You may safely trust my pride for that," she replied. + +"Do you think your father ought to be included in our confidence," +inquired Mrs. King. + +"No indeed," she replied, hastily. "He never can bear to hear my poor +husband mentioned. Besides, he has had the gout a good deal lately, +and is more irritable than usual." + +As she rose to go, Mrs. King said: "Then, with the exception of +Eulalia, everything remains outwardly as it was. Can you forgive me? +I do believe I was insane with misery; and you don't know how I have +been haunted with remorse." + +"You must have suffered terribly," rejoined Mrs. Fitzgerald, evading +a direct answer to the question. "But we had better not talk any more +about it now. I am bewildered, and don't know what to think. Only one +thing is fixed in my mind: Gerald is _my_ son." + +They parted politely, but with coldness on Mrs. Fitzgerald's side. +There had arisen in her mind a double dislike toward Mrs. King, as the +first love of her husband, and as the mother of the elegant young man +who was to her an object of pride as well as fondness. But her chagrin +was not without compensation. Mrs. King's superior wealth and beauty +had been felt by her as somewhat overshadowing; and the mortifying +circumstances she had now discovered in her history seemed, in her +imagination, to bring her down below a level with herself. She +and Gerald sat up late into the night, talking over this strange +disclosure. She was rather jealous of the compassion he expressed for +Mrs. King, and of his admiration for her manners and character; though +they mutually declared, again and again, that they could realize no +change whatever in their relation to each other. + +The wise words of Mr. King had not been without their effect on +Gerald. The tumult of emotions gradually subsided; and he began to +realize that these external accidents made no essential change in +himself. The next morning he requested an interview with Mrs. +King, and was received alone. When he entered, she cast upon him a +hesitating, beseeching look; but when he said, "My mother!" she flew +into his arms, and wept upon his neck. + +"Then you do not hate me?" she said, in a voice choked with emotion, +"You are not ashamed to call me mother?" + +"It was only yesterday," he replied, "that I thought with pride and +joy of the possibility that I might some day call you by that dear +name. If I had heard these particulars without knowing you, they might +have repelled me. But I have admired you from the first moment; I have +lately been learning to love you; and I am familiar with the thought +of being your son." + +She raised her expressive eyes to his with such a look of love, that +he could not refrain from giving her a filial kiss and pressing +her warmly to his heart. "I was so afraid you would regard me with +dislike," said she. "You can understand now why it made me so faint +to think of singing '_M'odi! Ah, m'odi_!' with you at Mrs. Green's +party. How could I have borne your tones of anguish when you +discovered that you were connected with the Borgias? And how could I +have helped falling on your neck when you sang '_Madre mia_'? But I +must not forget that the mother who tended your childhood has the best +claim to your affection," she added mournfully. + +"I love her, and always shall love her. It cannot be otherwise," +rejoined he. "It has been the pleasant habit of so many years. But +ought I not to consider myself a lucky fellow to have two such +mothers? I don't know how I am to distinguish you. I must call you +Rose-mother and Lily-mother, I believe." + +She smiled as he spoke, and she said, "Then it has not made you so +_very_ unhappy to know that you are my son?" + +His countenance changed as he replied: "My only unhappiness is the +loss of Eulalia. That disappointment I must bear as I can." + +"You are both very young," rejoined she; "and perhaps you may see +another--" + +"I don't want to hear about that now," he exclaimed impetuously, +moving hastily toward the window, against which he leaned for a +moment. When he turned, he saw that his mother was weeping; and +he stooped to kiss her forehead, with tender apologies for his +abruptness. + +"Thank God," she said, "for these brief moments of happiness with my +son." + +"Yes, they must be brief," he replied. "I must go away and stay away. +But I shall always think of you with affection, and cherish the +deepest sympathy for your wrongs and sufferings." + +Again she folded him in her arms, and they kissed and blessed each +other at parting. She gazed after him wistfully till he was out of +sight. "Alas!" murmured she, "he cannot be a son to me, and I cannot +be a mother to him." She recalled the lonely, sad hours when she +embroidered his baby clothes, with none but Tulee to sympathize with +her. She remembered how the little black silky head looked as she +first fondled him on her arm; and the tears began to flow like rain. +But she roused in a few moments, saying to herself: "This is all wrong +and selfish. I ought to be glad that he loves his Lily-mother, that he +can live with her, and that her heart will not be made desolate by my +fault. O Father of mercies! this is hard to bear. Help me to bear it +as I ought!" She bowed her head in silence for a while; then, rising +up, she said: "Have I not my lovely Eulalia? Poor child! I must be +very tender with her in this trial of her young heart." + +She saw there was need to be very tender, when a farewell card was +sent the next day, with a bouquet of delicate flowers from Gerald +Fitzgerald. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + +The next morning after these conversations, Mrs. Blumenthal, who was +as yet unconscious of the secret they had revealed, was singing in the +garden, while she gathered some flowers for her vases. Mr. Bright, who +was cutting up weeds, stopped and listened, keeping time on the handle +of his hoe. When Flora came up to him, she glanced at the motion of +his fingers and smiled. "Can't help it, ma'am," said he. "When I hear +your voice, it's as much as ever I can do to keep from dancing; but if +I should do that, I should shock my neighbor the Deacon. Did you +see the stage stop there, last night? They've got visitors from +Carolina,--his daughter, and her husband and children. I reckon I +stirred him up yesterday. He came to my shop to pay for some shoeing +he'd had done. So I invited him to attend our anti-slavery meeting +to-morrow evening. He took it as an insult, and said he didn't need to +be instructed by such sort of men as spoke at our meetings. 'I know +some of us are what they call mudsills down South,' said I; 'but it +might do you good to go and hear 'em, Deacon. When a man's lamp's out, +it's better to light it by the kitchen fire than to go blundering +about in the dark, hitting himself against everything.' He said we +should find it very convenient if we had slaves here; for Northern +women were mere beasts of burden. I told him that was better than to +be beasts of prey. I thought afterward I wasn't very polite. I don't +mean to go headlong against other folks' prejudices; but the fact is, +a man never knows with what impetus he _is_ going till he comes up +against a post. I like to see a man firm as a rock in his opinions. I +have a sort of a respect for a _rock_, even if it _is_ a little mossy. +But when I come across a _post_, I like to give it a shaking, to find +out whether it's rotten at the foundation. As to things in general, I +calculate to be an obliging neighbor; but I shall keep a lookout on +these Carolina folks. If they've brought any blacks with 'em, I shall +let 'em know what the laws of Massachusetts are; and then they may +take their freedom or not, just as they choose." + +"That's right," replied Mrs. Blumenthal; "and when you and the Deacon +have another encounter, I hope I shall be near enough to hear it." + +As she walked away, tying up her bouquet with a spear of striped +grass, she heard him whistling the tune she had been singing. When she +returned to the parlor, she seated herself near the open window, with +a handkerchief, on which she was embroidering Mrs. Delano's initials. +Mr. Bright's remarks had somewhat excited her curiosity, and from +time to time she glanced toward Deacon Stillham's grounds. A hawthorn +hedge, neatly clipped, separated the two gardens; but here and there +the foliage had died away and left small open spaces. All at once, a +pretty little curly head appeared at one of these leafy lunettes, and +an infantile voice called out, "You're a Bob-o-lith-o-nitht!" + +"Do come here, Mamita Lila, and see this little darling," said Flora, +laughing. + +For a moment she was invisible. Then the cherub face came peeping out +again; and this time the little mouth was laughing, when it repeated, +"You're a Bob-o-lith-o-nitht." + +"Isn't it amusing to hear such an infant trying to abuse us with a +big mouthful of a word, to which she attaches no meaning?" said Mrs. +Delano. + +Flora beckoned with her hand, and called out, "Come in and see the +Bobolithonithts, darling." The little creature laughed and ran away. +At that moment, a bright turban was seen moving along above the +bushes. Then a black face became visible. Flora sprang up with a quick +cry, and rushed out of the room, upsetting her basket, and leaving +balls and thimble rolling about the floor. Placing her foot on a +stump, she leaped over the hedge like an opera-dancer, and the next +moment she had the negro woman in her arms, exclaiming: "Bless you, +Tulee! You _are_ alive, after all!" + +The black woman was startled and bewildered for an instant; then she +held her off at arm's length, and looked at her with astonishment, +saying: "Bless the Lord! Is it you, Missy Flory? or is it a sperit? +Well now, _is_ it you, little one?" + +"Yes, Tulee; it is I," she replied. "The same Missy Flory that used to +plague your life out with her tricks." + +The colored woman hugged and kissed, and hugged and kissed, and +laughed and cried; ever and anon exclaiming, "Bless the Lord!" + +Meanwhile, the playful cherub was peeping at Joe Bright through +another hole in the hedge, all unconscious how pretty her little fair +face looked in its frame of green leaves, but delighted with her own +sauciness, as she repeated, "You're a Bob-o-lith-o-nitht! you're a +Bob-o-lith-o-nitht!" When he tried to kiss her, she scampered away, +but soon reappeared again to renew the fun. + +While this by-play was going on, a white servant came through the +Deacon's grounds, and said to Tulee, "Mrs. Robbem wants you to come to +her immediately, and bring Laura." + +"I must go now, darling," said Tulee, clasping Flora's hand with a +warm pressure. + +"Come again quickly," said Flora. + +"As soon as I can," she replied, and hurried away with her little +charge. + +When Mr. Bright offered his hand to help Mrs. Blumenthal over the +hedge, he burst into a hearty laugh. "Wasn't it funny," said he, "to +hear that baby calling us Bob-o-lith-o-nithts? They begin education +early down South. Before the summer is out she'll be talking about the +cuth o' Ham, and telling the story of Onethimuth. But they've found a +mare's nest now, Mrs. Blumenthal. The Deacon will be writing to his +Carolina friends how the Massachusetts ladies hug and kiss niggers." + +Flora smiled as she answered: "I suppose it must seem strange to them, +Mr. Bright. But the fact is, that black woman tended me when I was a +child; and I haven't seen her for twenty years." + +As soon as she entered the house, she explained the scene to Mrs. +Delano, and then said to her daughter: "Now, Rosen Blumen, you may +leave your drawing and go to Aunt Rosa, and tell her I want to see her +for something special, and she must come as soon as possible. Don't +tell her anything more. You may stay and spend the day with Eulalia, +if you like." + +"How many mysteries and surprises we have," observed Mrs. Delano. "A +dozen novels might be made out of your adventures." + +The hasty summons found Mrs. King still melancholy with the thought +that her newly found son could be no more to her than a shadow. Glad +to have her thoughts turned in another direction, she sent Rosen +Blumen to her cousin, and immediately prepared to join her sister. +Flora, who was watching for her, ran out to the gate to meet her, +and before she entered the house announced that Tulee was alive. The +little that was known was soon communicated, and they watched with the +greatest anxiety for the reappearance of Tulee. But the bright turban +was seen no more during the forenoon; and throughout the afternoon no +one but the Deacon and his gardener were visible about the grounds. +The hours of waiting were spent by the sisters and Mrs. Delano in a +full explanation of the secret history of Gerald Fitzgerald, and Mrs. +King's consequent depression of spirits. The evening wore away without +any tidings from Tulee. Between nine and ten o'clock they heard the +voice of the Deacon loud in prayer. Joe Bright, who was passing the +open window, stopped to say: "He means his neighbors shall hear him, +anyhow. I reckon he thinks it's a good investment for character. He's +a cute manager, the Deacon is; and a quickster, too, according to his +own account; for he told me when he made up his mind to have religion, +he wasn't half an hour about it. I'd a mind to tell him I should think +slave-trading religion was a job done by contract, knocked up in a +hurry." + +"Mr. Bright," said Flora, in a low voice, "if you see that colored +woman, I wish you would speak to her, and show her the way in." + +The sisters sat talking over their affairs with their husbands, in low +tones, listening anxiously meanwhile to every sound. Mr. and Mrs. King +were just saying they thought it was best to return home, when Mr. +Bright opened the door and Tulee walked in. Of course, there was a +general exclaiming and embracing. There was no need of introducing the +husbands, for Tulee remembered them both. As soon as she could take +breath, she said: "I've had _such_ a time to get here! I've been +trying all day, and I couldn't get a chance, they kept such watch of +me. At last, when they was all abed and asleep, I crept down stairs +softly, and come out of the back door, and locked it after me." + +"Come right up stairs with me," said Rosa. "I want to speak to you." +As soon as they were alone, she said, "Tulee, where is the baby?" + +"Don't know no more than the dead what's become of the poor little +picaninny," she replied. "After ye went away, Missy Duroy's cousin, +who was a sea-captain, brought his baby with a black nurse to board +there, because his wife had died. I remember how ye looked at me when +ye said, 'Take good care of the poor little baby.' And I did try to +take good care of him. I toted him about a bit out doors whenever I +could get a chance. One day, just as I was going back into the house, +a gentleman o'horseback turned and looked at me. I didn't think +anything about it then; but the next day, he come to the house, and he +said I was Mr. Royal's slave, and that Mr. Fitzgerald bought me. He +wanted to know where ye was; and when I told him ye'd gone over the +sea with Madame and the Signor, he cursed and swore, and said he'd +been cheated. When he went away, Missis Duroy said it was Mr. +Bruteman. I didn't think there was much to be 'fraid of, 'cause ye'd +got away safe, and I had free papers, and the picaninny was too small +to be sold. But I remembered ye was always anxious about his being a +slave, and I was a little uneasy. One day when the sea-captain came to +see his baby, he was marking an anchor on his own arm with a needle +and some sort of black stuff; and he said 't would never come out. I +thought if they should carry off yer picaninny, it would be more easy +to find him again if he was marked. I told the captain I had heard ye +call him Gerald; and he said he would mark G.F. on his arm. The poor +little thing worried in his sleep while he was doing it, and Missis +Duroy scolded at me for hurting him. The next week Massa Duroy was +taken with yellow-fever; and then Missis Duroy was taken, and then the +captain's baby and the black nurse. I was frighted, and tried to keep +the picaninny out doors all I could. One day, when I'd gone a bit from +the house, two men grabbed us and put us in a cart. When I screamed, +they beat me, and swore at me for a runaway nigger. When I said I was +free, they beat me more, and told me to shut up. They put us in the +calaboose; and when I told 'em the picaninny belonged to a white +lady, they laughed and said there was a great many white niggers. Mr. +Bruteman come to see us, and he said we was his niggers. When I showed +him my free paper, he said 't want good for anything, and tore it to +pieces. O Missy Rosy, that was a dreadful dark time. The jailer's wife +didn't seem so hard-hearted as the rest. I showed her the mark on the +picaninny's arm, and gave her one of the little shirts ye embroidered; +and I told her if they sold me away from him, a white lady would +send for him. They did sell me, Missy Rosy. Mr. Robbem, a Caroliny +slave-trader bought me, and he's my massa now. I don't know what they +did with the picaninny. I didn't know how to write, and I didn't know +where ye was. I was always hoping ye would come for me some time; and +at last I thought ye must be dead." + +"Poor Tulee," said Rosa. "They wrote that Mr. and Mrs. Duroy and the +black woman and the white baby all died of yellow-fever; and we didn't +know there was any other black woman there. I've sent to New Orleans, +and I've been there; and many a cry I've had, because we couldn't find +you. But your troubles are all over now. You shall come and live with +us." + +"But I'm Mr. Robbem's slave," replied Tulee. + +"No, you are not," answered Rosa. "You became free the moment they +brought you to Massachusetts." + +"Is it really so?" said Tulee, brightening up in look and tone. +Then, with a sudden sadness, she added: "I've got three chil'ren in +Carolina. They've sold two on 'em; but they've left me my little +Benny, eight years old. They wouldn't have brought me here, if they +hadn't known Benny would pull me back." + +"We'll buy your children," said Rosa. + +"Bless ye, Missy Rosy!" she exclaimed. "Ye's got the same kind heart +ye always had. How glad I am to see ye all so happy!" + +"O Tulee!" groaned Rosa, "I can never be happy till that poor little +baby is found. I've no doubt that wicked Bruteman sold him." She +covered her face with her hands, and the tears trickled through her +fingers. + +"The Lord comfort ye!" said Tulee, "I did all I could for yer poor +little picaninny." + +"I know you did, Tulee," she replied. "But I am _so_ sorry Madame +didn't take you with us! When she told me she had left you, I was +afraid something bad would happen; and I would have gone back for +you if I could. But it is too late to talk any more now. Mr. King is +waiting for me to go home. Why can't you go with us to-night?" + +"I must go back," rejoined Tulee. "I've got the key with me, and I +left the picaninny asleep in my bed. I'll come again to-morrow night, +if I can." + +"Don't say if you can, Tulee," replied Mrs. King. "Remember you are +not a slave here. You can walk away at mid-day, and tell them you are +going to live with us." + +"They'd lock me up and send me back to Caroliny, if I told 'em so," +said Tulee. "But I'll come, Missy Rosy." + +Rosa kissed the dark cheek she had so often kissed when they were +children together, and they parted for the night. + +The next day and the next night passed without a visit from Tulee. +Mr. and Mrs. Bright, who entered into the affair with the liveliest +interest, expressed the opinion that she had been spirited away and +sent South. The sisters began to entertain a similar fear; and it +was decided that their husbands should call with them the following +morning, to have a talk with Mr. and Mrs. Robbem. But not long after +breakfast, Tulee stole into the back door with the cherub in her arms. + +"O Missy Flory," said she, "I tried to get here last night. But Missis +Robbem takes a heap o' care o' me." She said this with a mischievous +smile. "When we was at the Astor House, she locked up my clothes in +her room, 'cause New York was such a dreadful wicked place, she was +'fraid they'd be stole; and she never let me out o' her sight, for +fear the colored waiters in the hotel would be impudent to me. Last +night she sent me away up into the cupola to sleep, 'cause she said I +could have more room there. And when I'd got the picaninny asleep, and +was watching for a chance to steal away, she come all the way up there +very softly, and said she'd brought me some hot drink, 'cause I didn't +seem to be well. Then she begun to advise me not to go near the next +house. She told me Abolitionists was very bad people; that they +pretended to be great friends to colored folks, but all they wanted +was to steal 'em and sell 'em to the West Indies. I told her I didn't +know nothing 'bout Abolitionists; that the lady I was hugging and +kissing was a New Orleans lady that I used to wait upon when we was +picaninnies. She said if you had the feelings Southern ladies ought to +have, you wouldn't be boarding with Abolitionists. When she went down +stairs I didn't dare to come here, for fear she'd come up again with +some more hot drink. This morning she told me to walk up street with +the picaninny; and she watched me till I was out o' sight. But I went +round and round and got over a fence, and come through Massa Bright's +barn." + +Mr. and Mrs. King came in as she was speaking; and she turned to them, +saying anxiously, "Do you think, Massa, if I don't go back with 'em, +they'll let me have my chil'ren?" + +"Don't call me Massa," replied Mr. King, "I dislike the sound of it. +Speak to me as other people do. I have no doubt we shall manage it so +that you will have your children. I will lead home this pretty little +Tot, and tell them you are going to stay with us." + +With bonbons and funny talk he gained the favor of Tot, so that she +consented to walk with him. Tulee often applied her apron to her eyes, +as she watched the little creature holding by his finger, and +stepping along in childish fashion, turning her toes inward. When she +disappeared through the Deacon's front door, she sat down and cried +outright. "I love that little picaninny," sobbed she. "I've tended her +ever since she was born; and I love her. She'll cry for Tulee. But I +does want to be free, and I does want to live with ye, Missy Rosy and +Missy Flory." + +Mrs. Robbem met Mr. King as soon as he entered her father's door, and +said in a tone of stern surprise, "Where is my servant, sir?" + +He bowed and answered, "If you will allow me to walk in for a few +moments, I will explain my errand." As soon as they were seated he +said: "I came to inform you that Tulee does not wish to go back to +Carolina; and that by the laws of Massachusetts she has a perfect +right to remain here." + +"She's an ungrateful wench!" exclaimed Mrs. Robbem. "She's always been +treated kindly, and she wouldn't have thought of taking such a step, +if she hadn't been put up to it by meddlesome Abolitionists, who are +always interfering with gentlemen's servants." + +"The simple fact is," rejoined Mr. King, "Tulee used to be the +playmate and attendant of my wife when both of them were children. +They lived together many years, and are strongly attached to each +other." + +"If your wife is a Southern lady," replied Mrs. Robbem, "she ought to +be above such a mean Yankee trick as stealing my servant from me." + +Her husband entered at that moment, and the visitor rose and bowed as +he said, "Mr. Robbem, I presume." + +He lowered his head somewhat stiffly in reply; and his wife hastened +to say, "The Abolitionists have been decoying Tulee away from us." + +Mr. King repeated the explanation he had already made. + +"I thought the wench had more feeling," replied Mr. Robbem. "She left +children in Carolina. But the fact is, niggers have no more feeling +for their young than so many pigs." + +"I judge differently," rejoined Mr. King; "and my principal motive for +calling was to speak to you about those children. I wish to purchase +them for Tulee." + +"She shall never have them, sir!" exclaimed the slave-trader, +fiercely. "And as for you Abolitionists, all I wish is that we had you +down South." + +"Differences of opinion must be allowed in a free country," replied +Mr. King. "I consider slavery a bad institution, injurious to the +South, and to the whole country. But I did not come here to discuss +that subject. I simply wish to make a plain business statement to you. +Tulee chooses to take her freedom, and any court in Massachusetts will +decide that she has a right to take it. But, out of gratitude for +services she has rendered my wife, I am willing to make you gratuitous +compensation, provided you will enable me to buy all her children. +Will you name your terms now, or shall I call again?". + +"She shall never have her children," repeated Mr. Robbem; "she has +nobody but herself and the Abolitionists to blame for it." + +"I will, however, call again, after you have thought of it more +calmly," said Mr. King. "Good morning, sir; good morning, madam." + +His salutations were silently returned with cold, stiff bows. + +A second and third attempt was made with no better success. Tulee grew +very uneasy. "They'll sell my Benny," said she. "Ye see they ain't got +any heart, 'cause they's used to selling picaninnies." + +"What, does this Mr. Robbem carry on the Deacon's old business?" +inquired Mr. Bright. + +"Yes, Massa," replied Tulee. "Two years ago, Massa Stillham come down +to Caroliny to spend the winter, and he was round in the slave-pen +as brisk as Massa Robbem, counting the niggers, and telling how many +dollars they ought to sell for. He had a dreadful bad fever while he +was down there, and I nursed him. He was out of his head half the +time, and he was calling out: 'Going! going! How much for this likely +nigger? Stop that wench's squalling for her brat! Carry the brat off!' +It was dreadful to hear him." + +"I suppose he calculated upon going to heaven if he died," rejoined +Mr. Bright; "and if he'd gone into the kingdom with such words in his +mouth, it would have been a heavenly song for the four-and-twenty +elders to accompany with their golden harps." + +"They'll sell my Benny," groaned Tulee; "and then I shall never see +him again." + +"I have no doubt Mr. King will obtain your children," replied Mr. +Bright; "and you should remember that, if you go back South, just as +likely as not they will sell him where you will never see him or hear +from him." + +"I know it, Massa, I know it," answered she. + +"I am not your master," rejoined he. "I allow no man to call me +master, and certainly not any woman; though I don't belong to the +chivalry." + +His prediction proved true. The Deacon and his son-in-law held +frequent consultations. "This Mr. King is rich as Croesus," said the +Deacon; "and if he thinks his wife owes a debt to Tulee, he'll be +willing to give a round sum for her children. I reckon you can make a +better bargain with him than you could in the New Orleans market." + +"Do you suppose he'd give five thousand dollars for the young +niggers?" inquired the trader. + +"Try him," said the Deacon. + +The final result was that the sum was deposited by Mr. King, to be +paid over whenever Tulee's children made their appearance; and in due +time they all arrived. Tulee was full of joy and gratitude; but Mr. +Bright always maintained it was a sin and a shame to pay slave-traders +so much for what never belonged to them. + +Of course there were endless questions to be asked and answered +between the sisters and their faithful servant; but all she could tell +threw no further light on the destiny of the little changeling whom +she supposed to be Rosa's own child. In the course of these private +conversations, it came out that she herself had suffered, as all women +must suffer, who have the feelings of human beings, and the treatment +of animals. But her own humble little episode of love and separation, +of sorrow and shame, was whispered only to Missy Rosy and Missy Flory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +The probability that the lost child was alive and in slavery was +a very serious complication of existing difficulties. Thinking it +prudent to prepare Gerald's mind for any contingencies that might +occur, Mr. King proceeded immediately to Boston to have a conference +with him. The young man received the news with unexpected composure. + +"It will annoy Lily-mother very much," said he, "and on that account +I regret it; but so far as I am myself concerned, it would in some +respects be a relief to me to get out of the false position in which I +find myself. Grandfather Bell has always grumbled about the expense I +have been to him in consequence of my father's loss of fortune, and of +course that adds to the unpleasantness of feeling that I am practising +a fraud upon him. He is just now peculiarly vexed with me for leaving +Northampton so suddenly. He considers it an unaccountable caprice of +mine, and reproaches me with letting Eulalia slip through my fingers, +as he expresses it. Of course, he has no idea how it cuts me. This +state of things is producing a great change in my views. My prevailing +wish now is to obtain an independent position by my own exertions, and +thus be free to become familiar with my new self. At present, I feel +as if there were two of me, and that one was an impostor." + +"I heartily approve of your wish to rely upon your own resources," +replied Mr. King; "and I will gladly assist you to accomplish it. I +have already said you should be to me as a son, and I stand by my +word; but I advise you, as I would an own son, to devote yourself +assiduously to some business, profession, or art. Never be a gentleman +of leisure. It is the worst possible calling a man can have. Nothing +but stagnation of faculties and weariness of soul comes of it. But we +will talk about _your_ plans hereafter. The urgent business of the +present moment is to obtain some clew to your missing brother. My +conscientious wife will suffer continual anxiety till he is found. I +must go to New Orleans and seek out Mr. Bruteman, to ascertain whether +he has sold him." + +"Bruteman!" exclaimed the young man, with sudden interest. "Was he the +one who seized that negro woman and the child?" + +"Yes," rejoined Mr. King. "But why does that excite your interest?" + +"I am almost ashamed to tell you," replied Gerald. "But you know I +was educated in the prejudices of my father and grandfather. It was +natural that I should be proud of being the son of a slaveholder, +that I should despise the colored race, and consider abolition a very +vulgar fanaticism. But the recent discovery that I was myself born a +slave has put me upon my thoughts, and made me a little uneasy about +a transaction in which I was concerned. The afternoon preceding Mrs. +Green's splendid ball, where I first saw my beautiful Rose-mother, two +fugitive slaves arrived here in one of grandfather's ships called 'The +King Cotton.' Mr. Bruteman telegraphed to grandfather about them, and +the next morning he sent me to tell Captain Kane to send the slaves +down to the islands in the harbor, and keep them under guard till a +vessel passed that would take them back to New Orleans. I did his +errand, without bestowing upon the subjects of it any more thought or +care than I should have done upon two bales of cotton. At parting, +Captain Kane said to me, 'By George, Mr. Fitzgerald, one of these +fellows looks so much like you, that, if you were a little tanned by +exposure to the sun, I shouldn't know you apart.' 'That's flattering,' +replied I, 'to be compared to a negro.' And I hurried away, being +impatient to make an early call upon your lady at the Revere House. I +don't suppose I should ever have thought of it again, if your present +conversation had not brought it to my mind." + +"Do you know whether Mr. Bruteman sold those slaves after they were +sent back?" inquired Mr. King. + +"There is one fact connected with the affair which I will tell you, +if you promise not to mention it," replied the young man. "The +Abolitionists annoyed grandfather a good deal about those runaways, +and he is nervously sensitive lest they should get hold of it, and +publish it in their papers." Having received the desired promise, he +went on to say: "Those slaves were mortgaged to grandfather, and he +sent orders to have them immediately sold. I presume Mr. Bruteman +managed the transaction, for they were his slaves; but I don't know +whether he reported the name of the purchaser. He died two months +ago, leaving his affairs a good deal involved; and I heard that some +distant connections in Mississippi were his heirs." + +"Where can I find Captain Kane?" inquired Mr. King. + +"He sailed for Calcutta a fortnight ago," rejoined Gerald. + +"Then there is no other resource but to go to New Orleans, as soon as +the weather will permit," was the reply. + +"I honor your zeal," said the young man. "I wish my own record was +clean on the subject. Since I have taken the case home to myself, +I have felt that it was mean and wrong to send back fugitives from +slavery; but it becomes painful, when I think of the possibility of +having helped to send back my own brother,--and one, too, whom I have +supplanted in his birthright." + + * * * * * + +When Mr. King returned to Northampton, the information he had obtained +sent a new pang to the heart of his wife. "Then he _is_ a slave!" she +exclaimed. "And while the poor fellow was being bound and sent back +to slavery, I was dancing and receiving homage. Verily the Furies do +pursue me. Do you think it is necessary to tell Mrs. Fitzgerald of +this?" + +"In a reverse of cases, I think you would feel that you ought to be +informed of everything," he replied. "But I will save you from that +portion of the pain. It was most fitting that a woman should make the +first part of the disclosure; but this new light on the subject can be +as well revealed by myself." + +"Always kind and considerate," she said. "This news will be peculiarly +annoying to her, and perhaps she will receive it better from you than +from me; for I can see that I have lost her favor. But you have taught +me that it is of more consequence to _deserve_ favor than to _have_ +it; and I shall do my utmost to deserve a kindly estimate from her." + +"I confess I am somewhat puzzled by this tangle," rejoined her +husband. "But where there is both the will and the means to repair a +wrong, it will be strange if a way cannot be found." + +"I would like to sell my diamonds, and all my other expensive +ornaments, to buy that young man," said she. + +"That you can do, if it will be any gratification to you," he replied; +"but the few thousands I have invested in jewels for you would go but +little way toward the full remuneration I intend to make, if he can be +found. We will send the young people out of the way this evening, and +lay the case before a family council of the elders. I should like to +consult Blumenthal. I have never known a man whose natural instincts +were so true as his; and his entire freedom from conventional +prejudices reminds me of my good father. I have great reliance also +on Mrs. Delano's delicate perceptions and quiet good sense. And our +lively little Flora, though she jumps to her conclusions, always jumps +in a straight line, and usually hits the point." + +As soon as the council was convened, and the subject introduced, Mrs. +Blumenthal exclaimed: "Why, Florimond, those slaves in 'The King +Cotton' were the ones you and Mr. Goldwin tried so hard to help them +find." + +"Yes," rejoined he; "I caught a hasty glimpse of one of the poor +fellows just as they were seizing him with the cry of 'Stop thief!' +and his Italian look reminded me so forcibly of the danger Flora was +once in, that I was extremely troubled about him after I heard he was +a slave. As I recall him to my mind, I do think he resembled young +Fitzgerald. Mr. Percival might perhaps throw some light on the +subject; for he was unwearied in his efforts to rescue those +fugitives. He already knows Flora's history." + +"I should like to have you go to Boston with me and introduce me to +him," said Mr. King. + +"That I will do," answered Blumenthal. "I think both Mr. Bell and +Mrs. Fitzgerald would prefer to have it all sink into unquestioned +oblivion; but that does not change our duty with regard to the poor +fellow." + +"Do you think they ought to be informed of the present circumstances?" +inquired Mr. King. + +"If I were in their position, I should think I ought to know all the +particulars," replied he; "and the golden rule is as good as it is +simple." + +"Mrs. Fitzgerald has great dread of her father's knowing anything +about it," responded Rosa; "and I have an earnest desire to spare her +pain as far as possible. It seems as if she had a right to judge in +the premises." + +Mrs. Delano took Mr. Blumenthal's view of the subject, and it was +decided to leave that point for further consideration. Flora suggested +that some difficulties might be removed by at once informing Eulalia +that Gerald was her brother. But Mrs. Delano answered: "Some +difficulties might be avoided for ourselves by that process; but the +good of the young people is a paramount consideration. You know none +of them are aware of all the antecedents in their family history, +and it seems to me best that they should not know them till their +characters are fully formed. I should have no objection to telling +them of their colored ancestry, if it did not involve a knowledge of +laws and customs and experiences growing out of slavery, which might, +at this early age, prove unsettling to their principles. Anything that +mystifies moral perceptions is not so easily removed from youthful +minds as breath is wiped from a mirror." + +"I have that feeling very deeply fixed with regard to our Eulalia," +observed Mr. King; "and I really see no need of agitating their +young, unconscious minds with subjects they are too inexperienced to +understand. I will have a talk with Mrs. Fitzgerald, and then proceed +to Boston." + +Mrs. Fitzgerald received the announcement with much less equanimity +than she had manifested on a former occasion. Though habitually +polite, she said very abruptly: "I was in hopes I should never be +troubled any more with this vulgar subject. Since Mrs. King saw fit to +change the children, let her take care of the one she has chosen. Of +course, it would be very disagreeable to me to have a son who had been +brought up among slaves. If I wished to make his acquaintance, I could +not do it without exciting a great deal of remark; and there has +already been too much talk about my husband's affairs. But I have no +wish to see him. I have educated a son to my own liking, and everybody +says he is an elegant young man. If you would cease from telling me +that there is a stain in his blood, I should never be reminded of it." + +"We thought it right to inform you of everything," rejoined Mr. King, +"and leave you to decide what was to be done." + +"Then, once for all," said she, "please leave Gerald and me in peace; +and do what you choose about the other one. We have had sufficient +annoyance already; and I never wish to hear the subject mentioned +again." + +"I accept your decision," replied Mr. King. "If the unfortunate young +man can be found, I will educate him and establish him in business, +and do the same for him in all respects that you would have done if he +had been your acknowledged heir." + +"And keep him at a distance from me," said the perturbed lady; "for +if he resembles Gerald so strongly, it would of course give rise to +unpleasant inquiries and remarks." + +The gentleman bowed, wished her good morning, and departed, thinking +what he had heard was a strange commentary on natural instincts. + +Mr. Percival was of course greatly surprised and excited when he +learned the relation which one of the fugitives in "The King Cotton" +bore to Mr. Bell. "We hear a good deal about poetical justice," said +he; "but one rarely sees it meted out in this world. The hardness of +the old merchant when Mr. Jackson and I called upon him was a thing to +be remembered. He indorsed, with warm approbation, the declaration +of the reverend gentleman who professed his willingness to send his +mother or brother into slavery, if the laws of the United States +required it." + +"If our friend Mr. Bright was with us, he would say the Lord took him +at his word," rejoined Mr. Blumenthal, smiling. + +An earnest discussion ensued concerning the possibilities of the case, +and several days were spent in active investigation. But all the +additional light obtained was from a sailor, who had been one of the +boat's crew that conveyed the fugitives to the islands in the harbor; +and all he could tell was that he heard them call each other George +and Henry. When he was shown a colored photograph, which Gerald had +just had taken for his Rose-mother, he at once said that was the one +named George. + +"This poor fellow must be rescued," said Mr. King, after they returned +from their unsatisfactory conference with the sailor. "Mr. Bell may +know who purchased him, and a conversation with him seems to be the +only alternative." + +"Judging by my own experience, your task is not to be envied," +rejoined Mr. Percival. "He will be in a tremendous rage. But perhaps +the lesson will do him good. I remember Francis Jackson said at the +time, that if his dark-complexioned grandson should be sent into +slavery, it might bring him to a realizing sense of the state of +things he was doing his utmost to encourage." + +The undertaking did indeed seem more formidable to Mr. King than +anything he had yet encountered; but true to his sense of duty he +resolved to go bravely through with it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + +The old merchant received Mr. King with marked politeness; for though +he suspected him of anti-slavery proclivities, and despised him for +that weakness, he had great respect for a man whose name was as good +as gold, and who was the father of such an eligible match as Eulalia. + +After some discursive conversation, Mr. King said, "I am desirous to +tell you a short story, if you will have patience to listen to it." + +"Certainly, sir," replied the old gentleman. + +His visitor accordingly began by telling of Mr. Royal's having formed +one of those quadroon alliances so common in New Orleans; of his +having died insolvent; and of his two handsome octoroon daughters +having been claimed as slaves by his creditors. + +"What the deuce do you suppose I care about his octoroon daughters?" +interrupted Mr. Bell, impatiently. "I wasn't one of his creditors." + +"Perhaps you will take some interest in it," rejoined Mr. King, +"when I tell you that the eldest of them was married to Mr. Gerald +Fitzgerald of Savannah, and that she is still living." + +"Do you mean the Mr. Fitzgerald who married my daughter Lily?" +inquired he. + +"I do mean him," was the response. + +"It's false," vociferated Mr. Bell, growing almost purple in the face. + +"No, sir, it is not false," replied Mr. King. "But you need not be so +much excited. The first marriage did not render the second illegal; +first, because a sham ceremony was performed to deceive the +inexperienced girl; and secondly, because, according to the laws of +the South, any marriage with a slave, however sanctified by religious +forms, is utterly void in law." + +"I consider such a law a very wise provision," replied the merchant. +"It is necessary to prevent the inferior race from being put on an +equality with their superiors. The negroes were made to be servants, +sir. _You_ may be an advocate for amalgamation, but I am not." + +"I would simply ask you to observe that the law you so much approve is +not a preventive of amalgamation. Mr. Fitzgerald married the daughter +of the quadroon. The only effect of the law was to deprive her of a +legal right to his support and protection, and to prevent her son from +receiving any share of his father's property. By another Southern law, +that 'the child shall follow the condition of the mother,' her son +became a slave." + +"Well, sir, what interest do you suppose I can take in all this?" +interrupted the merchant. "It's nothing to me, sir. The South is +competent to make her own laws." + +Mr. King begged his attention a little longer. He then proceeded to +tell how Mr. Fitzgerald had treated the octoroon, at the time of his +marriage with Miss Bell; that he had subsequently sold her to a very +base man, in payment of a debt; that she, terrified and bewildered +by the prospect of such a fate, had, in a moment of frantic revenge, +changed her babe for his daughter's; and that consequently the Gerald +he had been educating as his grandson was in fact the son of the +octoroon, and born a slave. + +"Really, sir," said Mr. Bell, with a satirical smile, "that story +might sell for something to a writer of sensation novels; but I +should hardly have expected to hear it from a sensible gentleman like +yourself. Pray, on whose testimony do you expect me to believe such an +improbable fiction?" + +"On that of the mother herself," replied Mr. King. + +With a very contemptuous curl of his lip, Mr. Bell answered: "And +you really suppose, do you, that I can be induced to disinherit my +grandson on the testimony of a colored woman? Not I, sir. Thank God, I +am not infected with this negro mania." + +"But you have not asked who the woman is," rejoined Mr. King; "and +without knowing that, you cannot judge candidly of the value of her +testimony." + +"I don't ask, because I don't care," replied the merchant. "The +negroes are a lying set, sir; and I am no Abolitionist, that I should +go about retailing their lies." + +Mr. King looked at him an instant, and then answered, very calmly: +"The mother of that babe, whose word you treat so contemptuously, is +Mrs. King, my beloved and honored wife." + +The old merchant was startled from his propriety; and, forgetful of +the gout in his feet, he sprung from his chair, exclaiming, "The +Devil!" + +Mr. King, without noticing the abrupt exclamation, went on to relate +in detail the manner of his first introduction to Miss Royal, his +compassion for her subsequent misfortunes, his many reasons for +believing her a pure and noble woman, and the circumstances which +finally led to their marriage. He expressed his conviction that the +children had been changed in a fit of temporary insanity, and dwelt +much on his wife's exceeding anxiety to atone for the wrong, as far as +possible. "I was ignorant of the circumstance," said he, "until the +increasing attraction between Gerald and Eulalia made an avowal +necessary. It gives me great pain to tell you all this; but I thought +that, under a reverse of circumstances, I should myself prefer to know +the facts. I am desirous to do my utmost to repair the mischief done +by a deserted and friendless woman, at a moment when she was crazed +by distress and terror; a woman, too, whose character I have abundant +reason to love and honor. If you choose to disinherit Gerald, I will +provide for his future as if he were my own son; and I will repay with +interest all the expense you have incurred for him. I hope that this +affair may be kept secret from the world, and that we may amicably +settle it, in such a way that no one will be materially injured." + +Somewhat mollified by this proposal, the old gentleman inquired in a +milder tone, "And where is the young man who you say is my daughter's +son?" + +"Until very recently he was supposed to be dead," rejoined Mr. King; +"and unfortunately that circumstance led my wife to think there was +no need of speaking to me concerning this affair at the time of our +marriage. But we now have reason to think he may be living; and that +is why I have particularly felt it my duty to make this unpleasant +revelation." After repeating Tulee's story, he said, "You probably +have not forgotten that last winter two slaves escaped to Boston in +your ship 'The King Cotton'?" + +The old merchant started as if he had been shot. + +"Try not to be agitated," said Mr. King. "If we keep calm, and assist +each other, we may perhaps extricate ourselves from this disagreeable +dilemma, without any very disastrous results. I have but one reason +for thinking it possible there may be some connection between the lost +babe and one of the slaves whom you sent back to his claimant. The two +babes were very nearly of an age, and so much alike that the exchange +passed unnoticed; and the captain of 'The King Cotton' told Gerald +that the eldest of those slaves resembled him so much that he should +not know them apart." + +Mr. Bell covered his face and uttered a deep groan. Such distress in +an old man powerfully excited Mr. King's sympathy; and moving near to +him, he placed his hand on his and said: "Don't be so much troubled, +sir. This is a bad affair, but I think it can be so managed as to do +no very serious harm. My motive in coming to you at this time is to +ascertain whether you can furnish me with any clew to that young man. +I will myself go in search of him, and I will take him to Europe and +have him educated in a manner suitable to his condition, as your +descendant and the heir of your property." + +The drawn expression of the old merchant's mouth was something painful +to witness. It seemed as if every nerve was pulled to its utmost +tension by the excitement in his soul. He obviously had to make a +strong effort to speak when he said, "Do you suppose, sir, that a +merchant of my standing is going to leave his property to negroes?" + +"You forget that this young man is pure Anglo-Saxon," replied Mr. +King. + +"I tell you, sir," rejoined Mr. Bell, "that the mulatto who was with +him was his wife; and if he is proved to be my grandson, I'll never +see him, nor have anything to do with him, unless he gives her up; +not if you educate him with the Prince Royal of France or England. A +pretty dilemma you have placed me in, sir. My property, it seems, must +either go to Gerald, who you say has negro blood in his veins, or to +this other fellow, who is a slave with a negro wife." + +"But she could be educated in Europe also," pleaded Mr. King; "and I +could establish him permanently in lucrative business abroad. By this +arrangement--" + +"Go to the Devil with your arrangements!" interrupted the merchant, +losing all command of himself. "If you expect to arrange a pack of +mulatto heirs for _me_, you are mistaken, sir." + +He rose up and struck his chair upon the floor with a vengeance, and +his face was purple with rage, as he vociferated: "I'll have legal +redress for this, sir. I'll expose your wife, sir. I'll lay my damages +at a million, sir." + +Mr. King bowed and said, "I will see you again when you are more +calm." + +As he went out, he heard Mr. Bell striding across the room and +thrashing the furniture about. "Poor old gentleman!" thought he. "I +hope I shall succeed in convincing him how little I value money in +comparison with righting this wrong, as far as possible. Alas! it +would never have taken place had there not been a great antecedent +wrong; and that again grew out of the monstrous evil of slavery." + +He had said to the old merchant, "I will see you again when you are +calmer." And when he saw him again, he was indeed calm, for he had +died suddenly, of a fit produced by violent excitement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + +A few weeks after the funeral of Mr. Bell, Gerald wrote the following +letter to Mr. King:-- + +"My honored and dear Friend,--Lily-mother has decided to go to Europe +this fall, that I may have certain educational advantages which she +has planned for me. That is the only reason she assigns; but she is +evidently nervous about your investigations, and I think a wish to be +out of the country for the present has had some effect in producing +this decision. I have not sought to influence her concerning this, or +the other important point you wot of. My desire is to conform to her +wishes, and promote her happiness in any way she chooses. This it is +my duty as well as my pleasure to do. She intends to remain in Europe +a year, perhaps longer. I wish very much to see you all; and Eulalia +might well consider me a very impolite acquaintance, if I should go +without saying good by. If you do not return to Boston before we +sail, I will, with your permission, make a short call upon you in +Northampton. I thank Rose-mother for her likeness. It will be very +precious to me. I wish you would add your own and another; for +wherever my lot may be cast, you three will always be among my dearest +memories." + +"I am glad of this arrangement," said Mr. King. "At their age, I hope +a year of separation will prove sufficient." + +The Rose-mother covered the wound in her heart, and answered, "Yes, +it is best." But the constrained tone of the letter pained her, and +excited her mind to that most unsatisfactory of all occupations, the +thinking over what might have been. She had visions of her first-born +son, as he lay by her side a few hours before Chloe carried him away +from her sight; and then there rose before her the fair face of that +other son, whose pretty little body was passing into the roses of +Provence. Both of them had gone out of her life. Of one she received +no tidings from the mysterious world of spirits; while the other was +walking within her vision, as a shadow, the reality of which was +intangible. + +Mr. King returned to Boston with his family in season for Gerald +to make the proposed call before he sailed. There was a little +heightening of color when he and Eulalia met, but he had drilled +himself to perform the part of a polite acquaintance; and as she +thought she had been rather negligently treated of late, she was cased +in the armor of maidenly reserve. + +Both Mr. and Mrs. King felt it to be an arduous duty to call on Mrs. +Fitzgerald. That lady, though she respected their conscientiousness, +could not help disliking them. They had disturbed her relations with +Gerald, by suggesting the idea of another claim upon his affections; +and they had offended her pride by introducing the vulgar phantom of +a slave son to haunt her imagination. She was continually jealous of +Mrs. King; so jealous, that Gerald never ventured to show her the +likeness of his Rose-mother. But though the discerning eyes of Mr. and +Mrs. King read this in the very excess of her polite demonstrations, +other visitors who were present when they called supposed them to be +her dearest friends, and envied her the distinguished intimacy. + +Such formal attempts at intercourse only increased the cravings of +Rosa's heart, and Mr. King requested Gerald to grant her a private +interview. Inexpressibly precious were these few stolen moments, when +she could venture to call him son, and hear him call her mother. He +brought her an enamelled locket containing some of his hair, inscribed +with the word "Gerald"; and she told him that to the day of her death +she would always wear it next her heart. He opened a small morocco +case, on the velvet lining of which lay a lily of delicate silver +filigree. + +"Here is a little souvenir for Eulalia," said he. + +Her eyes moistened as she replied, "I fear it would not be prudent, my +son." + +He averted his face as he answered: "Then give it to her in my +mother's name. It will be pleasant to me to think that my sister is +wearing it." + + * * * * * + +A few days after Gerald had sailed for Europe, Mr. King started for +New Orleans, taking with him his wife and daughter. An auctioneer was +found, who said he had sold to a gentleman in Natchez a runaway slave +named Bob Bruteman, who strongly resembled the likeness of Gerald. +They proceeded to Natchez and had an interview with the purchaser, who +recognized a likeness between his slave Bob and the picture of +Gerald. He said he had made a bad bargain of it, for the fellow was +intelligent and artful, and had escaped from him two months ago. In +answer to his queries, Mr. King stated that, if Bob was the one he +supposed, he was a white man, and had friends who wished to redeem +him; but as the master had obtained no clew to the runaway, he could +of course give none. So their long journey produced no result, except +the satisfaction of thinking that the object of their interest had +escaped from slavery. + +It had been their intention to spend the coldest months at the South, +but a volcano had flared up all of a sudden at Harper's Ferry, and +boiling lava was rolling all over the land. Every Northern man who +visited the South was eyed suspiciously, as a possible emissary of +John Brown; and the fact that Mr. King was seeking to redeem a runaway +slave was far from increasing confidence in him. Finding that silence +was unsatisfactory, and that he must either indorse slavery or +be liable to perpetual provocations to quarrel, he wrote to Mr. +Blumenthal to have their house in readiness for their return; an +arrangement which Flora and her children hailed with merry shouts and +clapping of hands. + +When they arrived, they found their house as warm as June, with Flora +and her family there to receive them, backed by a small army of +servants, consisting of Tulee, with her tall son and daughter, and +little Benny, and Tom and Chloe; all of whom had places provided +for them, either in the household or in Mr. King's commercial +establishment. Their tropical exuberance of welcome made him smile. +When the hearty hand-shakings were over, he said to his wife, as they +passed into the parlor, "It really seemed as if we were landing on the +coast of Guinea with a cargo of beads." + +"O Alfred," rejoined she, "I am so grateful to you for employing them +all! You don't know, and never _can_ know, how I feel toward these +dusky friends; for you never had them watch over you, day after day, +and night after night, patiently and tenderly leading you up from the +valley of the shadow of death." + +He pressed her hand affectionately, and said, "Inasmuch as they did it +for you, darling, they did it for me." + +This sentiment was wrought into their daily deportment to their +servants; and the result was an harmonious relation between employer +and employed, which it was beautiful to witness. But there are +skeletons hidden away in the happiest households. Mrs. King had hers, +and Tom and Chloe had theirs. The death of Mr. Bell and the absence of +Mrs. Fitzgerald left no one in Boston who would be likely to recognize +them; but they knew that the Fugitive Slave Act was still in force, +and though they relied upon Mr. King's generosity in case of +emergency, they had an uncomfortable feeling of not being free. It was +not so with Tulee. She had got beyond Mount Pisgah into the Canaan of +freedom; and her happiness was unalloyed. Mr. King, though kind and +liberal to all, regarded her with especial favor, on account of old +associations. The golden hoops had been taken from her ears when she +was in the calaboose; but he had presented her with another pair, for +he liked to have her look as she did when she opened for him that door +in New Orleans, which had proved an entrance to the temple and palace +of his life. She felt herself to be a sort of prime minister in the +small kingdom, and began to deport herself as one having authority. +No empress ever had more satisfaction in a royal heir than she had in +watching her Benny trudging to school, with his spelling-book slung +over his shoulder, in a green satchel Mrs. King had made for him. The +stylishness of the establishment was also a great source of pride to +her; and she often remarked in the kitchen that she had always said +gold was none too good for Missy Rosy to walk upon. Apart from this +consideration, she herself had an Oriental delight in things that were +lustrous and gayly colored. Tom had learned to read quite fluently, +and was accustomed to edify his household companions with chapters +from the Bible on Sunday evenings. The descriptions of King Solomon's +splendor made a lively impression on Tulee's mind. When she dusted +the spacious parlors, she looked admiringly at the large mirrors, the +gilded circles of gas lights, and the great pictures framed in crimson +and gold, and thought that the Temple of Solomon could not have been +more grand. She could scarcely believe Mrs. Delano was wealthy. "She's +a beautiful lady," said she to Flora; "but if she's got plenty o' +money, what makes her dress so innocent and dull? There's Missy Rosy +now, when _she_'s dressed for company, she looks like the Queen of +Shebee." + +One morning Tulee awoke to look out upon a scene entirely new to her +Southern eyes, and far surpassing anything she had imagined of the +splendor of Solomon's Temple. On the evening previous, the air had +been full of mist, which, as it grew colder, had settled on the trees +of the Common, covering every little twig with a panoply of ice. A +very light snow had fallen softly during the night, and sprinkled the +ice with a feathery fleece. The trees, in this delicate white vesture, +standing up against a dark blue sky, looked like the glorified spirits +of trees. Here and there, the sun touched them, and dropped a shower +of diamonds. Tulee gazed a moment in delighted astonishment, and ran +to call Chloe, who exclaimed, "They looks like great white angels, and +Ise feared they'll fly away 'fore Missis gits up." + +Tulee was very impatient for the sound of Mrs. King's bell, and as +soon as the first tinkle was heard she rushed into her dressing-room, +exclaiming, "O, do come to the window, Missy Rosy! Sure this is silver +land." + +Rosa was no less surprised when she looked out upon that wonderful +vision of the earth, in its transfigured raiment of snow-glory. "Why, +Tulee," said she, "it is diamond land. I've seen splendid fairy scenes +in the theatres of Paris, but never anything so brilliant as this." + +"I used to think the woods down South, all covered with jess'mines, +was the beautifullest thing," responded Tulee; "but, Lors, Missy +Rosy, this is as much handsomer as Solomon's Temple was handsomer than +a meetin'-house." + +But neither the indoor nor the outdoor splendor, nor all the personal +comforts they enjoyed, made this favored band of colored people +forgetful of the brethren they had left in bondage. Every word about +John Brown was sought for and read with avidity. When he was first +taken captive, Chloe said: "The angel that let Peter out o' prison +ha'n't growed old an' hard o' hearing. If we prays loud enough, he'll +go and open the doors for old John Brown." + +Certainly, it was not for want of the colored people's praying loud +and long enough, that the prisoner was not supernaturally delivered. +They did not relinquish the hope till the 2d of December: and when +that sad day arrived, they assembled in their meeting-house to watch +and pray. All was silent, except now and then an occasional groan, +till the hands of the clock pointed to the moment of the martyr's exit +from this world. Then Tom poured forth his soul in a mighty voice of +prayer, ending with the agonized entreaty, "O Lord, thou hast taken +away our Moses. Raise us up a Joshua!" And all cried, "Amen!" + +Chloe, who had faith that could walk the stormiest waves, spoke words +of fervent cheer to the weeping congregation. + +"I tell ye they ha'n't killed old John Brown," said she; "'cause they +_couldn't_ kill him. The angel that opened the prison doors for Peter +has let him out, and sent him abroad in a different way from what we +'spected; that's all." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + + +Through the following year, the political sky grew ever darker with +impending clouds, crinkled with lightning, and vocal with growlings of +approaching thunder. The North continued to make servile concessions, +which history will blush to record; but they proved unavailing. +The arrogance of slaveholders grew by what it fed on. Though a +conscientious wish to avoid civil war mingled largely with the +selfishness of trade, and the heartless gambling of politicians, all +was alike interpreted by them as signs of Northern cowardice. At +last, the Sumter gun was heard booming through the gathering storm. +Instantly, the air was full of starry banners, and Northern pavements +resounded with the tramp of horse and the rolling of artillery wagons. +A thrill of patriotic enthusiasm kindled the souls of men. No more +sending back of slaves. All our cities became at once cities of +refuge; for men had risen above the letter of the Constitution into +the spirit of the Declaration of Independence. + +Gerald and his Lily-mother arrived in New York to find the social +atmosphere all aglow. Under its exciting influence, he wrote to Mr. +King:-- + +"Yesterday, I informed you of our arrival; and now I write to tell +you that they are forming a regiment here to march to the defence of +Washington, and I have joined it. Lily-mother was unwilling at +first. But a fine set of fellows are joining,--all first-class young +gentlemen. I told Lily-mother she would be ashamed to have me loiter +behind the sons of her acquaintance, and that Mr. Seward said it was +only an affair of sixty days. So she has consented. I enclose a letter +to Rose-mother, to ask her blessing on my enterprise, which I am quite +sure I shall have, together with your own." + +Thus, with the unreflecting exhilaration of youth, Gerald went forth +to the war, as light of heart as if he had been joining a boat-race or +a hunting excursion; so little did he comprehend that ferocious system +of despotism which was fastening its fangs on free institutions with +the death-grapple of a bloodhound. + +For the next two months, his letters, though hurried, were frequent, +and always cheerful; mostly filled with trifling gossipings about +camp-life, and affectionate remembrances to those he had left behind. +At last, Mr. King received one of graver import, which ran thus:-- + +"I have met with a strange adventure. A number of us were on picket +duty, with orders to keep a sharp lookout. We went pacing back and +forth on our allotted ground, now passing under the shadow of trees, +now coming out into the moonlight. I walked very erect, feeling myself +every inch a soldier. Sometimes I cast scrutinizing glances into +groups of shrubbery, and sometimes I gazed absently on the sparkling +Potomac, while memory was retracing the events of my life, and +recalling the dear ones connected with them. Just as I reached a large +tree which formed the boundary of my prescribed course, the next +sentinel, whose walk began where mine ended, approached the same tree, +and before he turned again we met face to face for an instant. I +started, and I confess to a momentary feeling of superstition; for I +thought I had seen myself; and that, you know, is said to be a warning +of approaching death. He could not have seen me very plainly, for I +was in shadow, while he for an instant was clearly revealed by the +moonlight. Anxious to be sure whether I had seen a vision or a +reality, when I again approached the tree I waited for him; and a +second time I saw such a likeness of myself as I never saw excepting +in the mirror. He turned quickly, and marched away with military +promptitude and precision. I watched him for a moment, as his erect +figure alternately dipped into shadow and emerged into light. I need +not tell you what I was thinking of while I looked; for you can easily +conjecture. The third time we met, I said, 'What is your name?' He +replied, 'George Falkner,' and marched away. I write on a drumhead, in +a hurry. As soon as I can obtain a talk with this duplicate of myself, +I will write to you again. But I shall not mention my adventure to +Lily-mother. It would only make her unhappy." + +Another letter, which arrived a week after, contained merely the +following paragraph on the subject that interested them most:-- + +"We soldiers cannot command our own movements or our time. I have been +able to see G.F. but once, and then our interview was brief. He seemed +very reserved about himself. He says he came from New York; but his +speech is Southern. He talks about 'toting' things, and says he +'disremembers,' I shall try to gain his confidence, and perhaps I +shall be able to draw him out." + +A fortnight later he wrote:-- + +"I have learned from G.F. that the first thing he remembers of himself +is living with an old negress, about ten miles from New Orleans, with +eight other children, of various shades, but none so white as himself. +He judges he was about nine years old when he was carried to New +Orleans, and let out by a rich man named Bruteman to a hotel-keeper, +to black boots, do errands, &c. One of the children that the old +negress brought up with him was a mulatto named Henriet. The boys +called her Hen, he said. He used to 'tote' her about when she was a +baby, and afterward they used to roll in the mud, and make mud-pies +together. When Hen was twelve years old, she was let out to work in +the same hotel where he was. Soon afterward, Mr. Bruteman put him out +to learn the carpenter's trade, and he soon became expert at it. But +though he earned five or six dollars a week, and finally nine or ten, +he never received any portion of it; except that now and then Mr. +Bruteman, when he counted his wages, gave him a fip. I never thought +of _this_ side of the question when I used to hear grandfather talk +about the rights of slaveholders; but I feel now, if this had been my +own case, I should have thought it confounded hard. He and Hen were +very young when they first begun to talk about being married; but he +couldn't bear the thoughts of bringing up a family to be slaves, and +they watched for an opportunity to run away. After several plans which +proved abortive, they went boldly on board 'The King Cotton,' he as a +white gentleman, and she disguised as his boy servant. You know how +that attempt resulted. He says they were kept two days, with hands and +feet tied, on an island that was nothing but rock. They suffered with +cold, though one of the sailors, who seemed kind-hearted, covered them +with blankets and overcoats. He probably did not like the business of +guarding slaves; for one night he whispered to G.F., 'Can't you swim?' +But George was very little used to the water, and Hen couldn't swim at +all. Besides, he said, the sailors had loaded guns, and some of them +would have fired upon them, if they had heard them plunge; and even +if by a miracle they had gained the shore, he thought they would be +seized and sent back again, just as they were in Boston. + +"You may judge how I felt, while I listened to this. I wanted to ask +his forgiveness, and give him all my money, and my watch, and my ring, +and everything. After they were carried back, Hen was sold to the +hotel-keeper for six hundred dollars, and he was sold to a man in +Natchez for fifteen hundred. After a while, he escaped in a woman's +dress, contrived to open a communication with Hen, and succeeded in +carrying her off to New York. There he changed his woman's dress, and +his slave name of Bob Bruteman, and called himself George Falkner. +When I asked him why he chose that name, he rolled up his sleeve and +showed me G.F. marked on his arm. He said he didn't know who put them +there, but he supposed they were the initials of his name. He is +evidently impressed by our great resemblance. If he asks me directly +whether I can conjecture anything about his origin, I hardly know how +it will be best to answer. Do write how much or how little I ought to +say. Feeling unsafe in the city of New York, and being destitute of +money, he applied to the Abolitionists for advice. They sent him to +New Rochelle, where he let himself to a Quaker, called Friend Joseph +Houseman, of whom he hired a small hut. There, Hen, whom he now calls +Henriet, takes in washing and ironing, and there a babe has been born +to them. When the war broke out he enlisted; partly because he thought +it would help him to pay off some old scores with slaveholders, and +partly because a set of rowdies in the village of New Rochelle said he +was a white man, and threatened to mob him for living with a nigger +wife. While they were in New York city, he and Henriet were regularly +married by a colored minister. He said he did it because he hated +slavery and couldn't bear to live as slaves did. I heard him read a +few lines from a newspaper, and he read them pretty well. He says a +little boy, son of the carpenter of whom he learned his trade, gave +him some instruction, and he bought a spelling-book for himself. +He showed me some beef-bones, on which he practises writing with a +pencil. When he told me how hard he had tried to get what little +learning he had, it made me ashamed to think how many cakes and toys I +received as a reward for studying my spelling-book. He is teaching an +old negro, who waits upon the soldiers. It is funny to see how hard +the poor old fellow tries, and to hear what strange work he makes of +it. It must be 'that stolen waters are sweet,' or slaves would never +take so much more pains than I was ever willing to take to learn to +spell out the Bible. Sometimes I help G.F. with his old pupil; and I +should like to have Mrs. Blumenthal make a sketch of us, as I sit on +the grass in the shade of some tree, helping the old negro hammer his +syllables together. My New York companions laugh at me sometimes; but +I have gained great favor with G.F. by this proceeding. He is such +an ingenious fellow, that he is always in demand to make or mend +something. When I see how skilful he is with tools, I envy him. I +begin to realize what you once told me, and which did not please me +much at the time, that being a fine gentleman is the poorest calling a +man can devote himself to. + +"I have written this long letter under difficulties, and at various +times. I have omitted many particulars, which I will try to remember +in my next. Enclosed is a note for Rose-mother. I hold you all in most +affectionate remembrance." + +Soon after the reception of this letter, news came of the defeat at +Bull Run, followed by tidings that Gerald was among the slain. Mr. +King immediately waited upon Mrs. Fitzgerald to offer any services +that he could render, and it was agreed that he should forthwith +proceed to Washington with her cousin, Mr. Green. They returned with a +long wooden box, on which was inscribed Gerald's name and regiment. It +was encased in black walnut without being opened, for those who loved +him dreaded to see him, marred as he was by battle. It was carried to +Stone Chapel, where a multitude collected to pay the last honors to +the youthful soldier. A sheathed sword was laid across the coffin, on +which Mrs. Fitzgerald placed a laurel wreath. Just above it, Mrs. King +deposited a wreath of white roses, in the centre of which Eulalia +timidly laid a white lily. A long procession followed it to Mount +Auburn, with a band playing Beethoven's Funeral March. Episcopal +services were performed at the grave, which friends and relatives +filled with flowers; and there, by the side of Mr. Bell, the beautiful +young man was hidden away from human sight. Mr. King's carriage had +followed next to Mrs. Fitzgerald's; a circumstance which the public +explained by a report that the deceased was to have married his +daughter. Mrs. Fitzgerald felt flattered to have it so understood, +and she never contradicted it. After her great disappointment in her +husband, and the loss of her other children, all the affection she +was capable of feeling had centred in Gerald. But hers was not a deep +nature, and the world held great sway over it. She suffered acutely +when she first heard of her loss; but she found no small degree of +soothing compensation in the praises bestowed on her young hero, in +the pomp of his funeral, and the general understanding that he was +betrothed to the daughter of the quatro-millionnaire. + +The depth of Mrs. King's sorrow was known only to Him who made the +heart. She endeavored to conceal it as far as possible, for she felt +it to be wrong to cast a shadow over the home of her husband and +daughter. Gerald's likeness was placed in her chamber, where she saw +it with the first morning light; but what were her reveries while she +gazed upon it was told to no one. Custom, as well as sincere sympathy, +made it necessary for her to make a visit of condolence to Mrs. +Fitzgerald. But she merely took her hand, pressed it gently, and said, +"May God comfort you." "May God comfort you, also," replied Mrs. +Fitzgerald, returning the pressure; and from that time henceforth the +name of Gerald was never mentioned between them. + +After the funeral it was noticed that Alfred Blumenthal appeared +abstracted, as if continually occupied with grave thoughts. One day, +as he stood leaning against the window, gazing on the stars and +stripes that floated across the street, he turned suddenly and +exclaimed: "It is wrong to be staying here. I ought to be fighting for +that flag. I _must_ supply poor Gerald's place." + +Mrs. Delano, who had been watching him anxiously, rose up and clasped +him round the neck, with stronger emotion than he had ever seen her +manifest. "_Must_ you go, my son?" she said. + +He laid his hand very gently on her head as he replied: "Dearest +Mamita, you always taught me to obey the voice of duty; and surely it +is a duty to help in rescuing Liberty from the bloody jaws of this +dragon Slavery." + +She lingered an instant on his breast then, raising her tearful face, +she silently pressed his hand, while she looked into those kind and +honest eyes, that so strongly reminded her of eyes closed long +ago. "You are right, my son," murmured she; "and may God give you +strength." + +Turning from her to hide the swelling of his own heart, Alfred saw +his mother sobbing on his father's bosom. "Dearest mamma," said he, +"Heaven knows it is hard for me. Do not make it harder." + +"It takes the manhood out of him to see you weep, darling," said Mr. +Blumenthal. "Be a brave little woman, and cheerfully give your dearest +and best for the country." + +She wiped her eyes, and, fervently kissing Alfred's hand, replied, "I +will. May God bless you, my dear, my only son!" + +His father clasped the other hand, and said, with forced calmness: +"You are right, Alfred. God bless you! And now, dear Flora, let us +consecrate our young hero's resolution by singing the Battle Song of +Korner." + +She seated herself at the piano, and Mrs. Delano joined in with her +weak but very sweet voice, while they sang, "Father! I call on thee." +But when they came to the last verse, the voices choked, and the +piano became silent. Rosen Blumen and Lila came in and found them all +weeping; and when their brother pressed them in his arms and whispered +to them the cause of all this sorrow, they cried as if their hearts +were breaking. Then their mother summoned all her resolution, and +became a comforter. While their father talked to them of the nobility +and beauty of self-sacrifice, she kissed them and soothed them with +hopeful words. Then, turning to Mrs. Delano, she tenderly caressed her +faded hair, while she said: "Dearest Mamita, I trust God will restore +to us our precious boy. I will paint his picture as St. George slaying +the dragon, and you shall hang it in your chamber, in memory of what +he said to you." + +Alfred, unable to control his emotions, hid himself in the privacy +of his own chamber. He struck his hand wildly against his forehead, +exclaiming, "O my country, great is the sacrifice I make for thee!" +Then, kneeling by the bed where he had had so many peaceful slumbers, +and dreamed so many pleasant dreams, he prayed fervently that God +would give him strength according to his need. + +And so he went forth from his happy home, self-consecrated to the +cause of freedom. The women now had but one absorbing interest and +occupation. All were eager for news from the army, and all were busy +working for the soldiers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + +When Mr. King returned from his mournful journey to Washington, he +said to his wife: "I saw George Falkner, and was pleased with him. His +resemblance to poor Gerald is wonderful. I could see no difference, +except a firmer expression of the mouth, which I suppose is owing to +his determined efforts to escape from slavery. Of course, he has not +Gerald's gracefulness; but his bearing seemed manly, and there was +no obvious stamp of vulgarity upon him. It struck me that his +transformation into a gentleman would be an easy process. I was glad +our interview was a hurried one, and necessarily taken up with details +about Gerald's death. It seems he carried him off in his own arms when +he was wounded, and that he did his utmost to stanch the blood. Gerald +never spoke after the bullet struck him, though he pressed his hand, +and appeared to try to say something. When he opened his vest to dress +the wound, he found this." + +Rosa looked at it, groaned out, "Poor Gerald!" and covered her face. +It was the photograph of Eulalia, with the upper part shot away. Both +remained for some time with their heads bowed in silence. + +After a while, Mr. King resumed: "In answer to Mr. Green's inquiries +concerning the mutilated picture, I replied that it was a likeness of +my daughter; and he answered that he had heard a marriage was thought +of between them. I was glad he happened to say that, for it will make +it seem natural to George that I should take a lively interest in him +on Gerald's account. The funeral, and Alfred's departure for the army, +have left me little time to arrange my thoughts on that subject. But I +have now formed definite plans, that I propose we should this evening +talk over at Blumenthal's." + +When the sisters met, and the girls had gone to another room to talk +over their lessons, and imagine what Alfred was then doing, Mr. King +began to speak of George Falkner. + +Rosa said: "My first wish is to go to New Rochelle and bring home +Henriet. She ought to be educated in a degree somewhat suitable to her +husband's prospects. I will teach her to read and write, and give her +lessons on the piano." + +"I think that would prove too much for your finely attuned musical +nerves," rejoined her husband. + +"Do you suppose you are going to make _all_ the sacrifices?" responded +she, smiling. "It isn't at all like you to wish to engross everything +to yourself." + +"Rosa has a predilection for penance," remarked Flora; "and if she +listens daily to a beginner knocking the scales up hill and down hill, +I think it will answer instead of walking to Jerusalem with peas in +her shoes." + +"Before I mention my plans, I should like to hear your view of the +subject, Blumenthal," said Mr. King. + +His brother-in-law replied: "I think Rosa is right about taking charge +of Henriet and educating her. But it seems to me the worst thing you +could do for her or her husband would be to let them know that they +have a claim to riches. Sudden wealth is apt to turn the heads of much +older people than they are; and having been brought up as slaves, +their danger would be greatly increased. If Henriet could be employed +to sew for you, she might be gratified with easy work and generous +wages, while you watched over her morals, and furnished her with +opportunities to improve her mind. If George survives the war, some +employment with a comfortable salary might be provided for him, with +a promise to advance him according to his industry and general good +habits. How does that strike you, Mamita?" + +"I agree perfectly with you," rejoined Mrs. Delano. "I think it would +be far more prudent to have their characters formed by habits of +exertion and self-reliance, before they are informed that they are +rich." + +"It gratifies me to have my own judgment thus confirmed," said Mr. +King. "You have given the outlines of a plan I had already formed. But +this judicious process must not, of course, deprive the young man of a +single cent that is due to him. You are aware that Mr. Bell left fifty +thousand dollars to his grandson, to be paid when he was twenty-two +years of age. I have already invested that sum for George, and placed +it in the care of Mr. Percival, with directions that the interest +shall be added to it from that date. The remainder of Mr. Bell's +property, with the exception of some legacies, was unreservedly left +to his daughter. I have taken some pains to ascertain the amount, and +I shall add a codicil to my will leaving an equal sum to George. If +I survive Mrs. Fitzgerald, the interest on it will date from her +decease; and I shall take the best legal advice as to the means of +securing her property from any claims, by George or his heirs, after +they are informed of the whole story, as they will be whenever Mrs. +Fitzgerald dies." + +"You are rightly named Royal King," rejoined Mr. Blumenthal, "you do +things in such princely style." + +"In a style better than that of most royal kings," replied he, "for +it is simply that of an honest man. If this entanglement had never +happened, I should have done as much for Gerald; and let me do what I +will, Eulalia will have more money than is good for her. Besides, +I rather expect this arrangement will prove a benefit to myself. I +intend to employ the young man as one of my agents in Europe; and if +he shows as much enterprise and perseverance in business as he did in +escaping from slavery, he will prove an excellent partner for me when +increasing years diminish my own energies. I would gladly adopt him, +and have him live with us; but I doubt whether such a great and sudden +change of condition would prove salutary, and his having a colored +wife would put obstructions in his way entirely beyond our power to +remove. But the strongest objection to it is, that such an arrangement +would greatly annoy Mrs. Fitzgerald, whose happiness we are bound to +consult in every possible way." + +"Has she been informed that the young man is found?" inquired Mrs. +Delano. + +"No," replied Mr. King. "It occurred very near the time of Gerald's +death; and we deem it unkind to disturb her mind about it for some +months to come." + + * * * * * + +The next week, Mr. and Mrs. King started for New York, and thence +proceeded to New Rochelle. Following the directions they had received, +they hired a carriage at the steamboat-landing, to convey them to a +farm-house a few miles distant. As they approached the designated +place, they saw a slender man, in drab-colored clothes, lowering a +bucket into the well. Mr. King alighted, and inquired, "Is this Mr. +Houseman's farm, sir?" + +"My name is Joseph Houseman," replied the Quaker. "I am usually called +Friend Joseph." + +Mr. King returned to the carriage, and saying, "This is the place," +he assisted his lady to alight. Returning to the farmer, he said: +"We have come to ask you about a young colored woman, named Henriet +Falkner. Her husband rendered service to a dear young friend of ours +in the army, and we would be glad to repay the obligation by kindness +to her." + +"Walk in," said the Quaker. He showed them into a neat, plainly +furnished parlor. "Where art thou from?" he inquired. + +"From Boston," was the reply. + +"What is thy name?" + +"Mr. King." + +"All men are called Mister," rejoined the Quaker. "What is thy given +name?" + +"My name is Alfred Royal King; and this is my wife, Rosa King." + +"Hast thou brought a letter from the woman's husband?" inquired Friend +Joseph. + +"No," replied Mr. King. "I saw George Falkner in Washington, a +fortnight ago, when I went to seek the body of our young friend; but I +did not then think of coming here. If you doubt me, you can write +to William Lloyd Garrison or Wendell Phillips, and inquire of them +whether Alfred R. King is capable of deceiving." + +"I like thy countenance, Friend Alfred, and I think thou art honest," +rejoined the Quaker; "but where colored people are concerned, I have +known very polite and fair-spoken men to tell falsehoods." + +Mr. King smiled as he answered: "I commend your caution, Friend +Joseph. I see how it is. You suspect we may be slaveholders in +disguise. But slaveholders are just now too busy seeking to destroy +this Republic to have any time to hunt fugitives; and when they have +more leisure, my opinion is they will find that occupation gone." + +"I should have more hope of that," replied the farmer, "if there was +not so much pro-slavery here at the North. And thee knows that the +generals of the United States are continually sending back fugitive +slaves to bleed under the lash of their taskmasters." + +"I honor your scruples, Friend Joseph," responded Mr. King; "and that +they may be completely removed, we will wait at the Metropolitan in +New York until you have received letters from Mr. Garrison and Mr. +Phillips. And lest you should think I may have assumed the name of +another, I will give you these to enclose in your letter." He opened +his pocket-book and took out two photographs. + +"I shall ask to have them sent back to me," replied the farmer; "for +I should like to keep a likeness of thee and thy Rosa. They will be +pleasant to look upon. As soon as I receive an answer, Friend Alfred, +I will call upon thee at the Metropolitan." + +"We shall be pleased to see you, Friend Joseph," said Rosa, with +one of her sweetest smiles, which penetrated the Quaker's soul, as +sunshine does the receptive earth. Yet, when the carriage had rolled +away, he harnessed his sleek horses to the wagon, and conveyed Henriet +and her babe to the house of a Friend at White Plains, till he +ascertained whether these stylish-looking strangers were what they +professed to be. + +A few days afterward, Friend Joseph called at the Metropolitan. When +he inquired for the wealthy Bostonian, the waiter stared at his plain +dress, and said, "Your card, sir." + +"I have no card," replied the farmer. "Tell him Friend Joseph wishes +to see him." + +The waiter returned, saying, "Walk this way, sir," and showed him into +the elegant reception-room. + +As he sat there, another servant, passing through, looked at him, and +said, "All gentlemen take off their hats in this room, sir." + +"That may be," quietly replied the Quaker; "but all _men_ do not, for +thee sees I keep mine on." + +The entrance of Mr. King, and his cordial salutation, made an +impression on the waiters' minds; and when Friend Joseph departed, +they opened the door very obsequiously. + +The result of the conference was that Mr. and Mrs. King returned to +Boston with Henriet and her little one. + +Tulee had proved in many ways that her discretion might be trusted; +and it was deemed wisest to tell her the whole story of the babe, who +had been carried to the calaboose with her when Mr. Bruteman's agent +seized her. This confidence secured her as a firm friend and ally +of Henriet, while her devoted attachment to Mrs. King rendered her +secrecy certain. When black Chloe saw the newcomer learning to play on +the piano, she was somewhat jealous because the same privilege had not +been offered to her children. "I didn't know Missy Rosy tought thar +war sech a mighty difference 'tween black an' brown," said she. "I +don't see nothin' so drefful pooty in dat ar molasses color." + +"Now ye shut up," rejoined Tulee. "Missy Rosy knows what she's 'bout. +Ye see Mr. Fitzgerald was in love with Missy Eulaly; an' Henret's +husban' took care o' him when he was dying. Mr. King is going to send +him 'cross the water on some gran' business, to pay him for 't; and +Missy Rosy wants his wife to be 'spectable out there 'mong strangers." + +Henriet proved good-natured and unassuming, and, with occasional +patronage from Tulee, she was generally able to keep her little boat +in smooth water. + +When she had been there a few months Mr. King enclosed to Mrs. +Fitzgerald the letters Gerald had written about George; and a few days +afterward he called to explain fully what he had done, and what he +intended to do. That lady's dislike for her rival was much diminished +since there was no Gerald to excite her jealousy of divided affection. +There was some perturbation in her manner, but she received her +visitor with great politeness; and when he had finished his statement +she said: "I have great respect for your motives and your conduct; +and I am satisfied to leave everything to your good judgment and kind +feelings. I have but one request to make. It is that this young man +may never know he is my son." + +"Your wishes shall be respected," replied Mr. King. "But he so +strongly resembles Gerald, that, if you should ever visit Europe +again, you might perhaps like to see him, if you only recognized him +as a relative of your husband." + +The lady's face flushed as she answered promptly: "No, sir. I shall +never recognize any person as a relative who has a colored wife. Much +as I loved Gerald, I would never have seen him again if he had formed +such an alliance; not even if his wife were the most beautiful and +accomplished creature that ever walked the earth." + +"You are treading rather closely upon _me_, Mrs. Fitzgerald," rejoined +Mr. King, smiling. + +The lady seemed embarrassed, and said she had forgotten Mrs. King's +origin. + +"Your son's wife is not so far removed from a colored ancestry as mine +is," rejoined Mr. King; "but I think you would soon forget her origin, +also, if you were in a country where others did not think of it. I +believe our American prejudice against color is one of what Carlyle +calls 'the phantom dynasties.'" + +"It may be so," she replied coldly; "but I do not wish to be convinced +of it." + +And Mr. King bowed good morning. + +A week or two after this interview, Mrs. Fitzgerald called upon Mrs. +King; for, after all, she felt a certain sort of attraction in the +secret history that existed between them; and she was unwilling +to have the world suppose her acquaintance had been dropped by so +distinguished a lady. By inadvertence of the servant at the door, she +was shown into the parlor while Henriet was there, with her child on +the floor, receiving directions concerning some muslin flounces she +was embroidering. Upon the entrance of a visitor, she turned to take +up her infant and depart. But Mrs. King said, "Leave little Hetty +here, Mrs. Falkner, till you bring my basket for me to select the +floss you need." + +Hetty, being thus left alone, scrambled up, and toddled toward Mrs. +King, as if accustomed to an affectionate reception. The black curls +that clustered round her yellow face shook, as her uncertain steps +hastened to a place of refuge; and when she leaned against her +friend's lap, a pretty smile quivered on her coral lips, and lighted +up her large dark eyes. + +Mrs. Fitzgerald looked at her with a strange mixture of feelings. + +"Don't you think she's a pretty little creature?" asked Mrs. King. + +"She might be pretty if the yellow could be washed off," replied Mrs. +Fitzgerald. + +"Her cheeks are nearly the color of your hair," rejoined Mrs. King; +"and I always thought that beautiful." + +Mrs. Fitzgerald glanced at the mirror, and sighed as she said: "Ah, +yes. My hair used to be thought very pretty when I was young; but I +can see that it begins to fade." + +When Henriet returned and took the child, she looked at her very +curiously. She was thinking to herself, "What _would_ my father +say?" But she asked no questions, and made no remark. + +She had joined a circle of ladies who were sewing and knitting for the +soldiers; and after some talk about the difficulty she had found in +learning to knit socks, and how fashionable it was for everybody to +knit now, she rose to take leave. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + +The months passed on, and brought ever-recurring demands for more +soldiers. Mr. King watched the progress of the struggle with the +deepest anxiety. + +One day, when he had seen a new regiment depart for the South, he +returned home in a still more serious mood than was now habitual to +him. After supper, he opened the Evening Transcript, and read for a +while. Then turning to his wife, who sat near him knitting for the +army, he said, "Dear Rosabella, during all the happy years that I have +been your husband, you have never failed to encourage me in every good +impulse, and I trust you will strengthen me now." + +With a trembling dread of what was coming, she asked, "What is it, +dear Alfred." + +"Rosa, this Republic _must_ be saved," replied he, with solemn +emphasis. "It is the day-star of hope to the toiling masses of the +world, and it _must_ not go out in darkness. It is not enough for me +to help with money. I ought to go and sustain our soldiers by cheering +words and a brave example. It fills me with shame and indignation when +I think that all this peril has been brought upon us by that foul +system which came so near making a wreck of _you_, my precious one, as +it has wrecked thousands of pure and gentle souls. I foresee that this +war is destined, by mere force of circumstances, to rid the Republic +of that deadly incubus. Rosa, are you not willing to give me up for +the safety of the country, and the freedom of your mother's race?" + +She tried to speak, but utterance failed her. After a struggle with +herself, she said: "Do you realize how hard is a soldier's life? You +will break down under it, dear Alfred; for you have been educated in +ease and luxury." + +"My education is not finished," replied he, smiling, as he looked +round on the elegant and luxurious apartment. "What are all these +comforts and splendors compared with the rescue of my country, and the +redemption of an oppressed race? What is my life, compared with the +life of this Republic? Say, dearest, that you will give me willingly +to this righteous cause." + +"Far rather would I give my own life," she said. "But I will never +seek to trammel your conscience, Alfred." + +They spoke together tenderly of the past, and hopefully of the future; +and then they knelt and prayed together. + +Some time was necessarily spent in making arrangements for the comfort +and safety of the family during his absence; and when those were +completed, he also went forth to rescue Liberty from the jaws of the +devouring dragon. When he bade farewell to Flora's family, he said: +"Look after my precious ones, Blumenthal; and if I never return, see +to it that Percival carries out all my plans with regard to George +Falkner." + +Eight or ten weeks later, Alfred Blumenthal was lying in a hospital at +Washington, dangerously wounded and burning with fever. His father and +mother and Mrs. Delano immediately went to him; and the women remained +until the trembling balance between life and death was determined in +his favor. The soldier's life, which he at first dreaded, had become +familiar to him, and he found a terrible sort of excitement in its +chances and dangers. Mrs. Delano sighed to observe that the gentle +expression of his countenance, so like the Alfred of her memory, was +changing to a sterner manhood. It was harder than the first parting +to send him forth again into the fiery hail of battle; but they put +strong constraint upon themselves, and tried to perform bravely their +part in the great drama. + +That visit to his suffering but uncomplaining son made a strong +impression on the mind of Mr. Blumenthal. He became abstracted and +restless. One evening, as he sat leaning his head on his hand, Flora +said, "What are you thinking of, Florimond?" + +He answered: "I am thinking, dear, of the agony I suffered when I +hadn't money to save you from the auction-block; and I am thinking how +the same accursed system is striving to perpetuate and extend itself. +The Republic has need of all her sons to stop its ravages; and I feel +guilty in staying here, while our Alfred is so heroically offering up +his young life in the cause of freedom." + +"I have dreaded this," she said. "I have seen for days that it was +coming. But, O Florimond, it is hard." + +She hid her face in his bosom, and he felt her heart beat violently, +while he talked concerning the dangers and duties of the time. Mrs. +Delano bowed her head over the soldier's sock she was knitting, and +tears dropped on it while she listened to them. + +The weight that lay so heavily upon their souls was suddenly lifted up +for a time by the entrance of Joe Bright. He came in with a radiant +face, and, bowing all round, said, "I've come to bid you good by; I'm +going to defend the old flag." He lifted up his voice and sang, + +"'Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave!" Flora went to the +piano, and accompanied him with instrument and voice. Her husband soon +struck in; and Rosen Blumen and Lila left their lessons to perform +their part in the spirit-stirring strain. When they had sung the last +line, Mr. Bright, without pausing to take breath, struck into "Scots +wha hae wi' Wallace bled," and they followed his lead. He put on all +his steam when he came to the verse, + + "By our country's woes and pains, + By our sons in servile chains, + We will drain our dearest veins, + But they _shall_ be free!" + +He emphasized the word _shall_, and brought his clenched hand down +upon the table so forcibly, that the shade over the gas-light shook. + +In the midst of it, Mrs. Delano stole out of the room. She had a great +respect and liking for Mr. Bright, but he was sometimes rather too +demonstrative to suit her taste. He was too much carried away with +enthusiasm to notice her noiseless retreat, and he went on to the +conclusion of his song with unabated energy. All earnestness is +magnetic. Mr. and Mrs. Blumenthal, and even the children, caught his +spirit. When the song ended, Mr. Blumenthal drew a long breath, and +said: "One needs strong lungs to accompany you, Mr. Bright. You sang +that like the tramp of a regiment." + +"And you blazed away like an explosion of artillery," rejoined he. + +"The fact is," replied Blumenthal. "the war spirit pervades the air, +and I've caught it. I'm going to join the army." + +"Are you?" exclaimed Mr. Bright, seizing his hand with so tight a grip +that it made him wince. "I hope you'll be my captain." + +Mr. Blumenthal rubbed his hand, and smiled as he said, "I pity the +Rebel that you get hold of, Mr. Bright." + +"Ask your pardon. Ask your pardon," rejoined he. "But speaking of the +tramp of a regiment, here it goes!" And he struck up "John Brown's +Hallelujah." They put their souls into it in such a manner, that the +spirit of the brave old martyr seemed marching all through it. + +When it came to a conclusion, Mr. Bright remarked: "Only to think how +that incendiary song is sung in Boston streets, and in the parlors +too, when only little more than a year ago a great mob was yelling +after Wendell Phillips, for speaking on the anniversary of John +Brown's execution. I said then the fools would get enough of slavery +before they'd done with it; and I reckon they're beginning to find it +out, not only the rowdies, but the nabobs that set 'em on. War ain't +a blessing, but it's a mighty great teacher; that's a fact. No wonder +the slavites hated Phillips. He aims sure and hits hard. No use in +trying to pass off shams upon _him_. If you bring him anything that +ain't real mahogany, his blows'll be sure to make the veneering fly. +But I'm staying too long. I only looked in to tell you I was going." +He glanced round for Mrs. Delano, and added: "I'm afraid I sung too +loud for that quiet lady. The fact is, I'm full of fight." + +"That's what the times demand," replied Mr. Blumenthal. + +They bade him "Good night," and smiled at each other to hear his +strong voice, as it receded in the distance, still singing, "His soul +is marching on." + +"Now I will go to Mamita," said Flora. "Her gentle spirit suffers in +these days. This morning, when she saw a company of soldiers marching +by, and heard the boys hurrahing, she said to me so piteously, 'O +Flora, these are wild times.' Poor Mamita! she's like a dove in a +tornado." + +"_You_ seemed to be strong as an eagle while you were singing," +responded her husband. + +"I felt like a drenched humming-bird when Mr. Bright came in," +rejoined she; "but he and the music together lifted me up into the +blue, as your Germans say." + +"And from that height can you say to me, 'Obey the call of duty, +Florimond'?" + +She put her little hand in his and answered, "I can. May God protect +us all!" + +Then, turning to her children, she said: "I am going to bring Mamita; +and presently, when I go away to be alone with papa a little while, I +want you to do everything to make the evening pleasant for Mamita. You +know she likes to hear you sing, 'Now Phoebus sinketh in the west.'" + +"And I will play that Nocturne of Mendelssohn's that she likes so +much," replied Rosen Blumen. "She says I play it almost as well as +Aunt Rosa." + +"And she likes to hear me sing, 'Once on a time there was a king,'" +said Lila. "She says she heard _you_ singing it in the woods a long +time ago, when she hadn't anybody to call her Mamita." + +"Very well, my children," replied their mother. "Do everything you can +to make Mamita happy; for there will never be such another Mamita." + + * * * * * + +During the anxious months that followed Mr. Blumenthal's departure, +the sisters and their families were almost daily at the rooms of the +Sanitary Commission, sewing, packing, or writing. Henriet had become +expert with the sewing-machine, and was very efficient help; and even +Tulee, though far from skilful with her needle, contrived to make +dozens of hospital slippers, which it was the pride of her heart to +deliver to the ladies of the Commission. Chloe added her quota of +socks, often elephantine in shape, and sometimes oddly decorated with +red tops and toes; but with a blessing for "the boys in blue" running +through all the threads. There is no need to say how eagerly they +watched for letters, and what a relief it was to recognize the writing +of beloved hands, feeling each time that it might be the last. + +Mr. King kept up occasional correspondence with the officers of George +Falkner's company, and sent from time to time favorable reports of his +bravery and good habits. Henriet received frequent letters from him, +imperfectly spelled, but full of love and loyalty. + +Two years after Mr. King left his happy home, he was brought back with +a Colonel's shoulder-strap, but with his right leg gone, and his right +arm in a sling. When the first joy of reunion had expressed itself +in caresses and affectionate words, he said to Rosa, "You see what a +cripple you have for a husband." + +"I make the same reply the English girl did to Commodore Barclay," she +replied; "'You're dear as ever to me, so long as there's body enough +to hold the soul,'" + +Eulalia wept tears of joy on her father's neck, while Flora, and Rosen +Blumen, and Lila clasped their arms round him, and Tulee stood peeping +in at the door, waiting for her turn to welcome the hero home. + +"Flora, you see my dancing days are over," said the Colonel. + +"Never mind, I'll do your dancing," she replied. "Rosen Blumen, play +uncle's favorite waltz." + +She passed her arm round Eulalia, and for a few moments they revolved +round the room to the circling music. She had so long been called the +life of the family, that she tried to keep up her claim to the title. +But her present mirthfulness was assumed; and it was contrary to her +nature to act a part. She kissed her hand to her brother-in-law, and +smiled as she whirled out of the room; but she ran up stairs and +pressed the tears back, as she murmured to herself, "Ah, if I could +only be sure Florimond and Alfred would come back, even mutilated as +he is!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + + +Another year brought with it what was supposed to be peace, and the +army was disbanded. Husband and son returned alive and well, and Flora +was her young self again. In the exuberance of her joy she seemed more +juvenile than her girls; jumping from husband to son and from son +to husband, kissing them and calling them all manner of pet names; +embracing Mrs. Delano at intervals, and exclaiming, "O Mamita, here we +are all together again! I wish my arms were long enough to hug you all +at once." + +"I thank God, my child, for your sake and for my own," replied Mrs. +Delano. She looked at Alfred, as she spoke, and the affectionate +glance he returned filled her heart with a deep and quiet joy. The +stern shadow of war vanished from his face in the sunshine of +home, and she recognized the same gentle expression that had been +photographed on her memory long years ago. + +When the family from Beacon Street came, a few minutes later, with +welcomes and congratulations, Alfred bestowed a different sort of +glance on his cousin Eulalia, and they both blushed; as young people +often do, without knowing the reason why. Rosen Blumen and Lila had +been studying with her the language of their father's country; and +when the general fervor had somewhat abated, the girls manifested some +disposition to show off the accomplishment. "Do hear them calling +Alfred _Mein lieber bruder_," said Flora to her husband, "while Rosa +and I are sprinkling them all with pet names in French and Spanish. +What a polyglot family we are! as _cher papa_ used to say. But, +Florimond, did you notice anything peculiar in the meeting between +Alfred and Eulalia?" + +"I thought I did," he replied. + +"How will Brother King like it?" she asked. "He thinks very highly of +Alfred; but you know he has a theory against the marriage of cousins." + +"So have I," answered Blumenthal; "but nations and races have been +pretty thoroughly mixed up in the ancestry of our children. What with +African and French, Spanish, American, and German, I think the dangers +of too close relationship are safely diminished." + +"They are a good-looking set, between you and I," said Flora; "though +they _are_ oddly mixed up. See Eulalia, with her great blue eyes, +and her dark eyebrows and eyelashes. Rosen Blumen looks just like a +handsome Italian girl. No one would think Lila Blumen was her sister, +with her German blue eyes, and that fine frizzle of curly light hair. +Your great-grandmother gave her the flax, and I suppose mine did the +frizzling." + +This side conversation was interrupted by Mr. King's saying: +"Blumenthal, you haven't asked for news concerning Mrs. Fitzgerald. +You know Mr. Green has been a widower for some time. Report says +that he finds in her company great consolation for the death of her +cousin." + +"That's what I call a capital arrangement," said Flora; "and I didn't +mean any joke about their money, either. Won't they sympathize +grandly? Won't she be in her element? Top notch. No end to balls and +parties; and a coat of arms on the coach." + +"The news made me very glad," observed Rosa; "for the thought of her +loneliness always cast a shadow over my happiness." + +"Even _they_ have grown a little during the war," rejoined Mr. King. +"Nabob Green, as they call him, did actually contribute money for the +raising of colored regiments. He so far abated his prejudice as to be +willing that negroes should have the honor of being shot in his stead; +and Mrs. Fitzgerald agreed with him. That was a considerable advance, +you must admit." + +They went on for some time talking over news, public and private; not +omitting the prospects of Tom's children, and the progress of Tulee's. +But such family chats are like the showers of manna, delicious as they +fall, but incapable of preservation. + +The first evening the families met at the house in Beacon Street, Mr. +Blumenthal expressed a wish to see Henriet, and she was summoned. The +improvement in her appearance impressed him greatly. Having lived +three years with kindly and judicious friends, who never reminded +her, directly or indirectly, that she was a black sheep in the social +flock, her faculties had developed freely and naturally; and belonging +to an imitative race, she readily adopted the language and manners of +those around her. Her features were not handsome, with the exception +of her dark, liquid-looking eyes; and her black hair was too crisp to +make a soft shading for her brown forehead. But there was a winning +expression of gentleness in her countenance, and a pleasing degree of +modest ease in her demeanor. A map, which she had copied very neatly, +was exhibited, and a manuscript book of poems, of her own selection, +written very correctly, in a fine flowing hand. "Really, this is +encouraging," said Mr. Blumenthal, as she left the room. "If half a +century of just treatment and free schools can bring them all up to +this level, our battles will not be in vain, and we shall deserve to +rank among the best benefactors of the country; to say nothing of a +corresponding improvement in the white population." + +"Thitherward is Providence leading us," replied Mr. King. "Not unto +us, but unto God, be all the glory. We were all of us working for +better than we knew." + + * * * * * + +Mr. King had written to George Falkner, to inform him of a situation +he had in store for him at Marseilles, and to request a previous +meeting in New York, as soon as he could obtain his discharge from the +army; being in this, as in all other arrangements, delicately careful +to avoid giving annoyance to Mrs. Fitzgerald. In talking this over +with his wife, he said: "I consider it a duty to go to Marseilles with +him. It will give us a chance to become acquainted with each other; +it will shield him from possible impertinences on the passage, on +Henriet's account; and it will be an advantage to him to be introduced +as my friend to the American Consul, and some commercial gentlemen of +my acquaintance." + +"I am to go with you, am I not?" asked Rosa. "I am curious to see +this young man, from whom I parted, so unconscious of all the strange +future, when he was a baby in Tulee's arms." + +"I think you had better not go, dear," he replied; "though the loss +of your company will deprive me of a great pleasure. Eulalia would +naturally wish to go with us; and as she knows nothing of George's +private history, it would be unwise to excite her curiosity by +introducing her to such a striking likeness of Gerald. But she might +stay with Rosen Blumen while you go to New York and remain with me +till the vessel sails. If I meet with no accidents, I shall return in +three months; for I go merely to give George a fair start, though, +when there, I shall have an eye to some other business, and take a run +to Italy to look in upon our good old friends, Madame and the Signor." + +The journey to New York was made at the appointed time, in company +with Henriet and her little one. George had risen to the rank of +lieutenant in the army, and had acquired a military bearing that +considerably increased the manliness of his appearance. He was browned +by exposure to sun and wind; but he so strongly resembled her handsome +Gerald, that Rosa longed to clasp him to her heart. His wife's +appearance evidently took him by surprise. "How you have changed!" +he exclaimed. "What a lady you are! I can hardly believe this is the +little Hen I used to make mud pies with." + +She laughed as she answered: "You are changed, too. If I have +improved, it is owing to these kind friends. Only think of it, George, +though Mrs. King is such a handsome and grand lady, she always called +me Mrs. Falkner." + +Mrs. King made several appropriate parting presents to Henriet and +little Hetty. To George she gave a gold watch, and a very beautiful +colored photograph of Gerald, in a morocco case, as a souvenir of +their brief friendship in the army. + +Mr. King availed himself of every hour of the voyage to gain the +confidence of the young man, and to instil some salutary lessons into +his very receptive mind. After they had become well acquainted, he +said: "I have made an estimate of what I think it will be necessary +for you to spend for rent, food, and clothing; also of what I think it +would be wise for you to spend in improving your education, and +for occasional amusements. I have not done this in the spirit of +dictation, my young friend, but merely with the wish of helping you by +my greater experience of life. It is important that you should +learn to write a good commercial hand, and also acquire, as soon as +possible, a very thorough knowledge of the French language. For these +you should employ the best teachers that can be found. Your wife can +help you in many ways. She has learned to spell correctly, to read +with fluency and expression, and to play quite well on the piano. You +will find it very profitable to read good books aloud to each other. +I advise you not to go to places of amusement oftener than once a +fortnight, and always to choose such places as will be suitable and +pleasant for your wife. I like that young men in my employ should +never taste intoxicating drinks, or use tobacco in any form. Both +those habits are expensive, and I have long ago abjured them as +injurious to health." + +The young man bowed, and replied, "I will do as you wish in all +respects, sir; I should be very ungrateful if I did not." + +"I shall give you eight hundred dollars for the first year," resumed +Mr. King; "and shall increase your salary year by year, according to +your conduct and capabilities. If you are industrious, temperate, and +economical, there is no reason why you should not become a rich man in +time; and it will be wise for you to educate yourself, your wife, and +your children, with a view to the station you will have it in your +power to acquire. If you do your best, you may rely upon my influence +and my fatherly interest to help you all I can." + +The young man colored, and, after a little embarrassed hesitation, +said: "You spoke of a fatherly interest, sir; and that reminds me that +I never had a father. May I ask whether you know anything about my +parents?" + +Mr. King had anticipated the possibility of such a question, and he +replied: "I will tell you who your father was, if you will give a +solemn promise never to ask a single question about your mother. +On that subject I have given a pledge of secrecy which it would be +dishonorable for me to break. Only this much I will say, that neither +of your parents was related to me in any degree, or connected with me +in any way." + +The young man answered, that he was of course very desirous to know +his whole history, but would be glad to obtain any information, +and was willing to give the required promise, which he would most +religiously keep. + +Mr. King then went on to say: "Your father was Mr. Gerald Fitzgerald, +a planter in Georgia. You have a right to his name, and I will so +introduce you to my friends, if you wish it. He inherited a handsome +fortune, but lost it all by gambling and other forms of dissipation. +He had several children by various mothers. You and the Gerald with +whom you became acquainted were brothers by the father's side. You are +unmixed white; but you were left in the care of a negro nurse, and one +of your father's creditors seized you both, and sold you into slavery. +Until a few months before you were acquainted with Gerald, it was +supposed that you died in infancy; and for that reason no efforts were +made to redeem you. Circumstances which I am not at liberty to explain +led to the discovery that you were living, and that Gerald had learned +your history as a slave. I feel the strongest sympathy with your +misfortunes, and cherish a lively gratitude for your kindness to my +young friend Gerald. All that I have told you is truth; and if it were +in my power, I would most gladly tell you the _whole_ truth." + +The young man listened with the deepest interest; and, having +expressed his thanks, said he should prefer to be called by his +father's name; for he thought he should feel more like a man to bear a +name to which he knew that he had a right. + + * * * * * + +When Mr. King again returned to his Boston home, as soon as the first +eager salutations were over, he exclaimed: "How the room is decorated +with vines and flowers! It reminds me of that dear floral parlor in +New Orleans." + +"Didn't you telegraph that you were coming? And is it not your +birthday?" inquired his wife. + +He kissed her, and said: "Well, Rosabella, I think you may now have a +tranquil mind; for I believe things have been so arranged that no one +is very seriously injured by that act of frenzy which has caused you +so much suffering. George will not be deprived of any of his pecuniary +rights; and he is in a fair way to become more of a man than he would +have been if he had been brought up in luxury. He and Henriet are as +happy in their prospects as two mortals well can be. Gerald enjoyed +his short life; and was more bewildered than troubled by the discovery +that he had two mothers. Eulalia was a tender, romantic memory to him; +and such, I think, he has become to our child. I don't believe Mrs. +Fitzgerald suffered much more than annoyance. Gerald was always the +same to her as a son; and if he had been really so, he would probably +have gone to the war, and have run the same chance of being killed." + +"Ah, Alfred," she replied, "I should never have found my way out of +that wretched entanglement if it had not been for you. You have really +acted toward me the part of Divine Providence. It makes me ashamed +that I have not been able to do anything in atonement for my own +fault, except the pain I suffered in giving up my Gerald to his +Lily-mother. When I think how that poor babe became enslaved by +my act, I long to sell my diamonds, and use the money to build +school-houses for the freedmen." + +"Those diamonds seem to trouble you, dearest," rejoined he, smiling. +"I have no objection to your selling them. You become them, and they +become you; but I think school-houses will shine as brighter jewels in +the better world." + +Here Flora came in with all her tribe; and when the welcomes were +over, her first inquiries were for Madame and the Signor. + +"They are well," replied Mr. King, "and they seem to be as contented +as tabbies on a Wilton rug. They show signs of age, of course. The +Signor has done being peppery, and Madame's energy has visibly abated; +but her mind is as lively as ever. I wish I could remember half the +stories she repeated about the merry pranks of your childhood. She +asked a great many questions about _Jolie Manon_; and she laughed till +she cried while she described, in dramatic style, how you crazed the +poor bird with imitations, till she called you _Joli petit diable_" + +"How I wish I had known mamma then! How funny she must have been!" +exclaimed Lila. + +"I think you have heard some performances of hers that were equally +funny," rejoined Mrs. Delano. "I used to be entertained with a variety +of them; especially when we were in Italy. If any of the _pifferari_ +went by, she would imitate the drone of their bagpipes in a manner +irresistibly comic. And if she saw a peasant-girl dancing, she +forthwith went through the performance to the life." + +"Yes, Mamita," responded Flora; "and you know I fancied myself a great +musical composer in those days,--a sort of feminine Mozart; but the +_qui vive_ was always the key I composed in." + +"I used to think the fairies helped you about that, as well as other +things," replied Mrs. Delano. + +"I think the fairies help her now," said Mr. Blumenthal; "and well +they may, for she is of their kith and kin." + +This playful trifling was interrupted by the sound of the +folding-doors rolling apart; and in the brilliantly lighted adjoining +room a tableau became visible, in honor of the birthday. Under +festoons of the American flag, surmounted by the eagle, stood Eulalia, +in ribbons of red, white, and blue, with a circle of stars round her +head. One hand upheld the shield of the Union, and in the other the +scales of Justice were evenly poised. By her side stood Rosen Blumen, +holding in one hand a gilded pole surmounted by a liberty-cap, while +her other hand rested protectingly on the head of Tulee's Benny, who +was kneeling and looking upward in thanksgiving. + +Scarcely had the vision appeared before Joe Bright's voice was heard +leading invisible singers through the tune "Hail to the Chief," which +Alfred Blumenthal accompanied with a piano. As they sang the last line +the striped festoons fell and veiled the tableau. Then Mr. Bright, who +had returned a captain, appeared with his company, consisting of Tom +and Chloe with their children, and Tulee with her children, singing a +parody composed by himself, of which the chorus was:-- + + "Blow ye the trumpet abroad o'er the sea, + Columbia has triumphed, the negro is free! + Praise to the God of our fathers! 'twas He, + Jehovah, that triumphed, Columbia, through thee." + +To increase the effect, the director of ceremonies had added a +flourish of trumpets behind the scenes. + +Then the colored band came forward, hand in hand, and sang together, +with a will, Whittier's immortal "Boat Song":-- + + "We own de hoe, we own de plough, + We own de hands dat hold; + We sell de pig, we sell de cow; + But nebber _chile_ be sold. + De yam will grow, de cotton blow, + We'll hab de rice an' corn: + O, nebber you fear, if nebber you hear + De driver blow his horn!" + +All the family, of all ages and colors, then joined in singing "The +Star-spangled Banner"; and when Mr. King had shaken hands with them +all, they adjourned to the breakfast-room, where refreshments were +plentifully provided. + +At last Mr. Bright said: "I don't want to bid you good night, friends; +but I must. I don't generally like to go among Boston folks. Just look +at the trees on the Common. They're dying because they've rolled the +surface of the ground so smooth. That's just the way in Boston, I +reckon. They take so much pains to make the surface smooth, that +it kills the roots o' things. But when I come here, or go to Mrs. +Blumenthal's, I feel as if the roots o' things wa'n't killed. Good +night, friends. I haven't enjoyed myself so well since I found Old +Hundred and Yankee Doodle in the Harmolinks." + +The sound of his whistling died away in the streets; the young people +went off to talk over their festival; the colored troop retired +to rest; and the elders of the two families sat together in the +stillness, holding sweet converse concerning the many strange +experiences that had been so richly crowned with blessings. + +A new surprise awaited them, prepared by the good taste of Mr. +Blumenthal. A German Liederkrantz in the hall closed the ceremonies of +the night with Mendelssohn's "Song of Praise." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A ROMANCE OF THE REPUBLIC*** + + +******* This file should be named 10549.txt or 10549.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/4/10549 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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